Marilyn Germanicus

May 6, 2025

Birth Name: Carolyn Carver
Other Names: Carolyn Best
Species: Human (digitized consciousness in synthetic-organic construct)
Affiliation: Formerly Jefivah; later aligned with Tol Germanicus and Thulian rejuvenation initiative
Status: Alive (post-biological existence)
Spouse:

Overview

Born as Carolyn Carver, she rose to prominence on Jefivah as a respected academic and the wife of government minister Douglas Best. She was known for her sharp intellect, dry wit, and principled support for her husband’s efforts to modernize their backwater homeworld. She accompanied Douglas to Earth when he became Jefivah’s junior delegate to the Compact Assembly and later became interim junior delegate when he was promoted to the Compact Security Council. Carolyn died in the clean fusion blast that destroyed Krupp, capital of the urbanized core world Bromdar, during the wider Compact crisis.

Unknown to most, her consciousness had previously been copied and preserved by Tol Germanicus, the enigmatic digital being once known as Steven Turing. When Tol constructed a synthetic-organic humanoid shell to house her, he gave her a new life—one that no longer resembled her former self. In this new form, she adopted the name Marilyn Germanicus, a blend of dark humor, symbolic rebirth, and acknowledgment of the cult she once helped contain.

Transformation and Name Origin

After her death on Bromdar, Tol Germanicus revived Carolyn by embedding her preserved consciousness into a specially designed construct. The new body, built from both synthetic materials and lab-grown tissue, bore an uncanny resemblance to the Temple of Marilyn’s “Blessed Mother”—a detail Tol did not overlook. Upon awakening, Carolyn chose the name Marilyn as both a sardonic nod to the cult that had once caused political chaos on Jefivah and as a tribute to Jayne Best, Douglas’s later partner and cleric of the Temple of Marilyn.

Marilyn herself never joined the Marilynists, though she appreciated the irony. In her words, the name helped her embrace a posthuman identity: no longer the same woman, no longer beholden to the same past.

Relationship with Tol Germanicus

Tol, ever driven by guilt and redemption, hoped to one day father a child with Marilyn—not only out of love, but also to fulfill Thule’s cultural obligation that every rejuvenated being produce an amortal heir. To that end, he integrated functional biological systems into her new form. Marilyn never bore a child as of the final novel, though she accepted Tol’s gift as a gesture of love, not expectation.

Their relationship was complex—part romantic, part philosophical partnership. Though she teased him for his relentless overreach, she also stabilized and challenged him, acting as both his conscience and eventual successor in many of his subtle interventions across the Compact.

Reconciliation with Douglas Best

In a quiet moment following the Liberation of Amargosa and the elevation of Douglas Best as its provisional governor, Marilyn met with her former husband for what both understood might be their final true conversation.

On a hill overlooking the wreckage of Lansdorp, she found him staring into the shimmering dawn. Her reconstructed face no longer matched the one he had once known, but a flicker of familiarity—her smile, her eyes—remained.

“Is she a good wife?” she asked, speaking of Jayne, the cleric who had helped Douglas survive both political collapse and personal despair.
“She’s a good woman,” he replied, understanding the question for what it was.
“I knew that before I… I knew that.”

They spoke briefly about their new lives: his as a colonial governor working to rebuild a shattered world, hers as the companion to a posthuman being and heir to his legacy. Both had chosen paths that placed them far beyond where their life together had begun, but neither carried regret.

Legacy

Marilyn Germanicus stands as a bridge between eras—between humanity’s fragile biological past and its uncertain transhuman future. Once Carolyn Carver, then a politician’s wife and intellectual, she was remade as a woman who defied death and redefined identity. Whether watching over Thulian science, guiding Tol’s moral compass, or reflecting quietly on the love she once had, Marilyn represents one of the Compact’s most profound transformations: not the conquest of death, but the choice of what to become after it.

Relationships:

  • Douglas Best: Carolyn Carver married Douglas Best during his early political rise on Jefivah, serving as both his intellectual equal and emotional anchor. Their marriage was marked by deep mutual respect, dry humor, and shared frustration with Jefivah’s backward politics. Even after her death and resurrection as Marilyn Germanicus, her bond with Douglas endured—first as a memory, then as a quiet presence guiding his choices from afar. Their final meeting after the Liberation of Amargosa affirmed their enduring connection: no longer husband and wife, but still partners in spirit, each having chosen a path the other helped make possible.
  • Jayne Best: After the bombing of Quantonesia, Carolyn Best was secretly evacuated to the Temple of Marilyn on Earth—an action orchestrated by Jayne Best at the request of First Minister Myra Gillorn. While Douglas and Jayne were still returning from Gohem, a clean fusion blast destroyed Krupp on Bromdar, and Carolyn was presumed killed in the attack. In truth, her consciousness had already been preserved by Tol Germanicus, though her fate would remain unknown for some time. During their brief time together at the Earth temple, Carolyn and Jayne formed a strong and unexpected friendship. Despite their differing beliefs—Carolyn was secular, Jayne a deeply devoted cleric—they found common ground in their mutual care for Douglas. Carolyn even helped plan the staged “induction” of Douglas into the Temple of the Prophet by arranging for Jayne to be found in his bed, a move both practical and theatrical that served to elevate his political and spiritual status. By the time Carolyn was reborn as Marilyn Germanicus, she regarded Jayne not only as a confidante but as someone who had continued her mission of guiding and protecting Douglas. Upon learning that Douglas and Jayne had named their daughter Carolyn in her honor, Marilyn was both astonished and deeply moved. Though she now lived in a new body with a new identity, the gesture affirmed that she had not been forgotten—and that her friendship with Jayne had transcended death, politics, and even faith.
  • Tol Germanicus: Carolyn Best had minimal interaction with Tol Germanicus during her first lifetime. That changed after her death, when Tol, driven by guilt and admiration, embedded her preserved mind into a specially engineered synthetic-organic body. When she awoke, Carolyn found herself disoriented in a form that resembled the Marilynist “Blessed Mother.” With her past life gone and her identity fundamentally altered, she chose the name Marilyn Germanicus—a nod to both the cult that once plagued Jefivah and her new, strange bond with Tol.

    Initially, their relationship was pragmatic. Marilyn needed time to reconcile her past and the synthetic present she had been thrust into. But once she embraced her posthuman identity and chose to become Tol’s wife, the dynamic shifted. Tol, who had long acted as the invisible architect behind Compact infrastructure, began preparing Marilyn to succeed him at Dasarius Interstellar. Marilyn grounded him. She brought skepticism, compassion, and a moral clarity that even he admitted he lacked.

Appearances: Chasing Eternity, Davra's Endeavour, Suicide Solution