Basics
Name: Harlan Gray
Gender: Male

Physical
Hair: Blond
Eyes: Gray, in fact
Height: 6'1"
Weight: 190

Social
Background: No Money
Primary Clique: Jocks
Sexuality: Heterosexual

Mental
Major, if decided: Does it matter? He's here for the connections.
Goals/Aspirations: Make money. Acquire power. Never be poor and unimportant again.

Assets and Strengths:
Your Second-Best Friend: Intelligent, attractive, extraverted and discerning, Harlan easily integrates himself into even the most exclusive and judgmental groups. He has a particular knack for reading people. Given enough time, he can almost always suss out your deepest, darkest wants and needs.
Dealmaker: Harlan's getting better and better at cutting deals. He's slowly accruing a deeply interconnected web of favors, arrangements and IOUs. Truth is he doesn't have a lot of assets to call his own, but he just happens to know someone who has something to somehow do that one thing you just might be interested in.
Ravenous Ambition: Harlan's greatest strength, and possibly his greatest liability, is his boundless ambition. He was born poor and unimportant. He's determined to die rich and influential. He chases power like an addict, forever striving for more.

Liabilities and Weaknesses:
Bottomless Pit: There's no moral floor here. Harlan's principles took an extended leave of absence sometime between eighth and ninth grade and never resurfaced. Given the right incentive - by which we mean enough power, influence or money - there's nothing he wouldn't do. What he doesn't realize is that unlike the exalted company he often keeps, he doesn't (yet) have the name or the clout to save himself should consequences, legal or otherwise, truly arise.
You Don't Really Belong Here: Despite his ability to pass for rich, Harlan doesn't actually come from wealth. Once in a great while, the mask slips and the chasm between him and the truly elite becomes glaringly obvious. Harlan absolutely hates it when this happens. Nothing humiliates or needles him more.

Statistics
Physical: 3
Social: 4
Mental: 3

Writeups
Description
Harlan takes exquisite care of himself and it shows. An hour of strength training every morning and an hour of cardio every night for a chiseled physique. Twice-a-month haircuts and twice-a-week shaves for a fresh, symmetric look. There's effort and a keen eye in his drip. Dressed up or dressed down, he's always sharp. It's not vanity though. He just knows first impressions matter, and first impressions are all about the visual.

Personality
Harlan presents like a jock, but deep down inside he's a gunner through and through, not that he'd ever let that show. He maintains an outgoing, athletic and likable facade, and unlike most poor kids at Lockheath, he's quite comfortable rubbing elbows with the elite. Might even be mistaken for one by those who don't know any better. He's careful never to associate with cutthroats and instead usually hangs out with those superficially similar to himself, hard bodied and soft brained, probably at least in part because that crowd tends to be overconfident, trusting, and easily manipulated. Unlike most jocks, he's careful not to bully. Unlike most gunners, he keeps the sabotage and the backstabbing under wraps. Most people wouldn't in a million years guess the ruthless, pathological ambition hiding behind the charismatic facade.

History
Gray is a very old name. There are Grays and Greys all over Anglo-American history. It's easy to assume Harlan descended from some old-money lineage or other. Although he'd never be so stupid as to explicitly lie about his background, Harlan certainly doesn't try to disabuse anyone of their mistaken notions.

In truth, Harlan's roots are common as dirt. He's an average middle-class midwestern boy from Indiana. Pure American mutt, nothing extraordinarily good or bad about his upbringing. His parents divorced when he was three, but they kept it civil and treated him and his brother well. Growing up, the boys alternated weeks at mom's and dad's. His parents gave them a happy enough childhood, but money wasn't plentiful. They had few material goods and even less importance in the grand scheme of things.

Dad was a general contractor. Mom cleaned houses. On days she couldn't find or couldn't afford a sitter, Harlan and his brother tagged along. Saw the houses she cleaned, their belongings, their luxuries. Saw bougie condos and cozy suburban houses. Saw the sprawling mansions by their private lakes too, so expensive that his mother could clean houses for the rest of her life and not even come close to owning one.

Maybe that was the genesis of his ambition. Or maybe it was simply born into him the way some are born with musical talent and others are born without a soul. From the time he was a child he coveted. Coveted wealth, coveted the privilege and power that came with wealth. He tried his hand at honest labor, mowing lawns, feeding cats and shoveling snow, but quickly decided that wasn't for him. By the time he was eight he was buying bags of candy for five bucks and selling them one piece at a time to his classmates for fifty cents a pop. By eleven he was setting up lotteries at school and pocketing half the pot every time. By fourteen he was setting up illegal gambling rings after school, which eventually got so out of hand word reached the administration's ears. He was nearly expelled and reported to the police, but after he gave back his ill-gotten gains the principal settled for a three-week suspension and summer school.

After that Harlan was more careful. He had an epiphany. The candy, the lottery, the gambling, it all boiled down to wants and needs. Everyone had them. If he could discern the wants, if he could deliver the needs, if he could become the mainline, the sole source, then they'd truly be indebted to him. Then he'd hold true power.

By the time Harlan graduated high school, he'd gained a minor reputation as a fixer. He'd made himself a tidy profit. He'd spun himself a web of contacts, favors, deals and debts. Somewhere, somehow, through some less-than-pristine means, he'd secured himself an acceptance to the hallowed halls of Lockheath.

Hooks
- Word of mouth has it Harlan's the man to go to if you need something. Anything. What's your desire?
- Maybe you've already used his services. Maybe you already owe him something. What, and when?
- Over the last year or so, Harlan's been spotted on the party circuit. He generally keeps it lowkey, but once in a while he came in clutch. Maybe it was impossible to get an Uber after a concert but he had a friend who was happy to swing by in their 9-seat SUV. Maybe it was New Year's Eve and the booze ran out, but he knew someone whose dad ran a liquor chain.
- Harlan played football in high school and was pretty good, though not spectacular. If you know him through this avenue, you'd know of his humble roots better than most.