Handduken

Marquis **Handduken** is an architect, businessman and politician who was the 3rd President of the Government of Game City from 2021 until 2023. As well as having been President of the Government, Handduken is the head of the corporation Handduken Inc., dedicated to redstone-powered security services and a powerhouse in the restaurant industry with their subsidiary business BcBonald's.

## Biography

### Beginnings (2020-21)

When Handduken first arrived in Game City, he began to work as an architect, improving and renovating the capital's ruined, abandoned or poorly-constructed buildings. His work led many to admire him, to the point that he became the first common non-political citizen to attend a session of Parliament. This would be his first taste of politics, and he would eventually join the Labour Party, quickly rising to its highest ranks and becoming their leader with no difficulties (due to a years-long internal crisis in the party after the departure of JaimeGamer99 and Canderi). Around the same time, with his architectural income, he would start up a large redstone company called Handduken Inc. and a subsidiary chain of fast-food restaurants known as BcBonald's.

As leader of the Labour Party, Handduken believed that hard socialism was not the way forward, and moved Labour further towards the political centre. His moderate ideas of embracing some capitalist ideas and ditching socialism proved to be popular indeed; and his pledge to reintroduce free healthcare, to build a series of BcBonald's restaurants, a shopping centre and a racetrack, and to modernise the kingdom in general led to his electoral victory in 2021.

### Presidency (2021-2023)

After winning the elections, Handduken was officially inaugurated as President of the Government in a ceremony at the Government House (due to the Royal Palace being under renovation) on the 2nd August 2021.

The first thing the new Labour government did under Handduken was replace the old ID system with a brand new and much more complete passport, with information ranging from the date the player joined to the number of businesses the player owns.

However, soon after Game City would once again suffer economic trouble. More and more Emris gems were being discovered at a rapid pace and entering circulation, causing their value to plummet. The Parliament was called for an emergency meeting in October to find a way to contain the situation, but no agreement was reached. For the following months, players would disobediently destroy or trash many Emris gems in the blind belief that they would increase its value, but this did nothing as more and more gems were being uncovered.

On the 12th January 2022, while President, Handduken received the noble title of Marquis for his architectural service to the kingdom. In addition, taxes were introduced the following month in Game City at an initial rate of 10%.

During the first 3 months of 2022, the emris gem suffered a period of extreme inflation, affecting the strength of the jewellery market significantly. In an attempt to save both the jewellery market and the economy in general from crashing, on the 14th of March, President Handduken wrote an executive order to Goldin Bank "under the presidential powers given by the people" ordering them to destroy half of the Emris gems in the bank's vault "in the name of the King and the people of Game City". Parliament, after voting on the bill, soon approved Handduken's emris gem law, and Goldin Bank was ordered to release half of its gems for inflation control, reducing the total number in circulation from 22 to just 11. The value of the emris gem doubled to 450,000 Erin per jewel. However, Parliament (and, more specifically, the Labour government) received criticism for acting against the will of the people, and earned the frustration of Goldin Bank, who increased the commission bill to "hopefully reimburse our stolen assets". This led to a number of clients leaving Goldin Bank and creating accounts with a new bank in the Financial District: Hemphschere & Co.

Under his premiership, Game City would gain its first overseas colony: the Cane Islands, with its regional capital in Port Triumphos. In addition, the Kingdom's first democratic Constitution was ratified under his government in October of 2022.

However, during the last few months of 2022 and up until early 2023, Handduken and ToastIsBestFrozen were becoming less and less active, an absence which eventually descended into a governmental crisis since it was practically impossible for the executive branch to enforce laws without the interference of the King. The crisis reached its highest point on the 5th January with the resignation of Vice President ToastIsBestFrozen and a rare televised speech by the King in which he announced that he would take over the powers of the also absent President Handduken. The King would take temporary executive control and announced a snap election for March. Handduken announced on the 22 January that he would not stand in the election and would no longer be the leader of the Labour Party, passing on the leadership to EnderShrimp7468 and oram. Handduken would remain as *de jure* President, safeguarding the position until the results were published in April, which marked the official end of his presidency and his departure from politics, preferring to focus on his company.

His presidency was greatly valued, though. According to a poll conducted by left-wing newspaper *The Worker's Journal*, 41.7% of Game City thought that he was 'fantastic', while most of the others ranked him as either 'good' or 'average'. Only 8.3% said that he was 'bad' and nobody at all chose the option 'terrible'. This makes Handduken one of Game City's most popular politicians ever.