Nate Reynolds

From Stormravengaming

Background

Nate Reynolds (aka Nathan Reynolds, aka Scout) was born Brisco County, III, in 1897 in Jacksonville, Oregon, to Brisco County, Jr. and Dixie County.

Early life

By the time the turn of the century rolled around, it was already clear that the enemies Brisco had made during his career as a bounty hunter and government would endanger his young son's life.

It was also already obvious by this point as well that Brisco and Lord Bowler were not aging, or were doing so very slowly. In Brisco's final confrontation with John Bly, Bowler was killed. Brisco used the power of the Orb to remake events and prevent Bowler's death. Brisco himself, near death, was healed by an orb earlier that year while on Bly's trail. These events both apparently had the permanent effect of protecting each from the ravages of time.

Although the orbs themselves had passed back to the far future, one orb rod from a damaged orb remained. With the assistance of Professor Wickwire, Brisco discovered how to use the rod to confer his agelessness to his son--deferring the transfer until the point of the boy's "maturity." Brisco understood that Dixie had no such protection, and preferred to grow old with her than live Lord Bowler's deathless life.

The pair dubbed the boy "Nathan Reynolds" and sent him to be fostered by Lord Bowler. Socrates Poole, Bowler's butler (and, eventually, his wife) all looked after the child while Bowler was away. When Nate grew of age, Bowler took the boy with him, training him in the traditional (and dying) arts of a western bounty hunter. Bowler was perhaps one of the greatest trackers of the American West, and this skill he imparted to young Nate, along with marksmanship and brawling.

The Agency

Following his father's notion that an academic education was as valuable as a practical one, Nate was accepted to Harvard (his father's alma mater) in 1915. Excited by the theories of Albert Einstein, just then being publicized, he majored in physics. His education was interrupted by the American entry into World War I, when he volunteered as a pilot. He served with distinction, returning to Harvard to complete his education. His wartime experience had given him a far different perspective on his fellow man, and he found himself far more interested in philosophy, psychology and sociology than in science.

He was also fired with a new zeal for his country. Having long had "unofficial knowledge" of the Agency (and it of him) it was a quick matter to enroll as one of its Agents. Already trained by the famous Lord Bowler, he received comprehensive training in spycraft, exotic technologies, and even magic and the supernatural. His codename within the Agency was "Scout," a reference to his astounding ability to track under any conditions, as well as a reference to his personal motto: "be prepared."

During the interwar years, Nate was most active, proving himself to be capable and able to achieve the balance between ruthlessness and mercy than any organization beyond the law must achieve, lest it become villainous. At around the age of 38, due to some trauma suffered in the Southwest, his "protection" kicked in and he became forever a vigorous, (very) handsome man of middle years.

Rasputin

The beautiful Priscilla Baxter was too good to be believed: a perfectly loyal American, born in Chicago; beautiful, smart and capable, with enough of a hard edge to make tough calls and take care of The Agency's business. In the event she was too good to be believed: her extensive background was fabricated, buoyed up against the Agency's best psychic investigators by an unbelievable psychic talent. Her childhood friends, "family" and the rest all brainwashed with false memories and mind control. She was recruited during the crisis years of 1939-40, and very popular among the Agency staff. Nate fell for her, hard.

The Agency was of course highly aware of the Manhattan Project and its details. As the U.S. neared its first test of a nuclear weapon, Rasputin was activated. She tortured and killed The Official, and escaped with some of the highest secrets of the U.S. government, including details that would put the Soviet Union years ahead of the United States in nuclear development. Rasputin must be apprehended, and there was only one tracker in the world who could possibly follow her trail: Brisco County, III. Nate Reynolds.

As the senior Agent, Reynolds became The Official. He ordered Agency HQ evacuated, everything destroyed. He created separate cells and sent them to different parts of the country. He ensured the ailing President Roosevelt would not tell his successor about The Agency. He made sure he did not know where his Agents were going and submerged the entire structure of The Agency.

Then he armed himself. Lord Bowler's sawed-off shotgun. His father's ivory-handled pistol, which belonged to his father before him, with grips carved into relief by the magician Li Pao. A burned orb rod from the twenty-seventh century, of unknown abilities.

Three years of following the trail of a woman who could make anyone she met believe anything she wanted. He finally caught up with her during the Berlin Airlift in 1948, on the verge of crossing to the Soviet quarter. Deeming her to be too much of a danger to imprison, he terminated her.

The experience of pursuing Rasputin and neutralizing her had consumed all of Reynolds' resources. He retreated to the wildlands of the American West, remaining a recluse for years.