u/Dizzy-Butterscotch31

Here is my official origin story for Vox. OCs are mentioned in this, and it is Canon adjacent. Specific events are edited accordingly. Enjoy.

(CANON-ADJECENT)

Vincent Joseph Whittman was born in Norfolk, Virginia, on July 30th, 1899, alongside his twin brother, August Elias Whittman. They were followed by a sister, Margaret Jean Whittman, on January 7, 1903.

His father, Walker Harrison Whittman, was a successful but busy lawyer. He was of English descent, their bloodline traced back to the first Pilgrims who arrived on the Mayflower. He was a man of high importance in their community and was a deeply serious, emotionally distant individual who held no value for newfangled entertainment, preferring science journals over fantasy novels and silence over music.

His mother, Adelheid Sabine "Heidi" Whittman (maiden name Braun), was a former teacher and homemaker. She was of European desent, born and raised in Germany before coming to America when she was 21. She was a calm and pleasant woman, always standing by her husband's side. She didn't share her husband disdain for art but rather loved to read Gothic horror and listen to music.

The two were what the modern world would call "WASPs." They were deeply religious, and church every Sunday was always required. This intensity of religion and how easy people were to manipulate was something Vincent noticed from a very young age.

Shortly after giving birth to Margaret, Heidi contracted scarlet fever. Vincent went from seeing his mother every day to being barred from entering her room. He was so young, he didn't understand it was for his own safety. Scarlet fever was deeply contagious, and in these times, deadly.

Heidi Whittman unfortunately added to those statistics. Her body, ravaged by illness and exasperated by her body still weak from childbirth, simply couldn't take the strain.

Because scarlet fever was so easy to transfer from person to person, all of Heidi's personal items - her dresses, her books, her jewelry - were burned. Vincent was too young to remember her, but he remembered his father’s grief. Walker took down every picture of his deceased wife and locked them away. He refused to talk about her. It was like she'd never existed. Walker took on more cases and was away from home more, meaning Vincent and his siblings were often left with only their servants and their nursemaid, Lindy Johnson, to care for them in their father’s absence.

Vincent and August had both been born with blue-green heterochromia (a trait inherited from Heidi), which led to bullying from other children and meant Vincent, already quiet and socially awkward, was often excluded from his peers. Lindy often consoled Vincent when he was bullied, telling him that his eyes meant he was special, and others simply didn't recognize it yet.

In 1908, the two boys were spending a summer day playing in the stream near their home. Vincent had turned away for only a moment before August was swept away by the current. It took 2 days to find him. When they did, it was too late. Walker suffered yet another loss and became even more withdrawn. This time, Vincent had no shoulder to lean on. No mother, no brother, a sister he wanted nothing to do with, and a father who might as well have been invisible. He'd have to learn to stand on his own.

When he was 12 years old, Vincent was sent to boarding school, Woodberry Forest School, over two hours away. He hated every second of it - the terrible food, the itchy uniforms, the freezing cold rooms - but he knew that if he just dealt with it, eventually he could come home. Vincent worked hard in school, especially when it came to giving presentations, always treating it like a show and thriving from all the positive attention. He learned how to say the right things, to make himself look important.

Vincent graduated in 1917 and chose not to attend college but rather to find work. Vincent had hoped he and his father would rekindle their relationship, but an explosive argument ensued shortly before Vincent left for the big city of Richmond, and from then on, their relationship was beyond repair. Vincent never spoke to his father or sister again.

Vincent moved to Richmond, got a small apartment, and began planning big ideas for his future. He immediately began using what he learned to his advantage. In 1922, he got a job as a salesman for Kimball Coal, a mining company, where his reputation grew, and he succeeded in his job. It was noticed not just by the CEO Franklin Kimball but Franklin's daughter Thomasin.

Vincent bonded with and began courting Thomasin. In 1929, the stock market collapsed. Everyone lost everything, including Thomasin's father. Kimball Coal went bankrupt, and Vincent found himself jobless for the first time in a decade. Things only got worse when Vincent's father died that same year.

The only light in Vincent's life was Thomasin. She was different from the other women he knew - more of a tomboy and very socially inept - but she sparked something in Vincent he thought had died a long time ago.

She supported him through his father’s death and the sale of the Whittman family home. Vincent proposed, and they got married in 1933. Together, they scraped together enough from what was left of their family's savings to buy a small home in the Chesapeake Bay area, close to the big city of Baltimore. Vincent got work as a weatherman for a radio station, and Thomasin got work as a telephone operator.

Although they got along well and enjoyed spending time with each other, Thomasin had little interest in making love to him despite her constant affection. But they were still friends, and that's what made it work. The US entered WW2 in 1941. Vincent was terrified he'd been drafted, but to his relief, this wasn't the case. He was able to remain at home and report on both the weather and the wartime news.

Their marriage did eventually result in a child: Melody Minerva Whittman, born January 28th, 1942. Thomasin suffered severe complications in childbirth, and it was recommended by doctors that the two not attempt to conceive again. That was fine by them. Vincent had his little girl, his princess. She was all he needed.

With the war, financial strain, and being a present father, Vincent found himself restless and disconent in his life. Viewing it as a midlife crisis, he eventually moved from radio to the television, the newfangled entertainment device sweeping the nation. He applied for and received a position for a up and coming television station in the spring of 1942. It was good work, people saw him, people loved him. But it wasn't enough.

It would NEVER be enough.

In the fall of 1942, Vincent killed his coworker, news anchor John Thornton. Thomasin caught him when he came home covered in blood, but she didn't run. In fact, this is when Vincent learned that his wife, his best friend, was just as fucked up as he was. She also had a dark side, a side that literally saw no problem with murder, only that they be sneaky about it.

She would help him hide evidence and lie to the police over the next 10 years. With each new victim, Vincent took their place. Vincent began to gain a following, something akin to a cult. The network intern Ethan Cassidy and long time viewers Paul and Eileen Ryland were his biggest supporters.

All the while he played the part of the neighborhood charmer, a devoted husband, and a committed father. That last one was easier to fake. For all his flaws Vincent loved Melody, but he couldn't deny it was easier to hide what he did when she would spend summers in NYC with Thomasin's brother.

On November 16th, 1952, Vincent was at the top of his game, ready to officially start his movement. In that one glorious moment, a loose cable allowed a tv to fall and crush Vincent Whittman, killing him instantly. His followers also died from the resulting electrocution.

Miraculously, or perhaps not, Thomasin survived and spent the rest of her life in a asylum until her death by suicide in 1991. Melody refused to ever acknowledge her parents again.

In Hell, now with a head modeling the very thing that killed him, Vincent tried to grow his influence once more, and this got the attention of a certain sinner, his idol- Alastor, the Radio Demon. They became friends, or so Vincent thought. Due to unknown circumstances, the two had a falling out in 1955 that would shape the rest of their afterlives.

In present day, Vincent now goes by Vox. He runs the company VoxTek as the Media Overlord, alongside his associates Valentino and Velvette. Ethan and the Rylands also work for him in the afterlife. Thomasin also found him in Hell once she died, but her Vincent is a changed man, and their relationship has been rocky ever since.

Because Vox trusts no one except himself.