Kari Erland

"There is no bigger issue on this planet than the suffering of man. So long as someone out there is hurting, so too is my heart."
- Lady Kari Erland, speaking at 77th Session of the United Nations General Assembly (September 2022).

Lady Katherine Amelia Erland (born 22nd August 1997), known most commonly as Lady Kari Erland is the Grand Matriarch and Head of State of St Scarlett. As matriarch she is the head of the Matriarchal council and is also the Duchess of Rubin, which spans the island of Greater Rubin. Ideologically she identifies as a religious centre-right conservative.

Early Life

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She was born in Snowby, Snowfall and lived in the city for the first 16 years of her life. She is the older twin sister of Mari Erland, born two hours later, and younger sister of Markus Erland, an English teacher and her senior by four years. Her father Edvard was born in Norway and worked as a train driver for most of his life before moving to St Scarlett with his wife Kristine when she fell pregnant with Markus. After the move Edvard became an electrical engineer working mostly on trains passing through Snowby. Kari’s mother got into politics when Kari was three years old, becoming a minor member of KAS in 2000 and working on business management alongside the likes of Amelia Vixen. Her mother’s close association and eventual friendship with Vixen led to Kari’s involvement with Grand Matriarch Erin Redwood.

She was homeschooled by her mother and in later years her brother, learning all the necessary subjects and becoming very fluent in English, people who’ve heard her speak in English frequently say she speaks with a perfect RP accent and sounds as if she was born in England.

Upon turning 16 she was moved to Erinwood and introduced to Erin Redwood who helped her gain both political knowledge and the correct qualifications to get into university by the time she was 18. She completed a degree in History at the University of Snowby and joined the Women’s Party just three months after graduation, once again becoming a protégé of Redwood.

Rise in Politics

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It was long suspected that Erin intended for Kari to become the Director of the Matriarchal Council upon the eventual resignation of Lady Vixen, a move that would have been approved by the long term friend of Kari’s mother. What was less expected was Redwood’s resignation from KAS in 2019, wanting to separate the head of state from politics (with the exception of the House of Scarlett) on the advice of Astrid Haugen, Kari was quickly chosen by the Matriarch to succeed her as leader of the party, despite her young age.

Leadership

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Since St Scarlett’s youngest Matriarch came to power her leadership and personality have been notably different to her predecessor’s.

Where Redwood was stern and intimidating Kari is bubbly and always smiling, with many describing her as cute. Despite this she is a very intelligent woman and very stubborn, usually getting her way and is an expert in using words to change the opinions of others.

The most notable difference between Erin and Kari is their opinions on men. Erin is famous for her distaste for men, while she loves her husband and has learned a lot from Astrid Haugen, she still struggles to treat men as equals. Kari on the other hand sees a great potential in the male populace of St Scarlett, while she still follows the classic views of the Church of Scarlett and the promise of the land to catholic women, and holds a few more conservative views, she seems to enjoy the prospect of more men in the workforce. Kari offen gets on better with men than women as she sees them as less of an opponent, many believe her close relationship with her older brother helped shape her views.

As her leadership has progressed her more progressive views on men have expanded to other marginalised groups. Like her predecessor she has always been an advocate for LGB rights, being bisexual herself, however she has additionally become a vocal advocate against racism and transphobia and now describes herself as an ally to everyone who is a fellow member of the LGBTQ+ community.

On the more conservative side of things she is famously an Americanophile and will usually side with them on various issues, such as her views on the Israel/Palestine conflict which do not align with her government that recently recognised Palestine alongside Israel. While she is generally an environmentalist she has been criticised for not speaking out against the United States when it falls behind on environmental goals. She is also very anti-China and Russia, pro-capitalism and is cautious on issues relating to immigration and asylum, though her views on this have softened vastly since she came to power.

Policies

Although the Matriarch has no major political influence in the nation she has the power to advise on laws her government is working on and suggest new ideas, as long as they are for the general benefit to the Skarlagen people.

As an advocate for human rights and the betterment of Skarlagen lives many believe her to be a positive influence on the government overall.

Only two policies are publicly known to have originated with her.

• 2020 Male Workforce Act
  Making it illegal for any business to pay men less than women for the same work on the same hours.

• 2019 Norway-Scarlett Treaty of Friendship
  An official treaty to fully solidify the relationship between St Scarlett and Norway as allies.
  

For & Against

• For: Gender Equality, Church of Scarlett, LGBTQ+ Rights, Environmentalism, Norwegian Friendship, Anglophilia, Americanophilia, Capitalism, Law and Order

• Against: Nationalisation, Transphobia, Racism, Homophobia, Polygamy, China, Russia, Imperialism

Personal Information

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Kari still owns a small apartment in central Rubin which was bought for her by Erin Redwood upon graduating university and was where she resided prior to becoming Grand Matriarch.

She indentifies as bisexual and had a girlfriend by the name of Sarah Swift, an American who studied history alongside her, throughout her time at university. The two split up on good terms after graduating and Swift returned to the USA, the two keep in contact. Kari has stated she generally has a preference in men but saw something special in the young American and was excited to learn about her culture and way of life.

She gets on better with men and as such many of her friends are male, but she also has a close relationship with President Astrid Haugen and her predecessor Erin Redwood and gets on well with fellow members of the Matriarchal Council, particularly Lady Terminus who she often dines with alongside her husband, the nation’s Vice President, Hans Selberg.

She is currently single and still without children due to her young age but has publicly stated she does intend to settle down eventually and would like two have two children, ideally a son and a daughter.

In 2017 her father died and the funeral was held in Tromsø, Norway, his home town.

She has a pet lizard called Zoe and is a known lover of reptiles, she is often seen wearing her dragon necklace.

Personal Trivia

• She is currently the youngest politician in St Scarlett

• She is the only Skarlagen politician to have been in a same-sex relationship

• She enjoys visiting England and confusing people with her incredibly fluent southern English accent

• Kari has admitted she has a small crush on fellow politicians, Erin Redwood and Hans Selberg

• She was the most socially progressive leader of KAS so far and is the first Matriarch to hold no sexist bias against men.

• Though she revoked her Norwegian citizenship she is the first Matriarch of St Scarlett to have a Norwegian-born parent.

• She hates to see people suffer and has become a big advocate for human rights.