by Max Barry

Latest Forum Topics

Advertisement

The Matriarchy of
Mother Knows Best State

Overview Factbook Policies People Government Economy Rank Trend Cards

1

Kerlian Councillors

Rosemary Arnott

Rosemary June Arnott (born January 20th, 2000) is the current Arnott family representative on the Council of Kerlile. She is a member of the Reform Party, which campaigns for wide reforms of Kerlile's totalitarian matriarchal system. She is the only daughter of the current President of Kerlile, Rebecca Arnott, and is presently also a student at Hazelton University.

Arnott was born on the 20th January 2000 to Councillor Rebecca Arnott of Kerlile. She is the only daughter of President Rebecca Arnott. She was raised in Maytown, Kerlile, with the other descendants of members of the Council of Kerlile. She chose to attend Hazelton University at the age of 18, on the other side of Kerlile from Grapevale.

Following the appointment of her mother Rebecca as President of Kerlile, Arnott inherited her seat upon the Council of Kerlile. At the age of 19, she is the second-youngest Councillor ever, the first being then-14-year-old Rebecca Greenwood, who her own mother is named after in 1934.

Shortly after inheriting her seat, Arnott announced her intention to remain at university to complete her degree while performing her duties as Councillor. This decision was met with controversy, especially given Hazelton is on the other side of the country from Grapevale, the capital. Arnott has stated that she will attend only important votes in the capital, study at other times, and work remotely on legislation or campaigning.

Arnott was a member of multiple societies in her first year at university, including the baking society and on the swimming team. She has since had to give up the swimming team to perform her duties as Councillor, but remains an avid baker.

Electra Georgiou

Councillor Electra Ana Georgiou (born 17th March 1962) is the current Georgiou family representative on the Council of Kerlile. She is known for her love of the arts, and her experience in foreign affairs. She leans towards the reformist side of the Council.

Councillor Georgiou was the first Council heir to study at a university outside of Kerlile, attending the University of Seahaven in Lauchenoiria. She studied Art and Music.

Electra Georgiou was born to Chloe Georgiou in the city of Hazelton, Kerlile. Several sources claim she had a twin brother, however due to the laws requiring Councillors to give up any sons, the brother was raised in an orphanage. His whereabouts today are unknown.

Georgiou was educated by private tutors in the city of Maytown, as is tradition for Daughters of the Council. As a child she had a passion for the arts, producing many paintings and also learning to play three musical instruments – the piano, violin and clarinet.

Following her education in Maytown, she attended the University of Grapevale for two years, studying Gender Studies, however dropped out and left Kerlile to attend the University of Seahaven in Lauchenoiria, much to the shock of the Council. Her mother insisted on her return to the Lauchenoiria’s authorities, however they refused to return her against her will. She graduated in 1986, and returned to Kerlile.

Electra Georgiou became fascinated by foreign culture and art during her studies, and began to travel to various countries, to the distaste of the Council. In these years she showed no overt interest in reforming domestic policy within Kerlile, but pushed for greater trade with other countries, and to try and improve the Matriarchy’s international image.

Her mother, Councillor Chloe Georgiou, remained neutral during the Council conflict of 1983, when Joanne Robinson attempted to oust Susanna Pierre from the Presidency and was found dead in the Council chamber. Electra also remained officially neutral, though upon her return to Kerlile after completing her studies, she befriended Sarah Robinson.

She had her first daughter in 1990, and subsequently had two other daughters in 1996 and 1999. It is rumoured that she also had a son, who was raised in secret, however this cannot be proven as under Kerlian law Councillors and heirs may not raise sons.

Georgiou inherited her seat following the death of her mother in 2007. She continued her family’s position of relative neutrality during her first decade on the Council, preferring to focus on her art and ignoring the divisions within the Council. However, during her time she managed to make alliances with Councillors on both sides of the divide, allowing her to pass a number of bills increasing arts and education funding.

From 2017 onwards, she began to favour the reformist faction slightly, however retained ties with the traditionalists. She abstained in 2018 on the vote on whether or not to join the Second Lauchenoirian Civil War, one of the few Council votes where the record was made public.

Following the war, she attended the 2019 Tofino Leaders Summit along with Foreign Minister Katrine Porter and Trade Minister Ines Abbott as the Kerlian representatives. Kerlile claimed their presence at the summit was aimed at improving relations between other countries, however their presence caused controversy.

Georgiou continues to paint, and some of her artwork is on display in government buildings throughout Kerlile. Before the Lauchenoirian civil war, she continued to travel to other nations, visiting art galleries and attending concerts. However, since the war, it has been deemed too dangerous for Councillors to travel outside of Kerlile unless on business.

Letitia Greenwood

Councillor Letitia Morgan Greenwood (born 23rd May 1973) is the current Greenwood family representative on the Council of Kerlile. She is the daughter of current President Joanna Greenwood, and inherited her mother’s seat upon her mother’s inauguration as President of Kerlile.

In June 2019 she announced her intention to run for President of Kerlile, following her mother’s resignation after the Second Lauchenoirian Civil War. She is a member of the Women's Party of Kerlile and is supportive of the status quo in Kerlile.

Letitia Greenwood was born on the 23rd May 1973 to Joanna Greenwood in Iletina, Kerlile. She was raised and educated with other daughters and granddaughters of Kerlian Councillors in Maytown, Kerlile, as is traditional for girls from Council families. She has two sisters, Elisa and Juliette, twins born in 1979.

She attended the University of Grapevale from 1992 until 1996. During her student years, she was briefly taken captive for one month by members of the Democratic Kerlian State (DKS), the group who fought against the Matriarchy during the Kerlian Civil War. Those responsible were later executed.

After university, Greenwood briefly worked for the Kerlian Intelligence Service, analysing the patterns of movement of DKS fighters in the later years of the civil war. Following the conclusion of the conflict, she worked in terrorism prevention, identifying individuals likely to be radicalised. Such individuals were sent to the Kerlian government’s controversial ‘alternative education’ programme – which is widely considered to be nothing but government brainwashing.

Greenwood was part of a delegation sent from Kerlile to Lauchenoiria in 1999 to discuss improving relations between the two nations. The talks were meant to last for one month in February 1999, however negotiations fell apart after two days and Greenwood and the others returned to Kerlile.

Upon her mother’s inauguration as President of Kerlile in 2001, Letitia Greenwood became Councillor Greenwood, as Kerlian law dictates. Letitia, who was 28 at the time, was pregnant with her first and only daughter, Carolyn. After the birth of her daughter, Letitia pushed the Council to increase counter-terrorism funding. She also voted in favour of executing all remaining DKS prisoners, an act carried out in 2003.

Letitia has also argued for increased surveillance of Kerlian citizens. She is a member of the Women's Party of Kerlile, and tends to support traditional Kerlian policies. She is against increased rights for men and a ban on torture. In August 2018, during Rebecca Arnott’s attempt to oust Anita Patel as Council Chair, Letitia abstained, which was considered unexpected at the time. She has since claimed her abstention was due to the fact she did not consider the vote legitimate.

Letitia is an avid follower of baseball, and a supporter of the Maytown Meerkats. She regularly attends baseball matches. She is also interested in other sports, and has expressed a desire in the past to see Kerlile compete against other countries, something which has only happened rarely in the past.

She has one daughter, Carolyn, born in December 2001. Her daughter has expressed interest in joining the military, however if Letitia is appointed President, Carolyn will be expected to succeed her immediately.

Jennifer Hale

Jennifer Eleonora Hale (born December 9th, 1981), known for a period as Sonja Viratnen-Alvarez, is currently the Hale family representative on the Council of Kerlile. Her predecessor and sister, Cornelia Hale, died in February 2018, however Jennifer did not take her seat until August 2018.

Using the name Sonja Viratnen-Alvarez, Hale was one of the commanders of the Lauchenoirian Resistance in the Second Lauchenoirian Civil War until the revelation of her true identity. She is married to Josephine Alvarez, former Lauchenoirian Foreign Secretary, although this marriage is not recognised in her native Kerlile.

Jennifer Hale has been publicly critical of the Kerlian regime, and has claimed that she was coerced into accepting her seat on the Council. It was announced in October 2018 that Hale was pregnant. She gave birth to a daughter, Amelia Hale, on the 27th April 2019.

Jennifer was the youngest of two daughters, the eldest being her sister Cornelia Hale, who was eight years older. She was born in Maytown, Kerlile, a gated community where members of the Council of Kerlile spend the summer months in peacetime, and where daughters of Council members are raised. Jennifer is a direct descendant of Camila Letitia Hale, one of the founding mothers of Kerlile.

She attended the small school reserved for daughters of Council members in Maytown until the age of thirteen. In the Council school, she would have learned about Kerlian culture and the workings of the Council, as well as standard subjects, even though her sister Cornelia was the primary Hale heir.

At the age of thirteen, Jennifer Hale disappeared in the second year of the Kerlian Civil War. It was later discovered that Hale took the name Sonja Viratnen, the name of a girl of her own age who was executed with her family for treason against the Kerlian state. As Sonja Viratnen, Hale joined the militant wing of the Democratic Kerlian State, the organisation attempting to overthrow the Kerlian government in the war.

She remained with DKS until the age of seventeen, when DKS was about to lose the war, and she fled across the border to Lauchenoiria, still using the name Sonja Viratnen. Under that name, she was granted asylum by the Lauchenoirian authorities, who refused all Kerlian extradition requests even though emigration was illegal in Kerlile.

While in Lauchenoiria, Hale attended the University of Buttercity, studying veterinary bioscience. Following her graduation in 2004, she began working at an animal shelter in the north of Yervia Province. In 2006, she met Josephine Alvarez, who visited the animal shelter as part of her animal rights campaign while running for the federal parliament.

In 2007, she moved to Buttercity with Alvarez, and began to work for the Lauchenoirian Animal Protection Agency. In 2010, Hale married Alvarez, and began to use the name Sonja Viratnen-Alvarez (and was often known only as Sonja Alvarez). The couple announced they were planning to adopt in early 2018.

In 2018, following the outbreak of the Second Lauchenoirian Civil War, Hale became one of the primary commanders of the Lauchenoirian Resistance under the name Sonja Viratnen-Alvarez, a position she held until the revelation of her true identity by the Kerlian authorities.

Under the name Viratnen-Alvarez, she was the main commander of the operation in the early days of the war when the Resistance captured Annatown from Junta forces. She was also responsible for the so-called 'liberation' of Ginsap Prison, where her wife Josephine Alvarez was being held as a political prisoner.

Her role in the civil war is highly controversial, with some claiming that she was responsible for a number of 'terrorist attacks' in various cities, including Melissa City, and Buttercity. Her opponents have accused her of war crimes, while her supporters claim she was not behind these activities at all.

Jennifer Eleonora Hale took the Council of Kerlile oaths on the 12th August 2018, and became the fifth Councillor Hale of Kerlile. Her first act as Councillor was to introduce a Council bill to instruct President Joanna Greenwood to accept Sanctaria's offer to conduct peace negotiations to end the Second Lauchenoirian Civil War.

In September 2018, following the signing of the Haven Accords which ended the Lauchenoirian Civil War, Hale has publicly called upon the Council to introduce democratic reforms and put an end to the mass arrests of political dissidents. Hale has a public feud with Councillor Anita Patel, who was in charge of the Council's involvement in the war in Lauchenoiria.

While using the name Sonja Viratnen, Hale married Josephine Alvarez in Lauchenoiria. Under Kerlian law, Councillors and their daughters are not permitted to marry. As a result, and also due to her use of a false identity, it is uncertain whether or not the marriage is valid.

As a child, Hale's relationship with her elder sister Cornelia was considered highly strained. Councillor Rebecca Arnott has claimed on several occasions since Cornelia's death that Cornelia's tormenting of Jennifer was the reason Jennifer left the country, and that Hale is in fact dedicated to Kerlile.

Some supporters of the Lauchenoirian Resistance do not believe that Sonja Viratnen-Alvarez and Jennifer Hale are the same person, citing a 'Kerlian conspiracy'. The evidence does not support this view. Others believe that Hale deliberately infiltrated the Resistance as part of a Kerlian strategy to gain information and sabotage the Resistance's war plans. Hale denies this.

Carmen Robinson

Councillor Carmen Alicia Robinson (born 1st June 1984) is the current Robinson family representative on the Council of Kerlile. She is known for supporting reformist policies. She is currently being held under house arrest at the order of the rest of the Council for suspected treason.

Carmen Robinson was born four weeks early to Councillor Sarah Robinson, whose own mother had been killed while she was pregnant following the 1983 coup attempt, in the Kerlian capital of Buttercity. Her mother had severe post-natal depression, and the young Carmen was raised primarily by staff.

She was educated by private tutors with other relatives of Councillors in the city of Maytown in southern Kerlile, as is tradition, however she remained there year-round rather than returning to her mother in the summers, unlike other Daughters of the Council.

She attended the University of Hazelton in western Kerlile, studying Physics. She remained there for ten years, completing her PhD. She remained at the university doing research until her mother’s premature death in 2016 at the age of 56, when she inherited her seat on the Council.

Robinson publicly blamed Councillor Pauline Pierre for the death of her mother, claiming that Councillor Pierre had repeatedly taunted Sarah about the death of Carmen’s grandmother, Joanne Pierre, who died in mysterious circumstances following a bid to oust Susanna Pierre from the presidency in 1983. This was a tumultuous start to Robinson’s time on the Council.

During her first year on the Council, Robinson fought for reform, introducing bills which would ban the use of torture as a punishment and allow emigration. All these attempts failed. She campaigned for a brief period in support of men’s rights, however after several months all evidence of this had vanished from official Kerlian news sources.

In her second year, she became more conservative, and appeared to have started supporting the standard policies of the Matriarchy. However, when the Second Lauchenoirian Civil War broke out, she urged caution, trying to convince the Council to obey international law in the treatment of prisoners.

During the peace talks in Haven, Sanctaria, which culminated in the Haven Accords, the contents of a USB stick which came into the possession of Laura Moore’s Lauchenoirian Resistance revealed the existence of the ‘Aurora Programme’ – allegedly a training programme for Kerlian sleeper agents. The documents contained indicated that they had been collated by Councillor Robinson.

Shortly after the reveal of these documents, Councillor Robinson went into hiding, and was not seen again until April 2019, when she walked into the Council chamber. She was immediately accused of treason for leaking the documents, and placed under house arrest. She was later taken to prison and interrogated, but was released following the appointment of Rebecca Arnott as President of Kerlile.

Carmen Robinson has a love of science, and has continued her physics research part-time even while fulfilling her role as a Councillor. She has written several papers on quantum information, and once collaborated on a paper with a Lauchenoirian scientist, which caused much controversy in both nations.

She has two daughters, Natasha (born 2005) and Imogen (born 2012). The identity of the father or fathers remains unknown.

The Matriarchy of Kerlile

Report