Nikomedos's page

About Nikomedos

XP: 80/180

ATTRIBUTES
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Strength 10
Coordination 16
Observation 12
Stature 5
Luck 7
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SKILLS
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Fast Draw 13
Law 17
Literacy 16
Orienteering 14
Tracking 9

Pistols 3
Rifles 1
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COMBAT
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Careful Shot Chance 16 (19 pistol, 17 rifle)
Steady Shot Chance 8 (11 pistol, 9 rifle)
Hip Shot Chance 4 (7 pistol, 5 rifle)
Fanfire Chance 3
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EQUIPMENT
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Work outfit (Hat, shirt, vest, trousers, boots, gloves) ($18)
Plain suit with good hat($10)

Canteen ($1)
Dried beef, 1 lb. ($.20)
Mess kit ($2)
Survival rations, 4 days ($6)

Telescope ($6)

Cap and ball revolvers, 3 ($60)
--Holsters and belts, 3 ($15)
--54 rounds of ammunition ($1.08)
Hunting knife ($1)
Muzzle-loading rifle ($17)
--Rifle sheath ($4)
--12 rounds of ammunition ($.24)

Remaining funds: $14.48
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BACKGROUND
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Nikomedos Xanthapolous was born in America, his parents having emigrated after the Greek war for independence. Niko's father Sotirios had fought in the war as a soldier for Greece, but in the aftermath he realized that the United States could provide finer opportunities for himself and his young wife. They arrived in New York City and had moved as far west as Illinois by the time Niko was born, the second son and third child, in 1838.

Sotirios never spoke much about the war with his children, preferring to look to the future rather than the past. He'd been a lawyer in Greece before the war, and although he became a simple shopkeeper after moving to the U.S. (where a man who spoke as little English as Sotirios couldn't really hope to practice the law), he truly believed in that sometimes intangible hope: the American Dream. To Sotirios Xanthapolous, America represented a land of opportunity, where the sons of a Greek store clerk could rise to any occupation they sought. He taught his sons important lessons of life and survival--including how to handle a gun, which he knew was a necessary skill in the American frontier--and instilled in them a deep understanding of and respect for the law, and a strong sense of right and wrong.

Of course, the War of the States affected everyone in America, immigrants and their families included. When the conflict broke out, Sotirios and his sons, Niko and his older brother Theophilos, registered almost immediately, believing fully in the cause of the Union. Like most Illinois men, they fought extensively in the Western campaigns of the war, and suffered their personal losses, even if the war was won. Theophilos was hit almost directly by a cannon shot; Sotirios lost his good arm defending himself from a bayonet charge. Since it was so late in the war, Nikomedos was allowed to leave with his father, and the pair returned to western Illinois in the early spring of 1865. By the time the war was over, Niko was a well-learned student of the law even in official capacity.

In the light of what he'd seen and the way the world was turning, though, the young man couldn't see himself going into the typical route of law practice. On the battlefield, on the frontier--America was moving ever westward, and the terrain wasn't shaped to fit the perfect courtrooms that existed in the idealized minds of legal scholars. In the new West, criminals would strike and ride off; they could evade the courts thanks to unestablished legal systems, and even the traveling judges weren't equipped to hunt them down and bring them to justice.

Not long after the war, Niko received his father's blessing and set out to uphold the law and ensure that justice prevailed. The West is a dangerous place, and nice or not, it needs dangerous men to do even the right thing. Sometimes a six-gun and some grit can do more than a hardbound copy of the legal code, and sometimes the only recourse for a man lies at the end of a rope. It's been only a handful of years, but sooner or later "the Greek," as he's come to be called (due mostly to most folk having trouble remembering or pronouncing his name), is going to make his mark as a bounty hunter.