Character Brainstorm
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Workers
Labor Adviser
- Duel = 8P/8S
Has been involved in the labor wars for more than a decade. Has some troops that answer to him personally, and a lot more that listen to him. He is a major figure with a lot of sway in the community. Not going to call for skirmishes during the game, but at the end, if things fail, there will be blood. The reason he has this power is that he listens to the coalition. He does not have the power to call the shots. If he tries, the coalition will fracture. However, if this group can agree to it, he can make everyone else agree to it. If this meeting doesn't work, he'll try for a better position and have another meeting in a year. These other labor people may not be here, he will. To the bosses: "everyone else does what you say because they listen to you. Everyone does what I say because I listen to them." He would be satisfied with smaller steps than most of the people here would. If bloodshed isn't going to end, things should break in a way that will set him up in a better position next time.
Richard Freeman
- Duel = 7P/3S
Richard was born on a plantation in the CSA, just a few miles over the border. When he was probably a few years short of 20 he led a few dozen of the field hands in a slave revolt. They killed the overseer and ran off. A few wanted to go to the house to kill the master, and Richard tried to talk them out of it. They went anyway and he never heard from them again. He managed to get the rest of his group over the border into the Lone Star Republic where no one asked them any questions about where came from.
They got jobs in factories but, after a few years of wage slavery, Richard and some of his followers started to think that it wasn't all that much better. The bosses were nearly as bad as the overseers and, while they mostly didn't whip you, they could fire you and make sure you didn't get a job anytime soon. Starving wasn't that much better than lynching.
When Richard heard some of the labor leaders starting to talk about a revolt, he went for it immediately. He and the former slaves he revolted with joined up. He started recruiting from other former slaves as well. Pretty soon he had a decent-sized unit following him around, striking at the bosses' militia. This unit is one of the most vicious and powerful units among the laborers.
Ida Tracey
- Duel = 8P/8S
Ida started working in the factory at the age of 8 after her father died. She helped her mother raise her two younger brothers and was working as hard as any man on the line by the age of 12. Growing up, she was constantly fighting with the boys, and usually winning. As an adult, she started organizing the textile workers, and other female factory workers. When the fighting broke out, she and nearly 100 of her workers joined in the fighting. She has spent as much time fighting her fellow labor leaders about her place as she has in fighting the bosses. Her women have fought just as well as the men around them.
She is a hard working, hard fighting, hard drinking, hard cursing bitch, and if you say she can't fight, you better be ready for a duel. She has already killed one other labor leader in a duel because he tried to stop her from fighting. Of course, many say that he shouldn't have accepted a duel from a women in the first place. Ida says that's because they're afraid to fight her. She provoked her first duel by saying "You just don't have the balls. You're afraid to face me because you know my cock is bigger than yours."
Towards the labor advisor: He's a cold-blooded gutless scoundrel. You wish you could cut his balls off, but he doesn't have any.
Adam Jones
- Duel = 3P/3S
Born Carol Jones, she realized as a young woman, that the only way a woman could ever make a living was by selling her body. Not being willing to do that, and not being willing to starve on womens wages, she started trying to pass as a man. She had to move to the big city and learn everything over again, but she did it. She got hired at a factory as a man, and worked there for a few years. Then, when the labor wars reached her she got involved in the fighting early. After the group had been fighting for a while, and after this meeting was planned, the leader got killed, and she took over. The last leader was big and brash and Adam counseled against some of the things that failed.
Now, one of her biggest fears is being found out. Ida Tracey is a threat: not only is she trying to get for free what Adam gave up everything for, but she's also the one who is most likely to see Adam for what she is. Adam wants Ida out of here.
White Male Labor Dude
- Duel = 5P/6S
Working for the same company as Ida Tracey. Pursuing her romantically. Wants to knock her down a peg. More of a cooperator: wants to keep his men from dying. Her hard-line stance drives him crazy. She is entirely too much of an idealist, which is what happens when women don't have a strong man to guide them. Women don't understand the harsh practicalities of life.
Child Laborer
- Duel = 3P/2S
Aged 15, but leads kids younger than him. Has a network that reaches about everywhere. They do sabotage work, something that just about everyone else thinks is completely dishonorable.
Farm worker
- Duel = 3P/6S
White male leader of farm worker union.
Bosses
Linda Alders
For 15 years, Linda managed her husband, who managed the business. When her husband died 3 years ago, she stepped in seemlessly. Since then, she has handled the managers, the money and the publicity. Business has only gotten better. She has a man to handle this war stuff, unfortunate as it is. Men are good at that sort of thing. Women are not made for such low and crass business. Women are much better at running things, but you have to let the men think that they are important, or they will raise all kinds of fuss.
She looks down at Ida Tracey. Ida just wants to be a man. That's rather like a man just wanting to be a dog. They both have their uses, but it's nothing to aspire to.
Widower boss
Pursuing Linda, as long as it is good for the business. Both know that it has to be on her terms, but he has to know what those terms are. However, her terms have to be good for both businesses. The ritual is genuinely romantic in some ways, and they both love it.
Struggling boss
His family has had a successful business for generations, but the labor wars are bleeding him dry. He wants to see this end so he doesn't go out of business. He's willing to compromise, but they have to understand that if their demands drive him out of business they won't have jobs.
Young Boss
- Duel = 5P/6S
A very young boss, maybe 21. His father was killed by assassination and he wants vengeance. Doesn't want this to end unless labor hurts for it. He just took over and is a little unsure of himself. He has a large business and does want it to work, and he needs to prove that he can lead. A risk for duels, maybe the best thing would be to die in a duel. Recently married, with a pregnant wife. Has a unit that he can add to a skirmish, but it puts him at risk.
Secretary
- Duel = 2P/2S
A woman who is secretly feeding information to the labor leaders, probably to a lover.
Mercenary Leader
- Duel = 7P/6S
He is secretly running guns to anyone who'll pay. He doesn't want to see the fighting end, he's making a killing. He's not out on the lines. His people don't fight out of loyalty, they fight because he pays damn well. And, in return, the bosses pay him damn well. He's happy to sell information (on anyone but the people paying him), guns or whatever else to anyone who will pay. He is an Indian, from the Indian territory who learned the lessons of history and moved towards the profit. All the leaders are Indians, but few of the fighters are.
Linda's Merc
- Duel = 8P/8S
Perfectly proper warrior for a merc. Provides what Linda needs.
Moderators
Moderator
- Duel = 9P/7S
He was the second in the duel in which the vice president killed the president for interfering in the labor wars. He believes that this has to be sorted out by the bosses and the workers together, that the solution can not and must not come from outside. This is taking place in his house. "It doesn't matter what anyone else says, the solution has to come from you." Had a homosexual relationship early in his marriage that he feels terrible about. Men with flaws must strive all the harder to be perfect.
Moderator's Wife
Genuinely cares deeply for the moderator and thinks that he is right. However, she is being blackmailed by the bosses over her husband's homosexual infidelity. She is protecting him, because he would just let it come out to save his neutrality. He would ruin his career and she doesn't want him to lose his position or the country to lose what he can do. He probably doesn't know that she knows.
Moderator's Daughter
A slightly rebellious young woman, probably about 18. She is infatuated both with the romance of the laborers' cause and with some leader (possibly Adam or Richard). She has been secretly trying to help them.
