Edward von Kliffton-Eirollen

## Graf Edward von Kliffton-Eirollen

Kliffton in 1060

> *"The choice is starve or cling to some arbitrary sense of sovereignty."*
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Count **Edward von Kliffton** (*Graf Edward "Adler" Alerio Gunther Wilhelm von Kliffton-Eirollen*; 1007-1082) was a Fengelian statesman, nobleman and entrepreneur who served as Chancellor from 1058 to 1064. His tenure was marked with post-war economic recovery, lessening economic regulations, increased foreign ventures and cooperation; and is credited for Fengelia's modern economic climate of relative abundance, domination by Aristo-Capitalist noble houses and widespread availability of tropical products.

## Biography

### Family background

Edward was born in 1007 as the son of Count Silus von Kliffton-Eirollen. His house is a merger of the Clifftons, an entrepreneur family of Khalish descent that was ennobled in 955; and the Eirollens, a Kürheimese house that had fallen out of the Grand Duke's favor by 978. The marriage and merger of these 2 houses in 978 resulted in Silus as the first-generation Kliffton-Eirollen and Edward as the second.

The Eirollens, previously a prominent military family, were against Fengelian unification which angered the pro-Heinese Grand Duke of Kürheim. They moved to Litzhafen, where they encountered the wealthy, recently ennobled, but still low in social standing Clifftons. The merger and marriage allowed the Eirollens to regain their prestige through the Klifftons' wealth and business, and allowed the Klifftons to gain the social prestige and connections the old established Eirollens had.

### Politics

Edward entered the Litzhafen Landtag in 1032 as a member of the Federalists, a nation-wide coalition of Fengelians that wished for better equality and representation for the other states of the Empire. In 1035, as part of Emperor Friederich II's reconciliation policies, the Grand Duke of Kürheim allowed the Eirollens to return to Kürheim. Edward was welcomed by the Federalists in Kürheim, and entered the Kürheimese Landtag as a member of them. The main Kürheimese industrialist noble houses, Lüneheim-Niederfeld, and Oberbach, were discontent with the Conservatives' protectionism and Heinese dominance that limited their profits and businesses. Edward used his family background to appeal to the Federalist sympathizers in Kürheim, and became a member of the Kürheimese cabinet from 1043 to 1046. In 1046, Edward was elected to the Reichstag

### The War

In the years leading up to 1048, Edward had opposed militarism and the arms race as part of his Federalist platform, opposing the militarist Heinese dominance. Naturally, the military became suspicious of him. In 1048, a coalition of Social Democrat, Federalist and Center Justice members, including Edward, went to the Emperor's palace in Heinstadt and petitioned against the War. In response, Friederich II suspended the Reichstag, and barred those involved from entering politics again. Many of the involved, including Edward, were jailed, sparking further domestic backlash against the War.

Edward remained imprisoned until the end of the war in 1053. Hoping to appease Post-war anti-war and anti-Friederich sentiment, the new Emperor Franz August pardoned Edward and appointed him a member of Chancellor Larriech von Naydea's cabinet. While Naydea focused on the demilitarization aspect of economic reconstruction, Edward's policies included privatization of various industries that were nationalized for the war effort, and increasing foreign trade.

### Chancellory

In 1058, Edward replaced Naydea as Chancellor. During his tenure, almost all industries and news media that had been nationalized for the war effort were re-privatised, free trade was promoted, and international cooperation through peaceful and diplomatic means were the new foreign policy. The Fengelo-Niederish Cooperation Treaty was signed in 1062, and relations with the various Northwestern nations, which had soured during the reign of Friederich II, were reestablished.

As industries and enterprises that were nationalized for the war effort began to be privatized again, Edward's tenure (combined with Naydea's) being known by some as *the Corporatocracy*

### Post-Chancellory

Edward was succeeded by the commoner Social Democrat Klaus Berendt in 1064. He was appointed a seat in the Bundesrat, the Diet's upper house, and remained active in politics. He opposed the Fourth Medimarine War that broke out in 1068, and the Raykorian Civil War as well. When the warship *SML Edward von Kliffton* was launched in 1073, Edward boycotted the ceremony as he was opposed to having a weapon of war named after him. His daughter attended the ceremony on his behalf instead. His relation with Emperor Franz August continuously soured in the 1060s and 70s

In 1082, Graf Edward von Kliffton-Eirollen passed away peacefully in his home in Litzhafen, as the militarist Volkspartei under Karl von Horwitz gained power, and it appeared as if Fengelia would be heading towards militarism once again. He specified that he did not wish for the Emperor to be at his funeral, and Franz August allegedly didn't want to attend his funeral as well. At the end, Crown Prince Wilhelm attended on the Emperor's behalf