Oliver Herwall

Oliver Herwall was an Akarvian politician and two-term President, serving as the nations leader during the first two wars in Akarv's New Voldranian history. Despite a notable lack of experience preceding his Presidency, Herwall would go down in Akarvian history as one of its most important leaders due to his decisive nature during the Nether War.
==Personal History==
Herwall was born to a relatively prestigious Akarvian family that was able to financially back almost any of his ambitions. He was afforded a full private tier 3 education upon the arrival in New Voldrania, but the chaos of the mass migration, the Nether Conspiracy, and the politics of the new world intrigued him. Rather than continuing his education he used his resources to run for a mayoral election in New Shartoe, which he won in 64 AE.
Despite his young age, Herwall led New Shartoe for a very successful four years. But he resigned at the end of his first term, having earned enough political attention for the Populous Party presidential candidate, Norman Grahck, to offer him a position as his Vice Presidential candidate. Ultimately Grahck would lose the election to Sarah Nass, and while he entered a temporary retirement Herwall remained undeterred. He spent the next four years working political department jobs in Norokar while privately studying political science.
In 72 AE, when Sarah Nass announced she would not seek reelection, Herwall used his resources to make his own run for the presidency. He had became a well known face in Norokar, as well as many other regions that predominantly voted for the Populous Party. He quickly received their backing, and with a fresh message of strength and a hard stance against the ever present Nether Conspiracy he won the election over his opponent Jane Hull, earning him the position as Akarv's twelfth President.
The next eight years would be some of the most tumultuous in the nations history, and Herwall was forced to step up more than he'd ever expected. In 73 AE, the first year of his presidency, Scavoran left the Western Accord alliance shortly after Ralkeis had joined it. With leader nations Jados and Baratan quickly falling into anarchy many in Akarv rejoiced that the alliance was destined to fail, marking the official end of the second Near War. While people celebrated the Western Accord's apparent demise, an Akarvian colony in the Southern Islands had organized itself and made moves to secede. Much like Namess seven years earlier many people in Akarv urged their government to resist, but Herwall made the difficult decision to support the Teas colony's request. All signs indicated that the Nether War was imminent, and Herwall did not want to worry about colonial politics with an imminent supernatural war, nor did he want to give the failing Accord reason to find a new ally.
While Herwall's decision was met with criticism and disdain, people quickly came to sympathize with his logic as the Nether did, in fact, begin at the beginning of 74 AE. Herwall and his military leaders had prepared a direct response to try and neutralize the invading Nether Creatures as they arrived in the Overworld. Unfortunately the plan failed and much of the responding fleet was decimated by the Void Devourer's forces. The military, the nation, and the rest of the world had completely fallen into chaos, unaware of how to deal with the invading Netheric forces. Together with his Head General Dakota Peerk and Head of the Military Norman Grahck Herwall worked to reestablish some form of stability.
The next year saw continued chaos around the world, but as time went on each nation slowly began to organize itself and hold the invading Netheric forces at bay. In the middle of 75 AE the Alred City hospital was taken hostage by Lao and her allies, a crisis quickly solved by agents of SANA. The panic that came with this event was meant to destroy Akarvian morale, but SANA's victory strengthened it. The military saw its largest recruitment spike to date, even more than the beginning of the war, and Herwall was taking the lead, working every possible angle to give Akarv an edge. It was only when General Dakota Peerk approached him with her plan for an joint international effort that he truly began to make progress.
Peerk and Herwall worked together closely on the formation of this alliance, dubbed "ANRT", with other world and military leaders such as those in EVAIN and the Royal Legion. Herwall led the political front while Peerk led the militaristic one. Together they managed to bring together several nations and organizations in an effort to hit the Void Devourer with a single, concentrated punch. The joint fleets set out in early 76 AE led by Peerk personally, and in the end their efforts payed off: the Netheric Army was beat back and the alliances strike team successfully eliminated the Void Devourer. The Overworld had won, and Herwall had won the support and admiration of Akarv as a whole. He was easily reelected at the end of 76 AE.
Herwall's trials didn't end with the Nether War, unfortunately. Just before the 76 election a bomb went off in Alred City near the Royal Legion Spire, and the assailants were not immediately caught. The investigation ran into early the following year, and all evidence seemed to suggest that Llysovian nationals had been behind it. In an often criticized move, Herwall aggressively called the Llysovians out and demanded the responsible party be turned over to Akarv to face justice. In his demands he implied that there would be repercussions should the Llysovians not cooperate, but had no true intentions of engaging in conflict with them so soon after the Nether War. Nevertheless, the Llysovians took poorly to the demands, and refused Akarvs request. They then promptly called Herwall's bluff and invaded the Midocon region of Akarv, igniting the Akarv-Alten War.
The war lasted only five months, but forced Herwall to make several hard decisions that would effect Akarv's reputation for years to come. He immediately sent a platoon of soldiers to the front, unable to dedicate enough technological resources to back them up so quickly. Without airships or heavier artillery the Akarvian forces were obliterated by the far superior Llysovian warriors. It wasn't until a young Captain, Henry Khan, took command that the Llysovians advance was stalled. By this time the military could be organized enough that Herwall ordered superior firepower to the front. Once airships arrived in the battle it quickly turned in Akarv's favor, and by the end of the fifth month the Llysovians had been forced into submission.
Even after the wars end the Llysovians remained a persistent threat to Akarvian security. Together with his top military leaders Herwall made the decision to begin an occupation of Altenahnenwalde to both rebuild the war damage and to ensure they would not be able to threaten Akarvian security in the future. Unknown to Herwall the occupation would end up lasting 16 years, a fact that would reflect Akarv as more of a conqueror than a friend in the future.
After the Akarv-Alten War there was finally peace, and the nation fell into a silent period of isolationism. Herwall continued to work closely with military and national leaders to ensure that the nation recovered, and his popularity soared even higher than it had when he was elected. Herwall spent the remainder of his presidency serving the nation as an agent of recovery, and when it came time for him to step down he backed his Vice President Herman Stalke's bid for the Presidency. With Herwall's support Stalke easily went on to become the thirteenth President of Akarv.
Even after his Presidency Herwall was not ready to retire, and after a few years of vacation he returned to the public eye and ran again for mayor of New Shartoe. Whether or not a former president should hold a lower position such as mayor was fiercely debated because of this, but in the end Herwall won and served New Shartoe as its Mayor once again.
Category:New Voldranians Category:Characters Category:Akarvians Category:Politicians Category:Leaders