J.B. Dix
Page Version 1.06
Sex: Male
Age: 40
Height: 5’.8"
Weight: 137 pounds
Hair Color: Brown
Eye Color: Brown
Distinguishing Features: Always wears glasses and a battered brown fedora. has a two inch scar on the right side of his chin.
First Appearance: Pilgrimage to hell.
Place of Birth: Cripple Creek, Colorado.
Known Relatives: Jim Jennison (half brother, dead)
Apache Name: Man whose weapons strike fear into hearts of all enemies.
Favorite Quote: Dark Night!
Preferred Weapons: Steyr AUG 5.6 mm, Mini Uzi Submachine gun, which he left behind for the HK MP7. Tenka knife picked up in Louisiana but was lost in Latitude Zero, A HK MP 7 which he lost also in Latitude Zero. In Dark Carnival he takes a brand new M-4000 shotgun, and picks up another Uzi.
Clothing: Battered fedora, battered brown leather jacket, brown pants, brown shirt. Steel toed combat boots.
Commonly Carried Equipment: Small rad counter attached to the lapel of his jacket, a brown fedora, glasses, a sextant, numerous other little tools and plastic explosives inside his clothing, spare ammunition for his weapons. Several well preserved maps he picked up from the Alaskan Redoubt.
Very little is known about this diminutive man. He joined Trader about a year and a half after Ryan Cawdor. He and Ryan became fast friends over the years travelling together. Like Ryan, he quickly climbed the ranks in traders organization to become one of traders war chiefs, equal to Ryan. His full name is John Barrymore Dix. Ryan didn’t even know his full name until Crater Lake.
Slight of build, he has a thin face and a yellowish complexion. But despite his small stature, he is in excellent health and in better physical condition than many people half his age.
He is a quite man, rarely speaking. When he does talk, he says as little as possible to make his point. His view is why use three words when you can use two. It appears that he picked up this habit from his father.
When it comes to knowledge of weapons and armor, he is second to none. Show him any weapon, he can tell you the name, who manufactured it, its maximum range, ammunition capacity and so forth. Its been said that he can find a weapon just by following the scent of gun oil, brass and gunpowder. He could spend the rest of his life, just studying and researching weapons. He also knows a great deal about tunnel warfare (from a book he had about the tunnel rats in the Vietnam war which was mentioned in Crater Lake).
He is also noted as being able to pinpoint his exact location using a tiny sextant he carries with him at all times. As with his armory skill, his knowledge of the land is second to none. He has nearly a photographic memory when it comes to maps and plans. Once seen, it is locked away in his formidable memory.
Pretty much the only thing that ever gets J.B. excited are weaponry of any type.
One of J.B.’s habits is when in a potentially deadly situation, he yawns to let others know they could be in trouble. When nervous, or upset, he always moves around, never sitting still for more than a few minutes at a time. If he does sit still, he polishes his glasses or cleans his weapons. It is pretty much the only way to tell when something is bothering him.
He is also known for not watching you when you expect it, and paying close attention when your not.
At the beginning of the series, J.B. tended to smoke cheroot cigarettes. This habit has died off as the series continued.
A short time after meeting Mildred Wyeth J.B. felt something he has rarely felt before. He began to fall in love with her, and she with him. They became intimate with each other for the first time in Seedling, just before he nearly died from a mutant blow fly bite. The fact that Mildred saved his life seems to have cemented their budding relationship.
He meets his half Brother Jim Jennison in Shockscape. Jim tried to send a pair of assassins after him, but they went after Ryan instead. Later on, he is captured. On the way back to Vista there is an accident and the wagon crashes. He manages to escape, but eventually gives himself up. J.B. kills him with the M-4000 scattergun. Why he hated his half brother we may never know.
When he was just a young boy he was trapped in a cave in while exploring in the lucky chance mine located near his home. He had to spend several hours trapped below a corpse of a long dead woman while he struggled to get free. Once he was free, he discovered that he has been slightly claustrophobic ever since.
As a teenager his eyesight started to go on him, but he was able to correct that problem with eyeglasses. But in Freedom Lost, when he sees a eye doctor in order to replace his lost glasses he discoveries that he is suffering from glycoma, and if it's not treated soon he could go blind in about two years time.
Created on 07/14/97
Updated on 08/03/98