Gardner

     Gardner, veteran raider leader of eleven years, proudly keeping a gang in the old art museum south of Diamond City. He took a shining to the place the moment he laid eyes on it, choosing to honor its history by filling the dusty halls with displays of his own.

     Here is the scorched chest piece of a rival gang leader. This is the smashed remains of a door that stood between him and a fleeing traitor. A more recent addition is both hands of a thief, still sporting the nails used to keep them in place for the axe.

     And this is where he will place the head of the bastard that took his leg.

    Backstory

2255, the Capital Wasteland: the Brotherhood of Steel launch an assault on a raider camp that had overtaken a small recon team. In addition to rescuing the sole survivor, they also discover an infant. He is adopted and raised into the ranks as a Scribe. Given the name Thomas Gardner, he is told that his parents were Brotherhood Knights killed separately in action. He believes them.

     2275. Scribe Gardner directs his aptitude for medicine and chemistry to experimenting with new chems. He becomes addicted to them in the process, leaving the Citadel frequently to find his fix.

     2277. Gardner does some research into his family. He discovers that the people he was told were his mother and father were indeed Knights killed in action- but that was twenty-four years ago in California. The truth is broken to him that is the child of raiders who the Brotherhood had murdered. Confused and enraged, Gardner leaves the Citadel in a fit. He is expected to return. He never does.

     2288, the Commonwealth: Feared and successful raider lord Gardner catches wind that a pesky urban legend is for sale by super mutants. Despite the protests of his gang that this is a trap, he goes along with it. The tower man is presented to him and he agrees to buy him. But the tower man makes an escape instead, slitting Gardner’s throat with a piece of glass and leaving him to choke on his blood. The mutants blame Gardner for the disaster and promptly chop off his leg below the knee as punishment.

     Gardner is a smart man. His gang was prompted to follow him if he was gone for too long. They soon flooded the building, slayed the mutants, and then helped to cauterize his leg and treat his neck under Gardner’s instruction.

     Gardner doesn’t let people get away with tricking him. Never again.

    Personality

     Aloof, slimy, smart, manipulative. Oddly approachable for a raider lord, but that isn’t saying much. While he has no interest in being an aggressive monster all of the time, he is especially regarded for his brutality and creativity. His people know best that he can turn it on and off like the flip of a switch.

     Gardner likes to lounge in his room at the museum, listen to music, and patrol the grounds to check on everyone. He gets cabin fever once in a while and makes trips to Goodneighbor. Sometimes the responsibilities of his gang tire him out and he’d rather have anyone else deal with it. Too bad he knows anyone else would fuck it up.

     Despite not sharing his history with his members, he did very well as a Brotherhood Scribe and applies a lot of his teachings to running the gang. He's good at coordinating scavenging runs and is a decent tactician. His real talent lies with medicine and making chems, though he doesn't get around to it much. It leaves a bad taste in his mouth.