Vivian G. Enderby
a merchant bank with a history stretching back for about 200 years and run primarily by the Enderby family for the last 100 or so, Enderby, Thompson & Bartwich have a stake in a whole mess of business enterprises in the West - shipping corporations, mining operations, farming conglomerates, munitions factories, all sorts of things, some of which (the two most prominent examples would be the Martindale Printers' Association and the Mahegee Liquor Company) they even have a controlling interest in.
When Vivian was but a fetching young debutante freshly turned 18, she never suspected what life would throw her way. Born into wealth, she received a good education spanning many subjects, from the fine arts to some elementary sciences, serving to develop a well-rounded, somewhat intellectual woman capable of carrying on conversations on a variety of subjects. She was to get married to a promising young man from a reputable family, you know, enjoy the simple and comfortable life. This obviously hasn't happened. You know why?
Benjamin D. Enderby, that's why. The man, fifty four years old, childless and freshly widowed at his first meeting with Vivian, swept the poor girl right off her feet, though this was more from his force of personality rather than good looks - he was obviously getting on in the years at that point. Her parents were shocked at first, then appalled. Then they got thinking - this guy hasn't got too many years left in him, plus he is the sole runner of one of the greater enterprises in the West. So Vivian, with her family's blessing, soon married the man in the twilight of his life. And with that, she was brought into his world.
Little did Vivian know what this world would be like - the leadership of Enderby, Thompson and Bartwich lived very secretive lives, and there was a very good reason for this. Little did anyone suspect that the old wives' tales were completely and utterly correct - they did engage in rampant devil worship (though they called it Yrg, the True Lord), late-night orgies with no regard for conventional morality, secret readings and interpretations of unholy texts in the pale moonlight and occasional animal sacrifices over specially constructed altars among other unusual activities. The cult of Yrg involves virtually all of the higher-ups of the company as well as key people from certain other companies they have shared ownership of. And Benjamin D. Enderby was the center of it all, the High Priest of Yrg. The cultists took (and still do, in fact) their worship incredibly seriously, though it was frequently mixed with ritual hedonism and other enjoyable violations of common Christian values, and the leadership of the cult was also the leadership of the company.
Vivian and Benjamin had a rather fulfilling marriage, with Vivian bearing two daughters from it, Grace and Hope, now 23 and 16 years old, respectively. Her marriage lasted for 25 years in total until her husband's death, and she enjoyed every moment with the man. Her close relations with her husband did have an interesting consequence, however - Benjamin, trusting nobody above his own wife, named her his successor as the High Priest of Yrg, exercising the right of the High Priest to name the heir to their title. Though the move caused some protest among the rest of the cultists, Benjamin was respected enough for the complaints to subside soon. And thus Vivian became the very first High Priestess of Yrg and the de facto owner of Enderby, Thompson & Bartwich Developments. Though not managing to quite achieve the universal popularity her husband enjoyed, she has run both the company and the cult with reasonable competence, expanding the company's assets in the region and the cult's influence among the affluent while still keeping the cult a very good secret.
It's been five years since she took her post, and she turned 48 just last month. Time has been kind to her, and she retains much of her earlier attractiveness, and what she has not retained, she has substituted with the sort of dignified refinement that a position of power and a well-spent life bring. Her daughters, though sometimes a bit too reckless and wanton in their ways, are largely a joy to her, and life would be looking good for her if not for the Civil War, which she is unabashedly sick of.
Vivian believes that the main priority of the New Pacific Republic should be the development of free enterprise in the region, though she also hopes to align the country with the Union and help them crush the Confederates, preferably with minimal bloodshed on their own part. The Cult of Yrg is all about freedom, and the abolition of slavery is one of its main bywords as a consequence, rendering its beliefs incompatible with the doctrines of the South.
Author
Topic: The Prosperous West: An American Civil War Businessmen RTD (Read 3815 times)