Ike Taylor

Ike (Made with HeroForge)

Leader of Junkyard. In order to ensure the city's survival, he made tentative agreements with the road gangs surrounding the area. Ike was the one to bring the Iron Alliance together.

## History

### Pre-Campaign

Ike lived and worked in Salt Lake City's Hellstromme Industries factory during the Last War, as a factory foreman. After the bombs dropped on September 23rd, 2096, all that remained of the city proper was the Hellstromme Industries complex, known as Junkyard, and the surrounding area, protected by Hellstromme's emergency energy shield. While the rest of the city slowly descended into chaos and the prospect of being trapped in the city's dome with no outside supplies, a prerecorded message of Hellstromme played in his buildings. It told the employees to stay calm and follow a path to bunkers built within the basements of the facilities. These bunkers came with a hefty supply of food, weapons, and medical supplies. Ike followed with his fellow workers into these shelters, while recently activated automatons appeared from hidden storage and took up guard around the Industry buildings.

In mid October, He and and the other Hellstromme employees were in the building when a mob of Junkyard civilians attempted to break in and take the resources inside. They fought through the lower levels and forced many workers to fall back. Most inside wanted to wait out the mob until they simply left, but Ike thought differently. He believed they'd eventually find the heavy equipment from one of the factories and wise up enough to use it and break through to the bunkers. He talked down those who wished to negotiate with the crowd, knowing it had failed before, and convinced them to fight back with renewed vigor. He organized them, passed out weapons,

Ike and the factory workers, led by what remained of the security team, came out of the bunkers and started firing toward the mob. The mob's ranks quickly broke and they fled back another level. After finding a laser drill the scavengers had discovered that could have punched a hole to the bunkers, Ike earned the loyalty of the remaining employees. After the crowd had dispersed, he had his people start fortifying the building.

When the mob started to form again, Ike went on the headquarter loudspeakers and informed them their scientists had found it was safe to leave the dome, and it'd be in their interest to do so instead of trying to raid the Industry buildings again. No more large-scale conflict ensued between the two sides, and eventually, a fair amount of people left Junkyard in search of better opportunities.

After those looking to leave had gone, Ike started taking charge of those that remained. He had his people get a message out to the other survivors in the city: his people would share their resources if they followed Ike's orders and worked for their keep. Most accepted, and Ike became the de facto leader of the city. He delegated responsibilities in cleaning up the area, restoring vital systems, and protecting supplies.

Doc Schwartz, a junker that was trained in Hellstromme Industries before Jday, became one of Ike's most trusted supporters and resources. He showed Ike the last project he finished before the bombs: spook juice, a liquid form of ghost rock that could be used as fuel. Ike moved a massive amount of resources into making a refinery for the stuff, and started preparing for what he saw as the inevitable raids from those who realized what they had in Junkyard was better than most of the outside.

Ike was proven right again: less than a month later, in November, road gangs began showing up at Junkyard's door. By that time, Ike had had Junkyard's defenses fortified with spook juice enchantments. Ike made a gamble: he showed the gang leaders the city's new defenses, not fully knowing if they'd be useful for combat. The bluff worked, and he successfully intimidated the gang leaders to work out a deal: they'd bring trade to the city, and in turn Junkyard would supply the spook juice to fuel their vehicles.

He didn't take the deal with the gangs lightly: Ike didn't like the idea of dealing in trade with people that had likely stolen their goods from other groups, but he prioritized his city and his people first, seeing it as a necessary evil to survive.

Since then, Ike has run Junkyard with an informal group of advisors who help him run the more mundane operations in the city. He handed over any issues with the city's laws to judge Tolliver. He and the other city higher ups claimed office space in the city's town hall, on the upper floors. He claimed in his interview with a Librarian that after Throckmorton had been taken down, he wanted to step down and allow free elections, but in the meantime he'd do what he saw as best for his people.

### Arc 10: The Summit

In late May to early June of 2096, Ike sent out messages to the leaders of like-minded groups urging them to meet in Junkyard on the 25th of June and start talks in making an alliance. These groups included the Library, the Templars, the Doomsayers, the Union, the newly created Unity, and even the Sioux. In the days before the meeting, the Library delegation went on a diplomatic mission to speak to Junkyard's underground residents, the moorlocks. When they didn't return, Ike sent out a group of mercenaries to see what was happening.

The day of the summit, Ike met with Addie after his security forces caught wind of Queen Mab's plan to attack the summit. She briefed him as his security detail was leading faction leaders down the main street, telling him the meeting had to move locations. He agreed to her request, sending junk mail to the other leaders.

Once the threat was dealt with, he led the delegates to the newly cleared out Pit and began discussions. During the meeting, he objected to other factions getting a foot in Junkyard's own bureaucracy, though conceded to embassies. He raised that the Unity should have oversight, which many agreed on, and proposed it be the Law Dogs, which was less unanimous. During the meeting, Ian McManus was brought up to Ike and informed him what had happened in the underground. Ike told Ian his contract put him on the hook for equipment lost, and his pay would come after the mission. Ike did however let the New Wells Six take some basic equipment from Granny Smith's armory and had his security team guide them to where the delegation had gone.

### Arc 16: Rivalries

On December 4th, Ike and Doc Schwartz attended the second summit of the Iron Alliance, called by Addie, in Denver. After Simon announced what had happened with Baphomet and the rebranding of the Templar Order, Ike voiced his approval and continued willingness to cooperate with them. Once Addie revealed Hellstromme was still alive and responsible for the Denver AI, Ike agreed that he didn't think much positive would come from Hellstromme alone. He voiced that they couldn't give the man a seat at the table, but they could find out his methods and use them to get rid of the Reckoners.

During the meeting, King connected with Ike's personal palmcorder over the Net, and planted a bug on the Net side, allowing all messages from his device to be sent to King in a log.