Laura Tobin

Laura Tobin was a 26th century inhabitant of Ordifica who was chosen by Faction Paradox to be a participant in the Remote project. She was the first of five generations of the individual who became Compassion. (PROSE: Interference - Book Two, Of the City of the Saved...)

Within the City of the Saved, Laura became a notable detective in Paynesdown District. (PROSE: Of the City of the Saved..., A Hundred Words from a Civil War)

First life
Laura originally came from Earth, where she had a strained relationship with family, (PROSE: Interference - Book Two) including her sister Alison Tobin. (PROSE: Of the City of the Saved...) Alison especially hated Laura because she thought everyone preferred Laura over her. On board the Titanian Queen in 2593, Bernice Summerfield hear Alison wishing for Laura's death in a car crash. (PROSE: Ship of Fools)

In 2594, Laura was sent to Ordifica by her family because they felt she was a social embarrassment. During her time on Ordifica, she became associated with Faction Paradox. (PROSE: Interference - Book Two) Uncle Kristeva knew Laura around this time. (PROSE: The Ancestor Cell)

In 2596, during the sixth year of the War, the House Military attacked Ordifica, and Laura was rescued by the Faction. (PROSE: Interference - Book Two, The Book of the War) She was assigned navigational duties on the evacuation ship Justinian, a position she shared with Fitz Kreiner. On Mathara's instructions, Fitz and Laura routed the Justinian a temporal course to Anathema in 1799.

Laura willingly offered to become one of the founding members of the Remote colony on Anathema, welcoming the alterations it would cause. (PROSE: Interference - Book Two)

"The more we get stripped down to our basics, the more we turn into who we really are. We get stronger that way. We get more real, not less. That's the whole point of this lifestyle."

- Laura Tobin talking about the process of Remembrance

Laura was content living on Anathema. She stayed friends with Fitz Kreiner before he left to rejoin the Faction. (PROSE: Interference - Book Two) Laura outlived all of the other original versions of the colonists who stayed on Anathema, surviving into her eighties. When she died, the Remote who had known her filled a Remembrance tank with their memories of Laura, creating Compassion II. (PROSE: Of the City of the Saved...)

In the City of the Saved
being a human, Tobin was resurrected in the City of the Saved, where she became a detective in Paynesdown District. Soon before the City of the Saved Civil War broke out, Godparent Avatar employed her as a private detective to figure out who killed Ved Mostyn, although in reality he already knew. She investigated the crime for a long while, speculating that Mostyn was a Houseworld agent, or a highly advanced clone (which were not subjet to the City's protocols of invulnerbility). Avatar denied all of these, claiming he was a Citizen of the City. As it turned out, Avatar had been telling the truth, as it turned out Mostryn was Cousin Porsena of the Rump Parliament. The goddess of the City, Civitata, summoned Tobin to her temple in the Romuline District, asking her to be her avatar within the City, to let them both share Tobin's body, but Tobin repeatedly refused. (PROSE: Of the City of the Saved...)

Laura stayed in Paynesdown during the City of the Saved Civil War. On one occasion, she allied with a group of peace activists to blackmail Doomsday Cesario with a nanopoison. (PROSE: A Hundred Words from a Civil War)