Given Name: Nathaniel Clay

Gender: Male

Age: 47

Good Guy or Bad Guy: Good Guy. Nathaniel Clay is trying his best to support his surrogate family though honest means. He can be surprisingly chivalrous for such a simple brutish man and has a particularly interest in the upbringing of the still young Noah Greene who he wants to be a good role model for. There is however a darker side to the General Store Owner. A somewhat shady past with immoral chapters. Nathaniel also has a bit of a violent mean streak that he has been known to redirect on those that have deeply wronged him bordering on outright cruel. The Greenes have remained his moral compass, grounding him in right and wrong in these deeply troubled times.

Occupation: General Store Owner

Personality: Nathan is a man shrouded in mystery. He is a man of somber disposition and often remains very serious. A true stoic, Nathaniel is deeply stubborn and highly principled and once he has set his mind on a particular matter it rarely changes. The man has a weakness for fine clothes, often dressed dapper and keeps himself very clean when he can. Highly organized and some might even say proper, most are surprised to find that Nathaniel is not particularly well educated, something he is deeply insecure about.

Skills: Nathaniel is a remarkable pugilist and is equally skilled with a knife, qualities that make him dangerous to cross. Anyone who has made trouble for Nathaniel or his surrogate family have been known to be shadowed in the middle of the night and beaten to an inch of their life. In the most extreme cases with their throat sliced open. Despite little formal schooling, the man is an uncannily savvy but fair businessman about to make a good run of the both the general store and the horse ranch he owns.

History: Nathaniel Clay is the enigmatic owner of the Splitcreek General & Dry Goods located on Main Street. He is known to be a particularly hard but fair man. There has never been a deal he hasn’t welshed on, even if that deal has resulted in him not making a profit finding credibility to be worth far more down the line. The Store Owner lives on a homestead and horse ranch just a few miles outside of town. Living with him is a young widow woman and her teenage son. It remains the wild talk in town that the widow woman and Nathaniel share a bedroom in the household, the nature of their relationship remaining as mysterious as their arrival a few years back.

Nathaniel, Henrietta Greene and Noah Green arrived to Splitcreek by rail line three years back. What was so unusual about their arrival was that in their possession was a heavy bag filled with paper money and silver dollars some ranging into a small fortune of 5,000 dollars. The nature of their initial fortune remains as much a mystery as just about everything else about the Clays/Greenes before they arrived into Splitcreek. A popular story is that Clay was some famous Bank Robber gone into hiding with a payload of stolen bank money. Others stories involve the widow women Henrietta marrying some wealthy businessman somewhere in Nebraska before eloping with Nathaniel and hiding out west with him. What can be said, is that with the money they brought with them they were able to set up the store and ranch and have been getting a steady return off their investment for a few years now especially as the town has been growing.

Personal Relationships: Henrietta Greene: Nathaniel partner in many different ways, they first encountered one another when she was a destitute forlorn teenager with a newborn baby in her arms. What had started as Nathaniel protecting and providing for her grew where both provided strength for one another and deeply care for one another. Nathaniel trusts and depends on Henrietta and is his sole confidant in all matters. The two remain amorous towards one another and even though that amorous feeling has manifested in physical affection from time to time they remained in general very distant mostly stemming from Henrietta’s dubious marital status.

Noah Greene: A young lad of now sixteen, since his earliest days Nathaniel has been active in his upbringing. Noah privately believes that Nathaniel is secretly his actual father likes a vivid fantasy and dreams that one day he will acknowledge him as his son much to Nathaniel’s actual insistence. In everything but name, Nathaniel has been a father to this boy. He tries to educate him in the ways of the world and protect him from the much meaner elements. Still, he cannot protect the boy forever, and is already noticing he is beginning to grow as his own man. His highest aspiration is that Noah will travel east and learn law.

Appearance:

Nathaniel is a man in his late forties, with a somewhat of a heavy sturdy figure. He has gaunt guarded dark eyes and neatly combed dark hair with thick well-trimmed whiskers. The man always has a strong stride in his walk, though there is a slight limb in his step suggesting the man has at one point in his life been grievously injured enough to something that has never fully healed.

Writing Sample: It was around two o’clock and that was usually the time when Noah started to sweep the floors of the store. There was a big clear window at the front of the building with the big painted letters of SPLITCREEK GENERAL & DRY SUNDRIES written across it in some big block font. The teenage help in the store swept around the few shelves set up and right up to the counter where he gave Mr. Clay an honest good looking at.

He was like he always was around this time, reading spectacles on his face reading the newspaper that come from Santa Fee. Of course Noah knew that Nathaniel didn’t know letters that well, always thought it was downright silly how he would read the big font off the ink stain penny sheets for a good hour like he was reading the whole thing. Then again, it was Mr. Clay himself that taught him to never call folks out on the little peculiarities they do.

“There seems to be a coal strike.” Nathaniel reported in his usual gruff simple words. Well obviously, because that was the headline plastered in big letters. “Suppose so Mr. Clay.” Noah expressed. The young man reaching for the jar of sweets next to the man. “Liquorish is for paying customers.” Nathaniel huffed up. Hm. “Can’t you take it out of my pay this week?” Clay quietly set the newspaper down and took out a book. He wasn’t kidding either. He could be a real miser sometimes that Mr. Clay. Still Noah supposed Nathaniel would always say a man squared off what he owed.

STRAWBERRY ICECREAM! PUMPKIN PIE!!!