Ruken ir'Clarn

**Lord Ruken ir’Clarn** (LE male human) is the speaker of the upper chamber in the Brelish Parliament's prestigious Noble Legislature, and one of the most influential democracy activists. Lord Ruken ir’Clarn has a dream. In that dream, the monarchy has faded away to be replaced by a government of the people, by the people. This new government needs direction and leadership, however, and in his dream Ruken provides all that and more as the elected Prime Minister.

But dreams don’t put swords in the hands of soldiers, as Beggar Dane is fond of saying. So Ruken conspires to remove the authority of the crown after Boranel dies or abdicates the throne. Thrane, for example, has gotten along fine without a king or queen, Ruken has observed. Of course, he doesn’t want to replace the crown with a theocracy. He fears the abuses of the religious as much as the incompetence of those of noble birth. Instead, he plans to take the democratic experiment so crucial to Breland’s success to the next level. He plans to turn all power over to the parliament, eliminating the current system of shared authority in which the crown controls all executive and judicial power while the parliament administers legislative power. A central authority figure is still required; Lord Ruken plans to win the election for prime minister when this plan is fully implemented.

To make his dream become reality, Lord Ruken conspires with a handful of other legislators. Those working with him include mostly nobles with hereditary posts in the parliament, since they have the time to bring such plans to fruition. He has two elected lawmakers in his camp, however. Shiana of Wroat, now in her third term as senior representative of the capital, and Thanoc of Zilspar, who has served as the representative of the border village for almost twelve years, both adhere to the theory that the crown must be replaced by the vote.

To further his aims, Ruken has begun a series of secret meetings with Queen Aurala of Aundair. She is willing to provide funds and advice to make the dream of a monarchy-free Breland a reality, and Ruken is willing to accept her help - regardless of the Queen’s true motives in the matter. In the end, Ruken sees an ally who wants the crown of Breland to get pushed aside as soon as Boranel is finished wearing it.

## Description

Lord ir'Clarn is a plump man with straight dark hair and fair skin, his figure showing years of privileged living. Willing to pursue any means to ensure that the parliament triumphs over the monarchy, he’s enlisted a number of sympathetic nobles to carry out his dirty work, including Hass ir’Tain of Sharn. Once he secures control over the military from Boranel he wishes to start a campaign to reclaim Droaam. For him, the Five Nations were made by humans, for humans, and the idea of giving monsters or constructs rights is an aberration. His support for the Cyran refugees is an extension of this, Ruken seeing the importance of caring for the people of Cyre even if they no longer have a home. While Lord Ruken ir'Clarn has met with the Swords of Liberty a few times over the years, he has no real alliance with the group. Indeed, he even sees the Swords as too violent to be of any real aid to his plans.