In his early fifties, Samuel Newton is William's youngest brother. When William left on his quest to form a new town, Samuel thought it was a damn fool's errand, but he didn't try to stop him; after all, if his brother disappeared into the wilds, that left Sam to inherit a larger share of whatever their father's business ended up making. Unfortunately for Samuel, that ended up being substantially less than nothing, and ten years ago, Samuel ended up crawling into Newton, penniless and alone.
His brother took pity, and set him up with a job cataloging inventory at the old train station. Samuel was bitter and angry, hating that he was taking a handout from his brother, but it soon became apparent to him that there were certain benefits to his position. As the one counting stock, he was the only one in any position to notice if anything went missing, and with a combination of creative theft and shrewd trading, Samuel's built up a substantial stock of goods. His pride and joy is the intact steam engine he dug out of a section of the station, but his main trade is a bit less well-natured. It's a commonly-known secret among the less lawful elements of Newton that Samuel is the only firearms dealer in town, and if his prices are high, his wares are worth it.
Even if the town has given him his livelihood, Samuel has no love for Newton, and little enough for his brother. This town still represents everything that his brother managed to succeed at, and by proxy all of Samuel's failures. He wouldn't shoot himself in the foot to do it, but if the price was right, Samuel would be willing to help any or all interested parties wanting to make Newton their own; if he can sell guns to both sides, and pick them up off the battlefield later, so much the better.
2 comments:
Looks pretty good to me. Only two things: 1. William Newton was in his twenties when he set out from Greer, and 49 years have passed, so "early fifties" might be a little young. The other is that firearms aren't necessarily an illicit trade, since guns aren't very controlled in Newton or really in much of anywhere. Of course if you're selling RPGs and heavy machine guns people might be unappreciative, likewise if you're selling guns to bandits.
You're right, late 50s-early 60s might be more appropriate, though he's well-preserved. And, really, Samuel's success has come mostly from selling weapons (and other things) that no one else has, and selling to those that other people won't. So, yeah, both of those.
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