Astoria

**Astoria** was a political influencer and ex-wife of Lord Julius Tavers.

## History

Astoria was born in Lower Felda. At the age of 9 or 10 she was given a small book with the word "Kevil" engraved on the cover.

When she was 17, she married Lord Julius and became his third wife, granting her the title of Duchess of Parmoc.

She met Cerebus in Iest when he had become ensnared in Julius's machinations to ruin the city. Using him as a figurehead, she generated a fortune in a short time. At one point, apparently to secure his cooperation, she tried to seduce him.. She then acted as his campaign manager when he ran for Prime Minister.

Her next encounter with Cerebus took place in the Upper City of Iest, when he was attempting to get to the top of the Tower. Cerebus told her, "Go away," and she did--she disappeared. She reappeared in the apartment of the Lion of Serrea and, finding a knife, killed him. This made her, according to then-existing law, the pontiff of the Western Church. She later claimed it all happened as if in a dream, but the incident may have been one of the 'echoes' that occurred during that historic period.

Astoria was arrested. Cerebus came to talk to her. She tried to seduce him again, this time successfully. As Pope, Cerebus gave himself a divorce from Red Sophia before the encounter and declared himself married to Astoria. Afterward he granted himself a divorce from Astoria. She later revealed that she wanted to see if Cerebus could get her pregnant.

Astoria led a women's revolt against Cirinist rule. At Suenteus Po's urging, however, she walked away from Cerebus and Cirin before their confrontation.

## Traits & Beliefs

She was an excellent manipulator, which would have made her a good politician. Unfortunately women were not allowed to hold office in Iest, so she had to manipulate others. Only she and Adam Weisshaupt were able to control the Roach. She told Cerebus, "I will warn you, now, that I am used to being obeyed," which would indicate that she rarely failed to influence others.

She was extremely good at hiding her own feelings, sympathies, and motivations. For example, despite being the founder of the Kevillist movement, it was not commonly known whether she was in fact a Kevillist or remained a Cirinist.

*"... I believe in state-owned prostitution, pharmaceutically-assisted miscarriages, ownership of men, guaranteed minimum incomes for women over the age of fifteen and the inalienable right to self-determination within those parameters... "*

She wrote *Kevillist Origins* and, presumably, many other tracts.

## Appearances

* *Swords of Cerebus Volume Three* - in the story "What Happened Between Issues Twenty & Twenty-One"
* *Cerebus*
	+ *Cerebus No. 31* - *Cerebus No. 35*
	+ *Cerebus No. 37* - *Cerebus No. 50*
	+ *Cerebus No. 60*
	+ *Cerebus No. 67*
	+ *Cerebus No. 82*
	+ *Cerebus No. 87* and *Cerebus No. 88*
	+ *Cerebus No. 93* - *Cerebus No. 101*
	+ *Cerebus No. 142*
	+ *Cerebus No. 155*
	+ *Cerebus No. 159*
	+ *Cerebus No. 161*
	+ *Cerebus No. 163* - *Cerebus No. 165*
	+ *Cerebus No. 167* - Cerebus No. 169
	+ *Cerebus No. 171* - Cerebus No. 179

### Cameos & Mentions

* *Cerebus*
	+ *Cerebus No. 36*
	+ *Cerebus No. 78*
	+ *Cerebus No. 130*
	+ *Cerebus No. 157* and *Cerebus No. 158*
	+ *Cerebus No. 160*
	+ *Cerebus No. 162*
	+ *Cerebus No. 166*
	+ *Cerebus No. 170*
	+ *Cerebus No. 203*
	+ *Cerebus No. 218*
	+ *Cerebus No. 300*

## Dave Sim on Astoria

* "Astoria's name came from Mary Astor."
* "The evolution of Astoria, originally referred to as 'The Mary Astor' character, referring to the actress who played Brigette O'Shaugnessy in *The Maltese Falcon* ... I gradually changed her when I realized Cerebus has a low threshold for whining. The more competent 'n' cold version was geared to complement the earth-pig's disposition."
* **Q2:** How did Mrs. Thatcher survive the cataclysm that destroyed Iest? It occurred right after Cerebus and Cirin ascended, didn't it? She was in the upper city close to ground zero, as were Astoria and Suenteus Po. Did Astoria and Po die in the cataclysm?
	+ **Dave:** I would imagine that Astoria and Suenteus Po died in the cataclysm. She might be a different Mrs. Thatcher along the same lines of the two or three Oscar Wildes in the story. You can pick whichever one makes you less uncomfortable: Mrs. Thatcher had a miraculous escape from the cataclysm or there’s more than one Mrs. Thatcher. I’ll back up your choice 100% whichever one it is.
* Q3: It is interesting that the Wise Fellows would know that Astoria was flat-chested given the fact that, 40 years prior, Astoria said she was going into seclusion (i179) and was most likely killed during the Iesten Cataclysm. Were images of Astoria popular in the Cirinist history books the Wise Fellows probably read while growing up, or did she remain in the public light longer than we thought? (i269/LD p73)
	+ Dave: The Seminal Rebel Daughter is always going to be a popular figure and well documented wherever she shows up in the same way that Joan of Arc is pretty well documented visually and in terms of the historical events associated with her. Like Joan, it wasn’t a matter of how long Astoria had lived but what she did in actively working to overturn society and to make daughter nature pre-eminent over maternal nature. As soon as that occurs—the woman who believes herself and is believed by others to be interchangeable with a man—it essentially elbows maternalism out of the way because it’s more fully aligned with YHWH’s own misperceptions of herself as equal parts he, she and it. As soon as he/she/it comes along, all of the she’s abandon the she nature implied by motherhood in favour of the misapprehension of gender interchangeability. It is, in my view, largely because of “St. Joan” that there are no maternal history books. The condition reinforces itself in recurrent fashion once the seminal poison has been introduced. Gloria Steinem will always be the Gloria Steinem of “a woman needs a man like a fish needs a bicycle” even though she has hurled herself into marriage late in her life. In the context of he/she/it poison it is more important who you were than who you are. The fact that the woman who was the subject of the Roe v. Wade decision is now vehemently anti-abortion is considered an irrelevant point by the he/she/it team. And in a society so thoroughly poisoned by he/she/itism as ours is, this is considered a perfectly valid intellectual position.

## References

 1. ↑ *Cerebus No. 37*
2. ↑ *Cerebus No. 163*, page 2
3. ↑ *Cerebus No. 173*
4. ↑ *Women*, page 214
5. ↑ *Cerebus No. 42*, "Aardvark Comment"
6. ↑ *Cerebus No. 32*
7. ↑ *Cerebus No. 100*
8. ↑ *Women*
9. ↑ *Reads*
10. ↑ *Cerebus* No. 32
11. ↑ *Cerebus* No. 165, "Aardvark Comment"
12. ↑ *Cerebus the Newsletter* No. 6
13. ↑ Dave's Q&A from August, 2005
14. ↑ April 2006 Yahoo Groups discussion