Storm Whitson

Storm Whitson
Fictional Character
Atlantis POD: c 85,000,000 BCE; Relevant POD: 1452
Appearance(s):	Liberating Atlantis
Type of Appearance:	Direct
Nationality:	United States of Atlantis (born a British subject)
Religion:	Christianity
Date of Birth:	c. 1760
Occupation:	Soldier, Revolutionary, Adventurer, Planter, Slave Trader, Senator
Political Office(s):	Senator from Gernika

Storm Whitson (b. c. 1760) was a citizen of the United States of Atlantis. His public life spanned from the Atlantean War of Independence, when he marched with Victor Radcliff, through the aftermath of the Atlantean Servile Insurrection.

When the United States purchased Gernika from Spain around 1822, Whitson moved there and made his fortune as a planter, and clever slave-dealing. Like so many men of means throughout Atlantis' territory, he segued his wealth into a political career and represented Gernika at the Atlantean Senate. A long-lived and impressively vigorous man, Whitson remained a force on the Senate floor well into his 90s.

Despite having been a revolutionary in his youth, later in life Whitson became a firmly traditional man. He opposed anything which would reform or upset established Atlantean ways of life. He was particularly resistant to the abolition of slavery even after the Atlantean army was defeated in the Servile Insurrection.

Needless to say, he strongly opposed the Slug Hollow Accord and was horrified when the majority of the Gernika delegation voted for it. He shouted "Brutus, Judas, Habakkuk Biddiscombe, and you sons of bitches! Traitors all!" Consul Leland Newton reprimanded him for being out of order.

Literary Note

Whitson appears to be based on Strom Thurmond, a United States Senator who at one point strongly opposed racial integration of society, and remained in office past the age of 90. Storm is an anagram of Strom, a wordplay which Harry Turtledove has referenced on occasion.