Nate

Nate
Nate getting ready in the morning
Aliases	Sole Survivor The Man out of Time
Affiliation	U.S. Army (formerly) Railroad (formerly) Brotherhood of Steel (formerly) Minutemen
Role	General
Biographical Information
Marital status	Widowed
Birth	September 5, 2047
Family	Wife: Nora Dunne (Née Henderson) † Son: Shaun Dunne †
Physical Description
Race	Caucasian Human
Gender	Male
Age	30 (biologically) 240 (actually)
Hair Color	Black
Eye Color	Hazel Brown
Height	6' 0"
Weight	175 lbs

Nathan 'Nate' Dunne was a pre-war resident of the gated community, 'Sanctuary Hills' just outside the town of Concord in Middlesex County, New England Commonwealth. And now the leader of the Minutemen of the Commonwealth Wasteland. 

He is one of the few who survived the great war that destroyed the world in nuclear fire on October 23, 2077.

Biography

Background

born September 5th, 2047 in Philadelphia, Eastern Commonwealth and orphaned when he was only two years of age, as a result Nate never really knew his biological parents or family. He was raised in an orphanage until he was eighteen when he took most of the money he accrued from working at a local diner waiting tables, and moved to New York City. Here Nate was supposed to get a job through a connection from the orphanage. Sadly due to the "Hot Summer" disaster the job opportunity never came through and just like that Nate was out in the world with no safety net, family or prospects in life. Not willing to fall into a life of homelessness and destitution in the big city however, Nate decided to enlist in the army; which had increased its recruitment drive ever since the 2052 disbandment of the United Nations.

Nate was accepted into the military and after basic training, joined the 2nd Battalion of the 108th Infantry Regiment, based in Utica. Almost a year later, in the winter of 2066, China invaded Alaska and Nate was sent to war. For about three years Nate served in the Sino-American war. But when he sustained a shrapnel wound during the liberation of Fairbanks he was sent back south to recuperate. Once fully healed Nate was given the Purple Heart and Distinguished Service Cross for his bravery in the field. After that he was offered another post and for the next five years Nate served mostly as a staff officer back in Utica with the occasional return to Alaska. While on leave in 2072 he met recent Harvard Law graduate, Nora Henderson in a New York City bar. At first Nate was too embarrassed to talk to her thinking he didn't deserve someone of her caliber but they soon became best friends and later, lovers. At the end of his term in the military Nate was honorably discharged in 2074. Nate and Nora got married shortly there after and with some savings in their bank account, they move to Boston. Nora knew the city from her Harvard days and it was also one of the safer cities of the United States at the time. In 2076 they move again, this time to the suburbs in Concord, north of Boston. By this point even Boston was getting unsafe with riots becoming a frequent occurrence. Another reason for why they were moving out of the city was because Nora was expecting. In 2077 their son, Shaun is born.

War Never Changes

October 23 2077 was the day the great war that wiped out most life on earth through nuclear exchange occurred. That morning Nate was preparing for an event at the veteran's hall in Concord when he and his family were informed by a Vault-Tec representative that they had been pre-approved admittance to the nearby Vault; 'Vault 111'. At first skeptical, and not at all interested, Nate agreed to submit his family to the program upon Nora's insistence. Not even an hour later the news broke of nuclear war and the Dunne family had to find shelter at that local vault along with the other pre-approved neighbors of Sanctuary Hills. After having entered the vault, the family, along with the other admitted residents were railroaded into the Vault-Tec corporate nuclear fallout shelter process. They were forced to leave belongings at the entrance hall, scanned and measured, and eventually given a form-fitting vault suit, designed for durability and recognition. Nate tried his best to calm his wife and son in this confusing time before being asked to step into a peculiar pod across from the one his wife and son would occupy. When all residents were ready, they were all placed in cryo-sleep by Vault-Tec's scientist personnel, all under the guise of decontamination prior to entering the main vault. Nathan could feel consciousness slip away as he looked through the little pod window at Nore and Shaun.

Out of Time

At some unspecified time the Dunne family is awakened from cryo-sleep by mysterious scientists led by a gruff mercenary type. Nate had to watch helplessly as Nora's pod was opened and their son, Shaun, taken. Not only that but Nora was shot by the mercenary in her attempt to stop the strangers from kidnapping her child. The pods' cryo-sleep was re-activated after the strangers got what they came for, despite the mess they left behind.

Nate woke up once more after that. This time a system-wide failure had seemingly allowed his pod to open and allowed him out into the vault. For him it felt as if mere minutes had passed since they first ascended into stasis. Hurriedly he used the manual override to open Nora's stasis pod but he was too late; his wife had died. Holding on to her thawing hand, he promised to find who had done this and to get Shaun back.

The rest of the vault appeared deserted. For quite some time too. What remained of the staff having been reduced to naught but decaying skeletal remains making Nate wonder how long it had been. He eventually made it to the outside world by using one of the dead Vault-Tec staffer's wrist-mounted Pipboy computers to open the Vault door and access the elevator. Up there he finally saw the aftermath of nuclear war; a land of destruction and death. The verdant lawns and pastel colors of Sanctuary Hills had faded away along with any semblance of life. The trees were leafless, the decayed remains of the soldiers and civilians that were taken by the blast lay half buried in the ground. The houses that remained standing were rusted and broken, as were the cars.

Though Nate discovered that, miraculously, the family household robot, Codsworth had endured. Desperate for answers and with his priorities jumbled, Nate tried to ask the it if he had seen the kidnappers pass through so he could go after them but was stumped to find out it had been two hundred and ten years since he and his family had entered the vault. Two centuries had passed and the world still looked like it had been bombed yesterday. Nate felt his heart sink when he realized there was practically nothing left anymore, but when Codsworth absent-mindedly revealed people were still alive in Concord Nate pulled himself together and decided to set out, for he still had to find Shaun. He had promised Nora. Perhaps those people could tell him about the kidnappers that had taken his son. That bunch of characters from the vault, the scientists and the mercenary with a baby would've certainly left an impression.

Leaving Codsworth and Sanctuary Hills behind, Nate wandered south towards town but on the way down noticed he was perhaps ill-equipped to deal with this new situation. Wearing only a bright blue and gold skin-tight jump suit didn't really allow much in the way of carrying capacity so he decided to stop by the gas station on the road. At first, it appeared deserted: Eerily quiet, destroyed and ransacked. The ham radio he found out back in the shop didn't really help either. There was one sign of life however. A dog. Luckily not rabid or aggressive but curiously without an owner.

Human Error

(Nate's first introduction to the concept of synths)

Sifting through the Ruins of CIT

(Hearing talk of this 'institute' Nate, having lived before the war makes the connection that they might be referring to the old Commonwealth Institute of Technology in Cambridge. He only finds ruins but also picks up a radio message calling for aid at the police station)

Returning to Sanctuary

(Nate returns to Sanctuary to pay respects to his wife's grave)

Hunter/Hunted

(Doctor Amari tells of a faction that seems to know an awful lot about the Institute and how to find them, by following the Freedom Trail.)

Trying to get to the institute using the Railroad

Here Be Monsters

(Nate kills the Chinese submarine captain)

Realizing they're a bunch of ninnies, Nate goes to the one faction that seems to have its shit together

The Battle of Bunker Hill

(learning of the impending assault on Bunker Hill from the institute, Nate returns to the brotherhood and informs them of this plan like a good soldier despite being conflicted. They win the battle for Bunker Hill over the Institute and the Railroad)

Banished From The Institute

(Heated exchange with Nate and Shaun)

Returning to Sanctuary

(Returning from their mission to "kill" Virgil in the glowing sea, Nate decides for him and Dance to swing by Sanctuary once more to pay respects to Nora's grave.)

The First Step

(Nate agrees to help Preston with a settlement but when he offers Nate the chance to become the leader for their new minutemen the knight declines, having Dance with him and feeling confident with his new faction)

Leaving the Brotherhood because he feels betrayed and purposeless in the wasteland, Nate becomes a Mercenary!

Kid In A Fridge

(Nate's heart thaws a bit when faced with the ruins of Quincy and seeing the ruins of the minutemen)

With Valentine asking for help Nate agrees, perhaps there is more to life than oddjobs.

Cleansing The Land

(Nate infiltrates the Nucleus and detonates the nuclear bomb, destroying the children of Atom because they're a creepy cult)

The Way Life Should Be

(DiMa goes down to Far Harbor to reason with the humans but to no avail. Acadia gets massacred with Nate and Valentine powerless to stop it.)

Nate discovers he needs to take destiny into his own hands and returns to the minutemen in Sanctuary to make it happen.

Form Ranks

(Nate returns to Preston and takes him up on that offer of becoming the leader of the minutemen. Together they rebuilt in an effort to make a better Commonwealth for all.)

In Sheep's Clothing

(Discovering that the mayor of Diamond City was a synth replica was the lest straw. The institute needs to be dealt with)

Automatron quests?

(more to be added)

Personality

S.P.E.C.I.A.L.

• Strength: 6
• Perception: 7
• Endurance: 7
• Charisma: 5
• Intelligence: 5
• Agility: 6
• Luck: 3

Psyche

Nate never had many close relationships. From his time in the orphanage to becoming leader of the minutemen, the amount of friends he has had could be counted on one hand. Not that he is particularly anti-social but circumstances beyond his control never allowed him to get close to people, bar a select few, for whom he cares deeply as a result. Because of his relatively independent streak and army training he can compartmentalize and metabolize psychological trauma, allowing him to keep functioning. This has served him well in the unforgiving wasteland.

(more to be added)

Trivia

• The 108th Infantry Regiment is a real regiment of the New York Army National Guard, created in 1898. The 2nd Battalion currently serves as its only existing battalion.
• The voice actor for Nate, Brain T. Delaney hails from Philadelphia as well.
• In the Tales of the Wastes canon, Naomi Eastwood is the Sole Survivor.