Russo Gupta was one of a group of genetically-engineered merfolk created on Jackson's Whole by House Dyan. Most of the members of the group performed as an underwater ballet troupe; he was submersible stage crew. The members of the group were amphibious, with gills in their chests that enabled them to swim underwater without breathing apparatus. He ended up working as engineer on a smuggler's ship with three other refugee Jacksonians; together they considered themselves a family of four consisting of a woman, Gras-Grace, and her three husbands, Gupta, Firka, and Hewlet.