Abigale Poole

Abigale Poole was the Speaker of the House for the pre-War West Virginia state government who became the leader of the Provisional Council of the Charleston Emergency Government post-War.

Background
Prior to the Great War, Abigale Poole served in the state government as Speaker of the House for a minority party in West Virginia. She was opposed to allowing Grafton Steel to keep their mill open due to the amount of pollution it spewed out, potentially damaging tourism for the nearby valley and causing more worker riots.

In the chaos immediately following the Great War, and since Governor Evans was missing as well as Majority Leader Fortrey, the chain of succession meant she became acting governor, much to the chagrin of Tanner Holbrook, who believed he was next in line for governorship. He responded by having Maggie Jessup, the former governor's secretary and advisor, hire several private scouts and cover this up by using the tech services employee Tom. Little did he know, Tom was actually Poole's cousin-in-law, and would leak Holbrook's plans to her.

Two days after the war, Poole suspended all Vehicular Registration and Licensing services to have the staff instead provide support for first responders.

In March 2078, she was asked by Melody Larkin to look into Police Chief Mayfield's actions and have the council act upon what was seen by Larkin to be a heavy-handed use of power in Morgantown.

She advised against the Responders trying to make a peace treaty with the ski resort inhabitants, which ended in disaster. She also disliked the Brotherhood of Steel after being forced to "donate" supplies to them.

In December 2082, Poole decided to throw a Christmas celebration in Charleston to raise everybody's spirits. However, Holbrook opposed such a party - publicly, he claimed the celebration was a waste of supplies, but privately he and his cronies were hording food to bribe voters for the spring election. Using knowledge from her informant Tom, Poole confronted him and he backed down, allowing the celebration.

Appearances
Abigale Poole is mentioned only.

Behind the scenes
Because of Poole and Holbrook's disputes over the governorship following the Great War, the exact structure and line of succession for the West Virginia state government, including Poole's title as Speaker of the House, is somewhat unclear. See the Charleston Emergency Government page for more details.