Samuel Fence

[Nokame]

[Hello everyone. Get your first look at F4's new leader. Hope you all like it.]

NAME: Samuel Fence

AGE: 45

SPECIES: Grizzly bear

ALIGNMENT: Neutral

GENERAL LOOKS: Samuel looks like any average anthro bear. His fur is a deep brown chocolate color, which he keeps very well groomed and slick with copious amounts of expensive gel when he is in the office. White hairs are beginning to appear, and he has also spent much money to hide these.

CLOTHING: At work and in public, Samuel always dresses in nothing less than the most expensive business attire. His shoes alone are worth a few thousand dollars. Each. It is rare to see him without a pricey business suit with a matching shirt and tie chosen by his own professional stylist. He tries as hard as possible to look professional and legitimate whenever he thinks anybody important could be looking.

In private though, it is a rather different story. Samuel enjoys the great outdoors when he is not at work, so he has a section of his wardrobe at his mansion full of outdoor clothing. Vests, hiking boots, thick pants, etc. He often wears these when going around his huge private estate deep in the wilderness of the Mystic Ruins.

PERSONALITY: Samuel likes money. A lot. And he likes to play with his money. A lot. If he wants to buy something, he will get it. Money is no object to him. He bought a $30 million yacht he’s only used twice since he got it two years ago. And he doesn’t even care about the wasted cash. Long story short, he has dedicated his life to nothing but material pursuits, and he is only interested in being your friend if you can help enhance his wealth or the wealth of his company further.

He doesn't point blank display this mindset to everyone he meets, although it's not that hard to see. Regardless, he does realize that overtly showing his greed makes people unwilling to work with him, so he does try to be careful about showing respect to others, especially potential clients. Although as soon as their backs are turned, expect him to start screaming at his bodyguards or his secretary or whatever.

BACKSTORY:
Samuel was born with a silver spoon in his mouth. His father owned a weapons manufacturing company named Fence Arms, that Samuel's grandfather owned before that. They were a well-respected weapons manufacturing firm, and many major world militaries used their products. Thus, with the wealth earned from his company, Samuel's father gave him anything his little heart desired. Samuel came to develop a very materialistic and spoiled brat mentality as his childhood flew by.

However, Samuel's father knew he would need a successor to take over the business when he retired, so he knew that his son needed to get prepared for that job. The father sent his son off (now aged 19) to the most prestigious business college on the planet...and within two weeks Samuel had been suspended for the semester and sent home. Samuel had caused nothing but trouble ever since he arrived on campus...between rampant partying, vandalism, bullying of other students, and just flat out refusing to do any of his schoolwork. He simply didn't understand that everyone wouldn't wait on him hand and foot there like he had been back at home.

His father was furious, and realized that if Samuel was to be molded into a model businessman, drastic measures needed to be taken. As punishment, Samuel was stripped of all of his priviledges at home for the remainder of the semester. No videogames, no vacations, no fast cars, no bottomless buffets at dinner, and so on. He was also demoted to the level of one of the estate's lowly servants. Samuel slept in the servants' quarters and did all the same work they did. And every chance he got, he kicked and screamed and shouted to anyone within earshot about how unfair this all was.

Although after about two weeks, he realized his father wasn't going to let him off the hook, and stopped resisting. He grudgingly and quietly carried out the rest of his punishment. Samuel learned a little bit about self-discipline and respect for authority during the time. However, the experience didn't change him that much. True, he became a much better student in the following semester, but he didn't do it because he felt like he learned some life lessons. Samuel only quietly behaved just so he wouldn't be punished again. The time at school passed without incident after that.

After he graduated, Samuel became his father's apprentice. Samuel followed his father everywhere, and learned all there was to know about Fence Arms. His father also did magnificent work at helping Samuel to apply concepts he learned in his classes to the real world matters of the company. Many years passed, and finally, the reins of the company were handed to Sam, as his father stepped down to retire.

While Fence Arms under Sam's father was known as an honest business, Samuel left a legacy of questionable business practices. Unlike his father, Samuel often engaged in corporate espionage. Rather than develop new products in R & D, he'd often hire private mercenaries to sneak out plans of new products from rival companies. With Fence Arms' vast resources, he was often able to dramatically improve another company's good idea, or at least make it different enough to where there wasn't a question of plagiarism. Then he patented the idea, and then it was his. More than once Fence Arms faced lawsuits, although with their crack legal team these weren't much of a problem.

Admittedly though the company enjoyed significant growth under these practices. Currently, Fence Arms manufactures hand-held small arms, advanced body armor and soldier uniforms, battlefield communications systems, larger weapons for vehicles, entire custom-made military vehicles (with a full line of land, sea, and air models), robots for use on the battlefield, and even nonlethal weapons for police like tazers. Fence Arms also employs a massive research and development division, that makes this wide portfolio of quality products possible. The firm enjoys a long-standing realtionship with many major militaries in the world, and for a good reason. They are at the cutting edge of weapons design, and any country who wants its soldiers back alive always considers Fence Arms first. GUN is their biggest client.

While most of the world is reeling at the devastation caused by Sarath's recent invasion, Samuel is actually relishing this recent development. He expects new orders and contracts to come pouring in from the world's militaries very soon, in addition to private citizens wanting firearms and such for personal protection.

He also sees another opportunity in F4's recent setbacks. Samuel has anonymously funded them several times before to blow up the factories of rival companies, in addition to stealing data on their new products. With F4 at its weakest point though, he sees the chance to just buy the entire organization, and then change it to suit his own needs. This businessman is about to get his own private army, and F4 will now be F4 in name only. However, F4 will have no idea who they will be working for, considering Samuel will never meet with them directly. He will always use messengers.

But one day...a very familiar black hedgehog named Shadow came crashing right through Sam's office window. Shadow had no idea why he was there...but he had finally fallen down to Earth after saving the planet from ARK two years earlier. At first Sam thought about just sending the hedgehog on his way...but then he decided to take advantage of his amnesia, and convinced Shadow to join his side. Shadow is now one of Sam's most powerful allies.


ABILITIES:
Leadership - As head of the most prestigious weapons firm on the planet, Samuel is no stranger to handling massive amounts of people at a time to accomplish his own ends. He speaks with a powerful voice and exudes authority. People who have met him for the first time often know that they better not screw with him, and do as he says.

Weapons knowledge - While Sam has never actually had to use his own products when his life is in danger, he knows about how many of the major ones work from top to bottom. This knowledge is used when he is doing demonstrations of his weapons for potential clients. So, if needed, he could possibly pick up one of his own assault rifles and wield it without much trouble. Or perhaps drive one of his own tanks. However, he has no real combat experience, so he would not be very useful in a fight. That's what his body guards are for.

WEAPONS:
He doesn't keep any on his person. But he always has a small group of bodyguards with him. Each one wields a small submachinegun made by Fence Arms, small enough to hide under a suit jacket.

STRENGTHS:
- very strong leadership skills
- vast amounts of wealth, resources, and protection
- a basic working knowledge of his own weapons
- has a strong motivation to succeed and dominate. This guy wants to be a winner.

WEAKNESSES:
- No real combat experience
- Not very physically adept
- Must rely on others for protection
- His desire to win can get him into battles he can't win.