[quote=“Doomdog, post:10, topic:1236”]
Why did Ivor have Richard Slavin steal all those Mystical goods early on? Was that a wider Fourth Ring plot?
Was Slavin’s soul used to create Junior? I figured that’s what happened based on Ivor’s words and the card art/ability, but it’d be nice to get an answer on that
What was the power behind the Legendary Holster? I think one of the early fictions could be read as a hint it might be linked to Jebediah Whateley in some way.[/quote]
Jonah Essex was the mysterious third party who hired the Fourth Ring to acquire the various mystical items from around Gomorra. 
Jonah Essex is part of a member of a very small and secretive cult that has existed for close to a millennia. They worship and serve one thing … the being inside the holster, named “Sloane”. The holster has not always been a holster though. It has taken many shapes over the years, being reworked and reshaped by the members of this cult to fit the times (naturally a holster is a perfect fit for the American West). He is responsible for giving his master an outlet by attaching it to the gang’s leader all the while searching for a way to resurrect the true “Sloane” in a new body to wreak havoc across the world once more.
“Sloane” is an agent of Death that dates back to LONG before the Reckoning. So Jonah himself serves Death as well, which is why he orchestrated the Election Day Slaughter (well not all of it … a lot of that was just gravy).
Jonah had sought out the various mystical items in an attempt to resurrect his master, to free him from the prison of the holster. However, he couldn’t jeopardize himself and his place in the gang in the process. So he secretly hired Ivor to obtain them for him.
In Mario as a harrowed person, Jonah had finally found a vessel that could allow his master some room to breathe and play, but it proved too dangerous and uncontrollable. Regardless, Mario and the manitou were still present, so it was never an ideal solution for his master. But with the coming of Dr. Blackmore, Jonah finally discovered a way to resurrect the being in the holster and restore him to this world permanently.
And no … Junior is not Richard Slavin. Very interesting theory that I never would have seen. But now that you mention it, the similarities with the ability and all that are a bit uncanny. If we had intended to keep Slavin around in one form or another though, I definitely would have made that clear … it would have been a really fun fiction piece toward the end to have Junior encounter Valeria in some way.