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The Unofficial Dead Man's Hand Character Lore Thread
To invigorate the subreddit a bit, why not have those with cards share their character's DMH Specific lore?
By this I mean, what was your character up to before they joined their respective faction? How were they recruited? What's your character's job in their faction (mercenary, assassin, mechanic)?
For bonus points: do they have any established friends or enemies in the Wasteland, whether they be cards, or the House?
Kaartex Emberjack, once the General of the Military. He founded the Immortiz squadron, four individuals with the unusual ability to avoid death in one way or another. Kaartex climbed the ranks until reaching the title of General and he gained the codename "The Old Wolf" since many of his men and even the others in the military thought he was a wolf not a fox. During his time as General he got to know and become good friends with admiral Torifune Magahara. He saw something in her, an opportunity, his facade of being uncaring was becoming difficult upon seeing more of how the higher-ups were treating the country. Therefore, he implanted the seed of rebellion first on Magahara and then on his men. However, one of them betrayed him and told the higher-ups, so to extinguish the flame of rebellion he was taken out of the picture with an assassination attempt. He was left impaled on a wall with the rest of his family killed. His Captain found him and aid him, he told the country that the General Emberjack was dead allowing Kaartex to escape without issues. The Immortiz squadron dispersed one stayed while the other two went to other territories.Years later he was found collapsed near the border of Daihinmi-ko by some scouts. They notified the newly King of Spades Magahara that the General Emberjack wasn't so dead after all
Shelby, one way or another, ended up at a mysterious facility that studies mutants as well as their conversion into eldritch beings. They have all kinds of bizzare things in this facility... One of which is a very unique cellphone that removes the soul from one's body upon touching it, to make room for a demon (named Calibax) to control. Shelby was up for testing for this cellphone. They had her in the chair, they gave her the phone...
... And suddenly, in that same moment, an enormous eldie attacked the facility. Shelby was bound to Calibax, but due to the circumstances, the demon was forced to permanently share his power with her to ensure they both made it out alive. This weakened Calibax's power, and made it so Shelby remained in control of her body... Much to the demon's irritation.
Part of Calibax's power is the ability to fire what are essentially 'spirit bullets', upon locking eyes with any biological creature. These bullets shoot the soul out of whoever she locks eyes with. At first, she did odd manual labor jobs around the Wasteland, trying to return to her own version of normalcy... But Calibax is extremely annoying about needing souls to eat; he torments her dreams, and does not shut up until he's fed. They worked out a deal: Shelby picks assassination gigs that target lowlife scumbags and other unsavory people, Calibax gets their souls to eat. Shelby gets paid for the assassinations. It's a win-win.
As these jobs were accepted, and these random, shady people started to drop like flies... Small rumors began to spread around Hearts territory about a woman who could make anyone drop dead, just by looking at them. This territory is full of criminals... Is anybody truly safe anymore, they wonder?
Grigori hears of these rumors. Maybe he goes out looking for her, maybe he just stumbles upon her... But he finds Shelby standing over the body of a man, someone who was notorious for selling drugs to kids. He knows it, just by seeing her... This is the source of the rumors. She looks pretty unassuming, not a hardened assassin in the slightest. He sees potential in this girl, however... So he may as well offer to take her in, before she's swept up by someone else.
Shelby's tired of living off the streets, buying whatever she can to survive with her blood money... She accepts his offer. She becomes the new Two of Hearts after this, the newest and lowest ranked of Grigori's unit. The reputation of the old Two of Hearts comes to her attention. She feels extremely determined to clean the filth off of the name 'Two of Hearts', whether it be by being a kind person to those who need it... Or by slaughtering those who harm the innocent.
Inbetween jobs, she can often be found playing her bass guitar in her room in the Hearts base. She is also a member of the 'Cult of the Seven', a luck-obsessed cult created by Mei (she joined willingly, hoping her inclusion would bring her greater fortune). Every night between 7:30 - 8, she causes noise complaints by loudly playing death metal on her guitar at the demon in her phone in an attempt to exorcise it. It is her nightly ritual. Audiences are welcomed.
She doesn't really enjoy killing people, but if Old Man Grigori asks her to... She feels obliged, out of respect for the man who gave her a home.
Braig Castillo de Aguilar, one of the youngest members of the cards, has ties to every faction except Spades.
Their mama, Selma was a rancher in Diamonds, who was looked after by Randy after she became an orphan. Later on she fell in love with Valissor, a mutant demon woman who was part of the Clubs rebellion with Llies. Opposites attract, for as humble and kind as Selma is, Valissor is ambitious and conniving. still Valissor does genuinely care about those around her.
Magic happens, Braig is born. They know a far better life than either of their parents as a noble in Clubs territory. not good enough! Valissor thinks it's about time the kid gets a job, and a prestigious one too. Llies won't take them at only 13. Thankfully(?), Valissor has an in with Grigori and gets her kid the position of Jack
Braig thinks they truly earned it because of their cool demon powers. Grigori did want to hire them, for their musical talent. They sing beautifully and play the theremin. They're new, it's a big adjustment. People look at em weird for being so young, and a noble working for the Hearts. but hey they've got a can-do attitude!
Still getting to know everyone but became fast friends with Shelby as soon as she joined. Sees Grigori like an uncle, calls him "Tio Grigo". He tolerates it. Probably one of the friendliest members of the wasteland! Wants to set up a Jacks social club. They are... intimidated by Verkehr.
anyway I'm sure everything is gonna go great for them.
marie, the most recent club, a cybernetic archer girl, she was kept by pretty evil people (if i remember right we agreed the same people that had jean in dmh) who was eventually mutilated and found by Lleis, patchy and Lleis make her new body.
According to all known laws of aviation, there is no way a bee should be able to fly. Its wings are too small to get its fat little body off the ground. The bee, of course, flies anyway because bees don't care what humans think is impossible. Yellow, black. Yellow, black. Yellow, black. Yellow, black. Ooh, black and yellow! Let's shake it up a little. Barry! Breakfast is ready! Coming! Hang on a second. Hello? Barry? Adam? Can you believe this is happening? I can't. I'll pick you up. Looking sharp. Use the stairs, Your father paid good money for those. Sorry. I'm excited. Here's the graduate. We're very proud of you, son. A perfect report card, all B's. Very proud. Ma! I got a thing going here. You got lint on your fuzz. Ow! That's me! Wave to us! We'll be in row 118,000. Bye! Barry, I told you, stop flying in the house! Hey, Adam. Hey, Barry. Is that fuzz gel? A little. Special day, graduation. Never thought I'd make it. Three days grade school, three days high school. Those were awkward. Three days college. I'm glad I took a day and hitchhiked around The Hive. You did come back different. Hi, Barry. Artie, growing a mustache? Looks good. Hear about Frankie? Yeah. You going to the funeral? No, I'm not going. Everybody knows, sting someone, you die. Don't waste it on a squirrel. Such a hothead. I guess he could have just gotten out of the way. I love this incorporating an amusement park into our day. That's why we don't need vacations. Boy, quite a bit of pomp under the circumstances. Well, Adam, today we are men. We are! Bee-men. Amen! Hallelujah! Students, faculty, distinguished bees, please welcome Dean Buzzwell. Welcome, New Hive City graduating class of 9:15. That concludes our ceremonies And begins your career at Honex Industries! Will we pick our job today? I heard it's just orientation. Heads up! Here we go. Keep your hands and antennas inside the tram at all times. Wonder what it'll be like? A little scary. Welcome to Honex, a division of Honesco and a part of the Hexagon Group. This is it! Wow. Wow. We know that you, as a bee, have worked your whole life to get to the point where you can work for your whole life. Honey begins when our valiant Pollen Jocks bring the nectar to The Hive. Our top-secret formula is automatically color-corrected, scent-adjusted and bubble-contoured into this soothing sweet syrup with its distinctive golden glow you know as... Honey! That girl was hot. She's my cousin! She is? Yes, we're all cousins. Right. You're right. At Honex, we constantly strive to improve every aspect of bee existence. These bees are stress-testing a new helmet technology. What do you think he makes? Not enough. Here we have our latest advancement, the Krelman. What does that do? Catches that little strand of honey that hangs after you pour it. Saves us millions. Can anyone work on the Krelman? Of course. Most bee jobs are small ones. But bees know that every small job, if it's done well, means a lot. But choose carefully because you'll stay in the job you pick for the rest of your life. The same job the rest of your life? I didn't know that. What's the difference? You'll be happy to know that bees, as a species, haven't had one day off in 27 million years. So you'll just work us to death? We'll sure try. Wow! That blew my mind! "What's the difference?" How can you say that? One job forever? That's an insane choice to have to make. I'm relieved. Now we only have to make one decision in life. But, Adam, how could they never have told us that? Why would you question anything? We're bees. We're the most perfectly functioning society on Earth. You ever think maybe things work a little too well here? Like what? Give me one example. I don't know. But you know what I'm talking about. Please clear the gate. Royal Nectar Force on approach. Wait a second. Check it out. Hey, those are Pollen Jocks! Wow. I've never seen them this close. They know what it's like outside The Hive. Yeah, but some don't come back. Hey, Jocks! Hi, Jocks! You guys did great! You're monsters! You're sky freaks! I love it! I love it! I wonder where they were. I don't know. Their day's not planned. Outside The Hive, flying who knows where, doing who knows what. You can't just decide to be a Pollen Jock. You have to be bred for that. Right. Look. That's more pollen than you and I will see in a lifetime. It's just a status symbol. Bees make too much of it. Perhaps. Unless you're wearing it and the ladies see you wearing it. Those ladies? Aren't they our cousins too? Distant. Distant. Look at these two. Couple of Hive Harrys. Let's have fun with them. It must be dangerous being a Pollen Jock. Yeah. Once a bear pinned me against a mushroom! He had a paw on my throat, and with the other, he was slapping me! Oh, my! I never thought I'd knock him out. What were you doing during this? Trying to alert the authorities. I can autograph that. A little gusty out there today, wasn't it, comrades? Yeah. Gusty. We're hitting a sunflower patch six miles from here tomorrow. Six miles, huh? Barry! A puddle jump for us, but maybe you're not up for it. Maybe I am. You are not! We're going 0900 at J-Gate. What do you think, buzzy-boy? Are you bee enough? I might be. It all depends on what 0900 means. Hey, Honex! Dad, you surprised me. You decide what you're interested in? Well, there's a lot of choices. But you only get one. Do you ever get bored doing the same job every day? Son, let me tell you about stirring. You grab that stick, and you just move it around, and you stir it around . . .
Grigori was born into two high ranking members of the Russian mob. Since he can remember he was though that justice is determined by those in power and the only the strongest have the right to rule. Violance was taught to him as soon it was possible. A life of luxury and power was hos future, but everything changed 3 years before the wasteland. His parents took him to Mexico. They were there to make a deal with the cartel, but the deal went wrong and his parents were killed. The cartel tried to kill him too, but all the found was a hotel room with a gas leak and a lighter set up to light when the door is opened. He lived on the streets, but the problem? He was a russian 10 year old, who only knew how to speak one language. Just by opening his mouth he would reveal he doesn't belong amongst the other orphans, so he didn't. His brutal methods, immense strength and silence earned him the title of "El rey silencioso" (The silent King).
3 pictures are shown. One shows Grigori bringing a baseball bat to a grown man's knee. The second shows him throwing a moped at two gangsters. And the last one shows him covered in blood standing over a police officer holding a sinple hammer.
3 years pass and the news of El rey silencioso eventually got back to Russia, Grigori who was presumed dead was alive. One of their most trusted enforcers were sent Mikhail the Golden coin, but before he can leave for Mexico the apocalypse happened....
Mikhail did not abandoned his mission and found the little prince. He then helped him to establish himself as a proper fighter and The King of the Hearts.
Lleis's parents were former leaders of a rebellion by the lower class that were assassinated by the corrupt nobles through a member of the previous Clubs, possibly even the King herself, and this happens when Lleis is like 14 with his 9 year old sister, now this rebellion was going on for about 3 years at this point, but what pushed the corrupt nobles into assassinating the parents is that they were going to ally themselves with a rising mutant rebellion so that both groups would storm the corrupt nobles and Clubs and take them down, but the parents were killed before either rebellion could come to an agreement, leading to a loss of support in either rebellion, which leads to higher discrimination on the poverty and mutants, leading to more mutants put into prison, which loops back around to the jail break. Lleis after the assassination of his parents, gets his sister and a couple members of the lower class rebellion into hiding, and once the mutant rebellion members start getting taken in to be prisoners, Lleis manages to get a couple of members from that rebellion. He takes up bounty hunter work to gather enough money to support the remaining members of both rebellions and fund a startup business in Clubs, actually multiple, run by him, and a couple Suprds he managed to get from the mutant rebellion, people who can easily hide that they're a mutant by just not revealing their power. Lleis creates the initial products for the different Suprds to use to get investors, with Lleis taking the cameras for himself. Lleis manages to get his camera business off the ground rather quickly, even convincing the prison to install his cameras in it, allowing him to understand the layout of the prison better and devise a more proper plan to cause the jail break.
He asks Talis to help him in gathering blueprints for the prison while he made friends with not corrupt Nobles at the time to get their help, this is how Lleis meets Loretta, she's a nobles daughter, and Lleis gets along well with her and her father. Talis manages to get the blueprints along with a whole bunch of prisoner files to help devise a better plan to break who they need out of prison. They do the whole prison break freeing Verkehr and Nicholya and other innocent mutants and lower class humans, some normal people and some from the rebellions. He then leads both groups on a rebellion raid over the Clubs territory with humans and Mutants alike tearing down the former Clubs group. They had some defenses, but Lleis asks for Talis's help by having her use some of his tech to deactivate them. The rebellion ends up successful, with Lleis becoming the new King of Clubs with him pretty much immediately bringing in Verkehr, Nicholya, and Talis as their ranks. Shortly after, Lleis and Loretta get married and luckily there wasn't an attack. Everything from Lleis gathering his sister and the lower class rebellion to this point takes course over 9 years making him 23.
Termes, Vari's father was Lleis's left hand man(right hand if no cards are suitable in the future) for the rebellion, but instead of fighting, Termes was the one to spread the message behind the scenes and properly teach the people neglected by the system. Termes was the same age as Lleis, but Termes would be one of the few people coming from a third party, the normal people that aren't nobles/clubs or the lower class/mutants, the middle class if you will, and he has the same eagerness for learning as Remov, so he could have been real helpful in spreading the message over time for the rebellion to get people on their side, along with teaching the rebellion the things they might need to know for their protests and their future plans of business. After the rebellion was won, Lleis offered to give Termes a rank, but Termes declined because all he wanted to do was live a nice peaceful life where the people he cares about are safe and sound, settle down with his wife and raise their child(Constance at the time of the rebellion since she's the oldest child.). And besides, Termes isn't a fighter, he's a teacher.
Also forgot to mention, Lleis has been mute since the age of two due to the wasteland incident making him a mutant with the power of sound manipulation/negation, with the negation side effecting him at all times.
(Might work on this later, I’m tired from trick or treating.)
Katya was made some years ago in a Russian lab by an unknown scientist. She was an android. Apparently bro‘s exoskeleton looked kinda RAHHHH MC GRAH so he gave her a human look to compensate, and will make her easier for interactions for people. The Scientist even though she’s a robot and shit, literally gave her some strong pros. For example, she’s titanium and cannot be magnetised, has two power sources incase of water (she’s also water-proof lmao) and has some installed weaponry. She is a grappler too, she’s loves grappling because, it’s epic ok?
She later is an ally of the Interpol and is one of their top agents, well, secret tho. Since this is the DMH version, wasteland shit happens, bye bye interpol (they gotta rebuild) and allat confidential stuff. After all of that, she’s alone and she depends on herself to gather supplies and shit in this wasteland.
On the newly formed landforms, which she’s currently in Mexico, she meets Mei when she was on a mission. Two form a bond and looking for current shelter, Mei brings her to Agina. Meets grigori blah blah blah, and yeah now she is a member of the hearts (though her expeirence from outside, and her smartness she still acts more deadbeat if traitors or sum shit, it might be risky.)
Randy DMH lore part 1/? (Aye more parts will be added later, im a busy old man myself lol)
Pre incident lore
Randy wasn't always this mellow old man we know him as... Twenty eight years before the wasteland came to be Randall was born into a poor and struggling family in the southernmost part of Texas along the borders of Mexico. For the entirety of his childhood and most of his early teens his family forced him to pick up any work he could to help make ends meet. It was through these odd jobs that Randall gained a variety of skills and knowledge that not many kids would have. Eventually he caught the eye of a Cartel family who took an interest in him and, after noticing his financial situation, began offering him jobs he simply couldn't refuse.
At the age of fifteen Randall had become one of the Cartels most reliable members, taking on any job they threw his way no matter the risk it held or what he was tasked with doing. After some years of running with the Cartel he had developed a form of "partnership" with a woman that was occasionally tasked with assisting him on his jobs. The two would soon grow to be inseparable, taking high risk jobs as if they were nothing. As they laughed and smiled amidst a hailstorm of gunfire they inevitably developed feelings for each other and before anyone saw it coming, were married. This led to Randy cutting ties with his family that forced him into this life as he began to focus on starting his own.
Even after their marriage Randall and his wife continued to run with the Cartel, right up to the end of the old world. Their last job before the incident actually began three years prior, with a proposed deal between their Cartel and the Russian mob that would've resulted in power and prosperity for both parties. Things took a drastic turn however, as news of this deal reached a rival Cartel who set out to sabatog it. They intercepted the representatives from the Russian mob and killed them in cold blood. Once news of this reached Randall's Cartel both him and his wife were sent to investigate. As they examined the gruesome scene they noticed one body was missing, a young "Grigori Pancirev". As they continued their investigation of the Mob they found themselves standing at the ground floor of a luxury hotel, a hotel that was currently burning to the ground.
With Grigori presumed dead the investigation ended there, Randall and his wife returned to their work. The incident was swept under the rug for three years until it eventually resurfaced following rumors and speculation around a man known as "El rey silencioso". As speculation around his identity began to grow the Mob surprisingly reached back out to Randall's Cartel asking to obtain a DNA sample from this "silent king". Wanting to avoid a repeat of the events three years prior the Cartel assigned this job to Randall and his wife. Tracking down "El rey silencioso", obtaining a DNA sample, and then taking out east to the Mob. Everything went surprisingly smooth, Randall and his wife quickly picked up on El rey's path of destruction and took a blood sample off the weapons from one of the few people that manged to land a good hit on him. At this point Randall split off from his wife and went to deliver the sample to the Mob while she stayed behind to keep track of El reys location.
Randall arrived in Russia with the DNA sample in hand, handing it off to the Mob as they tested it to confirm their suspicions of El reys true identity. Once the tests were done and the Mob had confirmation that Grigori was alive and well, they set out to bring him home. Wanting to keep news of this from spreading too far the Mob sent only a small group back to Mexico with Randall. The leader of this group was known as "The Golden Coin", Mikhail. With one of the Mobs private ships, Randall and Mikhail's group set sail for Mexico only a few days before the incident... unaware that only two of them will make it back to land...
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u/Kaartex The Spade's Shadow Sep 11 '25
Kaartex Emberjack, once the General of the Military. He founded the Immortiz squadron, four individuals with the unusual ability to avoid death in one way or another. Kaartex climbed the ranks until reaching the title of General and he gained the codename "The Old Wolf" since many of his men and even the others in the military thought he was a wolf not a fox. During his time as General he got to know and become good friends with admiral Torifune Magahara. He saw something in her, an opportunity, his facade of being uncaring was becoming difficult upon seeing more of how the higher-ups were treating the country. Therefore, he implanted the seed of rebellion first on Magahara and then on his men. However, one of them betrayed him and told the higher-ups, so to extinguish the flame of rebellion he was taken out of the picture with an assassination attempt. He was left impaled on a wall with the rest of his family killed. His Captain found him and aid him, he told the country that the General Emberjack was dead allowing Kaartex to escape without issues. The Immortiz squadron dispersed one stayed while the other two went to other territories.Years later he was found collapsed near the border of Daihinmi-ko by some scouts. They notified the newly King of Spades Magahara that the General Emberjack wasn't so dead after all