Simon Mercer

Simon via "The Last Crusaders" (Kim DeMulder)

Both the founding member and current Grandmaster of The Vigil stationed in Boise, Idaho.

## History

### Pre-Campaign

#### Wandering

Before the world ended, Simon was a simple accountant living in Boise, Idaho. When the ghost rock bombs dropped in 2081, Simon was away in the countryside. Like many others, his entire family was killed. Simon became a wanderer over what remained of the west, finding slim pickings in generosity from settlements.

One day, in 2084, Simon found himself in Near Pueblo, Colorado, in a large survivor settlement. They'd been having trouble with the Combine, and the offerings were slowly destroying them. A Law Dog named Jenny Hise found her way into town, and was asked by the town's leader to help out. She accepted, and showed up the next day with a large group of Combine soldiers on her tail. When she yelled for the town guard to let her in and help her fight, they refused, and Jenny, bitterly, went down fighting. The soldiers, knowing who'd sent her after them, attacked the town and slaughtered them all. Simon was the only survivor, mistaken for dead.

Simon awoke a few days later among the dead, traumatized by the death and destruction around him, and limped into the wastes bruised and battered. He was scavenging in a gas station, in a haze, when he found himself attacked by walking dead. Grabbing a nearby crowbar, Simon beheaded the two monsters with a bit of effort. Simon took two lessons from this encounter he'd later carry with him: 1. the undead can be killed with lethal blows to the head and 2. ammo will run out, but a good melee weapon will last.

#### Ruins of Boise

Simon made his way back to Boise, his mind in a blur. Overwhelmed by the memories his old destroyed home brought back, Simon fell to his knees and broke down. He only gathered himself enough to head into the city's raging maelstrom, hoping it would kill him. Though it pained him greatly, he survived, and limped his way into a Freemason's lodge downtown, collapsing inside.

The time he spent sheltered in the lodge was a blur to him. Images of the old Knights Templar burned themselves into his mind, and he dreamt of a new Templar order, one that would reclaim the waste from the evils that thrived in it, natural and supernatural alike, guns and swords in hand. In his dreams, these new Templars had magical abilities, to heal the sick with a touch, to empower their swords with holy strength. And he would lead this new order.

Fueled by his new ambition, Simon took an old Civil War saber from a display case, made a tabard with a red cross from an old sheet, and made his way outside. Upon leaving his shelter, he was greeted by the sight of a scavenger group being attacked by violent mutants. Simon used his newly claimed weapon to cut down the hostile mutants, to the appreciation of the scavenging group. Two of their people had been wounded: Sheriff Murray, who had gotten a pipe rammed into his rib cage, and Doc Young, who'd taken a rock to the head. Simon put his hands over both wounds, and with a yellow glow, both were sealed up into minor scars in an instant.

The group of scavengers, from a close settlement called Near Boise, had little time to question Simon about his abilities before the mutants he'd chased off came back with reinforcements. Sheriff Murray, Doc Young, and their other two scavenger companions, Jo Wales and Aaron McConnell, fought back against the renewed attack. Impressed at Simon's abilities, Murray asked Simon to help his people with a problem they'd come here to solve: people in the nearby settlement of Near Boise had been getting possessed by something, and they were attempting to find its source and destroy it. Simon accepted.

#### Hell's Canyon

Once the junker, Doc Young, had found the supplies needed to build his tracking device, and he was present during a possession incident, he was able to start tracking the creature behind it. Simon, Doc Young, Jo, and Aaron left to follow the trail. The group ran into trouble not far into their journey, coming across walking dead on the road. Jo, unaccustomed to the horrors of the wastes, hid behind a tree. After the creatures were downed, Simon approached her. Instead of shaming her, he told her he understood her pain and he was sorry she was forced into this situation. Simon's empathy seemed to leave an impression on her, and when they encountered their next obstacle—a sentient tree creature—Jo was the first to run in and open fire with her shotgun.

The tracer pulled them toward the woods of Hell's Canyon, near the border of Idaho and Oregon. There, they stumbled upon a lone cabin out in the woods, and barged inside. An old woman sat inside on a rocking chair, a shotgun sitting idly on her lap. The woman introduced herself as Althea Butterworth, or Granny Butterworth, as she seemed to prefer. She told the group that she had occasional visions of the world outside, of things to come. Her visions had told her Simon would do great things, leave a great impact, but the losses in his life had damaged his compassion. If he let his pain turn him cold, she warned, it would lead to his downfall.

To the others, she warned that the creature in the canyon was ancient, a demon out of hell. It possessed people to cause strife and chaos. The demon was stuck in the canyon for one reason or another, but it used a group of survivalists that used to reside in the area to expand its reach. Those who it couldn't use, it killed, and for the rest, the demon infected them with its influence and could possess them from far away.

Granny Butterworth believed the group could defeat the creature, with all their strength pooled together, but one of them would die if Simon failed at a crucial moment. After saying this piece, she refused to answer any more questions. She made the group a hearty meal, and sent them off to complete their quest.

Simon and his companions continued deeper into Hell's Canyon, encountering scores of walking dead along the way. They cut down all that were in their path, and finally stepped into the northern edge of the canyon. There, they found a group of living people, puppeted by the demon beyond. The demon came up from the cave behind them: a humanoid-like figure with a stiff, unmoving face, horns, and pure black eyes. As it stared at them, Simon and the others could feel its influence attempting to reach into their minds and take control. All of them fought back, and the creature failed to get a hold of any of them. Simon made the next move, charging the creature.

He got locked in melee with one of the thralls, and the rest of the two sides opened fire. Jo was the first to land a hit, ripping a possessed woman in half with her shotgun. Aaron took out another with his pistols. Then Doc Young took a bullet to the throat, and blood quickly filled his airway. Jo took down Doc Young's attacker, and was quickly faced with another girl with a pistol. Simon had just downed the demon's enthralled syker when he spotted the girl standing off with Jo. He stepped between them and locked eyes with her. He set his swing before she could take a shot, and saw confusion and fear return to her face as the demon seemed to release her. Unwilling to take the risk of sparing her, Simon cut nearly in half. Jo quickly ran to Doc Young and put her hands on his throat to try and stop the bleeding, and calling to Simon for help. The call for help fell on deaf ears, and Simon advanced on the demon.

The demon simply stood in place as Simon approached, seeming satisfied in some way. The creature told Simon its name, Baphomet, just before Simon slashed his sword at its head. It's body broke into shards, scattering over the cave floor. He looked over the remains of the body for a few moments before Jo's yells finally brought him back to reality. He finally ran over to his wounded companion, arriving too late, and Doc Young bled out in front of him. Jo reprimanded Simon severely, telling him he could've saved their friend if he'd listened instead of playing hero, instead of letting one of the others confront the demon. He stayed quiet.

The group took Doc Young's body back to Near Boise and buried him, encountering less trouble on the way back.

#### The Templars

After returning home, Aaron spread word of what Simon had done, emphasizing his heroism. He suggested Near Boise be officially named to Simon's Rock, and the town agreed. After a celebratory feast, Simon, and his newly apprenticed Aaron, set off into the wastes to continue their work.

Simon and Aaron spent a year away from Simon's Rock, training their natural skills, and Simon learning more about the abilities he'd gained after his visions in the lodge. During their wanderings, the two found others with similar values that wanted to learn from Simon, to follow him and his cause. Those that proved themselves to him were allowed to follow. Once a year had passed, Simon returned to Simon's Rock with a handful of recruits and a vision for what would become the Templar Order. He came to Jo and asked if she'd come with him to Boise and become one of the first Templars. She agreed, and followed with the rest to rebuild the old city into something new.

Simon, and those veteran fighters who'd joined him, trained the would-be Templars in swordplay and firearms, survival skills, first aid, and the supernatural horrors roaming the wastes. Simon slowly taught the gifts he'd learned from the Saints, showing his people how to lay on hands before anything else. He gifted those who made it through the training with swords of their own, from those he'd scavenged during his travels with Aaron. During the couple years he spent training his first wave of Templars and building up Boise, Simon and Jo grew close, often practicing personally during evenings. It was during one of their practices that the tradition known as the 'storm run' began. During one session, Jo challenged Simon to run a lap clockwise through the Boise maelstrom. He accepted, and the two manged to complete it, though the fatigue left them holed up for a week in recovery.

A population of civilians popped up around Boise, in what became knows as the "Downown". Some worked directly for Simon, though most simply lived there for the protection. Though Simon asserted a semblance of authority over the residents, he mostly let them conduct themselves from day to day.

On June 1st of 2088, Simon announced that the first group of Templars was ready to go out into the world and do their part. Before Jo left, he pulled her aside, got down on one knee, and proposed to her with a diamond ring. He wanted her to stay in Boise and marry him. Jo ended up blindsided, and made a clumsy excuse to head off. Simon received her final message when she set off with the other graduating recruits without speaking to him the next morning. She didn't return to Boise for another two years.

#### The Boise Horror

On June 8th of 2088, a group of new potential squires moved into Boise. On July 4th, one of those trainees, Jeanette Willis, didn't show up for training. Her body was found on July 7th, torn to shreds. Simon called everyone to arms, and investigated the killing. That day, they turned up nothing. The next, the famous storyteller, Teller, arrived in Boise. He'd come to learn more of the Templars, but found a mystery, and started poking around. After a short while, he brought back his theory to Simon and the others: a werewolf was in town. Teller proposed setting up a trap to see what kind of beasts they were truly dealing with, and the group set up a tied up pig with bloody meat resting as an invitation around it.

The trap went unsprung, but another recruit, Lynn Graves, was found murdered in the ruins. Her throat was torn open, her blood drained. Suspicion turned to a possible vampire, but Teller had another idea. He suspected a bloodwolf—a vampire-werewolf hybrid that seemed human during the day, vampirac at night, and during the full moon, became a powerful beast. During the next full moon, the group set up the pig trap again, and this time, were rewarded. The creatures attacked the pig, and the group lying in wait struck and drove it out into the storm, through the planes, into bloodvines. It ended up killing a few residents of Boise and Simon's rock before Teller put it down with a couple silver bullets. The creature turned out to be another trainee: Larry Fisk.

Despite the victory, the problem went unsolved, and another recruit was killed on the next full moon, and almost every one since.

#### The Martyrs

In 2089, the Librarians had taken note of the Templars, and Frederick Biletnikoff set out to Boise to take notes on the Order. He traded knowledge with Simon, and the two came to trust one another. Simon later told Biletnikoff that he occasionally saw visions of a gunslinger harrowed from over two centuries ago, a man named Ronan Lynch. He felt as if the man's spirit was looking out for him, giving him a bit of luck when he needed it most. Biletnikoff sent for a copy of the Tombstone Epitaph collection the library had concerning Lynch. The Library sent a dataslug with stories of Lynch's adventures, and Simon and Biletnikoff studied them extensively.

Simon and Biletnikoff interviewed other Templars to see if they'd had similar experiences, and found that man had, though of different people fighting supernatural creatures over the centuries. They collected a list of those that popped up, those spirits who chose to intervene on behalf of the Templars, and called them Martyrs. They looked at the patterns, trying to determine what acts caught the attention of these Martyrs.

In January of 2091, Simon called all Templars he could reach back to Boise, and told them he had found proof the saints were real. He told them of the Martyrs, and that from that day forward, all Templars would have to learn about them and their lives, in the hopes they could attract their aid. Simon made Biletnikoff the official Chronicler of the Martyrs, making it his duty to gather any information of the lives of the Martyrs and why they appeared to certain Templars. He kept this information in the Book of Martyrs.

#### The Anti-Templars

One day, Simon caught wind of one of his own turning dark: Julia Aiken. She'd spared the half-demon spawn of a woman and a manitou, unwilling to kill the child-like creature despite the damage it was capable of, and took it off to raise in the mountains. Simon caught wind of the incident and black-balled her.

He later learned she returned with a demon brood of her own and wiped out Sierra City. This spurred Simon to send out five Templars to take her out and end the threat. Of the five, only one returned from the battle: Brad Modeen. He dealt the final blow to Julia, and went to report back to Simon, telling him of the power Julia had possessed. She seemed to have become stronger than any of their order after Simon. He handed her sword over, and Simon broke it in half, hanging it in the Hall of Heroes as a reminder of what would happen to those Templars that would abuse their abilities.

A few months after the incident with Julia, Brad returned again to Boise and detailed one of the incidents he'd gotten involved with while traveling. In the town of Quissling in eastern Nevada, he'd been caught in a conflict between Black Hats and Cult of Doom fanatics, with townsfolk that had been paying tribute to the Combine caught in the middle. Seeing no way to get the people out, he joined the fight on the Black Hats' side, taking out the cultists. Simon reprimanded Brad, raising that both sides could have wiped each other out without his involvement. Brad shot back that Simon was a dictator, he wasn't a hero, and laid down his tabard before leaving.

Later on, Jo came to Boise, reporting she's seen Brad with a group of followers wearing black tabards and wielding axes. He'd told her he was founding the Anti-Templars in opposition to Simon's vision, and that they'd do away with the Templar's cruel test of worth. All but the worst would get their protection. Simon immediately told Jo to fulfill the Oath of Blood, silencing any argument she raised, and went with her to complete the deed. When they arrived where Jo had seen them, they were already gone.

### Arc 13: The Denver Swarm

On September 1st, Simon drove into Sumpter, meeting with Addie at the inn. She welcomed him in, and he settled in the kitchen with her and Ian. He mentioned he wished the visit were under better circumstances, but there had been trouble: he'd gotten a message from Vickers, some sort of psychic message, saying he was currently trapped in the Agency office Denver with two Agent allies and needed help. He'd sounded scared, like he was being hunted. He mentioned to her there'd been troubling reports from Denver: people going missing, something draining the blood from bodies and leaving corpses in the streets. The Unity had been scrambling to deal with it, but, it seemed to be something like their own Boise Horror. On top of that, factions in the city were scrambling for power.

Addie criticized Simon for hiding the situation in Denver from her, to which he responded he had wanted to wait to confirm his information. Vickers had, and then the situation escalated quickly. He told her as far as he knew, the Unity was still in control of surrounding communities, and the roads should still be cleared.

Ian told Simon there were infiltrators in the Resistance, which Simon mentioned would cast a bit of doubt on their current information. He asked Addie if she wanted a battalion of Vanguard recruits to head there with her. Addie seemed hesitant, mentioning a smaller team would probably work better, but asked to have them on standby. Simon agreed, and wished Addie luck before getting up to head out. Before he could leave, Addie caught him to confirm he would be going to her and River's wedding, which he did with a warm smile.

### Arc 15: Chasing Coyotes

On November 15th, Simon, along with Charles and Anna Kornach rode in on a helicopter to Aurora, Colorado, to meet with the NW6. He messaged Addie's palmcorder as they arrived, nudging her toward the admin building their transport landed on. He met with her inside, allowing Charles to speak first on what he'd heard from Sioux scouts in Houston. Toxic shaman activity was causing instability in the region, and along with that, Charles's adopted sister—Mercedes— was sighted in the area. Simon took over, saying he'd gotten a message from Rat: people were getting rounded up in the night and sold to unknown actors. One such group of captives he'd spotted involved a woman fitting the description of Mercedes, along with Sioux scouts.

The situation was precarious, with Bran threatening to start an impulse-driven war on the oil barons of Texas unless she was returned safely to him. Simon asked to handle it carefully, to make sure Mercedes got out alive, and told Addie Rat's last known location was Gas Town, about 50 miles from the Houston maelstrom. He also mentioned that while Rat had used his Templar connection to contact him, he didn't seem in the same immediate danger as Vickers. He wished her and her team luck before she departed.

He later attended Addie's wedding on November 23rd, officiating the ceremony.

### Arc 16: Rivalries

On December 4th, Simon made his way into Denver alongside Jo and the NW6, still using the hover vehicle gifted to him by the Convoy, to attend the second Iron Alliance summit. The group made it into the city with little trouble, and headed toward the convention center. He conferred with Addie, Jo, and River, assuring Addie things would turn out okay, before stepping out in front of the convened summit. Simon preceded to tell the representatives of the Templar's secret: Baphomet's possession of Simon, and its imprisonment. He admitted to playing a part in the Boise Horror killings, if unknowingly. He told the summit of his shortcomings, that the Templar doctrine needed reform, more room for cooperation, and he would deliver. He also announced that the Templars would be shedding their old name and symbol as an acknowledgement of new practices going forward, and would be known further as the Vigil.