Ugh. Feels like it’s been so long since I posted anything here. Because it has. More than a week.
But here I am again with another supporting character. I thought of this one while going through the companions set on a whim. The masked cowboy for some reason brought the name “Winchester Black” to mind, and here is what evolved:
Name: Winchester Black
Alias: Jonathan Henry Armstrong, John Henry
Enemies: Hi-N’Un, Lady Luck, Robbie Boyle
Race: Human
Birthplace: Talcott, West Virginia
Abilities: Seemingly super-human strength and endurance.
Bio: Jonathan Henry Armstrong is the great-great grandfather of former Enforcers member Terrence Armstrong. Born and raised as a slave in West Virginia, he grew up working as a steel-driver for the Chesapeake/Ohio Railway company. Despite chronic physical and psychological abuse at the hands of his employers (not to mention the grueling nature of the work itself), John Henry grew into something of a folk hero for his legendary strength and relentless force of will. After being passed around by several railroad companies (AGS Railway and Columbus and Western to name a few), Henry earned his freedom and moved west to seek whatever opportunities the new frontier had to offer.
A happy life soon followed, blessing him with a wife and child and a thriving blacksmithing business. But his journey would also cause him to run afoul of a merciless rail tycoon named Robbie Boyle, who killed his wife and stole his son, unjustly imprisoned him, and forced him back into a life of slave labor. Boyle eventually subjected Armstrong to his favorite punishment, boiling the flesh from his face and leaving him for dead.
John Henry would survive to seek revenge against Boyle as Winchester Black, a masked vigilante dispensing lethal justice with his formidable sledgehammer.
But revenge would be grasped from the clutches of Winchester Black when Hi-N’Un and Lady Luck put an end to Boyle’s life. Little is known of what happened to Winchester Black after the mysterious disappearance of the two heroes, but he spent the remainder of his known life at odds with Lady Luck and the former Pharaoh.
With every new generation, tales have spread of an unusually strong young man working outside the law to make his community a better place. Those tales continue today with Terrence “Strong-Arm” Armstrong.
