Craig Dawson: Traveler

Started by Das_Uberman, 07-03-2012

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Das_Uberman


Craig Dawson, Arlington soldier, survivor, traveler, fighter. A man from nothing, who ended up living the life he wanted.


His childhood was a dark one. His mother was a strong woman. Kind and fair. She just wasn't strong enough to survive child birth, living just long enough to hold Craig in her arms before expiring. Craig was left alone with his father in the corrupt, dangerous, drug filled streets of New Reno.
His father was a good man. A fighter, or at least before Craig was born. He would often tell stories of Craig's grandfather, the great warrior priest. A man of dignity, honor, and strength. Craig's father was forced to take a job as a guard for the Shark Club to provide for himself and Craig. The job took the fight out of him, leaving him jaded and submissive. Craig knew he had to strike out on his own if he were to ever make something of himself. He promised himself he wouldn't end up like his father, but rather, be the man his father wanted to be.


By the time he was sixteen he had his own place. It was small and dingy, but it was something. Gambling was his trade. Almost everyone who lived in New Reno knew that the house games were rigged. Dice were weighted, and slot machines were fixed. Poker was the game to play. Poker was just people against people, and the house takes a cut. Craig played poker and he played it well. Living in a town full of cut-throuats and criminals had given him one hell of a poker face. On a good night he could rake in up to a hundred caps. He was getting closer to his dream, and he could all but taste it.


He never had much money. Whatever money he had went towards food, rent, and the rest he tucked away under a floor board, saving up until he could leave that shit hole. He would sometimes give money to his father when he visited. Since Craig had started living on his own his father had a little more disposable income, most of which he'd been using for booze.  He was in bad shape. That would soon change in the years to come. Craig's departure from New Reno would give him hope. Hope that he desperately needed.


Age 18 Craig set out on his own. He bought himself the essentials: Pistol, leather armor, food, water, clothes, and other assorted supplies. He hit the road with a travelling caravan headed for California, where word of a blossoming republic spread like wild fire. He set out on The Big Circle, a wide looping trade route, and passed through Broken Hills, Vault City, and even The Den. Eventually he broke off from the trade route and made it all the way to Shady Sands and started a life there. He did odd jobs. He fixed houses, did body guard work, traded some. Anything that needed doing he would do. Sadly, it didn't last. Despite the horrors of New Reno, he grew homesick, and began saving his money up for the journey home. He'd spent close to 6 years in Shady Sands before hitting the road on a journey home.


After weeks of travel, he was very surprised at what greeted him in New Reno. In the 6 years he was gone his father had managed to drag his life out of the gutter and end up owning a poker lounge. It'd cost him every penny of what he'd saved up, but he renovated a broken down old building and started up "The Loser Lounge". Despite its name it was built on a simple principle: Honest gambling. it was primarily a poker club, but there was a craps table and a couple slot machines. The Loser Lounge was never big enough to threaten the syndicate controlled casinos, but it was always packed, and the Dawson family was just about swimming in cash. They had enough moeny to start branching out. They started a small trading post, a clinic, and an investing company.


Not only that, but upon his return home he discovered the Dawson family no longer consisted of just him and his father. In the time he was in Shady Sands his father had remarried and had two kids: one boy, one girl. His wife's name was Mary, and she was a kind woman. Craig's father would often say she reminded him of Craig's mother. Craig had grown up without a mother and gladly accepted Mary as his step mother. He often spent time with his siblings, teaching them to read and write. He always looked out for them. Craig had the life he had always dreamed of; a mother, wealth, siblings, and a faher he could look up to.


Craig's time in Shady Sands served him well when he started working for the family business. He worked a variety of jobs, from dealing cards to scouting investment oppertunities. For years he was his father's right hand man, helping run things in every aspect of the family's business. They made sure not to expand too much too fast. The controlling crime families didn't take kindly to people stealing their business. Instead, they slowly expanded into the undeveloped parts of New Reno, renovating broken down old buildings and providing housing and sercives to the residents of New Reno. Occasionally they would butt heads with a crime family, but they'd always find a peaceful way out of it, usually thourhg payment, or giving up property.


The time came that Craig wanted a change. His life had been perfect, but he wanted adventure. his family had abundant wealth, and his father gladly gave what he needed for supplies before setting out. He didn't ask for much, jsut a few hundred caps, food, clothes, the basics. As he left, he heard rumor of a rising city to the south, known as "The New Vegas Strip". He set out for The Strip with the intention of finding business oppertunities for his father, and himself. At around the same time, his father, who's investment company was flourishing, set his sights on a rising Company to the south called "Arlington Arms". A company Craig would one day become a part of.


Craig's journey south through the Nevada wastes was different from his travels along The Big Circle. There was far less to see, and more dangers. Evetually his travels led him to Amargosa Valley. He decided to stay a while on his trip to New Vegas. He eventually joined up with Arlington, which had a small pressence in Amargosa. He liked the idea of serving something bigger than himself. He never joined the NCR because he considered them too big for his taste. He didn't want to get lost in a sea of soldiers, and perfered the private industry. It felt more familiar. For now, Craig stays in Amargosa for a while, but hopes to one day journey to New Vegas and use it to build on his family's business.