Human female, born 19 Sp'mo', LY 886, in Plist, to Maeve and Therman. Member of The Band and The Chaos. Musician, adventurer, and spirit-talker. Protestant bishop of Plist, 913-? "The Book of Ginger" is the three hundred fifty-first book of the O'Gas.
When Ginger was seven years old, in 893, her father became the bishop of Plist, after having served for eighteen years as a spirit-talker in his local church (eight of those years as a vice-bishop). Ginger herself was always close to both of her parents, though in her teenage years, she displayed a bit of the rebellious behavior that is common to most teenagers in general, and to some children of professional spirit-talkers, in particular. In 901, at age 15, she joined a band called the Berry-Chuckers, as a singer. The band was known around Plist not only for its music, but for throwing wild parties or attending night clubs, and for making their own berry wine, which they enjoyed themselves as well as selling to many of the people who attended their performances (most of whom, like the band members, were teenagers). While her parents expressed some concern over her behavior, they knew Ginger to be a relatively responsible girl, who, in her own way, was following the teaching for which her father was most famous: that God wanted people to be happy, and they should therefore do whatever they could- within reason- to make themselves and others happy.
When she was sixteen, in 902, her father found himself feeling no choice but to found the Protestant Movement, in opposition to the Coming of the Order. While Therman believed that The Order had what they believed to be the best interests of the people of The Land at heart, he also believed that they were mistaken, and their efforts would produce more suffering than happiness, for a larger number of people. Also in 902, Therman was named the first Protestant Arch-bishop. In 903, he was killed in the Battle of Plist, about four months after Ginger turned 17. While she had been concerned for her father's safety ever since he founded the Movement a year earlier, and especially since the start of the war, she had never really expected him to die, believing that in spite of their differences, the Order and the Protestants were all people of God, who wouldn't do harm to any of their own. (She managed to hold this attitude, in spite of Arch-bishop Talak having excommunicated her father the previous year. She assumed no deeply religious person could do worse than that to anyone, let alone a fellow spirit-talker.) Therman's death led Ginger to quit the band, become more serious, and take up spirit-talking, herself, by the age of 18. However, unlike her father, she had no interest in making a career of it.
Of course, Ginger spent some time, along with her mother, mourning her father's death. But in 904, she left home, wishing to honor her father's belief that one should do what makes them happy, and thereby honor God. She knew her own happiness would be found by taking up a life of both music and adventure, and managed to do alright for herself as a solo artist, wandering from village to village. In the course of her travels, she also spent some time learning a bit about swordsmanship. In 906, when she was back in Plist visiting her mother, she met three other musicians, who were from other villages, and had spent some time each doing their own solo adventuring and music-playing. The four of them found that they got along well, and so they formed a band, which they chose to call The Band, as a double-entendre meaning "band of minstrels" and "band of adventurers." In 911, they'd meet a fifth member who also joined the Band. At some point between those years, Ginger had begun dating one of her bandmates, Tino.
When the surname law was passed in 904, Ginger and her mother were among the many different families around the Land (especially in Plist) who chose the name "Protestant." Because of their relation to Therman, most people accept that Ginger and her mother have a stronger right to the name than anyone else in the world.
Ginger remains a generally upbeat, fun-loving person, even if her behavior is not as wild as it was during her teen years. She has many friends, including both people and spirits. She has a generally dry, occasionally sarcastic sense of humor, making light of herself as often as she does her friends. She is also considered very compassionate towards those friends, and displays a fierce sense of loyalty toward those who've earned it. And she inspires equal loyalty from those friends.
In 912, the Band met Darius Lonewander, whom they joined in starting a group called The Chaos, which was initially intended as a rebellion against the Second Order. This appealed to all of them, each for their own reasons. Ginger, obviously, had a certain desire to avenge her father's death, though she didn't completely blame the Order (first or second), because Therman had chosen to oppose them, knowing it would be dangerous. But like her father, she believed that at least some elements of the new government led to unhappiness for some people, and felt that she had inherited a duty from her father to correct that situation. However, the Chaos War was not quite the rebellion that the Chaos had originally intended. But it did lead to the Secession Referendum of 913, in which four villages, including Plist, broke away from the Second Order, to form the United Villages of the Chaos. (The same villages that had initially formed the Protestant Movement, in 902.)
Also in 913, Ginger replaced the retiring Protestant bishop of Plist, Christina Brushmaker; she had not sought this position, but was the popular choice of the majority of the parishioners of the various Protestant churches in the village, as well as the Protestant vice-bishops. Ginger had moved back to Plist on a permanent basis near the end of 912, at which time the Band broke up. However, she remains in contact with her old friends, particularly Tino. Though he continues to wander, he frequently visits Ginger.
Contributions to the O'Gas[]
In the course of her adventures with the Chaos in 912, they at one point found themselves unexpectedly transported to the area of First Village, soon after the Land had first been created, 912 years earlier. This was the result of a game of Surreal, though the players had not officially invoked the game. She would later report of the events of their time in the past, at the Orthodox Pilgrimage to Monab in Su'gin 913, and the Protestant Pilgrimage to Plist in Su'yet of that year. In her controversial entry to the O'Gas, she said that she and her friends had discovered a number of babies, and learned from God Himself that He had created them (and others that the Chaos didn't find) on Day One of the Land's existence, not just Connor and Brigid, as had previously been believed. Obviously, this entry also refuted the idea that the first people had been created as adults. There is some disbelief among some people, about these claims; however, it has become more commonly accepted, in the years since then. The exact number of babies created on Day One is unknown, though it is speculated to be fifty. (See population growth)
In 914, one of Ginger's parishioners (who would later ask to remain anonymous) sought spiritual guidance from her, claiming to be in love with more than one person. The parishioner wondered if that was a sin, or perhaps the result of some psychological problem for which s/he (the gender of the parishioner remains unknown to the public) should seek therapy. Ginger told the parishioner that in fact this was known on Earth as polyamory, a phenomenon which is common on many worlds. Ginger's father, Therman, had learned of polyamory from a spirit many years earlier, before he was even married. He shared the knowledge with Maeve (his future wife), and later with Ginger. He had even submitted what he'd learned from the spirit to then Arch-bishop Esmeralda for possible publication in the O'Gas, but she'd advised against it. Ginger herself was unaware of that fact until discussing the matter with her mother, after the parishioner had asked her about it. Maeve then showed Ginger Therman's old notes on the subject, which Ginger shared with the parishioner. Later that year, she submitted the notes to Arch-bishop Talak Archman at the Orthodox Pilgrimage, but he rejected it. She then submitted it to Arch-bishop Virginia Regent at the Protestant Pilgrimage, and she accepted it for publication. This became one of the rare cases in which an entry in the O'Gas is published in only one edition; most entries are considered valid by both Orthodox and Protestants. Ginger wanted the entry to be included as "the Book of Therman" (he had never had anything published in the O'Gas during his lifetime). But Regent believed it would be better to include it in the Book of Ginger, for various reasons, such as the fact that it would be new to most readers, and therefore should be included in the newest book. (Though the two of them disagreed about whether this upheld or conflicted with the similar case of adding the book of Roderick to the present, centuries after his death.) In any event, Ginger ultimately accepted Regent's decision, albeit with an introduction in the official text giving credit to her father.