Newton Palmer is a pleasant and charming man who finds it easy to make friends no matter where he goes. Newton has gone from a sad and pitiable condition in his youth to a successful and well-regarded businessman. Through shrewd investing he has made a comfortable life for himself and his family and lives a life of luxury few could dream of.
Everybody likes Newton, and he personally knows many celebrities, and makes donations to many small charities. Newton is not famous himself and has built a built a wall of privacy around himself and his wife and young children. The only people who don’t really like Newton are the people who remember him as a sad and bitter wage worker, who Newton has snubbed off every time they have tried to contact him.
Possibilities
1 The real Newton Palmer is now dead. Palmer was once a down on his luck manic depressive. He had a thankless job at the offices of Rand, Webb and Sturgeon, a highly successful publishing firm run by the wealthy Patrick S Sturgeon. Sturgeon inherited the business, but it was insufficiently challenging for him. Sturgeon is a talented businessman, and a fantasist with a major ego problem and a determination to build a business on his own and away from the shadow of his father.
To this end, he decided to take on a new identity – that of a social misfit nobody would miss; Newton Palmer. After a faked helicopter accident, costly plastic surgery and a detailed study of Palmer’s life, Sturgeon killed Palmer and took over, quitting his job and using his skills to quickly rise in status, severing ties with Palmer’s family to avoid speculation.
2 Palmer worked for Rand, Webb and Sturgeon, a shell of a publishing company that had once been successful in the 50s but has been steadily declining ever since. Eventually Palmer’s job was cut, and the company went into liquidation, and Palmer drifted from one job to another. When he hit his lowest, he decided to take out his problems on the closed building of his old company. He broke in, using his position as a former security manager there, and started rooting around for things to steal but instead found a secret collection of books in the basement. Thinking them valuable, he took them home with him and started to read through them to assess their value.
Palmer had found a complete set of the Revelations of Glaaki, and he read of mysterious knowledge and dangerous rituals. However, upon reading Volume 12, he has contacted by the god Y’Golonac. The corpse god offered Palmer a choice; allow him to take over Palmer at certain times and he would have great fortune or be consumed alive. Palmer accepted, and found his fortunes increasing rapidly. However, Palmer is occasionally taken over by Y’Golonac without his knowledge, and the corpse god inflicts unspeakable things on his family. If he weren’t addicted to the thrill of power and control, he would have stopped himself long ago.
3 Palmer is a great success story but has relied on the all-too-human lure of crime to carry him to the top. He owes large amounts of money to various criminal organisations and is now struggling to pay off his debts. Out of frustration, a criminal named Robert Kime, who Palmer owes large amounts of money, has kidnapped Palmer’s wife and children. Palmer would do anything to get his family back, except of course, call the police.
© Paul Hebron
Everybody likes Newton, and he personally knows many celebrities, and makes donations to many small charities. Newton is not famous himself and has built a built a wall of privacy around himself and his wife and young children. The only people who don’t really like Newton are the people who remember him as a sad and bitter wage worker, who Newton has snubbed off every time they have tried to contact him.
Possibilities
1 The real Newton Palmer is now dead. Palmer was once a down on his luck manic depressive. He had a thankless job at the offices of Rand, Webb and Sturgeon, a highly successful publishing firm run by the wealthy Patrick S Sturgeon. Sturgeon inherited the business, but it was insufficiently challenging for him. Sturgeon is a talented businessman, and a fantasist with a major ego problem and a determination to build a business on his own and away from the shadow of his father.
To this end, he decided to take on a new identity – that of a social misfit nobody would miss; Newton Palmer. After a faked helicopter accident, costly plastic surgery and a detailed study of Palmer’s life, Sturgeon killed Palmer and took over, quitting his job and using his skills to quickly rise in status, severing ties with Palmer’s family to avoid speculation.
2 Palmer worked for Rand, Webb and Sturgeon, a shell of a publishing company that had once been successful in the 50s but has been steadily declining ever since. Eventually Palmer’s job was cut, and the company went into liquidation, and Palmer drifted from one job to another. When he hit his lowest, he decided to take out his problems on the closed building of his old company. He broke in, using his position as a former security manager there, and started rooting around for things to steal but instead found a secret collection of books in the basement. Thinking them valuable, he took them home with him and started to read through them to assess their value.
Palmer had found a complete set of the Revelations of Glaaki, and he read of mysterious knowledge and dangerous rituals. However, upon reading Volume 12, he has contacted by the god Y’Golonac. The corpse god offered Palmer a choice; allow him to take over Palmer at certain times and he would have great fortune or be consumed alive. Palmer accepted, and found his fortunes increasing rapidly. However, Palmer is occasionally taken over by Y’Golonac without his knowledge, and the corpse god inflicts unspeakable things on his family. If he weren’t addicted to the thrill of power and control, he would have stopped himself long ago.
3 Palmer is a great success story but has relied on the all-too-human lure of crime to carry him to the top. He owes large amounts of money to various criminal organisations and is now struggling to pay off his debts. Out of frustration, a criminal named Robert Kime, who Palmer owes large amounts of money, has kidnapped Palmer’s wife and children. Palmer would do anything to get his family back, except of course, call the police.
© Paul Hebron
This sounds like a lot of fun! I'd go with Option 2. By the way I've been reading all your story seeds and though I haven't commented much, I just wanted to say, thank you so much for all of these!
ReplyDeleteThanks - I'm glad you're enjoying them. It means a lot to me to know that they are being read!
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