Mason Clerk

Mason Clerk is a major character in the Morgan's Series. He is a supporting character in the Isaac Morgan Series, a major character in the Prequel Series and a major antagonist in both the Finley Morgan Series and Dave + Talia series, in which he is later redeemed. He was one of the latest editions to The Morgan's Marauders before they fell apart, and after escaping, ended up signing a contract with Samuel Stoneheart to become the Mayor of Saint Denis. He felt a lot of guilt for leaving Isaac behind after news of his death spread and vowed to make it right.

## Backstory

Mason was born to a particularly poor family in New Austin, and had a particularly unpleasant father. His father would frequently beat both Mason and his mother throughout his childhood, and would force Mason to do manual labour around their small homestead in the middle of the harsh desert at a very young age. As he grew older, he began to grow taller and stronger than his Father, making his abuse more difficult. However, this only prompted his father to further abuse his Mother, which kept Mason in check. Mason's father owed a lot of money to the Prisma Family, a powerful gang within New Austin that Mason always believed was the reason behind his father's constant anger. One day, at age 19, Mason stood up to his Father, causing his Father to turn and beat his Mother harshly. Mason tried to stop him, but instead his Father continued until he accidentally hit her too hard and killed her. In a fit of rage, Mason beat his Father to death before fleeing their home, worried what would happen to him. At some point after this, he met Fernando Coyote.

## The Prequel Series

Mason met Isaac Morgan at the side of a road in New Austin, where the lone gunslinger picked him up and asked him to come with him. After getting to know each other, Mason and Isaac agreed to join together to survive - both men on the run. They were ambushed by members of the Prisma Family near McFarlane's Ranch and Mason recognised them. He and Isaac killed the gang and took their bodies to Armadillo, where they were handsomely payed for the bounties on the leaders heads. After that, they became famous and even somewhat feared within the state and the Prisma Family very quickly fell apart. Isaac and Mason stayed together as a force to be reckoned with in New Austin for 6 months after that; doing a collection of honourable and criminal acts to survive.

At some point in 1894, the men ambushed a wagon that was transporting Lucy Anderson, the daughter of Lucas Anderson - a very successful banker within New Austin, West Elizabeth and parts of Mexico - and some gold bars. After taking Lucy captive, they kill the driver and bring the wagon back to their camp where they discover the gold bars. They decide to take the wagon outside of their camp and burn it to destroy evidence, but when they return, they discover that Lucy has escaped and picked up one of Mason's spare revolvers. After she fired the gun in the air a few time, wasting the few rounds that Mason had in the chamber, Isaac tackled her to the ground while Mason went to collect their horses to escape. While he was doing so, a gang of men arrived with Lucas Anderson. Isaac surrendered and Lucy went back to her Father. Mason his while Isaac was taken and decided to try to figure out how to save him. Mason followed them to an open area, where they had Isaac read to be executed. He watched from afar with his sniper, ready to intervene, when somebody else did so instead. A woman - who had been with the gang that escorted Lucas - begin shooting the gunmen to help Isaac. Lucas and Lucy escaped as Isaac and the woman took out the gang. Mason met up with them and the woman introduced herself as Jem. Isaac invited her for a drink, and she agreed.

After a little while, Isaac and Jem began dating and she joined their Gang. They also acquired another Gang Member, Daniel, and the group of them launched a robbery on one of the Anderson's banks in Blackwater. During the escape, Jem split away with the money and Daniel was killed. Isaac and Mason were pursued to Armadillo where they engaged in a shootout with many lawmen. Knowing that there was no way out for both of them, Isaac told Mason to escape and find Jem. Although reluctant, Mason agreed and Isaac provided him cover for his escape. He fled back to their camp but couldn't find Jem anywhere. He assumed she had escaped with the money and looped back to round to Armadillo, but both Isaac and the lawmen were gone. Assuming Isaac was dead, Mason decided to head out alone and moved to Valentine. There, he became a Bounty Hunter. He completed a lot of high Bounties with just his sniper rifle - with which he was an excellent shot - and became very well known in the area. He made his living by doing this, and hoped he would one day be stable enough to live a normal life.

## The Isaac Morgan Series

Mason met Isaac once again years later in 1898 while he was searching for Fernando with Dwight Grayson. Mason helped them both to find Fernando and eventually they discovered him and Bill Williamson, who had been killed, in a Pinkerton Hideout. Mason joined The Morgan's Marauders as an official member and returned with them to camp. He was with Isaac and the rest of the Gang when he hunted down Pinkerton leader Agent Ross in Rhodes and chased him to the Heartlands Oil Fields where the Pinkertons were currently stationed while it was abandoned. They fought through the Pinkertons and Isaac chased Ross into the back office while Mason helped the rest of the Gang fight the Pinkertons. Isaac left the office with a mysterious man that helped them fight the Pinkertons and the Gang left before reinforcements could arrive. The mysterious man was named Dave and he had killed Ross when Isaac arrived as he was also hunting him. Dave joined The Gang and he and Mason quickly warmed to eachother. They started a larger camp and acquired another member, Juan Ramirez, as they moved back to the Heartlands. One day, while collecting mail, Isaac found a letter from Isabelle Greenfield, a woman he had fooled around with in his youth. The letter told him that he had a son. After he was diagnosed with Lung Cancer and betrayed by Micah, Mason convinced Isaac to visit Isabelle and Finley before it was too late. Isaac reluctantly agreed, and Mason went with him to see them. They met Isabelle at her house near Rhodes but she said that Finley was asleep but offered for them to come in. Isaac decided he would come back another day, and gave Isabelle $500 before he and Mason set off back to Camp.

A little bit after this, Mason discovered Dave stumbling into camp after being tortured by the O'Driscolls. Isaac vowed that they would get revenge, but first they would complete the Bank Heist that he had planned. Mason accompanied Isaac, Dave, Charles and Lenny to Blackwater where he and Lenny were sent to snipe and be lookouts. Although he helped by killing approaching O'Driscolls and Lawmen from afar, Mason didn't see the true extent of the mess that the Bank Heist caused. Shortly after the heist, Mason and Lenny both decided to ride straight back to camp, collect their stuff and leave before they were tracked there, it becoming increasingly obvious that Isaac would drive it into the ground to defeat Micah. Mason escaped to Ambarino, where he lived in the Mountains for a few years in solitude. He later came into contact with Micah Bell and The O'Driscolls, who defeated and kidnapped him. Micah told him of the events of Isaac's death and they sent him to Saint Denis, where he was taken to Sam Stoneheart, the Mayor's assistant and Chief of Police. After the two met, Sam tried to get information out of Mason about Finley's location and what information he knew about Talia Morgan, Isaac's sister. Although he knew nothing about Talia, Mason refused to give any information about Finley and instead of punishing him, Sam admired his stubbornness in the face of danger and loyalty to a man once dead. Sam instead offered Mason a job, that came with money, protection and status. Knowing that he would likely be hunted by either the Police or O'Driscolls if he didn't, Mason accepted. Sam helped him rise through political ranks and even had him run for Mayor, Which Mason won. It's possible Sam rigged the election, but it's never confirmed. Mason serves as Saint Denis' Mayor - mostly as a figurehead - while Sam controls the city from the shadows.

## The Finley Morgan Series

Sam had various patrols stationed around Mount Shann, where Isaac died, and there were several reports of activity in the area,