| Norman Herrick | |
| |
| General Information | |
| Date of Birth: | 2240 |
| Date of Death: | 2285 |
| Age: | 45 |
| Location Information | |
| Status Information | |
| Status: | deceased. |
| Occupation: | Soldier, Hired gun, sheriff, Scalp hunter and Senator. |
| Physical Information | |
| Gender: | Male |
| Height: | 5'10 |
| Weight: | 200 pds. |
| Blood Type: | B positive |
A trooper, sheriff, hired gun, scalp hunter and Senator all wrapped into one colossal monster of a man named Norman Herrick. A former New California Republic, or NCR trooper turned merc turned sheriff turned scalp hunter turned politician, Norman has seen his fair share of death and isn't afraid to spread it around.
Biography[]
Early Years[]
When Norman was born he wasn't born to some big and rich Cattle Baron or Tobacco Planter, heck he wasn't even born in the town he would spend the rest of his life in. He was born in the good town of Goodsprings in the Mojave wasteland to Julius and Maria Herrick, they along with Norman's grandparents and uncle lived on a small "ranch" outside of town. The ranch he in fact lived upon was nothing more than two old pre-War campers that someone had towed to an old campsite and had promptly forgotten when the Great War began. Either way he and his parents lived in one trailer and his grandparents the other, as for his uncle...no one really knows where he went during the night albeit its not completely out of the question to say that he lived in the old Jean Sky Diving shack. When it came down to waking up and working the small herd of bighorners they kept on the ranch his mother and father did most of the work, his grandparents
Norman's Uncle.
tended to the family garden that helped feed them all and his uncle worked wherever he was needed, however he was quite the inventor his uncle making useful equipment out of seemingly random objects for an example he made a water purifier out of a hot plate, some electronics an old butter knife and a whole shit ton of Rad-Away. Other than being good with thinking crap up he also was rather handy with a gun and on more than one occasion had to chase off bandits, wildlife, cattle rustlers, thieves and all other manner of ruffians, thus he was greatly relieved when the NCR took over the old Prison and got it working again.
However the correctional facility didn't keep all bandits away and each passing day he had to chase off some manner of thug, perhaps that was why he stayed away from the family he knew that whatever friends, crews or allies these thugs had would likely come after him at some point. As Norman grew up he found that helping out his friendly uncle was his favorite part of the work around the ranch and thus he stuck with his uncle for most of a days work. He would wake up, find his uncle warming himself around a big billowing fire and cooking some brahmin steak for breakfast, than he would help him drag buckets of water down from Goodsprings source, feed the water through the purifier and then help him work on some new invention his uncle had cooked up. Every so often his uncle would even allow him to shoot at geckos with his .357 magnum and as he grew he became quite proficient with the old magnum. One day when Norman was 15 he awoke to find his uncle eating some steak and after joining him for some lunch he and his uncle went up to the source to fetch the days water, as they filled their buckets they suddenly heard shouting, then gunfire, looking back at the ranch they could see men with guns running about the place.
His uncle turned pale, pulled his .357 and ran towards the ranch his old cowboy hat falling off his head as he did, Norman followed but quickly stopped running at a small clutter of bushes and reached into it and pulled out an old varmint rifle. He'd found it along the road one day along with a few magazines of ammo and had spent his free time fixing it up, during the nights Norman would sneak away to practice shooting it. He grabbed the rifle checked the mag he had loaded and raced down towards the ranch. When he reached it he saw a body laying on the ground, it was his grandfather his old 10mm pistol next to him. The bandits were working their way along the side of the ranch when he heard the rapid-fire staccato of his father's 12.7mm SMG, followed by a hail of bullets landing around the trailer where his parents and uncle were hiding. Shouldering his rifle he took aim with the rusted sights on a single bandit running between cover and fired, the bandit was hit smack in the face by his round. Shocked by his own kill he watched the man fall and his confused compatriots duck behind their cover. He took aim at another bandit and squeezed the trigger, sending the ruffian down in a mist of pink blood. He repeated killing two more of the bandits when suddenly he felt a blow on the side of his head, he came to, finding his family tied up and the leader of the bandits staring him down. The bandit leader introduced himself as Burt Walston, leader of the Walston Gang.
Burt had a proposition for Norman, since he proved to be such a good shot with his rifle Burt thought that it should be no problem hitting a flying hat, his offer was if you can hit his hat with an old .38 than he and his family could go free. Norman accepted as Burt tossed the hat up he watched it... time seemed to slow down as Norman took aim with his revolver and as the hat fluttered back down to the ground he squeezed the trigger letting off a single round, the hat jumped in the air and hit the ground. Burt went up to it and looked it over, there was no hole. Suddenly the whole crew of bandits began to cheer as they shot his parents, uncle, and grandmother through the back of the head as Burt walked up to Norman and leveled his revolver with the kid and shot him twice in the chest, Norman collapsed and blacked out. He came to staring into the face of a man with surgical scrubs only he was in the small town of Primm, the people of Goodsprings had found him and his family, seeing that he was still alive they rushed him to Primm where there was an NCR surgeon. Norman had been saved by the NCR.
Serving with the Bear[]
As Norman woke from his surgery a young Lieutenant with the NCR Army delivered the bad news to him,
The very force Norman joined.
that not only had the gang killed his family but they had made off with their small pack of bighorners essentially bankrupting Norman. As he left the tent he was in he contemplated how he would go forward, he had no home, no family and with no herd Norman was pretty much screwed from where he stood. However ,as he looked upon the small camp he realized that he had only one true home left, the NCR Army. So he re-entered the tent and asked the Lieutenant where he could sign up, the officer shocked by his sudden determination retrieved the papers and returned with them having Norman fill them out, he was then given orders to report to Camp McCarran in one week. After a bit of haggling, he managed to snag a ride with a troop of mounted military police men escorting convicts to their execution at McCarran. He arrived a full week early and voluntarily began to train with other fresh face recruits.
When he had spent his mandatory five weeks in the training facilities he was given his orders to report to Major Edward Ewell commander of the 22nd Mounted Infantry Regiment "The War Horse Regiment" as it was nicknamed. These soldiers set out to help seize an old Enclave base that high command thought to hold valuable tech but mostly more Vertibirds and energy weapons. The base was located in northern Nevada and mostly out of the reach of the NCR. However, the Enclave troops there had begun to launch raids against the NCR bases and villages within California and thus had to be eliminated to spare valuable troops from being spent defending border towns rather than on the frontlines or patrolling the interior. The 22nd arrived off the base's perimeter several days later Major Ewell not wanting to waste troops with a foolish frontal assault wanted to send in a small scouting force to test the defenses and gauge the strength of the Enclave forces there and thus allow Ewell to know how to go forward.
When he went looking for volunteers, Norman, eager to prove himself to the hardened veterans of the 22nd volunteered to go on the raid. They set off several minutes later on foot down the mountainside and soon enough spied the tall walls of the base and the imposing guard towers. The Enclave were there with power armor and in strength. However the numbers weren't as imposing to the NCR (they had a regiment after all) it was taking the base fast enough, the Enclave troops they were facing were known as the Black Vipers they had a history of jumping bases, one fell to the NCR or Brotherhood of Steel they'd find another and soon enough they'd be raiding the NCR again. They were identifiable by the two red lines that went down the length of their black power armor and broke off at their legs, rather noticeable with a black background. The troopers moved stealthily, they had fought these bastards before and knew their tactics. They would periodically napalm the area around their base to clear out any snooping wastelanders and possible infiltrators along with creating a killing field for their forces.
Many times the 22nd and many other NCR units of all kinds and description had tried to take out the Black Vipers but they were a slippery foe, attacks from the sea proved too slow, from the air also proved futile as the Vipers were excellent Vertibird pilots. It was only full scale ground attacks that proved semi-successful,
The sight that greeted the 22nd.
down on the ground the Enclave's small numbers would be overwhelmed by the vastly superior numbers of the NCR and troopers could sweep across the base capturing or killing anyone who resisted. However the families and few civilians that came with the Black Vipers were well versed in quick evacuations and as soon as the alarm went up the civilians could be up in the air and off in just a few minutes. As they scanned the base they could see that the Enclave hadn't dug in too well and that they were relying upon foot patrols and their airstrikes to catch whatever charging troops in the open. After several hours of observation the leader of the group decided it was time to depart when suddenly there was a shot, to this day Norman couldn't figure out where it came from but instantly the base was in action as the troopers suddenly began to fire into the brush.
Realizing that the element of surprise was up the troopers began to open fire on the guards, the troopers trained from their campaigns against the Brotherhood and the Enclave to aim for the exposed neck area, and the legs the knee caps were always some of the weakest armor for the sake of user mobility soon there were several wounded troopers lying on the ground as their comrades tried to get them away. However everyone could here the whining of the Vertibirds' engines starting up the Lieutenant leading their patrol decided there was only one option for them to catch the Black Vipers before they took off again, charge.
The troops charged the compound sending a man back to their commander to bring up reinforcements to support their charge. With the men nearing the fence that blocked off the base the Enclave forces still up began to open fire, cutting down several of the troopers as they charged, behind them in the field the Enclave flew over napalming the whole field, blocking off their exit and killing the man sent to grab reinforcements. Realizing this was a fight to the death the cavalrymen threw caution to the wind and charged forward into the Enclave ranks, killing the few men still up and finishing those off who lay wounded. As they charged across the base they suddenly began to take fire from one of the massive cement guard towers that surrounded the base, the Lieutenant called for Norman along with two other troopers Mack and Tommy to go knock out the tower's defenses. They were given a few pulse grenades and ran to the tower as the others carried on, the three began to creep up the tower when an Enclave trooper in full power armor burst through the door to the main level, he quickly was hit by a barrage of bullets ripping apart his knees and even catching a chunk metal in the neck. He collapsed and after Mack kicked off his helmet he got to the the head. They continued up onto the main floor of the guard tower where they found three troopers and their sergeant laying down heavy fire using their Gatling lasers and plasma rifles on the troopers below. They chucked two pulse grenades at the power armored troopers and knocked out their auto-gyros turning their power armor into steel coffins.
As they burst through the door the Enclave officer un-effected by the energy pulse fired his plasma pistol at the troopers striking Mack in the chest and Tommy in the head. Norman leveled his service rifle on the officer and put two through his chest, as the officer collapsed Norman went to help his fallen comrades but only to find that there was little he could do as they both died of blood loss, Norman's friends gave him their ammo and grenades, telling him to "Go get those Enclave bastards!". Norman ran down the steps and out onto the runway quickly meeting up with his comrades. They were being held up by a squad of heavy troopers armed with heavy weapons and in Hellfire armor the Lieutenant split his forces leaving a few men to keep the heavy troopers busy while the rest flanked through a nearby hangar to pinch the Enclave and reach the runway. As the Republic soldiers sprinted through the hangar they encountered a squad of Enclave troopers sent to flank them, these men were however without power armor and were easily dispatched by the troopers.
They burst through the hangar doors and onto the runway running as hard as they could, the Enclave having activated the old pre-War security system flooded the whole run way with security robots. As the troopers charged to stop the Vertibirds, the bots and other Enclave personnel opened fire cutting down the troopers as they charged the runway. Quickly it was only the Lieutenant and Norman as they charged, the others were locked in a grapple with the Enclave heavy troopers or dueling with the security bots. However the two made it to the Vertibirds who were preparing to lift off, the two men began to heave their pulse grenades at the Vertibirds frying their electrical systems and rendering them inoperable. The Vipers weren't going anywhere, behind them there was a blast of a bugle and suddenly the whole rest of the regiment came charging through overwhelming the remaining Enclave troops and destroying the security bots.
The Air base had been captured and the Black Vipers finally put out of business, Norman, the Lieutenant and many other members of their patrol were given awards and were celebrated as heroes within the regiment. Norman would go on to serve a very long and tough career in the army, however he would eventually retire when he was posted to be the Commandant of a prison camp for captured tribals and Enclave war prisoners. He was age thirty and already a Major.
Phantom of the Wastes[]
Norman not long after quiting the army was soon finding himself out of work, not much of a farmer or rancher he failed in both respects. However he did have a unique set of skills that made him a rather important to many men out there, he was a fighter and a cold hearted one at that. He quickly heard about a group called the Californians who often welcomed the expertise of veterans with no where else to go he set off to Modoc to join up with the Californians. He arrived several days later walking onto the heavily guarded ranch with nothing more than his repeater and the clothes on his back. After hearing about who he was and his deeds while in the army, Tom Blackburn, head of the Californians simply couldn't turn him down and welcomed him into their group. Norman was given a suit of patrol armor as is customary for most Californians and promptly given his first assignment, track down the killer Boss Jones. It turned out that ol' Boss was an enforcer for an old enemy of Norman, Burt Walston. According to the story he was told from Tom, Burt had gone "clean" and became a rancher quickly eating up many of the smaller ranches around his own and soon he was growing an empire, currently he and his force of hired killers were fighting a tough Range War against the men of Heck Gunderson for control of the New Vegas cattle supply.
Norman set off the next day on horse back with every intent to hunt down Boss, moving among old cattle trails and back roads he quickly arrived in the Mojave, unbekownst to Boss whose men watched the Mojave Outpost closely. Norman, after some asking around at the small familiar town of Primm found out that Boss frequented the 188 trading post, Norman traveled there and just as told found Boss and his men sleeping under the overpass. Deciding to wait till morning Norman sat himself down at the bar and promptly started up a discussion with a local brahmin herder named Joseph Meade. After a while Joseph asked Norman's business there and he gladly told him. Joseph, intrigued, asked if he and his friend Marcus could possibly help out Norman and reap part of the bounty, glad for the help Norman accepted and as the sun rose he, Joseph and Marcus went below to arrest Boss and his group of thugs.
The trio stood over the outlaws as they awoke and Boss opened his eyes to the barrel of a cowboy repeater being pointed in his face, he turned a beat red. He stood and began to shout at Norman for being a coward and ambushing a man as he slept his six men did the same all their hands moving to their guns. After several minutes of non-compliance and generally getting annoyed by Boss's constant shouting Norman lowered the repeater and shot him in the knee. As he fell to his knees in agony, Boss's henchmen pulled their fire arms and were caught in a blaze of bullets as Joseph and Marcus lit up the group of rustlers as they tried to pull their guns from their holsters. As the target practice was going on behind him Norman shoved his repeater into Boss's mouth and fired, blowing the back of his head off. As the henchmen fell dead and wounded Norman pulled out his bowie knife and chopped off Boss's trigger finger.
The three men exhilarated by their battle with Boss's men bought themselves a round and set off for Modoc to claim their bounty money. When they arrived in Modoc they collected their prize money of 500 caps and split it between the three men. However they were also told grave news, the Walston gang had killed three Californian mercenaries as they worked their way through the Mojave in retribution for the killing of Boss and his men. Angered by this Norman declared that he would go after Burt Walston himself but was told that such an act was impossible, Burt's right hand man was a powerful congressmen and such an act would have the NCR Army surrounding their ranch and the end of the Californians, so they had to suck in their gut and deal with it. Norman's next contract was to track down a tough group of bandits with some high end weapons, It was unknown who they were and what their motive was but they were a threat to the NCR citizens within the Mojave. Norman, Joseph, and Marcus set off once again to complete their assignment and claim the bounty.
They found their opponents living in the slum of Westside, inside Westside they found the group living in paradise in a home they had commandeered from its former occupants, they weren't as scary as they thought they would be. The group of bandits were in fact NCR Army deserters who were using their military training and expertise to ambush caravans and sell the captured goods to the poor people of Westside at twice the price while keeping the best of the loot for themselves. Norman seeing that it would be a close quarters battle shouldered his repeater and unholstered his 10mm pistol while the others got ready to break into the house. The plan was Marcus with his 12 gauge would go through the back door and kill anyone that tries to escape while Joseph and Norman went through the front and shoot the place up. Marcus swung around back and Joseph and Norman readied themselves, they heard the crack of wood as Marcus shot out the lock on the back door, Norman and Joseph burst through the front. Two men were playing cards at one of the card tables and were quickly gunned down by Norman and Joseph.
While Joseph and Marcus cleared the rest of the ground floor and basement Norman headed upstairs. As shots and yells echoed from down below Norman concentrated on the three doors on the upstairs landing. As he reached it he went to the first one,kicking in the door he found it was the bathroom and completely empty. The next door he kicked in was a bunk room and found two bandits lying on the ground both drunk as hell. Seeing Norman the two reached for their guns but Norman put a bullet in each of them. Next he kicked in the door to the final room and found the bandits fearless leader Lieutenant Kate Owens buck naked and her number two laying in bed just the same, clearly their little raid had interrupted some "exercising". Both reached for their guns but Norman put a bullet in the man and shot the gun out of Kate's hand. He was joined by Marcus and Joseph on the landing breathless from their gun battle and began to blabber about a basement full of money, booze and such. Excited Norman grabbed the guns away from Kate and her dead boyfriend and headed downstairs giving the order for her to get her clothes on.
Downstairs they found the whole mother load of loot that Kate and her men had stolen from the caravans, they opened the door to Westside and allowed the half starved people come in and with the help of the militia made sure everyone got some of the high end boozes and good food she and her men had held in the basement. Thankful for their help the militia offered to help them escort Kate through the New Vegas ruins and Fiend territory, Norman thanked them and accepted. Norman and his men rounded up Kate and marched her off back towards Modoc. Upon their arrival Norman was greeted as a hero, stories of what he had done had floated up from the Mojave. However after collecting their prize money of 1500 caps, he asked to pursue Burt Walston again but was twice denied, angered by this he decided that the mercenary life didn't suit him anymore and set off towards the town of New Essex where he hoped to find work with a cattlemen that would allow him to kill Burt, instead he was offered to be the sheriff of the crime ridden town.
Sheriff Norman Herrick[]
When Norman set off for New Essex he was joined by his old compatriots Joseph and Marcus whom agreed to become his deputies upon their arrival in New Essex. When they arrived in the small town they were shocked by what they found, New Essex's streets were running rampant with crime, dangerous criminals, killers, gangs, and even a full blown crime family inhabited the city streets. The grateful deputy already in the sheriff's office advised Norman, Joseph and the rest to just accept the bribes and keep your head down, for this comment Norman pulled his 10mm out and shot the deputy through the head. This was their town and they weren't about to bend over to any crime lord no matter how powerful. They donned their badges and promptly decided to introduce themselves to the townsfolk, as they went through the streets knocking on the doors they scoped out the town for hideouts, speakeasies, and brothels.
The next day Norman decided to go in a morning patrol, shouldering his repeater and holstering his 10mm he walked out onto the wooden plank side walk. He was only out for a very brief time when he spotted a group of men come from an alleyway, they stepped up to a door to the general store and kicked it in. There was a great deal of shouting and things getting thrown around, suddenly the shop owner flew through the front door landing in the dust and dirt, the men followed demanding their money. Norman pulled his 10mm and shouted for them to stop, the group turned and whipped out their peices aiming at Norman, Norman pulled the trigger on his 10mm sending a bullet into the first man, he dove and rolled as the others fired. Norman sent a second round into the leg of the second man and just as quickly a third into the third's skull. The shop keeper looked equal parts grateful and terrified, the men Norman had just killed were working for local loan shark, who was connected to the Porello Family. He had just kicked the hornets nest.
Around twelve, a group of men led by a rather angry looking bald man entered the office, they shouted their anger at having their men killed. Norman responded by ordering the group out, pulling his 10 mm he ordered them back out the door. Joseph and Marcus leveled their guns at the group next to Norman. The man and his posse left saying Norman and his deputies didn't know who they were messing with. Thus started the Herrick-Porello dispute that would rock all of New Essex for weeks to come. Later that day the men were enjoying dinner, courtesy of the shop
Don Porello.
owner when suddenly the whole room rattled with broken glass and the chatter of machine gun fire, two men across the street armed with Thompsons emptied their mags into the sheriff's office. They reached for their next mag only to receive return fire from Norman and the others. Both men wrestled with their weapons to no avail, a bullet cut through one of the gunman's side and another hit him square in the face. Both men fell dead as Norman peaked through the broken door on the office, he looked left and right, seeing no one he ran across the street to the two wounded gun men.
One was crying in agony the other lied there holding his side Norman put two rounds in each of them, dropping a card for the sheriff's office on the corpses.
The next day through the help of some good Samaritans they had learned of the location of an illegal beer distillery behind the saloon (no way). Leaving the office heavily armed they arrived at the back of the saloon just as the sun was rising and through a curtain cover was revealed a small still in the works, several vats of beer were brewing and half starved boys sat putting bottle caps on top, so illegal brewing of alcohol and pressing bottle caps without a government permit, they had more than enough to bring down Porello and his mob. When one of the guards noticed him, there only being four they quickly rushed outside. Norman and his deputies fell back, the four rushed outside shooting like mad men and it was returned in kind by Norman and his men. One of the mobsters took a bullet to the lung, spinning him around as he collapsed, another peaked around the corner and got a bullet clear to the head, the third and the fourth ran out into the open, one was shot in the thigh than the crotch while the fourth dropped his weapon and raised his hands. Norman was about to fire when Joseph stopped him, the man may know something.
They placed the mobster in hand cuffs and hauled him back to their office, leaving the wounded to the town doctor. They entered the office and through him down in a chair and sat down in another across from him and while Marcus watched the road they interrogated the mobster. Punching, slapping, and beating him in every which way they could think of trying to get answers out of the man. Finally he broke, there was a safe back in the still site with copies of Don Porrelo's plans, notes and contacts with corrupt officials. Knowing that this could be the end for the Porello Crime Family he ordered Marcus to guard the prisoner while he and Joseph ran to grab the safe. Suddenly a crowd of people burst through the door, it were townsfolk. They had gone to get their children from their servitude in the brewery when one spotted the safe and with the help of his friends they got it over to the sheriff's office.
They thanked the townsfolk then promptly took a crow bar to the safe ripping the door off and finding a stack of papers within it. It contained many incriminating documents but above all it had personal correspondents between Don Porello and the corrupt NCR senator who worked with Burt Walston. Speaking there was a letter from Burt saying that he was selling a herd of cattle to a buyer within the Legion and the money would be laundered through Porello's line of saloons. There was enough to take down a powerful crime family, a corrupt senator and traitor cattle baron in here. Excited Norman used the office's radio to call a nearby Ranger station who quickly sent a group over to collect the papers, prisoner and just to make sure nothing funny happened Norman sent Marcus with the wagon. Joseph and Norman celebrated their victory with a powerful bottle of whiskey. They passed out drunk, the next morning they awoke to the neighing of horses, it was the wagon. As they stepped through the office door, half hung over their headaches went away when they were greeted by the sight of blood running down the side of the wagon. The driver was slumped over, one hand clutching the reins the other a Ranger Sequoia, the second and third rangers weren't to be seen and Marcus lay with his 1 gauge clutched in his hands, the papers were gone and the words, Don't fuck with us Sheriff. Written in blood on the back of the wagon.
Enraged Norman and Joseph set off with their guns out down the street to the saloon that the Don and his men hung around wanting nothing more than to kill the man they burst into the saloon and found nothing but his Capo, Mr. Chigurh, wiping the blood from his hands and drinking a glass of whiskey. Norman aimed his 10mm at Chigurh and fired sending a bullet clear through his head, splattering the bar tender and the drinks behind him in brains and blood. He was suddenly at the bar counter and he jumped over it tackling the bar tender. Demanding where Don Porello was he weakly replied that he and his Consigliere were about to depart for New Reno. Hearing this they ran outside, called their horses and began to gallop towards the Don's wagon. Finding that he was riding in a nice stage coach they galloped even harder, finding the wagon guarded by several men on horse back they pulled their guns out, Norman pulling his repeater put a bullet into the back of one man who promptly fell from his horse. Joseph took another off his horse with a shot from his Lever action shotgun, then pulling out his Colt Python he shot down another as Norman gunned down the fourth rider while scooping the head off the driver.
With no driver the carriage came to a stop, Don Porello and his Consigliere jumped out firing as they ran, ducking into cover Norman shot and hit Don Porello in the back, while Joseph shot down his Consigliere. Norman and Joseph ran up to the fallen Porello and put two into his head and another into his heart. Joseph shot the Consigliere through the skull twice. The rest of their time as sheriff and deputy they would spend cleaning up the town of criminals, and other crooks turning the city into what it is today a flourishing metropolis of trade and industry. However Norman was still after revenge and when his term was up depsite the pleas of the townsfolk he didn't return as sheriff, however the town would stay a peaceful and orderly place since his departure. It was time for the Baja Killers to rear their heads.
The Baja Killers[]
The Killers.
The Baja Killers as the group of scalp hunting mercenaries that Joseph Meade and Norman set up would later go on to include the famous names of "Red" Charley Costello, the mobster killer, Tom Harris, the famous cattle rustler, "Shotgun" Rebecca Taylor, the famous vigilante, Jensen Turner, the Brotherhood deserter, Nigel Cunningham , "The Mexican Prince" and famous guerrilla. All these men and women would work together with some of the roughest and toughest the wasteland had to offer to do the unspeakable to the tribals of southern Baja. The NCR before it swept into the lower half of Baja wanted to have someone clear out the tribals who controlled the lower half of the peninsula and having already offered the prospect of unification to the tribals and even becoming semi-autonomous peoples within the NCR so long as they paid a yearly tax to the NCR Government and promised to allow some of their braves to serve in the NCR Army. However all attempts at a peaceful unification had failed and thus the NCR having run out of patience ordered there to be action taken by the local NCR officials. They responded by hiring an army of low lives to go and kill tribals, scalp them and receive a reward for each scalp they brought in. For those really good hunters they could quickly become rich off the pursuit and thus the prospect of easy money (as easy as killing people) was rather alluring. However for Norman it wasn't the idea of butchering tribals that brought him to this job but rather the fact that Burt using his vast array of connections within the criminal world had men riling up the tribals and selling weapons to them to help drive down land prices so he could eat up more turf in his quest to expand his empire.
Norman led Joseph down through the towns through southern California looking for volunteers to come and fight with them, the stories from across the land had spread as to the people of Norman clearing out a town full of bandits thieves and mobsters, his taking of an Enclave base practically all on his own and the times when he hauled in dangerous criminals while working as a bounty hunter for The Californians. He had become quite the hero in the eyes of the people but when he explained what he was off to do many people looked upon him in disgust and promptly went inside and it was only the most determined people who decided to stick around and help out Norman and his quest for revenge. Soon he had a small rag tag bunch of men and women all willing to go out and hunt down the men who had wronged Norman.
When they arrived in Baja they found out they weren't the only ones looking to get into Baja and kill some natives as they were at least a dozen different group of folk in the small frontier town of Cali, all trying to buy passes into Baja California and License to kill yet the NCR only had a limited supply and were turning many people away. However when Norman and his group got to the window the officer manning the station instantly recognized him and set him and his group up with some passes and Licenses. This was spotted by one of the many people who had been turned away a big mercenary with two other equally imposing men, they pulled their guns and aimed them at Norman and his group demanding the passes. Norman and his group instantly had their own weapons out and were preparing for a showdown when a little old woman with an umbrella emerged from the crowd, she berated both groups for being so stupid than promptly swatted the mercenaries over the head with her umbrella and did the same to Norman and his group. When Rebecca showed signs of resisting the old women produced a power fist and asked if she would prefer a swatting with that, Rebecca took the hit with the umbrella.
Norman impressed by the elderly woman's bravery asked her name, she replied she was Arizona Annie the only women to have made it out of the city of Two-Sun before the Legion took it over and the winner of the yearly apple pie baking contest in the little town of Cali since 2262. Norman to the surprise of everyone else asked if she wanted to join with their little expedition as their cook and someone to guard the camp while they were off, she agreed. As they prepared to head into the NCR controlled area of Baja Annie disappeared off to her house and returned with a fully stocked chuck wagon, she told them all to jump aboard and hang on as she cracked the whip and they galloped off into the unknown.
Their travel through the NCR controlled area of Baja went, for the most part, fine, little interaction between the locals and themselves which according to Norman was good for keeping a low profile and only were stopped when they were about to enter the unclaimed zone of the peninsula, stopped by NCR Rangers they checked their wagon for smuggled arms and then verified their passes and licenses. They were allowed through soon after, moving at a slow pace to not kick up dust they soon were well within the wild zone, they could hear the distant cry of Indian war calls and the crack of rifle and pistol fire. This only became more and more apparent as they neared the lawless town of Jenkinston, there they found the town populated by comancheros, slavers, bandits and absolutely no law system. As they mosied into town it turned out quite a few people recognized Norman for his work in running off the bandits and thieves in New Essex and were still pretty upset about that, as Norman went into the Sarsaparilla Saloon to grab a few drinks for his crew he was confronted by a group of bandits.
Meanwhile, outside, the group were chatting amongst themselves when they noticed the streets had suddenly cleared, only the neighing of horses cut the silence and most of the groups hands slid down to their guns in their holsters. Suddenly a group of men led by a scraggly fellow in a sombrero albeit he didn't appear to have the slightest hint of Hispanic blood in him, he introduced his self as "The Ghost of the West." He claimed that they were passing through his territory and they would need to pay a toll to keep moving without an issue, Harold told them to go to hell and as The Ghost opened his mouth to retort Rebecca whipped out her LeMat revolver and aimed it at the Ghost. Suddenly everyone had their guns out, Charley and his duel Colt .45s, Nigel and his double Rifle, Jensen and his tri-beam laser rifle, Tom and his M4 Carbine, and Joseph with his old revolver. The Ghost and his crew quickly had their own peices out and everyone took aim but held their fire. Rebecca whistled and The Ghost turned to look, Nigel put a round into his head and turned to shoot another of the bandits. Rebecca fired her LeMat hitting one bandit with two .44 rounds and then rotating around to fire a third into the chest of a fourth, while Tom shot two through the chest and a third fell by Charley's duel .45s. The rest suddenly began to run off as they watched their comrades gunned down and Jensen cut them down with a few shots from his tri-beam laser rifle.
The sudden staccato of gun fire attracted most folks attention in the bar as everyone went to the windows. Watching in shock as the group of bandits were cut down, the crowd grew very angry at seeing someone they revered for standing up to the NCR's tyranny. Everyone in the Saloon drew their guns and made for the door, running into the streets on the group of people who had killed their hero. The Killers, seeing the stampede, stood guns drawn in an old Western standoff. In the Saloon Norman saw his chance as the banditos who
Norman in Jenkinston
surrounded him were distracted. He drew his 10mm and shot three of the bandits, shoving his way past the rest he dove through the door amid a hail of bullets. At the same time Norman cohorts heard the bangs and shot wildly while they made for the wagon as the whole town began to fire on them all. They all jumped aboard, with Norman grabbing the reins and Nigel sitting next to him he whipped the Nicaraguan horses into action.
While the comancheros used the opportunity to take each other out The Killers hauled their asses out of town under fire. Norman, with his 10mm and head down, fired in every direction while Nigel stood straight up and took aim towards the town with his Double Rifle. Until they couldn't see the concrete walls of Jenkinston.
They rode on for some time and eventually they felt safe enough to slow down, for having them chased out of town Annie beat them all upside the head for their ignorance and brashness. They slowed down for the night and the next day they began their great campaign. It was ghastly according to the remaining Killers, they went through the country side killing whomever, whenever, and however they wanted and as they began to scalp the corpses. Norman searched the villages' ruins for information on Burt Walston and his group. Eventually they hit one village where the local elder did know of the men Norman was hunting and pointed him and the Killers to his hideout among the tribes.
The Killers rushed to the hideout and found the man, named "Scarface" Jones shooting up psycho and surrounded by empty jet containers. Norman grabbed the man and promptly interogated him for all he knew and found out that he was working with Walton, paying for the firearms being given to the tribals. Scarface then willingly gave Herrick the key to the safe where all the notes of correspondence between Jones and Walston were kept, along with shipping manifests showing that Walston's Gang was using stolen guns from the Gun Runners to keep the tribals well armed and well equipped. Determined to get Burt and his men turned in Norman and the Killers set off back up the peninsula with Jones in tow. They arrived at the small town of Cali and turned in Jones to the NCR MPs there. Then they promptly kept on going north and for almost three days they rode continously only stopping to allow the horses some water and grass, they arrived in NCR, their destination where the Killers presented the forms they had found to the Chief of the NCR Police, he promptly took these and they began to the long process up the bureaucratic ladder until it was mandated by the Attorney-General to have Burt Walston and all of his accomplices arrested.
Several weeks later after he had given leadership of the Killers to Nigel (who promptly disbanded the group) he watched as NCR Rangers brought Burt and his gang of accomplices into NCR including the corrupt NCR Senator who for so many years had protected Burt and his operations. They were all placed in the same cell and as they were all tried one by one and found guilty on repeated charges Burt and his Senator friend decided to kill themselves rather than go to prison, but for Norman that was enough to make up for the deaths of his family. With no longer a purpose he mosied back to New Essex where he served as sheriff until the day he got the idea, he to become a Politician!
Norman Herrick for President![]
Norman started his political career as running for mayor of New Essex, this feat he accomplished with ease as he was still very popular in the now booming town. While mayor of New Essex he oversaw a crack down on serious crime which wasn't much since the fall of the Porello Family. However the town still struggled with organized brahmin rustling rings, drug runners, and smugglers. However through the help of Norman and the sheriff's department these crime rings were soon a shadow of their former selves, the whole issue ended when Norman himself led a raid on a corral used to move cattle into Arizona for illegal sale to the Legion. Upon this feat he then put his name into the list of candidates running for state Senator. This however was more of a challenge than winning the mayoral race in New Essex, first off there was the town of Silverton, this small frontier mining town was a rather troublesome spot for Norman to win over due to its slight Left swing within the town, however after a few dedicated speeches on how he would reduce the amount of government regulation within the mines and control the unions this won over many of the populace but also left a small minority still determined to vote the opposite. The next target was the outlying farmers, always a very Left-wing area due to the government's regulation of grain prices to keep the market fair and from allowing massive companies to swamp them. Norman arrived in the area with little support from the populace but after explaining his beliefs in several speeches he still wasn't a very popular person only garnering thirteen percent public approval in the area. However when the elections came Norman won in a landslide election that gave him a seat in the NCR House.
While there he ran many bills and laws through congress and through the help of some moderate swingers he was able to be pretty successful in his endeavours. However the popularity of the NCR President Aaron Kimball was sliding during this time, the man who had been elected soley on his service to the country was now feeling the brunt of his war in the Mojave. Many critics cited the massive loss of life and the draining of the NCR's infrastructure, while more radical critics referred to the war as Kimball's imperial ambitions. However on the opposite of the spectrum the supporters of the war pointed to how the Mojave was safer than it was prior to their involvement and how the NCR Army had helped to clean up many tracts of land that for the most part had been filled with bandits and hazards of all kinds. Yet even Kimball's own supporters admited that he was relying too much on his "clique" of military supporters instead of heeding the tactical and strategic advice of the NCR's more veteran members of the military, their miss use of the Rangers and other special forces and the inability of General Oliver to be more proactive with the massive amounts of troops he has at his disposal. Seeing Kimball's weakness and deciding to exploit it Norman decided to run for president announcing his plans to his home state of New Essex. He started his race by going throughout the NCR from Redding to the Boneyard, from Junktown to Modoc even to NCR controlled parts of the Mojave. Explaining his beliefs but holding back on the more fiscal and social policies, Norman appealed to the war-weary people, concentrating on how he was not going to abandon the current war in the Mojave but instead replace the leadership with more reliable and level headed officers.
He cited his own military service, his time as sheriff, and even a very sugar coated tale of his time with the Killers as his back up. Soon throughout the NCR he had good approval rating and as President Kimball was headed to the Hoover Dam, Norman knew he had won since a poll across the NCR declared that he held the highest approval rating going into the next election while Kimball lagged behind. However, when he returned to New Essex to attend a rally, he was confronted by a group of people whom he over the course of his life had ripped the families apart in his quest for revenge and now he was doomed to suffer the very fate he had wished upon Burt Walston, he drew his revolvers and after gunning down a few of the gunmen he was cut down by a blaze of lead that covered him in bullets. After a heart-felt funeral, President Kimball's approval rating still hung in record lows, but he still held the office of President. As for the gunmen, all were executed after very brief trials. It almost seemed like someone was trying to cover his tracks.
Equipment[]
For the most part you'll find Norman with his trusty 10mm pistol and cowboy repeater. However when it comes to weapons he's handy with just about anything, revolvers, rifles, shotguns, basically anything that can shoot he can handle to one degree or another. Beyond his pistol and repeater he has a Bowie knife he keeps tucked into his boots, a .22 suppressed on a ankle holster and a custom weapon he formed called "the spark gun" a very basic design that uses a battery, tow wires and an electrical current. The trigger when its pooled sparks the two live wires that ignite a pan of gun powder, it doesn't take any particular caliber of bullet but simply anything Norman can jam into the barrel. However he rarely uses this weapon but keeps it on him to demonstrate his frontier beginnings for political stunts.
Presonality[]
Norman was never a very friendly person, he is gruff, jaded and morally, ethically and emotionally bankrupt. He is cold and unfriendly and this cold placid only breaks around his friends, and comrades. Thus is the reason he never married and never had children, also the reason why when the gunmen had leveled their pieces at him in the streets of New Essex he didn't even breath a word of apology but only coldly gunned down several of the gunmen just as he had done so many times before.
Appearances[]
Norman can usually be found wearing a brown duster when wondering the wastes with an old black top hat, however when he served in formal positions such as in political office he would often don a suit, tie, and vest to appear more professional.
Quotes[]
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