C.W. Stackpole

C.W. Stackpole (Colby Woodson Stackpole), or Stack to most folks, is a Texas Ranger and Civil War veteran. Stack is seen as a hero to those who know him and a saddle tramp to those who go by appearances alone. He roams Texas bringing justice to those who would defile his great lone star state and the citizenry thereof.

Background: Colby Woodson Stackpole is the son of a Texas Ranger, the late Tennisen Stackpole. Stack spent much of his childhood under the care of his mother, Constance Stackpole, while his father rode with the Texas Rangers. Constance however was bitten by a two-headed rattlesnake while transporting herself and a young Stack to Austin, Texas. Being in the middle of nowhere at the time there was little Stack could do for his mother. Try as he did he could not get his mother to help in time. He continued on to Austin and informed his father. Approaching his teen years, Stack began riding with his father as he would hunt bandits and fugitives with the Texas Rangers. When the Civil War broke out Stack enlisted, with his father's blessing, and fought for the Confederacy. To seal his father’s blessing he bestowed on young Stack his Lemat pistol. Tennisen Stackpole then took the role as a judge in east Texas while his son went to war. Stack's sole purpose in enlisting was the promise from Jefferson Davis that should Texas aid the Confederacy, the state would once again be recognized as the Lone Star Republic when the Confederacy won the war.

Stack fought hard in the war and it was seen to that he was in an infantry unit alongside Tennisen Stackpole's trusted partner Errol Clementine. Stack's Confederate service was ended following an encounter with a demon that was conjured by the group The Circle of Brothers in the Tennessee foothills. The Demon left Stack with a huge scar across his chest. Though it is a terrible mark to be "demon scarred", Stackpole is the one who walked away from the fight!

Following the Civil War, Stackpole learned his father has died of yellow fever while Stack was away. Without hesitation Stack joined up with the Texas Rangers when they were reinstated in Texas in 1873 by Governor Richard Coke. It wasn't long before he found himself at a grisly murder scene where Ed Holt, who had recently been a part of a bank robbery, had taken a family hostage in their own home while he laid low. When he was done with them, Holt murdered the entire family except their oldest daughter who he left alive. Stack swore a vow to the girl, Beth Felton, to bring Holt to justice and he now tracks him across Texas.

Strengths and Weakness: Stack is a stone fisted hand to hand combatant and has a keen mind for investigation. He has also been living out of a saddle bag and tracking desperado's since he was twelve years old so while that is not the most glamorous way to live, it is certainly given Stack what amounts to a lifetime of tracking and survival experience though he is in his late twenties.

Stack does possess a very special gun, The Coffin Nailer. It was presented to him by Clem following his demon encounter in Tennessee. The Coffin Nailer is a LeMat pistol with a large ebony nail embossed into ivory pistol handles. Clem presented this to Stack after Stack's fathers pistol was destroyed. As a backup Stack carries a large Bowie knife that he wields in honor of the late Jim Bowie's great service to Texas at the Alamo and a Naval boarding axe he picked up in New Orleans during the war.

Stack has a soft spot for kids, especially orphans. He will do most anything and often take it upon himself to help children in need. It harkens back to haunting memory of losing of his mother and the helplessness he felt as she died in his arms. Luckily he had his father though they were always on the move.

Stack also has a large scar on his chest he received from a demon he encountered in Tennessee during the Civil War. It rarely bothers him, though it does from time to time, and it never sits well that most people he comes across who see it tell him it's a "tough thing to live with". Stack feels it is like a magnet for attracting trouble.