It's been a frustratingly long wait but Paul finally got back to me.
While I was waiting, Jeo was gracious enough to field some more research on Tom Kearney.
Tom was born in the 1240s, raised with parents who stubbornly voted for the old Foundationist Party. He was taught from a young age that darkfire was morally corrupt and that those with the apparent Darkfire Conjuration Syndrome were dangerous at best, nefarious at worst. He was a big believer of the anti-darkfire propagandist, Reonard Chaney, but, following the Ceri Mains incident in 1281, had a revelation on how biased and inaccurate Chaney was. And it seemed as if he was on the same path as the late Daniel Orville Carter to learn of the true nature of darkfire.
However, unlike Carter, Kearney maintained the belief that darkfire conjurers could not take part in mainstream society, pushing further on the notion that anyone who believed otherwise was either swayed by darkfire or a part of the "class of the morally corrupt" altogether. In any case, he believed, and believes to this day, that anyone supporting "darkfire integration" should be prevented from holding any political power.
I remember how there used to be a conservative Foundationist Party running in elections against a liberal National Labor Party. That was before the Diplomatic Party came around and kept winning elections so much that the other two parties closed their doors. Then came everyone else who banded together and established the Reformed Foundationist Party.
I also remember how divided the Reformed Foundationist Party was, having both former-Foundationists, who catered to the interest of small and mid-sized businesses, and former-Laborists, who catered to worker rights. Kearney favored the Foundationist side of things here because of their socially conservative views, especially when it came to their confident stance against darkfire integration, sadly enough.
Where things get interesting is when, after the Reformed Foundationist Party folded in the 1290s, Kearney supported the emerging Progressive Party. Not only did he vote for John Waltmann, he actually openly boasted about it and even called on other people to vote for this party.
And that shows the faults in the Early Republic, people's flawed perceptions on the political spectrum. The Progressive Party, back then, was seen as a radically liberal party, even compared to the now-defunct National Labor Party. Sure, they believed in nationalized healthcare, a nationalized road system, a nationalized education system. But the Progressive Party absolutely refused to listen to the concept of darkfire integration. There were some commonsense folk in the Party who called for it. But Waltmann and the Party majority would not hear of it, and maintained the very same conservative-nationalist stance on keeping the Mount Carris Perimeter Wall standing with the Finzi Community hemmed in and separate from the rest of society.
That, of course, was a compromise that appealed to Tom Kearney.
Now enter Sophia Qalmers. During the days of Waltmann, Sophia attained a job initially as an editor at the Three Points, where Tom Kearney was working. Tom, I believe, was feeling a bit vulnerable in the face of growing sentiment for darkfire legalization, and felt that perhaps he could use his age and experience to influence younger generations like that of Sophia to align better their ways of thinking to his. He moved to intimidate Sophia to make her feel he was the mentor while she was the student. But then Sophia did amazing work at Cabotton University and was promoted to the Field Journalist position, the same kind of role as that of Tom Kearney.
Kearney appeared to relent by offering to join as a co-writer for Sophia's column. But then he pulled his ulterior motives. And as it turned out, when that failed, though he did not get fired, he retaliated against her after he voluntarily quit. That's where the film thing came in. And when the fallout with that and the lawsuit happened. Tom Kearney left the scene.
That was where I initially lost track of him, but Jeo gathered more information.
Apparently, Kearney moved to the Great North as a freelance writer. A few years later, Walter Scott Mason, in the midst of his bloody Prime Minister election campaign, called on Kearney to move to North Kempton and join the Knights of the Common Good as a propaganda writer. It turned out that Mason had seen Kearney's film on Cabotton University and was very interested.
Kearney joined the Knights of the Common Good for that propaganda writer role, which paid a hefty salary. As part of the KCG curriculum, Kearney also learned spellcasting and gained his spellcaster license. He was also tasked to learn the art of disguise and take part in their "Intervention Program," which was more like an "Infiltration Program," in order to undermine certain organizations allied to the Finzi Coalition.
That was where he came from when trying to infiltrate the Third Level Society through Paul Mirkwynn and Tyler Benjamin.
When that failed, when Kearney escaped citizens' arrest, he returned to the KCG in North Kempton. This time, he was assigned as a Squad Leader of one of their Task Force units, the strongmen responsible for all the violence against the Darkfire Community. What he engaged in, personally, is unclear. But after Mason's death, Kearney relocated to the Province of Gymia, where he was promoted to one of the Generals of the Armed Forces of the Reformed Federal Estates during the 1311-12 War.
It was after the war where we lose his trail.
So now, Paul got back to me. He says that he is busy but will be willing to meet with me two weeks from now.
At least the weather is forecasted to be warm up in the far North of Cales.