Being born a troll isn't easy chummer let me tell you. Just imagine what those horns and a 20lb baby do to a prospective mother, or at least that's how dad recalls it, and you can imagine why Johnny and his father didn't get along very well. She had chronic health problems for years, but she loved her little Johnny with all of her heart. When she took ill, father disappeared in his work. Johnny was raised by the trid, and one subject held his interest over any others. Cowboys! They we always so cool, so brave, they always saved the town, got the girl, and rode off into the sunset.
When mother died in child birth, father drowned himself in booze. Johnny tried to keep the household afloat by working any and every job he could find. The ends just wouldn't meet. Between protection payments, "Cut Backs" at the docks, "Troll Tax" at the stuffer shack. As he received yet another pink slip, a friend of his looked at him and said, "Damn knife ears. This is all their doing" They spoke long into the night about how the elves kept them down for fun and profit. Keeping all the good jobs for themselves and leavin the shit jobs to us filthy trogs. He brought me to meet people just like us who had taken the power back, the Spikes.
It all made sense now. It wasn't his fault, it wasn't even his worthless fathers fault, it was all those miserable dandelion eaters. It was all so simple when the boss did all the thinking for you. If things were good, its cause of his might and ferocity. Things were bad? It was all the fancy pants in their ivory towers doing. Working for the spikes as muscle meant the bills were finally paid, he had a little respect, and was surrounded by his peers. All it cost him was his sunset. As time went on though he couldn't look himself in the mirror. But family has got to eat right?
Johnny's younger brother Thomas grew fast, as only trolls can. He looked up to his big brother and wanted to be just like him when he grew up. They watched the cowboy trids together, took care of their father, and went out for burgers every Thursday, collection day, but Tommy didn't need to know that. Bones gotta break if you wana buy burgers, he asks the mirror, that's just the way the world works isn't it?
After father died in a drunken dispute, Johnny took a hard look at his life, and didn't like what he saw. He wasn't only responsible for himself. He had a little brother to take care of and he shouldn't be growing up in a place like the slums of Tacoma. Johnny started pulling extra jobs for the Spikes to bring in extra money. Each cred brought them one step closer to a normal life. At least that's what he told himself in the mirror each morning. This is all for Tommy isn't it?
Slow day at the bar. No shipments today when he gets a com call from Tommy. Burgers were on him this week. Johnny raced home and saw Tommy washing blood off of an old pipe, a small pile of cheap jewelry on the table, and a smile from ear to ear. "See I'm just like you big brother. Gotta break a few bones for burgers! I listen good in the mornings when you think i aint! I did good right?"
In that moment Johnny knew that everything he had done had been for himself, his own comforts and ego. If he didn't change, and fast, Tommy would end up just as soulless as he was becoming and there wasn't an elf in sight to blame. He was going to be part of the problem and not the solution. He took that weeks protection payments, bought a six shooter, a whip, and a 10 gallon hat. He was going to skip Tacoma and gallop into town, save the people, get the girl, and ride off into the sunset. It didn't get much more wild west than the Barrons. Hopefully it was far enough to start a new life and avoid the inevitable reprisal from the Spikes. His first day on patrol he got a pointblank shotgun to the head for his troubles. Idiots, shooting a troll in the head only makes them mad...
Johnny needed a plan. He found a matrix community of people like himself and he shared his tale. Turns out all those cowboy moves weren't all trid magic and bluster. He trained and watched every western he could get his hands on. First thing first, find a way to take away those guns and level the playing field. Johnny got odd jobs on the side and took protection payments in exchange for actual protection. It was a novel biz strategy. He had even found an old orc woman who offered to teach Tommy how to read in exchange for some work around the house. Johnny could afford a proper school for Tommy if he had the cash. All it would cost is some poor sap a few weeks in traction right? No! That was Old Johnny he told the mirror over his grumbling stomach. As Tommy ate his breakfast Johnny though i ate yesterday didn't I? Had he made the right choice?
Lately though things had changed. Gruesome murders, mass fear, and a strange presence just at the edge of his perception. Now's the time to hit the streets once more. Save the town from this dark presence.If he makes a few friends and a little cred on the way, all the better. He needs both, and fast, eventually some souped up little jazzhead, or something worse, is gonna get him...
