[hider=Redding Schmidt][b]Name/Nicknames:[/b] Redding Schmidt

[b]Age:[/b] 29

[b]Gender:[/b] Male

[b]Appearance:[/b] [IMG]http://i65.tinypic.com/315ixc8.png[/IMG]

Clad in a somewhat ratty light green t-shirt and a dusty, scuffed leather jacket. Wears steel-toe work boots and a compact 9mm pistol tucked away in his pants. He stands at an even six feet and a modest enough amount of muscle keeps him from being gangly. His eyes are almost always low, dark bags standing out under them and a scraggly beard lines his jaw. He has a noticeable underbite and a crooked nose, a face just this side of handsome, taken a step further back by the Med-X, pills and alcohol.

[b]Race:[/b] Human

[b]Strengths:[/b] Redding can be a kind man and knows this can be useful 

He's a tough individual, growing up on the streets, he won't shrink away from hard words.

His loyalty to the friends he has is limitless, having lost the love of his mother and growing up with a shit father.

He always tries very hard to use violence as the last resort. It's bad business to beat people to death if they don't need to be dead.

[b]Weaknesses:[/b] Redding has a mean streak to contrast his niceness, he can get very violent.

Alcoholism, though highly functioning, is a side effect of using alcohol as a maintenance drug for chems and very rare prescription drugs.

He can not sleep unless he is drugged or drunk and this puts him on edge, or can lead to him being somewhat robbed of his energy.

[b]Personality:[/b] Redding tries to be a good man when he can, it's just too bad he's made a career of doing things he doesn't like. In another time, they say he could've been a good guitarist, but his voice isn't anything to write home about on account of the smoking. To any who meet Redding, he comes off as cold and businesslike, but you'd find he was only shy, but mostly very knowing of the fact people in his line of work don't live long enough to become good friends or end up on the other side of his gun for one reason or another. 

[b]Skills/Attributes:[/b] [u][b]Violence Savvy:[/b][/u] His father taught him how to take punches, his friends taught him how to throw them. Growing up with a street gang as family does things to a man, even one who started out as meek and helpless as Redding. He shrank away from violence, but when he found his brothers, he turned his self-loathing outwards and became the man he is today. He's a good shot, he has quick hands and no fear of a sharp edge.

[u][b]Face of a Thug:[/b][/u] He's also learned to cultivate an aura of fear about him, as it's less how you feel about a violent situation as much as those others in it feel about you. Put on a mean face and people tend not to fuck with you. As a man whose job is to squeeze people for their very last cap, he knows how to do this very well.

[b]Back-story:[/b] Mentioning the Brothers Schmidt's names is enough to have your tongue ripped out of your mouth in many dive bars in North Vegas. The eldest and de facto leader, Craig Schmidt is a name both respected and hated, depending on who you ask and his three brothers below him in station and age are all names just as known- Simon, Jaime and Redding. All three are known for different things, Simon for his quick tongue and womanizing, Jaime for his size and rough features and Redding for helping Jaime settle disputes some might have with the Schmidts. And his taste for the drugs.

Left to their own devices when Craig was of age in the Mojave, the brothers sought their fortunes in the much more turbulent New California Republic crime world. The Families and street gangs there were in an everlasting battle for petty reasons. The one thing that drew them there was that the Families were willing to pay those who were willing to settle their petty disputes. Taken in by a minor gangster who was tenth in line for inheritance as patriarch of the Family but whose ambition and greed reached far beyond what he could achieve by himself, the brothers Schmidt were given the best lessons money could buy. Almost Dons themselves when it came to their wallets, the thing that kept them there were their willingness to do what it took to keep themselves at that position. The things they were told to do was anything from blackmail to murder. One such Schmidt excelled at the art of killing.

It would be years before their young employer would be killed in a fistfight, in which he met his opponent on the backstreets but was shot by hired thugs, thus losing fair and square- this obviously using the crooked rules of 'who-has-the-biggest-gun'. Of course, in order to keep their heads and their money, they joined with the obvious winner of the fight in a show of goodwill and professionalism. Two years in service to a man named Vincent de Courmier and they worked with more freedom in what they chose to do, enjoying their place in a growing empire in the underworld. Redding and Jaime began spending more time around the chems and alcohol and developed a taste for it, Redding much more than Jaime. It was also around this time that Redding began a romantic relationship with a girl named Teresa. Redding’s taste for chems and drugs only worsened over time, left unchecked in his frequent absences from his brothers.

It was to the point at one time where Redding had stopped working for money and started accepting drugs as payment. Craig would not stand for this, neither from Vincent nor Redding. Craig took it up with Vincent and failing to reach an agreement, Jaime broke the man’s spine and they took their brother away from Vincent. They skipped town, selling their services to some upstart drug dealer in an insignificant town. Despite their assistance, the small-time pusher still managed to get himself killed and the Brothers Schmidt earned a price on their heads on behalf of the town's sheriff. It was around this time, after three years of hiding and the anniversary of their most recent defeat, that Redding decided to cut ties with his brothers and move on to a shiny town full of opportunity named New Reno.

It was upon stepping onto those streets that Redding did what he knew best. An enterprising family called the Lazzaris had been making moves just recently when he'd arrived, and what better opportunity for employment than to loan yourself out to the underdog. It was through working with the Lazzaris and other smaller names that he earned his own reputation in New Reno as a brutal and efficient enforcer, alongside another upstart named Joel. Sticking to his professionalism, he kept a wide berth from Joel when they weren't catching the same jobs, but a healthy respect was there between the two. Fast forward a year and a half and Redding had managed to cut a deal with a man named Ramirez, the second in command of a small street gang calling themselves the Serpiente Familia. Through a string of brutal killings, he and Ramirez established themselves and staked a claim on the Familia's old turf, building a small area of influence where only they could push Redding's hookers and drugs. Over the next year and a half, Redding has established a small but steady business. Under the radar with a small amount of turf, but that's how he likes it these days.

[b]Belongings:[/b] Currency: 270 caps, (46/50 usually on his person, -2 for various expenses)
Weapons: Sig p938 (1/2 magazines), a 4 inch boot knife, 12 gauge coach gun (17 shells)
(Kept at apartment: An AKS74u, a Tec-9, 2 .38 snub-nosed revolvers, 1 pump action 20 gauge shotgun, 1 lever-action 12 gauge shotgun, four grenades and a sizable stockpile of ammunition for all of these weapons)
Clothing: Clad in a somewhat ratty light green t-shirt and a dusty, scuffed leather jacket. Wears steel-toe work boots and jeans.
(kept at apartment: 2 combat armor chest pieces(sturdy) w/ molle pouches for mags, a combat armor helmet)
Provisions: A covered syringe of Med-X, ready for use
A pack of (8/10) cigarillos
(Kept at apartment: A week's worth of food and 2 weeks of water, a box of 100 cigarillos and a suitcase that used to be filled with an assortment of drugs.)[/hider]