The Twilight Order had crossed an ocean in pursuit of Dracula, but it quickly discovered that America required a different sort of Crusader. Armour and ancient knowledge remained useful, particularly when the enemy possessed claws, fangs or an inconvenient habit of refusing to remain dead, but the frontier rewarded men who could draw quickly and shoot accurately. Among those who adapted most readily were Brother Matthias Kane and Brother Gabriel Mercer, two very different men who had reached the same conclusion: in America, the Order’s ancient war would increasingly be fought with a pistol in each hand.
Brother Matthias Kane
Matthias Kane was born into the Twilight Order rather than recruited by it, the latest member of a family whose service could supposedly be traced through several generations of monster hunters in Europe. Long before coming to America he had been trained in the Order’s traditions, its accumulated knowledge of supernatural creatures and, perhaps most importantly, the responsibility that came with commanding men who were expected to confront things from which any sensible person would run. His experience and family standing eventually saw him appointed leader of the posse, charged with taking the Order’s war into a frontier where many of its old assumptions no longer applied.
Kane arrived in America with considerable confidence in the Order’s traditional methods, only to discover that a breastplate and centuries of accumulated wisdom were of limited value when an enemy could empty a revolver at you from across a saloon. Rather than stubbornly resisting change, he became an enthusiastic student of the American gunfighter. He learned to draw with either hand and eventually abandoned the sword he had carried from Europe in favour of two heavy revolvers, both loaded with silver ammunition whenever supernatural opposition was expected. He still wears the armour of the Order beneath his coat, regarding the combination of medieval protection and modern firepower as evolution rather than sacrilege.
Among his companions Kane has acquired a reputation for walking directly towards creatures that sensible men are running away from. He is not particularly reckless. He simply believes that after centuries spent learning how to kill monsters, the Twilight Order should not embarrass itself by retreating from them.
Brother Gabriel Mercer
Gabriel Mercer travelled a very different road into the Order. An American by birth, Mercer had already spent years carrying a pistol before he learned that vampires, restless dead and the other creatures whispered about around frontier campfires were considerably more than stories. His first encounter with the supernatural cost the lives of several companions and would almost certainly have claimed his own had a travelling member of the Twilight Order not intervened.
Mercer subsequently joined the Order, although he never entirely embraced its European traditions. He respected its knowledge and shared its purpose, but saw little reason to carry a sword simply because somebody several hundred years earlier had found one useful. Mercer already knew the weapon in which he trusted his life, and the Order merely improved upon it by giving him silver ammunition, armour and a much better understanding of what needed shooting.
He carries a matched pair of pistols, worn low and positioned for a fast draw, and has developed a particularly effective method of fighting at close range in which one pistol keeps an opponent occupied while the second delivers the decisive shot. Where Kane represents the old Order learning the ways of the West, Mercer represents something potentially more important: an American generation of Crusaders developing traditions of its own.
Together the two make an unlikely pair. Kane carries centuries of family tradition with him, while Mercer regards tradition as useful only until somebody discovers a better way of doing the job. They argue regularly about methods, equipment and almost everything else, but when something unpleasant emerges from the darkness their differences disappear remarkably quickly.
Four pistols come out. Usually, that settles the argument.