Simon Williams

Name:	Simon Williams
Occupation:	Software Developer, Hobby Farmer
Home:	Southern Michigan
Gender:	Male
Age:	42 at the time of his abduction 45 when he goes to Ember
Height:	6'0"
Alliances:	His Team

Simon Williams is a software developer and hobby farmer who lives in Southern Michigan. He begins the race on the planet of Offworld alone, with only himself and God along for the journey. But then, over time, he picks up five other team members, including Trevor Thompson, Ariana Peterson, Birash, Yurg and Alexander Baker. All of the members of his team, save only for Birash, start out their time with him as atheists, but each gets saved along the way, save only for Yurg. Also, despite being a Software Developer, Simon is an experienced and highly skilled woodsman and farmer, having received lots of training in these skills as a child. His spiritual gift is teaching, of which he is very good at, even though he very humbly denies that he has any real gift for it. While being a leader is not one of his gifts, he proves to be very good at this, and even promises to those under his care that, God willing, he will do all he can to ensure that everyone makes it to the end, alive, and in one piece. Or, at the very least, alive.

History

Simon was born on a small family farm in 1972 near the city of Marshall, Michigan, not far from the village of Marengo, to a farming family and is the fourth of seven siblings. Growing up they raised corn, wheat, oats and soybeans, and had a fair sized herd of cows, which they milked, as well as a sizable collection of chickens, which they raised for eggs and meat. He was saved roughly around the age of seven. As he grew he was exposed to both modern and traditional farming techniques, as well as woodsmanship, tanning (via an old Chippewa man), horse care (via the Amish), woodland survival (Boy Scouts), and may other things. When he graduated from High School he enrolled in Michigan State University (MSU) in their agricultural program. However, in his first year there he fell in love with computers and switched majors to information systems, transferring his education to University of Michigan (UofM) where he received a degree in computer science.

After this he went to work for IBM for a time before moving down to Texas to work for a company there named Techsys (no pun intended), where he had the unique opportunity to work in software development while studying under several prominent bible teachers from Dallas Theological Seminary, receiving more or less the same training that the seminarians were getting in the process of that. Afterwards he moved to Lansing, Michigan to work for a small startup company there. Upon moving back to the state, he bought a small hobby farm of about 120 acres, and began raising chickens, horses, cattle, sheep, goats and a limited number of crops, mostly for his own use, or to help offset the costs of the farm. The farm rarely makes a profit. But, as long as it pays for itself, Simon is satisfied.

Known Skillsets

• Software Developer - Skilled in multiple programming languages.
• Server Administration - Focusing on Linux/Unix administration
• Tanning/Leather Making - Learned from an old Chippewa man with a local Native American leather shop
• Horse Handling/Care/Basic Farrier - Learned from a local Amish Family
• General Woodland Survival - Boyscouts and others in his childhood.

Acquisitions

At Node Zero he retrieves a bible (King James), a survival knife (US Army Issue) and a Navigator Compass. His next acquisition, aside from food, which is a regular item that he collects periodically, is a poncho. Not long after that he picks up a bow, with quiver and arrows and begins using these for hunting, bow fishing and self defense. It's at this node that he requests for it to give him a holographic menu to use rather than the voice activated method he'd been using previously. To his surprise, it grants that to him, after which he uses that almost exclusively the remainder of the race. Later on he picks up a mess kit to make eating meals easier, a hygiene kit and a pair of binoculars. He then makes numerous, although often unspecified or unnamed acquisitions along the remaining length of the course at various points, including a pair of boots and new cloths.

Eventually, at some point later in the course, he and the others have all of their credit and resource slots filled to capacity, which they then cash out to help a group of locals in the White Mountains whose village burned down and are in need of help. Later on, in an effort to protect them, and hide their identities and locations from the other controllers, Maul Ratinar marks their existing accounts as "deceased", and then reissues them new accounts with anonymous identities and credentials. Simon's new anonymous ID within the system is "Traveler 14,395,347". His account, unlike those issued to other racers, is given unlimited resources. However, all user stats, identity, and other information is both unavailable, and unrecorded, ensuring his anonymity in order to protect his identity and location from the controllers.

Simon The Plow

One of the nicknames given to Simon directly, and his team by association, is "The Plow". This comes from the fact that he and his team are known for "plowing aside" any bad players that they encounter. It's not that they're out looking for trouble, or trying to eliminate every evil person they encounter. It's just that their mere presence in the area seems to lead, either directly or indirectly, to the removal of evil men and women, as well as groups, organizations and entire countries along the way. Some end up dead, some in jail, some cease to exist, and more. Thus his nickname. Here is the current known list of groups and individuals who've been "plowed" so far:

• Orbus and his entire band of bandits and thieves.
• A random group of barons and slavers in Trail Point.
• The entirety of the Four Kingdoms.
• Ruby, as well as the town sheriff and the outlaw gang he controls
• General Amaroth and his joint Four Kingdoms army.
• Queen Narcella of Venodor and her royal guard.
• Bartholomew Wickham in the Clement Valley.
• Meltok, and his Gramoots
• Manwan Despon and his pirate kingdom.
• Diebin and The Demesne of Kaspar
• Random giants in The Giant Mountains
• The controllers and their race of Offworld

There are a number of others that have also been brushed out of the way, but these are the major ones.