Friends, Rivals and Enemies, Part 2

The peers of the Immortal Champions

Innocence Loxton

(art by Romina Jones: https://linktr.ee/RomyJones)


The daughter of one of the most infamously zealous Judges of Albion, Innocence had her heart set on a simpler life, but providence thought otherwise. After nearly being murdered by two demon-worshipping sisters, Innocence left Barsetshire as the newly-employed maid of Lady Renée de Launcey, a Surrey aristocrat and budding investigator of the uncanny. The pair of them had many hair-raising adventures in 17th century England, ranging from the specters of vengeful pirates and a medieval vampire in London to a sorcerous attempt on the life of the Earl of Southminster and the Dragon Cult of Dringhoe. Eventually, Innocence left Old England for New, becoming a famous writer whilst still continuing her family's legacy in the haunted forests of Plymouth Colony.

Elgiva Woodmore

Born in Basingstoke, Hampshire, in the late 19th century, Elgiva's early life lays under a cloud of mystery. She (and her twin brother Elwin) often went away into the North Downs by night, where, it was later said, they danced to the music of golden pipes played by the Old People. Elgiva, a prolific writer, never addressed the subject. It can be said with more certainty that in October 1891, she came into the employ of famous spirit medium Zillah Harvey as a house maid. The two soon became friends, and Elgiva accompanied Zillah on adventures across the British Isles and, on a few occasions, to the Continent. She soon became the Watson to Zillah's Holmes, although her writings never reached anything close to such a vast audience. She was still active into the 1950s and then, having published her final collection of tales, Elgiva left Basingstoke on a moonlit night and vanished into the North Downs.

Ms. Henderson

Not much of particular note ever came from the town of Gilead, Texas – with the considerable exception of Gabriella Henderson (or Ms. Henderson as she insisted). She served in the US Army for a few years during the post-Vietnam doldrums and was recruited by the CIA. During the early 1980s, she was involved with coordinating operations with the various Mujahideen groups. Assigned to working with a small and esoterically pious faction known as the Brethren of the Flame, Ms. Henderson barely survived her first brush with the uncanny in the form of a djinn not quite as controlled as the Brethren thought. Afterwards, she left the CIA and soon found a job with the notorious Owl Club of Midtown Manhattan. She rose through the ranks and by 1984, she was the Club's Talon and unofficial bodyguard of occultist dilettante Jacqueline Visser. She retired after the so-called Battle of New York on New Year's Eve 1999 and moved back to Gilead where she still lives on a crumbling-down ranch.

Letty Wellman

(art by Romina Jones)


Letty Wellman's grandfather John was an accomplished musician, a quietly devout Christian, one of Appalachia's foremost folklorists, and also a talented occult detective. Letty inherited his talents and his silver-stringed guitar. While Appalachia today is a far cry from what it was after the Korean War, there's still plenty of haints, witches and weird creatures lurking in the darkest hollers and pine-clad peaks. Letty, after a couple years in college and a stint in the Army, took it to mind to follow in her grandfather's footsteps. For the last five or six years, she's been traveling across the heart of Appalachia, doing what she can to ease people's problems and put the critters in their place if need be. She's often worked with STAU agents, who generally have a 'live and let live' policy towards most independent 'trouble-fixers' (as Letty styles herself). More recently, she's been tangled up in a few nasty cases with the Georgia Bureau of Investigation and a Cherokee agent named Cathy Harper.

Vibius

Vibius Rusonius Quintus was a soldier in the Legio X Fretensis and then the Talon of the Order of the Owl, their guardian and killer. He lived in Jerusalem in the middle of the first century, an especially turbulent time in Judea's history. While not trained in the occult arts, he was still a deadly warrior, especially when the Order saw fit to give him one of the 'special' weapons buried in their secret templum somewhere beneath the city's streets. Few accounts of his life remain, and those that do were written by less-than-friendly witnesses such as Ya'el of Bethany, St. Victoria of Alexandria and Yaron ben Shimon. Even they grudgingly admit that while Vibius was a casually brutal man, he was honest enough, and (for the most part) directed his violent skills towards the Night People instead of the downtrodden people of Judea. He disappeared while investigating truly ancient ruins in the mountainous eastern borderlands of Mesopotamia a few years after the sacking of Jerusalem in 70 AD.

Shengtie

The legendary figure known as Shengtie (Pig Iron) is a boisterous busybody and serial monogamist. Ancient texts from the Spring and Autumn Period record a spirit known as the Nine Lands Pilgrim, while a famous poem of the Tang Dynasty refers to the Tankard Draining God and folk tales from the Ming-Qing transition speak of a wandering drunkard who had a habit of defeating supernatural foes, often by drinking or eating them under the table. Newspaper accounts from San Francisco's Chinatown after the Civil War mention him in awed witness statements. A "fat Chinese inebriate" was arrested on Mott Street, New York, in 1972 after stomping flat an entire bar full of Ghost Dragon triad ruffians. Wherever he goes, trouble follows – if it didn't get to town ahead of him. Immortal Champions on three continents have quietly agreed the best thing to do is get out of his way and let him do what he likes... in the end, Shengtie always gets his way.

The Reader

This enigmatic figure has been living (?) in London since at least Roman times, if not far earlier. There are ancient Celtic cave drawings that depict an exceptionally tall, pallid figure – traits that certainly match the Reader. He is mentioned in a few surviving texts from Roman Britannia, featured in several Saxon songs and poems, described (and denounced) by numerous medieval monks, appears in the works of Innocence Loxton and Samuel Pepys, was a known acquaintance of numerous Victorian occultists, and possibly seen on the blurry margins of a photograph of the infamous Aleister Crowley in the 1930s. After the fiery destruction of the Savant Club in 1940, the Reader seems to have dropped out of sight entirely. There are rumors, though... there are always rumors, aren't there? Guests at the Castringham Hotel which was built over the ashes of the Savant Club sometimes report midnight encounters with a very tall, cadaverous man with a book in hand...