About Fernando Rosales, Desperado
High Concept: Infamous and Noble Desperado
Trouble: For Love and Honor
Bargain: Dead and Alive
Fernando is part of a dying breed of romantic Wild West heroes, men larger than life that seem to live out fairy tales out in the desert. Also known as "El Caballero Rojo" (The Red Knight), Fernando has traveled the lawless parts of Mexico and the West, and he has always turned heads with his strange, outdated idea of honor. Even so, he is still an outlaw.
'Honor,' he calls it. Some would call it foolish, but Fernando seems to have the unfortunate combination of being willing to fight for what he deems worthy causes and being a sucker for a pretty face. He is known for his passion in all things, for the bite of his tongue, and most of all for his pursuit of love, fame, and that vaunted 'honor' he tries so hard to keep from falling apart. They say Fernando has only ever killed a man in self-defense, and the Red Knight tries very hard to keep it that way.
They say that legends never die. That's hogwash. While trying to protect a village from a group of bandits, lawmen that had been pursuing the desperado caught up with him. He was caught in the middle of these two groups, with bullets flying and smoke rising high into the air, trapped.
The bandits won that fight. Fernando had them on the ropes, but when the authorities arrived they shot the man with the biggest bounty on his head - Fernando - square in the back. He tried to keep fighting, but he was shot again, and then a third time, and a fourth. The bandits then fired at the lawmen, and when they took a few losses, the authorities fled the scene, leaving Fernando bleeding out and the bandits loose on the village.
As he lay there at death's door, Fernando could hear screaming from the town. The bandits were doing horrific things, he knew, and there was nothing he could do. But then someone appeared before him, a stranger wearing a black coat with fire in his eyes: el Diablo.
The Devil had an offer to make Fernando. He knew that the desperado couldn't just watch as the bandits had their way with innocent folk. He knew Fernando would do anything, give anything to save them. So he offered him a choice: he could die peacefully and rest in Heaven, or he could make the ultimate sacrifice and sell his soul so he could spit in death's face and save those people.
Fernando made his choice. He sold his soul.
What happened next would go down as a horror story for the ages. El Cabellero Rojo stood, picking up his famous red hat and setting it on his bloody, broken face. He stepped out into the open, shouting for the bandits to come out and fight him. The bandits answered Fernando's call, putting at least a dozen bullets into him, but he just stood there with an expression of hatred. Then he shot them, killing some and sending the rest scampering for the hills.
