Edward III

Edward III, born Drake Edward Durnador was the seventh monarch of the Grand Kingdom of Adwest. He ascended to the throne upon the death of his father Tristan II from cardiac arrest in 1515, reigning until his assassination exactly fifty years later in 1565. Edward III was the longest ruling sovereign of the House of Durnador, reigning for up to fifty years, and surpassing the twenty year reign of his great grandfather and the founder of the grand kingdom, Gregory III.

Although continuing the principles of enlightened absolutism laid forth by his predecessors, Edward III's reign was characterized by a starkly different approach to political culture in comparison to them. Cultivating an image as the "King of the Cavalry and the Masses", Edward III pursued a populist style of leadership which greatly endeared him to his subjects, pushing forward with, among other things, gradual political liberalization and poverty reduction through various reforms.

Edward III's reign came to an end with his death during a party celebrating his golden jubilee, dying from a fatal gunshot wound to his spine by a gunman suspected to be part of the Adwestene republican insurrection. He was succeeded by his heir apparent, Crown Prince Randolph Gregory, who adopted the regnal name Gregory IV.

Early Life

Drake Edward Durnador was born on the evening of 9 Fien 1490 in the summer residence of his mother in the rural town of Aldhurst. He was baptized into the Argent Church of Adwest at sunrise the following day, following a hasty convening of the five High Bishops who were responsible for the ceremony . He was the first child and only son of Prince Francis Tristan Durnador -who would later become King Tristan II- and Duchess Beatrice of Pharamond. He had a younger sister who was born five years later named Emily Louise.

Before the birth of his sister, Edward was the jewel for both of his parents, who would both often dote on him and showcase him at court. He was especially popular among the more senior members of the nobility, where he would jubilantly introduce and converse with at social functions, and was also one of the most favorite descendants of Edward II, his great grandfather who became king a year after his birth. He was, as Edward II remarked , a charming young man with a breath of cheerfulness and good manners.

By late 1494 however, Beatrice would once again announce a pregnancy and would give birth to another child, a female they would name Emily Louise after Beatrice's two grandmothers, the following year. Although the attention and pride that Edward received from both of his parents never disappeared at the coming of Emily Louise, it would significantly diminish and affect his relationship with them later on.

Edward was educated by a governess from age three up to twelve, and was subsequently enrolled at the Stenwick School, a boarding high school that catered to the children to the Adwestene social elite. Numerous accounts from former professors claim that entering Stenwick for the first time was a "culture shock" for Edward, who would eventually come to request a weekly schedule instead of a full schedule. This allowed him to return to Balfonheim every Friday. However by his third and final year in junior high school, Edward was withdrawn from Stenwick on the grounds of safety. His grandfather, Tristan I, had abdicated from the throne on 1503 following the successive murders of Queen Isabella Lloyd-Durnador, his wife; Victoria Sophie Durnador, his sister; William Durnador, one of his sons and the brother of Edward's father; and Arianne Durnador, his youngest daughter and also a sibling of Edward's father. The abdication signaled the beginning of the Decade of Strife, the first ever period of open rebellion by pro-republican forces who were secretly aided by several of the ceremonial dukes who plotted to restore the power their titles carried before.

From then on Edward completed his senior high school years within the walls of Stormwind Palace in the capital, under the tutelage of several renowned educators hired by his family. It was these years that Edward would often recall as his loneliest and most somber, but it was also during this time that he formed his strong bond with his sister Emily Louise. Unable to go out even in the streets of the inner city of Balfonheim, Edward and Emily spent hours together, whether playing or studying, and from there would come to forge a strong relationship and trust in three years. Both of their loneliness was further compounded as their parents became largely preoccupied with the affairs of state; Tristan had become one of the close advisers of his brother, the king Arthur, in the conflict against the insurrection.

In 1508, Edward was sent to the Royal Academy of Oswelt to study animal sciences. As he was not the immediate candidate for the throne, he did not choose to study affairs that were commonplace for future sovereigns such as political science. Instead he chose animal sciences because of his fondness for horses and, eventually, equestrianism.

Marriage and as Heir Apparent

While Edward was studying or partaking in his sport, the end of the Decade of Strife and the death of King Arthur in 1511 saw his parents propelled into a new level of power. Beatrice Falsen was no longer titular Duchess of Pharamond following the Edict of Traditional Unity which restored ducal authority and some level of autonomy. Meanwhile, Francis Tristan inherited the throne as Tristan II as all of Arthur's direct heirs had died. Tristan II despised Arthur's handling of the rebellion and blamed him for the death of both his siblings William and Arianne and his nephews and nieces, which propelled him to the Lazuli Throne. Tristan's ascension would mark the start of his behavioral changes towards his wife and children.

Tristan was crowned as Tristan II at Balfonheim on the 14th of Tolven 1511, while Edward was named Crown Prince the following day, becoming heir apparent.

Crown Prince Edward and his mother, Queen Beatrice of Pharamond on tour of the Adwestene realm in 1511.

As crown prince, Edward reluctantly agreed to begin undertaking public duties throughout Adwest. The first of this was an active tour of duty in the armed forces, where he was first sent to the Royal Lanseal Military Academy for education and training for a year. In late 1512, he was enlisted into the Royal Continental Army as a command sergeant for a cavalry brigade.

Despite being enlisted in active service, Edward also regularly followed through with other official acts such as visiting the denizens of the realm, sponsoring public works, and representing his father and kingdom in international conferences. In the sidelines of his duties, Edward had been in correspondence with his childhood sweetheart, Laura Valcourt. Valcourt was a woman of a shy yet lively demeanor, who was the only daughter of a minor noble back in Pharamond. She and Edward were particularly fond of penning one another letters and would exchange up to four letters in a single week.

Eventually Edward would come to pursue her, and after two years of courting, the two were granted permission by Tristan II to marry despite the king's initial protests. The marriage did not lead to any political gains for Tristan II, who would have preferred his heir to marry Eloisa de Meisen, the youngest daughter of the then Duke of Lincrest, Feolthanos de Meisen. At court, Tristan II's dislike for Valcourt was unkempt and very open for anyone to witness, even decrying her as a "gutless wench" at one point.

Edward's marriage with and to a seemingly useless and uninfluential family was not the last bone of contention between him and his father. Emily Louise, turning 17 in 1513, had dropped out of senior high school and eloped with Albert Tamasine, the heir to the Duchy of Slane. When she was discovered, her father had her captured by the Argent Knights. Tristan, who had been dubbed as "Tristan the Mad" following several other public outcries and acts of physical punishment to members of his household and servants alike, then caned Emily Louise the day she was brought back to Stormwind Palace at view of the entire court.

Although many were disgusted by the Mad King's behavior, only the crown prince came to openly defend the princess, branding his father a tyrant. Edward's displeasure by that time was not a new thing, but rather a culmination of his own experiences of punishment under Tristan II, even in his young adulthood years in the Falena Royal Military Academy. In his memoirs, Edward described his father as a rigid soul, who had either the cane or the whip to answer for any trespass by anyone he saw below him - which was basically everyone.

Emily Louise openly denounced her father, arguably at the encouragement of her brother, and in 1514 declared her intention to leave Adwest and settle with her lover, Albert, in Nyland. However on the afternoon of their supposed flight, Albert had her recaptured and sent back to Balfonheim; he had negotiated an agreement with Tristan II for additional mining rights for his father's company, the Tamasine Group, in the Ronan mountains in exchange for Emily Louise's return. The princess subsequently fell into an apparent state of depression with talks of Tristan II disowning her began to circulate in court; Edward was one of the most vocal voices against it, but, unlike other figures who opposed the move for fear of creating an image of disunity within the monarchy, his motivations were borne out of a desire to protect his sister's life and safety.

In Treizen 1514, Emily Louise launched what was known as the Stormwind Siege, an attempted coup against the rule of her father. Several mercenaries and servants who professed loyalty to the princess, and believed by many to have been either sympathizers or members of the underground republican rebellion, entered the palace and tried to take the royal family hostage and save Emily Louise from house arrest. Edward sustained an injury to his left arm, with the bullet remaining lodged there until today, but otherwise subdued most of the attackers. The failed coup is still doubted by many as being an orchestration of the princess herself, but whether or not it was, it allowed Tristan II to gain the necessary support to do away with the princess as he saw fit.

In the early hours of the new year of 1515, Edward watched mournfully as Emily Louise was executed by hanging in the courtyard of Stormwind Palace. Her body was then dumped into the Cordelian Sea, the highest dishonor in death in Adwest. Tristan II and the Argent Church had condemned her for numerous crimes against both the crown and the "moral fabric" of the state, including but not limited to treason and sodomy. Edward had previously attempted to downgrade the punishment to life imprisonment instead by pleading personally, and even attempted to persuade his sister to leave of the country with a fake passport he procured, but it was all for naught.

The rift produced between the crown prince and the king would never heal, even at the latter's death several months later into the year.

Ascension to the Lazuli Throne

On the late evening of Nueva 10 1515, Tristan's body was found lifeless on the floor of his personal study by his wife Beatrice. The king, since his sanctioning of his daughter's execution, had become even more withdrawn and further irate when in the company of others. Since the beginning of Marth, he would frequently withdraw from meals, even completely refusing to eat for one day. All of this resulted in the exacerbation of his breathing problems from being a nearly three-decades long chain smoker, and culminated with his death. His autopsy revealed the cause of death as heart attack from a disease that was only found out after his death. Tristan II always declined to get a thorough health check-up as king, insisting he was in a good condition despite the reality not being so.

Edward refused to attend the ceremonial cremation of his father four days after his death, and was especially disgusted in continuing the royal tradition of bathing in the ashes of his predecessor. He was the first monarch of Adwest to completely abandon that tradition, and he managed to avoid controversy from his open display of displeasure at his father, even at his death, owing to the efforts of his mother. Beatrice was keen in revealing to the Adwestene high nobility the abuse she and her children suffered under Tristan, ensuring that her son's coronation would go on smoothly with the sympathies of the aristocracy.

Edward was crowned the 7th King of the Grand Kingdom of Adwest on the first day of the following month, following a grace period and after adopting the regnal name Edward III. He inherited the Duchies of Ormbeck and Erithglen and all other titles below them in the following days.

Background

Before inheriting the throne, one of the most common tasks for Edward was to appear in public events to represent his father, who, especially during his later years, had been unable to do so. Some of his appearances include visits to orphanages, medical institutions, rural areas, and other poverty-stricken locales. It was from these exposures that many claim pushed Edward to develop an attitude of sympathy to the common man and a disillusionment with the governance of his predecessors, who he labelled as "deviants" from what was supposed to be an enlightened monarchy.

Another factor that was claimed to influence Edward's eventual populist and reform-oriented thrust as king was his wife's and in-laws' commitment towards charity. Though a minor noble family within Adwest, the Valcourts were one of the primary people involved in the Halnish Social Aid Foundation, a nonprofit organization that aimed to provide safe and clean drinking water to people where it wasn't available, such as in Tambossa. Edward and Laura, as crown prince and crown princess respectively, at one point even attended a groundbreaking ceremony in the construction of a new well sponsored by the foundation in Bagamo, Tambossa.

In his 1516 new year's address, Edward pledged that he would improve the quality of life for every one of his subjects, although during that and future addresses, no specific plan of action or area of concern was ever mentioned by him. His solutions and reforms would only come through a situational and case-by-case approach, and to some, were criticized as slow. Yet later in his life, he would reaffirm in an interview with foreign journalists and through his memoirs that he was always committed towards change, though through "gradual increments" instead of an "outright attack on the system" in order to avoid causing another civil conflict.

Suppression of noble power

Edward and his court, whose composition was largely altered as soon as he became king, adopted a number of policies aimed at combating poverty and offsetting the huge economic gap between the poor and rich subjects of the realm. Yet none of these were institutional in nature and only largely served as an experiment within Edward's own duchies, never to be fully recognized nationally. His plans were subsequently dismissed by the high nobility.

However instead of faltering, Edward was said to have "taken on the challenge of Colbert", referring then to the Royal Chamberlain of Adwest and then Duke of Adrudan, Colbert Wolcroft, and sought to expand his effort throughout the entire nation. To this end, he decided that the aristocracy needed to be reigned in. His first real national exercise of power happened after the Silas River Massacre of 1521, when approximately five thousand workers in a textile factory in Lincrest participating in a labor strike were violently dispersed by Duke Feolthanos de Meisen, leading to the deaths of some seven hundred people. The incident received extensive domestic and international coverage, mostly owing to a covert - and as the high nobility would loudly remind, illegal - investigative probe by foreign journalists, provoking outrage at home and abroad. This incentivized Edward to adopt his first decree as absolute sovereign, known as the First Edwardian Decree for 1521. The decree banned ducal security forces - the private armies of the 17 Adwestene high nobles - from acting in a law enforcement capacity and established that no such forces may exceed five thousand personnel.

The decree was received by hostility from Feolthanos and his colleagues, and the Royal Chamberlain himself was reported to have personally threatened Edward with noncompliance and dissent. But the king refused to relent, and on the 29th of Tolven 1521, a hundred-man force from the Royal Adwestene Constabulary was deployed by the Ministry for Home Affairs to the town of Allensby in Lincrest, where the massacre took place. The textile factory where the strike originated had been under watch and occupation of Duke Feolthanos' forces, who were accused of brandishing physical punishments to the workers to keep them in check. A stand-off occurred in which the royal constables attempted to enter the factory, but were repeatedly blocked by the duke's forces, which lasted for almost a week.

Units from the Royal Adwestene Constabulary stand guard vis-à-vis the security forces of Duke Feolthanos de Meisen. The Silas River Massacre proved to be an instance demonstrating Edward's effective use of force in the face of opposition from his vassals.

Eventually, the tensions came to a close when a compromise was reached. Feolthanos surrendered the soldiers and officer responsible for conducting the massacre to national authorities for prosecution and the dissenting high nobles agreed to follow with the decree, in exchange for Edward raising the maximum number of ducal security forces to ten thousand personnel. It was during the announcement of the compromise that Edward started to be referred to as the "King of the Cavalry and the Masses".

In 1529, Edward removed Count Ebenezer Falkswick from his position as Finance Minister. The move was seen by the high nobility as a precursor to future attempts by Edward and the court to block the further growth of the network of corporations in various sectors where they were managing officers or majority shareholders. This was confirmed when in the following year, the Ministry of Finance provided over a billion Adwestene Lyras as subsidies to a number of agricultural savings and banks community development banks, both as compensation and as a means to prevent their takeover by larger financial institutions such as the Ramsythe Banking Corporation - a bank primarily held by the Dohlberg family of Rivadis. The Finance Ministry implied the latter was the primary reason for the release of subsidies, as the interest rates for larger banking organizations was extremely lower than that of the smaller banks.

Both the Ministry of Finance, under its new administrator Myravielle Carudas, and the Royal Adwestene Monetary Agency, the grand kingdom's central bank, the greatly expanded its oversight over all financial practices being undertaken by the duchies and their rulers, under Edward's direction. The dukes were given extensive autonomy in the management of local economies under Edward's uncle and his father's predecessor, King Arthur Durnador, including the ability to set and collect taxes. National revenue rates were therefore relatively low in comparison to ducal revenues, with some such as in the Duchy of Slane even reaching up to a 50% personal income tax. In addition, each coastal duchy controlled the entrance of foreign goods through their ports, and distributed these goods to the enterprises that needed them via private negotiation, effectively decentralizing the entirety of Adwest's international trade.

The situation was found to be absolutely detrimental to the pace of economic growth and national revenue collection, and once again, Edward intervened. He did not release a decree however, and instead convened the Ducal Council in order to negotiate once more. The majority of the high nobles acceded at once to transferring porting duties to the national government, however they were all adamant on ensuring that tax duties remained in ducal hands. Edward proposed that for the first five years that tax collection was transferred to the national government, an investment would be provided for the National Adwestene Rail Company to improve the locomotive system in Adwest. The proposal again was accepted by a majority of the high nobles, who had been lobbying for either the system's complete removal or complete renovation since the days of Tristan II.

But three dissented even still, and the strongheaded faction was led by the Royal Chamberlain Colbert Wolcroft as they walked out and shut down the discussion. In Septem of 1533, agents from the Ministry of Finance were harassed and forcibly sent back to Balfonheim by the security forces of the Duchy of Adrudan, Wolcroft's domain, as well as of the duchies of Slane and Fosteria, threatening to spark a conflict. The next month, the agents returned escorted by guards from both the constabulary and the armed forces. This prompted Slane and Fosteria's dukes to acquiesce to Edward's demands, in fear of sparking a conflict, although it wouldn't be until the following year when Wolcroft himself would drop his recalcitrant attitude. Edward instituted a flat income tax of 12% throughout the nation with his success.

In 1537, a petition to explore and potentially locate mineral resources in the geophysical location of the Ronan Mountains was jointly proposed by the Ministry of Trade and Industry and the Ducal Council. Though the plan was initially approved by Edward, the former backed out following an initial mapping that revealed the planned exploration location poured over from Adwest's border to the Taeunas side of the mountains. Edward ordered the geophysical exploration immediately halted, and all operations had ceased by Elva. But in the Vinytr of the same year, a diplomatic incident between Adwest and Taeunas took place when scores of Adwestene scientists, engineers, and even armed nationals were arrested and caught a mile into the Taeunasan portion of the mountain range. Their deportation and eventual interrogation pointed out that they were under the service of Scion Industries, a mining company operated by members from both the House Tamasine of Slane and the House Wolcroft of Adrudan.

Lord Tamasine, Duke of Slane. His fall from grace and forced abdication marked the beginning of the Ducal Council's inability to oppose their liege.

Both Raminas Tamasine IV and Colbert Wolcroft were summoned to provide a reasonable explanation for the action, on the pain of facing charges of high treason. Tamasine appeared in court and was allegedly forced to abdicate from his position as Duke of Slane in favor of his heir, Albert Tamasine. Wolcroft did not appear, and following an ultimatum, the royal constabulary was ordered to arrest him come the 1st of Alvan 1538, and he was put on home imprisonment upon their arrival in the 15th of Alvan. Before Wolcroft could be tried for crimes violating the sovereign's word, he died from an overdose of sleeping pills on the 19th of Alvan, a case of suicide that was said to have been suggested onto him by Edward's constables as a "suitable alternative to humiliation".

The forced abdication of a high noble and the suicide of the Royal Chamberlain, as well as the appointment of a loyal supporter, the Duke of Sensaros, into the leadership of the Ducal Council, cemented Edward's grip over the governance of the realm. These factors ensured that the high nobility would never again attempt to openly challenge Edward's rule for the rest of his reign.

Political and social reforms

Side-by-side his efforts to weaken the high nobility, Edward also advanced the need to have a greater percentage of the population participate in the political process. Manifestation of such a desire began in the new year of 1533, when, in a speech, the king declared disagreement with the notion that the crown was infallible in all its decision , thereby indirectly stating a desire to extend decision-making in politics. He also encouraged public criticism of the crown, and shortly thereafter declared the 5th of Alvan as "Reflection Day", where for 24 hours, punishment for criticism against the royal family or complaints on Adwestene society in general were suspended.

The act had a surprisingly tremendous effect on the Adwestene populace, who submitted several complaints on a wider range of issues from high water and power costs to abuses of corruption by children of nobles to lack of support for mental health research. Edward's response was shock, but remarked that it was more of a positive development than anything else, that the people knew how to speak instead of being fearful or apprehensive of the opportunity.

The annual Reflection Days eventually became an effective venue by which the king could be informed of all the problems, mostly minor or limited to certain areas, in his realm, which he then set about fixing. It also served as a way for his subjects to further be connected and become endeared to their sovereign, so much that criticism on Edward by 1540s was nonexistent and that the reflections were more or less reports on social grievances. They were a great boost to Edward's popularity among the masses.

Desiring to create a formal channel to correspond with his subjects and, as suspected strongly by many groups, to lay out the beginning of a constitutional monarchy, Edward decreed the creation of the Royal Convention of Adwest in 1541. The convention was a forum for anyone who wished to attend, mostly aimed for the less fortunate members of society, to discuss with the sovereign himself the troubles of the day and how they can be resolved. Though the convention eventually evolved to become a quasi-advisory body composed largely of members from the intelligentsia, instead of a popular assembly, it nonetheless allowed Edward greater insight on the concerns of his subjects and apply necessary solutions. For one instance, it was through the convention that Edward decreed the creation of state pensions to offset concerns on the official retirement age.