Biography:
Wooden Heart: Formed in 3599 as a result of the terrorist bombing that split Whirljack’s branch, Blackjack is the only emanation whose name was not revealed when he saw himself in a mirror. After the damage to Atlas is incurred, Ashtara finds that he is unable to manifest Whirljack, one of his most powerful emanations. In an act as desperate as it is oblique, Wynne is sent to the casino to play cards, and wins by getting Blackjack – his strange ability to alter probability apparently fixes the problem with the split branch by causing Whirljack to emanate as twins.
Their first emanation is a disconcerting surprise. When the pair enter Universe Prime, the other emanations are afflicted with a headache and disorientation (they later learn that when a dual emanation is in UP, they must selectively ride with one or the other to avoid the unpleasant parallax.) Both Ashtara and the other branches try to remedy the problem by emanating a different branch, but they are unable to do this – and the attempt to fix the mistake makes Blackjack paranoid that they are trying to get rid of him. BJ assumes they are hostile because Whirljack is a rival for Tara and attacks him, keeping him prisoner in a playroom-dungeon in the basement of Court Emmere. WJ is chained, starved and injured – but the thing which worries the other emanations is that he can’t seem to repair the damage to his human form.
Blackjack assumes Whirljack’s identity. Tara immediately senses that there is something wrong, but she is overjoyed to see Jack again and doesn’t push the issue. Blackjack tells her that he has come back to record another album “in a new direction.” The critics love BJ’s harder, darker rock persona, but Tara realizes that this is a distinctive change in WJ’s personality. When she confronts him, they fight. BJ decides that in order to avoid discovery, he has to kill WJ.
The other emanations try to dissuade him. They worry that if WJ dies BJ might be emanated forever – which would mean losing control of the power grid if Ailann couldn’t emanate. They also point out that sooner or later, Tara will ask for one of the others. BJ refuses to listen, but when he returns to the basement, he finds that despite his posturing, it isn’t in him to kill. WJ and BJ argue – but Tara has followed BJ.
There is an enormous argument. Tara points out that while BJ’s treatment of WJ is apparent, WJ and the other emanations do fully intend to “get rid of” BJ. She forbids it on the grounds that no emanation is expendable. The fight continues until Tara, infuriated that the two of them are squabbling over her like a possession, storms out. WJ and BJ are so upset with each other that they fail to realize the extent of Tara’s anger until it is too late – she has taken off in a shuttle to Eirelantra.
Finally, the pair agree to work together. It is discovered that in order to access the resources of the Atlas tree – including their full alchemical power and the ability to change emanations – they have to agree on it mutually. Days pass, during which they attempt to persuade Tara to return to Dolparessa by recording a song jointly, but she does not respond. Ashtara becomes worried when he cannot locate Tara through normal means, and the mothman attempts to follow her to Eirelantra. Suddenly the power grid is cut and Ashtara falls into a period of amnesia – the resolution of which is completed by the new emanation, Chase.
Much later, when the situation is resolved, Tara confronts Whirljack and Blackjack together. They promise her that they will no longer try to destroy each other. BJ jokingly seals the promise with a kiss – which he then notes Tara finds arousing. The solution to the rivalry of the brothers is apparently, “a nau’gsh sandwich.” This has a perverse appeal to Blackjack, but Whirljack complies rather reluctantly.
Eden Blues: Ashtara, having a premonition of the attack by the SongLuminants, emanates Whirljack/Blackjack. Unaware of the unique properties of the dual emanation, the SongLuminants try to telepathically possess Whirljack. Since the physical body of a Cu’enashti emanation is tied to the life of its tree, the SongLuminants are only able to put WJ in stasis – but Blackjack is left free and able to operate.
A team of Floatfish are holding Tara and Whirljack. BJ is able to neutralize their guns and physically overcome them, but the fish point out that a disruption to the telepathic bond between WJ and the Floatfish leader could be fatal. Tara, infuriated, wants to attack, but risking her displeasure, Blackjack prevents her from doing so and assures her safety. He correctly infers that his function is now to protect her, leaving the situation with the SongLuminants to the others inside of the pleroma.
Tara, distressed about the threat to Ash, ends up making love to BJ in the garden – an act which is unfortunately witnessed by Clive and Claris. Clive takes Claris out for ice cream, and ends up encountering BJ and Tara in the café. The SongLuminants contact BJ, asking him to relay a question about quantum entanglement to Clive. When Clive reveals that he supports the SongLuminants because he believes they will keep the galactic peace, Claris dumps BJ’s frappe over his head.
The Poison Garden: BJ is not involved in the action although Seth, a brother branch constructed of BJ and Suibhne, reflects considerably on BJ’s personality. BJ appears in one of the pendant stories, “The Rockstar Prophecy.” WJ and BJ emanate at a point when Ailann is having difficulty dealing with the public – ostensibly to record a new album, but in reality to serve as an object lesson in how to manipulate the media. The rest of the prophecy follows the making of a documentary about the Two of Jacks comeback tour called The Burning Bush: a Rock and Roll Pentecost.
The Perpetual Rose: Blackjack is one of the first Atlas emanations to emerge from stupor when Yggdrasil connects with the other trees. He meets the three new emanations – Axel, Lens and Beat – and participates in the discovery of the expanded pleroma beyond the Atlas-Goliath Tower.
At one point, when Rand is trying to find Whirljack’s branch memories, he encounters the memory of the splitting of the branch and is shocked at the pain and trauma being repressed by the twins. At another point, he notes that their trading cards are odd, mirror images with WJ having gold only on the right and BJ gold on the left.
The Portable Grove: Blackjack goes to Ace’s to participate in the fourth experiment. He gets into a discussion with Ethan about their issues with their relative brothers. He is a willing participant in both the experiment and the pollination orgy suggested by Tara. But the encounter with WJ is so intense that Tara experiences a branch memory flashback to the attack which caused the division in Jack’s original branch. Blackjack and Whirljack fight; BJ feels rejected and accused WJ of resenting the diminishment of Jack’s strength. WJ walks out on the experiment. BJ is devastated; thinking quickly, Ethan calls in Seth, BJ’s half-brother on Goliath, to console him.
Blackjack reconciles with Whirljack after WJ’s duel with Balin. WJ reveals that the split in the branch could’ve been healed years ago, but it would mean losing BJ. Jamey suggests that there has been enough new growth on their branches to heal the split while preserving their individuality. The end result is that they can choose to emanate as twins or as a single individual, Jack.
The unified Jack becomes Patrick’s lover. Wj and BJ start to hang out at the new scene at Sloane’s WJ and BJ emanate during the sixteenth experiment, so they do not participate in the stress tests.
Correspondence Chart Entries from The Portable Grove
| Denotation | Blackjack Riordan (Jack = God has favored, so a sort of apostate; royal poet). |
| Numeration | 21st emanation of Ashtara; 21st branch of Atlas; 96 in the correspondence chart. |
| Age | 29 |
| Hotness | 9/10 |
| Vital Statistics | 1.9 meters tall (appears to be 1.785m tall, but only because he slumps), cock size 17.45 cm when erect. |
| Description | High cheekbones, intense expression, magnetically charismatic. Looks perpetually worn and ill-used. Long auburn hair; usually has a bit of stubble, or his hair is tied back in an unkempt manner, sometimes with a topknot. Large, imposing, attractive but not overly muscular; wears stylishly scruffy clothes, flannel shirts, jeans and worn leathers, deliberately scuffed work boots. |
| Skills | Rock star. Inept at almost everything else, but his charisma comes through, making him into an affable loser. |
| Sexual Prowess and Kinks | Up for anything. Not ashamed of twincest. |
| Average Duration of Play | 23 minutes, 34 seconds. |
| Totem Tree | Quercus marilandica, the blackjack oak; also Artocarpus heterophyllusa, jackfruit, as Jack. |
| Fixed Star | As Blackjack: Sheratan, the two signs (β Ari). One of the two Ashvinis. As Jack: Takahiro-boshi, esteemed nobility star (κ Gem); also called Jīxīn, pile of firewood. |
| Color |  |
| Esoteric Symbol | The Minchiate trump, I Gemelli, Gemini. |
| Function | Synchronization. |
| Official Title | Minister of Propaganda. |
| His Prophecy | An unexpected gift. |
| Dessert | Nau’gsh bread pudding with blackstrap-bourbon sauce |
Persistence of Weeds Addendum
| Branch Growth Characteristics | Jack’s original branch was natural growth resulting from trauma of Tara leaving the Domha’vei. Jack’s branch was split by the heat from an explosion causing him to manifest two personalities, Whirljack and Blackjack. Later, the branch healed enough to allow the two to join or separate at will. Blackjack was used as a template for his half-brothers on Goliath, Seth and Isaac. |
| Nul-history | The original Whirljack spark was created by the Atlas Tree to convey the vision of Tara’s destiny to the Cu’enashti proto-consciousness that would become Ashtara. |
| Proto-conscious Root Concept | Balance, designated Clockwise/ Counterclockwise (As Blackjack, Counterclockwise). |
| Prime Number of Energy Resonance | 503 |
| From Self-Portraits Not-of-Me II: Baby Pictures by Driscoll Garrett |  |