Fenris Glen Aigleran

King of Progress

As my late father so rightfully understood, we cannot afford to delay the modernization of our land any longer. I hereby pledge to lead carefully and wisely my people through the difficult times to come. Let us not be shackled by the past and doom our future place in the world. Let us build Menicea by our dear values and teachings, but looking forward.

— King Fenris' coronation speech to Queen's lane

Fenris Glen Aigleran is considered to be the second reformist King of Menicea, following his father, Siran. His popularity among his people has nothing to envy his predecessors, but his government says otherwise. Individualism and reformism are both often perceived as threats in Monarchies, and Menicea is no different.

Princehood

As all the young princes and princesses that preceded him, Fenris grew up in the White Castle. As the first heir to the crown, he received the adapted education during his childhood.
The late King, his father, was aware that the reforms he undertook and the ideas of change he had were unpopular among the court. Fearing that they might try to raise his son into a more conservative King than he was, he dedicated as much time as he could to his heir.
Together, they often visited the foreign residences' district within the High-Garland. The former King made sure that his son cultivated an interest for the foreign technology, that he understood how late Menicea was, and how important it was to catch up.

Yes, it is possible to show emotions and individuality while still doing my duty. Gone is the time of stone-faced kings and cold court. Our beautiful land bursts with colors and culture, and I shall be the face of it all.

In consequence, the young prince developed a rebellious attitude towards the more conservative families and the oldest aspects of the royal etiquette. When he was in age to unite and move to his own manor, he chose, against the court's opinion, a noble young lady from the small Listara house of Irisport. Together, the royal couple made sure to have the public opinion on their side by making yearly tours to all regions of Menicea.
Yet, every small scandal he was involved in was not big enough for anyone to use it against the royal family. The prince always made sure to respect the etiquette just enough, so that they could not be too offended- A trait he later kept as King.

Kinghood

King Fenris was coronated at twenty years old when his predecessor and father King Siran passed away in 218. As head of the state, he was aware that he could not keep messing with the court as much as before.
He surrounded himself with trusted, loyal advisors who helped him balancing his personality and his responsibility toward the state. King Fenris often includes them in his speeches, where he portrays them as his closest friends.

Opening the world to Gérouns

The first significant reform he undertook, two years after his coronation, was to lighten the conditions one had to meet to be able to leave Menicea. Rumors say it took a whole year to negotiate with the Clergy who was firmly opposing the change. Among his many arguments, King Fenris told that it was pointless to try and harness the innate curiosity that Gérouns shared.

I firmly believe that my ancestor, her Divine Highness Nelandra was no jailor. She only feared for the safety of our kind and gave us rules to keep us on the right path. Some of them were inherent to her time, and we need to take that into account with the guidance of our prophet, Kelyeran Asturac.

Before the reform, one had to be a merchant to receive an authorization from the Travel's Office and leave the continent. This led many people to travel illegally and finding themselves imprisoned when they came back.
To Gérouns, Menicea is sacred, and the rest of the world is deadly. Nelandra Aigleran's teachings told to avoid leaving Menicea, hence why the Clergy fought so hard to try to preserve this tradition. But King Fenris did not give up.


He ordered statistics and schemas of ships to prove that they were safe, and pointed out that most Gérouns wanted to return to their homeland after a few years outside. While he was struggling to calm down the sparks of anger from the vast conservative majority that was the Menicean Nobility back then, King Fenris managed to achieve an exploit.
He knew that one sentence from Kelyeran Asturac could change the whole way of the negotiations, and he obtained one. The usually neutral and quiet prophet made a small statement during one of the meetings. He shared his feelings that "He was deeply pained to see children denied of their rights to come back to the land while they managed to travel safely". He pursued by adding "Nelandra forbid sea travel because she felt that it was not safe enough 200 years ago, but this might not be the case anymore."
Just with that, a year of debates was closed. What used to be a long, painful process to obtain an authorization to leave became a 10 minutes-long interview.

Menicea is our home, not our cell. We may go out, but we will always come back.

	Amount of illegal departures per year	Amount of Revoked prisoners
Before Fenrisean reform	100 to 300	~2 000
One year after Fenrisean reform	Less than 20	136

Opening Ménicéa to foreigners

Having won the heart of his people, King Fenris knew that his next idea could possibly lose him all the sympathy he won. Over the years, as commerce with Humanity and Morknars was already opulent and flourishing, lots of companies addressed complains to the Crown.
Now that Gérouns were allowed out, foreigners wanted to be allowed in. Not being able to buy and own even something as trivial as a warehouse was a real problem for the long term development of a commercial presence. Foreign merchants still had to store everything in their boats, which was preventing the ship from going back until the wares were all sold.
Some of them found a way to trick the rules by making contracts with local Gérouns to sell for them, which was quickly countered by the Irisan Aristocracy who is mostly conservative. They raised taxes on stored imported goods for sales, which only managed to discourage foreign companies even more.

If we do not find a way out of this crisis soon, Irisport might collapse.

In front of the complaining of both port handlers and merchants, the King brought it to the Royal council. As expected, the opposition was fiercer and broader than for the Travel's Office; letting Gérouns out was a thing, but allowing foreigners to own a property on Menicea was utterly impossible to them.

The Greshorio Crest

While the debates were stagnating in a total refusal at the capital, the situation at Irisport became more and more complicated. The raising taxes drastically increased the black market. Once a relatively safe city, Irisport was now crippled by an unprecedented criminality level. At the same time, fewer taxes meant that every noble house in the city -even those against change- saw a decrease in income.
The King, who was friend with Vafrun Glen Greshorio started weaving with him a broad web of influence to slowly change minds. Facing ruin and riots, Irisport's noble houses were the first to bend. By the time they accepted the King's terms, the repercussions of Irisport's decline had reached the capital. Alongside the Greshorio house, the rest of the Irisan Nobility pressured the Royal Council to allow foreigners to own warehouses, at least within the safe walls of their city.
After over 7 years of fighting, the King was successful. Foreigners were allowed to buy properties in Irisport, superficial taxes were lifted, and the commerce flourished again.

Every sacrifice, every offense made was worth it. We saved a city from ruin, and we ensured the scientific growth of the whole continent.
If it was to be done again, I would without hesitation.

Current Location

Nelandra (Capital)

Year of Birth

198 52 Years old

Eyes

Golden

Hair

Light gray with darker stripes

Height

1.76m

His Royal Highness is by far the most vivid member of the royal family that ever lived. He knows how to, uh, play with fire but not get burnt, if I could say.
Some people compare his attitude to King Theoris' consort, lady Michaya, but I don't really find any resemblance. Her Royal Highness also liked to play with etiquette and bend the rules, but unlike King Fenris, she got burnt by the fire she played with.

- Gaston Jinva, butler at the White-Castle.

King Fenris

Dismantling the old Travel's office was a huge win for the King's popularity. He reunited broken families whose gone member would not come back in fear of being imprisoned or worse, becoming Commonworkers .
The reform, in fact, raised a lot of questions and problematics as to what to do with previously arrested people, and the King's answer was simple. He used Kelyeran Asturac's words as leverage to pressure authorities into releasing the prisoners with immediate effect. The people loved him, and there seemed to be no way of taking that away from him.

- Vafrun Glen Greshorio

The King is pressing his luck. Even His Majesty should not toy with a Greshorio. I ignore the details of their arrangements, but I would hate the idea of the Crown having debts to that family.
They are pests, waiting to gnaw on those who owe them anything at the worst moment. Who knows what they are plotting in our back.
I will advise his majesty to steer clear from them in the future, but I doubt that he will listen. He and that Vafrun are close friends, I really hope that he knows what he is doing.

- A member of the Royal Council, Private confession.

Consequences

Lighter Etiquette

By putting his personality forward over the usual royal persona that his predecessors all used, Fenris drastically changed the way royalty is perceived in Menicea.
While this has the advantage of allowing the Monarch to rely on public opinion to push some decisions forward, this might put a heavy burden upon a future ruler. If their personality is not as shiny and charismatic as Fenris', they will face difficulties in keeping their popularity and will have to deal with the reverse effects.
On his side, Fenris has excellent chemistry, mixing seriousness and individuality at the right moment. Without that, most of the changes he applied would probably not have been possible.

Looking to the world

Ménicéa has always been a conservative and prudent continent; Everything in Gérouns culture pushed them toward these ideas. This, and the events of the Clan War put Gérouns in a delicate situation where their technologic level is far behind the rest of the world.
Many believe that if Morknars did not lose their land, or if Humanity was not already at war, they might have attacked Menicea instead.
King Fenris was not only able to speed up the technological advances of his people, but also managed to start shifting the opinion Gérouns have of the rest of the world.

Losing friends

Still, lots of his actions and decisions left a bitter feel to some of the most influent noble houses of the realm. Fenris' counselors often told him that the kingdom could not keep on living without them. His reforms might have had extraordinary good consequences in the short term, but who knows how these great houses will make the Crown pay for that.
The Crown will need to strengthen its bonds with its friends and find ways to build a new solid base of trustful noble servants.
If anything goes wrong, Fenris' name might be remembered with a less positive adjective than "King of Progress."

I know that I may have put my successors at risk, but I believe that everything I have undertaken was worth that risk. What if one side of Humanity won the war tomorrow? What if Morknars found a cure to The Dark Flood?
Even if we are not talking about war or invasion, we still need to rise to the level of the world now.
Just like my late father was to me, I will be teaching my son myself. I will make sure that he knows everything he needs to wear the heavy burden that is the Crown. I meant that metaphorically and literally. This thing is heavier than you'd think.

— King Fenris Glen Aigleran