Virginia

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"Virginia is a deviless of particularly refined tastes, and particularly elaborate cunning."

Virginia is a fashionable, knowledgeable, and high-ranking deviless, and a former Lord Mayor of London.

Infernal Archaeology

Virginia has a taste for the souls of the learned and well-known. She has a significant interest in the histories of the Fallen Cities and the language of the Correspondence, and can often be found conducting research in the Forgotten Quarter. This puts her in frequent rivalry with other archaeologists, including Dr. Orthos, a scholar who has headed many expeditions.

Virginia is a player of the Marvellous. Long ago, she was a heroine of Hell's Season of Revolutions, helping overthrow a Prince of Hell after having an affair with him. The exiled prince still has an interest in her, but sadly for him, he is imprisoned alone on Corpsecage Island.

Infernal Elections

"Virginia's followers don't preach abstinence, nor even restraint. They advocate exercises, physical and spiritual, and spread the twin practices of penitence and callisthenics wherever they go."

Virginia successfully ran for Mayor of London in 1897, under the slogan Good for the Soul. Despite her status as a deviless, the Brass Embassy quickly disavowed any involvement with her candidacy and made an official statement to the press saying that she "was [London's] problem now." She became London's first Lord Mayor, a position renamed by the Jovial Contrarian as his last act in office.

Virginia's platform encouraged a "Clean Bill of Health," and promised to improve the lives and health of London's soul as a whole, using modern medicine and by opening a public spa to allow the "honing of the self, like a knife on a whetstone." Despite their rivalry, Dr Orthos chose to support Virginia's campaign, partly out of support for her policies and partly because if she won, he would have less interference in his Forgotten Quarter expeditions. He was not her only surprising ally; Virginia gained a motley crew of support, with society figures, lower-ranking devils, and even some members of the clergy campaigning on her behalf. She even garnered support from Temperance campaigners, who were nervous about Virginia's strategies but found that their views aligned with her agenda. Some of Virginia's more fervent allies put up posters depicting her as a new Queen Elizabeth, emblazoned with the caption "Rex Virginia;" these posters were quickly confiscated by the Ministry.

The motivations for Virginia's campaign were more complicated than mere public health. She and Orthos both expressed disgust at the corruption and debauchery of London as a city, but Virginia also hinted that she wants to prepare London for an unspecified future calamity. Perhaps, however, this was all simply to further her studies, or to harvest healthier souls, as devils do.