Eloise Cortez

Eloise Christina Cortez was the daughter of Reza and Alexandra Cortez and the former leader of the Keepers. She was born on March 20 1975 in Los Angeles and died on July 17 2014.

Early life
Eloise was born and raised in Los Angeles, a city which she claimed to resent from a very young age. When she was 18, she moved to Austrialia to pursue a career in politics. She got her degree in Politics, Philosophy and Economics at La Trobe University at the age of 22. After her graduation, she was introduced to the Keepers, an organisation she has been working for ever since.

Behind the Curtain
"Being exposed to the Secret World changed me, it made me who I am today." - Eloise

After being introduced to the Keepers, she quickly rose through the ranks, becoming a level 3 Keeper after only 4 years. Eloise also became a board member of the Council of Venice in 2000, being one of the youngest people ever to achieve this. Her career on the council ended in 2003 after attempts were made by the Council of Venice to render the Keepers powerless, which forced Eloise to leave leave her seat.

Meanwhile her influence amongst the Keepers only kept growing bigger and bigger. In the aftermath of the events in 2003, she started working with her parents on a plan to make the Keepers self sustained and to ensure that the organisation would remain politically neutral. The Board eventually approved of the plan, putting Eloise in charge of different operations within the organisation.

Marrying a Madman
In 2004, Eloise married fellow Keeper James Zimbardo, after being in a relationship with him for two years. The couple bought a house in New York and adopted a daughter. Eloise has been cited saying that her relationship with Zimbardo made her feel trapped and lifeless. Several rumors were circulating that Eloise had fallen victim to physical abuse and that she was suffering from depression. The couple finally divorced in 2007.

The End of Days
In 2012, Eloise was one of the leaders of the team that investigated the End of Days and she was responsible for most of the contact between the Keepers and the Orochi Corporation for the duration of this operation. When it became clear that her parents inteded to sacrifice themselves, in order to seal the Engines, Eloise tried to stop them. She failed and was left an orphan and a broken woman.

Meanwhile Zimbardo took advantage of the situation and he quickly became one of the most influential members of the Keepers. After Eloise refused the request of the Board to become the leader of the Keepers, Zimbardo was appointed as interim leader until the next election. Eloise left her postion at the Keepers and retreated to her apartment in Hawaii and broke all contact for a few days.

Returning to the Keepers

 * More information about these events can be found here. 

Eloise quickly became an active member of the Keepers again in January 2013. She worked together with Jason Haskins who had set up a program to introduce new people into the organisation. Eloise had also pleaded for the Chosen of Gaia to be allowed into the organisation, a request which was approved by the Board in November 2012.

After recruiting many new Candidates with the help of Jason, Eloise and Amber Skinner were appointed the new leaders of the Keeper after Zimbardo was deemed unfit for this role.

In the following year, Eloise and Amber worked hard on improving the relationship with the Council and the Big Three. After Amber left the organisation in July 2013, Eloise decided it was time for a big restructuring of the organisation. She appointed more representatitives of the Big Three and allowed for smaller Cabals to voice their opinion during Board meetings.

Creating the Sanctuary
In January 2014, Eloise received a request from Jimmy Freeman who wanted to use the Keeper's resources to set up an organisation that was dedicated to helping agents of all societies within the Secret World. On January 13 this request was approved by Eloise and the Board and the Sanctuary Network was created.

Since then Eloise has given the Santuary get full support, becoming a member of the Sanctuary Foundation as well as one of the representatives of the Sanctuary on the Council of Venice.

Secrets of Solomon

 * More information about these events can be found here. 

Eloise decided to enlist the help of Sanctuary in march 2014, to solve some of the problems that had been accurring on Solomon Island, as well as gathering information about the whereabouts of her daughter, who had been having secretive meetings on the island. The missions were publically listed as Sanctuary Events in order to comply to the Council's Rules of Engagement.

Operation Chess

 * More information about these events can be found here. 

The events during the Secrets of Solomon inspired Eloise to call upon Sanctuary agents once again when the first transmission was received during Operation Chess in July 2014. Eloise functioned as the main contact for the players for the duration of the mission, talking to them via Twitter and the Sanctuary Forums.

During Operation Chess, Eloise once again crossed paths with James Zimbardo who intended to activate the 5 Gaia Engines, previously encountered during the End of Days. She also had to go through several traumatic experiences such as the kidnapping and poisoning of her daughter and the bombing of the New York Sanctuary.

Death and Aftermath
When the situation got more and more dire and all hope seemed lost, Eloise decided to make the same sacrifice that her parents made two years ago. In order to be able to destroy the Gaia Engines, she would have to give her life. In a final message to the players she wrote:

After writing this message, she took to Twitter one last time, leaving one final message before disappearing of the face of the earth. Shortly after that the Engins shut down and everything returned to normal, but Eloise hasn't been seen since.

Trivia

 * Her last name is a refference to Cortez from the Longest Journey Saga.
 * Her character in the second season was partly based on Helen Magnus from the TV-series Sanctuary. Eloise saying that she is more than 100 years old is a direct refference to Helen who is also more than 100 years old.