Ravenstone

Ravenstone
Biographical Information
Real Name	Roger Washburn
Aliases	Ravenstone, The Amazing Ravenstone
Gender	Male
Class	Joker-ace
Wild Card Traits	Horns
Social Information
Place of Birth	USA
Citizenship	Citizen of the United States
Occupation	Musician, magician
Base of Operations	New York City
Affiliations	The Jokertown Boys
Relatives	Bibigul (wife), Swash (brother)
Allies	Cameo
Origin
First Appearance	Deuces Down
Creator	Kevin Andrew Murphy

Ravenstone is a fictional character in the Wild Cards series of books.

History

Roger and his brother, Sam, were taken on a trip to Jokertown on a fateful day when Croyd Crenson was in his "Typhoid Croyd" phase. Both their parents drew the black queen when they came into contact with spores of the virus, and the boys were left orphaned. The brothers remained together, growing up in an orphanage, and Roger eventually teamed up with four others to form The Jokertown Boys, a gothic rock band of wild carders. In Roger's case, the wild card virus remained dormant, leaving him a latent. He took matters into his own hands and began to disguise himself as a joker, going so far as to have a pair of small antelope horns grafted onto his head by a psychic surgeon.

Ravenstone's talent for illusion was more than skin deep and he spent much of time practising stage magic. With the a pet raven named Lenore for an assistant, he proceeded to learn a number of conjuring tricks.

While working aboard the steamboat the Natchez, Lenore went missing leading Roger to find her in the company of a joker named Bibigul. Bibigul, an illegal alien, had been concealed with a number of other Kazakh refugees from the city of Talas, and unable to speak herself was using Lenore to translate her musical birdsong. Roger got caught up in the refugees' plight, and in Bibi in particular, and began including her as an assistant in his stage acts. During a particularly stressful encounter with ICE agents searching for the Kazakhs, Roger's latent wild card finally turned, ironically bestowing upon the appearance and abilities he had pretended to have for so many years.

Wild Card Traits

Ravenstone is a joker-ace with small horns and a single black eye. He also has the ability to perform "magical" spells resembling stage magic, the extent of which is yet unknown.

For many years, Roger was a latent with no inherent wild card traits, but pretended to be a joker, wearing an eye patch and a black contact lens, and had a pair of small antelope horns grafted to his head by another wild carder.

Appearance

Ravenstone wears an eye patch concealing his left eye and has a pair of small antelope-like horns protruding from his head.

Personality

Ravenstone is the epitome of a showman. He deftly handles etiquette, both on the stage and off, with practised ease.

Selected Reading

• Wild Cards Volume XVI: Deuces Down
• Wild Cards Volume XVIV: Mississippi Roll