Marshall Johnson (3 November 2042) is one of the founders of the MPD holding the rank of Commanding General. He is also the head of the Johnson family.

Early life and family

Marshall Johnson moved constantly as a child in a military family, relocating every few years around the nation and globe. He enrolled in the army at the age of 18 intending for it to be his sole career, as it was for his father and grandfather. He attained the rank of Major and served in several major conflicts including those in Karachi and Lahore, and later Vladikavkaz. Frustrated with his stalled career, he retired from active service at the age of 41 and joined Steel Mountain, a private military contractor, where he worked as a consultant for five years. The lucrative nature of this business helped him go into semi-retirement in the Francis Park neighborhood of Rivertown South, which bordered Lakeview.

He and his wife Karen married in their late 30s and had one child, Ellen, when the couple was 44. They doted on their fiery and independent child until the point Rivertown began to collapse due to the superflu. Marshall whisked his family to the Rock when he heard an old acquaintance, Augustus Reichman, had planned for a prolonged siege. Marshall trained a corps of well-armed guards in the finer points of military strategy, his beloved daughter quite literally at his knee. The early success of the MPD owed much to his planning, organization, and insistence on discipline, traits he passed onto Ellen, who enrolled in the MPD at 17 and rose steadily through the ranks after graduation based on her talent as much as her name.

When the bulk of the citizenry relocated to Summerland, Johnson kept his family's quarters at the Rock so he could keep an eye on trainging and ensure standards would not slip. His beloved wife grew ill in 2107, lost a dramatic amount of weight, and passed away in the summer of 2108. No autopsy was performed but the cause of death was assumed to be organ cancer.

Disposition and traits

Marshall Johnson is a man of few outward emotions; he would be an excellent poker player if he believed in gambling. His career in the military was one of steady progress until he left the service of his own accord, tired of living abroad and wanting to settle down. He loved his wife Karen deeply, as she was a social butterfly who brought warmth to his life; and is extremely close to his daughter, whom he admires her for the spunk she inherited from her mother, so very different from himself.

At his age, Marshall has become world weary, having seen a lifetime of atrocities in his profession, though he lacks the imagination to suffer from nightmares or dwell overly long on his own participation in said events. A consumate professional, Marshall does not let passion inform his decisions though he finds himself becoming frustrated more quickly in dealing with the other Family members. He had an ideal working relationship with the late Augustus Reichman but does not think much of his pampered wife Frederika; he describes Barrett Lukowski as a used car salesman and Carlo Reyes as a miserable userer.

Goals and motivations

Marshall's personal long-term goal is to re-establish a stable society in Rivertown that can be passed down to future generations. This goal can only be achieved, he believes, through sacrifices. He accepts that many of those outside of the MPD communities are suffering fates they don't deserve but believes that in order for the MPD to be truly stable and self-sufficient they must not expand too aggressively, either in terms of population or maintaining too many settlements without the resources to support them. It is a necessity then to cast everyone outside the MPD as an enemy, and he does his best to preach the notion that all scavengers are violent drug addicts who will kill or die to raid the MPD stores.

Shorter term, he would like to find an ideal time to pass his authority to his daughter but thinks she must continue to mature. He fears that she risks her life too often carrying out orders intended for others, and would like to see her occupying a job that tied her to a desk.

Primary residence

Marshall Johnson rarely leaves his home of the Rock, except on official duty. As one of the heads of the Four Families, he is less travel averse than either Frederika Reichman or Carlo Reyes but his work keeps him too occupied to go on "field trips" like Barrett Lukowski.

Attributes and Abilities

Johnson has kept himself in reasonable physical shape for a 71-year-old man. He is proficient with just about any weapon widely available, either firearm or handheld. He has a very tactical mind and an endless reservoir of patience for teaching and instructing. He is well-read, especially in history and particuarly in military history of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries.