Governess Tombstone is a side character in the audio drama series Confessions of a Wasteland Pony.
Her story is told by The Red Reaper in the eighth episode, The Red Reaper.
Biography
Governess Tombstone was the local ruler of Great Arrow raider clan during the twenty year campaign against The Guardianship.
She was installed in Canyon City after it was taken over by a Great Arrow siege directed by Tick-Tock. Canyon City was the Southernmost point the Arrows controlled, so it became the staging ground for the decades-long occupation of Thunder Valley.
Most of the coordination of the actual war with the Guardianship was being directly handled by Tick-Tock. Tombstone's main function was to keep the trade caravans and industries in the town thriving to keep feeding the war machine.
Not much was known of her past. She was not an original resident of the town, though there is mixed speculation that she was a caravan trader that passed through on occasion. Regardless, when she took control of the town in her early 30's she quickly proved to have an administrative competence beyond her age.
She was able to lure back many trade caravans initially scared off by the upsetting nature of the Great Arrows. There was a strict but predictable set of laws, codified into a giant stone obelisk erected in the center of town. The militaristic society made trade very easy compared to the lawless chaos of many other places in the wasteland.
With those caravans in place, weapons and new Great Arrows flowed southward into Thunder Valley, until the final siege which decided the conflict.
With one of the longest lasting tenures, Tombstone might have stayed a Governess for many more years if the Red Reaper did not appear.
Behind The Scenes
- Tombstone's name is a reference to Tombstone, Arizona a famous town within the history of the American West.
- There are many Western themes to the Red Reaper's story and setting, the confrontation with Tombstone being one of the dramatic peaks.
- While not a direct inspiration, the song "The Governess" by Metric was a tonal influence for the Canyon City sections of The Red Reaper. SkyBolt listened to it many times during the writing process.