John Henry Booth

John Henry Booth is a character created by C.T. Phipps for the eponymous series of Mythos novels Cthulhu Armageddon.
==Appearance==
John Henry Booth is a middle aged African American man with grizzled features and is a physically imposing specimen. He prefers to dress in the weather beaten attire of a New Arkham Ranger or those of a cattle rancher.
==History==
John is a former Ranger that led Gamma Squadron for the Council of Leaders in New Arkham. He spent many years traveling and charting the Wasteland outside of his city-state in hopes of helping humanity's pockets of survivors. Unlike the majority of his fellow Rangers, John held little animus to mutants or members of human-related races like the Deep Ones or Ghouls.
John was raised as the son of Marcus Booth and Winifred Booth. When he was a boy, his father murdered his mother and attempted to kill him before being killed by John in return. The reason for this was becasue Marcus Booth had discovered John was not his biological son. He was in fact conceived by an unknown inhuman father (at the behest of magician-scientist, Alan Ward).
John would eventually marry a psychic Loyalty Officer, Martha Booth, and had two children, Gabriel and Anita. He would grow to love these children even if the marriage was not a happy one. John would eventually encounter a Color out of Space and go on several other missions with Gamma Squadron, one of them leading to his briefly being enslaved by the Dunwych tribe. He would befriend the Ghoul, Richard Jameson, in the town of Scrapyard.
Eventually, Gamma Squadron would attempt to investigate the widespread abduction of children in the region and this would lead them to the Black Cathedral. It would result in the deaths of half his squadron and John somehow surviving, wandering naked through the desert despite the fact this should have been fatal.
===Cthulhu Armageddon ()===
John wakes up imprisoned and sentenced to death in his hometown of New Arkham. His teammates, Gamma Squad, have been killed and he has no memory of how it happened. Interrogator Mercury Takahashi helps him escape in exchange for taking him with her. John has no interest in helping her, though, and plans to gain revenge on whoever is responsible for his teammates' death. 
Journeying to the frontier town of Scrapyard, they encounter the ghoul Richard Jameson who helps John explore the Dreamlands. This leads him to discover one of his fellow Rangers, Jessica O'Reilly, is alive. It also leads him to discover that the person who killed his squad, Alan Ward, is leading the Cult of Cthulhu to kidnap local children. Seeking out the Black Cathedral, John eventually allies with local tribals from Dunwich to assault it.
===The Tower of Zhaal ()===
Dying of a magical sickness, John agrees to help The University try to prevent the rising of the last Great Old One, known as the Unimaginable Horror. Joining with a group of other Wasteland outlaws, he proceeds to try to track down Marcus Whateley before he unleashes it onto the world. After helping a shoggoth revolt against the Ghoul city keeping them as slaves, John and company reach the Tower of Zhaal that is being used to summon the Unimaginable Horror. Unable to prevent it, they instead use it to bring the attention of Cthulhu who destroys the creature in a battle that drives all but John insane.
During the events of the book, John discovers that he is not entirely human and is in fact the descendant of a race called the Kastro'vaal or Eyes of Yog-Sothoth. This event leaves him to contemplate suicide but, ultimately, he chooses to strike a bargain with his inhuman consciousness.
===Tales of the Al-Azif ()===
In "The Last Page", John and Mercury find themselves in possession of the original alien created Al-Azif. They endeavor to destroy the artifact even as it is about to be used as a gateway for the insect aliens of Callisto. Along the way they encounter a reincarnated version of Asenath Waite (or her father), who endeavors to use the artifact for themselves.
===Tales of Yog-Sothoth ()===
"The Final Gate" has Mercury, John, and their adopted daughter, Jackie Howard abducted by the Mi-Go. This is at the behest of The Traveler, a mysterious priestess of Yog-Sothoth who wishes to open a gateway to another world in order to evacuate from the dying Earth. John and company manage to kill the Traveler but find themselves trapped on a distant asteroid.
===Tales of Nyarlathotep ()===
"The Siege of New Ulthar" has the town of New Ulthar under siege by a large number of horrific living dead infectees called Sporemen. The Sporemen are led by an avatar of Nyarlathotep who taunts John with his attempts to save the town. John sacrifices himself to protect the town but Mercury casts a spell to save his life that kills all of the remaining survivors. He is abandoned by her out of shame.
===The Tree of Azathoth ()===
John Henry Booth seeks out his old enemy, Mr. Death, to give him a way to escape the dying Earth during its last hours. He finds himself in the Dreaming City, created by Randolph Carter centuries earlier and expanded by his son, Gabriel Booth. Adopting the identity of a Booth who had already been there, he tries to determine what heinous pact his son made in order to save the remainder of humanity. In the end, he discovers the true nature of Azathoth and the multiverse.
=== "The Maltese Cthulhu" ()===
While working as a detective in the Dreaming City, Booth is hired to find a missing statue of Cthulhu for a mysterious client named Marceline. Seeking it in a sorority that turns out to have been corrupted by Shub-Niggurath. Escaping with the statue, he finds out Marceline is actually a reincarnation of an old enemy.
==Personality==
John was grim and fatalistic with a reverence for both family as well as children. He was also pathologically obsessed with the idea of revenge. Upon the discovery of his inhuman heritage, he develops a split personality where he refers to his alien side as his "Beast." He frequently struggles with his belief that he is a monster and must try to be human, even though it turns out he never was.
== Behind the Mythos==
* According to C.T. Phipps, John Henry Booth is based on Roland from Stephen King's Dark Tower series as well as Clint Eastwood's character Will Munny from the 1992 Western Unforgiven. He is also inspired by Idris Elba in terms of "mental casting."
* John Henry Booth shows up as a supporting character in the Non-Mythos superhero novel, The Future of Supervillainy. 
Category:Other Supernatural Beings
Category:Characters Originating From Expanded Mythos Works