Charlie Steelstrong

Nobody ever calls Charlie Steelstrong by his name. It's always "Boss" for the friends, "Mister Steelstrong" for the others. Well, he rarely meets somebody who isn't one of his employees, so...

Charlie Steelstrong is the leader of the Caravan house of the same name, specialized in the food deliveries between Moderato-City (Saint Louis, Missouri) and Inuvik (Phoenix, Arizona). He's a powerful man, who twice took the role of city president, and whose conflict with the Selfmads created the war against the Hive.

Among his employees, we can count the whole Avarroes family. Sixte also worked with him for a while.

THE RISE OF THE CARAVANER

Charlie Steelstrong was born just after the No-return, in a refugee camp held by what remained of the military at the time. He has no memory of such place, but he always remembers his mother saying : "never trust an army without a general."

He spent his first years on a truck, wandering around the wastes with his parents. They had a good heart, helping all the people they could on the road and it all seemed natural for Charlie, who helped at the task as soon as he was old enough. He and his family soon realized that they were becoming, without making it on purpose, ones of the firsts caravaners of no-return. The Steelstrong was a loving and working family, always supporting and loving each other.

They started to expand their activity, until a powerful but desperate hispanic man asked for the Steelstrong family to go to the state of New-Mexico, to find out what happened to his family. It was a long, risky trip, on unknown roads, so Charlie's parents left him at a client's house, while they'd try to go to their destination.

The mother's body was found two months later. When she was brought back, Charlie discovered the horrible truth about dying of starvation : his mother had to eat her husband to survive one week more than him. Charlie promised himself to do whatever he could so that such events could be avoided.

At 18, he went to the wastes and spotted an empty big building with large parking lots. All by himself, he repaired and brought back more than twelve trucks, and then, started to create a small team that could continue what Charlie's parents had begun.

Business was good for almost ten years, even if Charlie often had to deal with commercial opponents. At first, he was naïve and kind. But after he got beaten while an area of his building was set on fire, he started to fight back. His new recruits had to be as good in travelling as they were in beating people. Step by step, Charlie made his place among the traders and became somebody respected. He never allowed his men to kill opponents, always keeping a sense of honor in business, even if business can get physical sometimes.

His company was the first of all to have a research office, where he had a technician who made a lot to improve vehicles. Today, most of the customized cars and trucks have their original designs directly from Charlie Steenfort's idea.

When Quetzalcoatl IV, king of Mexico, decided to invade the north, Charlie Steenfort sent his caravaners to strenghten the frontline and even went to combat himself. Even though he got injured at the leg, he became lieutnant superior in quite a little time. It is a this moment he met his general, who told him, quite drunk, how he enjoyed the women prisonners, just like in his youth. Charlie understood quite clearly that his mother was raped, probably by this very general. So Charlie stabbed the man in his sleep and promised himself to never get involved with soldiers ever again.

He went back to Moderato-City and got married, having two daughters, Sofia and Clara.

THE POLITICAL FIGURE AND THE SACRIFICE

Back to business, Charles was proposed a political career, he accepted. He was twice the president of Moderato-City, leading the city for more than ten years, but some of his measures against the police force weren't very appreciated. A retired officer from Moderato-City police force decided to turn a radio on, inside Steelstrong Caravans & co.

The damages were important, but more shocking was the death of Clara, Charlie's daughter. Ravaged by the event, Charlie became more and more cold as the years passed, until becoming the man he is today : totally detached from any emotion. Cold, authoritary, efficient.

THE TENSION WITH THE SELFMADS

At the year 2086, Steelstrong Caravans & Co. was the only single company that the Selfmads didn't own yet. They rose up food prices, hoping for the company to go bankrupt so they could buy it a small price.

But they had Charlie Steelstrong on the way. And they learned not to mess with the boss.

Despite the riots of the starving people, Charlie refused to sell the company his parents, his daughter died for. He needed help from the king to financially resist to the Selfmads, but despite his influence, he was refused to meet Jeremiah II every time he asked. So, when one of his caravans, lead by the father of Sand and Victor Avarroes, mysteriously disappeared, he immediatly sent Victor to investigate.

He expected the monarchy to be somehow involved in that disapearance. If it was, due to some aristocrat's error, the king was officialy responsible and had to present his apologies to the master caravaner. Who would accept them, in exchange of some help with the Selfmads.

We will not reveal the events in this article. Simply, know that Charlie Steelstrong became one of the main investors in the project United, which goal was to unite all caravan companies into one, single and powerful force to overthrow the Selfmad government.

PERSONNALITY

Charlie Steelstrong is a broken man, whose only way not to go crazy was to destroy all emotions. He can be extremely cold and distant, authoritary and imposing. He has always been a charismatic figure, and even his limped leg only reminds people that the boss was once a decorated lieutnant, first in line at the front against the Tulars.

It is pratically impossible to trouble him. Don't ever think about trying to get him wrong about anything, because he will probably get mean and tell you things you'd wish nobody ever told you. This cold but honest character often troubles his family, he never shows affection to. A dinner with the family will always turn around the "business subject", since he will probably invite his associates.

He has no real personnal life, despite having a family he rarely speaks to. Victor has a bad memory about him, when he was invited to celebrate christmas with him. He expected some people, as he expected to see his boss have some fun, for once. No. He was alone at the table with him, and they said about five sentances of the whole evening.

But he stays a man of honor. Lucid, intelligent and brave, he can be hated, but nobody will ever deny that without him, the wastes would and will be a much worst place than what they are today.