Waylin Grey

Waylin Grey is a character role-played by The_Hug_Dealer.

Backstory
Born in the bayous of Louisiana, Waylin Arthur Grey’s upbringing was not one of a standard home. Drug abuse and poverty lead the six siblings of the Grey home to raise themselves. This struggle to survive would later create the man he is today. As the eldest child, responsibility weighed heavy on the boy, frequently navigating his mother’s overdosing and his father’s abusive nature. It was the 1960s, cocaine and heroin riddled the streets in his youth, and the unsolved homicide rate coined this era of Louisiana history as the “Dark Bayou”. By the age of ten, Mrs. Grey grew tired of the destructive home and, in a drug induced state, declared Waylin the man of the home. In a quest for approval, Waylin was instructed to burn the remains of his mysteriously now deceased father and truly become the man of the home.

''Tears showed weakness. Fear showed weakness. Emotion showed weakness.''

For the first time in what appeared to be many years, Waylin’s mother embraced the child as they watched the remains of his father return to the earth in the flames of an old tire burn pit just south of the family home. Baptized by fire and earning respect, Waylin finally felt accepted.

We all find ways to cope with childhood trauma, and the new man of the house was no different. Although a paranoid mother would not allow the children much exposure to the outside world, Waylin found peace in an old bible within the home.

There was something in vengeance and wraith that spoke to him. A clear message of just how far from nature the world had become. As his mother’s acceptance was once what guided him, time soon had him find a deeper desire. One to be accepted as a true son of natures law. As the “bible” spoke to him, and hallucinogenic use allowed the earth to "speak", Waylin grew to believe the story written in the good book were written by man and not as nature had intended.

By his mid-teens, Waylin’s mother found herself pregnant yet again. Be it a fear of raising yet another child himself, or the sin of adultery, Waylin soon became a vagabond. A son of the streets and outcast amongst men, with only a bible in hand. He spoke little and kept to himself, away from man’s judgement and laws. At roughly seventeen, Waylin found himself atop the Appalachian Trail, a lawless land upon the mountain as the new gold rush of American Ginseng took solid footing. A lack of remorse and brutal exterior soon had Waylin being one of many feared and respected mountain men. Using his interpretation of “religion” and people’s distrust, Waylin became known as the Preacher of the Trail, yet unlike the forgiving nature preached by other churches, Preacher addressed law as “sin” with Nature’s wraith. While the bounty of American Ginseng was extremely profitable, the Preacher cared little of material possessions, life had taught him family is not forged only by blood. This community he had created atop those unforgiving mountains was one of which he wanted the entire world to truly understand, yet with its unlawful nature produced trouble of its own. Constant violence came with the steadily increasing market of American Ginseng through the 1960s and 1970s, and that 2,200-mile stretch of mountain made it nearly impossible for law enforcement, so becoming a refuge for children, families, and those running from the law. Preacher's fascination with arson, Trinitrotoluene, and dynamite would soon become his downfall, as his desire to reject the law so loudly, put him right within it's reach, eventually charged and destined to serve 25+ in a Federal prison.

At the age of 61, the man of the mountain sat at an airport, ticket in hand, it's destination the state of San Andreas. Boarding the plane to such a lawful land was something uncommon for his way of life, yet his delusions of grandeur made him value every bit of his purpose on earth. Many believed he fled in hiding, others say he spoke to the feds for his own protection and release, either way, a new life would await him on the coastal state.