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Bob Anderson: Legal Counsel to the North American division of News Corporation. Currenlty serving as Edward's lawyer, during it's liquidation.
Edward Carpenter: The mortal man who has been given the task of saving humanity from a cataclysmic state. In his mortal life, he was an engineer working for a small defense sub-contractor outside of Washington D.C. in a job (and career) that he felt was 'dead-end.' He was a blogger at one point, but at some point in the past had lost interest in that. Politically, he's a strongly pro-science, moderate liberal who might describe himself as a "free-market liberal," though very much an anti-corporatist. He was raised Catholic but does not practice any religion. He considers himself agnostic and is a strong supporter of the separation of church and state.
Gabriel: The Archangel.Tasked by God to carry out the judgement of humankind.
Luci: (Luci Star, Lucifer Morning Star) A fallen Angel who has been assisting Gabriel in his interaction with human kind ever since falling form grace. Although she no longer possesses the powers and responsibilities of a true Angel, she has a better understanding of mortals, humans in particular, and would prefer that they not be destroyed, as Gabriel has indicated is most likely to happen. She persuades Gabriel to give humanity one more chance, and gives Edward her Tablet - an artifact containing a small portion of the power she has left. With it, he'll have the power to alter the fate of humanity, one individual at a time, and once per person. Although she is more commonly known as "the Devil," she finds that term offensive, and will not hide her anger toward those who use it.Jason Northville: A retired Army Major and soon to be retired Central Intelligence Agent. He is dying of Lung Cancer and Edward has promised to cure him - granting him immortality - in exchange for him having saved his life.
Gretchen Randle: A staffer for the Vice President. Extremely shy and timid. Got the job because her graduate thesis advisor was friends with the staffing director at the White House and was impressed with her policy insight. She has an incredibly strong moral foundation, but needs to stand up for herself and her beliefs more often and more strongly. Her real name is not revealed until Chapter 14 (to Edward.) The Vice President refers to her as 'Rachel' in Chapter 12, but her first appearance was... way before that! (Spoiler will not be revealed yet, but can you figure out where it was? It's actually kind of important!) Is intimidated by Epiphany at first, but manages to maintain her composure when Epiphany first tried to mess with her.
Sheldon Runyon: State Legislator from Louisiana appointed to fill one of that State's Senate vacancies. Runyon is absolutely inspired by and based on Gary Oldman's character (of the same name) from The Contender. The same is true of the other character mentioned at the time of Runyon's introduction, Bob Rumson, of Wyoming, who was borrowed from Richard Dryefuss's character in The American President. But where Runyon will be used later on in the story, Rumson was only thrown in there in case anyone wasn't sure that I was taking the character from the movie. I am. (And I don't expect to mention Rumson again, but we'll see how it goes.) The only thing I changed were the State's they represented: Runyon was originally from Illinois, but was changed to Louisiana because that's just how I envisioned my version of the character. Otherwise Oldman's performance is EXACTLY the character I'm looking for here. And while Rumson was from Kansas, but I changed this to Wyoming because, let's face it: We all know Dreyfuss was really playing Dick Cheney in that movie! (And hey: The guy went on to play Cheney strait up in Oliver Stone's W.)John Rydell: A Liberal blogger who was between jobs when he first met with Edward. Considered by Edward to be the most Liberal man in the wolrd who's judgement he still trusts. Wrote 'Lefty's Grove,' a Left-leaning blog that Edward has admired greatly over the years.
Professor Robert Todd: Professor of philosophy at UC-Berkeley, and web-renouned skeptic. Author of Skeptipedia Brintannica and other works on Logic, Reasoning and Critical Thinking. One of Edward's all-time intellectual heroes.
Agent West: A Secret Service agent who's aligned himself with Edward. Before his recruitment, Edward had used the Tablet to manipulate him in several ways, including using him to gain access to the White House and Oval Office, and eventually having West shoot him, so that he could demonstrate his immortality. Despite these abuses, West agreed to help Edward, partly out of gratitude that Edward was fixing everything related to the shooting, and out of appreciation for Edward telling him the truth and bringing him into the fold. After hearing everything he also wanted to make sure that the Tablet, and Edward, never fell into the wrong hands, assuming even Edwards were the "right" ones. And finally West hold out some hope that if Edward ever needed to be reigned in, he just might be the man to do it. Although he was given immortality by Edward, he will only live another 200 years, due to the the fate that Edward placed on him when he was controlling him. West is also aware that Edward no longer has any actual power over him.
Epiphany Wolport: A girl that Edward meets in a coffee shop after tripping and spilling her drink. The circumstances of their meeting suggest that she is meant to be Edward's soul-mate. She's a staunch feminist and a self-proclaimed 'screaming' liberal. She's half-Thai and was raised by her Grandmother from a young age after he parents perished in a plane crash. She's tough, independent and outspoken. She writes a liberal, feminist blog called "Feminist's Rag" and has been banned from Jezebel. She was convinced almost immediately that Edward's first idea for how to use the Tablet was the correct one. For some reason she feels nothing but contempt for Gretchen, but can't quite figure out why. Paul Wyczyk: An accountant specializing in fraud detection. Blogs infrequently, but was a regular reader of Edward's at one time. Considered by Edward to be the most Conservtaive man in the world who's opinion is still worth a damn. (Note: I decided to change his name from 'Dietrich' about halfway through the story. I just thought of his as more Polish and less German. So if I missed fixing a mention of a "Paul Dietrich" anywhere, please let me know. Because his name's Wyczyk now. LOL)
-------------------- MINOR CHARECTERS ---------------------
Azrael - An Angel of death and destruction who's appearance in the form of a Comet brought about the extintion of the dinosaurs. Is coming back on 12/21/12 to fullfill Gabriel judgement of humanity.
Baal - A Fallen Angel who tried to become a False God. Was destroyed in a confrontationn with Gabriel and Lucifer.
Agent Michael Boreman - A burly Texan in the Secret Service assigned to tail Edward and Epiphany on their cross-country trek to recruit John Rydell, Paul Wyczyk and Robert Todd.Agent Kim - A rookie FBI Agent of Korean descent assigned to investigate the New Years Eve Suicides.
Mister Lin - Chinese Landlord. His E Street townhouse was the scene of one of the New Years Suidicides.
Khanda Malai - Epihpany's Grandmother on her (Thai) mother's side.
Congressman Bill Spencer (D-MO) - An early political ally of Edward's. Appointed to replace the deceased Todd Akin. Helps get the ball rolling on a National Health Care System.
Joeseph Patrick Sullivan - Bartender and proprietor of "The Lower Depths," a dive-bar in a neglected corner of Alexandria, Virginia. Closed the bar after his friend died in it due to complications following a long life of alchoholism.
-------------------- ACTUAL PEOPLE ---------------------
Roger Ailes (deceased)
Congressman Todd Akin (deceased)
Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito (deceased)
Congresswoman Michelle Bachman (deceased)
Vice-President Joe Biden
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton
Vice President Dick Cheney (deceased)
Congressman Howard Coble (deceased)
Sean Hannity (deceased)
Attourney General Eric Holder
Governor Mike Huckabee (deceased)
Senator James Inhofe (deceased)
Charles Koch (deceased)
Rush Limbaugh (deceased)
FBI Director Robert Mueller
Ruppert Murdoch (deceased)
President Barack Obama
Bill O'Rielly (deceased)
CIA Director Leon Panetta
The Reverend Pat Robertson (deceased)
Chief of Staff Pete Rouse
Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia (deceased)
