Duke

Background


Duke started out as a typical caravan merchant. The same as many others, he scoured the wasteland for items of value and went on to trade them for supplies. He was a resourceful man, able to turn a profit on most any piece of junk he scrounged up. Before long, he acquired a pack mule, then a guard, a couple brahmin, some more guards... His expansions continued until he could no longer transport his wares on the backs of even the toughest mutated animals.

In all of his travels, he'd seen vehicles in working order from time to time, and envisioned his caravan redone - completely on wheels. It wasn't something that happened overnight. First he needed to have the caps to finance such an endeavor. Second, locating functioning vehicles to be purchased was a daunting task. Third, he'd need a crew with the proper knowledge to keep the vehicles in good working order. Last - fuel.

It took his years to realize his dream, but finally it did come together, and his caravan achieved instant fame throughout the wastes. You could hear him coming from a mile away, engines churning and coughing. At this point, drawing negative attention to himself wasn't an issue. Anyone stupid enough to try to raid his caravan would find themselves severely outmatched. Duke had taken the time to plan his trade through years of trial and error. He didn't simply employ random survivors to man his vehicles and run his business. He had taken the time to hand pick his retinue, all men of many skills - intelligent folk with experience in the wastes - fighters, thinkers, tinkerers, and others. Each one of them more than happy to defend what was essentially their home on wheels. Through all their travels, they had acquired superior weapons and equipment, and when faced with an enemy, would deploy almost militarily to defend their livelihood. It was a grand existence compared to what the rest of the world had to offer. They were grateful for the opportunity to succeed in this way and recognized that they owed their success to Duke.

Duke found Deja during his travels. She was young, afraid, and alone, only able to scratch enough food together to keep herself alive. Still, she radiated energy, a vibrance that reminded him of his youth, and enough tenacity to originally refuse his offer to join his crew. She'd been naturally afraid of being sold into slavery among other things, but after spending a few hours with Duke, he'd soothed her to the point that she'd agreed. It was a strange relationship at first, her constantly challenging him, prodding to find his purpose for recruiting her, ever suspicious of his intentions. In the end, however, after long talks over longer drives, she finally realized that he was simply a good man who enjoyed her antics and her company. She wasn't like the rest of the crew. She was playful and chaotic, a polar opposite to him in most cases, but it was her unpredictable nature and her zeal for life that made them fast friends. He took her under his wing, gave her everything she needed, and left her free do to as she pleased. Secretly, Duke felt as if he somehow lived vicariously through her, wishing he too would have been afforded the option to be so carefree in his younger years. But allowing her to enjoy herself pleased him. She became like a daughter to him.

Duke had seen his age creeping up on him. He knew that he couldn't live the life of the travelling merchant forever, yet he couldn't see giving up the thing that had taken all his life to build. He decided that the best compromise would be to settle into a permanent location, somewhere central and yet far enough from other settlements that his own flock could grow into a colony all their own. He chose Baltimore. Camped along the old route I-95, he was a hub between major cities. D.C. was less than 40 miles south along I-95, Philadelphia about 100 miles northeast, and New York was another 100 miles past that. Though some of these distances made for a long journey, people came regardless. Duke had built an empire in his years on the road, and a reputation to match. People could find things in his shops that they couldn't get anywhere else. No one was turned away. His prices were more than reasonable, causing other merchant caravans to come to him to trade and supply their own business. He didn't need to scour the wastes much any more to find items to populate the shelves in his stores. The items came to him. The rarer, the better. He made a habit of securing the most hard to find items, and this further increased his business from further and further away.

Though armed to the teeth, and manned by hardened fighters, Duke's settlement was much harder to defend as a collection of buildings rather than vehicles. Raiders began to take pot shots at the encampment, sneaking in to cause just enough trouble that they could still get away mostly unscathed, but doing lasting damage to his business. Duke puzzled for days over the solution to this problem, but in the end, Deja had been the one to come up with an answer. There was a never ending supply of Raiders in the wastes. No matter what they did to hunt down their attackers, they would always be replaced by more. They needed their own guard force, more than simply the people who operated the businesses. They would need bodies, a lot of them, fighters willing to take a small wage as well as room and board for their services. How better to combat the raiders than to assimilate them? Though disorganized and hard to rein in, if they recruited enough of the Raiders to their aid, they could create a defensible fortress, one which other Raiders and outsiders would shy away from attacking.

Deja had gone on her own to the nearest Raider camp to convey their offer. Duke would have never agreed to let her do so had he known ahead of time. Still, amazingly she'd succeeded. Word spread like wildfire through the gangs in the area. In exchange for their services, they would receive a salary, a place to sleep and a steady supply of food and necessities. It wasn't a bad deal. Not all of them accepted, but more than enough to fully man the various posts that Duke envisioned. Duke hand picked a man to oversee the implementation of the plan. Vincent LaRoche, a man he'd recruited during his travelling days, who had been young at the time, but had grown into a strong, intelligent man. Vincent was second only to Deja in Duke's eyes. He was strong willed and commanded enough respect to be perfect for the job.

Present
Though the arrangement with the Raiders worked well enough to begin with, the relationship has become strained at best. Raiders had always been too disorganized to work together in the past. Unfortunately, Duke's provides the perfect petri dish for them to breed their special sort of chaos. The rumor that the Raiders plan to attack has turned into an honest threat. Duke has drawn all he can into the hotel headquarters building to protect his investment.

He is a quietly cunning man. Though he's had more than his share of fortune, he doesn't tout his achievements. He is humble. He recognizes that his successes have been due in large part to the caliber of people he surrounds himself with. He collects strong souls, gathers them into his fold in order to increase the quality of their life as well as his own. He does not readily recognize the line between good and evil. Though he is generally a kind man, he has the ability also to make cold, calculated decisions, if only to benefit his crew. He has a reserved nature, and is not a social man for the most part. He is more often seen deep in his thoughts than he is making small talk within his circle.