Salvation

Welcome to Salvation, a medium sized town on the California coast and boy, is there a lot of coastline since the Great Quake! Let me show you around the place we call home...

First thing most folks ask about is the old wreck at the edge of the mesa we're all perched on; well, back until about 3 years ago, that was our Town Hall, but a little 'mining accident' collapsed the mesa right underneath it and half of it dropped down into the choppy waters below. It's almost a pity that our Mayor and her cronies, uh, I mean, close advisors, were all inside at the time plotting new ways to take the money from good honest folks, uh, I mean, to raise new taxes. It might seem that none of them were all too popular and you won't find many as would shed a tear for...

Gillian Dee (AKA One Eyed Jill or the Queen of Spades 'cos she sent so much business to the gravediggers)

Spencer Roberts, the old ghost rock baron of these parts before Sweetrock moved in

'Damnation' Donner, the saloon keeper at the Black Hand in the bad old days.

Its a plum mystery why Sheriff McQueen didn't die with the rest of them, but maybe the Devil didn't want the ornery old bastard anymore than the rest of us. A lot of folks said he took a big pay-off to look the other way when his old bosses were offed and now he's in the pocket of some powerful out-of-towner. Only a crazy fool greenhorn would mess with him now!

So, who have we got living in tow these days? Well, with Roberts out of the picture, Sweetrock rushed in and bought out a lot of small claims, then hired on the miners to work for chickenfeed. Bostwick Reeves is their man; he puts on a lot of airs and graces, but anybody out here can either look after themselves or had better learn fast. We've also got Steve & Jane Oldworthy looking out for the little guy with their 'Miners' Co-operative' deal; bet that sticks in Reeves' craw, heh heh heh.

Of course, we got ourselves a new mayor, Doug Briar: he wasn't born here, but he made himself popular by slinging around a lot of money and promising to restore law & order, which was badly needed. He did his job of cleaning Salvation up, but when Dr. Phineas Hertz showed up, you'd have thought he had those electric light bulbs in his eyes! The pair of them are pushing to make Salvation the most advanced town in the west, including Salt Lake City! They'd have to be loco to believe they can do that, which makes me wonder what they really want...

Our cradle-to-grave needs are met by Ms Delila Long, the school marm, Father Venturas of the Eden Found Church and 'Gabby' Jones, the undertaker. Everyone here sees one of them, eventually, and then Nelson Naughty, our newshound, tells all about it in his sheet, Salvation's Gospel. That name doesn't go down too well with some, but we don't have time for petty squabbles like that out here.

Oh yeah, and me; you'll find me working behind the bar of the Black Hand, day or night, but don't come asking me no questions, because you won't get no answers folks. They don't call me 'Tombstone' Shaw for nothing.