Want to Know

The Wu Yun Saga was a collaboratively-written western novella on The Austin Improv Forums.

A photo used to represent Wu Yun in an online meme.

History

The thread began on 4/24/12, when a spambot posted the following text to the "General Discussion" forum (with the topic "want to know"):

Chapter 30 1 ...He looked at Wu Yun, slowly asked: "I find you not to ask you this, I just want to know, you refuse me, drew this picture of that person?"

A few hours later (before moderators could delete the spam), Peter Rogers added a continuation of "Chapter 30", re-contextualizing the original garbled line as a story about a Chinese-American bounty hunter in the Old West.

Ten minutes after that, Brad Hawkins added "Chapter 31", and the thread became a collaborative novella, with AIC members adding subsequent chapters. Over time, the story incorporated many new characters and complications, until 2/20/13, when Jordan T. Maxwell posted chapter 70.

On 4/1/13, frequent contributors Jordan T. Maxwell, Peter Rogers, Kevin Miller, and Jessie Pascarelli met to plan out the conclusion of the story with a four-chapter arc, but those chapters were not posted until the week of 5/12/14.

Characters

Warning: This section contains spoilers.

• Wu Yun: Bounty hunter hired by Sheriff Brettsdick to capture Jesse. His horse is named Happy Beauty Pony. His gun is named Killer of Bad Personss.
• Jesse Calhoun: Fugitive from the law who exerts mob-style protection over Mission's End. Thief of some quantity of gold, which he used to lure Wu Yun and McCray.
• Red Boy: Apache youth who hangs around Jesse, and yet shoots him in the chest when given the chance to split the stolen gold.
• Cassandra Cleary: Barkeep in Mission's End, Jesse's secret wife who has betrayed him to both Wu Yun and McCray… at Jesse's request.
• Sheriff Brettsdick: The cowardly sheriff tasked with recovering the missing gold. He hired Wu Yun to do the dirty work.
• Judge Horatio Dicks: Federal judge. Jesse was his prisoner. Romantic connection to Lien-hua. Shot dead by Chandler Cleary.
• Audie McCray: Federal marshall hired by Dicks separately to capture or kill his estranged half-brother Jesse. Upon receipt of the package, however, he turns to Jesse's side.
• Hazel McCray: Audie's lost wife, until recently in the mistreated "employ" of Chandler Cleary. Now on the side of Wu Yun, along with her girls.
• Addy Windale: Another of Hazel's gang, kidnapped from Mission's End as a young child and sought by Jesse.
• Lien-hua: Wu Yun's sister, once thought dead, but apparently living as a whore in San Francisco. Abducted by Cassandra's father. Romantically attached to Dicks.
• Chandler Cleary: Cassandra's father, a Mason, and the shadowy figure who is the source of the gold. Missing his right hand.
• Doc Jenkins: Solitary doctor to whom Audie brings his wounded brother, Jesse, for treatment.

More Information

• The original Wu Yun thread.