Fasthand
| Biological | |
| Full name: | Eric Freed |
|---|---|
| Born: | 21 WR |
| Birthplace: | Freed Homestead, Republic of West |
| Sex: | Male |
| Race: | Human |
| Hair: | Pale brown |
| Eyes: | Blue |
| Height: | 6'2" |
| Weight: | 230 lbs. |
| Personal | |
| Marital Status: | Single |
| Family/Relationships: | {{{family}}} |
| Religion: | None. |
| Title: | Best Crackshot in West |
| Nicknames: | Fasthand |
| Hobbies: | Maintaining his Kuat Motors TS-4 motorcycle |
| Known skills: | Expert marksmanship (handgun, shotgun, rifle), proficient CQC |
| Favorite color: | Red |
| Inspiration: | The late Marshal Travis Tooms, his late father Erasmus Freed |
| Motto: | "There are times when the only justice that works is the kind tha tcomes from the barrel of a gun." |
Eric Freed was born and raised on his family's homestead in the western parts of the Republic of West. The homestead had been in the family for three generations, situated on good, arable land and also possessing a small vein of magilyte under the property. The Freeds got by on the sale of their crops and the magilyte they occasionally mined out of the vein, and did have to deal with bouts of banditry, as brigands would attempt to steal the magilyte they extracted. To defend their property, the Freed sons developed great skills as marksmen. Erasmus Freed, the last Freed patriarch, instilled in his sons the same skill with gunmanship, until the tragic end of the family.
The Freeds had been approached by Lucius Blackmoor, a real estate lawyer, about selling their land to him. Given that their land was still profitable to them, the Freeds turned him down. Blackmoor, as part of an badly thought-out ambitious plan to buy up all the land he could and secede from West, then took the land by force. Using a large gang of bandits in his employ, the lawyer had the Freeds slaughtered and then stole the deeds and fudged the records to make them signed over to him.
The only snag was that Eric Freed survived the slaughter. Shot in the shoulder and believed to be dead, Eric hid in a crevasse until the bandits left, then took his brother's old motorcycle and drove to the nearest city, Walkerton, for medical treatment and to begin planning his vengeance.
It took eight years of training with his father's old six-shooter, eight years of roaming the deserts of West, before he finally tracked down Eagle Sharpe, the man who had killed his parents and led the attack on his family (and hailed as "the best crackshot west of Walkerton"), and Lucius Blackmoor, the man who'd ordered it done. In a small backwater mining town named Dirty Pool near the frontier, Eric -- now calling himself Fasthand -- confronted the society of gunslingers that Blackmoor had amassed, the Dead-Eye Society. The Society, in truth, was really comprised more of former bandits than more honorable gunslingers, but Sharpe commanded their respect and kept them in line.
Fasthand confronted the Dead-Eye Society and fought alongside a renowned Western Marshal, the "One-Eyed Jack" Travis Tooms, in a quick-draw tournament hosted by Blackmoor Realty, systematically dominating the competition, until Sharpe lay dead at Fasthand's hand. Tooms, unfortunately, had also been killed during the tournament, at Sharpe's hand. Fasthand, now commanding the Society's respect for so handily defeating their champion, was able to walk right up to Blackmoor, take back the deeds he'd stolen from both his family and all the others he'd ordered killed in his mad ambition, and shoot him dead.
After these events, Fasthand returned to Walkerton to deliver the news of Tooms' death and put the property deeds in the hands of government lawyers, who could make certain they got back in the hands of those to whom they belonged. Fasthand, meanwhile, was offered a position as a marshal, which he accepted. Currently, Fasthand is still in his probationary period, as he adjusts to his new occupation, but given his skill as a gunslinger and his reputation as the best crackshot in the Republic, it is presumed he will become a legend in time.
