Book
Shepherd Book was first picked up as a passenger at the Eavesdown Docks on Persephone. He was initially a paying customer without any clear fixed destination in mind. The crew immediately appreciated his culinary skills, even if the captain's welcome could best be described as frosty.
The preacher is a man with a murky past. There are suggestions that he may have held a high ranking position within the Alliance but it is obviously a part of his life that he wishes to remain buried.
This has been shown by his actions as although a man of the cloth, he seems a little too adept with a shotgun to always have been such. This is despite his protestations that the Lord is a little bit fuzzy when it comes to the business of kneecaps. However life isn't about to get any easier as Book has found himself suffering from a crisis of faith.
The crews illegal activities and eager involvement in violent crime is hard for him to reconcile but he decides to stay because "there are heathens aplenty right here". Book has what can only be described as a fractious relationship with the ships captain, and can occasionally be seen working out with Jayne although he seems to have forged a rapport with both River and Inara.
