Lawton Krase

Concept: Mercenary Wanna-be

AKA: His real first name is Calvin. He is not a fan of his first name.

Desc:  Barrel-chested. Moves like a martial artist. Close cropped hair and the kind of handlebar mustache that firefighters cultivate. (Fun fact: Firefighters cultivate that sort of facial hair because it’s the only kind they are allowed to. Beards and other configurations of facial hair prevent a good seal on the face mask. It’s the same reason Lawton cultivates his that way. He’s a total pussy when it comes to tear gas.) Nervous energy pervades him. He’d just as soon be up and pacing. Or sitting back and whittling something. Tends to tan well.

Sleeves of tats. But not much anywhere else. Muscle-y as all get out.

History: There are people who are interested in living a life filled with action and excitement. The sort of people who are willing to make an effort to learn tactics and combat skills and be willing to be shot at in picaresque shit-holes all over the world. Some seek the rough virtue of the life of a masterless samurai and the lucrative life of a killer for hire.

Lawton is, to put it mildly, one of those sorts of persons.

It’s so sad that he’s not particularly good at it.

Lawton is, perhaps too excitable for the work of a mercenary. His military training was truncated by the fact that he washed out for psychological reasons. His martial arts training came from a belt factory. He’s actually a decent shot, but his nervous system is a hot mess from Speed and Amphetamine abuse.

   Ordinarily, this would be enough to make certain that he wouldn’t be able to make it in such a rarified career. But sadly Lawton talks a real good game. (And is dumb lucky about surviving in the field.)

    In fact, Lawton is, technically speaking, a pathological liar. It’s not that he’s necessarily a bad guy, but he talks so much that eventually, he’ll tell you all the factual information about himself. in order to keep talking, he occasionally has to make things up.

Lawton does have the ability to project an air of complete confidence. And this usually makes it possible for him to get “Work” but it never seems to last for long. He can keep civilians completely buffaloed, but real professionals eventually see through his act.

   He’s done some things. Shot some people. He’s also screwed up a number of operations, usually through poor judgment or his own excitability. He hasn’t gotten a reputation for it yet, but it’s only a matter of time.

Attitude:  “So I was doing this thing in Angola. A little search and rescue op. And one of my guys gets his rappelling gear knotted as he’s making his descent. He’s hanging there all upside down in front of the window, and we can’t blow the charges because of it...So..I give the order and cut his line. Jacked up his back for about a month. But we got the hostages out at least. Can’t remember that dude's name, though. Kind of a screw-up. Know what I mean?”

Skills: He’s strong and has a lot of stamina, but not particularly dextrous. He’s got some presence and manipulation, but can sometimes flip out in the face of a tight situation. Mentally, well. He’s not nearly as smart as he thinks he is. He’s the Dunning-Kruger poster boy.

He’s not exactly unskilled. He’s got some combat ability and he’s not a bad shot, but I wouldn’t give him more than 2 dots in anything. He just doesn’t have the discipline for it.

Gear: Like most people who aren’t really all that skilled, he’s got a relatively serious collection of weapons. I can’t remember right off the top of my head what book it’s in, but there is a merit called “Arsenal”  I’d say he’s got about 3-4 dots of sidearms and a dot of long arms. (One really well cared for Dragunov sniper rifle that seen some actual use.) He’s got some mil-spec armor, Ultraviolet laser sights and low light gear for those sorts of operations.

He also has access to smoke, stun, and gas grenades. Most of his firearms are silenced. Properly kitted out he looks every inch the bad-ass he thinks he is.

Home: Lawton lives with a certain amount of “operational paranoia”.  He owns a mobile home in a circular trailer park. Only one access in and out. Enough trees to occlude a snipers sight lines. Money in the freezer and 2 separate safety deposit boxes. fake documents (Shitty ones, not Clavo’s work) and a getaway bag next to the hatch that opens into the crawl space. The pick-up truck is souped up and ready to run, should things get hairy enough for a disappearing act.

Circle: As you can imagine, not much of a social bee. He can turn on the charm like a sociopath when he’s looking to get merc work. But he keeps to himself mostly. On those occasions when he’s got extra money he tends to spend it on guns, expensive whiskey and cheap whores.

Story Uses:

“You can relax little lady. This ain’t my first rodeo.”

It’s going to be a sad night for anyone who hires Lawton for any kind of special ops work. Or answers his classified ad.  His poor judgment is likely to ruin any bit of action he gets involved in and he’s liable to lie like crazy after the fact. And god help you ALL if he ever ends up in a position of command.

“Don’t worry sir. I’ll handle it.”

On the other hand, if someone were to take Lawton “In hand” and give him some better training and discipline, he might turn out to be damn useful.  And you know what, he might even make a great retainer for someone if they can put up with his constantly running mouth.

Connections:

Immanuel Washington has had some dealings with Lawton. If Washington thinks anything about Krase at all. it is that he is dangerously undertrained, emotionally unstable, and worse, not very professional. Washington won't kill him out of hand or anything, but if they end up on opposite sides of something, He'll put him down without a second thought.

Although they've never met, He's done some cut-out work for Don Pentangelli. Mixed results naturally.

He's had "dealings" with a number of the girls from Bryson Import/Export back in the days when that other guy ran them. Now they're a little out of his price range.

Has bought a fair share of under the table weaponry off of Homer Conway.

Occasionally, The Vermillion House has uses for men like Lawton. In fact, he's usually along for one of those collection runs of theirs.  He CAN at least keep his mouth shut about that stuff. He's seen what happens to people who don't.