I'm struggling a bit to think about how my agents would fit in, but I'm totally down for the idea in general. Lessee what I can do...

Angin "Adam" Baja and Rashida Mafdetiti:

Adam is a quiet, contemplative, and somewhat skittish young man who has difficulty concentrating most of the time, but the aim of his bow is second to none, and when those he trusts feel sad, upset, or scared, his first response is to try and help them feel better. He knows what it's like to have such negative feelings but nobody to console him, since he was a poor orphan boy with no real purpose in life when he immigrated to the region from an eastern land some five years ago. Supposedly, his father before him had entrusted records of his experiences to the outlaws that are currently attempting to liberate the range as a whole, but they were so widely scattered across the land that he'd have to dedicate his life to searching for them. Along the way, however, he would come to realize that the people in this new land were a sorry lot, menaced by a terrible plague of corrupt officials and landowners. He had known that this would be a problem ever since he had first heard of the rumors from others who were coming with him, but what he never expected was for the first one he would encounter to be his own half-brother, long rumored to have been lost to history. He narrowly escaped being noticed the first time, for fear of losing his life to his more powerful and less scrupulous double, and spent some weeks trying to learn more about him, though the answers he'd find weren't always the ones he wanted to hear.

It turned out that his half-brother, referred to in hushed whispers as "The Terror of Dactyl's Peak", was the outcome of a tryst that his father had had before he had sired Adam proper, but had been abandoned since then, prompting him to lose all sense of empathy and reason, hiding a blackest of hearts behind a charming smile. He had also taken a lover, "The Wrecker", a cruel and foul-tempered woman who was at his beck and call and fell upon her prey with no mercy or hesitation. After learning more about his father's history, Adam would eventually find the capability within himself to confront the terrible duo, and with help from the first two folks he had befriended upon his arrival, he would put an end to their reign of terror and earn the respect of the other freedom fighters crusading for liberation. Eventually, after some additional escapades, he would find his father's bow, which had somehow ended up in the region after apparently having been lost to time. Where his story will continue from there is anyone's guess, but knowing him, anything is possible...

Rashida's name is unchanged in this AU. Adam's legal caretaker when he first arrived, Rashida had lived a difficult life, escaping slavery when she was younger, serving in the military during most of her adult life before being honorably discharged, and ultimately finding her way to the same location where Adam would. She had just a small farm with which to start her life anew, but she was going to make her time here count. An antisocial and ruthless but studious woman, she would take Adam in simply because she had been pressured into doing so by those she answered to, as someone to care for would be the best way for her to understand people. It was not especially pleasant for either of them, since they argued a lot during the first few years, but ultimately they would come to understand each other as they worked together more often. She still struggled with his behavioral issues since, but came to view the boy as something like a son, since he had been through hard times as much as she had, and they both had the similar goal of setting things right.

It is not known what happened to Rashida or where she is now, but her farm has been strangely empty of her presence for a while now, her last known appearance involving her claims that she was close to a breakthrough in figuring out a strange poem a mysterious stranger recited to her some years before. Whether or not the barons and landowners got to her after one "crime" too many - or wanted to cover up what she was about to learn - isn't entirely clear, and some claim that she simply left after the strain grew too much for her, but Adam believes that she is still out there somewhere, trying to find somewhere she truly belongs. Unfortunately, the fact that the owner of the farm hasn't been around for years now has led to many, many corrupt officials attempting to seize the property. It was with some reluctance that Adam took the reins as the owner, but his youth and inexperience with the role means that the potential bidders are still coming in droves. Although a number of his friends insist that he give up and scarper while he still has the chance, Adam is firm in his belief that she's not truly gone, and that the rightful owner of the estate will eventually return no matter how long it takes.

Until the day comes when he gets to see Rashida again, Adam will stand watch over what she had and the memories they shared - and if she really has passed, that won't change his resolve. In spite of everything, she was after all the first person who truly cared for him and he is not going to let the "fat cats" take her legacy away from him. So whether or not she comes back, he'll keep watch over what they had shared - and that any possible threats to the property, if he can help it, WILL be forced to get out and STAY OUT.

FOREVER.

Sarah Katherine Squall:

Perhaps the closest Adam has now to a true family member, Sarah's family immigrated from a northern region in search of more prosperous enterprises, and are doing relatively well all things considered. She herself is a boisterous but warm-hearted girl who wears her heart on her sleeve, but her history is a lot darker than one would think. Adam actually first met her when she was working as a handmaiden under "The Terror", who had helped her recover when she was horribly injured in a train crash several years before he'd moved in. She was also friends with "The Wrecker" as well without noticing her true intentions, believing that what she was doing was right. Surprisingly, it was not Adam's actions that started her path to eventually cut ties with her former employers, but an argument with "The Wrecker" regarding how to deal with another baron attempting to seize their property. Eventually, the conflict between the two decadent parties escalated to violence, and what "The Wrecker" ultimately did to the rival baron was too ghastly to put into words. A traumatized Sarah, who had witnessed the act, was quickly persuaded by Adam to follow her instincts regarding the whole mess, prompting her to side with him and help finish the job that he and Rashida had started (since the latter had been terribly hurt at some point during the whole debacle and was forced to retreat). Sarah was deeply upset upon finding out later that Adam had been capitalizing on her inner feelings of fear and grief, but relented and forgave him after he told her that "The Terror" had done the same for much, MUCH longer. In any case, Sarah repaid Adam for his help by standing up for him when Rashida, angry that she had been dragged into the turf war, tried to pin the blame on her own companion, an action she was said to have regretted since. Sarah herself stayed at Rashida's household for some time, learning the ways of the freedom fighter, but after one of her enemies moved in as well, she left and returned to her family estate.

The Squall family is still in good standing, both economically and socially speaking, but Sarah's parents, David and Kate, along with their friend Edward Surge, are fully understanding of her current job, since they too were embroiled in the crisis from which Adam and Rashida had helped them escape and know how she feels about the general issues of the commoners they live alongside. They've also taken in two other friends of hers since she returned, and in the event that Adam is eventually forced to abandon the Mafdetiti estate (though knowing him, that's likely not going to happen anytime soon), they have assured multiple times that their doors are open to him as well.

Rayner Blitzkreig and Evangeline von Lilith:

Two bickering outlaws of royal blood, a bitter and tempestuous berserker and a snooty femme fatale... Not the best combination when it comes to overturning society, but they make do. An immigrant from across the pond as it were, Rayner is actually an old friend of Rashida's, since she was one of the people who sprang him out when an assassination attempt on a landowner who happened to be a serial killer went terribly wrong. Rayner sadly lost his boyfriend prior to his rescue, and was terribly injured himself in the ensuing shootout, but his sheer willpower to survive and exact a terrible vengeance upon the community that had wronged him was more than enough to motivate him to return to a life of taking down the corrupt elite. Surprisingly, however, one such attempt did not go to plan, since his target actually had some fight in her, but she was already on the outs with quite a few other head honchos at the time, and was forced to fake her own death to avoid unwanted attention. The people who had contracted Rayner were not happy about this outcome, and thought that having her work with him forevermore was an appropriate punishment. The two of them certainly thought it was at first, arguing almost nonstop, but Evangeline eventually found out the hard way how difficult the job really was when she attempted to fight another cruel landlord one-on-one and was badly hurt, forcing Rayner to step in. The two of them have slowly worked their way out of being hated enemies since then, having confessed their secrets and insecurities to each other on multiple occasions, and though they still harp on each other a LOT, they at least don't have the urge to try and kill each other anymore, so it's a start.

Of all the bandits who seek to liberate the land, Evangeline is one of the least enthusiastic about it, going along with it because she literally has no choice on the matter. Her contempt of the people she was once on equal level with was present even before Rayner made his botched attempt on her life, forcibly pushing people away so they wouldn't bother her or screw over her efforts. She's still a somewhat stuck-up and pompous woman who isn't above using her beauty to get weak-willed people in need of a sound beating to blindly trust her, but even she has standards - including a very deep respect and horrified outrage over what happened to Rayner and his boyfriend, and a staunch refusal to ridicule it the way some other higher-class louts have done. Though she refuses to admit it, she secretly hopes to simply leave this "awful wretched hive" and establish an estate of her own where she can live in peace, but the knowledge of Rayner's loss, which she learned from a close friend of his, is more than enough to keep her from bowing out for now.

Rayner himself responded to the emotional trauma over what he calls "The Shootout at Killer Mac's" in the only way he could: by taking it out on every high and mighty official he came across whom he knew was being abusive and predatory - or worse - to those they were lording over. Although he was respected as a liberator of the helpless, he was also a figure to be feared, since nobody wanted to be around him when he gave into his barely suppressed rage. It is a true twist of irony that the one to help him calm his grief-fueled fury was once one of the very people he was waging war against, but fate works in strange ways. He has since learned, gradually, to open up to both his partner and the few people who still see good in him and understand to some extent why he feels the way he does - Lapis in particular is someone whom he sees as a person worth protecting, and he feels guilty that he didn't reconnect with her sooner, while Adam, always the good Samaritan, is someone he knows he can vent to and lean on for emotional support. Still... the thirst for avenging his boyfriend remains, and it can only be sated by the blood of those who abuse their power over others, especially for no reason except that they can. After all, as he recently put it:

"What do ya get when ya cross somebody with nothin' t' lose with a society that got the lad he loved the most murdered in front o' him? Ya get what ya buckin' deserve!"

Vincent Ostrom:

They call him "The Ripper", "The Terrible Claw", "The Bird of Prey". Vincent, though, just calls himself Vincent. Born to indigenous blood and raised from infancy by the owner of a powerful livestock company with a serious beef against anyone whom he saw as a competitor (read: literally every single rancher in all of existence), he was trained as a warrior, bodyguard, and bounty hunter by a man who saw others' property as nothing but assets to annex, and the owners of said property as obstacles. He wouldn't know until a good while later in his life, but it was perhaps this company owner who wiped out the tribe that had sired him, leaving him alone in the world with only said man to take him in. Literally the only keepsake he has of his true people is a fossilized claw, shaped like an oversized eagle's talon, which is the pendant of the necklace he wears when in public. When he first met Adam, Vincent was the cruel and almost emotionless assassin under his master's command, who was tasked with putting an end to "The Terror" and his associates due to what said master saw as their interference in his monopoly campaign. Upon learning of Adam's existence, he mistook the man for "The Terror" and, when Adam and Rashida warned him to back down, assured that the worst was yet to come. As fierce as he was, however, he was still just one person, and against both "The Terror" and "The Wrecker", he was ultimately outmatched and left for dead after a rather one-sided fight. Feeling a stroke of pity for the poor native, however, Adam took him to the nearest hospital he could find, and after some convincing, left him under the care of the staff, but his fate was left unknown.

Some months later, however, Vincent, now recovered from his wounds, broke into Rashida's farm house while she and Sarah were away. Adam however had had enough, and even though he was physically overpowered, he stopped him short when he elaborated on what Vincent's now expired master had been doing with him the whole time. That got the taller man thinking, and eventually realizing that too many actions he saw as off made sense in this light. After tagging along with Adam during a joint effort with several other outlaws, he and his rival came to terms, and Vincent was welcomed into the household after Rashida also learned of what he'd been through.

Following Rashida's disappearance, Vincent also left the household, feeling that without her as his master he had nothing left for him there. That said, he also wished to start living his own life without being ordered to shank people without a second thought, and it was with Adam's encouragement that he began this pursuit. He's still active as a freedom fighter, but no longer as Adam's partner, although they do still exchange friendly correspondence every once in a while.

Cupid Edward White and Lapis Arzumanyan:

Sarah is the Squall family's only child, but she isn't the only resident of the house under her parents' care. Two other teenagers ended up moving in after she left Rashida's farmhouse to return to her family, and have become close enough to Sarah herself that they've joined her in the quest to rid the land of abusive higher-ups. Cupid was born to the White family without much fanfare or significance, but lived a relatively happy life on the farm with his sister and parents in spite of having dyslexia - until a rabble-rouser his sister was dating when he was in his early teens broke into the house. He refuses to talk about what happened that night, but what he does know is that the culprit was eventually apprehended and hanged for his actions, and that in spite of being pronounced dead at the scene, he ultimately ended up recovering with some help from a nurse only known as "Panacea", though to this day he still has a permanent limp and needs a cane just to walk. It was shortly after his return to the world of the living when he met Sarah, and learned that he had lost his entire family in the wake of the incident, whereupon the Squalls promptly invited the poor boy to live with them. So it was that Sarah and Cupid became fast friends, doing everything together and helping each other cope with the terrible events that they had each endured... although to the confusion and annoyance of Sarah's parents, every so often, the cooking wine they have in storage keeps mysteriously disappearing...

Lapis, for her part, came into Sarah's life shortly after Cupid did, but not via the same circumstances. She herself was an orphan who immigrated entirely by herself from a foreign land, having lost her parents in a shipwreck when she was just a little girl, her only keepsake from her family being a rusty trident that had belonged to her mother. She was found and taken in by Rayner and his boyfriend, but after "The Shootout at Killer Mac's", she was left devastated and with her resolve in tatters. For some time afterward, she studied the art of fighting with her trident, but the places where she resided while Rayner recovered would not let such a young girl be out and about against much bigger threats. When Rayner did eventually return to business, however, he realized that Lapis had developed as much of a determination to set things right as he did, and having learned from Adam about the Squall family and their acceptance of Cupid, he sent her there to work with him and Sarah. Her integration with them was... not as smooth as Cupid's, but it could've been worse... Plus, in spite of multiple hiccups along the way, including a very bad falling out with a friend of Cupid's, she has gotten by relatively intact, at least mentally speaking. The same though can't be said of her physically - one unfortunate escapade led to the loss of her right hand, and she has a wooden one in its place. Cupid has bonded with her to some extent, being able to relate to what she went through, and is the first to reach out to her when she feels like an utter sobbing wreck, usually after being reminded of how much she lost throughout her life. She's still struggling to cope to this day, but thanks to the efforts of Sarah, Cupid, Rayner, Adam, and several others who learned about her history, she's getting there, in spite of it being an uphill battle at the best of times.

That's what I've managed to crank out thus far, hope you like 'em! I'm gonna get the rest of my characters' counterparts in this AU out later - I really need to sleep. ^^;

The gang was headed by the three triplets—Elizabeth "Lizzie", Florence, and Robert. Lizzie liked to claim she was the leader, since she was the oldest of the three, and had headed far more raids on any town than her sister and brother put together, but the other two would say she was full of hot air.

Florence was Lizzie's twin—Robert, the youngest, was the fraternal triplet of the bunch—but Florence had suffered a fall from a horse when she was young and sustained rather severe injuries, especially to her face (consequently making it much easier to tell her and Lizzie apart) and leg. She preferred to stay at the back of their raids and snipe from a distance from horseback while her siblings moved in to press the attack.

Robert rather unfortunately was the victim of a powder keg lit too soon, and as a result lost his arm and eye in the explosion. He's now easily the best intimidator of the gang; at well over six feet tall, with an eyepatch and a hooked prosthetic arm, he does not look like someone to be crossed.

The triplets have a younger brother named Alexander, who isn't much of a fighter. He makes up for it with his brain—he's usually the one to plan out their raids, and makes for one hell of a mechanic, often fixing up their wagons or weapons (or Robert's arm) whenever something breaks down. He adopted a stray cat that he named Zeke and the others have found it impossible to separate the two.

Lizzie's second-in-command is a Japanese immigrant: Arashi "Lightning" Akio, whose skill with a knife is a sharp contrast to his cheerful disposition. He doesn't seem all that upset that circumstances forced him into a life of banditry, and he and Lizzie are thicker than, well, thieves. He's not really the bandit sort—always ready with a kind word and the first to suggest mercy to the towns they hit up—but his loyalty to Lizzie, and hers to his, is unbreakable. Leaving never even crossed his consideration.

Charlotte joined the gang when she and Florence fell in love. The others won't deny it's a bit strange to see their sister involved with a woman (though Lizzie silently stifles her jealousy), but Charlotte's an excellent runner and often serves as a wonderful distraction while the others get on with their work. And hey, she makes Florence happy, which is a rarity in and of itself, so who are they to complain? Charlotte's not the best fighter by any means, but Florence has been trying to teach her how to shoot, with mixed results. As of now, her skills lie off the battlefield.

And then there's Daisy/David. None of them are really sure what to make of her... or him. Either way, whatever they're calling themselves, they make an excellent spy, blending in to any crowd effortlessly. Not to mention, while Charlotte might be a proper lady above seducing people for information, Daisy/David has no such compunctions, and the other members of the gang have a running bet on how soon it will be before they're tracked down by a disgruntled single mother. Or get pregnant themselves. The gang's really not sure at this point, but whichever happens first, right? Robert can't stand them, but the others tolerate them or even find them hilarious.

Their main points of contact are Fiona—a rather severe spinstress (well... she's actually quite young, but single, and has better things to do than marry and raise a bunch of squawling babies) who owns her own ranch and replaces the gang's horses when need be, never mind the weird experiments she conducts on the side; Olive, a mutual friend of Alexander's and Charlotte's who even handier with blacksmithing than he is, but doesn't feel the need to run off and join a gang of outlaws; and Father Zachary, a priest and missionary who the gang often returns to when they need help patching up their wounds. There's a man who only answers to Faust who often visits him, seemingly only to make trouble, but why Father Zachary seems so fond of him, they've never asked.

((Whoo! That's a lot of agents. I hope it was fairly obvious who everyone was, even with time period appropriate names swapped in with no explanation.))

Taff might be the rarest of rare breeds. There's not a lot of Welshmen on the frontier, and those that are are mostly holed up down in Utah with the rest of the Mormonites. There's only one as knows what led Taff to lay aside his scriptures and take up a Native bow to fight corruption from Nebraska to Oregon - and she's not talking.

Connie's heard all the jokes - how many mamas did she have, any angels come calling recently, has Brother Brigham asked her father for her hand yet? Back when she spent her days tending dysentery sufferers where the Oregon Trail meets Utah Territory, she met all such questions with the smile and polite laugh that's expected of a young lady. Now, since taking up ('shacking up', the rumours say, though not in her hearing) with Taff and the Protectors, she's more experienced with gunshot wounds - and has a revolver of her own to answer such impertinence.

They call Morgan the toughest man ever born a woman. With his (never 'her' - not when there's shooting to be done) hair soot-blackened to match his coat, all you'll see of him on a dark night is his trademark gold sash catching the firelight - his hefty six-shooter that's more of a handheld cannon - and the flash of twin bullets heading your way. One for the heart-side, one for the far-side; it's the only way to be sure.

~

I apologise for the endless stream of references up there. Good grief.

Resisting the temptation to draw Terrible Beard Dafydd now.

hS

Be a shame if something were to happen to it.

I wasn't sure I would have ideas for this, not being a big Western reader/watcher, but as it turns out, I do!

Let's start easy. For Jenni, I reckon it's Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman meets the Night Nurse. It's hard enough making a living as a female doctor while raising children out on the frontier, let alone patching up vigilantes in secret, pro bono. She'd be the first to tell you her life doesn't have much room in it for romance, not the church-bells and gold bands sort that most people expect. Her kids and her work come first. Yet, the heart wants what the heart wants, and love always finds a way.

Next:

Derik was a lawman. A good one, too. Then, one day, his partner Skip stumbled onto the sheriff's corrupt dealings with the local robber barons. He and Derik tried to put a stop to it, but in the ensuing shoot-out, a powder keg exploded, killing Skip and leaving Derik scarred for life while the villains got away scot-free. No one in town has seen him since, but rumor has it he's taken up with the mysterious freedom fighters calling themselves the Protectors. They say he's responsible for all the bad luck the sheriff and her associates have had since: Mysterious storehouse fires. Lost shipments. Stolen cattle. You name it, they say it's Derik to blame, wreaking his vengeance for his partner's death in the name of justice.

And he's not alone. He's got a little redheaded gal by his side now—but don't let her looks fool you. She's as tough as they come, and twice as mean. The daughter of a simple homesteader whose land was stolen out from under him, Gal fights for her family... but mostly for the fun of it. I wouldn't cross her if I were you.

And finally:

Mr. Norris isn't the sort you would suspect of being an outlaw. By day, he's just a banker, quietly sipping a hot cup of joe while he keeps his ledgers. He has a sharp tongue in his head, but he hides under the desk when things get rough. However, the Protectors know him as the Supernumerary, and what they know that nobody else does is that he's got dirt on everyone. The Supernumerary remembers everything, see. The bad guys can cook the books all they want, but he knows the truth. And the truth will out.

His assistant, Mr. Ryan, is cheerful and commonly thought to be a bit daft. He's not from here, you know. But the thing about a friendly, unassuming sort like Mr. Ryan is that people will tell him things they think he won't understand, and what Mr. Ryan knows, Mr. Norris also knows. Also, Mr. Ryan is designing a new mechanism for the bank vault. When it's finished, the next person to get in there without the proper authority is going to be in for a nasty surprise.

~Neshomeh had fun with this. ^_^

I've never really been into Westerns myself, but I'm definitely up for it.

Jack would be thrilled by the opportunity to defy the law and go wreak havoc...er, exact justice. I see Harvey as being more of a strategist, always marking things on maps and stuff like that.

Also, rambling band XD What a great opening.

I don't have a lot of time right now, but I will say that fitting Jacques into this AU should be incredibly simple. Dawn's probably got one foot still in the civilian life; Gurnirel and Naergondir have actual training and probably come from somewhere farther off and sophisticated to begin with. The Reader is a scholar in her time off. Kozar was a soldier in the past (probably a different army than Jacques), and it shows. When his partner Allison went down in a shootout, he got a lot grimmer. T'Zar...great at acquiring weapons? Is or was a sheriff somewhere? Not quite sure.

~Z

I could see my agents fitting into this fairly well. Edward the most easily: he's a straight-talking, straight-shooting guy and fighting back against oppression is definitely his style.

Kat perhaps less so: she's not a direct fighter, but will make sure everyone is well looked-after and gets enough food no matter what she has to scavenge - and she's not afraid to join in the fighting when she has to.

Mira... my first thought is "horse whisperer" because she's so in tune with nature... I could definitely see her as the one who looks after all the horses, but she's also someone you do not get on the wrong side of.

Kate’s 90% the same, just replacing PMC membership with a Pinkerton badge.

Cassie’ll never be Annie Oakley, but she reads and rides like the wind.

Holly is Holly. Considering the source material for her is drawing from Robin Hood’s Merry Men, all she loses is the soul-powered forcefield.

Lorraine is an abolitionist veteran of Bloody Kansas. Quieter than main-PPC!Lorraine.

Fritz is...Fritz. Ex-Union army and very good sawbones.

Marion, formerly Union Pacific Special Agent Buckley, wanted to be a nurse one day. That didn’t quite work out.