Name: Mr. Lau
Nicknames/alias: Lucky Lau & Highbrow Lau
Age: 52
Place of birth & ethnicity: San Franciscan Chinese-American
Gender: Male
Occupation: Business Owner/Labor Contractor
Character appearance & personality
At 5'7", Mr. Lau's wiry frame isn't as spry as it once was, but he's still capable of working long hours on his feet without complaints. His hazel brown eyes are radiant with vigor and tenacity. His skin is like tanned leather, a testament to his younger years of manual labor under the hot sun. He keeps his silver mane combed back, and salt and pepper short beard trimmed neat. There are several scars littered across his body due to work-related injuries and past altercations.
Clothing: The Chinese-American maintains the public appearance of a sharply dressed businessman. Black brushed cotton trousers, Victorian high stand collared shirts, silk puff ties, satin vests, Callahan frock coats, leather boots, and feathered felt derbies.
Personal style: Mr. Lau is tailored in both western and eastern fashion, exuding the look of a cultured gentleman. He is known for mixing 3 piece suits with loose overcoats that have mandarin collars, or western bow ties and vests with form-fitting zhongshan suits.
Personality: The youthfully tenacious wolf of his prime has become more of a sly fox, but in no way has his bite de-fanged. Sharp as a tack, he navigates around most social interactions with conniving wit. Always playing close to the chest, but pretending to know little about the game, Mr. Lau takes great pride into baiting prospectors and con men that underestimate him.
There are other times where flowery words and endearing charm do not suffice, prompting for a more heavy handed temperament. It is in these moments where words are sheathed and action comes swiftly without alarm. He did not maintain a successful chain of businesses by being fair and good-natured. Lau justifies his shady practices as a necessary evil in a western world that does not view him as an equal.
Habits: He strums his fingers as if playing an invisible Guqin (slide guitar) on whatever surface is closest to him. Delicate motions often indicate deep ponderment, while more fast paced gesticulations show impatience or boredom.
Regular life skills: People and money management. Negotiation. Cooking. Playing the Guqin. Gardening. Laundering. General workmanship skills and knowledge on construction and infrastructure.
Combat skills: Violence is kept as a last resort in Mr. Lau's arsenal, but it is one that has been well honed over the years. He's quick and nimble for his age, able to hastily neutralize close range assailants by deflecting or disarming them. His reaction time with a pistol is freakishly quick, but that is the only firearm he's proficient with.
Items on your person: 1873 Single-Action Cattleman Revolver. A pair of reading spectacles. A tin with tobacco and rolling papers. Flask. Small notebook and pencil. Identification papers. Handkerchief. Bank notes and various coins.
Additional stuff: Five outfits detailed in
Clothing and
Personal Style section. Tomahawk Axe. Guqin instrument. Photo of parents.
What brings you to Haylliesburg:Mr. Lau and his workers moved in a year and a half ago to expand his enterprise. He bought off a sizable amount of land for cheap, building his establishment from the ground up.
Lau's Laundry and Apothecary also serves as a General Store, one that houses a more rarer inventory compared to his competitors. Apart from laundry services and selling various goods, Mr. Lau also contracts workers out to those needing extra farm hands, cattle workers, and other jobs.
Your life before coming to Haylliesburg:Lau was born on American soil in the late 1820s. His mother did not survive his birth. He grew up in San Francisco, working manual labor jobs along side his father from as early as 6 years old. While their life was hard and unforgiving, Lau's father made it a point to educate his son whenever he could. He taught him the language and culture of his people, even giving him lessons on how to play the Guqin slide guitar. In exchange for his son's work wages, Lau's father asked their employers to tutor the boy in whatever American academia they, or whoever they appointed to the task, were willing to provide.
The gold rush erupted around the time he was nearing his 20s. Lau's father sought to take advantage of what could be a bountiful opportunity and signed both of them up to mine in Coloma, California. Unfortunately, Lau's father was killed several weeks into mining due to a faulty demolition accident. Out on his own, Lau attempted to carry on where his father left off, but was constantly discouraged from other prospectors. Racial tensions grew to the point where he was threatened to leave or be killed.
Lau gave in and left the mines of Coloma, but rather than tuck tail back to San Francisco, he came up with a bold idea; he set up a laundry shop in the same area. It was bold, because he didn't charge his customers a dime. The miners laughed at him for his foolish business practice, while flocking to him in droves for his supposed charity work. They failed to realize that he was collecting all of the gold dust and fragments from their clothing. He accumulated enough to venture back to San Francisco and start up several businesses, working his way down south until he caught wind of another golden opportunity in Arizona.
