Victoria Montgomery: The Steel Queen and the War of the Coin
History
After the defeat of the Woodland Folk by St George Montgomery and St Amia Bargandowan at the Last Battle of Folk the House of Montgomery established themselves as the heads of a new dawn in the history of Hatlynshire. George and Amia would consolidate the power of the title of the Grand Prince and centralize the government of Hatlynshire. They would go on to have one son named Thomas. After the death of George Montgomery in the year 32 AF. Thomas Montgomery would inherit the title of Grand Prince of Hatlynshire.
Thomas, with the advice of his adopted aunt St Annalise, would go on to lay the foundation of what would later become the Order of Man in order to deal with the remnants of the Woodland Folk living amongst the humans. He did this by founding a secret order of hidden soldiers working under direct order of the Grand Prince. Thomas himself would have a son named Claude Montgomery. Thomas would later fall ill due to stress caused by the increasing political tension in Hatlynshire which had occurred due to the populous demanding an end to the old system of government under the Grand Prince.
Thomas would die of illness near the end of the year 47 AF at the age of 53. Claude would succeed him but the increased political turmoil coupled with the death of his father would cause him to undergo a state of severe depression and alcoholism. After an assassination attempt held, against him and his family in the year 50 AF he would eventually concede and pass reforms limiting the powers and privileges of the Grand Prince and expanding branches of the government giving more power to the people. He especially gave power to the noble families of Great Borough, who formed the Chamber of the Governing Commission that had final say over new decrees brought forth by the GP. It was during his reign that private industrial sectors of Halynshire, which had started off as a small movement in rural Hatlynshire started as a result of the demand for a new system, began to expand rapidly. This only worsened the situation politically.
Finally, after nearly nine years as Grand Prince, Claude Montgomery would succumb to his weakened mental state and end his life on the year 56 AF at the age of 36 by hanging himself from his office. He died months before the birth of his son, Carlton Montgomery.
Early Years
Victoria Montgomery was recorded to have been born on the seventeenth Day of the year of 47 AF in Jacob’s Manor, Great Borough. The first child of Claude Montgomery and Alissa Cristenwall. She was born mere months before the death her grandfather Thomas which would send her father into state of misery. She would also fall victim to the Montgomery Assassination Attempt of 50 AF when she was only three years old. She would survive the incident in which the Montgomery family would be ambushed by a mob of men armed with swords and knives whilst out in public.
The death of her father would occur when she was nine. Moreover, it was followed shortly by the birth of her brother. After the death of Claude, Lady Alissa Cristenwall would become Grand Princess-Regent in her son’s name. The political turmoil of Claude’s reign would continue, during which time the House of Montgomery would lose more and more of its influence. Lady Alissa’s reign was unpopular as many saw her as an outsider to the family. Her attempts at maintaining power by undermining the rising influence of the fledgling industrial elite were met with harsh criticism and disdain. To regain popularity, she would also revitalize the Hunt for the last living descendants of the Woodland Folk. An endeavor many viewed as a frivolous as it was believed that the Folk were eradicated decades prior. In the end, to prevent all out revolution, Alissa placated the people by passing reforms that took more power away from the Montgomery Family.
Finally, after twelve years of rule in the year 67 AF. A combination of political leverage by the wealthy industrialists and the nobles, some government advising and a rumored Folk conspiracy led to Lady Alissa voluntarily abdicating her position has regent. In her place was installed the then 20 year old Victoria Montgomery, who many saw as a legitimate heir and a youthful forward thinker (though some argue that they favored her more as a puppet ruler).
Reign
The Chamber of the Governing Comission (The CGC)
Upon ascending to the title of Grand Princess-Regent. Victoria would first begin by looking towards the growing private industry of Hatlynshire, which was slowly encompassing more and more of the Hatlynshire economy. New Boroughs formed due to the urbanization of rural areas outside Old Hatlynshire such as Bernstein Borough and Hatles Borough had been founded under the new industrial era. Thus, this created a rift between the new elites and the old noble families in Great Borough. Her predecessors had usually aligned themselves with the old nobles who held authority over the nine districts of Great Borough. But as time had gone on even those Nobles had used their wealth to engage in business ventures slowly accumulating wealth which further weakened the old system.
It was clear to Victoria that change had to be made; by that point, the title of Grand Prince was only a few steps away from becoming a figurehead. Her first reported action upon ascension was the complete reorganization of Great Borough. This included the removal of all remaining noble families from positions of administration. Her reasoning for this was the argument that their increasing pivot towards the New Industrialist Movement had made them biased, corrupt and unreliable. The nobles, who had initially supported her ascension, rose up in opposition, demanding Victoria’s abdication. Her response to this upheaval was to make a public announcement atop the steps of City Hall under the statue of George Montgomery a few days later. Announcing her actions to the public. A speech that would later be known as ‘The Monument Address’.
“…On this great day I make this address to you, my dear people! On this great day, atop these great stairs, in front of this mighty hall at the foot of my great-grandfather’s monument do I now make my vow to you! For as your leader I shall smite down those who sow the seeds in our unity, those who seek to gain from our weakness and those who seek to use their power to wreak malice and injustice upon our people!...”
-Excerpt of Victoria’s Address, The Legacy of the House of the St George.
Her address would successfully rally the people, with some people claiming that her words rang like the legendary battle cries of St George himself. With that, she was successfully able to force the Nobles to relinquish their power. And in their place she established a system of elections for each district of Great Borough. Though it has been cited that her popular influence often swayed these elections to whichever candidate she favored most.
The Industrialists and the War of the Coin
After replacing the Noble families with loyal associates, thus having the Chamber of the Governing Commission in her favor, by 69 AF she turned her attention to the New Industrial Movement. Particularly to the new Boroughs, which had become urban territories that existed outside the government’s direct control yet still functioned under government law, a system the Industrialists and the general populous wished to continue. It was around this time that rumors began circulating of a possible exodus of allegedly Folk-descended people from Great Borough to the new territories. Fears began to arise of the potential eclipsing of government power by the sheer economic might of the Industrialists.
To quell this growing threat Victoria first attempted to reinforce he her mother’s anti-industrialist laws, which increased taxes and government intervention in the Outer Boroughs. But doing so made her lose favor with the Industrialists and as an act of revolt the outer Boroughs ceased all trade with Great Borough and City Hall. This created a threat of famine and a deficit of goods, something which led to mass public outrage. Yet Victoria did not back down, challenging the Industrialists to a war of attrition. And thus began ‘The Years of Hunger’, a period of four years in which Great Borough received no supplies from the outer territories, leaving most citizens to rely on illegal smuggling of goods. During which Mr. Corsman Gaft, the unofficial leader of the Industrialists was quoted as saying:
“The poor denizens of Great Borough have suffered close to half a decade of suffering. All so their princess can make her message clear,”
This period culminated in yet another assassination attempt against Victoria in the year 73 AF, orchestrated by angry citizens supported by various anti-government groups. Victoria yet again survived the assassination and she would eventually repeal her anti-government laws ending their 4-year standoff.
However, in light of this defeat, despite her reputation being tarnished, Victoria did not step down. She then decided that in order to overcome the Industrialists she must undermine their economic power. Hence she would spend the next year formulating a great project. A project unveiled in 75 AF. This project, known as the Great Enterprise, was focused around building government funded business to directly compete with the Industrialists. When news of this plan reached the leaders of the outer industrialist movement, they once again threatened to stop trading with Great Borough. Shortly after this declaration, unnamed assailants would murder Corsman Gaft outside his home by stabbing him to death. The death of Gaft was considered by many as the point in which Victoria Montgomery started resorting to less ethical ways of dealing with her enemies. Shortly after Gaft’s death, his close friend Bartholomew Darland, who controlled most of the roads leading to Great Borough, was arrested by Great Borough authorities and charged with treason. He too would die mysteriously whilst in prison.
The deaths of key members of the industrialist movement led the remaining members to fear for their own lives. They would eventually agree to keep trading with Great Borough despite Victoria’s clear plans to undermine them in the future. Her alleged illegal methods led many in the Outer Territories to call her ‘Victoria the Demented’. But such pad publicity was minor hindrance.
As per her plans to enact the Great Enterprise, the government began to buyout businesses in Great Borough and convert them to state owned firms. But while these newly formed entities were officially funded by City Hall, it is also alleged that many of these firms were funded and owned solely by Victoria herself and some of her allies. All the new companies formed in under one year and within the next two years, they were competing directly with the industrialists. Their decreased taxes and increased subsidies led them to expand rapidly. But in response the industrialists enacted a series of espionage attempts which included murder, bribery and arson. Victoria herself would engage in similar actions against the Industrialists, a conflict that would last for nearly a decade and would be dubbed ‘The War of the Coin’.
This war would eventually end in early 88 AF. When Victoria made a move that would guarantee the victory of the Great Borough companies over the Outer Borough companies. With the help of Bernard M. Sorah, a banker and an elected member of the CGC, Victoria would replace the currency of Hatlynshire, Beauro, with a new currency named Sorasy (named after Bernard Sorah himself). She would then make the trade of the old currency punishable by imprisonment and offer the new currency at only one location for over a year after its implementation, the Bank of Great Borough with special funds granted to the industrialists who had allied with the government over the past decade. The immediate devaluing of their reserves and the inability to obtain the new currency made the economy of the Outer Territories crumble. It is recorded that all throughout the years 88 and 89 AF hundreds of merchants and traders were imprisoned for trading with false currency. By the middle of the year 89 AF the majority of Outer Borough companies had gone under, something which plunged them into a deep recession. Finally, the remnants of the movement accepted defeat at the hands of the government with it even being recorded that Mr. Milton Henricks, the last ‘head’ of the movement, knelt before Victoria when invited to Great Borough for the discussion of compromise in the winter of 89 AF. Not wanting to see Hatlynshire fall further into economic hardship Victoria and the Industrialists came to an accord. It gave greater economic freedom as well as official government recognition to the Outer Boroughs in exchange for anti-industrialist policies that would make is so that never again would corporate might exceed or threaten the power of the government and the Great Borough Companies. This agreement, named The Treaty of the Enterprises, would end the War of the Coin and Victoria’s implementation of the Great Enterprise would earn her the nicknamed, the Steel Queen.
“…I have conquered the great beast who had so proudly loomed over us for more than half a century. And now its severed head lays beneath my feet…”
- Victoria’s speech, conducted during spring 90 AF.
She would later pass reforms taking taxation off the hands of the CGC and forming a new Bureau of Taxation and Commerce. A department in which Bernard Sorah would serve as its first ever Head Treasurer.
For more see:
- Introduction II: The Order of Man
- The Red Century and the War of the Banners
- The Organizational Structure of the Order of Man
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