Character Profile: Nathaniel Celey

Age: 52
Birthday: sometime in 2117
Hair: Short cut and mostly wavy; black, but graying around the temples
Eyes: dark blue and reflective; never, ever, ever emotional
Physical: Trim, fit, about average build. He makes use of his personal trainer, and is buff enough to be impressive and intimidating, but not a muscle-man by any means
Distinguishing Trait: The air of "don't fuck with me," that surrounds him at all times. His voice is pretty damn distinguishing: very cold and calculating, very in charge
Orientation: straightv Family: wife (deceased, for all we know); son, Damon
Past Lives: Richard and Petruchio

Nathaniel (AKA Nate or Nathan, depending on who he's speaking with) grew up in wealth and plenty. He was a brilliant child and studied hard and diligently, was taught by the best private tutors and later attended the best university Celey Corp ran, where he graduated top of his class. He took over the family business at age thirty, when they were fourth out of the Big Five; by the time Threecee folded several years later, they were second and after the fold, first.

Needless to say, Nathan is a ruthless businessman and a political genius. He's not nearly as good in terms of personal relations, though, and his son is far too like him—equally stubborn, equally used to getting his own way. He saw Damon's potential and was furious when the child refused to live it to its full extent, leading to fight after fight between the two.

Nate Celey is rumored to have no emotions. He lives, rumor says, for business and business alone, in other words, business is his life. They claim that he will do anything to stay on top, laws and love be damned. This is not quite true.

Nathaniel felt two things simultaneously the night he saw his son in a coma in the hospital: fear and love. These were followed quickly by guilt, and then all three were overshadowed by incredible rage. Nathan hates showing emotion, as far as he's concerned, emotion and weakness are one and the same. This didn't stop him from making his son's life hell for the next few years. He'll claim it was for Damon's own good, to keep him from humiliating himself, his father and their company, not to mention keeping him off blitz, but the truth is that Nathaniel is far more upset that his son was able to bring out so many emotions within him.

Despite everything, Nathaniel is not the cold-hearted cut-throat businessman he appears. All of his general meanness towards Damon aside, Nate genuinely loves his son, though there is nothing that could convince him to show it, in any way, ever.

He has few friends and many enemies, but they're enemies who are so comfortable with each other that they're very much like friends. Such is the case with one Samuel Arison. The two men were rivals all through college (Sam's father paid dearly to get him into the superior Celey Corp school) and are business rivals now. They detest each other, but love having someone to hate with such a passion. Nathaniel harbors no real ill will towards Sam, though the same is not necessarily true in reverse. After so many years, they are actually fairly good friends, though neither one would ever go so far as to trust the other.

As things stand at the novel's start, Nathan is the "bad guy," in as much as the story has a villain. This isn't really his fault and has a lot to do with past lives he has no control over, but it does make things miserable for Damon.