Johnny Durange
Johnny Durange was a FirstHeart Jhoutigari marksman during the Blood Snow Offensive. He was born to a poor family in the slums of Calgary on Earth.
War historians noted his hate for the Sazashi which, after years of service, boiled down to a disdain for Nasyk. At the age of twenty, he enlisted for the Aempian Jhoutigari to avenge the assassination of his father at the hands of the Malisyk.
I've seen shit, fucked up shit— broken bones, broken wills, broken families... It took Auric therapy from my sweet Orlyn to keep my mind from ripping itself to shreds and I still have nightmares that keep me up.
Reason I don't see myself as a hero is I didn't do it out of love, or for who I stood for. I did it out of hate: hate of the Nasyk, hate of the Sazashi.
Hate fueled me then, kept me warm on the glaciers of Faur'ridar'ru, but it burns you from the inside until you're nothing but a spiteful husk.
Thank god I was paired with Noh-Rajh during Blood Snow. Fuzzy-earred bastard wouldn't let up until he helped me overcome the dark pit of hate in my heart.
Now, enough blabbin', what do ya want to drink?
Life on Earth
Throughout his youth, Johnny learned to see the Sazashi as cold-blooded pillagers of Earth. He fostered a disdain for Earth's protectorate, the Sazashi Empire of Aempis. If you were not part of Aempian dealings, then you most likely were poor. Johnny's family despised the Aempians, and so he was poor.
He spent his early life as a Pest Control Agent, it was a dangerous job, hunting many of the predatory invasive species brought in by Aempis from Jhoutai. He grew into a skilled marksman, medic, and hunter; all skills that would prove invaluable in the coming decades.
In the year 2265 GS, several bounties were set on the heads of anti-Sazashi activists on Earth. These bounties were taken up by Malisyk assassins.
The assassination of his father was a bloody and public affair, one that changed Johnny's life forever.
Johnny's Hero
Johnny's Father was the bitter son of a fallen Advent War veteran, and staunch activist for Earth's independence.
When his hate transformed into action, he organized protests, and, when those failed, riots and sabotage. This drew the ire of Sazashi groups, leading to his demise.
It was a rare treat that Johnny's family got to eat out. Money was short, even with each of them working. Living in the husk of Calgary did not afford the niceties that his Father swore there once was.
They had just left Vespucci’s, heading home with full bellies and tired eyes. The evening shower of snow caught the warm orange lights that lined the city streets, making everything look straight out of a romance flick.
Johnny marveled at it. He always loved the snow, it brought him back to some of the few happy memories he had: sledding, snow-ball fights...
Something warm splashed against the back of his neck, running down to his shirt. He reached back to wipe it away, assuming his mom had spilled her decaf. He expected chocolate brown when he brought his fingers back, but found darkened streaks of blood, steam still rising from the heat. His mother screamed the kind of scream he had only heard one other time, when he had to inform an unfortunate woman that she was now a widow.
He turned on a dime, only to meet the blood-red slitted eyes of a Nasyk wielding a jagged bloodied dagger and a gauntlet studded with stun-bolts and arcing with electricity. Johnny was struck by the gauntlet— sending him reeling backwards. Stun-needles sank into his cheek, pulsing with enough power to send him twitching to the ground.
Johnny could only move his eyes, it was all his rage could afford him. He could not scream, he could not fight, he could only watch. The Nasyk loomed, eyeing Johnny through a mask that resembled an angry, needle-filled grin. The Nasyk wasn't there for him, that was made clear by the still gurgling form of his father. Blood flowed like a brook from his father’s neck, melting the snow and pooling in the street.
The Nasyk was as silent as the night, claws pulling down its mask to reveal a smile as wicked as what covered it. Johnny stared at the Nasyk, and the Nasyk glared right back. An ember of malice roared into an inferno between their gazes.
Johnny felt his end approaching, pained eyes following the Nasyk's jagged bloody knife as it raised. The final blow did not come, instead, the Nasyk hinted at what was to come, licking his father's blood from the blade with a sickening grin of satisfaction.
The Nasyk sheathed his blade, hefted the choking body of his father over his shoulder, and strode away. Johnny was left to scream in anger and agony, only to have it come out as choked whimpers and sobbing.
Johnny relived his mothers horrible screams a week later, when the local police informed them that she was a widow, and that only his fathers bones could be found.
Fighting for Aempis
Johnny watched the news a week later, the headlines spammed his grieving mind with promises of vengeance. His father was a statistic, another victim of a growing Malisyk scourge that had now spread to Earth. Aempis had declared war against the Malisyk.
Johnny enlisted into the Jhoutigari, the Aempian military.
Johnny was a prime candidate for shipment back to Jhoutai for service. He had marksmanship skills, experience with Jhoutai wildlife thanks to his job as an invasive species controller, and a hate for the Naysk due to his father's assassination.
He did not have the easiest time through training. He had inheritied his fathers disdain for all Sazashi, and on Jhoutai, humans were the minority.
Stranger in a Strange Land
After enlisting, Johnny was shipped out to Jhoutai for training and deployment. He bid his mother farewell, and was transported to Aempis for boot camp.
His first months on Jhoutai were rough to say the least. Johnny's ideologies got him into several fights with the Sazashi in his unit. Johnny rose up against the common oppresion of humans and backed up his protests with fists. He found himself the target of several court martials, and faced dishonorable discharge.
Johnny received a letter with an offer: deploy to the Mar'rianiyan Territories, or face trial, criminal prosecution, and being stranded on Jhoutai with no citizenship.
Johnny had little choice, and took the deployment. He was sent to the Territories, an area rich with resources and conflict alike.
The remote location was a suicide post. Johnny was sent there to serve, and most likely perish, with other troublesome Jhoutigari units.
He spent years assigned to this post, with little support but those who had been stuck with him. He found himself in the mixed company that came from all Kinds. The struggles of living in the Territories forced him to cope with his disdain for the Sazashi, knowing that only through cooperation would any of them survive.
F.U.B.A.R
The Mar'rianiyan Territories were one of the few locations on Jhoutai with rich and stable mining. The Territories also had little in organized government. It was a free-for-all, the different Sazashi colonies struggled through constant border wars and skirmishes.
Days were miserable, nights were long, and Johnny was under orders to shoot at anything that moved outside the walls of his assigned mining town. When whatever was out there shot back, it was a relief, because that which did not shoot back left nightmares.
I was always told by my father that Jhoutai was hell.
He was right, the Territories were hell, beasts natural and supernatural that would prey upon us like nothing.
Though as I began to understand hell, I began to understand its residents. When you are fighting in hell, there is no Sazashi or Human, there is just what wants to eat you and what doesn't.
A New Chapter
Johnny could have been stuck in the territories forever, were it not for a mission to scout out a research facility near their mining camp. As the squad lead, he was first to make contact with Hierus Nomen, a member of the Aempian Triptych. Hierus was a prisoner of the facility, forced to run experiments to develop new forms of super soldiers.
To free Hierus, Johnny's squad raided the facility, rescuing not only Heirus, but several other prisoners, including a Faecha known as Orlyn. Once freed, Hierus needed to make the return to Aempis. He elected to take Johnny and Orlyn as his personal guard for the venture.
The journey from the Territories to Aempis took several weeks. During that time, Johnny and Orlyn bonded over their disdain for the Malisyk. The Maliksyk had tortured her into a ruthless, murderous, Monolith. She sought revenge and peace, something that Johnny could relate to.
Their bond turned to a tentative romance, which Hierus took notice of. When the trio returned to Aempis, Hierus released Johnny from his duty as his escort. Johnny's new orders were to protect Orlyn, whose intricate knowledge of the Malisyk would prove to be a turning point of the Blood Snow Offensive.
As I look back, I can understand why Orlyn and I fell so hard for each other. We were two peas in a pod.
We were both fueled by hate, hate for those who oppressed us, who took from us.
We also saw that we were conquering our hate, attempting to smother the fire before it consumed us. We worked together to improve each other.
The Blood Snow Offensive
Johnny and Orlyn spent the next few months enjoying their first tastes of peace. Orlyn worked for the Aempian government, helping train the Jhoutigari in the tactics of Malisyk. Johnny never left Orlyn's side, working as her guard and liason.
Now armed with knowledge of the Malisyk, Aempis began a massive offensive against the Malisyk, assisted by the Eiuka and Faecha of Faur'ridar'ru. Johnny, still fueled by his hunger for revenge, volunteered immediatly for duty.
Redemption
Johnny Durange took up his rifle for Aempis. His sharpshooting abilities made him the only human marksman, a deadly job considering the Malisyk's strength at long-range engagements, and view any non-sazashi as a delicacy.
Johnny was paired with spotter, a Euikan Nasyk named Noh-rajh. Noh-rajh had survived decades in the frozen north dominated by Malisyk, a perfect guide. Noh-rajh and Johnny did not get along. Johnny firmly believed that Noh-rajh would slit his throat each night, and Noh-rajh believed humans could not survive his home.
Noh-rajh withstood the constant hate, even saving Johnny from Malisyk several times. Despite how distrustful Johnny was, the wall of hate began to crack.
Through the fire of conflict, a friendship was forged between the two unlikely allies. Hate turned to tolerance, tolerance turned to respect. They became the most efficient team of the conflict, accruing dozens of Malisyk kills.
The End to Conflict
The end to the Blood Snow Offensive took another month of grueling search and destroy. Johnny never faltered, and took down more assassins than the news could report on. His new Monolithic status made him a war hero. He was the human who rose to Aempis' aide, the "Calgary Crusader" became a living embodiment of the strength of humanity under Aempis.
He left the bloody conflict a changed man, a man who had come to respect the Nasyk through Noh-rajh. In parting, he promised to name his first son after the Nasyk, whom he remained friends with throughout the rest of his life.
Johnny was granted a home in Aempis' capital, a place to settle down with Orlyn. It was to be the end of Johnny's journey, were it not for the rise of the Rilaem years later.
We now report from the northern front, where the "Calgary Crusader" strikes fear into the heart of the Malisyk. This lone human came from Earth to serve with our Jhoutigari, now he prowls the frozen north.
Reports have come in that in a brutal battle today, the Crusader gained the ultimate enlightenment in the name of Aempis. That's right, he became a Monolith.
Sources tell us a particular shot to save the Crusaders lover led to his enlightenment. When asked about how it happened, he praised his spotter, hefted his rifle and went on his way.
I personally look forward to seeing his statue in the Hall of Heroes!
Yeah, I had a big ol' statue right in the Hall of Heroes. You know who went up next to me? Nicodemus fucking Jadey did. Between you and me, he still comes to my bar.
He taught me that every friggen statue down that boulevard is another fool tricked into Aempis' dirty work.
The Wool is Removed
As Johnny and Orlyn settled into their new life, they began to learn of the blood on Aempis' hands. Through the many corners of the internet they learned of the trauma they had caused.
In 2282 GS A Rilaem agent, Havoc, approached Johnny in a local bar. Havoc preached the truth of what Aempis did to Johnny. The sheer horror of the information shattered their lives under Aempis.
The next year Johnny and Orlyn fled their home, trading their war trophies and apartment for a tenement space in Valdutan. It was a place where he could not be extradited. Aempis, for their part, let Johnny leave his life behind. They continued to spin his story for recruits, and Johnny faded into history as a Hero of Aempis.
You poor souls have only peeked out of the box that Aempis has trapped you in.
You killed for Aempis, slaughtered natives of the Territories just so the gluttonus can feast off the land.
And the Euikans you served with? Left to rot in the fields, anything worthy taken once more by these glorious leaders. They are death, and you were their honed, clueless, instrument.
But nothing will prepare you for my last revelation, Johnny, do you want to know who killed your father?
A New Lease, A Fitting End
When I left earth my mom gave me a whole ton of seeds. She told me that they were for me for when I missed home cooking.
Little did she know, she kept my belly full by giving me a means to start a business.
Within the safety of Valdutan, Johnny opened a street bar. He served traditional human fare, a cuisine rare on Jhoutai, and rarer in Valdutan. Johnny's Dive grew in popularity, attracting fellow Earth-raised Aempian exile, Nick Jadey.
Johnny and Orlyn adopted three Nasyk and one Faecha from the orphanages of Faur'ridar'ru. Johnny also gained a visa for his mother, who moved in with them. Johnny and Orlyn got married afterwards, a small affair officated Nicodemus.
Although the Malisyk were gone, there were always splinter cells and those wishing to bring back the Malisyk. Never ones to settle down, Johnny and Orlyn left their bar year after year to hunt.
One year, they did not return home. They were survived by their adopted sons and daughters, who grew into a strong lineage that stretches even into the modern era.
This is such a well-written article, Barron. I love Johnny's story, especially him coming to terms with his hate of other sophonts. You've also used the Hero Forge figures so well. I like the uncoloured ones that represent statues. :D
I have to give Ademal a ton of credit on the statue one. She was the one who helped me get the colors all right and the idea for the double pose of him and Orlyn! I'm really glad you liked it! It means a lot, cause I certainly put the heart into this one!