Sherman Bragg

[Sherman Bragg]

First Name: Sherman
Last Name: Bragg
Alias or Nick-name: Bragg The Black Rider
Age: 59
Height 6”1
Weight 172 lbs
Eyes: Blue
Hair: Bald Top, Light Gray Hair
Persuasion:Browncoat
General Skills and Job Classification:
- Master Riflemen (Bragg has been shooting since he was a little boy, and has never turned down a challenge to see who is a better shot)
- Strong Will (Is never one to back out of a fight, or retreat)
- Strong Minded (Bragg has an incredible problem solving mind)
- Great Public Speaker (Bragg has had to do it multiple times, and is very good at getting a crowd to follow him)
- Very likable personality (He’s a very friendly sort of person to those that aren’t threatening.)

Talents: Bragg has a great ability to draw people to him. He is a man of humble origins, and of simple tastes. He just has the way about him which allow him to be very trusted. Everyone that has ever met him, can feel as though he’s their friend. He’s also a very strong person, as experiences in life have caused him to be rock hard at times. He has a very strong will and determination to completing a goal, and hates leaving things unfinished.


Flaws: Bragg has a deep seeded hatred for the Alliance as well as Unification. It goes beyond just beyond a disgruntled war veteran. He lost so much in the war, and at times all that runs through is mind is revenge. It even has caused his moral compass to be off considerably a lot of the time. He generally isn’t trusting of anyone who comes from a wealthy background, and tends to be rather hostile towards anyone who has ever had any history with the Alliance.


History: Sherman’s life began on Shadow, with his mother and father who were humble cattle ranchers. He loved the farm life, as it was simple, predictable, and quite to his liking. They didn’t live a life of luxury but it was enough for him. After him, came his brother, and soon after his sister. They too were fairly happy with the life they were living with.

Unfortunately as time went on, a brutal winter came through, and their young sister got sick. By the time spring came around his youngest sibling was taken. This took a heavy toll on the family, but such was life on the Rim colonies. They had no choice but to keep moving on and preparing for the new season.
In spite of the hardship, which came with ranching, they still had time for other things. The men of the family would often go out and go hunting when they had little else to do. Sherman loved to hunt various kinds of birds, because he liked the challenge they provided. Spring and summer were just his favorite time of year when the birds came back, the air was warm, and everything seemed right. And when he got to be old enough, his father started bringing him along to port to handle the cattle transfers. It wasn’t so bad when he first started out, but over time the trails became more dangerous.


Bandits and Criminals would often stalk the cattle trails looking for an easy catch. An entire ranches livelihood went into their stock, and it could all be snatched in a matter of moments. So at times they would have to defend the stock. It would get rough at the moments, but it was still manageable.

When he was twenty years old, he was getting well involved with running the farm. Though his father wasn’t quite retiring, he was still getting on in years. It was just around this time that Sherman found the woman who was destined to marry. Her name was Darla Knox, and she was the most beautiful woman he’d ever seen. She was the daughter of a farmer who lived fairly close to where their ranch was. They began their courtship, and after a year, they were married. Sherman’s brother was his best man. Darla moved to the ranch, and life was good for the Bragg family.

In the spring of 2482, there was an unusually large cluster of men with less then moral intent in the region. The lawmen in the county were just not able to keep up with the amount of rustlers and criminals in the area, and they were growing restless. These bandits finally made their way toward the Bragg ranch. At first they were threatened, but the men of the Bragg family stood strong. But then these bandits came in force, with the intent on stealing the Bragg families stock. The Bragg’s stood their ground, and they drove back the bandits. But Sherman’s brother was mortally wounded, and his father was hurt badly as well. His father would be saved, though he would have his arm amputated. His brother however was not so lucky, and they buried him beside his sister.

Because of this Sherman had to take on more of the duties on the ranch then before, but he also signed on as a volunteer deputy as needed. He couldn’t stand the lawlessness on the Rim, and wanted to do something about it. He and a large group of the other farmers and ranchers in the area took care of their bandit troubles over the course of the next year, and life on Shadow was good once again.


Sherman had his first child, James. His father died sometime after. Then he had his second child, Susan. And though most of his family was gone, he kept on doing what was right, and ensuring his family was safe and provided for. His son would grow up to be a fine young man, and his daughter into a fine young woman. He raised his children in the same way he and his children were raised, and was constantly hoping that they would turn out at least the same way he did. His children both got married, his children both had children. It was a very fulfilling life.

And then the peace and prosperity had a shift, as the Core worlds were getting over zealous. When they declared all planets to be unified, the rim worlds declared their independence. And when they called for volunteers, Sherman and his son were at the front of the recruitment line. They were both put into the 72nd Hard Riders. It was an assault unit, which was particularly good at taking the offensive. They had a very good record during the war. They were very devoted to the cause, and were very strong fighters.

They were at the battle of Du-Kang in 2510, and things began to change. It was a real hard slog. The Alliance outnumbered them incredibly it seemed at the Northwest Quadrant, and some of the officers in charge were surrendering under the pressure. The 72nd pulled back, but during the retreat James was struck by enemy fire. Sherman couldn’t believe what he saw as his son fell to the ground. He picked up his son, and ran him back towards the new defensive line, which the 72nd was holding. He spent there the last few moments with his son, and told him how proud he’d been of him. His son died at 27 years old leaving a wife and daughter behind. This reminded Sherman a lot of his brother, and he was filled with quite a bit of rage.

Even as he came up on the end of his tour, he still stayed. He saw it as something he had to do, because he knew his son wouldn’t have gone home either. The war only lasted one more year from there, and Bragg’s time in Serenity Valley was a miserable fight. But he survived it, and was captured sometime in the middle of it. When the war ended, he requested transport back to Shadow, but he was denied. It was here he found out that Shadow had been diminished to a smoldering chunk of rock. There weren’t many survivors, and the land had been reduced o nothing. He couldn’t believe what he was seeing when he saw images of the surface. He felt a certain empty darkness creep in on him. His home, his family, everything was all gone. And he had no idea what to do. He hated the Alliance for what it had done. This was all what they had done, and he would do whatever he had to, to get away from them.



He quickly grasped that there was nothing left for him on Shadow, and there was no point in going back to find anything. He made the decision to move out to the Rim planet, Aberdeen, and settled down in a small town called Redbrick. He’d taken up an interest in keeping the town clean, and became the new City Marshal. He was quite good at it, as he had quite a strong nature about him, and was very devoted to it. While here he wrote a poem which became quite famous called From Green Land to Black Sand.. It was quite a compelling piece of literature, which was passed about the rim. The poem was clearly about the atrocities committed by the Alliance during the war, which were destroying the lives of people on the rim.


Because of the poem he’s gained quite a bit of popularity on the rim under the Nickname of Bragg the Black Rider, though sometimes Rider is replaced with ‘Writer’ do to some of his compelling writings. He was clearly a man who believed deeply in the Independents cause, and there were times when he was approached by others like himself who wanted to take up the cause again. Initially Sherman wasn’t interested, but when the Alliance set up a service outpost on Aberdeen, he quickly organized a mob which set fire to the whole compound. He was also instrumental in having an alliance Governor ousted. And as a result these leaders of men came to Sherman wondering if he would join their cause, as he was becoming quite famous on the Rim. Sherman finally decided to join, and they decided to form the organization which was now called The Black Sand, which was a reference to Sherman’s poem.

He put his deputy in charge of the town as he went off to help with running the organization. The first year after the war was fairly rough because the Alliance was really working hard to put down fringe groups like that. But the Black Sand was growing in popularity, with many people claiming to be part of the movement, and many actions taken against Alliance on the Rim were taken by the Black Sand. Some of their leaders were arrested over time, and because of this, they went into hiding, many of them. But they were still very much alive with thousands of people declaring themselves part of the Black Sand. Sherman has since taken up control of the group, but is still the Marshal of his town on Aberdeen. His Office in the town has a basement, and in it there are many men, who are his “Deputies”, which are actually monitoring the Black Sands efforts, and Sherman can issue commands in safety.


Sherman is very well hidden as the Marshal of Redbrick, and has grown to liking his role as the head of the Black Sand quite well. He has been planning to take larger action against the Alliance, but the nature of the plans have been a very well kept secret. To many in the Alliance, the Black Sand is nothing but an angry mob of unification haters, but to the people on the Rim, they are almost like heroes of legend still fighting the good fight. And that suites Sherman Brag just fine.


Character is from: Original

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