Background

Nate was born in Detroit in 1978, a working class 'family' consisting of his mother and deadbeat father. Orphaned at age 10, mother falling ill and passing away shortly after, and with an absentee father doing jail-time. He fell into the system, Bouncing between foster families who didn't quite know how to handle a child who was equally ready to withdraw into his own shell, as he was to lash out against the world that, in his eyes, hurt and betrayed him. Fights were not uncommon, nor was vandalism or shoplifting. Stll, through luck or perhaps, he found a good family that took him in. The Ortegas were getting up in the years. A Teacher and a librarian couple who's last child had just moved out of the house. This made his mid and late teens comparably pleasant in comparison to the early ones. They slowly began to show him that he could do more than just be a menace, that he had more to offer. With his new caretaker's guidance and cautiously placed expectations, he began to find joy in learning new things, in reading books and giving people a new chance. He helped the Ortega's in community outreach programs. Learning Spanish through his new family and school. He adored books, and applied any success he's had in life to their, and his caretakers influence. Still somewhat socially awkward, he nonetheless gained a small group of friends, and a modest goal for the start of his adult life, to become a librarian. He'd seen the effect books had on his own life, and wanted to pass that on to others as well. The structure of the profession was something he found soothing as well, the restlessness of his earlier years didn’t vanish, but it became more manageable. He'd start working in his foster fathers library through summers and sometimes on weekends, and thrived when he could lose himself in the quiet order of a library. His grades became better and he turned into a young man of focus and determination. Then came the daisies. Just a month or two after he started a trainee position at the local library. The years that followed were chaotic, to say the least. He was fit and able-bodied, so he was drafted into a local militia led by former military personnel. Soon he had experience killing plants and raiders alike. The anger and resentment from his younger years, coupled with the will to learn and excel made him an efficient combatant, even if he didn't find much enjoyment in it. He excelled as a scout and marksman and as such. He became a lookout and occasional scavenger for his community, a settlement trying to remain independent, while still trading with the coalition. Still, the winds of fate weren't kind, and after a shift in the weather, the plants and pollen grew closer and closer to his QZ. When the inevitable happened, and the haven fell, Nathan was among the people who guarded the evacuation and so they began an exodus south towards Coalition safety. The Ortegas both faded away during these times, one to a heart attack. The other took their own life before the root infection could do it for them. The years that followed Nate drifted as a caravan guard, scavenger and a hired gun. occasionally settling down but never permanently, as he never found anywhere he felt at home. Then, during a particularly harsh winter where he had to fend a little too hard, a little too long. He decided he'd had enough. It was time to find a home, and perhaps a time for him to return to the things that made his And that's where the story picks up, as he's looking for either a library he can work in, or a good spot to open one of his own. Just having arrived with the caravan, deciding if it might not be somewhere around here that he’ll settle down. At least for a while.