The Five Fires
A band of Scions working for Lugh to bring Johnny back to Tir na nOg where he can be staked to the plains and made to languish for eternity, his flesh being constantly devoured by Lugh's hounds. They may have been originally called together for that purpose, but they have their own stories to tell and mostly, they haven't got a thing to do with Johnny Easter.Bran Trotter, Scion of Camulus
The leader of the Band, possibly even the one who gathered the other four together. Bran spends most of his time in Scotland, where he and his pack of wolves roam the roads, destroying Titanspawn. He eradicated every Werewolf in Scotland several months ago after a particularly vicious group of them came to his attention. Some of the people in Scotland believe he is a protector of travelers and have taken to leaving small offerings for him at crossroads and mile markers. He's taken a hard stance against the malevolent Unseelie Fae, those sworn to the Titans, and obliterated several nests of redcaps and other foul things. He even faced off against a pack of Black Dogs and, after killing their alpha and raising him as an undead minion, turned the rest into his personal hunting hounds.Johnny has run into Bran four times and escaped narrowly each time. On a small Pacific island, Johnny's mortal wife was not so fortunate. Bran used her to set a trap for Johnny, hoping to lure in the Scion with his wife's danger. Her frantic attempts to escape and warn her husband lead to her death, when Bran allowed his hounds to kill her and eat her body.
Ruaidhrí Ó Súilleabháin, Scion of Lugh
The oldest of Lugh's modern children, Rory (because Americans can't spell Irish names) is a professional murderer, an assassin for hire. He's killed eight heads of state and twelve generals, but no one is sure which ones. Rumor is he was hired by Jean Chastel to clear the way for the Haitian werewolf's rise to power, but there's no proof. With Rory, there's never any proof. He briefly tangled with the Bosstopus, an octopodal Titanspawn that runs dozens of organized crime syndicates in North America. The Bosstopus, however, generally knows when he's outclassed and ceased operations against Rory months ago, paying the Scion a generous amount to leave his blubbery head on his pinstriped shoulders.Rory has acted directly against Johnny three times. First, Rory may have been responsible for kidnapping Johnny and attempting to sell him to Lugh while wearing a disguise. Second, he lured Johnny to an ambush when the younger Scion wanted to meet with his ex-brother to explain his situation. Third, he appeared in a photograph indicating that he's keeping a very close eye on Johnny's foster-brother, Rod, and may be willing to kill the young Hero if Johnny keeps evading him.
Colleen Ó Súilleabháin, Scion of the Zorya
Rory's wife, Colleen, really couldn't care less about Johnny Easter. She's only in the Band because her husband is. She's far more concerned with using her visions to guide Eastern Europe to prosperity and peace. Possibly the power behind the throne in Russia, Romania, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, the Ukraine and four other nations, she uses her formidable abilities to determine the best course of action for the leaders of those countries to follow. Resistance to her advice as proven unwise, as three of the heads of state her husband may have 'removed' were in the area Colleen has decided to shepherd to greatness. Colleen has been instrumental in restructuring and spreading the worship of the Slavic Gods, gaining hundreds of thousands of followers for the Bogovi.Her actions against Johnny have been indirect only; she provides the other Scions of her Band with guidance, protection and wealth they can use to more effectively predict and hunt the Runner.
Siobhan McNamara, Scion of Aengus
A shapeshifting seductress, Siobhan works behind the scenes, just as her friend Colleen does. She may not be quite as ethical or socially-motivated as the Bogínja, however. She is clearly in it for the money; Siobhan controls three multi-national corporations in her own name and possibly a dozen under aliases. No one knows how many she has connections with or influence over. Her companies have diversified into every possible field, two investing heavily in the new plant-based fuel discovered by a Central American genius. Crews working for Siobhan have bulldozed or otherwise destroyed hundreds of Titanspawn lairs. Her political influence has stymied attempts by the Titanspawn to take control of mortal organizations and encouraged humans to work against them, all without knowing what they're doing or what they're facing.Aside from appearing once when her Band ambushed Johnny at his meeting with Rory, Siobhan has not directly confronted the young Demigod. She has seduced his foster-brother at least once, but nothing sinister has come of that just yet. If Siobhan has done anything else to Johnny, he has no idea that it was her and that's just how she likes it.
Gavin Brown, Scion of Goibniu
A verified genius, Dr. Brown started out as a skateboarder, invented a hoverboard and is on his way to inventing a reliable hover-car. This invention will, of course, mean that the Future has officially arrived. He's also an extreme sports enthusiast and the fastest member of his Band, maybe even a match for Eoin the Runner. Gavin Brown doesn't fight the Titanspawn himself, he's not a very violent man, but he has used his speed and agility to escape unscathed from many conflicts and bring prisoners out of Titanspawn camps as he goes. Scouting, rescuing and message-running are his trademarks and he's proven very valuable in the War effort. He single-handed rescued an entire Band of six Heroes that were trapped by a nest of vampires in Romania.Almost as indirect as Colleen when it comes to the confrontations with Johnny Easter, Gavin has only met his 'target' once, during the ambush. Johnny escaped using the powers of Chaos, meaning Gavin never had a chance to match speed with him. He isn't particularly motivated to turn Johnny over to Lugh, but hasn't got any problem doing that either. He mostly wants to prove that he's the fastest. He may or may not be inventing a robot designed specifically to immobilize Johnny and drag him off to Lugh.
Ares, God of War
The Greek God of War hates Johnny in an idle, passive way; much the way someone might hate an owl that won't stop hooting or a YouTube commenter. Johnny's entire nature is at odds with Ares and their first encounter did nothing to raise the Demigod in Ares' estimation. After a long night of degrading and violent physical relations, Ares agreed to arrange for Johnny to sleep with Aphrodite. The results were highly amusing to the War God. He enjoys mocking Lugh with the cowardice and weakness of his offspring whenever possible.Aphrodite, Goddess of Love
Johnny's long-standing goal of sleeping with the Goddess of Beauty and Love was realized, but it didn't quite go as he expected. Aphrodite left his mind bent and his self-esteem shattered, calling into question his looks, voice and sexual abilities before leaving him to suffer in a pool of his own broken dignity. She still doesn't like him, especially because she is concerned that he will eventually be prettier than any of her own children and may one day rival her own beauty.Gytrash
At first appearing to be nothing more than the seeing-eye-dog of a blind executive at Black Moor Security, this canine has revealed himself to be a Black Dog. Sinister and vindictive, the Black Dog taunts Johnny's faithful hound Artan at every opportunity. He spoke a prophecy of Johnny's dead and in order to avert it, Kernunnos arranged for it to occur under controlled circumstances. Artan may have killed and eaten Gytrash, but Kernunnos was convinced that Johnny had not seen the last of him. Even the ancient Horned God was not sure what, exactly, Gytrash was.Jasmine Li
A young woman who claimed to be both a fan of Johnny's music and a Scion of Sun Wukong. She slept with Johnny and disappeared the next morning, taking several of his Relics with her. Since then, Johnny hasn't been able to find any trace of her. Even another Scion of Sun Wukong didn't know anything about a sister named Jasmine Li.Su-Ellen
When he was still a Hero, Johnny accidentally released a life-sucking creature from one of the Burn Scars of Atlanta. These tiny Terra Incognitae scattered through the city are prisons for dark creatures as well as wandering citizens who take the wrong turn. He was originally under the impression that Su-Ellen needed his help, even though his discovered her in the middle of ripping the life out of a helpless mortal. He freed her from the Burn Scar where she was trapped, only to have her finish murdering the man the second his head was turned. She disappeared as hasn't been seen since, but the Spirit of Atlanta has informed Johnny that he really should take care of her.Lugh
Johnny's biological father. Lugh was the God who Visited his son, awakened his ichor and gave him his Birthrights. Their differing personalities clashed at every meeting, driving the two further and further apart. After discovering that Johnny planned to have his soul Reshaped by the Drunken Immortal Zhang Guo Lao, Lugh threw a spear through his son's chest and left him for dead. Johnny survived thanks to the quick attention of Igor Ivanov, but the father-son bond was severed. Undertaking an immense effort and sacrificing all of his Birthrights, Johnny became a fatherless Scion and was Reshaped in his own image, with no ties to Lugh in the eyes of Fate.The magnitude of such an insult cannot be put into words, so far as Lugh is concerned. Forbidden by the laws of kinslaying and (more importantly) the needs of the Titan War, Lugh has hired off Johnny's eventually demise. He offered a bounty on the living head of his former son, promising great boons and riches to whoever brings Johnny to him alive. Lugh plans to have Johnny staked to the ground of Tir na nOg for all time, his flesh continually eaten by Lugh's hounds, as a warning to any other who would insult the God.
Kernunnos, Danu, Cuchulain and others have intervened in the conflict to prevent Lugh from simply murdering his son from afar, but none yet have stepped in to stop the Scions that Lugh has hired from doing so.
In their most recent encounter, Johnny's chaos-powered escapes accidentally dropped him almost on top of Lugh while the God was starring in an adult entertainment film. Before Johnny could escape from his escape, Lugh flung a light stand through his former son's heart, crippling the Demigod's body for eternity. Johnny survived the attack, but despite the best efforts of a talented healer, his heart was permanently disfigured. His physical form is forever frail and weak by the standards of immortals.
If Johnny is successful in gathering enough of the Tuatha de Danann behind him, he may be able to convince Danu to intercede on his behalf and put a halt to the feud between himself and Lugh, at least enough that he can stop fearing for his life and have the hired guns called off. Even with Danu proclaiming peace, it is unlikely Lugh will ever forget, much less forgive, the actions of his former son.
This has made me so paranoid.
ReplyDelete