Eve Varney

Type
Person: NPC: Primary NPC

Physical Description
Species: Human

Gender: Female

Age: 30

Heritage: English

Appearance: short dark hair, pretty yet rugged, is missing an arm and a leg

Political Description
Faction: Fifth Column

Personal Description
Eve Varney (paternal surname Whitehouse; Varney is her mother’s surname) is the autocratic leader of the 5th Column. Her word is gospel, and her underlings look to her for political, tactical, and spiritual guidance. She is poised, elegant, respectable, and charismatic. Her presence demands attention, but she is not outwardly inflammatory. Eve harbors a burning hatred in her heart for the Gentry. It is not just political for her; it is personal.

History
Eve is the bastard daughter of a Gentry member, Edward Whitehouse. Edward Whitehouse was a respectable, wealthy merchant within the Gentry elite. He was married to Eloise Whitehouse, and they had a son together, Horatio Whitehouse.

When Horatio was six years old, Edward had an affair with the Whitehouse’s maid, Estella Varney. Estella was a poor woman, and definitely not a Gentry member. Relations between Gentry members and non-Gentry members are explicitly banned by Lord Southgate. The result of this affair was Eve.

The secrecy of it was short-lived. Edward was exposed to Lord Southgate by one of his competitors in the merchant trade, and sent to prison. Estella and Eve were exiled from ever working officially for a Gentry member. They had to live off the London wasteland.

Eloise and Horatio lost all their wealth and high status. Not long after Edward’s imprisonment, due to both stress and a poor environment, Eloise became ill with tunnel cough and died, leaving Horatio an orphan and indentured servant to the Gentry.

In exile, Estella initially tried to provide for Eve by prostituting herself covertly to members of the Gentry. After about four years in the Gentry’s debtor’s prison, Edward was sentenced to a hanging. Eve and Estella were present for it. Edward’s execution served as a formative memory in Eve’s mind -- the power of an authoritarian government.

When Eve reached her early teens, her mother passed from a combination of malnutrition, disease, and physical abuse from her work. Eve was forced to pick up where her mother left off. From her unfortunate line of work, Eve became pregnant, and soon gave birth to a daughter, Lily. Whilst Eve would never identify Lily’s father, he is rumoured to be quite high up in the Gentry.

Harold Atley, the founder of the 5th Columnists, found Eve by posing as a customer. With the promise of taking down the Gentry and taking power for herself, Eve was enthralled. He recruited her into its ranks, where she exhibited an exorbitant amount of ambition and drive.

Also recruited into the 5th Column’s ranks was Horatio Whitehouse, Eve’s half-brother. Horatio and Eve were always aware of their blood relation, but it never troubled Eve. Horatio, however, always viewed her as competition. While he rose through the ranks of the Administration branch, she thrived in Offense.

Harold’s demise began after he was fatally wounded by an IODS gang member. On his deathbed, his will was a shock to none but one: Horatio. Harold bequeathed the 5th Column’s leadership to Eve, despite her position being more tactical than political. Horatio, who had scraped and climbed his way up the bureaucracy, was left as the lead advisor of the administration.

Under Eve’s leadership, the 5th Column grew stronger and fiercer. Their numbers and military prowess grew. Eve rules as a sort of divine figure; the Columnists’ devotion to her is so devout, one could mistake her for a goddess. This is likely because Eve HAS created lore around her rise to power, which is distributed amongst the faction… She asserts that Harold was an avenging angel sent to free London from the Gentry’s tyrannical reign, and that she carries his spirit inside of her.

While Eve comes from a place of righteous vindication, she plans to fight fire with fire. She seeks to implement an authoritarian, fascist government that exerts as much control as possible. She does not believe people can rule themselves.