Jennifer Hale

Councillor Jennifer Hale
Jennifer Hale
Member of the Council of Kerlile
Incumbent
Assumed office 12 August 2018
President	Joanna Greenwood
Preceded by	Cornelia Hale
Personal details
Born	Jennifer Eleonora Hale (1981-12-09) December 9, 1981 Maytown, Kerlile
Nationality	Kerlian
Spouse(s)	Josephine Alvarez
Mother	Camila Wren Hale
Relatives	Cornelia Rosa Hale
Alma mater	University of Buttercity
Other names	Sonja Viratnen-Alvarez

Jennifer Eleonora Hale (born December 9th, 1981), known for a period as Sonja Viratnen-Alvarez, is currently the Hale family representative on the Council of Kerlile.

Using the name Sonja Viratnen-Alvarez, Hale was one of the commanders of the Lauchenoirian Resistance in the Second Lauchenoirian Civil War until the revelation of her true identity. She is married to Josephine Alvarez, former Lauchenoirian Foreign Secretary, although this marriage is not recognised in her native Kerlile.

Early Life in Kerlile

Jennifer was the youngest of two daughters, the eldest being her sister Cornelia Hale, who was eight years older. She was born in Maytown, Lauchenoiria, a gated community where members of the Council of Kerlile spend the summer months in peacetime, and where daughters of Council members are raised. Jennifer is a direct descendant of Camila Letitia Hale, one of the founding mothers of Kerlile.

She attended the small school reserved for daughters of Council members in Maytown until the age of thirteen. In the Council school, she would have learned about Kerlian culture, and the workings of the council, even though her sister Cornelia was the primary Hale heir.

Kerlian Civil War

At the age of thirteen, Jennifer Hale disappeared in the second year of the Kerlian Civil War. It was later discovered that Hale took the name Sonja Viratnen, the name of a girl of her own age who was executed with her family for treason against the Kerlian state. As Sonja Viratnen, Hale joined the militant wing of the Democratic Kerlian State, the organisation attempting to overthrow the Kerlian government in the war.

She remained with DKS until the age of seventeen, when DKS was about to lose the war, and she fled across the border to Lauchenoiria, still using the name Sonja Viratnen.

Life in Lauchenoiria

While in Lauchenoiria, Hale attended the University of Buttercity, studying veterinary bioscience. Following her graduation in 2004, she began working at an animal shelter in the north of Yervia Province. In 2006, she met Josephine Alvarez, who visited the animal shelter as part of her animal rights campaign while running for the federal parliament.

In 2007, she moved to Buttercity with Alvarez, and began to work for the Lauchenoirian Animal Protection Agency. In 2010, Hale married Alvarez, and began to use the name Sonja Viratnen-Alvarez (and was often known only as Sonja Alvarez).

In 2018, following the outbreak of the Second Lauchenoirian Civil War, Hale became one of the primary commanders of the Lauchenoirian Resistance under the name Sonja Viratnen-Alvarez, a position she held until the revelation of her true identity by the Kerlian authorities.

On the Council of Kerlile

Jennifer Eleonora Hale took the Council of Kerlile oaths on the 12th August 2018, and became the fifth Councillor Hale of Kerlile. Her first act as Councillor was to introduce a Council bill to instruct President Joanna Greenwood to accept Sanctaria's offer to conduct peace negotiations to end the Second Lauchenoirian Civil War.

Controversy

While using the name Sonja Viratnen, Hale married Josephine Alvarez in Lauchenoiria. Under Kerlian law, Councillors and their daughters are not permitted to marry. As a result, it is uncertain whether or not the marriage is valid.

Some supporters of the Lauchenoirian Resistance do not believe that Sonja Viratnen-Alvarez and Jennifer Hale are the same person, citing a 'Kerlian conspiracy'. The evidence does not support this view. Others believe that Hale deliberately infiltrated the Resistance as part of a Kerlian strategy to gain information and sabotage the Resistance's war plans. Hale denies this.