Lara Ta, who was born in coventry at the age of twelve, is a young woman from a Chinese lineage who is a national of British citizenship. The first part of her name means “grandfather” in Mandarin, and this was passed on to her by her parents. Her real name is Lina, which mean the dragon, and she was actually named after her great-grandmother who was also a martial arts expert. Her father worked in the building trade and was said to be strong and intelligent, though not a street fighter, so much so that he encouraged his daughter to study martial arts as well as a variety of trades including carpentry and engineering. It was said that this combination of job responsibilities and martial arts training made him a strong competitor in the martial arts world of his day.
It was during the age of twelve that Lara began to learn the art of fencing from her father, though it was a slow progression over the years as she became more impressed with various forms of weaponry and combat. When she was nineteen years old, she enrolled in the trainee program of the government’s internal security service, the SIS. This was initially to gain experience in an area of work which was deemed to be too sensitive for the public to view. It was also supposed to be a test of her physical and mental strength, as well as her commitment to her family. As her time in the military was drawing to a close, she decided that she wanted to continue with her studies and obtain an archaeological degree, but she did not want to re-enlist, which meant she could not enlist in the navy.
After completing her training, however, she began working in the archaeological department of the government, where she handled all matters of digitized documentation and research. This was also where her love of fighting started to flourish, especially when she discovered a certain type of fighting techniques that she really liked, namely Thai boxing. The career of archaeologist quickly grew as she took on more administrative responsibilities, eventually becoming a full-time employee. After about twenty years of employment, she retired as an archaeologist and pursued her lifelong dream of studying martial arts.