Mercy Delacroix

The Hollowborn Preacher • Traveling Companion & Moral Thorn

Concept: A woman born Hollowborn, white-eyed and frail, who carries no gun—only a book of her own making, its pages written with charcoal and spit. She believes the Slinger's gift is both curse and calling.

Born during a ley-storm that struck the ruins of a drowned cathedral. Her village tried to drown her as a babe, but the midwife pulled her from the river. Mercy grew up among whispers, always with a book in hand. When no priest would teach her scripture, she wrote her own—The Book of Dust and Dawn, its psalms scribbled in charcoal.

Voice: Soft, deliberate, with pauses like she's waiting for revelation. Her words mix scripture with frontier grit: "The storm don't choose the good nor the wicked—it chooses the ready. And you, gunslinger, you were born ready. Don't mean you're righteous."

Narrative Role: Mercy is his unwanted conscience. She doesn't condemn his killings outright, but she frames them as acts of fate, which unsettles him. She sees a holy thread where he sees only blood.

Silas Crow

The Chainbreaker • Ally of Circumstance & Rival Outlaw

Concept: Once a prisoner of Those Who Wear the Chains, he carries broken links looped through his ears and wrists. Where the Slinger fires psionic bullets, Silas wields sheer rage, his iron chain snapping like a whip.

Silas was a miner who struck iron laced with a cursed vein. Chainsmen dragged him underground, shackled him, and made him labor till his back broke. One night, during a quake, the mine collapsed. Silas survived, tearing free of his bonds. He wound the broken links around his arms and ears, making them his weapons.

Voice: Harsh, gravelly, laughter like grinding ore. Doesn't waste words. "You fight with fancy ghosts, Slinger. I fight with iron. But both cut deep."

Narrative Role: Silas is both ally and cautionary tale. He has no restraint, no sense of collateral damage. He embodies vengeance at its most brutal, and the Slinger sees too much of himself in the man. Their alliance is brittle—always one word away from a draw. He calls the Slinger "half-ghost" for refusing to choose between martyr and monster.

Esmé Calderón

The Rail Witch of Ash • Antagonist & Reluctant Informant

Concept: Bound to the Covenant of Ash, Esmé fuels the rails with blood magic. Her veins are black with cinders, her lungs smoke when she laughs. She knows every ley-line, every weak point in the earth.

Born to a family of railworkers in the Ash Belt, Esmé was caught in a Covenant "bargain." Her bloodline was bound to fuel the ley-engines that drive the locomotives. Each child is marked with cinder veins at birth. Esmé tried to run, but the Covenant cursed her lungs to smoke whenever she laughs or sings.

Voice: Wry, sardonic, dark humor in every sentence. She never lets anyone forget she's chained, but she wears the chain like jewelry. "You think your curse is heavy, gunslinger? Mine comes with timetables and ticket stubs."

Narrative Role: Esmé is temptation and tension. She despises the Covenant but needs them to survive, much like the Slinger needs his cursed bullets. She and he share a language of damned souls, half-flirting, half-threatening. She's useful—and that makes her dangerous.

The Rider Who Stays

Death's Shadow • Supernatural Foil & Nemesis

Concept: Of the Riders in Pale, one never leaves after the slaughter. He lingers, watching, silent. Folks say the Rider waits for the Slinger, claiming his life is already forfeit.

Of the Riders in Pale, most appear during massacres and vanish when the killing's done. But one doesn't leave. The Rider Who Stays lingers, silent, watching the survivors. Some say it's the oldest Rider, the one who never took a soul and waits for just one: the Psi-Slinger.

Voice: Silent. When it does speak, it's in echoes of the dead. A sheriff's last plea, a widow's prayer, a child's scream. Never its own words.

Narrative Role: The Rider is inevitability personified. It's not a rival nor ally—it's a clock, ticking down his soul. Every time it appears, he knows his story is nearing its end. The Rider never chases; it waits. That's worse.

Jonah "Kid Lantern" Bly

Would-Be Protégé & Tragic Seed

A boy of sixteen who idolizes the Slinger, copying his hat tilt, his draw, even the way he lights a cigarette he never smokes. Can't fire psionic rounds, but he carves runes on bullets and pretends. Duncan doesn't want a shadow, but the boy won't leave.

Everyone says Kid Lantern's fate is sealed: he'll either die young or become worse than his hero. Through Jonah, we see the myth infecting the next generation—the "next story" already blooming.

Sheriff Maeve Blackthorn

The Law of Drywater County

Scarred, no-nonsense, rifle always at hand. Daughter of cattle barons who turned her back on privilege after seeing unchecked lawlessness destroy her kin. She carved her badge from her father's coffin lid.

Convinced the Psi-Slinger is just another outlaw with fancier tricks, but forced to work with him when worse things ride into town. She keeps his legend grounded in reality—through her eyes, he's not myth, just a man with blood on his hands.

Old Pete Carver

Rustwater Barkeep

Knows every story, every rumor, every ghost that haunts the frontier. Lost an eye to a Dust Vulture raid, lost a son to the Redeemers, lost faith in everything but whiskey. He's the one who tells travelers about the Psi-Slinger, always ending with: "You're one of 'em, ain't ya?"

Mother Elaine

Bellhaven Pilgrim Keeper

Runs the waystation at Bellhaven, offering sanctuary to pilgrims and outlaws alike. Never turns anyone away, never asks questions, never forgets a face. Some say she's got a touch of the Sight, others that she's just lived long enough to know how stories end.

Marcus Kellan

Durrant Rancher

A big man gone soft around the edges, gray beard stained yellow from tobacco juice. Lost half his herd to supernatural forces—cattle that died then kept walking. Sent for Duncan when conventional solutions failed. Practical, scared, but determined to protect what's his.

Henrik the Undertaker

Brimstead's Death Merchant

Drives his wagon with hat pulled low, like he's ashamed of making a living off other men's dying. His mules know the work too—they stamp once and settle, patient as stones. Always buries bodies headfirst, says it keeps the spirits from looking back.

Packard

General Store Owner

Round as a barrel and twice as solid, beard stained yellow from his ever-present pipe. Keeps his ear to the ground, knows who's coming and going before they do. Sells supplies without judgment—bullets to lawmen, salt to witches, whiskey to everyone.

Lord Marshal Vorren Haldane

Consortium Rail Magnate

Chief rail magnate for the Orvain Consortium. Keeps a smile like a knife and a ledger where every life has a price. They say he's never missed a dividend payment, even when his trains carry corpses instead of cargo. Has a standing offer for Duncan: name your price. Duncan has never named one.

Mistress Kirelle Dorn

Consortium Spymaster

Buys secrets like cattle and sells them like diamonds. Her network of informants stretches from Orvain's parlors to the frontier's bloodiest saloons. Knows more about Duncan's movements than he'd like, but respects his refusal to be owned.

"Glass-Eye" Torvik

Dust Vultures Illusionist

The Vultures' chief illusionist, believed to have bargained with desert spirits. His false horizons have led a hundred posses to their deaths. Some say his glass eye sees through the Veil itself. Works closely with Maeve Callahan.

Sister Agnetha

Redeemer Executioner

Ex-nun who wields twin iron hatchets blessed in blood. She performs the executions Stroud orders, singing hymns as she works. They say she weeps for every soul she sends to judgment, but never stays her hand.

Elder Rhun

Circle of Ash Lorekeeper

A wandering lorekeeper who bears a thousand charms and knows a hundred rituals. Travels between covens, teaching control to those who'd otherwise burn out. Some say he's two hundred years old, kept alive by the very forces that should have killed him. Has approached Duncan three times with offers—Duncan always refuses.

Captain Garran Holt

Ironbrand Commander

Commander of the Garrison Rails. Keeps ledger and sword in equal hand—every life saved or taken is logged, priced, and billed accordingly. They say he once burned a town for defaulting on protection payments, then charged the survivors for the ammunition used. Personally offers a year's wages to any Ironbrand who brings him Duncan's guns.

Sergeant Klem Rudder

Ironbrand "The Torch"

Infamous for burning three towns "to preserve order." His philosophy is simple: fear prevents chaos. His men follow him because he wins; everyone else avoids him because he's a monster with a badge.

Marcus "Three-Finger" Webb

Consortium Enforcer

Lost two fingers to Duncan's bullet, kept the scars as reminder. Now hunts bounties for the Consortium with mechanical precision. Doesn't hate the Psi-Slinger—it's just business. The kind of man who'd shoot his mother for the right price, then attend her funeral.

Sister Catherine

Reformed Redeemer

Once rode with Stroud's crusade until she saw a child burned for showing spark. Now hides psionics in her chapel's cellar, teaching them to suppress their gifts. Lives in constant fear of discovery, knowing Stroud's justice for apostates is worse than death.

Emil "Dustmouth" Garrett

Information Broker

Sells secrets to all factions from his shop in Kessick. Missing most of his teeth from "asking the wrong questions," but his network of whispers stretches across the frontier. If something happens anywhere, Dustmouth knows about it in three days. Neutral to all, trusted by none, essential to everyone.