Virgil Church, Ep. 6 Downtime

Virgil penciled in the last few columns in his ledger and pushed it away from him, not bothering to look at the bottom line. He knew what it would say, anyway. Being a town hero in the aftermath of a bandit uprising buoyed his group along for a few months, but people were starting to get back to reality. There was no way another group of bandits was going to spontaneously rise up. Even the old camps that had little to do with Philo had been effectively disbanded by Newton's campaign and its aftermath. Caravans weren't being attacked at all, or only by very small numbers. In short, there was no reason to pay for a group of heavily armed, highly skilled escorts like Virgil's band.

For now, costs were being met, but each week brought fewer and fewer customers, and Virgil's expenses had increased. 15 men, rather than 12, each with the best equipment and horses he could find, were expensive to keep happy. Fact was, unless business improved measurably in the next month to a month and a half at most, he was going to have to cut back just as he was expanding. Virgil had never styled himself a soldier, but his days as an irregular were looking rosier than ever in afterthought.

Good thing he'd sprung Philo from the Fort.

Collective Downtime, Ep.6

All of my character's plots are kind of in limbo right now, so I figured that I'd just briefly recap their current objectives.

Corwin wants to expand the town of Newton. Corwin doesn't specifically want to increase his personal power per se, although he is quite jealous of the power he already has and views any increase as a desirable side effect. Really, Corwin has invested himself in Newton so thoroughly that he views the town as his personal responsibility, one he owes to Bill, and it flatters his ego to see the town do well. Especially if it's under his direction. He is quite convinced he knows what's best and won't hesitate one bit to push his will on others. Thus, he may have somewhat altruistic goals, but he hasn't suddenly become an altruist.

Lucius, on the other hand, wants the town to expand as well, but it's for a more personal gain. He wants to be on the Council, or to lead it. He wants to be important. He's so convinced that he needs to be on the Council he hasn't yet come up with a firm plan regarding what he'd do if he got there. As the last episode showed, he's completely willing to break the law, but he is not entirely evil - he doesn't want to kill or ruin unnecessarily.

Virgil wants to make money. He knows that he can only do that by protecting the trade of Newton, so he does want the town to expand, at least in principle. However, if the town expands too well and eliminates all of its threats, as it appears that they might do to the bandits, he would not be entirely opposed to creating a new one (such as with Cody or Greer?) in order to be paid to end it.

Virgil Church, Ep. 3 Downtime

Virgil is getting a bit worried. He's not concerned about the danger of fighting the bandits, he's concerned about it being too safe afterwards. Nobody would be willing to pay for an escort by a band of heavily armed mercenaries if the pass was safe enough that children would be playing in it. That'd shoot his dreams of expanding his business in Newton. No bandits means no risk, meansno money for protection. He'd have to leave Newton and make his living somewhere else, fighting against more competition and, heaven help him, more regulation. He hadn't realized at the time, but Church is slowing discovering that the old status quo had a lot going for it.

Virgil Church, Downtime #1

Virgil sat in the lockup, twiddling his thumbs. Anders had thrown him in here as soon as he’d had a spare moment, to “think for a spell” on what he’d done. He’d dealt with a threat to the town, right? The men were patsies; there was no way that had useful information. It wouldn’t do to leave them behind where they might make trouble. Besides, the only good bandit was a dead bandit. As long as things didn’t get too peaceful, anyway.

At any rate, Virgil had other things to ruminate on. He had realized, sitting in the Fort with the doctor and Anders and Eva, that only he and Ophelia Wolfe knew where the stranger had gotten his explosives, and it naturally would not be good for Sam Newton if word got out what he’d done to his nephew. Virgil tossed around the idea of blackmail, but decided in the end that Sam was too goo d a friend for that, and too useful as an ally in any case. Still, he could make some money off of this – doubtless Sam’d pay good money to protect what was left of his reputation. Otherwise, well, it didn’t bear thinking on.

Virgil Church

Virgil is a member of the rapidly-increasing service industry in Newton. He's a protection agent; he and the group he runs ride with caravans heading to the city-states and provide muscle to prevent and, if necessary, fight off bandit raids.

Virgil had a rough childhood. He grew up among the bandits and has been fighting for his life and livelihood, one way or another, nearly his entire life. He has no family, and few friends except for the dozen other men in his outfit. Even now that he's legitimate, he doesn't hate the bandits in general, seeing them as just another group fighting to survive, like everyone. If his own survival depends on fighting them off, then so be it. Virgil carries this same type of pragmatism with him everywhere; he is not a very principled man. If the stakes were high enough, he'd betray almost anybody (though for his friends, naturally, the stakes would have to be tremendous).

Though Newton's location and culture have made his business successful, he doesn't particularly care for the city in principle. Specifically, he does not care for the Newton family much at all - their luxurious, struggle-free lifestyle is moderately disgusting to him. William Newton himself was the only one who deserved his wealth, and with him will die the last does of reality left in the family.

Church's dramatic axis is as follows: he does not care for Newton, except insofar as its conducive to his continued business. Virgil firmly believes that this depends on good relations with Cody, Greer, and Laurel, and those good relations will stop if Newton tries to over-flex its muscles. In addition, his business depends on the bandits not being entirely eliminated; with the roads safe, who needs an escort? In short, Virgil needs things the stay the way they are as much as possible, and just like he always has, he'll do whatever he can to get what he needs.

EDIT: Virgil never knew his father and ran away from his mother early in life. He doesn't have any other family. He's had some on-again-off-again relationships with some women in Newton and the city-states, but he's just as likely to visit a prostitute.