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In a Mestizo village in the City of Lost Angels, Ana Maria Lopez was born a middle child to a large family. The Lopez's were a close family of eight children and had a strong religious foundation in the "Catholic" church. Ana's parents loved her for her strong faith and honesty and genuine good heart, and her brothers and sisters could always count on her loyalty. She worked harder than any of them, but unfortunately was not always met with success. You see, despite her efforts, Ana is not the sharpest knife in the drawer. To put it nicely, she was first in line for brains and ended up holding the door open.
Following family tradition, Ana tried her hand at being a Gaucho. Several employers sadly had to let her go. She just didn't have the commanding presence required to control the animals. One night after another long day on the trail of Ana getting in the way more than helping, something happened that made everyone's jaw drop, The trail hands were settled down for the evening around the campfire when they saw Ana suddenly jump up and fire off a couple rounds. Lying dead on the ground was a creature that seemed to be some twisted combination of a human and a bat. It would have stood about six feet tall with an intimidating nine foot wing span. No one else even saw it until after Ana had already drawn her weapons and shot it dead. Of course, no one but those who saw it with their own eyes believed it. By the time the authorities arrived to investigate, the corpse had vanished.
Well, she may not have been very slick at cattle herdin', but that night she found her calling. Knowing her to be a completely trustworthy worker, and one of the damn best shots he'd ever seen, her employer recommended her to the Catholic church to help protect the agents working to undermine the infamous Reverend Grimme.
Ana loves her work with the church. Protecting important people makes her feel worthy for the first time in her life. Her unassuming appearance is a bonus to those she protects who need to do their work unobtrusively. She's very comfortable keeping quiet and following orders, and the priests and agents of the church treat her with kindness and respect. They literally trust her with their lives.
Ana kept one of the .45 shells from that night on the trail and wears it around her neck along with her medal of her Patron Saint, Guadalupe. She considers the shell good luck. (She once took it off to clean it and forgot to put it back on. That was the one time she was late for the job, because she ran back to get it. Ana will swear to anyone that that's a sure sign it's her lucky shell, because she was never late until she took it off!)
Father had incredible luck -- both good and bad. Of course, to a large extent a man makes his own luck. His father first got lucky with a gold mining strike. He made a lot of money off of that. Eventually he sold it for a huge sum of money. He went and bought a riverboat and turned it into a gambling boat that went up and down the Mississipi. He would win money and lose it, but all the time, the boat was costing him more and more money. Eventually he could no longer afford it. He loved that lifestyle though.
One night he was in the poker game of his life. He ended up betting his boat. He would either have enough money to fund the boat for a long long time to come, or would lose it all together. He lost.
From then on he would go up and down the river gambling. Sometimes he would win, sometimes he would lose but when he won he would be incredibly generous with the money -- at least that's what everybody told him to his face. Behind his back they would shake their heads and talk about what a foolish man he was and how that was no way to raise a boy. But they all know him and enjoyed having him around.
His son, Artemis, enjoyed the traveling and the gambling life. He learned the trade early on. They worked well together and most of the time one would go bust in a town, but the other would have picked up enough so that they could move on and have something to eat.
At one point they had journeyed up the Arkansas river all the way to Ft. Smith. An Injun was dragged in. Artemis couldn't stomach the way they were treating him. He decided he'd try and do something. He ended up talking the Major into a poker game where the stakes would be the Injun's ownership on one side of the table vs a small bag of gold on the other. Artemis won. A good thing too since the bag was not full of gold... Artemis and father made a speedy exit with Injun in tow. They explained what had happened.
It turns out that the Injun was a Shaman. He was a wise man. Perhaps not all the white men were evil. He saw goodness in Artemis, and hope. The Shaman told him that evil was walking the world and ask Artemis if he would help to fight it. He offered Artemis a gift in the form of sharing a ritual. In that ritual Artemis visited the Hunting Grounds. Artemis was taught the beliefs of the Shaman and some of his knowledge. It came easily to him. The Shaman taught him Soul Blast and Soul Burst for use on the evil that journeyed the land. After a time, the Shaman felt the need to return to his home grounds and Artemis and his father were ready to move on as well.
This interaction spurred Artemis to learn more about the Hunting Grounds and the nature of this power. His father didn't have the patience for it and so they parted ways agreeing that whenever they are in St. Louis they will check in at Belle's place for the other. If the other isn't there, then at least they can leave a letter.
One night in a poker game he overheard a conversation that seemed odd. They mentioned Hoyle's book. There was something out of the ordinary there though. There was more to the conversation than the words they spoke. Artemis got a copy and read it. He read it again searching for some hidden message. He couldn't find it. The next year, he saw one of the two men on the river again and he approached him. He started a conversation and at one point brought up Hoyle and bluffed his way into getting the other guy to talk about the "examples" in the book. Eventually the other man saw through the bluff, but Artemis got the nugget he had been searching for.
At first it was a lot of fun. He learned a little trick that let him see through the back of a playing card. He won a lot quickly, but eventually one night he got a manitou that was a little bigger, meaner, and smarter than he was used to. It addled Artemis for a bit. He learned his lesson there and has been much more careful since then.
Oh yah, his mother? A favorite of his father's at Belle's.
Abe, as most people call him, is a thirty one year old eccentric sculptor and scientist from Denver, Colorado. Some people say he is mad, but he thinks they just do not understand the mind of an artist. Gordon is the youngest son of the "Scotts of Denver," a fairly old and respected family in the upper circles of society. He has had all the opportunities of a wealthy family including a very good education at an engineering school eventhough he wanted to go to a liberal arts college. While Gordon's mother and dad were never very happy with their youngest son's talent of making stone sculptures out of larger and larger pieces of rock, they are very proud of his brother (the oldest) who is going to be taking over the family mining business and his sister who has married into another wealthy family.
To help with his creative efforts Abe has had to devise many ingenious devices to help with his art. These devices were usually created with or used explosives so his room was soon moved out of the family mansion to a carriage barn way in the back. While in school, for some odd reason, he became very interested in the writings and recent history of Abraham Lincoln. Many of his classmates (and some with evil intent that have come to some very odd accidents) made fun of this obsession and started calling him "Abe," and that name has pretty much stuck with him. He prefers that name much more than the "Uncle Boom Boom" his nieces and nephews call him.
Abe's most grand and current sculpture is a five-years-in-the-making Lincoln Memorial that is being carved out of the top of Mt. Carbon (Lakewood area of Denver). Since the weather is not very good for blasting during the winter months, Abe has taken to making trips during the off season. His family often encourages this since they do not have to worry about the fire department coming over to the house while he is out of town. His latest "trip" has turned into more of a bit of an adventure as he is traveling with the other characters on this page!
I was born in the south. You know the place...where men are uptight and women are fluffy, frosted thangs that look like they shoulda be in a bakery winder. I know that it may seem hard ta believe that's where I came from, but I did. So, how did I end up here? Well, sit yerself down rite here, grab another muga coffee and I'll tell you all 'bout it. Ya ready?
Actually, I did git some schoolin', but ta be proper like a nun or school marm or social bitterflea just ain't my kinda saddle. I recollect when my olda sister went off to that boardin' school ta be "finished" for some philanderin' fella who wants to have a little purdy flirty filly to have by da reins jest for showin' 'round town. I was jest gonna turn ten when she was shipped off ta school, and she was abloomin' flower of thirtin gettin' close ta her firthteen year.
Three years passed, and my rough and tumble sister returned from her finishin'. I screamed in my heart when I laid eyes upon her. I could not believe what I seen . The thang that came out of the train car was pale, prim, powered, puffed, perfumed and perfictly poised. The last I heard she was gonna learn to do dat picture takin' fer a paper in Raleigh. I hope she's doin' okay.
Anyhows, my birthday was a comin'. I was a gonna be thirtin. For one of the few times in my life, I was scart. I knew what bunkhouse my folks was gonna send me ta real soon like. I hated the thought of me turnin' inta cake frostin', so I packed up a coupla thangs from home and snuck on the next train goin' a west...anywhere western like far from that house of properlikeness.
I stayed on the train ta Denver where I found my way ta a bunch of cowboys who rode the range and roped and wrastled cattle for a livin'. They din't expect me ta be a perky peach from the south; they gave me a rope and whip and told me ta go rope that stray calf down over there. I was one of the boys. I was not pale; I was tanned. My only power was the dust from the trail.
I spent several years spendin' time in and 'round Denver workin' the trail and meetin' some interestin' cowboys. Howerer, the trail was gettin' a bit slow, and I was feelin' a bit mossy. I was told 'bout a group who was gonna get some work and do some ridin', so I joined 'em.
While atravelin' wit this posse, I have seen thangs that my sis or my folks would never believe. I feel like I am livin'. We kin talk 'bout that if you like later on, but those rides are other stories best started when it's light outside and not in the dark with a fadin' campfire.
I have met a Texas ranger who I married while on the trail with the posse. He's not the kinda uptight philanderin' fool you most likely find in Raleigh. We got each other some new rifles fer our weddin', and he 's a good shot. I wouldn't pair off wit someone who is as hepless as a snail witout it's shell. He's named Tom Lubbock, and he knows how ta survive out here. Good thang, too since he's gotta be tough ta be wit me. He don't even mind my missin' left eye wit or wit out my patch. What a man! By the way, you can now call me Katie Lubbock.
Ranger Tom Lubbock is a slightly balding man in his mid thirties. He served two terms of duty for the Confederate Army, and fought in the first Battle of Manasas (known in the North as the Battle of Bull Run). He also fought against and along side zombies in the battle for Franklin, Tennessee.
After two tours of duty, retiring as Seargent, he went home to Fort Worth and signed on with the Texas Rangers. He was assigned the area of West Texas and New Mexico. His father is homesteading in the Panhandle, near a small canyon on the Yellow River.
His latest assignment is to escort the erstwhile Leftenant Lawrence on his journeys through North America. His secondary mission is to spy for the Rangers and the Confederacy, learning as much as he can about the Union, and about any supernatural goings-on in the world.
During his travels, Ranger Lubbock met a buffalo gal named Kate. Tom had had no patience with females before; they were too dainty and fragile and controlling. Kate was none of that, and she could shoot, too. He fell in love on the spot. He proposed after rescuing Pawnee Rock, and Preacher Elijah married them.
Now, he and Kate travel together in their quest for stirring up trouble.
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