Four posts into the Meridian Syndicate and we have already met some of its more unusual members. The supernatural and senior elements of the posse are taking shape, but every sinister organisation operating behind the respectable face of a railway company also needs people capable of handling the more mundane problems. Not every difficulty requires an Abysmal Behemoth, a Hellhound or something summoned from beyond. Sometimes a pistol and somebody prepared to use it will do perfectly well.
That brings me to the gunfighters. I have six of them for the Meridian Syndicate, and rather than deal with all six at once I have divided them into two groups of three. These are not necessarily true believers in the Crossroads Cult. They are hired guns who have found themselves working for an organisation considerably stranger than the average railway company. The first three are Harlan Mercer, Gideon Slade and Virgil Boone.
Harlan Mercer
Harlan Mercer began as a railway labourer before discovering that he was considerably better with a pistol than a shovel. Years working on construction gangs had taught him that railway building was rarely the peaceful business portrayed in company prospectuses. Disputes over wages, land, supplies and the occasional disagreement conducted with dynamite meant that a man who could remain calm when trouble started was always useful.
Mercer gradually exchanged manual labour for protecting railway property and eventually became one of Wycliffe’s regular gunmen. He is calm, dependable and professional, qualities that Wycliffe values considerably more than unnecessary enthusiasm. Mercer does not go looking for fights, but once one begins he sees little point in prolonging it.
He suspects that there is considerably more to the Meridian Syndicate than ordinary railway business. Men occasionally disappear. Strange cargo travels in locked railway cars. Survey parties are sometimes sent to places where there seems little commercial reason to build a railway. Mercer has noticed all of this and has sensibly concluded that the excellent wages compensate for not asking questions.
Gideon Slade
Gideon Slade has never possessed Mercer’s reluctance to become involved in trouble. A gambler, former saloon guard and enthusiastic gunfighter, Slade enjoys confrontation rather more than is strictly necessary. Where Mercer regards his pistol as a tool of the trade, Slade regards his as something closer to a trusted companion.
His employment history is consequently colourful. Slade has guarded gambling halls, escorted payrolls, collected debts and worked for several employers who subsequently decided that employing Gideon Slade had perhaps not been their wisest business decision. The Meridian Syndicate is different. Wycliffe has both the money to keep him interested and sufficient dangerous work to prevent him becoming bored.
Unlike many of the Syndicate’s hired guns, Slade already knows that his employers are involved with supernatural forces. His principal concern upon discovering this was whether work involving monsters attracted additional pay. Once assured that particularly dangerous assignments were suitably compensated, he decided that the arrangement was entirely acceptable.
Virgil Boone
Virgil Boone spent years riding ahead of railway construction crews, dealing with landowners, local officials and anyone else who might interfere with the steady progress of the tracks. The railway companies preferred to describe men such as Boone as negotiators. Some of the people with whom Boone negotiated undoubtedly employed rather less flattering descriptions.
Boone genuinely prefers negotiation to shooting. Unfortunately, his habit of conducting negotiations with one hand resting upon his pistol tends to give the proceedings a particular sense of urgency. He understands intimidation, knows when a bluff is working and, perhaps more importantly, recognises when it is time to stop talking and reach for the gun.
Of the three men, Boone is the least comfortable with the supernatural side of the Meridian Syndicate. He dislikes Stroud, avoids Brimstone whenever possible and has absolutely no desire to be anywhere near Moloch. He has nevertheless spent enough years working for railway companies to understand that employers frequently have unpleasant secrets. The Meridian Syndicate’s secrets simply happen to have claws, teeth and an occasional tendency to emerge from places that should probably have remained closed.
These three begin to fill out the more human side of the Meridian Syndicate. Mercer prefers not to know too much, Slade knows and does not particularly care provided the money is good, while Boone knows enough to be deeply uncomfortable but keeps returning because railway work is what he understands. None needs to be a devoted servant of the Crossroads Cult to be useful to it.
There are still three more gunfighters to come, including one whose reasons for remaining close to the Syndicate are rather different. For now, however, Mercer, Slade and Boone are ready to join the increasingly unpleasant collection gathering around Wycliffe.
More importantly, they are painted, armed and ready to earn their wages.