Matevos

Matevos' paternal family migrated to America to avoid the political strife and violence occuring in their home country. They travelled from the east of America to the west in search of a life that best suited them, as the east was becoming more and more industrialized and they heavily preferred scenary that wasn't so restraining to their ways. Even when arriving in the (at this point) somewhat untouched west, they remained as nomads and lived off the land as much as they could. They opted to do minimal labor work for nearby mines or similar ventures in order to acquire the resources they needed when the land could not provide it for them (namely material currency).

Matevos' maternal family were doing their best to survive and maintain their identity due to constant displacement when they met the Barsamians. The two families connected over their shared grievances with how the land was being curated by certain other parties, deciding it best if they tried to establish a small living community together due to these similar beliefs. Matevos, along with his many siblings, were within the first generation of this union of families. He will never set foot in his father's family's homeland, but both of his parents made sure that their children would be able to lead satisfying lives in America despite their growing disconnection with their cultures.

Ever since a young age, Matevos had been very partial to animals, especially horses. Despite his love for them, he took on the role of a hunter, spending long hours out in the wilderness securing meals for his large family and community. He preferred it most to be deep within the plains, forests, mountains, deserts, and what have you, over the larger towns or cities he'd ocassionally need to visit for the sake of his loved ones. He began hunting using a bow gifted from his maternal family, but with time his father bought him a rifle to better hunt with (though Matevos still had the tendency to chase after small animals with his trusty knife). His love for creating maps began when both he and his family realized only Matevos knew the ins and outs of the wilderness and had the capability to chart it out (as other members of the community were good with orientation, of course, it was just that Matevos was the best at visualizing and routing it all out). Matevos' love of photography came later, when a camera miraculously came into his possession and he became fixated on capturing perfect pictures of his favourite things.

Initially, Matevos' family theorized why he was mute, attributing it to a head injury, a "choice," a curse, or for what it was: a neurodevelopmental disorder (though they did not use these words). His family did their best to accomodate for his muteness, but it was unavoidable for some to believe him to be "slow." Matevos also never developed a sure-fire way to communicate, which led to issues when it came to interacting with people outside of his community. For the most part, he was safe at home, and his mother especially desired for him to never truly leave them because she was afraid of how the "outside world" would treat him.

Inveitably, he had to face this "outside world" when his family's camp was raided by outlaw bandits. Everyone did their best to stay together, but Matevos was taken in a scuffle and eventually detained in a convuluted misunderstanding (exacerbated by circumstances outside of Matevos' control, such as his muteness and appearance). Matevos never had to serve time for his false transgression, however, since his prison wagon was intercepted before he had the chance to. The whole ordeal was taxing for Matevos-- a young, sheltered boy who didn't really know what was going on-- and so the people who inadvertently freed him (he was not their target) decided to guide him for a little while out of guilt, as Matevos' appearance and disposition were transparent enough to his nature to cause his saviours to feel such a way. They gave him tools and a gun of his own to protect himself, along with tricks on how to properly handle these resources (since he was used to handling a rifle in the environment of steady hunting, not fast-paced killing). Eventually, they parted ways with Matevos, not wanting to get attached to a sweet, young kid that's fate would (in their eyes) only lead to devastation.

Ever since then, Matevos has been using his prior skills as an animal hunter and recently-acquired skills as a bounty hunter to perform outlaw work and other jobs in order to get by, hoping to return to his family if he ever hears of their whereabouts. He also runs a small trade operation, which supports his love of hunting and spending time by himself out in the wild.

Others

In the beginning of his outlaw career, he meets a mentally unstable woman named Rat, who is in a similar situation to him. She was raised in an insecure household, survived a throat-crushing bear attack, and in general has been left worse for wares. Despite all of her grievances, she has proven a good ally and friend to Matevos, and the two of them have spent much time together gathering money to secure a better future for themselves. Due to Rat's shaky brain, she initially called Matevos "Maketos" for a while, believing it to be his actual name, which Matevos never really minded. The two of them form a rather informal posse called "The Deadheads", which refers to how they are similarly percieved as such.

Matevos' character in Pacey & Thae's story probably somewhat differs from his original RDO-based lore, but not by too much.