Name: Matthew Lark
Age: 33
Eye Colour: Greyed Blue
Height: 5'8"
Hair Colour: Black, but shaved bald or nearly so (never above an inch in length).
Build: Muscular, but not unsightly so. He does a lot of his own physical labour.
Likes: Commerce. He enjoys his luxuries and privileges as he can get them. Almost as much as he likes them, though, he enjoys the process of getting there. Whether it's valid hard work, smuggled goods, or many of his other endeavours, he makes his own way, and he wouldn't have it any OTHER way.
Dislikes: Anybody trying to get a free ride. A favour in return for a later favour is one thing, but no one gets something from nothing. Also dislikes anyone who tries and convince him that his actions are the wrong ones.
Occupation: Owner and manager of The Milk and Honey, a combination tavern, inn, and comfort house. He doesn't diguise any of it (especially the last part) and will defend himself from any tongue lashing from those who believe they have the moral high ground. In terms of those he employs, he runs a tight ship. He doesn't like time wasters and chatters, but if you make it for a few weeks, you're set for life. Many of his staff have been under his employ for five or more years, and are loyal to him, at least in the business sense. They always know where he stands.
Beyond the inn, or rather under it, he keeps a hidden cellar of contraband goods. He doesn't actually use many of them, but since many of the 'low brow' travellers pass through his business, he tends to make a tidy amount of pocket money that he keeps off the books.
Background: Lark was always a hard worker. He always sat in the 'sing for your supper crowd,' and thus didn't get along with his father very well. Robert Lark had always been a "such is life" subscriber as he farmed, not caring to much any particular way. Farming was not enough for Matthew, and at an early teen age he went to the town hall to be employed, where he was taught to learn to read and write, although roughly (he would never read a novel, but could read notes and scripts). He had never really gotten to know his grandfather, who had supped with he and his father on some occasions. He would ride off before Matthew really spoke to him about anything important.
When Matthew finally turned 20 and was a successful clerk, his grandfather let him in on a big secret: when he was a young bachelor, he had stubled upon a gold outcrop in the hills a stretch outside of the town when he was travelling to the next village. Being as smart as he could at the time, he prospected as much as his horse and wagon could carry easily, and hid it away. He then reported the finding to the church, to draw suspicion away from whether he took any or not. Grandfather Lark had hid it all away, and had failed to use the majority of it. His squandering son, he had decided, wasn't going to get it. He was passing it on to Matthew.
From there, Matthew invested the whole sum of it and started the Milk and Honey. After that, it's history.
