Sam Jones

Name: Sam Jones
Character model: Markus Barnes
Age: 24 years old
PoB: South England
Skill: Overtime

Samuel Jones was born on a small farm in a rural area of England. He grew up learning how to work a farm from his father, a former soldier in the Queen's army. Sam was a hard worker from a young age, spending hours upon hours in the fields around his family's farmhouse picking crops and tending the animals. He rarely grew tired and the heat or cold never bothered him much.

His mother didn't work much his father preferred for her to take care of the house and make meals for him and Sam and she spent most days when not cooking or cleaning relaxing on the porch in her chair reading the news and watching the men work. It was she who taught him the value of onions and taught him to trust in them. He grew fond of them and used them for many different things as he got older.

On Sam's 17th birthday, while he was picking a fresh batch of onions, a small mounted company of the Queen's royal guard arrived on the farm, attempting to conscript Sam into the military to fight the rebels who were attempting to dethrone the Queen. Sam refused and his father tried to fight back the men but he was beaten and nearly shot and left lying in the fields as the men bound Sam's hands and hauled him away from the farm, his mother knelt over his father's unconscious body screaming and crying as she watched him go.

They trained him with a musket and flintlock and he fought them many times, physically and mentally, many times striking his superior officers in anger but eventually he gave in. He found he was a decent shot but he missed his farm and onions greatly. After a few years in the military and having still not seen combat he deserted the base camp one night with a flintlock and he was found in the morning sleeping beneath a tree by a few soldiers who'd been sent after him and tracked him there.

They decided to shoot him there and make it look like he'd drawn. They didn't want a deserter in their ranks and they fired on him but he rolled and came up with the flintlock and shot the first man through the throat and fell upon the other two knocking them from their mounts and pulling a knife from one of the men the three struggled in the dirt for a long time before Sam was stabbed in the side and punched as he sunk the blade in his own hands into the chest of the man beneath him.

The final soldier attempted to beat him to death with a rock but a hermit who'd been living in the woods found the two wrestling beside the dead bodies of the other two men and the hermit shot the final soldier with a hand-made bow and arrow and dragged him off of Sam. The hermit was very kind to him, being a deserter of the military himself he allowed Sam to stay in his hut for a few days while he healed. The man had little to eat save for some homemade bread and onions which he'd grown himself.

Sam survived on mostly onions and water for those days and when he was well enough he told the hermit he was leaving so as not to cause the man any further trouble. The hermit insisted the boy take his young mule, named Mary Lou. After some hesitation Sam agreed and set off from the woods riding Mary Lou.

He rode for days and saw very little in that empty rural country and Mary Lou grew very tired as they rode on. He finally found a small port town where a massive ship was preparing to leave. Sam met the captain at the docks and he was informed that the boat was on a journey to a new world, away from the tyranny of the Queen and any able-bodied person was free to join. Sam asked if they allowed mules on-board and they did so he and Mary Lou boarded the ship and were placed below deck with a great deal of other people.

The voyage was long and uncomfortable, often torturous due to the lack of food and available adequate space for all of the people on-board. When the ship crashed Sam carried Mary Lou to shore, making sure she was okay as he watched the ship sink against the shore of the new world. He could see the sparse hot country before him that he'd not seen before. The wide open spaces reminded him of home.

He walked Mary Lou out of the plains, being aware of the gaze within the trees surrounding the edge of the plains, reaching back into the massive forest which he avoided. He made his way west over the next few days, being very careful to keep Mary Lou rested in the immense heat. He found a small ranch which was sparsely inhabited and he spent a few weeks working for the owner before he was given access to the onions in the fields which he gathered up into a sack, the owner of the ranch giving him tips on how to better grow them and Sam set off further west.

He stood at the edge of a high cliff and he could see for miles wide-open country before him. A small town down below with a few buildings, a church further south which looked broken down. He made his way down towards the town, seeing a sign outside which read "Armadillo". The sign had been shot through several times and was barely legible.

He rented a room in the barn behind the saloon with the money he'd earned from the ranch and he quite liked the town. He spent his days planting fresh onions out behind the stables and tending them. He spent his evenings selling the onions from the ranch owner and watching the beautiful school teacher at the edge of town. He was finally happy and free again.