One of the most prominent figures in Post-Burnout America, Tara Endell helped frame the country’s early political balance and set the stage for redevelopment. Might only be out-shadowed by her late husband and his final contribution to humankind. 

Born 1996 to a poor family in Leighton, Iowa, Tara Endell’s trajectory was nearly inescapable. She fell for George, a passionate young man with dreams of engineering, in highschool and had the first of four children when she was just 17. Due to her raw tenacity and George’s psychopathic work-ethic, the family persevered. By their 30’s, they operated one of the only hybrid/electric specialist car-shops in the region. All four of Tara’s children were at school on the East Coast.

When news of the impending Burnout reached Tara and George, they decided to take drastic action. By liquidating their inventory, they were able to purchase a ranch in remote Weller and convince several families in the community to join them. With this compound in place, they endured the most violent parts of the Burnout in relative quiet. However, their crops failed catastrophically during late summer. Overcome with despair, Tara’s eldest daughter, Sasha drowned all of the compound’s children in a nearby pond. Tara confronted her. No one knows what actually happened, but Sasha was never seen again.Facing starvation, they tried to find other survivors. George made radio-contact with Jim Rillerman and Demitry Andoulous. Andoulous had a food-supply from his green-houses, but all three parties were critically low on fuel.

Reaching Andoulous’s compound was also a challenge. By then it was the middle of November. Snow was too deep for conventional vehicles and sunlight was too low for solar-powered mechanisms; they needed a new approach. George spent four weeks working non-stop on what would become the Agribine system. Using his designs, Tara and others constructed a frost-ship made out of their cars and other scraps. They called it the Hail Mary. 

After completing a working Agribine and converting their now-useless crops into fuel, the compound’s people were ready to depart on the Hail Mary. Due to a clamp freezing, the vessel was unable to properly launch after the engine had started. Afraid to risk stalling the motors, George disembarked and manually released the clamp. He shouted for his people to “Keep moving! Make something out of this!” before collapsing out of exhaustion. By then, the vessel was already speeding away. 

Tara stayed below decks for over a week in a severe depression. Even after arriving at Rillerman’s compound, she spoke little and appeared completely irresolute. After two weeks of seclusion, she put forth a humanitarian project that would become known as “The Widow’s Passage”. Sensing that Tara and her followers threatened his grip over the compound, Rillerman supported the Passage as a way to remove her. By stripping nearby towns, Tara constructed a small convoy of tracked frost-ships. 

In late January of 2031, she departed with a crew of 216 and 52 Agribines. Over the next eleven years, she would live on the road or operating out of a base in Pueblo, Colorado. During the first instances of contact with other surviving communities, Tara noticed how easily the cult-worship of her husband and the Agribine spread. Sensing how his story could be used to spread unity and hope, Tara gradually adopted the public-image of “The Widow”— effectively a high-priestess. Behind closed-doors, Tara was an aggressive negotiator and strategist. She met with early faction-leaders including Graler (and a young Hephaestus), names, names, names to discuss their prospects and the country’s stability. Despite ideological disagreements, she maintained friendly terms with Rillerman and his following until the 2042 meeting at Conver. Knowing that the Guild (Rillerman’s creation) would likely be backed by the newly arrived Formers, Tara publicly urged Clan leaders to cut ties with the Guild. Later that day, Tara was walking across the frozen Chicago river when a cable for a loading crane broke. The ice shattered and Tara died of hypothermia before she could be rescued. 

Tara’s legacy is a complement to her husband’s epic martyrdom. She is the figurehead of perseverance and generosity in the face of complete desolation. She is also a hero throughout the Passage Lands, and regarded as a champion for the political independence of the Clans. However, her life and the questions she was forced to answer are far more profound. Tara’s journey epitomized life after the Burnout, and the existential crises faced by many survivors:

• Tara was the only surviving member of her family. Her parents had died before the Burnout, her children were presumed dead, and her husband worked himself to death. While she had numerous friends, both from before the Burnout and during her travels, she was without any blood-ties. Could someone like her ever have a family again?

• Coming to terms with George’s death and the lack of closure. According to her journals, she broached the idea of a couple-suicide to him numerous times. George refused, claiming that if it came down to it, he would rather die in service to humanity, than with the love of his life. Despite her feelings of abandonment, Tara maintained that she never stopped loving him. 

• Balancing George’s legacy with her own life. Although her husband’s invention would be one of the cornerstones of redevelopment, Tara was the one who was still alive. Her status as his widow gave her a unique position to spread the Agribine and his teachings. But, regardless of her relation to George, Tara was a skilled administrator and an uncommonly flexible politicker— someone who was valuable in her own right. What is the best way for someone like that to serve their people?