Nathaniel was born on the 4th of January, 1919. He would grow up in the small town of Kyori-Hago, on the eastern edge of Phendria. His mother was a millworker at the local textile factory, while his father was the stable master of the nearby noble house Notawe. Due to the long hours both his parents had to work Nathaniel would often end up in the company of his grandmother after school. This would come to an end however when his grandmother passed on his twelfth birthday.

With no other caretaker Nathaniel would walk to the factory where his mother worked after school. This would be a chance meeting for him. While at the factory he became mystafied by the machinery. After watching the maintenance workers long enough, he would soon start repairing his mother's machine himself whenever it broke down. By the age of fourteen he would be made the head of maintenance for the factory, paid a full adults wage.

Outside of work he would begin tinkering with all sorts of machinery and mechanisms. Anywhere there was a problem he would apply his engineering understanding to find a solution. On his sixteenth birthday his family bought a car. Making them the first in their small town to own one. Matsuri would spend hours at night taking pieces of it apart and putting them back together. A year later he was able to break it entirely down and put it all back together in a matter of hours.

As he came of age, Matsuri found himself asking the question every young adult must face when readying to leave home. What happens next? The answer for Matsuri was found in the empress. With war looming on the horizon, her majesty Alexandra would order the formation of two prototype engineering divisions. The recruits would have to be inclined towards mechanics, have strong problem solving skill, and be willing to work in the most hazardous environments imaginable.

Matsuri signed on without a second thought, and would breeze through army basic. As he reached the specific school for his job, he'd realize he signed on for a bit more than bridge building and tank fixing. The school was headed by several special forces members, veterans who'd served in the great war and her after conflicts.

Mountain climbs, several mile hikes, barbed wire clearing under fire, and beach landings. Day in and day out Nathaniel would be pushed above and beyond the point an average man would break. When training finally concluded Matsuri would graduate the school with several citations from his instructors.

This would only half prepare him for the grueling journey ahead.

Art by the amazing