George Washington is, in Antiterra, a giant of ancient lineage, retired general and de facto leader of the thirteen colonies, a “storm giant” in whom the lightning resides.
| Type | Character (giant, general) |
| Year | 1784 |
| Spanish entry | George Washington |
Description
He is of avatar size, larger than those he confers with even seated, and wears a tunic. He grew during the first battles of the colonial revolt into “truly a monster of the Revolution”. Earlier he had another form, “old Isuto”, walking a swamp stalked by creatures of Farium, burones and a three-eyed lake beast that hypnotizes toward madness; then he shaved, and stays shaved. In his guerrilla years he was “sick with some Saturnine thing”, wanting to see no one. His descendants live hidden across America. As Washington Storm he cannot see invisibility. He says: «Y sin embargo la electricidad es mi esencia» (“And yet electricity is my essence”).
History
He drove the red devils out of America, bringing back “justice like lightning”, then resigned and retired to Mount Vernon, where he works the fields. He remains de facto leader, and Congress is calling him. He leaves for New York, where he works to restore order, in early July for the first Fourth of July without war. He is now besieged and isolating himself, stalked by “the forces, the aberrations and other figures”.
Politics
“I do not want to be a tyrant.” He will serve only if democratically elected under a constitution, for four years, and never allow “a city thought only for the benefit of the richest”. His government would keep out the devils and forces “from the Far East”. A Washington Council bears his name.
He gave 40,000 gold coins, issues letters with a lightning sign and keeps exact accounts. He asked the companions, who had freed him from a malign influence, to free the bewitched held in two centers of corruption. He considers “putting congressmen in boxes”. A man of lodges, he is close to Lafayette. People trust him as a guardian; he can be invoked. Congress annulled the nation promised to the Indians.
Renunciations
- Lightning: electricity disturbs the barriers, so he avoids calling it and speaks with Petra Barton teleacoustically, through water.
- Dreams: he is one of the few exiles barred from the world of dreams. He knows the aberration’s name and that it might enter through him, so he will not dream again.
Mount Vernon
A mausoleum of Washington stands there while he lives. The surrounding plantations are “a land that has just cried out for freedom”, and he is one of its main slave owners. The journey takes a week; on the way his face is being carved life-size into a mountain, by people inside a giant tent. New temples honor Zeus Washington, a syncretism with Zeus. The city of Washington has not been founded in 1784.
Conflicting accounts
- He has retired from politics, yet is de facto leader and first president; whether successively or at once is disputed.
Open questions
- Who lies in the mausoleum, and why it was built in his lifetime.
- What the Saturnine illness is.
- Who orders exile from dreams.
- Where the corruption centers, the monument, his tavern and the “local Washington front” are.
- Whether “Washington Storm” is a name or a title; how he is invoked.