Biography:
Wooden Heart: Emanated in 3587, Whirljack Riordan’s branch grows in reaction to the trauma of Tara’s departure for Earth. Jack vows to bring her back to the Domha’vei, and to do so, he becomes a folk-singer/politician, forming a political organization known as PLANT: Preservation Local Alliance for Nau’gsh Trees. PLANT’s platform is pro-Dolparessan autonomy, centering on its home-grown traditions in opposition to Terran influence on the 5th Matriarch. PLANT loudly advocates that Tara be recognized as Empress of Sideria, something which she is unable to do under Volparnian law as long as she remains married to her estranged husband, Tenzain Merkht. It also fiercely resists CenGov’s pressure to exterminate the common nau’gsh to stop the trade in nau’gsh wine – a notorious aphrodisiac which CenGov considers degenerate.
Tara returns to the Domha’vei in order to research the nau’gsh, funded by a grant from the Terran-run Dalgherdia science station. At the same time, Whirljack is climbing the charts, and his music is popular enough for Tara to have heard of him. After the fire at the station, when Tara is hiding with Tommy, she becomes aware of the activities of PLANT.
Whirljack organizes a protest at a nau’gsh orchard, and Tara goes to meet him. Whirljack incites the crowd by chanting the ancient Skarsian religious catechism of the Archon and Matriarch – but with Tara’s name as Matriarch – treasonously acknowledging the prophecy. Johannon tries to intercept Tara, but he is recognized by Claris, who throws an apple at him. The crowd realizes he is an agent of CenGov, and a riot ensues. Whirljack protects Tara from being crushed by the rioters, but is almost arrested by SSOps. Not realizing that she is the Marquesa of Dolparessa, they try to subdue her – she beats them up and takes their weapons, telling WJ to flee.
Whirljack is forced underground, but somehow the police fail to apprehend him despite that he still makes large-scale performances. Tara wants to speak with him; Tommy says that he knows WJ personally and can arrange a meeting. To her amazement, he gets backstage passes to Woodstick, an enormous Dolparessan rock festival. Tara is at the barrier while Jack performs the entirety of his prog-folk opera, The Return of the Summer King’s Empire. She is impressed by his talent and realizes that she is very attracted to him, but at the time she is still involved with Clive Rivers.
After the show, Jack and Tara talk all night about politics and Dolparessan culture. He tries to convince her that it’s her destiny to be Matriarch. She doesn’t want to hear it, but she will do what she can as Marquesa to protect Dolparessan culture and the nau’gsh. She has the idea of doing so at the annual Nau’gsh Festival – as Marquesa, it is her right to open the festival, but because of her circumstances, she has only been able to attend once in her life, when she was seventeen. When she makes her intentions known, the Cantor, leader of the festival society Apple and Rose, designates Whirljack as her representative. The subtext is that she is recognizing Ashtara as one of the Cu’enashti leaders.
Clive refuses to attend the festival, which he sees as decadent nonsense. The Cu’endhari understand the real story – that Tara is the Chosen of Ashtara – but they are still under the Great Silence. Tara and Jack open the festival by sharing the wine and dancing together, which leads to a hook up. Because festival lovers are sacred, Tara does not see this as a betrayal of Clive, but she also will not pursue the relationship after the festival. The real truth is that after the death of Daniel, she no longer trusts in romantic love.
When Patrick is banished, it is Whirljack who convinces Tara to return to Dolparessa, even though it means emanating on Eirelantra, something which takes an incredible toll on him. He tells her of the swell of support for Guinnebar the Pretender, and that the weather on Dolparessa has turned unnaturally bad, which is being interpreted by the citizens as a sign that the Archon is angry with the current Matriarch’s Terran-centric policies.
Tommy tries to convince Tara to get together with Whirljack, but she declines, saying she will devote herself to science. This results in the emanation of the scientist, Cuinn. Whirljack fades into the background until the terrorist bombing of the Atlas Tree. The attack was intended to sever Owen’s branch (which is then abducted), but the heat also causes Whirljack’s trunk to split. For a while, he is unable to emanated; when he does, it is as twins, Whirljack and Blackjack. Blackjack is disoriented and the reaction of the other branches – that he is a mistake that must be rectified – cause him to become paranoid and attack WJ. He seduces Tara, pretending to be his brother while WJ is kept prisoner in the dungeon. When Tara discovers the truth, she confronts them. Their bitterness towards each other causes her to leave for Eirelantra in a huff. The two brothers reconcile their differences in an effort to find her, forming a band called Two of Jacks, but she has been conned by Rivers into giving the power of the Archon to a group of Arya Nau’gsh, resulting in a traumatic blackout to Ash.
After Ash is restored as Archon, Tara reconciles with Whirljack and Blackjack. She suggests the idea of a threesome, which appalls Whirljack but excites Blackjack.
Eden Blues: Whirljack is one of the first Atlas emanations to “meet” Ari, when Ari accedes to Tara’s request to try taking Gyre. Ari and WJ have mutual respect for each other, but the brothers both believe that as long as the two trees aren’t in communication, they will be rivals for Tara.
Ashtara is able to predict that the SongLuminants will try to possess his emanation, so he emanates WJ and BJ. Whirljack’s body goes into stasis as the SongLuminants communicate with the pleroma, but BJ is able to elude them. Ailann tells WJ that he must testify to the SongLuminants, and Dermot hints that the Floatfish who has entered the pleroma is telepathic, so he acquiesces.
Jack explains that he learned from Evan’s most successful aspect – his voice – and was able to use that voice to gain power, money and political influence. However, he feels that since the split with BJ, he’s lost his edge, and his career is failing. When the topic of species eradication comes up, WJ refuses to cooperate further, instead writing a ballad to the eradicated species called “Ode to the Erased.”
The Poison Garden: Whirljack stays mostly in the background, occasionally giving advice he feels enhances n’aashet n’aaverti. We do learn that Two of Jacks will not release a new album until the progpop craze is over – Whirljack will not wear glitter hose.
Seth interviews him concerning the nature of love. Instead, Whirljack educates him on marketing. Whirljack believes that he is an imitative hack, but that it’s fine because it’s in Tara’s service. The truth of his artistry is in the sincerity of his propaganda. Seth accepts WJ’s advice when designing a new slogan for Archonism. On the other hand, WJ criticizes Driscoll for using concepts too sophisticated for his audience. The conflict continues in “The Prophecy of Dogs,” when Driscoll argues for Tara to wear only bespoke clothing as a way of avoiding commercial interests, and WJ responding, “Media push is a part of life.” Whirljack is notorious for product placement – in a footnote we learn that the jacket he wore in the “Mystery of Blue” holovid sold over 497,000 units.
In “The Prophecy of Ripening,” the realization that Whirljack’s pollen is all over his branch is the initiation of Patrick’s pollination fetish.
In 3615, Two of Jacks undertakes a comeback tour, documented in “The Rockstar Prophecy.” They make a holo of the tour called The Burning Bush: A Rock and Roll Pentecost. The album cover bears a holographic image of a tree on fire, prompting the Cantor to denounce it, which only makes it seem more provocative and trendy to the generation of young Cu’enashti. In general, the album is critically well-received, but the pundit Sara Howe-Dumfaller points out that most of the songs are disguised commercials for the Shambhala Colony, and that Whirljack is a propagandist. In addition, the songs are also being used as public relations vehicles for the Archonist Church, and the tour is being sponsored by Root Riot and Regal Beverages, makers of Deranged Bloobird Bourbon. We learn from interviews with the fans that a t-shirt from the period of Whirljack’s third album stating, “Whirljack Riordan is God,” is now regarded as a holy item of prophecy, and that “Twincest is canon in TOJ fandom.”
It is clear in the period encompassing Eden Blues through Perpetual Rose that Whirljack indulges Tara in this regard and finds the threesomes with his twin distasteful – or so he says.
The Perpetual Rose: Whirljack is among the first of the old emanations to meet Axel, Lens and Beat. During a discussion of intergalactic intellectual property rights, Tara tells the Floatfish that WJ doesn’t sell music, he sells clothing. Later, the commercialization of Two of Jacks is criticized by Quennel, who says that Whirljack can rely on the church to push media for him without selling out to the fashion industry. Quennel now intends to design all the clothing for Tara and the emanations himself.
The Portable Grove: During a discussion of politics with Tara, Patrick reveals that a lot of his acumen comes from WJ’s interaction with his roadies. Jack handled them so skillfully that the secret of his affair with Tara at the Nau’gsh Festival was never leaked to the press.
BJ participates in the fourth experiment investigating the pollination properties of “brother” branches, but at Tara’s urging, it turns into an orgy. Ethan and Barnabas have a quarrel which leads into a deeper conflict between WJ and BJ. It becomes clear that Blackjack has felt rejected by Whirljack for years – and that the sexual attraction and repulsion between them is an indication of the more profound problem – they are really two halves of the same personality. Inadvertently, Tara is able to access the memory in their branch and feels the trauma of the original split. Barnabas realizes that Atlas could’ve repaired the split in their branch; Ethan calculates that it would take two minutes and thirty-eight seconds at their current capacity. Ethan and Barnabas make up their differences – but WJ walks out on BJ. Tara is concerned about BJ, but Wynne says that WJ is the bigger problem – he walked out on his Chosen, violating his n’aashet n’aaverti.
In experiment five, Balin, annoyed with Chase’s apathy, says that the attitude of the Atlas emanations is generally bad, and calls out Whirljack. The two emanations agree to a duel – a fucking contest, with Tara as the judge. Tara is spared having to make the judgement when WJ concedes – he retreats to his apartment, which turns out to be generically tasteful, like a hotel suite. Whirljack confesses his distress to Tara – the room, along with his recent uninspired musical output is a symptom of a greater problem – when he lost BJ, he lost his edge. However, he’s resistant to the idea that the split should be healed – he’s afraid of losing the Blackjack persona. Tara calls on Ash to solve the problem. Ash fuses the original trunk of WJ and BJ, but not the extension of each half which has grown independently since then. The end result is that Jack can emanate as a unified personality, or as the twins.
Tara ends up spending a lot of time with Whirljack emanated – he is happier and more energetic than he’s been in years. Whirljack is assigned to participate in experiment eight – which seems odd because the experiment ends up being about getting Tara to fall in love with Rand. But as it turns out, Tara and Rand end up in a foursome with Patrick and the unified Jack. Patrick has been lusting for Jack since he emanated, and the encounter is an enormous release, producing an apple incredibly heavy in nau’gshtamine amide-t.
When Lorcan starts the scene at Sloane’s, both WJ and BJ are participants. They are the branches chosen to emanate during the orgy at Suibhne’s – BJ is interested in being cross-pollinated by WJ, so Tara agrees to repeat the experiment done with Owen and Lugh at a later date. After Tara returns to Universe Prime, Lady Lorma revealed that she walked in on Whirljack and Blackjack, naked and stroking Canopus.
Correspondence Chart Entries from The Portable Grove
| Denotation | Whirljack Riordan (Jack - Welsh: Strength, or Hebrew, diminutive of John: God has favored; has innumerable allusions to various forms of the word “jack” as noun or verb. Whirljack is probably intended to mean a sort of dervish. Gaelic: royal poet). |
| Numeration | 4th Emanation of Ashtara; 4th branch of Atlas; 96 in the correspondence chart. |
| Age | 29 |
| Hotness | 10/10 |
| Vital Statistics | 1.9 meters tall, cock size 17.45 cm when erect. |
| Description | High cheekbones, intense expression, magnetically charismatic. Long auburn hair, large, imposing, attractive body but not overly muscular. Dress is casual with touches of quirky style. Looks effortless, but he’s well aware of the use of clothing to support an image. Most of Two of Jack’s income is from WJ's clothing endorsements. |
| Skills | Pop star/folk musician, political activist, indomitable will, media savvy. As a musician, is capable of tracking the passage of time inside of the pleroma. |
| Sexual Prowess and Kinks | A sexual dynamo. Pretends he isn’t into twincest. |
| Average Duration of Play | 2 hours, 21 minutes, 17 seconds. |
| Totem Tree | Populus × jackii, Balm of Gilead tree (as Whirljack); shares Artocarpus heterophyllus, jackfruit with BJ (as Jack). |
| Fixed Star | As Whirljack: Mesarthim (γ Ari), the ministers. One of the two Ashvinis. As Jack: Takahiro-boshi, esteemed nobility star (κ Gem); also called Jīxīn, pile of firewood. |
| Color | As Whirljack: As Jack:  |
| Esoteric Symbol | The Minchiate trump, I Gemelli, Gemini, the twins. |
| Function | Synchronization. |
| Official Title | Minister of Propaganda. |
| His Prophecy | Nau’galiss ("the strength of trees.") |
| Dessert | Nau’gsh quesito (nau’gsh and cream cheese filled pastry twist) |
Persistence of Weeds Addendum
| Branch Growth Characteristics | Natural branch growth resulting from trauma of Tara leaving the Domha’vei. Jack’s branch was split by the heat from an explosion causing him to split into two personalities, Whirljack and Blackjack. Later, the branch healed enough to allow the two to join or separate at will. Whirljack was used as a template for his half-brothers on Goliath, Ari and Jesse. |
| Nul-history | Jack’s spark is unusual because it did not form in the nul-universe, but was synthesized 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 Whirljack, Clockwise). |
| Prime Number of Energy Resonance | 503 |
| From Self-Portraits Not-of-Me II: Baby Pictures by Driscoll Garrett |  |