The Truth About Jen

While it's unlikely the characters have any way to discover this right now, I feel this is important for player knowledge, especially if I do end up actually playing Jen. So here, minus what E thinks and minus Styrm's... well, minus Styrm... is the real story.

Just like the original story, Styrm had a brush with mortality and decided he needed an heir. Now Styrm looks to his people and decides rather than taking his chances on the usual ways of having a child, he'll make a perfect successor. This child will, naturally, have his intelligence, but he also wants the child to be gifted with powers. E-VAC's regeneration is a natural. Add in the empathic powers and you have a healthy child who will have that much more of an edge in the boardroom as an adult. Conveniently enough, there's a female Night who has a natural cunning and ruthlessness as well as a gift for technology. So Styrm helps arrange for E and his wife to get together, gives just the right amount of nudge for them to fall into bed together, and makes sure they have the alone-time and the inclination to have a child.

Yeah, as you might've guessed, pretty much most of E's "decisions" haven't actually been up to him... ever.

Styrm took steps, of course. Genetically modifying the child in the womb, inserting some of his own DNA and nudging the development of the fetus in the directions he wanted. When the time for the birth came, he made sure E was elsewhere. He had learned of the Contest and so had two reasons to clone the child: first as an ace-in-the-hole against the Contest, but secondly he wanted to make sure E and his wife had a child. Not out of kindness, naturally, but because that would make them easier to control. A few more genetic modifications brought out Styrm's resemblance in Eve and E-VAC's in Dawn. Styrm gave E and his wife Dawn to raise, and they named her "Jennifer".

Fast forward to the Contest ending. You'll note that in the original story, Styrm grew into a respectable citizen and E freaked and went back to a life of crime with Dawn. Well, in our revised tale, as you know, E was the one who grew into a respectable citizen and Styrm went back to a life of crime. E still made off with Dawn, but took her off to be raised well while he became a hero.

This does not sit well with Styrm. Styrm created Dawn and only he gets to decide what will become of her. She is, after all, as much Styrm's daughter as E's on a genetic level. And Styrm did put a lot of effort into her creation. She will not be left in the wrong hands (wrong in Styrm's mind, anyway), and he will either try to undo the damage E has done to her (again, in Styrm's mind) or he will destroy her and be satisfied with Eve. Also, he will not tolerate E's betrayal. He made E and has controlled E all his life. E must be brought back into the fold... or destroyed for his insolence. And so no one else can have E.

So when Styrm and E each say that Jen is their daughter, they're both right.