Daniel Kalirion
Daniel Ayreon-Kalirion (Babkhi: Daniyal Arsalani-Kaliriyun; Elw: Даниел Аериоон-Калирион, Daniel Aerioon-Kalirion), born 1542 in Nidaros (Stormark) and died 1586, aged 44, in Andelarion House (Cape Farewell), was a Babkhan and Elwynnese nobleman and statesman. The younger son of Kaiser Ayreon I, he rose to prominence in 1559 when he was appointed Duke of Brookshire, later being among the instigators for Elwynnese independence, becoming Elwynn's sovereign Prince (1574–1586). Married to Sara Rikjudottar of Hurmu (1542–1571), he had two children, Esther (1565–1618) and Elijah (1571–1598).
Childhood
Daniel was born in Nidaros in 1542, the son of Kaiser (Rashid) Ayreon and Princess Gunvør of Humlebæk. At the time of his parents’ marriage in 1540, when Ayreon was Shah of Babkha, the general advice was to keep the marriage low key. It was no secret that the two were married, but it was not advertised either. At the time, the Shah was also King of Nidaros, and that is where Daniel spent his first years in life.
When Rashid died from assisted suicide in 1544, Gunvør moved to Brookshire on the invitation of the Duke there, taking her son with her. They settled on the Isle of Azarea, and Gunvør remarried in 1546, to the Sanillan geologist Ngahi Lla’i working at the university of Eriksburg. Daniel’s relationship to the stepfather was very close, and Daniel often used Ngahi’s surname as his own (Daniel Llai, or in Sanillan: Tanilo Lla’i).
During his childhood, Daniel and his mother often travelled to see his (half) brothers, Cashmaiel and Rashid Karyandzadeh (born 1472). Despite the age difference, Daniel fostered a good relationship to them and their families, but especially with Cashmaiel (who was then living in Hurmu) and with his brother Rashid’s son Daniyal (after whom, Daniel was named). But when Cashmaiel disappeared in the wilderness of Hurmu in 1550, Daniel, aged 8, never again visited Hurmu until adulthood. Later the same year, his mother and stepfather had a daughter, Kila Mathilde Llai.
Daniel identified with being half Babkhan and half Hurmu, and did not very much consider himself to be Elwynnese until much later in life. The pacifist and egalitarian nature of Hurmu culture, however, was often clashed with the hierarchical and, sometimes, violent nature of the Babkhan culture, especially when he was given slaves by his friends and relatives in Babkha. His mother did her best to give her child a “normal” upbringing in Azarea, where Daniel attended local schools, and has commoner friends. Daniel travelled extensively to Babkha though. The official reason was that he had to become better at the language, but often it had to do with dealings with his household there, including the managing of slaves.
He became, nonetheless, politically active, mainly on the instigation of Rashid Karyandzadeh, who secretly taught him the art of politics. At the age of 17, Daniel led a protest movement against the local count Arviður Andelarjunarbroðir (a good friend of Daniel’s late father). Arvidur abdicated after the pressure, and Daniel was first appointed Count of Azarea, then Baron of K’Tzuni. At this time, the Duke of Brookshire, Malliki Tosha, was impressed by the Danielian movement, and upon his abdication (forced on because of troubles with the Earl of Dolor), Lord Tosha named Daniel the new Duke of Brookshire.
Around the same time, Daniel approached the courts in the Solareyjar (successor state to Nidaros) in a petition for legal recognition of his status of royalty in Stormark. Seemingly lying about his parents’ marriage and his knowledge of his father, the actual facts of his birth and relation were true. At that time, the court either chose to ignore the perjurious statements or did not know that they were perjurious. Nevertheless, whether or not those statements had been true or not would not have mattered on the case. It is curious, though, why Daniel chose to lie. One suggestion, offered by Vilhjalm Kormak of the Hurmu Congregations in Stormark, was that had Daniel’s frequent visits to Babkha and fellowship with the Babkhan elite become knowledgeable among the Hurmu population, it would have hurt his political career there. Daniel was by no means a pacifist nor an egaliatian in practice, though in Elwynn and Hurmu, he professed both ideologies. In Babkha, however, he owned, bought, sold and slaves, from his early teenage years to the end of his life.
End of Brookshire, rise in Hurmu
Daniel’s ascension to the throne of Brookshire was immediately met with opposition from Dolor. The Earl of Dolor, Erik Mortis, had been in open rebellion against Kaiser Leto III from that kaiser’s ascension. The previous duke of Brookshire, Malliki Tosha du Grifos, attempted to contain Dolor’s rebellion within Dolor’s own borders. He had sent troops to the bridge between Dolor and Shirekeep to guard the imperial capital from any attempted attack on it. Then, the Earl of Dolor declared himself and his fief to be in open rebellion against the Duke of Brookshire. Two weeks later, with the young Daniel on the throne, Lord Dolor seemed to wish to test Daniel’s strength. Daniel refused, however, to back down.
The rebellion spread as far to Parvatvana in Goldshire (today’s Lunaris), and the weakening of the both Brookshire’s and Goldshire’s ducal governments forced them to meet the Dolorists in negotiations. After some time, in the spring of 1561, the peace agreement was made whereby Goldshire and Brookshire were merged as one duchy, Goldenbrook, under the rule of the previous Duke of Goldshire, Arjeztur Mejorkhor.
Raged at this perceived slight and dishonour, Daniel disavowed any loyalty to Brookshire and moved to Hurmu. Hurmu had in the previous year become a territory of Shireroth.
Daniel now outwardly identified as Hurmudan over anything else. In the general elections for the new territorial head of Hurmu, the Valdi, Daniel delivered an anti-Shirerithian message that got him elected in the winter of that year.
In 1563, Hurmu declared its bonds to Shireroth absolved. Despite its territory being quickly invaded by Safiria, the Hurmudan community flourished during the Safirian occupation. The position of Valdi of Hurmu changed to Prince of Hurmu and was made more monarchical. Daniel craved a royal title to match his relatives’. In Hurmu, Daniel reconciled with Arviður, and was introduced to Arviður's niece, Sara Rikjudottar, the Chieftainess of the Isam Tribe. The Isam tribe had long been seen as the most conservative and traditional of the Hurmu tribes. An alliance with that tribe would give Daniel political power. Accordingly, he proposed to her, and she accepted. They married on Cashma Island in the midwinter of 1562.
Return to Shireroth
The restoration of Daniel’s royal prestige had him return to Shireroth. He reconciled with the new Kaiser, Mors VI, and was first appointed ambassador to Stormark, and then Steward of Shireroth.
It was during this time that the Kaiser had decided that the duchies of Shireroth needed to be dissolved. Their power had rendered the Mango Throne a slave to the duchies, Mors mused, and the matter was soon settled. Despite hating the idea, Daniel outwardly supported the reforms as he wished to stay in power. He wanted the kaisership for himself.
Once the duchies were dissolved by the Kaiser in 1562 and replaced by a collective ownership of land by nobles, “the house system”, Daniel called for the establishment of an “Elwynnese house” that could carry the legacy of Elwynn on.
Daniel had never been much interested in Elwynn before that. But he was quickly appointed Count of Cape Farewell, and as his father was Elwynnese, he soon found favour among the Elwynnese population. The Elw and Farewellers of the Northern Reaches hailed Daniel as their Prince, and echoing Rai Avon-El’s slitting-of-the-wrists ceremony, Daniel vowed at his installation at Cape Farewell to protect Elwynn with all his strength and might.
With the House of Kalir having been established as the territorial entity governing much of Elwynn (not to be confused with the Line of Kalir or the House of Ayreon-Kalirion), Daniel was elected its patron and head. For this, he was granted by the Kaiser the title Duke Kalirion in Cape Farewell.
In 1564 Kaiser Mors VI abdicated, giving the House of Mortis the option to name the new Kaiser. Daniel felt sidelined, as he had thought he would succeed the Kaiser. Instead, his only spell on the Mango Throne was as ruling steward, and was short, one ASC unit of time.
The House of Mortis chose Anandja II to succeed Mors VI. Her ruthless reign was unpopular with many in Shireroth, especially among the nobles of the Kalir House. Isabelle Allot, Cho'gall Dentarg and Leo Fenrir collectively denounced their noble titles and moved to Gralus in exile. This act, although made in protest, caused the Kalir House to lose all its territories associated with the self-exiled nobles. The power of the House of Kalir was now reduced to a bare minimum.
Return to Hurmu
Upset and worried for the future, Daniel returned to his wife in Hurmu. For a few months, the relationship blossomed, and Daniel felt himself attracted to his wife, and felt a certain kind of love for her. A year later, in 1565, a daughter was born, Esther Maryam Amirdokhtar. The couple gave her two Babkhi names, Maryam after the wife of Rashid Karyandzadeh, and Amirdokthar to signify that she was the daughter of a Prince (“Amir” in Babkhi). In so doing, Daniel and Sara hoped that should everything in Elwynn and Shireroth lead to a total loss of power there, perhaps in Babkha, they could re-establish themselves at Daniel’s wealthy court, and seek political power in Eura.
The couple temporarily relocated to Babkha, where they began to meet with the disgruntled Babkhan-Elwynnese nobleman and former Shirerithian Kaiser, Aurangzeb Khan. Combining their wealth and connections, and with the support from the Babkhan aristocracy, they developed a plan for Elwynn’s total independence from Shireroth.
Elwynn’s declaration of independence
Daniel and Aurangzeb wrote the declaration of independence and published it on 2 Gevraquun 1567. It was met with general shock in Shirekeep.
In an attempt to confuse the Shirerithian government’s response to the secession, Aurangzeb and Daniel had orchestrated and funded a secession movement in Modan-Lach which declared its own independence at the same time.
A few days, the MCS Council recognized the entirety of Elwynn’s pre-house holdings to be under dispute between the independentist Elwynnese government and the Shirerithian Imperial Republic.
In Natopia, the government there and religious establishment, announced that the Butter Bull had assented to the events. The recognition from Natopia marked an alliance between Elwynn and Natopia that was to define both countries ever since.
With the Antican government offering the independentist Elwynnese a safe haven and diplomatic power, a congress set up there of exiled Elwynnese elected Daniel the president of the interim government.
The interim government quickly established itself in the western and southern parts of continentental Elwynn, and a somewhat peaceful rule began, while negotiations between the Elwynnese and Shirerithian governments on the terms of secession continued.
Bombing of the Congress in Eliria
Aurangzeb's father, the Khan of Vijayanagara, Ardashir Piroz Moqtada, was sent to negotiate with Shirekeep. When Ardashir had a falling out with Lord Erion on his own team, that was more extreme than the argument he was having with the Kaiser, the alliance between the Osmanids and the Ayreonists unravelled. The consequence of which was that Aurangzeb took up a medium bomber and fire-bombed the Congress building in Eliria. For this reason the tendency has always been to blame Ardashir.
Early independence
In 1569, the negotiations between Elwynn and Shireroth had concluded, and a peace treaty had been signed and ratified. The independent state had to renounce sovereignty over the eastern parts of its country. But an unprecedented period of peace and order began in Elwynn. Because Elwynn was under financial sanctions from Shireroth, especially from the parts of Elwynn, the economic situation was dire.
Daniel decided to leave Elwynnese politics to spend time with his family in Hurmu. He left the presidency in 1570 and was succeeded to it by Lord Erion.
Having returned to his wife, the relationship was rekindled and Sara found herself pregnant again, and returned to her family in the wilderness north of Lake Cashma. However, the standards of living there were much lower than in Huyenkula. During monsoon flooding of the area, in Sara’s 30th week of gestation, in 1572, she went into labour. Sara did not survive the birth, but her child, Elijah, did.
The death of his wife took a great toll on Daniel. He recognized that Hurmu’s low standards of living was what killed her, and seeing the financial sanctions on Elwynn, Elwynn could soon face a similar threat.
At this time, Daniel met with the Elwynn-born Babkhan civil servant Kaspar Soleimân. They befriended each other and Kaspar became his private secretary and steward of his Babkhan estate. Kaspar and Daniel shared many aspects of their history. Both grew up outside Elwynn but saw themselves as Elwynnese, and spoke fluent Elw. They were also staunch believers in the Harmonious Society in Babkha.
Integrating Amokolia and Hurmu to Elwynn
To the west of Elwynn lay Amokolia, a fertile and heavily industrialized colony of the Kingdom of Victoria. Daniel decided that if Elwynn could take over Amokolia, the economic sanctions on Elwynn would not be harmful, as Elwynn would be self-sustaining. In cognito, he travelled to Anun and began a series of meetings with local politicians, which culminated in the so-called Midnight Declaration of early 1572. The Elwynnese congress soon annexed Amokolia.
With Elwynn’s economy now booming, Daniel sought to bring Hurmu into Elwynn too. That way, his children’s country would also not remain poor, but have full access to the economic prosperity.
There was also another motive. If Elwynn’s territorial possessions were outside its core territory on Benacia, then Elwynn would become a political power to be reckoned with.
Managing to convince the Senate of Hurmu of a union with Elwynn, negotiations between the two governments began. Daniel made sure that the titles of Hurmu’s institutions, that of a prince and a senate, carried on to Elwynn. A treaty, called a consensus, was signed and ratified.
Until a new Prince of the Union could be elected, Elwynn and Hurmu had an interim government consisting of the incumbent leaders of both countries. However, once the new Senate was inaugurated, Daniel was unanimously elected Prince of Elwynn and Hurmu.
Privately, Daniel was reached by tragic news that his elder brother Rashid Karyandzadeh had died. He inherited the wealthy Emirate of Sathrati, including tens of thousands of slaves.
Prince of Elwynn
As prince, Daniel lead law reforms in Elwynn, and began a diplomatic initative to foster Elwynnese relations with other countries. Elwynn’s economy continued booming.
His relationship with the Shirerithian government thawed. Kaiser Gaelen IV assumed that if he could bring Daniel on his good side, a reunification between Elwynn and Shireroth would be inevitable. In fact, negotiations were carried out, in secret, on the matter through Hyperborean intermediaries.
Daniel and the Kaiser concluded a private agreement for themselves. Daniel was offered political power in Shireroth for keeping Elwynn friendly to Shirerithian interests. Gaalen ruled that through the secession, Daniel had not resigned his Shirerithian citizenship, and would therefore remain a Shirerithian citizen. He then appointed Daniel to the Judex of Shireroth, as Arbiter, a position Daniel held until the reign of Kaiser Cedris I.
When Gaelen IV died in 1577, he was succeeded by Cedris. Cedris detested Daniel and refused to cooperate with him. Daniel resigned his commission in the Judex, and in turn Cedris appointed Daniel his court jester.
Cedris’s short rule was met with terrible opposition from all corners of Shireroth, but Cedris continued his own agenda. Bribing foreign governments with tax-payer money, Cedris was ridiculed in the diplomatic community. In affect, he then decreed Shireroth’s exit from the MTO, an organization that Shireroth had founded.
Daniel led the protests against the Kaiser to further his own democratic credentials which had become tainted by some revelations of his sadistic treatment of slaves in Babkha.
He barricaded himself in the Judex, and organized nobles and commoners, and businessmen in Shirekeep on a march to the Landsraad, where Daniel called for the removal of the Kaiser.
A removal of the Kaiser had never before been attempted in Shireroth. There existed, however, a legal mechanism, and in the Landsraad Daniel moved for the removal of the Kaiser. It received unanimous support of the noblemen there, but before the act could be promulgated, Cedris had voluntarily abdicated, and left the throne to the Safirian empress Rei.
Daniel had met Rei during the Safirian occupation of Hurmu and found her a surprising ally. Building on his relationship with her, negotiations on Elwynnese reunifications were resumed, and a treaty was submitted to the Landsraad for ratification. Rei had, however, misinterpreted the will of the Shirerithian nobles, and the treaty was outright rejected by the house.
Return to Babkha
In 1580, Daniel, despite remaining prince of Elwynn, established himself in Babkha. His estate was making great returns thanks to an efficient but ruthless handling by Kaspar Soleimân.
Daniel enjoyed living in Babkha with all its luxuries and pleasures, but his son hated it. To avoid conflict with the son, Daniel sent him back to Hurmu to be under the care of his uncle Eirik for the duration of Daniel's stay in Babkha.
In 1580, Daniel was elected Qadi al Shotor, or president of the Babkhan legislature. In political dealings he often acted "the devil's advocate" which made the Shah bestow upon him the title "His Imperial Majesty's Most Loyal Conscience" in 1581.
When Assieh Ifai, one of the tens of thousands of slaves, but only one of the few Safir slaves, owned by Daniel, escaped to Shireroth with the assistance from James Quirk, a Shirerithian mercenary, the news of Daniel's slave-holdings could no longer be kept secret.
Facing growing opposition in Elwynn, Daniel attempted to euphemise the story. He would say that the slaves had no other future than to be owned by him. Any other slave-owner would treat them much worse, and their categorization in the hierarchy of the Harmonious Society simply made it impossible for them to be set free. Thankfully for Daniel, Babkha refused any journalists or fact-finders into the country, and the story quickly died in Elwynn.
Daniel sued Captain Quirk in the courts of Babkha, and received restitution of 49 rials for the loss of his property. While legally still owning Assieh Ifai in Babkhan law, Daniel then sold her to Zand Gozar for 500 rials. Gozar managed to find the slave in Shireroth and bring her back to Babkha where she was quickly dissected for the advancement of medical science.
Last years
Following the Ifai ordeal, Daniel felt it was necessary to return to Elwynn for good to repair his reputation among the Elwynnese. With the Babkhan Shah’s assent, Daniel publically denounced the “evils” in Babkha and tried to break off Elwynnese relations with Babkha in the Senate. The deal between the Shah and Daniel circled around Babkhan influence on Elwynnese foreign policy and on Babkhan military influence on Elwynn. In return Daniel would keep the Elwynnese state stable and harmonious.
Kaspar, who did not know of Daniel’s deal with the Shah, saw Daniel’s actions in the Senate as treacherous. He tried to bring Daniel to court in Babkha for treason against the Radiant Sun, but all his cases seemed to disappear in the bureaucratic nightmare that Babkha at times could be.
He decided that he would have to kill Daniel himself.
When in 1584, Natopia petitioned Elwynn for status of protectorate, Daniel became close to the former emperor, Nathan.
Daniel’s son Elijah went on a trip to Shireroth in 1585 along with the uncle Eirik. From Shireroth they would then travel to Free Elwynn to meet Daniel and reside there. However, Eirik was killed in a mysterious car crash in Shirekeep, and Elijah was taken by the East Elwynnese authorities as a warden of the Duchy.
Daniel was upset and used all of his energy to regain his son. So involved was he with the situation with his son that he did not notice Kaspar’s forgery of Daniel’s last will and testament.
The daughter Esther wanted to see Daniel to comfort him, but fearful for her life, Daniel begged of her to stay in Hurmu. She complied.
The only comfort that Daniel found was in his good friends Nathan of Natopia and King Mordechai of Batavia, with whom Daniel had concluded a treaty on behalf of Elwynn. Nathan and Daniel’s friendship deepened even more, with rumours circulating that the two were lovers, while Mordechai gave Daniel important, both emotional and diplomatic, support and advice during the Elijah matter.
In the midwinter of 1586, while holding an inaugurating speech for a memorial in Andelarion House in Cape Farewell, Daniel was shot to death by two unidendified assailants. It later transpired that they were Hyperborean mercenaries hired by Kaspar Soleimân.
Daniel was cremated at Lake Anset in Hurmu according to the rites of the Hurmu religion.
| Preceded by: Cho'gall Dentarg |
Patron of Kalir 1562–1567 |
Succeeded by Himself as President of the Elwynnese Realm |
| Preceded by: Himself as Patron of Kalir |
President of the Elwynnese Realm 1567–1570 |
Succeeded by Lord Erion |
| Preceded by: Lord Erion as President of Elwynn Himself as Prince of Hurmu |
Co-Ruler of the Provisional Government with Lord Erion 1572–1573 |
Succeeded by Himself as Prince of Elwynn and Hurmu |
| Preceded by: Rashid Karyandzadeh |
Emir of Sathrati 1574–1586 |
Succeeded by Kaspar Soleimân |
| Preceded by: Lord Erion as President of Elwynn Himself as Prince of Hurmu |
Prince of Elwynn and Hurmu 1574–1582 |
Succeeded by Himself as Prince of Elwynn, Amokolia and Hurmu |
| Preceded by: Himself as Prince of Hurmu |
Prince of Elwynn, Amokolia and Hurmu 1582–1586 |
Succeeded by Nathan Dariolin |
