Home 
The
American
Wild West
1840-1890
A record of the magical practices,
amazing gadgets and Dangerous Critters
That made the West Truly Wild
Table of Contents
Well howdy pardner. The year is 1901 and I’m and old man now, but I’m writing down my memories while my mind is still sharp. My name is Tin-Pan Tom and I got a hankerin’ to set the record straight. Since just about everyone else is making a nickle telling their view of the Wild West, I decided to write a book about how Tin-Pan Tommy saw the west.
I was born in Texas and I lived my whole life in the thick of it. I lost a cousin in the Alamo and my daddy got scalped by Apaches. My momma and sister moved back East, but I stayed in the land that I love. I don’t profess to be an expert, but I know what I saw and I’ve been readin’ too many sanitized versions of what really was. I think people need to know about the true Wild West. They need to know about the West before the end of magic when people lived by a code and died by the gun in a lawless land, filled with honor and hope, but tainted by violence and the doom of a noble people.
The Code of the West was a simple set of unwritten rules that guided men and women on the range. It was a blend of courtesy and violence -of courtly kindness and harsh justice- that required fair play even when committing a reprehensible act. Persons were expected to speak the truth, to respect another’s property and to always provide a helping hand. Those who broke the Code became outlaws, but even the outlaws respected the Code and when caught accepted swift and brutal retribution for their crimes.
There was magic in the Wild West. Now I’m not talking about magic in the figurative sense, I’m referrin’ to the literal kind o’ magic. The magic that Indian medicine men and Chinese mystics used to heal sickness and injury. I’m talking about the kind of magic that allowed an hombre to shoot straight for hundreds of yards while standing on the saddle of a gallopin’ horse. I’m talkin’ about real magic -the force of mana- that was in the land and part of every rock, tree and beast.
Every livin’ thing in the west had a spirit. Nature spirits were inside beasts and attached to groves of trees, fields of flowers, schools of fish and swarms of insects or forces of nature. These nature spirits were as real as you and I. The Indians had powers letin’ them talk to these spirits. The smoky fires, the beatin’ drums and the wild dancin’ of the Indians was for invokin’ these spirits and bindin’ them into physical form. In the Indian Wars settlers and soldiers faced all kinds of terrible things, but the commonest were the Indian elementals.
The Indian elementals were vengeful beings of fire, ice, electricity and earth that destroyed whole communities. I can’t make you believe, but stop and think: How many western towns were destroyed by fire over and over again? How many men and women froze to death in the winter with enough supplies to stay warm? Why were so many more people killed by lightning strikes during times of Indian violence? The elementals controlled natural forces and used them against the intrudin’ settlers and soldiers.
Well, if you don’t believe in elementals you’re never going to believe that many tribes had skin walkers who could assume the form of animals or that the Pueblo peoples could wear masks to become Kachina beings with supernatural powers. And you’re certainly not going to believe that Chinese mystics could use little needles to return people from the dead or Chinese kung fu masters were capable of healing their own wounds by controllin’ their Chi.
But I think if you’ve read this far you might be interested in knowin’ the truth. The Wild West was filled with dangers. Now I’m not just talkin’ about the normal stuff like varmints, blizzards, mud slides, flash floods, stampedes and sand storms. I’m talkin’ about locust swarms blottin’ out the sun, rattlers as thick as your leg and grizzlies with claws longer than your arm. These are the critters that people like to pretend never really existed.
You see most legends, like the Sasquatch of the high mountains or the walkin’ dead of Boot Hill, have their roots in fact. Stranger things too, I once saw a prickly-pear cactus throw its thorns into a man at fifty feet; another time I saw a tumble thorn-weed shred a man before my eyes by rollin’ over him. Most people will tell you this is nonsense, but that’s because they weren’t there. The open range was full of mayhem causin’ monsters and more!
The West was also a time of progress and innovation. Significant advances were made in science, but the presence of mana allowed some enlightened inventors to conceive inventions that defied the so called physical laws dictated by the magic-dead minds of Europe and clung to by America’s academia. The gadgets these genius inventors created were mana-manipulatin’ machines that could be used by anyone with the skill to operate them. They were often clunky lookin’ devices of wood and iron, but their practical effectiveness left people astounded. The only problem was these do-dads didn’t work back East where there wasn’t enough mana to power them. In fact, as the magic faded from the West these awesome machines became nothin’ more than non-functionin’ curiosities.
I think the hardest thing for people of this century to believe will be that some Americans were able to learn magic just like the Indian medicine men and the Chinese mystics. By accident of birth, lucky people would have the Knack. The Knack bein’ that special something allowin’ a person to do magic by manipulatin’ mana. Very few Americans had the Knack and most that did were born out west. In fact, even among the Indians and Chinese havin’ the Knack was considered a rare and wonderful gift.
Those of us with the Knack felt we had an obligation to protect the ordinary people out West. The poor folk without the Knack were hard pressed to defend themselves against the arcane monsters of the range, spirit creations summoned by the Indians, walkin’ dead of haunted places, gadget using criminals and outlaws havin’ the Knack. So us honorable folk with the Knack who followed the Code of the West had lots of work to do. We traveled the range, from boom town to ghost town, lending a helping hand and usin’ our powers for the cause of right.
Havin’ the Knack didn’t pay the bills or put food on the table so we pursued all sorts of occupations, just like ordinary folks. Some of us were gunslingers, bounty hunters, law officers and soldiers. Others were doctors, dentists, druggists and lawyers. There was a good number of driftin’ cowpokes, buffalo hunters and gamblers. I met a few preachers and faith healers. There were even simple homesteaders hoping to raise a family and miners prospecting for pay dirt. I even met one undertaker who provided himself with lots of business. Heroes one and all!
In my travels across the range I met lots of people who would later become famous or infamous. Some of them had the Knack and that’s what made them great, but others were great because of the choices they made. I met a nice boy named Billy whose little bid for western justice turned into the Lincoln County War. I shared a whiskey with Wyatt Earp and Doc Holiday just a few days before they fought the Clantons and McLaurys at the O.K. Corral. I met Jesse James, pistol to pistol, and learned he was not the Robin Hood of the West as Roosevelt claimed. I even spent some time playing cards with Wild Bill Hickok before he met his fate at the hands of Jack McCall in Deadwood.
The West I lived is gone and there’s a bunch of know-nothin’ Easterners trying to rewrite the tale in sanitized verse. They can only conceive a west with their ordinary, magic-dead minds and don’t realize what American ingenuity, industrialized thinking and anti-magic sentiments destroyed. In five decades the use of fossil fuels, excessive logging, strip mining, irresponsible farming and uncontrolled urbanization destroyed flows of magic that had existed in the land since the dawn of time. In half a century the spirits of the natural world stopped talkin’ and the sacred powers of the Indians ceased to be. The world I lived would become a fable and much of the truth lost to the sanitized thinkin’ of a white man’s rational world. I miss the magic of the west, but most of all I miss the adventure.
It is my sincere hope these pages will inspire your imagination and allow you to experience the west as Tin-Pan Tommy knew it. Back when the West was still wild, when magic was real and those with the Knack roamed the open range!
Tin-Pan Tommy 1901
Anyone can go to the library and check out a book on the American West and get a bunch of sanitized facts and figures. What I’m providin’ here is another way to see the Wild West. The way I saw it- from the perspective of a man with the Knack. Many of you folks might not believe, but here is my story.
I’ve always been a man of adventure and I wish I was there when the Bidwell-Bartleson wagon train crossed the plains in 1841. Those intrepid adventurers opened the way for all of us when they became the first emigrants on the Oregon Trail. At that time I was a young man living in Texas. I saw my daddy fight against the Mexicans and I was happy to enlist in the United States Army when tensions began escalating again. In 1848 we beat the Mexicans and the vast expanse of land from California to Texas became part of the United States.
In 1849 I followed the California Trail to the gold fields, but got there too late to stake a prosperous claim. I figured I’d travel around and see some more of this beautiful country. I got lost in the desert and almost died of thirst. I was rescued by the Hopi Indians whose name means “gentle people”. I spent a year livin’ with them and learnin’ their ways. To me they were a strange people livin’ in houses built of mud-mortared stone that had no doors or windows and were entered through a hole in the roof.
While livin’ among the Hopi I learned I had the Knack to use magic. Their medicine man showed me the world of spirits and taught me how to manipulate magical energies. They brought me to their holy paces and taught me their magical prayer. I learned to recognize Hallows, places where restorative magic coalesced and to avoid places of dark magic, called Blights. I could not believe how much of the world was suppressed by European philosophies. Christianity and scientific thinkin’ had so strongly denied the existence that the people of Europe had forgotten.
As the conflicts between the Indians and Americans escalated in the southwest, I left the wise medicine man who taught me so much and headed to the north. I traveled around working odd jobs and just livin’ on the land. I was an intrepid adventurer travelin’ through the wide open west. I met others with the Knack and we traded our learnin’ and shared our skills.
The West was startin’ to change in those days. The Americans and the Indians were fightin’. Land disputes, claim jumping and random killin’ began to affect the land. The violence was causing the magic in the west to become malevolent. The mana flaws were darkening; the Hallows were becoming Blighted.
All of us with the Knack came to the same conclusion- it was our obligation to protect the ordinary folk. My first mission was against a snake cult. Back in the ‘50s the plains were filled with snakes and some of them grew pretty big. This cult of snake worshipers was sacrificing settlers feeding them to the largest snakes I never seen. After defeating the snake cult, I mostly wandered from one rip roarin’ trail town to another, then in ‘56 I met Caleb Farther, a buffalo hunter with the Knack. I would grow to hate him more than any man.
The buffalo ran on the plains in the thousands. I was told there used to be millions of them. The Indians believed these beasts to be magical and the Indians claimed the killin’ of these magical beasts was one of the things drawin’ mana from the world. One evening when my friend shot a buffalo a strange glow appeared around the buffalo’s wound healing the injury before my eyes. The buffalo got up and the whole herd stampeded away. I knew the Indian stories were true. The buffalo had magic and killing them was wrong. I tried to convince my friend to stop murderin’ the magical beasts, but I saw his heart was full of greed.
Caleb Further only cared about money, gambling and drinkin’. I realized some people with the Knack would abuse the gift and use it to harm the world. Since that day I have met many cold blooded killers who had the Knack.
In ‘58 the Pike’s Peak gold rush in drew me to the Colorado region where I met a Chinese emigrant named Lung Chin. He was a Shoalin Monk and Kung Fu master. He trained me in the system of animal boxing where I learned the tiger and the crane style. I was never able to ascend to his level of skill; he said I would have to attend a monastery for many years.
Lung Chin had come to the Colorado Territory to help the Chinese miners who were being oppressed by a Chinese criminal organization called the Tong. The powerful Tong Boss demanded half of everything the Chinese miners pulled from the earth. The white authorities were not inclined to help, Lung Chin and I, with the help of some other righteous men and women with the Knack, fought the Tong and after three months of skirmishin’ we drove them from the area.
After helping the Chinese miners, I decided to try my hand at running cattle. I went back to Texas and signed on as a cowhand. I learned the art of “cutting out” and how to rope a steer. The work was challenging and there was danger aplenty to keep a man on his toes. My days were spent ropin’ and ridin’; the nights were time of comradery eatin’ grub and talkin’ ‘round the fire. As nice as this was, at the end of a long drive everyone wanted to go to town. The young cowpokes in our group would gallop down the streets and shoot their pistols into the air to announce our arrival.
I was too mature for that kindda stuff. I preferred a bath, haircut and shave, then I was ready for a shot of whiskey and a hoe-dig with a Calico Queen. Afterward I’d settle down for a game of cards in the Saloon and spend a well-earned night bedded down on a mattress. I loved the range, but the winds of war were blowin’ in the East and the west was gonna change very soon.
I was in my early thirties when the War Between the States started. I enlisted with the north in ‘61. Those of us with the Knack were assigned to a special unit by a cavalry commander who recognized our unique talents. I first saw action in Bleeding Kansas searching for William Quantrill’s raiders, but then I was transferred to help with the fierce fightin’ in New Mexico. Some of the Indians had joined up with Johnny Reb in the winter of ‘62 and was usin’ Indian magic against our forces. After six months of fightin’ we drove the Confederate forces out of New Mexico.
The violence of these battles affected the magic in the Wild West. A person with the Knack could see the flows of mana getting darker and watch the landscape become less invitin’. I didn’t really understand what the darkening meant back then, but I’d learn later the black energy would cause all sorts of malevolent events over the next few decades. A year later I was fighting along the lower Mississippi and ended up near New Orleans. I fought in the battle of Vicksburg in December of 1862 and then some pencil pusher in Washington disbanded our special unit.
I found myself back East in Pennsylvania where I fought in the Battle of Gettysburg, July 1863. I was wounded pretty bad when a mortar shell landed close to my position. The surgeons took my arm and threatened my leg. I needed to get back west were I could find some healing magic. I returned to Colorado a broken man, but my old friend Lung Chin introduced me to this pretty little Chinese apothecary named Li Sang. She used the power of my chi to regrow my amputated arm and healed my other wounds as well. After her tender ministrations I was good as new.
I courted her for a while and we talked about marriage, but then that fool Colonel John Chivington massacred Chief Black Kettle’s band at Sand Creek. The Cheyenne and Arapaho with Black Kettle were mostly women and children who were seeking the protection of soldiers. In no time we was all fightin’ for our lives against the Indians.
Eighteen sixty-five was known as the “Bloody Year on the Plain.” Red Cloud led the Sioux, Cheyenne and a few smaller tribes in a bloody war of revenge. The settlers and soldiers held on by hunkering down and shootin’ back. Those of us with the Knack used our own powers against the creations of the Indian medicine men. The following year was not much better. Chief Red Cloud lured that poor fool, Captain William J. Fetterman, over Lodge Pole Ridge where his entire command got slaughtered by the Indians. Over the next few years we were at the mercy of the Indians.
In ‘68 Red Cloud led the Indians on attacks that burned three forts. The Indian medicine men had bound nature spirits to their bonfires creating fire elementals. Red Cloud used the creations to beach the stockade walls of the fortress. His braves stormed through the breaches and slaughtered the garrisons. The loss of life was tremendous and to forestall a panic the U.S. Government claimed the forts had been empty, but those of us livin’ there knew the truth. The Indians and their nature spirits allies were winning the war.
There was nothin’ that normal bullets could do against the vengeful elementals sent by the medicine men. As long as the nature spirits were helping the Indians the U.S. military was powerless. There wasn’t enough of us with the Knack to turn the tide of battle. The U.S. government made peace and the military licked their wounds.
The U.S. government’s peace lasted only until gold was found in the Black Hills of Southern Dakota. The Black Hills was a holy place to the Indians. Perhaps the holiest place in all of North America. A man with the Knack could see the mana flows traveling through the region like streams. The timber and the ore in the area was saturated with magic.
Despite a treaty giving the Black Hills to the Indians, miners swarmed the region and the soldiers came to defend them. I was there when they founded the town of Deadwood right in the heart of the holy Black Hills. In ‘75 Crazy Horse went on the warpath. They called this series of battles the Second Sioux War or Crazy Horses’s War. Sitting Bull the great Indian medicine man was there to guide the nature spirits. His power was awesome and he was very well respected by all Sioux and their allies.
In 1876, during a magical a ceremony, Sitting Bull foretold a great victory for the Indians so long as the Indians promised not to adopt the ways of the white man. Sitting Bull warned his people the nature spirits would abandon their cause of the braves looted the bodies.
The battle came when Lieutenant Colonel George Armstrong Custer met the Sioux and their allies at the Little Bighorn. Crazy Horse’s warriors, aided by the nature spirits who took on the forms of air, fire and earth, massacred the soldiers. It was a great victory and showed how powerful the Indians and the nature spirits could be when the worked together.
The great victory was marred when the Indians did not heed Sitting Bull’s warning and looted the bodied of the dead soldiers. The braves dressed in the white man’s things, took their weapons and got drunk on their whiskey. In this act, the spirits of nature saw the symbolic truth- The Indians were too corrupted by American civilization.
The nature spirits saw their Indians had been seduced by the white man and would continue to drift from their traditions even if the white man’s army was stopped. Most of the nature spirits withdrew their aid from the Indians and resolved to go north into the wilds of Canada and Alaska.
The U.S. Army marched unhindered by the powerful elementals that had plagued them during Red Cloud’s War a decade earlier. The soldiers seized the advantage and showed the Indians no mercy. Outnumbered and without their spirit allies the Indians of the northern plains faced doom. Crazy Horse surrendered 1877 and was stabbed to death at Fort Robinson.
Sitting Bull fled to Canada, where he pleaded with the nature spirits for help. The nature spirits refused and a disheartened Sitting Bull suffered in exile with members of his tribe. By the time Crazy Horse was stabbed to death I had grown sick of the fightin’ as well and was travelin’ the Missouri River in style. I spent some time learnin’ to gamble on the river boats. It was a lazy life of luxury, a nice respite after the hard years of war.
A year later I even traveled back East and visited with some relatives in New Jersey. They convinced me to stay for a spell. I worked odd jobs and dreamed about going back west. My sister and her husband didn’t believe half of what I told them, but my stories enchanted the imagination of their children.
In the mid 1880s my itch to hit the road again had grown too strong to ignore. I headed back to the land I loved, because I wanted to see the Wild West one more time before I died. What I saw saddened me greatly. The wide open range was crisscrossed with roads, railroad tracks and barbed wire. There were towns everywhere: Tombstone, Dodge City, Abilene, Wichita, Ellsworth and Virginia City. I found them all the same, places full of beer halls, saloons and brothels, but the wild edge was gone.
The glow of magic had faded from the West. The adventure was gone. I didn’t have to shoot down one walkin’ dead or fend off any kindda mana-usin’ beast. I learned you could only find mana-imbued ore and timber in remote places. The amazin’ gadget inventions ceased to function and fewer and fewer persons were born with the Knack.
The last great Indian medicine man was Wovoka. He was a Paiute and had a smouldering hatred for Americans. Wovoka invented the Ghost Dance ritual that would cause the Indian ancestors to return from the dead and drive the Americans from the West. Most people thought his wilds claims were only rhetoric, but those of us with the Knack could see the power in the ritual. The Ghost Dance was the darkest ritual of necromancy ever conceived. The ritual was like creating a raisin’ node for makin’ undead, but on a giant scale!
If the ritual was completed mana would flow from the core of the Earth which they called the Womb of the Sacred Mother back into the West. The Indians would channel the energy with dark thoughts of violence and create a blighted landscape where magic was present once again. In this maelstrom of hate, the Indians of the Ghost Dance would destroy the Americans by raising an army of undead. In their madness, they hoped to bind the remaining nature spirits to Indian corpses all across the west. The returning ancestors of the Indians would wrack a terrible vengeance. Every white person they killed would be added to their army.
The Indians of the Ghost Dance had drifted far from their initial beliefs. Those Indians with Wovoka sought a revenge that would forever change the landscape of the West and maybe the world. Sitting Bull, who had returned from exile in Canada, spoke out against the Ghost Dance and tried to prevent its dark purpose, but his people were too lost in their hatred. They wanted revenge, but that was denied to them.
Those of us, with the Knack moved to intercede. We broke up Ghost Dances throughout the west and in areas when we arrived too late, we used our powers to defeat the undead and repair the damage to the land. The last true Ghost Dance ended at Wounded Knee. Colonel James Forsyth had no choice and he gave the order for his soldiers to fire on the dancin’ Sioux. The bullets tore through the magical symbols of the Ghost Dance and Indian blood ran into the sand.
The dark magic unraveled as a sudden blizzard arose to shroud the land in white. The bodies of the last Ghost Dancers were frozen in grotesque forms of death for three days, until the weather cleared and the soldiers could toss the bodies into massed graves. Now I’m not justifying the killin’ of Indian women and children. I’m just tell’ you like it was. The Ghost Dance was a danger to this world akin to the great floods of Noah, the fall of Rome and the European Dark Ages. If the ritual had succeeded our world could have drown in death.
After Wounded Knee there was no magic left and the last of the nature spirits fled. I could see the Wild West was over and would be replaced by a drab mundane existence.
The west was full of interesting people, all kind and all sorts, but they generally had a few things common.
Well there are three main groups of people out west. The American people; the native people, called Indians; and the people from China, called Celestials. As the west developed, it was very common to find caucasians living among the native Indian people or the Chinese. The color a person’s skin or the shape of their face did not determine person’s cultures.
Culture was determined by their way of living. In the west a person’s manner of dress and their occupation more accurately reflected their chosen culture. There were a fair number of Indians and Chinese who joined American society, dressing and acting just like white Americans. Caucasians who dressed like Indians or adopted Celestial ways became part of that culture and suffered the same prejudices as their natural born counterparts.
You probably figured most of the Americans were caucasian people who came from Europe and settled on the east coast of North America, but there were also Mexicans and Africans who helped settle the Wild West.
Men wore overalls, flannel shirts, suspenders, bandannas, jeans, cotton shirts, frock coats, dusters and broad-brimmed hats constructed their clothing out of duck coth, wool, corduroy or cotton jeaning (denim). Women in the cities or comfy homesteads, generally wore dresses made of calico, silk, muslin, printed cotton or wool challis, but women who traveled the range favored the practicality of pants, shirt and overcoat.
The native people are the Indians who lived in the West since the dawn of time. Their culture lived closely with the land, communing with the nature spirits and practicing shamanistic magic. Indians wore clothing made of natural materials, suck as buckskin, buffalo hide and leather. They generally wore moccasins, leggings, fringed pants and shirts and feathers.
The Celestials came from China and brought with them to the West a vast array of mystical practices, including herbal healing, acupuncture and kung fu fighting. The Chinese wore clothing made of silk or soft cotton. They wore robes that tied at the waist or shirts with cloth clasps. Wealthy Chinese would embroider their clothing. Both men and women favored large round hats made of straw.
There’s two kinds to people in the world, those that got the Knack and those who don’t. The Knack allows a person to manipulate a magical force called mana by white people. The Indians called mana by many names dependin’ on the tribe, but all the Celestials pretty much called the mystical force chi or qi.
Havin’ the Knack is a matter of birth. You are either born with the Knack or not. Back in the Old West only a few people out of every thousand had the Knack, now that magic is gone from the West even fewer people are born each year with the Knack. The skill to manipulate magic is becomin’ a dying art. I know I got the Knack. That’s how I made it through all the scraps and jams I got in. Having the ability to jump clear of danger or plug a man heart-center dead with my shootin’ iron while riding a willy bronco has saved me more times than I can count.
People with the Knack manipulated mana by learnin’ skills. Skills are grouped in twelve categories: ability; ballad; compound; knowledge; fashioning; feat; glyph; poison; ritual and procedures; rune, scripts and sigils; spells, prayers and powers (SP&Ps) and traps.
Havin’ the Knack makes you an extraordinary person (ordinary persons can’t perform magic) because you can learn skills from all the categories, except abilities. Extraordinary people (those with the Knack) can learn to do extraordinary feats; perform rituals and procedures; mix compounds; brew poisons; fashion items; scribe runes, scripts and sigils; draw glyphs; and set traps. They can also learn to cast spells, prayers and powers or learn all the knowledge commonly available to the world. They can even learn how to make gadgets that allow ordinary folks to manipulate mana. Ordinary, mundane people can only learn to perform ordinary feats, set traps and learn the knowledge commonly available to the world. They cannot manipulate mana and therefore cannot use any of the extraordinary skills found in the Wild West.
All people can breath air, walk on two legs and use their hands for lots of things. These are the abilities of a “normal” human, but when people somehow go beyond what they should normally be able to do they are called “supernatural.” There’s a fair number of supernaturals found in the Old West. You got your kung fu masters and crazy cultists worshipin’ snake gods, elemental forces, demons and who know what else. There are also the Indian skin switchers takin’ on the forms of animals, the blood suckin’ Chinese vampires and even the freaky mask wearin’ Kachina fiends. Finally, there are the dirtslingers, terrible undead who search the west for men and women who claim to be fast guns.
All skills are learned from a teacher. Ordinary skills could be picked up just about anywhere, but learning extraordinary skills was sometimes a little difficult. White folk had it the hardest when trying to find a teacher who could manipulate mana, because white people with the Knack generally didn’t advertise their abilities. Indians and Celestials on the other hand could find someone to learn from more readily. Since magic was an accepted part of their lives people knew who could teach which skills. Sometimes a white person had to convince a friendly Indian to teach him or pay money to a Chinese temple or even deal with the Tong. Learnin’ magic was not easy for Americans, especially in the beginning when white folk were just rediscovering the force of mana.
We all gotta make a livin’ and everyone out west has some kind of occupation. The listed skills represent the “core” of the occupation and persons must know all the core skills of the occupation when they come out West. People are not limited to only learnin’ the core skills of their occupation so they may have picked up a few more skills. After they’ve been adventuring out west, they can pursue a different occupation or learn more skills so long as they can find a teacher. There is no limit to the number of occupations or kinds of skills that an extraordinary person can learn during their lives. I’m going to list the ordinary skills in normal type face, but I’m includin’ in italic the extraordinary skills that a person needs to learn if he’s got the Knack. Now remember ordinary folks ain’t gonna be able to do these skills.
The Americans had their own civilized way of livin’ that had a strong sentiment against the existence of magic. The people of the time valued industrial practices and rational science. A hundred years before the Americans started settlin’ the west, their ancestors in Europe and New England were still burning witches and others capable of using magic at the stake in an attempt to destroy magic in favor of science and Christian theology.
When the flood of emigrants entered the west they brought with them a sanitized, rationale view of the world that clashed terribly with the spiritual views of the Indians and the mystical views of the Celestials. Those of us with the Knack attempted to bridge the gap between our peoples, but the anti-magic beliefs of the east coast society was too deeply ingrained. As a whole the American people entered the west with a great prejudice against the Indians and Chinese. It was this hatred that began the darkin’ of the mana flows which lead to the ruin of magic in the west.
Bounty hunters specialize in tracking down wanted criminals. Rewards were generally offered by governments and courts, but whether a bounty hunter worked for money or to make society a better place was her business. A bounty hunter will go anywhere in search of her quarry. She’s not afraid to enter Indian territory and jurisdictional lines don’t matter to her.
Feats: critical shot I, dodge I, parry I, quick shot I
Knowledge: animal handling, appraise, bandage, body combat I, climb I, crime, fatal finish, law, rumors, swim I, throw, weapon
Buffalo hunters made their living by killin’ the bisons that roamed the great plains. In early days they used black powder muzzle loadin’ rifles, but in the 1860's the started usin’ the Sharp’s Big Fifty. With this gun the hunters killed so many buffalo that the carcasses littered the plains from horizon to horizon.
Feats: critical shot I, parry I, sure shot I
Knowledge: animal handling, appraise, bandage, body combat I, climb I, fatal finish, mutilate, navigate, swim I, throw, tracking, weapons
Cowpokes worked the range rounding up the cattle and caring for the herds. In the fall the cowpoke drove the herds to the cow towns where the steers were loaded on freight trains and brought to the feed the hungry cities back East.
Feats: dodge I, parry I
Knowledge: animal handling, bandage, binding, body combat I, climb I, fatal finish, navigate, repair, rumors, throw, weapons
In the west some doctors were better than others. Often the poorer doctors worked as dentists or even barbers. There was a lack of formalized medical training and most doctors learned from others or by trial and error. The best doctors had the Knack and could draw on the powers of magic to save a man that was doomed to die.
Feats: willpower I
Knowledge: appraise, bandage, biology, climb I, fatal finish, medicine, splint, study, swim I, surgery, throw, weapon
Powers: heal
Procedure: restoration
The druggist deals in all kinds of herbal treatments and medicines. Some druggists were little more than charlatan Snake Oil Salesmen, but those with the Knack could concoct some pretty amazin’ compounds and poisons.
Compounds: liquids I
Feats: willpower I
Knowledge: appraise, bandage, biology, chemistry, climb I, medicine, splint, swim I, throw, weapon
Poisons: poisons I
Procedures: purify blood
Explorers were hired by the U.S. government, the military and private firms to scout the vast area of open land. In the beginning explorers sought passes through the mountains and surveyed potential roads and rail beds. In the later years they searched for mineral deposits and precious metals.
Feats: critical shot I, dodge I, parry I
Knowledge: animal handling, appraise, astronomy, bandage, climb I, fatal finish, geology, navigation, splint, survival, swim I, throw, weapon
Faith healers claim they have the power to cure the sick and heal the injured. There’s a lot of cheats trying to run this scam, but faith healers with the Knack can do everything they claim and more. These faith healers learned prayers written in the bible could heal sickness and injury.
Feats: willpower I
Knowledge: appraise, bandage, biology, climb I, medicine, spiritsense, swim I, theology, weapon
Prayer: heal
Ritual: dispel magic, node (healing), restoration
Gadgeteers are the inventors of the old west. They are able to make and use mana-manipulatin’ machines. Most of the gadgeteers I’ve met were pretty strange folk, I guess it comes from being so smart or maybe they’re just a little bit insane.
Abilities: at least one gadget ability
Fashioning: fashioning I
Feats: willpower I
Knowledge: appraise, bandage, climb I, electronics, gadgeteering, mechanics, repair, swim I, throw, weapon
Gamblers can be found in saloons all over the West, but they’re drawn towns flush with wealth. Generally, these are mining boom towns or railhead cattle towns on the plains when cowboys drive in the herds. In later years, the paddle boats of the Missouri and Mississippi became a well known places to gamble.
Feats: dodge I, willpower I
Knowledge: appraise, bandage, biology, climb I, fatal finish, gambling, rumors, sleight-of-hand I, swim I, weapon
Gunslingers were a common sight in the wild cow towns and mining camps. He prowled the west often as a hired gun, sometimes he found work as a city marshal or even a county sheriff. As a gunslingers notoriety grew there was always the chance that another gunslinger would seek him out.
Feats: critical shot I, dodge I, limb shot I, quick load I, quick shot I, sure shot I
Knowledge: bandage, climb I, fatal finish, repair, swim I, throw, weapon
When the U.S. government offered land for settling the homesteaders came like a flood across the open range. Their transportation of choice was a covered Conestoga wagon pulled by a team of oxen. The homesteader entered the Wild West hoping to find a better home for his family, he often found death or worse.
Fashioning: fashioning I
Feats: dodge I, parry I
Knowledge: animal handling, bandage, biology, climb I, repair, splint, swim I, throw, weapon
City marshals, county sheriffs, U.S. Marshals and state rangers operated in the western territory. They were entrusted with the almost impossible task of keeping order in this large lawless land. With only a badge, their guns and their wits these brave men and women defended honest folk from outlaws.
Feats: critical shot I, dodge I, parry I, quick shot I, waylay I
Knowledge: animal handling, appraise, bandage, binding, climb I, crime, fatal finish, investigation, law, swim I, weapon
Being a lawyer in the Wild West is often a thankless job. People in this lawless land make their own justice using the gun and rope. Lawyers need to litigate carefully and have the skills to dodge the bullets of their unhappy clients. Those barrister with the Knack have the power to manipulate people on the stand and get them to reveal the truth.
Feats: conceal I, dodge I, willpower I
Knowledge: appraise, bandage, climb I, fatal finish, forgery, investigation, law, literature, swim I, weapon
Powers: emotion, truth
The gold and silver strikes of the West turned many men into miners. They panned for gold in the streams, dug for silver in the earth and blasted through the rock with dynamite. Mining was hard and dangerous work.
Feats: dodge I, parry I, strength I
Knowledge: appraise, balance, bandage, bindings, climb I, demolitions, geology, repair, swim I, throw, weapon
Photographers traveled the open range memorializing the West forever in black and white. Their cameras were bulky and developing the pictures was a complicated chemical process. Photographers with the Knack got to seeing things of the spirit world, and looking into the future. Their lenses revealed to them much more of the world than their film captured.
Feats: dodge I, parry I
Knowledge: appraise, bandage, chemistry, climb I, fine arts, mechanics, spiritsense, swim I, weapon
Powers: banish, command spirit
Rituals: ascertain
Preachers brought the power of fire and brimstone to the old West. Every town had a preacher sharin’ morality and religion to a lot of folks barely survivin’. Preachers with the Knack who came west learned there were prayers in the bible that could pack a punch when fighting a sinner.
Feats: negate I, recover I, willpower I
Knowledge: appraise, bandage, climb I, occult, spiritsense, swim I, theology, weapon
Prayers: banish, missiles (holy)
Rituals: dispel magic, divine baptism
The open range was home to many lavish estates where cattle barons ruled like medieval lords. The nobility of the west as they were called had vast herds which they ran through Texas and then in later years into Montana and the Dakotas.
Feats: dodge I, parry I
Knowledge: animal handling, appraise, bandage, biology, climb I, fatal finish, law, mathematics, rumors, swim I, throw, weapon
Saloon operators are the bartenders, prostitutes, dealers and brewers that run the most important business in the Wild West. Saloons were the social center of the community. Most saloons had drinking, gambling, dancing and prostitution.
Feats: dodge I, parry I, willpower I
Knowledge: appraise, bandage, bindings, climb I, fine arts, repair, rumors, swim I, throw, weapon
Soldiers are part of the United States Army, although during the War Between the States there were some confederate troopers in the West. As a whole the army of the West was understaffed, poorly equipped and often ill disciplined.
Feats: critical strike I, critical shot I, dodge I, parry I
Knowledge: bandage, body combat I, climb I, fatal finish, military, repair, swim I, splint, throw, weapon, wear armor I
In the first days of the Wild West beaver fur was in high demand, but by the end of the era the beavers were almost gone and the days of the trapper had ended.
Feats: dodge I, parry I, pursue I, stun I
Knowledge: animal handling, appraise, bandage, biology, climb I, fatal finish, navigation, repair, survival, swim I, tracking, weapon
Traps: traps I
The undertaker prepares a body for burial by making the corpse look purty. In areas where there is lots o’ killin’ the dead can up and rise, so its important to embalm the body to ensure the dead stay dead. Undertakers with the Knack specialize in permanently getting rid of spirits who won’t rest easy.
Feats: negate I, willpower I
Knowledge: appraise, bandage, biology, chemistry, embalm, fatal finish, forensics, occult, spiritsense, splint, study, theology, weapon
Powers: banish, command undead, destroy undead
Rituals: dispel magic, obliteration
Newspapers were an important form of communication in the Wild West. One of the first businesses to open in a new town was the newspaper office where the writer printed newspapers. Also popular were the writers of dime novels who traveled the land looking to interview the personalities of the west.
Feats: dodge I, parry I, willpower I
Knowledge: appraise, bandage, climb I, fine arts, history, literature, mechanics, repair, swim I, throw, weapon
There are many Indian cultures, each having different customs, dress and religions but all Indians shared a close connection to the natural world and the spirits. The Indians faced great prejudice by the Americans and struggled against them in a number of wars, which they lost. The old ones said too many young Indians adopted the easy ways of civilization the magic of their people was lost. As the Indian way of life vanished so did the spirits and the magic within the wilderness. As American culture and industrialization spread across the continent the west became as magically dead as the east. White folk were sometimes allowed into a tribe, but in the later years, more often than not, the adults were killed and orphaned children were raised by Indian tribes.
Beast brothers (and sisters) are Indians who live close to the land in an attempt to become one with nature. They live with animals, often running with the packs of wolves or herds of buffalo. Many beast brothers go on to become skin switchers; some completely lose their humanity.
Feats: dodge I, elude I, parry I, pursue I
Knowledge: animal handling, bandage, biology, climb I, fatal finish, meditate, navigate, tracking, spiritsense, splint, swim I, weapon
Powers: command beast, speak
Rituals: call familiar, empower beast
Indian braves defend the tribes. They were most often men, but I’ve seen a few women braves as well. In the early years they fought the white man and Mexican using knives, crudgels, tomahawks and bows with arrows; but in the later years they began using the guns of the white man.
Feats: critical shot I, critical strike I-II, dodge I, parry I
Knowledge: appraise, bandage, body combat I, biology, climb I, fatal finish, spiritsense, swim I, throw, weapon
Indian dream walkers explore the imaginary reaches of peoples’ dreams. They interpret the symbolism within dreams, manipulate dream realities and communicate over long distances by sending dreams.
Feats: negate I, willpower I
Knowledge: astronomy, bandage, enigmas, meditate, occult, psychology, spiritsense, splint, weapon
Rituals: curse, dreamsending, talisman
Powers: banish
The burial grounds of the Indians need to be tended carefully lest they become blights. In the magical west bodies can rise from the dead. Some come to give guidance from the ancestors; others seek to wreak vengeance on the living. The keeper of the dead needs to have the Knack.
Feats: negate I, parry I, willpower I
Knowledge: bandage, climb I, embalm, forensics, occult, pray, spiritsense, splint, swim I, weapon
Rituals: dispel magic, return, weapon (spiritual)
Prayers: command spirit, command undead, destroy undead, speak
Rituals: bone, undead visage
The Indian healer use herbs and other folk remedies to heal wounds and injury. Indian healers with the Knack have the power to heal using magic.
Feats: willpower I
Knowledge: bandage, biology, medicine, meditate, spiritsense, splint, weapon
Powers: heal
Rituals: restoration, return, spiritquest
Indian hunters gather food for the tribe. They were careful not to take more from the land then their could use.
Feats: dodge I, elude I, parry I, pursue I
Knowledge: animal handling, bandage, biology, climb I, fatal finish, navigate, tracking, spiritsense, splint, swim I, weapon
Indian scouts worked for the U.S. army. They generally adopted the white man’s ways and led the soldiers against other tribes of Indians. Many Indians see scouts as traitors.
Feats: dodge I, parry I, pursue I
Knowledge: animal handling, appraise, bandage, biology, climb I, fatal finish, navigation, splint, swim I, tracking, weapon
The spirit speaker communes with the spirits of nature. He knows the spirits of the woods, lakes and prairies. A spirit speaker with the Knack can enable spirits to speak.
Feats: dodge I, negate I, parry I
Knowledge: animal handling, bandage, biology, climb I, meditate, occult, spiritsense, survival, swim I, throw, weapon
Powers: command spirit, speak
Rituals: conjure attendant spirits
Music is in the heart and minds of the Indian people. Indian song spinners learn and sing the sacred songs of the tribe that have been passed down for generations. Song spinners with the Knack have learned to use their voices to create magic.
Ballads: ballads I
Feats: negate I, parry I
Knowledge: appraise, bandage, biology, climb I, fatal finish, history, meditate, spiritsense, swim I, weapon
Rituals: dirge, festival, song and dance
Summoners work with the elements of air, earth, fire and water. Being a summoner requires the Knack. Summoners use elemental magic to perform many functions, such as enchanting Indian weapons, protecting important places and summonin’ nature spirits into powerful creations.
Feats: dodge I, negate I, parry I
Knowledge: bandage, biology, climb I, fatal finish, occult, spiritsense, swim I, weapon
Rituals: barriers, dispel magic, summon elemental, weapon (elemental)
Most Indian cultures do not have a written language and Indian tale weavers keep the oral history of the tribe. These histories have been passed down from generation to generation. Tale weavers with the Knack can help people regain spiritual energy.
Feats: willpower I
Knowledge: appraise, bandage, biology, climb I, fatal finish, history, rumors, spiritsense, swim I, weapon
Rituals: eulogy, storytelling
Indian tribal chiefs are accomplished elders who are generally elected by the people to lead the tribe because of great deeds or wisdom.
Feats: willpower I
Knowledge: bandage, biology, climb I, fatal finish, spiritsense, swim I, throw, weapon
The war chief leads the braves of the tribe. He is responsible for organizing the war bands and setting the strategies. War chiefs with the Knack can create powerful social groups related to battle.
Feats: critical shot I, critical strike I, dodge I, parry I
Knowledge: bandage, biology, climb I, fatal finish, military, navigate, spiritsense, swim I, throw, weapon
Rituals: military induction