John "Coyote" Morgan

Height: 5'11" ( around 1.8 meters )

Weight: 185 lbs ( around 84 kilograms )

Eye Color: Cloudy ( A faint blue can be seen up close, the last surviving bit of his human eyes. )

Hair Color: Red ( What's left of his hair. John's facial hair is nearly non-existant, and he's developed several bald spots on his head. John still retains more of his hair than most ghouls. )

Hair Style: Short & Unkept, with a couple balding spots.

Facial Hair: A light, short patch of chin stubble is all that grows on his face.

Skin Color: Pale. ( Some of it has fallen off and revealed a thick layer of rust-colored outer muscle to protect his otherwise exposed inner muscles and tendons. Oddly, John has retained nearly 60% of his flesh thus far, significantly more than most ghouls. )

Build: Muscular ( Although nearly 40 lbs lighter than his last weight as a human, John is still relatively well built for a ghoul. )

Distinguishing Features:

John speculates that something in his Irish ancestry caused his transformation to be slower and slightly less radical than the other ghouls he encountered on his travels. More likely it was some small variable before or during his transformation. Or perhaps he was just "lucky".



Body Guard & General Gun for Hire,
Explorer,
Prospector,
Cartographer,
Scavenger
( Whatever he can do to make a living in the Wasteland. )


Small Arms ( centuries of experience )
Armed Robbery ( Pre-War )
Extortion ( Pre-War )
Wasteland Survival ( centuries in the Wasteland. )
Cannibal Combat ( Little Trouble in Big Town. )



Radioactive - John, like most ghouls, has a natural immunity to radiation. In small to moderate doses, radiation causes a slow regenerative effect on his body. In high radiation areas, John's tolerance is formidable. Long time exposure to radioactive environments, along with the recent mini-nuke encounter, have caused John's skin to glow very faintly in conditions were all other light is absent. ( So it is very seldom seen. )

Friend of the Night / Ghoul Eyes - John's eyes adjust quickly to conditions with low-lighting, and he can see better than an average human at night. His trade-off is ultra-sensitivity to light. When the sun is blazing, John often must shield his eyes with his goggles or hope to find a pair of sunglasses.






Shaded UV / Ballistics Goggles - ( Usually kept in backpack or around neck. The left eye lens has received a small fracture over the years. )

Reinforced Leather Armor - ( Pieces of several salvaged eyebots were shaped to add extra protection over the vital organs under the leather ten years ago by an armorer north of D.C. )

( MessyOak Brand ) Hunting Boots - ( Waterproof, rugged boots designed for Pre-War hunters and Pre-War rednecks. The thick lining provided added defense for the feet, ankles, and legs. Last year John outfitted them with hastily fabricated steel boot-tips. John has been forced to repair the boots several times in the last few years. )

Weathered Leather Gloves - ( A pair of gloves that once belonged to a wealthy Pre-War businessman. John took them from his corpse. )






Ripper ( Is held on left thigh w/ leather sheath. )
- Carbide Teeth
- Heavy Duty Chain


Weathered 10mm Pistol ( Is held in hip holster on right hip. )
- 12 round magazine


Weathered Light Machine Gun ( Straps to his back with heavy leather harness. )
- 90 round magazine ( 5.56mm )
- 24lbs unloaded, 28-30 lbs loaded
- The artifact has seen over 250 years of intermittent use. Although John has done his best to use it sparingly and keep it well maintained, the weapon has nearly reached the end of it's service life.





Backpack - Usually holds whatever Coyote has scavenged recently, small supply of dried food, re-usable steel dented Nuka Cola thermos, a bottle of whiskey, (to "help him sleep.") flares and binoculars.

Stash Pouch - Holds some chems, cigarettes, and a prized windproof lighter

Skinner Knife ( Curved 5" blade with hole for index finger, more for survival than defense ) ( Strapped to right boot. )



Salvaged Military Binoculars - ( Pre-War Binculars. They have been dropped, banged, cracked, and thrown... but they still preform well. )




Affiliation: None. ( Or whoever is offering the most money. )

Religious Belief: Atheist, not Anti-Theist

Sexual Preference: Heterosexual

Relationship Status: Single & Unavaliable


John is usually quiet and reserved, preferring to keep to himself. In stressful or dangerous situations, however, his attitude sometimes regresses into the foul-mouthed, violent, and impatient thug he was before he became a ghoul. By grounding his personality to his former self in these situations, the ghoul has successfully avoided dementia thus far. Inwardly, the ghoul struggles with a steadily growing sense of disenchantment to the world of men. John has gained an impressive passiveness when it comes to racism over his years as a ghoul. He is of the (somewhat narrow-minded yet well warranted) opinion that most humans are racist bigots with no tact and little value.

Strengths: Survival, Conventional Guns, Barter, Common-Sense, Repair, CQC, Well Traveled, Confident, Recognizes Traps from Experience

Weaknesses: Slow to Trust Others, Little Knowledge of High Science, Unfamiliar with Energy Weapons, Not Very Good with Explosives, Finds it difficult to socialize with humans when the conversation isn't job related, Has Lost Touch with a Large Part of his Humanity, Sometimes Bites Off More Than He Can Chew, Sometimes Gives a Cold or Unconcerned Attitude, Fears Friends and Relationships... Everyone He Ever Cared for has Died...




Born as Johnny Elwood Morgan in Cleveland, OH to Irish-American parents. ( Year 2045 ) He grew up poor and the youngest in a family of six siblings. Rather than join the military or build a legitimate career like his brothers, John's troubled youth led him to an unfortunate life of crime and violence. Although he had found like-minded young men to run with, John always felt alone. At the age of 17 he had established himself as a successful thief, criminal foot soldier, and extortionist. Encounters with police and other hostile criminals caused him to think quickly on his feet and develop a sense of street-smart intuition when it came to reading dangerous situations. Shortly after he turned 26, John was finally arrested during a bank robbery. His trial linked him to several other high-profile thefts, and he was sentenced to hard time in the State Prison. After serving 5 years, John was dragged into a fight with several other inmates and killed two of them in self defense. He was then transferred underground to a solitary confinement / psychological testing wing.


The bombs fell as he neared his first year underground, destroying the majority of the prison and causing the security system to fail. The State Penitentiary fell quiet. Most of the lights went out. No staff entered.


For days John cried for help from his cell, but no came. When eventually he was unable to shout, he curled up on his cot and suffered quietly as his skin broke out. Near starvation, wracked with radioactive pain, and very dehydrated, another inmate happened through his cell wing. Freeing John, the pair made their way slowly through the complex, regrouping with a few other surviving inmates that were being held below ground. The group began to change and experience the same pains John was going through, losing their skin and for some of them... their minds. John left as soon as he had recovered, shortly after his prison group began slaying each other.


Determined to find other survivors and answer the many questions that filled his solemn mind, he decided to head South-East. Before leaving, John "borrowed" a Light Machine Gun from the ghoul group, who had opened the undamaged armory of the prison days before. Most of the weapons were currently being used to kill each other by the former inmates.


Heading roughly south, John soon encountered more survivors... all of them now ghouls like himself. They had all soon come to the conclusion that while irradiated and losing skin, they did not appear to be dying. They liked John Morgan and his ability to keep the other, less sane ghouls in line. One ghoul survivor, a woman named Dr. Swayney, confided to John that their "condition" was beyond her comprehension. Baffled by the ghoulification process and the holocaust in general, the former doctor began to lose her mind. After a year or two of slumming around while gathering more ghouls, the former convict left the nomadic group to find his own answers.


John seldom stayed in one place too long, always following the freshest rumors of possible medical buildings, doctors, and functioning Auto-Docs in these early days. As he crossed paths with other survivors on similar quests, the news was always unfortunate. Eventually he came to the sobering conclusion that there did not appear to be a cure for his horrific change. So he began his "second" life, this time born as something not quite human, not quite undead, and feeling more lonely than even solitary confinement had made him.


Watching from a distance with his salvaged military binoculars and relying on self-sufficiency, he scratched out a living. At first he was filled with hate and bitterness at the hand that fate (or Ka) had dealt him. With time, however, the feelings faded. As he lived his meager existence, his skills in survival grew with each passing year. Always quiet and observant, he saw new species of strange creatures begin to roam the land that was once the United States. He watched people fairly normal appear seemingly out of nowhere, creating tribes of savages and small settlements of townsfolk. Alliances grew and were broken, towns and cities emerged and were just a quickly ruined. The world around him seemed to be changing at the speed of light, and he felt like he was running in place. Days became months, months turned to years, years became decades, and then John lost track of time. The man now felt as if he was on auto-pilot, no more than a machine running indefinably. With no purpose. No value.


He quit his journeys to the midlands when an army worshiping a red flag began to grow and consume everything in their site. Hearing rumors of Caesar's Legion, he knew better than to try and associate with those people. So John resided to traveling in the Eastern Dust Bowl and the East Coast area exclusively. John had been moving so long that he had left his problems, and much of his painful memories behind. Unfortunately, one constant haunted him wherever he traveled. War. War was always just over the horizon, in every valley and every ruined city. War was ugly... and War never changed.


Over the years he acquired some respectable gear and a sharp wit for survival. Time and time again he was tested, and somehow, against all odds, he came out alive. Whether narrowly avoiding hideous creatures with twisting horns and blade-like claws or successfully outwitting murderous raiders, he continued on. Once, he was ambushed by a swimming Mirelurk Hunter as he waded through an irradiated river. He was able to kill it by driving his Ripper deep into it's face at the last moment, but it left it's mark. Half his remaining left ear had been clipped off, and it's smaller arms had removed his left pinky finger. Another time, a group of black-clad mercenaries had used him as target practice. He put them to rest with a 10MM pistol and his aging, 5.56MM spewing Light Machine Gun... but had spent months recovering from the bullet wounds. After that, he traded for a medical tome, knowing he had almost died due to his ignorance of medicine and learning from his mistake. His life was long and hard in th Wastes... but he had become hardened as well.


Hunting some of these beasts ( both animals and people) aided John in making a living. He learned to trade the extra loot well despite his ghoulish skin and now quiet nature. He worked a few jobs as prospector... investigating ruins the "healthier" people feared or just didn't have the time and skills to do so. He made crude maps for some, cleared hazardous creatures for others. More years passed and he found himself becoming a jack of all trades, with the exception of high sciences and fruitful conversation. Some accepted him, some shunned him, but most travelers and merchants near the Capital Wasteland came to recognize him as "The Coyote", a creature always on the move and always resourceful. A "Coyote" that could find just about anything, anyone, or anywhere... for the right amount of caps.


One Year Ago...


Coyote had set up a clientele in the Capital Wasteland. The last few jobs had been retrievals. John was selling scavenged tech to various groups and individuals when he began to hear rumors of grisly murders in Big Town increasingly often. Observing a group of mercs and volunteers that agreed to solve the problem and gathered in the small town, John eventually joined the group. ( Brotherhood James Masterson, the mercenary Craig Durett, mini-gun wielding Miriam Cohen, a young doctor and her dog, a drug addicted old merc, and the myserious Agent Straton. ) Where there was killing, there was loot. And where there was loot, that's where John wanted to be. John had not expected the events that would follow.


Big Town was attacked by cannibals, and John Morgan aided the group in fending them off. His group then tracked the cannibals back to Meserti Train Yard, and a climactic battle ensued. During the fight John and some of his group received minor injuries, but Miriam Cohen had been severely wounded. As the struggle reached it's climax, explosives shook the ancient metro station as the group fled Meserti. The metro then collapsed, effectively sealing the rail-lines off and killing any remaining cannibals that survived the firefight.


After a brief battle with the notorious Paxton Micheals ( in which John received splash damage from a mini-nuke in order to shield one of his companions. ) the group parted ways. John reflected on the incident for weeks afterwards, drawn by a craving dormant for years. The liberation of Big Town and following execution of the cannibalistic murders alongside the likes of his associates had made him feel human... if only for a brief time.


John continued on his own again, looking for works contracts and useful items to scavenge around the Capital Wasteland. Several times he returned to Mr. Sherman, a fellow survivor of the Trouble in Big Town group to purchase ammunition and inquire on the whereabouts of Miriam Cohen, Willow Cohen, Elizabeth Stration, James Masterson, or Craig Durett. Nearly a year has past now, and the ghoul has made little progress in locating his former companions or his quest for wealth.