Nathaniel Schutz

[some dude†]

Name: Nathaniel 'Nate' Schutz
Gender: Male
Age: 19
Grade: 12
School: George Hunter High School
Hobbies and Interests: Playing guitar, video games, acting, weightlifting, garage rock

Appearance: Nate is of an average build, and was last measured at a height of exactly six feet. His last recorded weight was approximately 148 lbs. He is not particularly overweight or underweight, with a body type that could more or less be described as average. Due to taking a weight training class as an elective all four years of high school, his body is better muscled and better defined than the normal high school student.

Nate's hair is dark brown in color, and hangs down to an inch or two above his shoulders,. His hair style is often described by friends as appearing like he half-heartedly went over it with a comb, thus leaving it slightly messy, and is parted in the middle. He has been observed joking to his friends that said hairstyle helps him attract members of the opposite gender. In terms of facial hair, he prefers to remain clean-shaven. His eyebrows are slanted somewhat downwards, giving him an intense resting impression, and accents his angry stares should he choose to intimidate someone. His eyes are of a middling blue color, and rest evenly on his face, not to far in, and not too far apart. Nate's skin is a light, slightly sun-darkened tan color, with small moles spread about here and there.

Nate's facial structure, like his body type, is also fairly average. His face has been observed by some to be decently attractive, although he has a noticeable mole under his left eye that he is not particularly fond of. His nose is straight and hints at his Germanic heritage in it's appearance. His jawline is more or less straight, and his lips are fuller than most kids his age. His cheeks are slightly sunk in in a fashion that is often considered attractive in modern society.

In terms of clothing, Nate prefers to wear any type of jeans and a single-color shirt paired with one of the flannels he owns. He usually prefers to wear darker tones, but owns several white and bright blue shirts. He only owns one pair of shoes, a pair of black Lugz skate shoes. In addition, he nearly always wears a pair of silver-rimmed, black-glassed aviators. On the day of the kidnapping, he was wearing a dark red shirt with a white 'The Killers' logo, a dark blue flannel, black jeans, a belt, the aviators, and his one pair of shoes.

Biography: Nate's father, Paul Schutz, was born in East Berlin in 1967 and spent most of his formative years there. Over time, Paul developed an anti-authoritarian attitude, likely brought on by the oppressive Easy German communist government. He longed for the freedom provided by the Americanized West Berlin, but dared not try to escape, for fear of being arrested or worse. He knew, however, that at some point he would have to make a choice: either stay in East Berlin and conform, or escape. At age 17 he chose to escape. The details of this escape are not known; he did, however, suffer a leg injury that would leave him with a limp from then on. Once in West Berlin, Paul worked in various bars across the city as a barman and guitar player until 1989, when the Berlin Wall fell.

Nate's mother, Lydia Schutz (nee Walters) was born in 1970 in Tennessee. Her teenage years were rather more standard than her future spouse's. She went to school, had friends and boyfriends, and graduated. She recognized this normality, and from it grew an intense desire to travel the world. This soon came to head when she was 19. The year was 1989, and although she disagreed with the East German government, she thought that the Berlin Wall would surely be an incredible sight to see. She arrived in West Berlin on November 8th, and the following day was caught up in the action of the Fall of the Berlin Wall. During the chaos, Paul and Lydia bumped into each other, and although they were separated, they found each other days afterward. There was a significant language barrier, but as they were interested in one another, they soon overcame it. Afterwards, they moved to New York, where Paul continued to perform at bars and Lydia got a job as a reporter. On April 14th, 1999, their son Nathaniel was born. Nate, as he came to be called, was very well-loved, and Paul stopped performing to take care of him.

Nate entered the school system in 2005, and for the most part, he adapted well. There were a few cases of bullying and teasing in elementary school, but he more or less tried to ignore them, and once they realized he didn't care, the bullies stopped bothering him.

It was in the 3rd grade that Nate discovered his passion for music and acting. His parents had taken him to see a Broadway musical for his 8th birthday. They were unsure as to how the experience would go, expecting him to be a possible disturbance. They were pleasantly surprised when he sat enraptured through the entire show, and talked excitedly of it on the way home. He involved himself in community theatre and the shows his school put on. From then on, his interests developed into acting on-screen and directing; he and his friends have filmed several amateur short films that Nate has put up on YouTube for free. Although he will always love on-stage performance, Nate feels that he enjoys acting on camera more, as the usage of cameras means that the film can be set on-location, with multiple shots, rather than being static and on stage.

In 5th grade, his father asked Nate if he wanted to learn guitar. Nate, whose interest in musical theatre had also sprouted into a fondness for regular music as well. He accepted, and Paul would teach him to play whenever he had time. Nate would continue to play the guitar whenever he felt stressed, or if he just needed a way to calm down and release his emotions, and got heavily into garage and punk rock music, often citing his extreme respect for the guitar players of such bands as one reason why he got into it.

Middle school was a time of change for Nate. Previously, he hadn't had too many friends, and so mostly played guitar in his spare time. However, he began to feel lonely because of this, and so made an effort to gain more friends. He was for the most part successful, as his personality was generally amiable and he wasn't annoying or rude.

This sort of happiness didn't last forever. In May when Nate was in 8th grade, he and his father were involved in an accident while driving. Another vehicle had swerved at them suddenly, and only his father's quick turn of the car saved his life. This caused Paul to take the brunt of the damage. Paul was left in a critical condition, and although he stabilized, fell into a coma. Nate fell into a deep depression, and refused to be signed up for school in his freshman year, ignoring any and all attempts by his mother to relieve him of his pain. However, he somewhat reluctantly accepted her efforts to homeschool him, allowing him to more or less keep up with his peers upon enterering the school system again. His eating, sleeping, and hygiene habits became extremely unhealthy as a way of coping with the trauma of possibly losing his father. He began to play video games as an additional coping method. Of note, he played the popular online game "League of Legends", and would later admit privately to friends that he would often get overly angry at his teammates in the game as a way to distract himself from the immense sadness inside him. By the end of the year, he was overweight and acne-ridden. Nate's physical state caused him further depression, as he began sinking into self-hatred, blaming himself for his father's condition. Lydia did the best she could to be positive for Nate and help him, but she feared that it wasn't enough, and that all she could do was watch him waste away. However, a year later, Paul suddenly woke up. He entered a state of shock upon waking up, and was almost lost, but managed to pull through. Nate and Lydia rushed to the hospital to greet him, and Nate was overjoyed to see his father alive and well.

Seeking a change of scenery, and a slightly calmer place to live, the family moved back to Lydia's home state of Tennessee, settling in the city of Chattanooga. Since he had refused to go to school for more or less an entire year, he started his freshman year at GHHS a year older than most of his classmates. Unfortunately, the bullying that he had ignored in elementary school was now back in full force. Teenagers, with their greater maturity and deeper understanding of emotions, were even crueler to him than the kids in elementary had been. Most of the jabs were at his appearance, which left him with a firm desire to do something about it. He switched into a weight training class and had his parents get him a gym membership, and was soon successful in his efforts to lose weight and gain muscle. He improved his other habits, too, and by the end of the year, he was in decent shape, with only a few pimples left.

In sophomore year, Nate made friends with a group of kids who frequently worked as the crew in the school stage plays he was frequently in. He bonded with them over their shared love of guitar and garage rock music, which, along with video games, was one of the few things that made him happy during his depression. He grew very close to them, instilling within him a sense of loyalty that would remain with him for the rest of his presumably shortened life. As of senior year, Nate frequently meets up with this group every Saturday and Sunday to get food and then more or less do whatever they please.

Currently, Nate doesn't care too much about grades, preferring to stay comfortably at a C average, while focusing on the things he actually enjoys. He plans on going to some form of acting or music-centered college, and then to find a job in the entertainment industry in some form or another. Unlike many teenagers, Nate doesn't feel animosity towards his parents whatsoever, most likely due to a combination of him losing his father, and their unusual laxness when it comes to such things as grades and recreationally using marijuana with friends, which he has occasionally been observed to do.
 
Advantages: Due to his fondness for weightlifting, Nate is stronger than the average high school student, and playing guitar frequently has strengthened his hands and forearms, giving him a strong grip that has been noted as been hard to escape. In addition, although he is somewhat lazy when it comes to subjects he doesn't actively enjoy, Nate is naturally very street smart, which will certainly benefit him on the island.
Disadvantages: Nate is extremely loyal to his friends and those he feels are under his protection, going to great lengths to keep them safe. On the island, this can most certainly override his common sense. Also, the self-hatred he suffered from still resides deep in his mind, and may come out on the island should he fail particularly hard.