Caiylin Grivas
Countess Caiylin Grivas
Caiylin Grivas was born to one of the wealthier families in Alsona. As the second born daughter, she was not in immediate line to take charge as the family's matriarch when she grew older. Therefore, she spent ample time at the Gordon Prison, learning the workings of the family business and the heart of the efforts that led to the prosperity of the house. She also received tutelage from wandering teachers, who came in with the caravans that brought vital trade into her home town. Matters changed for her however, when her older sister was caught in Etheridge during an outbreak of consumption. She died, unfortunately before any healers could help her recover from the ailments. This placed Caiylin firmly towards the head of the household at a relatively young age, and she began shadowing her mother in court as it became clear that she was the countess to be.
The elder Grivas lived a long time before Caiylin would take the reins of the house, and in that time, Caiylin married twice and had three children, two daughters and a son. She made sure that they were all suitably trained in both political ambitions and the day to day affairs of the house and its enterprises. She sought to make sure that none of her children would be at a disadvantage as she had been when thrust into the role of heir. In 1002, at long last, Caiylin's mother passed away, and Caiylin was confirmed by the Queen as the new Countess of Gordon.
Upon taking up her new position, Caiylin became immediately one of the most outspoken opponents of dwarven presence in Alsona. She spoke often and loudly to all who would listen about the threat that the dwarves posed to the cultural and economic stability of the kingdom. She put much of the House's resources towards calling for a closure of the Long Road and the prevention of further arrival of refugees from the mountain strongholds. Her outspokenness won her little love among others of her own class, but she became widely popular among the lower and middle classes of Gordon and several other communities. The fervor she stirred up led to the famed Elfhunt Pogrom, in which she and other led posses of hunters against believed elves and half-elves within Alsonan society.
The success of her Elfhunt led Caiylin to gain ever more support towards her efforts to exclude dwarves from Alsonan society, and while she disagreed vehemently with the Wingo Mine effort, and the effective imprisonment of most of the dwarven population by the Crysos Mining Company, her own calls were far more extreme. She called for all dwarves to be exiled from Alsona into either the Shin Empire, who she blamed for the dwarven exodus, or south into the open lands of the Sypi Confederacy. The royal family refused, and Caiylin proved an unheeded prophet when the dwarves imprisoned in Wingo Mine rose in rebellion, sparking the bloody and bitter Wingo War.
The Wingo War was Caiylin's shining moment of justification and triumph despite her old age. Leading her forces in the defense of Gordon and surrounding farms, she kept the dwarven and elven armies at bay when others could not, even if it did cost the lives of many of her subjects, including one of her daughters and her son. She was the most in favor of the war among the nobility, and went so far as to call for the complete extermination of the rebels, showing extreme discontent with the signing of the peace treaty. Since the end of the war, she has increased efforts to provide more security to Gordon, and continues to claim that another war with the dwarves and elves is inevitable, and that Alsona should make the first strike to avoid being surprised again.
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