Sean O'Duffy

**Sean O'Duffy** was a Beluzian politician and war hero as well as the founder of Kilani Fascism and the progenitor of most fascist movements in Beluzia.

## **Life**

Sean O'Duffy was born on August 16, 1882 in the city of Manorville in the Luthorian province of Beluzia to Donal and Róise O'Duffy. His father was a captain in the Luthorian Army of Beluzia and, in secret, a Kilani nationalist and secessionist. His paternal grandfather, Fearchar O'Duffy, also served as an officer in the Luthorian Army of Beluzia and was one of the ringleaders who lead the Kilani Rebellion of 1854 and was executed for treason in 1856. It is due to the beliefs of his father and the idolization of his grandfather that a fervent Kilani nationalism was planted so strongly in Sean.

The O'Duffy family was one of wealth and influence, which has opened up many doors for Sean throughout his life. Until the age of fourteen, the young Sean lived a life of comfort and attended the prestigious Manorville School for Gifted Youth where he proved not only his intellectual capability, but also his physical gifts. He participated in a multitude of sports and joined the junior wing of the Kilani Scouts.

At the age of fourteen, Donal O'Duffy sent Sean to Cirrane to attend the Beluzian Youth Military Academy so that he could follow in the footsteps of his father and grandfather. Here Sean excelled, proving himself to be among the top students of his class.

When he graduated at the age of eighteen, O'Duffy was recommended by his teachers to enroll in the Beluzia Military Officer Academy (Today the Bailon Military Academy), at the time the best Luthorian military academy outside the core territory of Luthori. Once again, O'Duffy proved himself to be a capable soldier and a brilliant tactician. He would go on to graduate fourth in his class in 1904, at the age of twenty-two.

Once he graduated from the military academy, O'Duffy was appointed as Brigadier of the 2nd Westmoreland Brigade, which was conveniently headquartered in his hometown of Manorville. O'Duffy's service in the Luthorian Army was relatively uneventful, as the 2nd Westmoreland Brigade served primarily as a policing unit and didn't see much action. In addition to his lack of action, O'Duffy was generally disliked by his officers who didn't like that such a young officer was made their commanding officer, and his lower ranked troops despised him for his elitist attitude.

On February 6, 1907, O'Duffy's life was turned upside down when the Luthorian government discovered that his father was a leading member of a militant Kilani independence group called the Kilani Republican Army. For his membership in this group, Donal O'Duffy was arrested by the Luthorian police and tried for, found guilty of, and executed for treason. This prompted Sean to resign from his position and joined the Kilani Republican Army and was appointed to the position of Commander of the Westmoreland Kilani Republican Army. The suspicion created by his sudden resignation compelled the Luthroian government to monitor the actions of Sean. Like his father, Sean was revealed to be a leading member of the Kilani Republican Army, which forced him to go into hiding until the revolution.

On August 16, 1908, which was coincidentally O'Duffy's twenty-sixth birthday, the Kilani Republican Army declared independence from Luthori and mobilized its forces across Beluzia. As commander of the rebel troops in Westmoreland, O'Duffy would play an instrumental role in the Beluzian Independence War and proved himself to be the best commander on the side of the rebels. In the first four months of the war, while the rebels were being beaten all across Beluzia, O'Duffy's forces had successfully routed Luthorian forces from Westmoreland and, on December 29, linked up with Commander Bairre Caomhánach of the rebel forces of Bailon who crossed the Tackstov Straights with his troops after destroying the Luthorian forces in the Bailon Archipelago. The two then marched for Cirrane to tip the four-month long battle in favor of the rebel forces and successfully occupied the city on January 27. O'Duffy and Caomhánach then split off to assist rebels in other areas of Beluzia, with Caomhánach heading south to trap the Luthorian troops in Harlingen and O'Duffy solidifying control in Negunia. By the beginning of March, the rebels had captured each of the major cities in Beluzia and forced the Luthorians to come to the negotiating table, which ended in Beluzian independence with minor political and economic cessions. O'Duffy would continue to serve in the Kilani Republican Army until he resigned in 1913 due to political differences between himself and his fellow officers, which would mark the end of his military career.

In 1910, O'Duffy met a woman named Myrna Beck at a banquet held in Manorville put on by a friend of the O'Duffy family and fellow aristocrat. Beck was the twenty year old daughter of a prominent aristocrat and monarchist from Cirrane who was attempting to marry her off to a promising young aristocrat. Beck's father found that man in O'Duffy. After courting her for a few months, O'Duffy proposed to Beck and they were married in 1911. They would go on to have three sons and two daughters, the youngest two children being twins.

Before he joined the Kilani National Party in 1912, O'Duffy remained rather apolitical. Until then, O'Duffy was a member of the Kilani Independence Party, a party which advocated solely for independence and failed to adapt to the republic. During this time, despite him not revealing his political values too often, O'Duffy was suspected of being a monarchist that supported the return of the House of na Beluztalamh to Beluzia and take up the reigns as monarchs of Beluzia rather than maintain the Luthorian model of governance. The Kilani Independence Party dissolved in 1910, leaving O'Duffy without a group to support in the elections.

The Kilani National Party was one of the first parties to form after Beluzia achieved independence from Luthori, forming in 1909. Despite their early start, they didn't begin to gain traction until early 1912. The sudden boost in recognition they received during that year, coupled with their core ideologies of Kilani nationalism and anti-Luthorianism, caught the eye of the fervently nationalist O'Duffy, who would soon join the party and adapt their ideals. From the time he joined the party in 1913 until 1916, O'Duffy became the party's candidate for Prime Minister, a position he would never hold.

On April 2, 1916, Shay McAlister died of a stroke, leaving his position as the Chairman of the Kilani National Party open and an internal election for the position was scheduled for the following month. As a war hero and influential citizen, O'Duffy was the perfect fit for the position and was chosen to lead the party after gaining more than seventy percent of the vote. O'Duffy would serve as the Chairman of the Kilani National Party for seventeen before being coerced into resigning from the position and leaving the party by his fellow party officials who feared that O'Duffy was growing too radical for the party.

For the next thirteen years of his life, O'Duffy would fall into the relative obscurity of writing essays and books on his ideology of Kilani Fascism. During this period of time, O'Duffy also created the Whiteshirt fascist militia, and would use this group to intimidate his political opponents. After a few years, however, the government ordered O'Duffy and the Whiteshirts to cease all activities and dissolve their group, and they did so in order to avoid government retribution.

In 1946, the Kilani National Party dissolved after allegations of corruption against the high officials of the party, including its Chairman, Seachlann Ryan. This left Beluzia without a notable nationalist or right-wing party, which is largely thought to be the primary reason for O'Duffy returning to the political scene by starting a new party based off of the principles of Kilani Fascism. O'Duffy would lead this radical party, called Ár Náisiún, for eleven years but wouldn't live to see the party leave obscurity or gain more than ten seats in the Dáil.

In 1957, O'Duffy suffered a severe heart attack which hospitalized him for three months and force him to resign from his positions as the Chairman of Ár Náisiún and retire entirely from politics. Over a year later, O'Duffy suffered a second heart attack and two weeks later, on January 20, 1959, O'Duffy died from his conditions. His funeral was held the following month and was attended by hundreds of Beluzians, whether they be political followers or admirers of the Beluzian Independence War war hero.