Editing Virginia

{{Spoiler}}
{{Character|image1 = <gallery>
Virginiaposter.png{{!}}Campaign Poster
Virginia MotR.png{{!}}MotR|caption1 = |location = [[London]]<br>
[[The Forgotten Quarter]]|allegiance = Independent|alias = [[Lord Mayor of London]] (1897)<br>
Rex Virginia (to supporters)|relationships = [[The Brass Embassy]]<br>[[Hell]]<br>Dr Orthos}}<blockquote>''"Virginia is a deviless of particularly refined tastes, and particularly elaborate cunning."''<ref>{{Citation|https://fallenlondon.wiki/wiki/Hearing_Rumours_of_Virginia%27s_Progress|Hearing Rumours of Virginia's Progress|Fallen London|}}</ref></blockquote>'''Virginia''' is a fashionable, knowledgeable, and high-ranking [[Devils|deviless]], and a former [[Lord Mayor of London]].__forcetoc__

==Infernal Archaeology==
<blockquote>''"You sweat in the fierce heat and plush chairs of Dante's Grill. Before you is a plate of chops, drowned in white gravy. Virginia is laughing. "I'm afraid you're out of luck. My country is free, our oppressors are buried, and I have endless diversions. I am a problem for you: I am content."''<ref>{{Citation|https://fallenlondon.wiki/wiki/Invite_Virginia_to_dinner|Invite Virginia to dinner|Fallen London|}}</ref> </blockquote>Virginia has a taste for the [[souls]] of scholars;<ref>{{Citation|https://fallenlondon.wiki/wiki/Observe_Virginia|Observe Virginia|Fallen London|}} ''"Virginia specialises in claiming the souls of the curious, the learned and the academic."''</ref> she has an interest in the [[Correspondence]],<ref>{{Citation|https://fallenlondon.wiki/wiki/Invite_Virginia_to_dinner|Invite Virginia to dinner|Fallen London|}} ''"What of the Correspondence? She wants that, doesn't she? She smiles, fondly. "This is why we are the wolves and you are the lambs. Because we know that the pleasure of a thing lies in the pursuit, not the capture.""''</ref><ref>{{Citation|https://maskoftherose.miraheze.org/wiki/Virginia#The_Stone|Virginia: The Stone|Mask of the Rose|}} ''""I told you there would be writing on the stone. Those marks, you illiterate donkey, are the language of stars. In those words the laws of the universe are brought to pass. The planets are constrained in their course. Time is compelled to march on."''</ref> and can often be found conducting research in the [[Forgotten Quarter]].<ref>{{Citation|https://fallenlondon.wiki/wiki/Observe_Virginia|Observe Virginia|Fallen London|}}''"Few devils take an interest in matters as scholarly as archaeology, but it seems that Virginia has sponsored expeditions before with her seemingly endless reserves of brass."''</ref> She has lived long enough<ref>{{Citation|https://maskoftherose.miraheze.org/wiki/Virginia#Friendship_&_Service|Virginia: Friendship & Service|Mask of the Rose|}} ''"I have lived centuries; I have grown and died and grown."''</ref> to know of all the previous [[Fallen Cities]],<ref>{{Citation|https://maskoftherose.miraheze.org/wiki/Virginia#Ministerial_Expos%C3%A9s|Virginia: Ministerial Exposés|Mask of the Rose|}} ''(Player: What do you think Mr Pages intends for London?) "Much the same thing the Masters intended for the previous four cities. They will manage poorly, and in the end the city will be destroyed."''</ref> but was only assigned as an envoy to [[London]] immediately after [[The Fall of London|the Fall]].<ref>{{Citation|https://maskoftherose.miraheze.org/wiki/Virginia#Helping_Milton|Virginia: Helping Milton|Mask of the Rose|}} ''"Unlike Milton, I was occupied with important duties during the Fourth. Hell was my concern, even before the Revolution. The Fourth was delegated to lesser kin."''</ref> Despite mutual distrust,<ref>{{Citation|https://maskoftherose.miraheze.org/wiki/Virginia#The_Story|Virginia: The Story|Mask of the Rose|}} ''"The Masters are absurdly reluctant to trust our accounts of ourselves. Relations between Hell and its eastern neighbour have, historically, been fractious. Relations within Hell are also unreliable at the moment. We find London reticent to sign our contracts. Beginning with regulations for the sale of souls, agreed with the Bazaar."''</ref> she met with [[Mr Pages]] to lay the groundwork for the establishment of the [[Brass Embassy]].<ref>{{Citation|https://maskoftherose.miraheze.org/wiki/Virginia#The_Meeting_With_Mr_Pages|Virginia: The Meeting with Mr Pages|Mask of the Rose|}} ''"We will have an embassy, just as my predecessors held in the Fourth City. We do not grant that London equals us in stature. We must, however, have a proper place for the receipt of tribute."''</ref> By this time, she had already come up with the ideas she would include in her mayoral campaign over three decades later.<ref>{{Citation|https://maskoftherose.miraheze.org/wiki/Virginia#Friendship_&_Service|Virginia: Friendship & Service|Mask of the Rose|}} ''"I have many purposes for London. I do not know all of them myself, yet. The wholesale improvement of its souls, for one. Improved and regular transport to the west. The systematic elimination of the most particularly foolish and wasteful traditions of the place."''</ref> 

Virginia is a player of the [[Marvellous]],<ref>{{Citation|https://fallenlondon.wiki/wiki/Ambition:_Heart%27s_Desire_%E2%80%93_Virginia|Ambition: Heart's Desire – Virginia|Fallen London|}} ''"The sixth player is the deviless Virginia: pursuer of the Correspondence; scourge of archaeologists; passable pianist."''</ref> and her heart's desire is laconic: "sanctuary."<ref>{{Citation|https://fallenlondon.wiki/wiki/Ask_about_Virginia%27s_own_heart%27s_desire|Ask about Virginia's own heart's desire|Fallen London|}} ''"Virginia gives you the thinnest smile you have ever seen. "Sanctuary," she says, in a voice as soft as bare feet on snow. She looks away, indicating the end of the discussion."''</ref> She was a heroine of [[Hell]]'s Season of Revolutions,<ref>{{Citation|https://maskoftherose.miraheze.org/wiki/Virginia#The_Story|Virginia: The Story|Mask of the Rose|}} ''"I enjoy a certain status due to the events of the Season of Revolutions."''</ref> performing a crucial role in the deposition of a [[Grand Devils|Prince of Hell]]<ref>{{Citation|https://maskoftherose.miraheze.org/wiki/Virginia#Virginia's_Past|Virginia: Virginia's Past|Mask of the Rose|}} ''"I toppled one of our Saints, who in their hubris called themselves Princes. The Prince's fall opened for us the Vineyards of the Honeyed Exile. That is what made victory possible."''</ref> after having an affair with him.<ref>{{Citation|https://maskoftherose.miraheze.org/wiki/Milton#Virginia's_Past|Milton: Virginia's Past|Mask of the Rose|}} ''"Virginia was connected with a Prince of Apiaries. A detestable tyrant of bitter honey and sweet wine. I have heard that they were lovers. That for her he made a special vintage, Apis Tears. [...] I have heard [...] that she poisoned it. I have also heard that she harvested it from his corpse, after he died of natural causes. And she emerged from his thorny vineyard, self-made, a hero."''</ref><ref>{{Citation|https://fallenlondon.wiki/wiki/Delve_into_the_Church%27s_archives_about_Virginia|Delve into the Church's archives about Virginia|Fallen London|}} ''"Virginia's file is thick for a devil of her rank. Towards the end, you find an account of her activities during the season of revolutions. "Virginia's a zealot," the Bishop says, peering over your shoulder. "Betrayed – then testified against – her own lover, a Prince of Hell. They imprisoned him, somewhere.""''</ref> The exiled prince, who still has an interest in Virginia,<ref>{{Citation|https://fallenlondon.wiki/wiki/Free_it|Free it|Fallen London|}} ''"The Prince shakes your hand (its digits are hot as a kettle) [...] "Give Virginia my love," it sings, rising in a winged, humming cloud that eclipses the false-stars."''</ref> is imprisoned in solitary confinement on [[Corpsecage Island]].<ref>{{Citation|https://fallenlondon.wiki/wiki/Uncover_the_location_of_a_One-Time_Prince_of_Hell|Uncover the location of a One-Time Prince of Hell|Fallen London|}} ''"You learn that Virginia's lover ruled a Principality called the Perfection of Bells. That she did not survive her betrayal unscathed – you uncover a requisition order for 'a new face [...]'. [...] Hell's rulers interred the Prince on a miserable flyspeck of an isle [...] called Corpsecage."''</ref> For her part, Virginia is disdainful about love, thanks to her experiences as well as the influence of the [[Masters of the Bazaar]].<ref>{{Citation|https://maskoftherose.miraheze.org/wiki/The_Feast_of_the_Rose#Virginia|The Feast of the Rose: Virginia|Mask of the Rose|}} ''"Oh, and don't fall in 'love.' It will only hinder your uses and limit the scope of your ambitions. Besides. It's what they want you to do."''</ref>

==Mayoral Campaign==
<blockquote>''"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."<ref name=":0">{{Citation|https://fallenlondon.wiki/wiki/Virginia_(Card)|Virginia (Card)|Fallen London|}}</ref>''</blockquote>Virginia successfully ran for [[Mayor of London]] in 1897, under the slogan ''"Good for the Soul''."<ref>{{Citation|https://fallenlondon.wiki/wiki/Virginia_(Choose_your_Candidate_1897)|Virginia (Choose your Candidate 1897)|Fallen London|}} ''"An intrepid archaeologist, fortune-hunter and devil, Virginia has a rigorous plan for London, a program of spiritual calisthenics. She declares herself 'Good for the soul'."''</ref> Despite her status in [[Hell]], the [[Brass Embassy]] quickly disavowed any involvement with her candidacy and stated to the press that she had "Nothing to do with us" and "She's your problem now."<ref>{{Citation|https://fallenlondon.wiki/wiki/Virginia_(Learn_more_about_the_Candidates:_1897)|Virginia (Learn more about the Candidates: 1897)|Fallen London|}} ''"Virginia's candidacy was followed by an immediate disavowal by the Brass Embassy. 'Nothing to do with us,' the ambassadors were quoted in the Gazette, 'She's your problem now.'"''</ref> Virginia's platform promoted the concept of a "Clean Bill of Health,"<ref name=":1">{{Citation|https://fallenlondon.wiki/wiki/Virginia_(Learn_more_about_the_Candidates:_1897)|Virginia (Learn more about the Candidates: 1897)|Fallen London|}} ''"The devil's rejection of Virginia may have something to do with her planned programme for London: 'Virginia's Clean Bill of Health.' It is a policy of public works designed to improve the health of the average Londoner. She has termed it 'callisthenics for the soul'."''</ref> and promised to nourish the collective [[soul]] of [[London]] with the help of innovative treatments<ref name=":2">{{Citation|https://fallenlondon.wiki/wiki/Learn_more_about_Virginia%27s_campaign|Learn more about Virginia's campaign|Fallen London|}} ''"...Dr Orthos is on hand to answer any questions you might have. "Metaphysically speaking, London is a cess-pit [...] a spa is just the beginning. We are modern people! Through modern medicine, we can improve the moral – and aesthetic – timbre of London's people.""''</ref> and the opening of a public spa for the "honing of the self."<ref>{{Citation|https://fallenlondon.wiki/wiki/Ask_about_Virginia%27s_plans_for_London|Ask about Virginia's plans for London|Fallen London|}} ''"...I shall open a spa. Bodily health, and spiritual needs, will be catered for. The Neath offers so much opportunity for glory, but so many Londoners seek out smallness and dullness. I offer improvement; a honing of the self, like a knife on a whetstone.""''</ref> Her strategies were frequently referred to with terms like "spiritual calisthenics."<ref name=":1" /><ref>{{Citation|https://fallenlondon.wiki/wiki/Virginia_(Card)|Virginia (Card)|Fallen London|}} ''"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."''</ref> 

Despite their archaeological rivalry, her fellow scholar [[Dr Orthos]] supported Virginia's campaign as a spokesman,<ref name=":2" /> perhaps because her victory would lead to reduced interference in his work. Virginia gained a motley crew of support from society figures, doctors, devils<ref name=":3">{{Citation|https://fallenlondon.wiki/wiki/Virginia_(Learn_more_about_the_Candidates:_1897)|Virginia (Learn more about the Candidates: 1897)|Fallen London|}} ''"Despite her difficulties with the Embassy, she is amply supported by devils on the street. Her supporters skirt the edge of good taste. Several posters have had to be confiscated by the Ministry, depicting Virginia as a new Elizabeth, emblazoned with the words 'Rex Virginia.'"''</ref> and [[Goat-Demons|goat-demons]] (even though the Embassy had snubbed her), and even some members of the clergy<ref>{{Citation|https://fallenlondon.wiki/wiki/Virginia_(Card)|Virginia (Card)|Fallen London|}} ''"Virginia's supporters include doctors, barbers, worried Society matrons, devils, goat-demons and a surprising number of clergy. This disparate coalition can be found leafleting gin shops, student lodgings and the favourite dining establishments of Ministry auditors. Their backgrounds are diverse, but their message is the same: 'Don't we all have room for a little improvement?'"''</ref> — but much of her funding came from an even more surprising source. While advocates for the temperance movement were nervous about her strategies, they found that their views aligned with her agenda of well-being.<ref>{{Citation|https://fallenlondon.wiki/wiki/Reach_into_a_secret_memory_of_Virginia|Reach into a secret memory of Virginia|Fallen London|}} ''"A tip-off […] clues you into the source of Virginia's support […] Temperance campaigners. […] The ladies are delighted by Virginia's promises, but are unsure about her strategy […] Still, they hope her message will win out in the end. […]"''</ref> Some of Virginia's more fervent devilish 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.<ref name=":3" />

After Virginia won the election, the [[Jovial Contrarian]], in his final act as Mayor, stated that his own office was "corrupt, shambolic and altogether unfit for purpose," and declared that he had abolished it. In its place, he created the new title of Lord Mayor,<ref>[https://fallenlondon.wiki/wiki/Election_1897:_The_Victor_is_Announced Election 1897: The Victor is Announced, ''Fallen London''] ''"We all know the office of Mayor is corrupt, shambolic and altogether unfit for purpose. Therefore, as my last act, I have abolished it. I have put in an appeal to Her Majesty. From now on, London shall have a'' Lord ''Mayor instead."''</ref> and announced that Virginia would be the first person to hold it.<ref>{{Citation|https://fallenlondon.wiki/wiki/Election_1897:_The_Victor_is_Announced|Election 1897: The Victor is Announced|Fallen London|}} ''"He brandishes a piece of paper authoritatively. "London's first Lord Mayor shall be ... Virginia.""''</ref>
=="Rex Virginia"==
<blockquote>''"Is this what London does to its mayors? Jenny's term was only three years ago. Did anything last? ... It doesn't matter. I refuse to be measured by the work of my predecessors. What I shall do will stand so high above them that it will not be necessary."''<ref>{{Citation|https://fallenlondon.wiki/wiki/Jenny's_Lighthouse|Jenny's Lighthouse|Fallen London|}}</ref></blockquote>Virginia immediately started working on her spa; she bought and renovated a townhouse for the purpose<ref>{{Citation|https://fallenlondon.wiki/wiki/The_Lord_Mayor_of_London_(Virginia)|The Lord Mayor of London (Virginia)|Fallen London|}} ''"In her first act as Mayor, Virginia took over a fashionable townhouse on Ladybones Road and gutted the interior immediately. [...] Within the elegant, tiled walls of her under-construction spa, Virginia has assembled a team of clergy, temperance campaigners, and devils. These provide therapeutic services, open to all Virginia's constituents."''</ref> and made an agreement with the Dynamite, a revolutionary faction of [[devils]], to hire a group of devil "physicians" of sorts.<ref>{{Citation|https://fallenlondon.wiki/wiki/Investigate_the_Mayor_(Virginia)|Investigate the Mayor (Virginia)|Fallen London|}} ''"Virginia has introduced a school of 'physicians', infernal in origin and practice. They arrived by the Moloch St. train, bearing papers signed by 'the Dynamite'. The Brass Embassy is not happy."''</ref> Visitors were often surprised by the odd treatments offered;<ref>{{Citation|https://fallenlondon.wiki/wiki/Investigate_the_Mayor_(Virginia)|Investigate the Mayor (Virginia)|Fallen London|}} ''"Londoners brave (or bored) enough to surrender themselves to the treatments emerge baffled. There are reports of sitting in copper bathtubs and guessing the number of occupants the bath has ever held, of waiting rooms stuffed with the terminally boring and of lengthy examinations of Rubbery physiognomy."''</ref> they might be asked to "read a range of dreadful 'improving' works of literature,"<ref name=":4">{{Citation|https://fallenlondon.wiki/wiki/Accompany_Virginia_for_a_treatment|Accompany Virginia for a treatment|Fallen London|}} ''"There is an intrusive, if polite, examination. There are forms to be signed in triplicate. At its end, a devil in a doctor's apron declares you 'sufficiently mutable'. Over several hours, you are invited to read a range of dreadful 'improving' works of literature. You are fed some kind of sour-cream porridge. You are asked to drink a litre of room temperature water. The rationale is not explained. Virginia returns your forms at the end, telling you that the 'process is under refinement'. She frowns, pensively. One day, she says, this will work."''</ref> or "lie still and think of anything – anything at all – other than a Rubbery Man."<ref>{{Citation|https://fallenlondon.wiki/wiki/Accompany_Virginia_for_a_treatment|Accompany Virginia for a treatment|Fallen London|}} ''"You are asked to lie still and think of anything – anything at all – other than a Rubbery Man. You may think of Rubbery cats, Rubbery dogs, Rubbery vicars and Rubbery vergers, but you absolutely must not think of even one be-tentacled Rubbery Man."''</ref> Needless to say, these novel ideas were ineffectual.<ref name=":4" /><ref name=":5">{{Citation|https://fallenlondon.wiki/wiki/Advertisements_of_a_New_Venture|Advertisements of a New Venture|Fallen London|}} ''"Then Virginia became Lord Mayor. Her spa was failing; the production of robust souls was providing difficult. There was grumbling, most of all from her own constituents."''</ref>
[[File:Railway.png|thumb|A locomotive of the [[Great Hellbound Railway]]]]
Months later, as it became clear to all that Virginia's spa was a failure,<ref name=":5" /> she made an announcement out of the blue that overshadowed her prior goals: a deal had been struck with [[Hell]]. Regardless of the efficacy of her original plan, electing a devil as Lord Mayor had made Hell's attitude toward [[London]] more relaxed, allowing Virginia to negotiate the opening of the [[Hinterlands]] between the two cities to Londoners.<ref>{{Citation|https://fallenlondon.wiki/wiki/Advertisements_of_a_New_Venture|Advertisements of a New Venture|Fallen London|}} ''"That is when she announced a new initiative: a deal brokered with Hell, a whole stretch of land opened to London development."''</ref> She created the Ministry of Upper River Development, leading to the foundation of the [[The Great Hellbound Railway|Great Hellbound Railway]], which constructed a second rail line between London and Hell.<ref>{{Citation|https://fallenlondon.wiki/wiki/Advertisements_of_a_New_Venture|Advertisements of a New Venture|Fallen London|}} ''"She founded the Ministry of Upper River Development [...] Seeing opportunity, His Amused Lordship joined a few friends to form the Great Hellbound Railway Company. Now they are seeking fellow directors from among the wealthiest and most notable Londoners."''</ref> 
==References==
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[[Category:Characters]]
[[Category:Devils]]