Liu Calvin

Liu Shiqui Calvin, 1st Duke of Shenville (born 23 May 2625) is a retired politician and statesman of Orionese origin who has served in various elected and appointed posts in the Empire of Orion and the current government of the Republic. He has most notably served as Minister-President of the Empire of Orion in the 2660s and 2670s until the Orion state's dissolution; as governor of inner Orion sectors in the 2670s and 2680s; as Minister of Defense for the Republic from 2689 to 2694; and as Vice Chancellor from 2694 to 2696. He retired from public service in 2696.
He dominated the Orionese political establishment in the lead-up to the Great War and was instrumental in the political cooperation between the Orion and Terran empires in that conflict. His chairmanship of the Orionese foreign office of the National Humanist movement developed into the mutual drive towards human unity by the two strongest human nations in the Galaxy. He was commended for his services to the greater human good by conferral of noble title in 2670 as Baron Calvin of Shenville. This was raised in 2675 to Earl of Shenville. He was finally raised to a dukedom upon his retirement, thus giving him a permanent seat in the Central Galactic Congress.
== Early life and education ==
Liu Shiqui Calvin was born on May 23rd, 2625 to Michael Shang Calvin and Ling-Wa Calvin at the Municipal Hospital in the city of New Jincheng on the planet Shangri-La in the Empire of Orion. His parents were typically mixed-ethnicity Orionese, with elements of Chinese, Anglo, French, and Japanese heritage. Calvin's father was a Member of Parliament to the Orion National Assembly, and his mother worked as a professor of legal history at the Royal University in New Jincheng. He and his parents were Presbyterians, members of a relatively small sect of Christianity that once flourished on Earth, and he attended religious services regularly in his youth.
Calvin was privately tutored until the age of ten, when he was sent to the Knox Academy, a prestigious private school. He attended Knox from August 2635 to April 2641. He then was sent to the St. Andrews Institute, a private vocational school for two years, matriculating with high honours in 2643. His parents insisted on a legal career, though he wished instead for a career in aviation.
At age 18 he began studies at the Royal University at the capital planet New Devon. He graduated summa cum laude in 2649 with his Juris Doctor degree. He briefly worked as a lawyer for the Orion National Humanist League before committing himself to politics.
== Political career ==
=== Orion government ===
While at university, Calvin became active in the student National Humanist group. He became the chairman of the Royal University's chapter of the Student National Humanist organization in 2644. He was elected national chairman of the SNU for the Orion Empire in 2647. He helped to organize youth branches of the Party and get out the vote for the Orion National Humanist League, the Orionese foreign office of the National Humanist Imperial Labor Party.
His first line of work after acquiring his doctorate was as legal counsel to the ONHL's leadership committee. He was encouraged by party leaders to join the parliamentary list and, in the 2650 election, went to serve as a Member of Parliament. He became Party Whip in 2656 and greatly assisted the gradual growth of the National Humanist parliamentary stake. In 2658 he was appointed by the NHILP Foreign Relations Office to be chairman of the ONHL; his first moves were to play the opposing parties against each other in order to acquire amenable terms for the National Humanists to operate as a coalition partner. This served to make the other parties appear weak and desperate for power, while the National Humanists appeared strong and committed to its ideals. In the 2660 election, the ONHL won a majority of seats and Calvin was appointed Minister-President of the Orion Empire by Emperor John.
Calvin's ministry was marked by the military build-up of the Orion armed forces, strengthening defensive ties with the Terran Empire, and implementing National Humanist racial policy. Under Calvin, stricter regulations were placed upon alien protectorates. Previously granted freedom of movement and a wide set of career opportunities, free aliens were now compelled to register their movements on and between planets, were restricted to a narrower set of careers and jobs to ensure full human employment, and were banned from owning personal weapons. Alien migrants and transients of unfree races were compelled to register or face expulsion or arrest. The Orionese military made major defense acquisitions early in his administration, buying from major Terran contractors and suppliers to ensure a large, ready supply of armaments and technology. Some Orionese industrial consortia were displeased by this, but were compensated by 2664 arms contract that allowed them to build licensed versions of Terran spacecraft, armored vehicles, and aircraft. Calvin pushed for a much more integrated military alliance with the Terrans, with the two considered the closest partners of the Interstellar Treaty Organization. Terran soldiers and gendarmes had met with diplomatic issues when pursuing criminal and pirate groups across space territorial boundaries. These restrictions came to be gradually reduced. Terran fleets aided in Orionese border patrols in the Soviet, Centaurus, and Cassiopeian frontiers. This was perceived by the Soviets as a sabre-rattling gesture, which built up tension between the space empires. The inevitable confrontation between the communist armies and the National Humanist allies came in September 2665. A Soviet squadron made a surprise nuclear attack on Ventra, an Orionese colony world with a heavy uranium-mining infrastructure, at 0950 UTC, September 8th 2665. The attack killed approximately 400,000 civilians and over 250,000 soldiers on the ground, demolished the planet's six major cities, and destroyed its orbital defence installations. The defending space squadron was destroyed prior to the attack, killing some 11,000 astronauts. The Soviet attack squadron slipped away before the arrival of a joint Terran-Orionese response fleet.
Calvin, the Defense Ministry, and the General Staff agreed that a state of war existed and communicated with Terran and ISTO leadership. At 1300 UTC, the Orionese government declared war on the Soviets. At 2000 hours, the ISTO declared a joint state of war in defense of the Empire of Orion. This initiated the Great War. Throughout the conflict, Calvin subordinated the Orionese armed forces to the ISTO combined staff's command and control. Some of his opponents criticized him for 'bowing' to Terran control, but Calvin countered with National Humanist rhetoric of the unity of humanity and the war being the apocalyptic conflict to bring about a galactic New Order. Placing Orionese defensive power under the control of the joint allied command was an admission of the new state of things, and the inevitability of human unification.
In 2670, the ISTO was reorganized as the Galactic Confederation. Calvin was appointed a member of the Confederate Assembly, and vice-chair of the Orionese delegation. He was a member of the War, Treasury, and Public Safety committees. In February 2675, the war came to a close with a total human victory. On 30 March 2675, the State Dissolution Act formally abolished the member states of the Confederation and replaced them with autonomous member worlds. Calvin ceased to be Minister-President of the Orionese government. He was a member of the Constitutional Convention that crafted the new constitution in April. The constitution was promulgated on 20 April 2675, creating the Central Galactic Union.
=== Consular government ===
Calvin remained a member of the provisional Central Galactic Congress until the first elections of 2676. He abstained from campaigning for legislative office and instead was appointed the inaugural governor, or Consul, of the Inner Cloud sector of space. He held the governorship of the sector until 2682. He was appointed Consul of the prestigious Orion Core Sector in 2682, and held that office until his retirement in 2695. He held a seat ex officio in the College of Consuls.
=== Central government ===
Calvin was appointed Minister of Defense in January 2689. The Duke of New York had resigned the ministry due to policy differences, recognizing that the shift to wartime footing required a different approach than his "lean and mean" military. Calvin, with vast experience in managing civilian government both at national and regional levels, took to the challenge and stepped up military procurement and recruitment in order to expand the expeditionary forces. Around 100 billion citizens were conscripted to fill reserve and defensive positions, in order to shift existing formations into the newly-created Special High Command for the Outer Rim. Under the terms of the National Defense Act, command authority in wartime bypassed the Minister of Defense. Calvin chafed at not having any operational authority over his own employees, and over time this grated on him. He resigned the Ministry in July 2694, passing the torch to Geoffrey Compton.
He was appointed Vice Chancellor, but retired in February 2696.
=== Congress ===
After his resignation, he was conferred the peerage title of Duke of Shenville by letters patent of the Central Galactic Congress. He had previously been named Baron Calvin and Earl of Shenville in the 2670s due to his valued service to the human unification project. He was thereafter entitled to a seat in the Central Galactic Congress. However, he has rarely taken his seat and voted on issues in the legislature. He described himself as "mostly retired" from politics. He sits for the necessary plenary sessions and votes on armed forces appropriations issues, but otherwise has retired to a rural home on Shangri-La.
== Personal life ==
Calvin largely keeps his personal life out of the public spotlight, an achievement most politicians fail to meet. Despite the high offices and positions of power he has held, he kept a low media profile. His semi-retirement has kept him even further, and he places most of his time into charitable and philanthropic efforts on his homeworld.
He was conferred the noble title Baron Calvin of Shenville in 2670 for his efforts in crafting the Galactic Confederation. He was raised to an Earldom in 2675 for his role in winning the war. After his retirement from central government service he was raised to a Dukedom.
Calvin married Minwa Ahern in 2651, and they remain married. They have six children: Shang (b. 2653), Theodore (b. 2655), Martin (b. 2656), Rebecca (b. 2657), Ophelia (b. 2658), and Patrick (b. 2660).