The Sentinels - Mission briefing collage

Dicey Tales will feature character write ups of a pulp era team of adventurers known as The Sentinels.

I started taking some pictures for my artists to get feel for the look I wanted for them and before you know it the “kit bashing” bug bit me. And I decided to slap something together. So here they are preparing for a mission.

By the way, our heroes are the “West Coast” branch of the Sentinels Organization.  They are headquartered at the Brookehelm Estate in the Nob Hill district of San Francisco.

The San Francisco team consists of:

Captain Ron Rogers

Legal Name: Ronald Dearborn Rogers

Apparent Age: 36

Alias: Captain Rogers

Specialization: Leadership, Sailing, Salvaging, and Smuggling

Occupation: Ship Captain

Languages: English (native), Cantonese, Tagalog

Nationality: American
Place of Birth: New York, New York

Marital Status: Single
Base of Operations: San Francisco, California 
Current/Past Affiliations: United States Navy

Captain Rogers started life as a young tough on the streets of New York. After his third arrest the juvenile judge gave Rogers a choice, the Navy or "The Big House".

Young Seaman Rogers soon found himself on a gunboat in the Yangtze River. Ron was a natural sailor but the Navy wasn't his cup a tea. After his enlistment he and a couple of buddies started a small Import/Export business out of Shanghai and soon Rogers was the master of his own 75' foot ketch “The Sea Maiden”. He currently resides on his vessel in the San Francisco pier.

Catherine Ramirez

Legal Name: Catharina Amparo Carrillo Ramirez

Apparent age: 23

Alias: None

Specialization: Pilot, Socialite

Occupation: Socialite

Languages: Spanish (native), English, French, Italian, and German

Nationality: Mexican
Place of Birth: Orizaba, Veracruz

Marital Status: Single
Base of Operations: San Francisco, California 
Current/Past Affiliations: None

Catherine was born in Mexico to one of the country’s wealthiest families. Her Psychic abilities began to manifest at a young age. Catherine’s nanny, a local Mestiza healing woman recognized the power in the child early on, and helped Catherine keep her abilities in check.  Fearful that their daughter’s abilities would be mistaken for witchcraft, her parents sent Catherine to Europe to finish her schooling.  In Paris, Catherine took her first flight when she was 14 and fell in love with flying. By age 17 she was a fully certified pilot. By 19 she owned her first plane. Catherine is active in the European spiritualist community and has used her Psychic talents to aid individuals and several European police agencies. She currently resides at a townhouse in San Francisco’s Nob Hill district.

Dr. Daniel Henderson

Legal Name: Daniel Jerome Henderson

Apparent age: 35

Alias: “Doc”, “DJ”

Specialization: Surgery, Internal medicine, Pathology

Occupation: Medical Doctor

Languages: English (native), Latin, French

Nationality: American
Place of Birth: Harlem, New York

Marital Status: Widowed
Base of Operations: San Francisco, California 
Current/Past Affiliations: U.S. Army, Howard University (Fellow), St. James Hospital (Resident)

Dr. Henderson grew up in New York City. His first job was as a butcher’s assistant. During WWI at the age of 17 Henderson was an infantryman in the 369th infantry regiment, the "Harlem Hellfighters". For his actions during the second battle of the Marne, He was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross. Sadly, his young bride Barbara succumbed to the Spanish flu while he was serving overseas. Following the war, Henderson attended Howard University and earned a degree in Internal Medicine. He is currently on staff at St. James hospital in Oakland California and lives at the Brookhelm estate in San Francisco.

Professor Myung Cho PhD.

Legal Name: Myung Jae Cho

Apparent Age: 60

Alias: None

Specialization: Electronics, Chemistry

Occupation: Chemistry Professor

Languages: Korean (native), English, Japanese, German, Mandarin, Italian

Nationality: Korean
Place of Birth: Pusan, Korea

Marital Status: Single
Base of Operations: San Francisco, California
Current/Past Affiliations: None

Professor Cho spent his childhood in Pusan Korea, assisting his father on his fishing boat. Realizing his child’s brilliance, the senior Cho raised funds to send Myung to live with an uncle in America. Myung was accepted to the San Francisco Institute of Technology at age 16 and graduated with honors.  He then attended the Illustrious Istituto de Cavallero in Florence Italy. He followed this with research work in Germany and England. Professor Cho was responsible for over 200 patents in chemistry and electrical engineering. Unfortunately, as his success grew, so did the outlandishness of his theories. Several high profile setbacks and a stint in a Spanish jail for assault ruined a rather promising career. He lives in San Francisco at the Brookhelm estate, supported by royalties from his patents and continues to conduct research independently.

Paul Hawker

Legal Name: Paul Jamison Hawker

Apparent Age: 46

Alias: Major Hawker

Specialization: demolitions, modern weapons, small unit tactics

Occupation: Soldier of Fortune

Languages: English (native), Persian, Spanish, French

Nationality: English
Place of Birth: Sussex, England

Marital Status: Single
Base of Operations: San Francisco, California 
Current/Past Affiliations: Royal Engineers, British Army

After graduating with an engineering degree from Cheltenham College, Hawker served with the 15th Field Company, Corps of Royal Engineers. Hawker has since fought in conflicts from the fields of France and the mountain passes of Afghanistan, to the jungles of Paraguay.  Hawker has done a bit of prospecting in between conflicts (diamonds in Africa, silver in Mexico, etc.). He is an expert marksman, driver, speaks several languages and has a talent with explosives. He currently has a bungalow at the Brookhelm estate in San Francisco.

Margaret Tier

Legal Name: Retta Tuglas

Apparent Age: 33

Alias: MI6 Codename: Dove

Specialization: Magic, Singing, Espionage

Occupation: Professional Singer (Retired)

Languages: Estonian (native), Romany, English, German,  

Nationality: Estonian
Place of Birth: Laiuse, Estonia

Marital Status: Single
Base of Operations: San Francisco, California Current/Past Affiliations: MI6 

Retta is an Estonian born Gypsy. Traditionally, women of her family are able to use magic. Usually, the effects are minor (making smoke dance to a tune and such). In Retta’s case however, her power was much stronger. Retta kept her abilities well hidden from all but her immediate family. She eventually attended university to study music and soon became involved in nationalist student groups where she was an outspoken anti-communist. During a holiday in London she won a singing competition which propelled her to stardom. She adopted the stage name “Margaret Tier” and soon began touring Europe. At some point she was contacted by British Intelligence and recruited as an agent where her celebrity status (and subtle use of magic) gave her access to people and places with which to complete her missions for MI6. She has recently retired from both the espionage trade and show business, and currently resides at the Brookhelm estate in San Francisco, California.

Jack Branco

Legal Name: Jonathan Branco

Apparent Age: 45

Alias: none

Specialization: Investigation, Boxing

Occupation: Private Detective

Languages: English (native), Portuguese, Spanish

Nationality: American

Place of Birth: San Francisco, California

Marital Status: Single

Base of Operations: San Francisco, California

Current/Past Affiliations: San Francisco Police Department

Jack was born in San Francisco and, with the exception of a couple of years in the Army, has lived in “The City” all his life. He was an average student but very athletic. Jack spent his summers working as a longshoreman and his free time at the boxing gym. His hard worked earned him a spot as an alternate on the U.S. Olympic boxing team. He served in the army as a Military Policeman stationed in Hawaii. After his military service Jack joined the San Francisco Police Department, went to night school and earned his detective shield in three years. Two years later he turned in his badge and resigned from the force for personal reasons. He has since opened a Private Detective agency specializing in insurance fraud.