Guild Magistrate Evie Clarke

Evelyn "Evie" Clarke is the current Guild Magistrate of the Alchemy Guilds and a Master Rivet. At age 38 she is the youngest Guild Magistrate ever elected, for a position often given to someone far more senior, and as a result is very unpopular with her fellow Master alchemists.

Childhood (1706 AE - 1714 AE)
Evie was born in the winter of 1706 AE as the only child to Antoine and Chiara Fournier, and a native of Varenth's capital city of Syndulla. Her father was a Master Apoth who brought his wife and newborn daughter to live at the Fournier Estate upon the death of his older brother, and for the majority of her childhood Evie lived a comfortable and privileged life.

It was obvious from an early age that the girl enjoyed building things from the odds and ends in her father's laboratory rather than interacting with other children, though her mother Chiara (who was a more stable presence during Evie's childhood) often observed that her daughter was "bossy, rude, yet undeniably magnetic." On more than one occasion the children of neighbors and friends were caught committing crimes of petty theft, mostly involving small amounts of money or hardware to continue Evie's projects when Antoine was working and refused to allow her her normal workspace. When asked why, they reported, "because Evie asked us to."

With her father constantly working and absent, Evie was very attached to her mother, and the two were rarely apart. It is said that Chiara -- herself the daughter of a minor lieutenant of the infamous Black Diamond -- was a massive influence on her daughter, the impression left clearly visible in Evie's signature Briecian style of dress (despite not visiting the country until much later) as well as her penchant for mischief.

A Much Needed Friend (1714 AE - 1718 AE)
In the summer of 1714 AE, Chiara was asked by her family to return to Briece's capital of Civalla to care for her ailing mother. Antoine, ever the supportive husband, presented his wife with special medicine to take back with her; unfortunately, whatever illness had befallen Chiara's mother caught quickly and Chiara died only two months later.

Grief-stricken and unable to care for his daughter on his own, Antoine Fournier made the decision to Apprentice her with the Alchemy Guilds as an Apoth, his discipline, and sent Evie to the Apoth Guild Headquarters in Syndulla a month before her eighth birthday. Evie also missed her mother, and resented her father for sending her away even many years later. Lonelier than ever and in a new environment, she threw herself into her studies in a desperate attempt to gain the attention of the Journeyman she understudied for: Journeyman-senior Apoth Frederick Reisz. It was from him that she began to be known as Evie, as she was fond of calling him Freddy, and the two were very close despite the almost-two-decade age difference. He was the father figure Evie never had, and within her first year she moved out of the Fournier Estate permanently to stay at the Apoth Headquarters full-time.

Four years into her apprenticeship, Freddy posed a difficult observation -- that despite her work ethic and dedication, Evie's heart simply wasn't with the Apoth discipline. Reisz recommended she switch to become a Rivet instead, going so far as to finding her a replacement Journeyman from his peers, though he remained her staunch friend and mentor until his death nearly twenty years later.

The Path to Journeyman (1718 AE - 1723 AE)
As a Rivet, Evie blossomed; despite her late start, she excelled at working with machinery and completed her Journeyman's portfolio in three years, whereas most of her peers had done the same in eight. Known for never turning down a project request, she worked tirelessly during her tenure as an Apprentice Rivet, and often had to be reminded by Reisz to sleep and eat. By 1722 AE, she had a reported twenty-seven completed alchemy projects in her record, half of which being categorized as higher than a level 6 difficulty, and two of those categorized as a level 11 and 13, both personal projects.

Despite having grown into a rather beautiful adolescent, Evie's only companions seemed to be Reisz and Journeyman-senior Rivet Yana Moav, the Journeyman she understudied for as an Apprentice Rivet. A solitary young woman, she never collaborated with her peers on alchemy projects, nor offered her help. She went up before the Journeyman Ranking Council in 1723 AE, and though she made board on her first attempt it was noted that her teamwork and leadership skills were sorely lacking -- a comment that stayed with Evie long after she made Master.

In Love & War (1723 AE - 1728 AE)
Not long after she made Journeyman-younger and determined to connect with her mother's home country, Evie moved to the west coast of Briece for her Journeyman transfer to the Spareen Branch Chapter. It was here that she came upon a sense of identity and community with the Briecian culture, and met the man who would become her future husband, Journeyman-younger Medium Jacob Clarke. Jacob was described as quiet but optimistic, and understanding of Evie's natural inclination towards being alone. Their relationship was organic, and strangely devoid of the usual courtship so common at the time.

Happy where she was for the first time in many years, Evie made plans to move permanently to Briece despite Reisz' insistence that she return to Varenth. Oblivious to the rising tensions and impending war between Briece and Mascron, she and Jacob remained in Spareen until the Mascron invasion in 1725 AE. This being the closest Evie had ever been to conflict, the Mascron-Briece War fascinated her and she saw it as an opportunity to accumulate alchemy project experience, whereas Jacob detested war from his experience as a child growing up in Dorminia-dominated Fraesn. Uncertain of how to otherwise pull her away from enabling the war machine churning in Briece, Jacob confessed his love for her during a trip to Civalla and asked Evie to marry him -- on the condition that they return to Syndulla immediately. She, rather surprisingly, agreed without hesitation.

God in the Machine (1728 AE - 1738 AE)
Upon their return to Syndulla, the couple moved into their own townhome across the street from Guild Magistrate and Master Rivet, Charles André. André was well-known as a blunt and solitary man, but he enjoyed the company of Evie and Jacob -- both of whom were now Journeyman-seniors. Having transferred from the Spareen Branch Chapter, Evie now required a new Master to understudy, and André was more than happy to fill that role. Reisz, however, had his own doubts and misgivings about the Guild Magistrate, and warned Evie that André was not the most stable of men to attach herself to -- a warning which she heeded until Reisz' sudden death from illness in 1730 AE, shortly after her and Jacob's wedding.

Having risen to his seat with the creation of the logika, it soon became clear that André was obsessed with his invention; Evie and Jacob noted that the machines filled his home, almost uncomfortably so. To her count, more than three dozen occupied the mansion of Charles André in various states of upgrade or disrepair. Though their bodies were rudimentary and certainly not indicative of André's status as a Master Rivet, their reactions and replies were startlingly lifelike. This time, it was Jacob's turn to confuse his new wife with an almost unhealthy fascination with André's logika, while Evie (remembering Reisz' warning) remained wary and disenchanted. In her many studies of the logika Evie documented a full conversation with Joanna, the oldest remaining logika, with whom she discussed religion, morality, and the concept of life after death; despite its age and inability to move effectively, Joanna demonstrated a frightening level of self-awareness. Curious and perhaps pitying, Evie attempted to transfer Joanna to a more mobile body -- only to find herself unsuccessful, and Joanna's consciousness seemingly lost in the process. This served only to heighten Evie's unease with the logika, as had Joanna's mind been mere programming the transfer should have proved simple. Mostly against her will and only at both her husband and her Master's persistent requests, she designed a more human-like body for the newest logika in 1734 AE. A few short years after, in 1737 AE, Jacob invented what would come to be known as "selkie skyn" -- a material with similar look and feel to real skin, but made with synthetic materials. Unfortunately selkie skyn proved to be extremely expensive, even for the vast wealth of André and the Clarkes combined, and Jacob worked almost tirelessly to make it more affordable.

At this time a great divide had grown between Evie and her husband; Jacob had since become obsessed with logika, spending almost all of his time at the Hub's workshops, even though Evie begged him to detach himself from machines that she personally felt should never have been made. Jacob ignored her pleas, and in 1738 AE, during one of his long nights experimenting Evie received a call informing her of a massive explosion that killed her husband and injured dozens more. In spite of official reports stating that the entire event was an unavoidable accident caused by chemicals from an Ether project elsewhere in the building, Evie blames herself to this day for her husband's death, insisting that he would still be alive if she had been there.

Ascension (1738 AE - 1742 AE)
Following Jacob's death, Evie fell into a great depression; for almost six months there is no record of her accepting nor completing a single alchemy project. In addition, after André witnessed her collapse from sudden heart failure, Evie was diagnosed with a congenital heart condition which was expected to worsen quickly and doctors placed her prognosis at no more than three years left to live. Reinvigorated by a stubborn determination to live, Evie sat at her drafting table for the first time in half a year; five months later, she brought her plans to Journeyman-senior Apoth Silas Sparrow and with his help manufactured the first clockwork organ: a heart, to replace her own faulty one.

Before the year was out, Evie stood before the Master Ranking Council -- using herself and her now-working heart as evidence of her Mastery -- and was unanimously voted to the rank of Master Rivet. Impressed with her work on both the logika and the heart, André appointed her to the position of Archmaster Rivet upon the death of her predecessor in 1740 AE, a decision still said to be more favoritism than legitimacy. Before he could be brought before the Rivet Master of Rulings for disciplinary trial, however, Guild Magistrate Charles André passed away peacefully in his sleep in 1742 AE.

Recent Events (1742 AE - Present Day)
Evie, ever the opportunist, began plying favors from her four fellow Archmasters, convincing them one way or another that an exchange of votes was the surest way to victory. Rumors of bribery, sexual favors, and outright deceit surrounded the month prior to the Guild Magistrate election which ended -- to everyone's surprise save for hers -- with Evie's inevitable win in 1743 AE, at the shockingly young age of 37. Guild Magistrates preside over the Alchemy Guilds for life, ensuring that her tenure over the Guilds would be long and certainly outlast the lifespans of the other Archmasters, all of whom were much older than she.

Evie has since taken up residence in the Magistrate quarters at the Alchemy Guilds Main Estate in Syndulla, Varenth, otherwise known as the Hub. The upcoming World's Fair of 1744 is the first chance for her to prove herself on a global scale, both with her first large public appearance as the Guild Magistrate and with the release of her latest project: the specifications for a host of clockwork organs, ready for commercial manufacture.