Ghyll:Johnny Lightning

Just making my stub file for Johnny Lightning, y'all.--Doctor Phineas Crank 17:18, 15 Nov 2004 (EST)

Johan Ichabod Lightning, AKA "Johnny", is the head of the infamous Lightning crime family. His rise to fame is well known among the residents of Ghyll and his ascension to the position of Grand Hive-Lord of the Iganefta Back Market is known all too well to the citizens of that fair city. Most of what is known about Mr. Lightning is from his own tales and writings and, as such, must be taken with a grain of salt.

Humble Beginings

Born the son of poor household domestics who emigrated from Folktown to Iganefta-by-the-Sea in -xxxEC, when little Johan was just three years old, Johnny grew up with great luxury just out of reach. His mother was the upstairs maid at the home of Griffin Alastair Bommlehodge, who sat on the Board of Ghyll Mechanician's Guild, but retired to Iganefta. Johnny's father, however, was a day-laborer of the lowest, cheapest kind. He worked the docks when the ships were in and as a carter when there was freight to be moved from the docks to the DermPachyges office when the ships had left. Unfortunately for Johnny, his father also gambled and drank quite a bit of the cheapest kind of Ball Lightning Liqueur. Often, he would send Johnny home from a game of whist to collect money from his wife to pay off his losses, threatening to beat both the boy and his mother for any shortages or resistance. In short, Johnny's father brought little to the family and cost them quite a bit.

One night, after his mother had paid off a particularly bad loss, his mother confessed to Johnny that the man she'd married was not, in fact, his real father. It came as no great surprise to Johnny, who had dark, black hair and eyes, that his blonde "father" was, in fact, not. When his father got home, his parents began to fight quite loudly and violently. The fight spilled out into the street causing quite a distraction for not only the Bommlehodge house, but the neighbors as well. So, after taking full advantage of the distraction and stealing a fair amount of the Bommlehodge household silver, Johnny set off to find his own fortune and, if possible, his father.

A Misspent Youth

Shortly after his parents had their last tiff, Johnny, now a young teenager, found himself selling the last of the Bommlehodge silver in the Iganefta-on-the-Sea Back Market and wondering where to find his next meal. This line of thought led him to particular floating whist game run in the back of a bisexual bath-house where his father had lost quite a bit of money. There, he made contact with one Alastair Bledgewater, a former compatriot of Johnny's father, who got him work as a look-out. The pay was small, but steady and, more importantly, Johnny made contact with some of the biggest names in the Ghyllian underworld at the time.

It was here that Johnny met Phillip Vincent Murdstone who was called the Hive-Lord of Hive-Lords. Ser Murdstone took a liking to young Johnny and began to use him as a runner to take care of small jobs. A pick-up here, a drop-off there, small-time jobs that cleared Johnny a few truq, but not much else. It only took Johnny three months to work up the nerve to ask Ser Murdstone for a bigger job with a bigger score. Luckily for Johnny, Ser Murdstone had just returned from a visit to his mistress and was in a good mood. He gave Johnny his "big break": a carry-man on the big Harrabloon Bank Job.

A Career Change

It was after having discovered ...

Turf War!

When ... began to muscle in on his territory, Johnny ...

Going Legit

Now, in his old age ...