Main Charactering

[Kim]

So, the story I'm working on. The main character doesn't show up till part 4 of 7, so I have some time to work out the main character. But, being the main character and all, he is rather important, so I want to use that time to it's fullest potential. So here are my thoughts so far...

I think he should be about thirty-three, with a wife and son. He works on a farm that belonged to his father, his father having passed away not too long ago. However, the world has recently become industrialized, and he can't operate on as large of a scale as a lot of the farming companies. He doesn't have the technology, the money to buy said technology, nor enough people to help around the farm.

When he can't pay his taxes, the government seizes his property, sends his wife and son to a government established homeless shelter, that is really more like a prison, and forces him to work at a gem factory. Gem factories are where life and magic are taken from people and put into gems to power all the modern technology. This is what gets him started on his quest to stop the evil government man.

The main character can manipulate water, which isn't really that special, and since he refuses to use gems, knowing where they come from, he's at a real disadvantage.

So... Ideas? Make him stronger? Leave him as is? Make him more disadvantaged?

I'm thinking about having the government try and force him to put his wife and son into gems when he tries to tell people what's going on, but I don't want to kill those two needlessly, and I don't want him on just some revenge quest.