st Hardinge Giffard, 1 ​ Earl of Halsbury, Lord High Chancellor ​

Background History Born in London, you are the third son of Stanley Lees Giffard, editor of the Standard newspaper, ​ ​ by his wife Susanna, daughter of Francis Moran. You were educated at Merton College, Oxford, and called to the bar at the Inner Temple in 1850.’

You quickly became important within the circuit and went on to have a large practice at the central criminal court and the Middlesex sessions. You even served for several years as the junior prosecuting counsel to the Treasury. You then became Queen's Counsel in 1865 and a bencher of the Inner Temple. As you continued on with your efforts in the legal world you made yourself quite the name in the United Kingdom. You won a great many high profile cases surrounding fraud in the budget and also represented high profile clients in a number of suits against factories for child labor and suits for workers rights. This has made you a hero of the people in many places in the Midlands and in South Wales, where many of the workers benefited from your victories.

While you were acting as a barrister, you also began to garner an interest in politics. Using the political capital you had amassed from your legal work both politically and popularly, you tried to enter into the House of Commons. However, ultimately you remained without a seat in the House of Commons, even when appointed to be the Solicitor General by Disraeli in 1875. While in this position you acted as an invaluable font of legal information for the crown, helping provide them legal guidance in the face of rapidly changing laws around workers rights, social norms, and also industrial practices. It was also during this time that you received the honor of knighthood for your valued service in the legal department.

After some time as the position of Solicitor General you succeeded in gaining a seat in the House of Commons in 1877 in Launceston which you would remain in possession of until your elevation to the peerage of England in 1885. That year you were appointed as Baron of Halsbury; at the same time you were also appointed to be the Lord High Chancellor, dispelling the myth that no criminal lawyer could ever attain the upper echelons of British government. Once you began your service as the High Chancellor you again served the government well by improving the efficiency of the courts system and its ability to process cases. You are also hailed as one of the key figures in ensuring the court's independence of politics during the complicated Liberal­Tory debates that stretched through the 1870’s and 1880’s. While in this position, as per tradition, you also served as the presiding officer of the House of Lords and headed the judiciary of Wales and England, and also as the presiding judge of the Chancery Division of the High Court of Justice. Within these position you have managed to serve with such dignity and respect that you have been requested to attend the special committee on African Colonization to ensure the legality of each piece of legislation and that the spirit of British sensibility remains intact.

Portfolio Powers ● Overt ○ You have power directly over the functioning of the courts and the way in which they organize; as such you are very familiar with most senior judges and the structure of the legal system. ○ As the holder of title of the custodian of the Great Seal of the realm, you are responsible for pressing the crown's approval for important state documents. ○ As the Earl of Halsbury and also the Viscount Tiverton you are well connected within Halsbury and hold a large stake in the land and economy of the area.

Sir John Charles Ardagh, Director of Military Intelligence

Background History On August 9, 1849 you were born in Rossmire, a quaint Irish village in County Waterford. Yourfather, William Johnson Ardagh, served the townland as its resident vicar until his death, and your mother had high hopes that you would follow in his footsteps and take up Protestant pastorship. You, bearing this in mind, studied Hebrew and mathematics at Trinity College, but in spite of receiving awards for your aptitude in both subjects you decided to reverse course and attend the Royal Military Academy at Woolwich. You graduated at the top of your class and were immediately optioned for lieutenancy in the Corps of Royal Engineers.

Shortly after being commissioned, you began training at the Royal School of Military Engineering. Your successful supervision of the construction of Fort Popton ­­ which went on to be a key adjunct of the naval dockyard at Milford Haven ­­ earned you a potentially seminal assignment to the Canadian colony of New Brunswick, where you would oversee the implementation of a telegraph system connecting British administrative offices at home and abroad to the St. Lawrence River. Due to an unfortunate deluge of storms, you nearly lost his life during the voyage and never reached your destination. However, your remarkable display of valor, leadership, and resourcefulness in the face of seemingly insurmountable obstacles did not go unnoticed by your superiors. You thus secured the prominent position of secretary for naval admiral Sir Frederick Grey’s defense inspection committee, a vocation that took you abroad on missions to Halifax, Bermuda, Paris, and Malta.

Having proved yourself valuable to the inspection and analysis of the fortification apparatuses and defense strategies of both allies and adversaries, you went on to work as deputy assistant quartermaster­general for the intelligence branch of the British War Office in 1880. During the Serbian­Ottoman War you completed sketch­surveys of defenses in Constantinople and other Turkish strongholds, establishing yourself as a preeminent specialist on strategic geography. Between special service assignments in Italy you played technical military advisor to a British general and the Congress of Berlin, as well as international commissioner for multiple border delimitation negotiations in Eastern Europe.

You briefly taught military history, law, and tactics at your alma mater prior to your dispatchment to Egypt, a deputation that lasted the duration of the Anglo­Egyptian War and some years after. You spearheaded the tactical protection of Alexandria following its bombardment by the British fleet and accompanied the British army of occupation to numerous battle sites. It was in Cairo that you officially became chief of the intelligence department, a title that would evolve into a directorship as you sophisticated operations in subsequent years.

In late 1887 you took on the role of private secretary to George Nathaniel Curzon, Viceroy of India. Your stay in India was cut short by the assassination of your good friend and colleague William Melville, an ambitious campaigner for national security advancement in Ireland. Melville schematized and executed many well­publicized plots against Irish anarchists and aggressively advocated for the creation of a counterintelligence bureau ­­ a goal yet to be realized. You have vowed to make the dreams of your late comrade a reality with the installment of a secret intelligence service separate from the War Office, but the nation’s current embroilment in its African colonies ­­ where oppositionists have not engaged in espionage to the extent needed for it to merit concern ­­ have sidelined your efforts thus far.

Portfolio Powers ● Overt ○ You have meticulously documented, sketched, and archived your knowledge of foreign defense systems, a data collection easily accessible through your secretary and part­time lover Beatrice. Your surveys are limited, however, to places to which you have been assigned over the course of his career. ○ The intelligence sector is currently limited to the resources it is granted as a branch of the War Office, but as director you have made significant gains in expanding its political breadth. These advances include recent rounds of special service assignments to Africa. ○ As a respected strategist and disseminator of intel, you are able to influence the movements and schemes of military units and naval fleets. Henry Fitzalan­Howard, Postmaster General

Background History Born in 1847 to the 14th Duke of Norfolk and the daughter of a distinguished baron, you came of age in a household deep­rooted in Roman Catholic values. For the majority of your childhood you attended The Oratory School, a Roman Catholic boarding school in Oxfordshire, England. Deeply affected by your parents’ commitment to civic welfare, you pledged to continue your father’s legacy of benefaction and proselytization when you succeeded him as 15th Duke of Norfolk upon his tragic death in 1860. Your philanthropic initiatives set you on a fast track for becoming the most influential Roman Catholic in England ­­ a well­intentioned ambition that came to fruition over the course of your political career.

Before you joined the political arena,you dedicated your time to bringing Roman Catholics back into the fold of civic life. By the time you acquired your dukedom, developments in the Catholic Emancipation movement had facilitated the recent reconstitution of Roman Catholic dioceses and legalization of Catholic institutions. In spite of this, the asphyxiating efforts of the Church of England to derail the Catholic Church in years prior still impeded Catholic citizens’ push for reintegration. You oversaw the construction of several churches and actively fostered the growth of a communal Catholic spirit, a cause you still hold dear today. You have also become a staunch supporter of higher education and the fight against leprosy.

Admired nationwide for your charitable heart, you were appointed Earl Marshal in 1870, a position that tasks you with planning state ceremonies and controlling all matters concerning the Coat of Arms. In 1877 you married Lady Flora Paulyna Hetty Barbara, who had your son Philip Joseph Mary Fitzalan­Howard two years later. Soon after, Fitzalan­Howard earned a spot on Her Majesty’s Most Honourable Privy Council, an advising body in service of the Queen that issues the Orders of Council responsible for enacting Acts of Parliament. You were simultaneously named Postmaster General, and as such you ensure that the postal, telegraphic, and telecommunications systems are in working order. This assignment also puts you in charge of safeguarding these apparatuses from abuse ­­ most commonly seen in the form of sensationalist anti­government propaganda and subversive communiques.

The death of your wife in 1887, however, perturbed you deeply. The investigation into her death ended inconclusively on the note that the perpetrator was likely a lone drunkard. You have since embarked on a morality campaign both ruthless and borderless, setting your sights on the deployment of Catholic missionaries in Africa. Your agenda pervades the decisions you makes as Postmaster General, many of which have wrought on cries of censorship and foul play.

Portfolio Powers ● Overt ○ Your continuous propensity for philanthropy has earned you praise from circles of all stripes. You are thus privy to the coffers of the wealthiest members of the peerage, who know that being associated with his causes will in turn bolster their own status in the community. ○ Seated on the Privy Council for the foreseeable future, you possesses direct means of communicating with the Queen and her preeminent advisors, granting you more political clout with regards to legislature than most tend realize. ○ As postmaster general, your oversight of communications on all fronts affords you unique insight into the confluence of political, social, and economic forces that drive the exchange of information and functionality of telegraphic outposts. You are keen on keeping in touch with your global staff, so as to receive word of developments on the fly. Edward Benson, Archbishop of Canterbury

Background History You were born July 14th, 1829 to a deeply pious chemical manufacturer and his wife. You received a top­notch religious education at Birmingham College, Trinity College, and Cambridge University. During your years as a schoolboy and later a university student you developed a fondness for sermons through your theological studies and decided to pursue a religious vocation. ​

After winning the hearts of many a parish, you were named bishop of a newly inaugurated diocese in Cornwall in 1877, where you spearheaded the construction of a cathedral lauded for its state­of­the­art architecture. You proved to be a capable leader and rousing religious spokesman, leading to your ordainment as archbishop of Canterbury in 1883. Your close friend and current prime minister William E. Gladstone personally oversaw your appointment. As archbishop, you aggressively campaigned for the reformation of the Church’s patronage and discipline. Under your watch Parliament passed acts legislated in accordance with your crusade. You also successfully impeded oppositional efforts to disestablish the Anglican church in Wales.

You have just concluded what many consider to be a seminal moment of your archbishopric ­­ your widely publicized and discussed participation in the trial of Edward King, bishop of London. He faced a highly contentious charge of engaging in improper ritualism under the Public Worship Regulation Act 1874 during the celebration of the Eucharist. You decided his fate with the institutionalization of the Lincoln Judgement, an explicitly liberalized code of sanctioned liturgical practices. You then used this act to facilitate reconciliation among the various factions within the English church and virtually brought to an end the prosecutions relating to ritualism that had plagued Anglicanism during the nineteenth century.

As both the senior primate and chief religious figure of the Church of England, as well as the most prominent member of the House of Lords Spiritual, you essentially represent the Church in parliamentary affairs. You are currently tasked with expediting the proselytization and conversion efforts of the Church of England’s Church Mission Society (CMS) in Africa, where recent conflict over the respective jurisdictions of Protestant and Catholic missions has mandated your attention.

Portfolio Powers ● Overt ○ Your sphere of influence, though strongest at its England­based locus, has grown to encompass recently established dioceses in Britain’s African colonies. Your network of missionaries affords you authoritative clout with missionary communities but significant sway over converted natives. ○ You hold the position of resident visitor, or overseer of ecclestial affairs, at numerous high­profile public institutions, including your alma maters and the Whitgift Foundation. The philanthropic activities you superintend at these establishments have made you something of a household name in the education sector, a connection that has advantaged you in the past by way of reciprocated funding and support. ○ You are nominally ranked, according to the English and Welsh order of precedence, above all inhabitants of the realm, with the exception of the Sovereign and members of the Royal Family. Your stamp of approval carries highly symbolic weight, whereas your disapproval is equally repercussive.

Sir Henry Bessemer, Inventor

Background History You are an English inventor and engineer that developed the most important steelmaking process in the 19th century. Born in Charlton, England on January 19th, 1813, you were mostly self­taught and ​ early in your childhood showed considerable mechanical skill and an inventive mind. You learnt ​ metallurgy at your father’s type foundry, helping in the production of gold chains. Your early wealth and fame was gained from the invention of a group of steam­powered machines for manufacturing bronze powder. You also made other inventions in your early days, including an advanced sugarcane­crushing machine.

Bessemer is best known for devising a steel production process that inspired the Industrial Revolution. It was the first cost­efficient industrial process for the big­scale production of steel from molten pig iron by taking out impurities from pig iron using an air blast. Bessemer also contributed to modern military ordnance, movable dies for embossed postage stamps, a screw extruder to extract sugar from sugar cane, and others in the fields of iron, steel, and glass.

Due to your exceptional intellect and your inventions you became extremely important to the British steel industry; you famously only dispersed your Bessemer convertor to 5 master ironsmiths, and as such, in the resulting bidding war for these man and also for your invention, you became closely acquainted with the upper echelon of British steel manufacturing and even the American steel tycoon Andrew Carnegie. You also made contributions to the steel industry at sea. After becoming seasickness in 1868 you crafted the design for the SS Bessemer, a passenger steamship that would remain level ​ ​ regardless of sea conditions to avoid seasickness. While investors lost confidence in the project you retain the schematics and contacts in engineering to potentially work further with ship building.

Given the extensiveness of your work and the prestige you brought yourself and Britain you have been honored quite extensively in your later life. You were knighted in 1879, the same year you were made a fellow of the Royal Society. You were also given an honorary membership into the Institution of Engineers and Shipbuilders in Scotland in 1890. There has also been talks from America to England of naming some cities or towns after you given your contributions to the Industrial Revolution.

Portfolio Powers: ● Overt ○ Given your connections to numerous steel industrious and your genius in new and effective processes for producing steel you are something of a consultant for the British Steel industry and many are inclined to listen to you in the field ○ You have amassed a considerable fortune and set of intellectual property with over 131 patents registered to you ○ Given your patents on various pieces of equipment commonly used in the steel processing business you have a number of integral connections to the iron mining sector and railway builders in Africa as the Empire looks to expand

st Sir Titus Salt, 1 ​ Baronet – Textiles manufacturer, philanthropist, politician ​ Background History Born the son a farmer and wool­stapler in Morley in 1803, you received your education at Batley Grammar School and then Heath School. After school, you joined your father’s business at age 17. You experimented with Russian Donskoi wool, but when you couldn’t find a spinner to use the wool in worsted cloth, you reorganized the company as a spinner and manufacturer. In 1833 you took over your father’s business and sought to expand it. You came upon bales of Alpaca wool in a Liverpool warehouse, experimented with it, and thus became the creator of the luxurious, fashionable cloth, Alpaca. Using this new fiber you transformed your company and made it into the largest employer in Bradford.

Throughout your entire adult life you took an active role in politics. You supported full adult suffrage, publically supported the Chartists, founded the Bradford Reforms Association, and helped found the United Reform Society, which aimed to unite middle and working class reformers. You were an outspoken critic of the 1834 Poor Law and supported reducing working hours, becoming one of the first employers to introduce the ten­hour workday. However, despite these progressive views, you held a few conservative ones too. For instance, you refused to allow your workers to join trade unions. Also, you adamantly disagreed with politicians such as Richard Oastler and John Fielden who fought for Parliament to pass legislation on child labor. You employed children in your factories and fervently opposed the 1833 Factory Act.

With over 200 factory chimneys churning out sulfurous smoke, Bradford gained the reputation as England’s most polluted town. The pollution became such a problem that cholera and typhoid regularly broke out, sewage drained back into the city’s drinking water, and barely 30% of children born to textile workers reached age fifteen. Filled with desire to change these conditions you became mayor of Bradford in 1848 and sought to persuade city council to pass a new by­law that would require all manufacturers to install Rodda Smoke Burners, which, after experimentation, you found to produce less pollution and subsequently arranged for them to be used in your own factories. Unable to convince either city council or factory owners, you purchased land 3 miles from Bradford and began plans to create a new industrial community, Saltaire, in the center of which rested your textile mill. This mill upon completion was largest and most modern in Europe. Initially, your 3,500 workers had to walk to Saltaire, but in the next few years you built over 850 houses accompanied by a number of churches, parks, schools, hospitals, libraries, and a range of shops. The houses in Saltaire were far superior to those in any other industrial town, and fresh water was piped into each one from the city’s 500,000­gallon reservoir. You even provided that each house had its own outdoors lavatory and encouraged people to take on higher hygienic standards, financing public baths and washhouses. At the same time you were a strict Methodist and required your workers to attend chapel on Sundays and discouraged gambling and drinking. During this time you learned of your love of philanthropy, and for your work improving conditions for your workers became quite beloved amongst anti­union segments of the population.

In 1857, you served as President of Bradford’s Chamber of Commerce. At the Chamber’s request, you became the candidate and was elected to the House of Commons in 1859, but resigned due to ill health two years later. Recently you have contributed more to the church and other philanthropic work, and with the the potential that Africa holds, you see even more possibilities to extend your influence and commercial empire into a new pool of labor.

Portfolio Powers

● Overt o You have saved up a considerable amount of wealth and continue to earn steady cash flow from the economic activities in Saltaire, especially from your wool factory, which produces tons of wool every day that can be used for trading. Your reputation as a philanthropist allows you to invest this capital in whichever way you please without attracting critical eyes. o Your vast complex of commercial, infrastructural, and industrialist projects, institutions, and facilities Sir Richard Francis Burton – Explorer, geographer, translator, writer, soldier, orientalist, cartographer, ethnologist, spy, linguist, poet, fencer, diplomat

Background History You were born March 1821 in Torquay, England and raised in France and Italy. Your father was an army officer, and your mother was an heiress of a wealthy English squire. Frequent family travel led to your development of a cosmopolitan outlook on the world and simultaneously stimulated your early desire to become a polyglot. You studied at Oxford University, where you became fluent in French, Italian, Greek, Latin, and the Béarnaise and Neapolitan dialects.

Your continental upbringing left you ambivalent about your national identity. This prompted you, when you were expelled from Oxford in 1842, to join the army of the East India Company. Posted to the th 18 ​ Bombay Native Infantry, you earned the nickname “Ruffian Dick” because according to the men you ​ served with you exhibited demonic ferocity as a soldier. During your eleven­year stay, you mastered Arabic, Hindi, Marathi, Sindhi, Punjabi, Pashto, and Multani. While stationed in Sindh, you were appointed to survey the area ­­ a time during which you learned the ropes of measuring equipment that would later prove to be useful in your time as an explorer. Towards the end of your stint in India you began to travel in disguise, assuming the alias of Mizra Abdulla. Your commander General Charles Napier assigned you to investigate a brothel in Karachi frequented by British soldiers that was rumored to house young male prostitutes. However, a lifelong interest in sexual practices led you to write an explicitly detailed report that caused you and your commander trouble.

Motivated by a love for adventure, you gained the approval of the Royal Geographical Society and permission from the British East India Company to take leave from the army and embark on explorations. You disguised yourself as a Pathan, or Afghanistani Muslim, and journeyed through a bandit­laden route to the sacred city Mecca to attempt a Hajji. Not only did you succeed, but you also measured and sketched the mosque and holy Muslin shrine Ka’bah. Your written account of this adventure, which included a commentary on Muslim manners and tradition, won you great and sudden fame in London. Rather than return home, you immediately organized an expedition to the equally forbidden East African city of Harar and became the first European to enter the sacred ground without being executed. In 1855, the idea of finding the source of the While Nile fascinated you and you proceeded to organize an expedition across Somaliland to find it. You were forced to end the journey early when Africans attacked your crew, killing one member and hurling a javelin through your jaw. Once you recovered, you volunteered in Crimea to help the fight war against Russia. When you returned, you secretly married Isabel Arundel, the daughter of wealthy Catholic aristocrats.

The following year began your time as a diplomat for the British Foreign Office. You served as consul in Fernando Po, a Spanish Island off of West Africa, for three years. In those years, you made numerous trips into West Africa and wrote about your adventures there, describing in five books tribal rituals concerning birth, marriage and death, fetishism, ritual murder, cannibalism, and bizarre sexual practices. While anthropologists admired your work, the foreign office deemed you eccentric. Your wife Isabel ably persuaded the Foreign Office to assign you to Damascus. Back in the Middle East, along with your wife, you lived a successful life as a diplomat. There you befriended the well­known adventurer Jane Digby and Abd al­Qadir al­Jazairi, a prominent leader of the Algerian revolution living in exile. Religious tensions between Jews, Muslims, and Christians force you and your wife to leave. You are currently serving a consulate position at Trieste, Italy, which allows you the freedom to write and travel.

Portfolio Powers

● Overt o You served as a diplomat in West Africa, Brazil, Middle East, and you are currently serving in Italy. Your successful conduction of diplomatic endeavors in these regions ­­ as well as your ability to communicate effectively with high­ranking foreign actors in the political sphere ­­ has earned you both significant political influence and the affection of their respective populaces, many of which would welcome you as a hero if ever you returned. o Your personal adventure novels and translations have won you considerable respect and admiration from the body politic of the United Kingdom. One notable fan of your work is Queen Victoria herself, who ­­ along with other political members of Parliament ­­ is always eager to hear of your next adventure. o Your extensive cartographic and cultural surveys of foreign outposts, thus far kept out of the general public eye, give you considerable leverage over political authorities and business moguls who need them to administer projects abroad. st John Wodehouse, 1 ​ Earl of Kimberley, Secretary of State for India ​

Background History In 1836 you were born in Wymondham, Norfolk, an English county located on the eastern coast. You are the eldest son of the Honorable Henry Wodehouse and the late Anne Gurdon, as well as grandson of John Wodehouse, 2nd Baron Wodehouse, an influential peer and former Member of Parliament. Upon your grandfather’s death in 1856 you succeeded him as third Baron Wodehouse. During your schoolboy days you were educated at Eton College and later went on to study at the Christ Church of Oxford University, where you earned a first­class degree in classics in 1857. During the 1860’s and 70’s you made the rounds around the political circuit as an outspoken Liberal statesman, serving first as the Parliamentary Under­Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs. You were embedded in diplomatic missions to Russia and Denmark, yielding mixed results but still managing to establish yourself as adept at integrating somewhat esoteric scholarship with pragmatic policymaking. You became Under­Secretary of State for India in 1874, but towards the end of the same year you, due to your previous studies of political radicalization, were appointed Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, where the first strains of Fenianism had begun to manifest. Recognition of your services allowed you to secure the title of Earl of Kimberley in 1875. Inner political turmoil quickly forced you to vacate your office, but the subsequent year you re­entered the ministerial sphere as Lord Privy Seal in William Ewart Gladstone’s cabinet. Soon after you were transferred from that post to be Secretary of State for the Colonies. The shift conveniently coincided with the unearthing of rich diamond reserves in South Africa, resulting in the christening of the Cape Colony settlement Kimberley in your honor. You again took leave ­­ this time for five years ­­ when Conservatives overran the government and successfully muscled distinguished Liberals out of influential standing. You returned to the Colonial Office when Gladstone acquired the prime ministership once more, playing an active role in endowing the Cape Colony the privileges of responsible government. At the end of 1882 you exchanged this office first for that of Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, and then for the secretaryship of state for India. During ​ ​ your time as Secretary of State of India, you have focused on furthering the integration of the colony in Britain’s infrastructural and commercial networks. With the question of African colonization rising to the fore of political agendas, your current objective is to preserve the status of British India as the Empire’s colonial gem and ensure that its needs avoid relegation to an underfunded backburner.

Portfolio Powers Overt ● Your loyalty to Gladstone over the course of the last few decades has earned you the respect and allegiance of the Liberal Party. Parliamentary pushers of highly individualized agendas notwithstanding, you can rest assured that you will have its support should you wish to introduce legislation, enact policy, or acquire funding. ● As head of the India Office, you hold unquestioned authority over a statutory body of advisors, the Council of India, and an immediately available staff of civil servants. The jurisdictional reach of your executive functions encompasses not only provincial administrations in India but in South Asia and the Middle East. Improved telecommunications and trade ­­ afforded by the installation of submarine telegraph cables and the Suez Canal, respectively ­­ have bolstered your ability to influence political, social, and economic life in these regions. ● Your tenure as Lord Lieutenant of Ireland was well­received by the Irish populace. You thus have a capacity greater than that of most English bureaucrats to garner the votes and confidence of Irish politicians and affluent figures.

st Henry Matthews, 1 ​ Viscount Llandaff, Home Secretary ​ Background History You were born on January 13, 1826 in Ceylon, an island off the coast of British India, to a gilded Herefordshire family. Your father, Henry Matthews, served as a judge on the Supreme Court of Ceylon and heavily incorporated both the Aristotelian values of judicial prudence and his practice of Roman Catholicism into your upbringing. You are the grandson of John Matthews, a physician and poet who represented Herefordshire in British Parliament during the early nineteenth century. You continued the cosmopolitan overtones of your formative years by electing to study at the University of Paris, and then went on to receive your B.A. and L.L.B. at the University of London. Accumulated inheritances from an extensive network of late relatives allowed you to be financially independent at a young age.

For over a decade you practiced law on the Oxford circuit, establishing yourself as a gifted orator and charismatic victor in court. You became Secretary to Earl Marshal in 1864 and made the most of the position, seizing the opportunity to fraternize with British bureaucratic elites at major state ceremonies and functions. Four years after you were appointed the status of Queen’s Counsel ­­ a rank formalized as “Her Majesty’s Counsel learned in the law”. You steadily built a fine reputation based on your ability to aggressively cross­examine witnesses, a skill evinced most prominently during the sensationalized divorce case of Sir Charles Dilke. Your prosecution of Dilke nearly left his career in ruins, but worked to your advantage by elevating your standing in the eyes of onlooking audiences. Soon after you were elected Member of Parliament for Dungarvan, and though you officially identified as a Conservative politician you considered yourself independent of party affiliation. As a Catholic you consistently stood for the disestablishment of the Church of Ireland, though your support of the Home Rule movement reached a tenuous level at best. Your subsequent defeat during the 1874 General Election motivated you to reassess your political strategy and align more closely with the platform of the Conservative Party.

Although Irish Unionists were slow to let go of your resistance to Home Rule and remained wary of your motives, you managed to regain a parliamentary seat for Birmingham East in 1886. Your commitment to resolving domestic issues earned you the office of Home Secretary, a Cabinet membership you continue to hold. As Home Secretary you are charged with overseeing Britain’s internal affairs, with an emphasis on regulating immigration as well as prisons and probation. So far you have garnered acclaim for your administrative expertise, but your somewhat detached method of engagement in matters of national crime has impeded your ability to rally the House of Commons under your leadership.

Portfolio Powers: Overt ● Your involvement in the oversight of local police forces and national criminal cases ­­ as well as your background, deep­seated as it is in knowledge of and experience in British courts ­­ gives you a great deal of influence over the actions of the former and the outcomes of the latter. Your advisement on the methodology behind criminal proceedings is frequently sought, and you have been recruited to lend your wisdom to the strategization of policing in African colonies. ● You have not yet succeeded in winning over the Irish Unionists ­­ who for so long have been a thorn in your side ­­ but your advocacy of Roman Catholic objectives and Irish welfare at large has given the general Irish population cause to value your judgment. You thus possess the ability to unite Irishmen and Englishmen alike under your banner, even if Members of Parliament are slower to latch on. ● As an affluent rhetorician, you have a way with words that benefits your friends and scorns your enemies. If your opinions should be disseminated by way of decree or press coverage, they will take root in the psyches of audiences and have according effects on the subject of your praises or denunciations.

Sir William George Granville Venables Vernon Harcourt ­ Chancellor of the Exchequer

Background: You were born in 1827 in York to a family of old lineages and proud bearings. Related to many of the Great Houses of England and a descendent of the Plantagenets, your familial wealth and influence was both a boon and source of ridicule in the political sphere. Your childhood was a well managed one. Your father wished you to be refined and of your heritage and so denied you a public education, micromanaging your education until your enrollment in Trinity College, where you sought to pursue your interest in mathematics. In the end you found the program wasn’t right for you and leaned away from math. While your father desired you to enter into the political sphere, you found yourself more inclined towards journalism and law. You also steered away from your families Tory allegiances and instead wrote in support of Liberal candidates like Robert Peel. In 1854, after much study, you were called to the Bar at the Inner Temple. You quickly became a noted speaker and with this motivation began to write for the Saturday Review. You then became increasingly politically involved, supporting Gladstone’s efforts to ​ become Prime Minister and also commenting on British sympathies with the confederate states as a disgrace. At the same time you became a rising figure within railway and international law such that by 1866 you were a part of the Queen’s Council and in 1869 became the Professor of International Law at Cambridge. While your legal career began to blossom, you also began to enter the political world. In 1868 you entered as a liberal for Oxford in Parliament, a position you held for 12 years. You served admirably and supported Gladstone on his rise to power. In 1880 the fruits of your labor paid off and you were appointed Home Secretary following the Liberal victory. You lost you seat in Oxford though in the reelection, however, managed to remain a PM by gaining Darby as your district. Once in office you worked hard, passing the Ground Game Act of 1880 and also the Arms Ireland Act of 1881. You were also highly reactive during the London bombings in helping to address the crisis. However, your harsh conviction around the law quickly brought you into conflict with Irish members of parliament, ensuring your unpopularity amongst the Irish. For your accomplishments you were then appointed to be Chancellor of the Exchequer in 1886 following Gladstone’s reelection. From then on you acted as the political deputy of Gladstone and as such was valued quite highly within the Liberal Party. Despite this your personality never inspired very much enthusiasm from the public, and as such you were not particularly popular amongst the people. However, despite your lack of charisma is could not be argued that you were not competent fiscally. In the mid 1880’s you were already in plans to begin drawing up budgets for British colonization for Africa and also interested in reforming the tax system, especially around estates taxes and concerning death duties.

Portfolio Powers: ● Overt: ○ Power of the Budget: As the Chancellor of the Exchequer you have unique power in ​ planning the budget allocations of the Empire; while this process is highly complicated and carefully monitored it would not be impossible for a Chancellor to discretionarily use some funds for the purpose of creating greater revenue for the Empire. ○ Political Deputy: As the deputy of Opposition Leader Gladstone, you hold a position of ​ high trust within the Liberal Party. You act as a sort of whip for the party and are also responsible for representing the party interest on a number of issues, giving you a great deal of PR; however, given you lackluster personality you are limited in deploying this directly to the people ○ Tax Law and reform: As the Chancellor of the Exchequer you have an extremely ​ important say in the way that the tax system works. Unlike the other roles of the Chancellery this is also a position very closely linked to you as your interest in reforming the system has closely acquainted you with most of England's chief economists on taxes and also with the government's contracted accountants and tax collectors.

Alexander Graham Bell ­ Founder of Bell Company Background: You were born in 1847 in Edinburgh, Scotland, to a family dedicated to the voice and audition. Your grandfather, uncle, and father were all experts in the mechanics of elocution; your father in particular was highly influential in studying sound, publishing The Standard Elocutionist in 1860, ​ ​ detailing how deaf persons can learn to read lips and pronounce words. Your father was also one of the key contributors to visible speech, and you became so proficient you could decipher the Visible Speech for languages ranging from Sanskrit to Latin. You would then go on to attend numerous educational institutes ­ during this time you discovered your passion for the sciences and learning ­ and would eventually go to the University of Edinburgh and later the University of London.

Following your time in University you became enamoured with further developing your expertise with sound and audition; you invented an automaton head capable of producing words; while the prize you received for the invention wasn’t major and it did begin your introduction into the London and Edinburgh scientific communities. You would continue working in your field and on the transmission of sound over wires. During this time you also assisted your father in lecturing at the Susanna E. Hull Private Boarding School, where you gained a reputation amongst the staff for your success with your deaf students.

In your twenty­third year tragedy struck as tuberculosis stole both of your brothers; you entered into poor health and your family moved to Ontario, Canada. Your health rapidly improved there, and in continuing your research, you transcribed the Mohawk language into Visible Sound and became an honorary chief for the tribe. Then in 1871 you began to teach deaf children in Boston to speak and sing, It was here you would also meet Mable Hubbard, who would later become your wife. It was also during this time that you began to more sharply focus your vision of transmitting sound and envisioned a harmonic telegraph, which today we call the telephone. You chanced into working Thomas Watson, a man with mechanical prowess. Watson was intrigued with the idea for your harmonic telegraph and you two became partners and close friends.

In March of 1876 you filed your patent for your telephone, the first of over thirty you would file in your life. The patent filed, you sought now to perfect your machine. You surmised that a wire submersed in a conducting liquid, vibrated by the human voice, would transmit. And so one day, after accidentally spilling battery acid onto a wire linked to Watson’s room, you shouted, “Mr. Watson, come here. I want you!” This was the first ever telephone call. From then on success was abound. Displaying your invention at the Centennial Exhibition in 1876, Bell astounded even the Brazilian Emperor Dom Pedro with your creation. Soon the White House installed your invention and you became renowned in the American scientific community overnight. Even Queen Victoria requested a private demonstration of the phone at Osborne House, and found it to be extraordinary.

You and your father­in­law, Gardiner Greene Hubbard, then went on to found the Bell Company in 1877, which in 1879 became the National Bell Telephone Company, and lastly in 1880 the American Bell Telephone Company. The company during this time faced over 600 times for legal challenged and patent infringement, would stand against every allegation. Bell Company became extremely successful and by 1886 over 150,000 people owned a telephone and you became worth a million dollars. The phone was continuously improved and earlier, in 1879, Bell Company had acquired Edison’s carbon microphone patent, increasing its long distance use. You also affirmed your patents in countries around the world, and went on to establish the International Bell Telephone Company in Brussels, creating a global operation company; however, due to patent delays in Germany, Siemens & Halske was able to create identical copies of the phone royalty free.

Ultimately the stress of both the legal and corporate battles are why you, in 1889, decided to return to your homeland of Scotland, purchasing a house in Edinburgh and leaving a large portion of your company's management to Theodore Vail. Of course, with the Scramble for Africa emerging in earnest, the British Government formally requested you join a special committee to discuss how to best colonize the continent by incorporating your telephones.

Portfolio Powers: ● Overt ○ American Bell Telephone Company and International Bell Telephone Company ­ ​ Both of these assets are worth millions of dollars; however, since you handed over power to Mr. Vail, you lack direct control, but retain strong influence as the founder; the company is also responsible for holding your numerous patents ○ Net Worth ­ Due to your royalties and companies, you are currently worth just over ​ $1,000,000 or £206,000 ○ Volta Laboratory ­ Established by you in 1880, this research facility was used to ​ continue work on various scientific endeavors; while it focused on sounds and telecommunications, it was not limited to these fields ○ American Association to Promote Teaching of Speech to the Deaf ­ Founded in 1890, ​ this association works in America and the United Kingdom to help students who are deaf or becoming deaf normalize into society and offers numerous scholarships for college

John “Jackie” Fisher ­ Rear Admiral

Background You were born in 1841 in Ramboda, Ceylon to Sophie Fisher and William Fisher, the aide­de­camp of the former governor of Ceylon. You later became estranged from your mother, but remained close to your grandmother who helped raise you after your father's death when you were 15. You were sent to live with her in London as your family faced financial troubles, and with the help of your Godmother, Widow to the former governor of Ceylon, you entered into service with the Navy.

Throughout your naval career you're served admirably under a number of different Captains and in a number of different posts. Your second post after your introduction to the Royal Navy was aboard the HMS Calcutta, during which time you were involved in the Crimean War. You were then elevated to ​ ​ Midshipman and posted to China, where you participated in the Second Opium War and began mastering the art of navigation; this mastery would eventually lead you to set a record on the navigation portion of the Lieutenant's exam for the Navy. You then found your way to the Gunnery school, the HMS Excellent, ​ ​ which began your love affair with armaments.

You quickly picked up the numerous facets of developmental arms and their various pros and cons, and even began researching into the field yourself. At the same time you were posted to the HMS Warrior, the first all­iron seagoing battleship, and the most powerful ship in the fleet. This further ​ inspired your interest in state­of­the­art technology, and so when you returned as an instructor to the Excellent for a few years, you became enamoured with torpedo’s, writing numerous pieces about them. ​ You even began writing your own paper on the development of electrical torpedo’s, the most advanced torpedo technology of the time; for your work you would even be invited to Germany and speak before the King of Prussia, later the German Emperor.

At the age of 28 you became a commander and were posted as second­in­command of the HMS Donegal, posted in Hong Kong. During this time you finished your treatises on torpedo’s. You were then ​ redeployed to the flagship of the China fleet, the HMS Ocean. While on the Ocean, you also wrote a ​ ​ ​ ​ memoir and installed an electrical system for firing the Ocean’s guns simultaneously, the first vessel to ​ ​ have such technology. In part as a result of your work on naval theory and tactics, you were then reposted to the HMS Excellent where you headed torpedo and mine training. You then formed a separate Torpedo ​ ​ Branch of the Excellent called the HMS Vernon. You became very familiar with politicians and ​ ​ ​ ​ journalists at this time in an effort to promote your school; you also were made responsible for a number of actions related to the field, such as purchasing the first Whitehead Torpedo for the Navy. You also served on the 1876 Admiralty Torpedo Committee.

Then at the age of 33 you were made Captain of the HMS Vernon. Then in 1877 you were ​ ​ reassigned to the HMS Bellerophon as Commander, under the Admiral North America­West Indies ​ ​ Station: Astley Cooper­Key. You would serve on a number of other ships at this time during which you became famous for your hard discipline and rigorous training. In 1881 you were then assigned to the HMS Inflexible, a newly developed ironclad battleship. One of your first missions as its Captain was to ​ ​ escort Queen Victoria to the French Riviera; during this trip you were able to meet both the Queen and her grandson, Prince Henry of Prussia, later admiral of the German Navy. Upon meeting you Queen Victoria found you quite admirable, and later became key to supporting many of your innovations.

Your service on the Inflexible also found you in various combat roles and escort roles. You also, ​ ​ in a time a need, rigged a train with armor plates, machines guns, and a cannon in the Anglo­Egyptian War; this was to be your first time in the public spotlight as a hero after the press quickly admonished you with praise. During this time you also became close friends with the future King Edward VII and Queen Alexandra of Denmark. Your relationship with the royal family became so strong that in 1883, upon hearing of your having falling ill, Queen Victoria invited you to her Osborne House for a fortnight. Your illness would tax you for many years after, and while you served as commander of the HMS Excellent, ​ ​ you were more involved as the Director of Naval Ordnance starting in 1886. In 1887 you were appointed as the Aide­de­Camp to the Queen, and in 1890 were appointed to the position of Rear Admiral, and act as the Admiral Superintendent of Portsmouth's Drydock.

Portfolio Powers: ● Overt ○ Rear Admiral: As the Rear­Admiral you command the rear of a mobilized fleet. As the ​ most junior of Admirals, in a fully mobilized fleet you would be subordinate to your fellow Admiral’s. When at sea alone you command all vessels under your direct administration when assigned. In your current position you are not assigned to any direct fleet but may be able to use your leverage within the Admiralty to change this. ○ Director of Naval Ordinance: As the Director you are in charge of all munitions and ​ armaments, including electrical equipment and grids for ships. You work closely with the Director of Naval Construction. ○ HMS Vernon: You are the founder of the HMS Vernon school you have a commanding ​ ​ ​ interest in the curriculum and through this connection remain influential within the HMS Excellent and as such have influence within the admiralties higher education policies. ​

Captain John Chard

Background History You were born at Boxhill near Plymouth in 1847. Your older brother, William Wheaton Chard served with the Royal Fusiliers and rose to the rank of colonel, inspiring you to join the military. After your elementary education, you enrolled into the Royal Military Academy where you excelled in military history. At the age of 21, you received your commission as a lieutenant in the Royal Engineers and were first sent to Bermuda to study techniques in constructing fortifications for colonial cities, and then Malta. Your experiences in Bermuda and Malta gave him a cosmopolitan imperial career and allowed him to test his knowledge in different situations.

th In 1878 the 5 ​ Company Royal Engineers were deployed to the Colony of Natal in response to a ​ request from Lord Chelmsford, commander of the British forces in South Africa. You and members from th rd the 24 ​ Regiment of Foot and 3 ​ Natal Native Contingent were deployed to a small river crossing called ​ ​ Rorke’s Drift. The Rorke's Drift post consisted of a kraal, a commissariat store, and a small hospital building. You received orders to protect the bridges on the river. During a routine scouting mission in the th area, you had noticed a large contingent of Zulu fighters in the area. Members of the 24 ​ Regiment of ​ Foot were dispatched to allay a larger British contingent moving down to river in order to stop the rd potential Zulu onslaught, leaving members of your company and the 3 ​ Natal Native Contingent to ​ protect Rorke’s Drift. You were placed in charge of the British forces. Before further reinforcements could arrive, the Zulus attacked your group. You acted quickly and managed to strategically reinforce the small inlet’s defenses, holding off the Zulu attack, which ultimately resulted in 370 Zulu deaths and 17 British deaths. You then were known to personally patrol the grounds and collect arms from dead Zulus. In your report back to his superiors, it was noted that he spoke of everyone but himself. ​ ​

You are currently still in South Africa and most of your friends anticipate that you’ll be returning back to Britain to receive most likely a hero’s welcome and your official acceptance as Captain in the Royal Engineers.

Portfolio Powers ● Overt ○ You are a great strategist and extremely proficient at planning the defenses of towns, cities, and villages. As such the Royal Engineers often ask your advice in establishing fortifications in Africa ○ You are a man of the people and are recognized by your comrades as both an honest and humble man. He’s largely admired by those under him and members of the 5th Company ​ Royal Engineers will be willing to do most things if under his command. ○ Something of local hero even in the United Kingdom you have considerable public respect and admiration; you are being uplifted as a figure of British imperialism and as a man whom the people could get behind.

Charles Bowyer Adderley, 1st Baron Norton, President of the Board of Health

Background History On August 2, 1814 you were born in Leicestershire, England to diligent churchman Charles Clement Adderley ­­ a descendant of an old Staffordshire family of no small means ­­ and his wife, daughter of the wealthy and politically active Sir Edmund Cradock­Hartopp. On your sixteenth birthday you inherited a tidy body of highly valued properties from a late great­uncle, essentially securing your financial stability for the foreseeable future. You attended and graduated from Christ Church at Oxford University with a B.A. as part of the Class of 1838.

You quickly decided to continue the legacy of your father­in­law by pursuing a political career, one that officially began with your entrance to the House of Commons as a Member of Parliament for North Staffordshire in 1841. After marrying Julie Anne Eliza ­­ the offspring of an influential landowner ­­ the following year, you proceeded to ascend to the ministerial ranks as part of the Conservative Party, acquiring the positions of President of the Board of Trade and Vice­President of the Committee of the Council on Education the year of 1858. Your tenure in both offices ­­ though relatively short­lived, as they were contingent upon the prime ministry of Lord Derby ­­ exposed you to a wide spectrum of political affairs and solidified your knack for multiaxial administration and politicking. That same year you were honored with the privilege of joining the ranks of the Privy Council, a body of advisors that counsels the Sovereign personally.

After Lord Derby’s re­election in 1866 you took up a ministerial post once more, this time as the Under­Secretary of State for the Colonies. Alongside the Secretary you supervised the assemblage of the Dominion of Canada and opposed proposals to turn South Africa into a penal colony ­­ tasks that ignited your vested interest in the implementation of sufficient education systems throughout the colonies. Further down the road in 1874, you were made President of the Board of Health, adding another Cabinet membership to your list of political accomplishments. Your creation as Baron Norton half a decade later marked and formalized your transference to the British peerage, a status backed substantially by estates you have sold and kept. Although you previously centralized your policymaking around the coordination of domestic health services, you are now turning your attention to the sanitary conditions and facilities of fronts abroad, where frequent outbreaks of disease have produced an impetus for the betterment of medical training and distribution of much­needed equipment. You also make a conscious effort to align your objectives with your devotion to the Church of England and the propagation of Victorian values.

Portfolio Powers ● Overt ○ The Board of Health is constituted of local health boards at home and abroad, feeder sectors specialized in designated consultative services, and a core London­based office of medical professionals and experts. As president, you have immediate control over and access to the labor and capital of these sectors. ○ Also available to you is any intel your boots on the ground can provide ­­ the breadth of which extends beyond the scope of issues directly health­related. Through your staff you often catch wind of political and social developments in the colonies before news of them reaches the eyes and ears of the general public. ○ Your seat on the Privy Council gives you direct means of communicating with the Queen, who turns to council members for advice on issues immediately pressing to the nation.

George Wyndham, Chief Secretary for Ireland

Background History You were born August 29, 1863 in London to your father, the Honourable Percy Wyndham ­­ a Conservative politician and public intellectual ­­ and your mother Madeleine, daughter of a late Major­General of the British Army. You are also the great­grandson of Lord Edward FitzGerald, a prominent Irish Republican leader, aristocrat, and revolutionary. From an early age onwards you aspired to be like your father, who is a founding member of The Souls, a highly selective and distinguished collective of British citizens bent on keeping a pocket of the salon­esque social culture untainted by the dirty, pervasive politics of the Home Rule debate. Under his watch you attended Eton College and the Royal Military College. Thereafter, you joined the Coldstream Guards, a regiment that took you to Sudan to participate in the Suakin campaign of the late 1870’s.

Your political career ­­ staunchly situated, like your father’s, at the frontlines of the Conservative Party ­­ began when you became private secretary to Arthur Balfour, the then Chief Secretary for Ireland, in 1882. Within two years you were elected unopposed to the House of Commons as a Member of Parliament. By this time you had joined The Souls and fraternized frequently with influential intellectuals and peers, forging partnerships with the likes of notable editor Harry Crust and author Margot Asquith that eventually inspired you to pursue publishing as a side project. In this vein you launched The Outlook, ​ ​ a review and political magazine financially backed by your good friend Cecil Rhodes. Its enviable masthead of literary movers and shakers includes H. G. Wells, Joseph Conrad, Rudyard Kipling, and Max Beerbohm. The magazine is known for its imperialist rhetoric and jingoistic undertones that often walked the line ­­ if not crossing it altogether ­­ between commentary and propaganda.

Just as your magazine started to take off and make serious gains in circulation numbers, you were appointed Under­Secretary of State for War under Lord Salisbury. Although the appointment gave you more political liberty and authority to propagate the chauvinistic mantras of The Outlook, the former ​ ​ eventually eclipsed the latter in precedence and consumption of time, forcing you to bring yourself down to the sidelines of its publishing process and day­to­day functions. You continued, however, to scan the horizon for ways in which you could further elevate yourself to a higher ministerial position. Drawing on the years you spent as private secretary, you became heavily invested in Irish affairs and ­­ with the help of your previous experience and a public image made reputable by your association with The Souls ­­ were made Chief Secretary for Ireland yourself in 1889. Your current proposals focus on a new devolution scheme conceived in conjunction with the Irish Reform Association. That said, you also maintain your ardent support of imperialist endeavours in the colonies by dropping in on The Outlook ​ every now and then.

Portfolio Powers: ● Overt ○ Being in The Souls not only allies you with members of Britain’s preeminent intellectual body, but gives you the ability to intellectualize political, social, and economic trends, a move that would subsequently translate into popularization amongst academics and ­­ sufficient circulation allowing ­­ the general populace. This maneuver more often than not allows you to wield considerable influence over the policies enacted in response. ○ Although you no longer possess complete autonomy over the content of The Outlook, you ​ ​ did a good deal to make permanent its imperialist themes and continue to use it as a means of diffusing your ideas. ○ As Chief Secretary for Ireland, you work closely with the Lord Chancellor and Lord Lieutenant of Ireland to devise innovative proposals for limited devolved self­government that will win the support of Englishmen and Irishmen alike. You have also begun to work alongside the Irish Reform Association, a group of reformatory Irish unionist landowners. You are easily able to funnel their resources ­­ among them political and legislative clout, financial backing ­­ for your own purposes, so long as they are in the name of the Irish cause.

st Henry Chaplin – 1 ​ Viscount Chaplin, President of the Board of Agriculture ​

Background History You were born in 1831 to the wealthy and prestigious Chaplin family and raised in a castle­like estate. Your family is one of the last households to own substantial acreage in Great Britain, resisting a nationwide socio­economic shift towards the sale and subsequent industrialization of private property and diminishment of the tangible capital of aristocratic landowners. During your formative years you were well­educated by tutors handpicked for their renowned expertise. Always a lover of nature and the outdoors, you began to take an interest in the plants and agriculture around the grounds of your family’s estate. Because of your father’s riches and stature, you were ensured a spot at Oxford University, where you developed and pursued interests in politics and biology. You graduated at the top of the class the same year you inherited substantial estates in Lincolnshire, Nottingham, and Yorkshire.

The time you spent in college and shortly thereafter affected you deeply, becoming an indexical point of reference for with every major decision you made later in life. University removed you from a quaint countryside childhood, and a post­graduation leave inserted you deep in the urban throes of London. Confronted with double­edged changes to British society wrought on by the Industrial Revolution, you came in close contact with impoverished communities and joined political organizations keen on improving the living conditions of an increasingly burdened working class.

Your persistent fight for the rights and dignification of the poor earned you widespread admiration and greatly boosted your electability, earning you a seat in the House of Commons as the Member of Parliament for Hawick. You continued to ardently vocalize your support for the working class and expedited passage of major laws such as the Labour Standard Act of 1863 and the Air Improvement Act of 1870. You simultaneously spearheaded the advancement of rural localities by proposing the Farm Reform Act, a piece of legislation that called for the subsidization of crops in order to support struggling farmers battling the economic repercussions of urban migration. However, because the majority of Members of Parliament geared the betterment of welfare towards the more immediately felt plight of urban districts, your proposal failed to gain traction.

That said, your unwavering stance on these issues earned you the commendation and contributions of the Conservative Party and both urban and rural populaces at large, bringing you to the attention of the Prime Minister. After serving in the House of Commons for twenty years, you were appointed President of the Board of Agriculture. In this position you ensure that crop production meets demands domestically and abroad. You are also tasked with responding quickly and efficiently to unexpected plights of disease that negatively affect agricultural yields. Furthermore, you oversee the fair distribution of wages amongst farmers and rural professionals. Your crowd­pleasing record of accomplishments has made you one of the more popular Cabinet members, a sentiment you intend to take advantage of as you look to solidify your jurisdiction over agricultural developments in the African colonies.

Portfolio Powers ● Overt

○ ​One of the most significant aspects of the Board of Agriculture is its status as a committee of the Her Majesty’s Most Honourable Privy Council. This designation grants the Board a powerful advisory function on economic activity in Britain and its colonial offshoots. As president, you work closely in conjunction with the Colonial Office to help oversee merchant shipping, transportation, and other components of not only agricultural production but commercial proceedings in general. As such, your say in these matters goes a long way. ○ Given a global trend towards the vertical integration of all components of product distribution, you have witnessed the envelopment of previously self­sustained farmers ­­ constituting the basest level of production ­­ in the fold of manufacturing and industrialized labor. Your policies therefore service and micromanage a wide range of developers, industrialists, and both agrarian and urban workers. Your popularity among them, in addition to your favorability in Parliament, gives you extensive control over domestic social forces and change. Sir Tatton Benvenuto Mark Sykes, Colonel of the Yorkshire Regiment

Background History You were born to an affluent family in Welling, England on April 16, 1826. Your father, Lord George Benvenuto Mark Sykes, was a prominent member of the Conservative Party and a Cabinet member under the Wellesley Ministry. Your mother, a woman by the name of Christina Anne who was thirty years her husband’s junior, converted to Roman Catholicism and moved out of the family home when you were three years old. You were educated at the Exeter College of Oxford University, before which you divided your time between your father’s sprawling estate and Lady Sykes’ plush London home. During your college years, you proved to be an extremely capable learner, absorbing yourself in courses and extracurricular endeavors topically related to History and Middle Eastern Studies. Your interest in the latter subject was a direct manifestation of winters you spent travelling with your father to the Middle East, oftentimes to parts of the Ottoman Empire. Your fondness for adventure and exoticization of combat unknown in far­off lands led you to pursue a military career, and upon graduating you enrolled in the Royal Military Academy.

After college, you dedicated your services to Her Majesty’s Armed Forces. Because of your father’s far­reaching political and martial legacy, you quickly scaled the ranks in the military and became the Colonel of the Yorkshire Regiment. As a colonel you had the opportunity to travel the world and spent a considerable amount of time in the African colonies and India, where you used your university education and knowledge of diplomatic history to talk strategy with allies and negotiate with tenuous adversaries. Over the course of your travels, you became increasingly aware of the enormous potentialities held by the colonies for the advancement and perpetuation of British hegemony and thus advocated more aggressive and chauvinistic methods of imperialist control. You strongly believe that the key to British domination lies in the sustenance of the Empire’s current momentum at the expense of the lesser European powers currently clamoring to deepen their footholds along the global periphery. You recognize the collective threat that other colonialist nations will come to pose if they siphon authority off territories and resources neglected by the British, and you thus feel the government’s means of control, as they stand now, lack the direction needed to suitably equip its stronghold.

In addition to being a colonel on the brink of captainship, you are viewed as one of the preeminent advisors to British diplomats and strategists. Although your desire to remain close to the battlefield ­­ a place that suits you, given the enormous success your division has achieved ­­ prevents you from aspiring towards a life of ministerial duty, you remain in close contact with Prime Minister Balfour and key political actors in the War Office. Your recent publication of two travel books ­­ Dar­Ul­Islam ​ (The Home of Islam) and Through Five Turkish Provinces ­­ has additionally elevated your standing in ​ ​ ​ ​ academic circles. You were optioned to serve as Parliamentary Secretary to George Wyndham, the Chief Secretary for Ireland, but you turned the offer down to concentrate on strategic development in Africa and the Middle East. You currently align yourself with the belief of the Conservative Party that propping up the Ottoman Empire acts as a buffer against Russian expansion into the Mediterranean and have just returned from an assignment as honorary attache to the British Embassy in Constantinople.

Portfolio Powers ● Overt ● Although you do not necessarily possess a colossal number of troops, your knack for knowing exactly how, where, and when to arrange your regiment on and off the battlefield vitalizes the presence and potency of you and your forces ­­ to an extent so significant that the blows you strike are remarkably more effective than attacks executed by divisions of greater, though albeit less organized, manpower. ● Your position as a prominent military strategist also gives you influence over the movements and plans of action of other regiments in Africa and the Middle East. ● Your diplomatic expertise is widely sought by British Embassies across the globe. As such, you play an impactful role in shaping Britain’s relations and dialogues with foreign countries.

Anthony John “A.J.” Mundella – President of the Board of Trade

Born in Leicester as the son of an Italian father and English mother, you were educated at a National School, which offers elementary education to children of the poor and teachings in accordance with the Church of England. After your education, you dived into the hosiery business where you eventually became a partner at Hine and Mundella. You managed the day­to­day factory activities and expanded its locations to Nottingham, Loughborough, and Chemnitz.

Even while managing Hine and Mundella, you started to take an interest in politics and law. In 1859, you originated the organized the first Courts of Conciliation and Arbitration to settle disputes between capital and labor. During this time, you were also made Sheriff of Nottingham, J.P. for Middlesex and Nottingham Borough, and Alderman, President of the chamber of Commerce, and President of the Board of Arbitration for Nottingham.

You became less involved with the hosiery company when elected a Member of Parliament for Sheffield in 1868. Your studies of educational systems in Germany and Switzerland helped you pass the Elementary Education Act of 1870. In 1880, you were sworn of the Privy Council, and from 1880 to 1885 you served under William Gladstone as Vice President of the Committee on Education. During your time on the Committee of Education, you helped pass the educational code of 1882 that became known as the “Mundella Code”, which marked a new era of the regulation of public elementary schools. You pursued this initiative due to the results of the Factory Act of 1875 that established a ten­hour work day for women and children and the Conspiracy Act that removed certain restrictions on trade unions. Soon after you founded the “Labour Gazette” and the labor department of the Board of Trade that under Gladstone and later Lord Rosbery, you served as President in 1886.

For your efforts, many members of Parliament and the working population admire your campaign of improving the conditions of labor. In the wake of the Sheffield outages, you stood by trade unionist William Dronfield to defend labor interests. You introduced and passed bills for the better protection of women and children in the workplace. However, you have met opposition from Titus Salt who fervently disagrees with your position on banning child labor.

Currently, you are once again the President of the Board of Trade. However, this position is contingent on the success of a financial company that helped you get to where you are now, and your continuing retention of influence amongst Britain’s industrial moguls and trade specialists.

Power

● Overt ○ While you are no longer in the hosiery business, you can probably still get yourself a nice pair if you ask. ○ As President of the Board of Trade, you lead the board and execute any actions or functions on the United Kingdom’s economic activity and its empire. The Board of Trade deals with legislation for patents, designs and trademarks, company regulation, labour and factories, merchant shipping, agriculture, transportation, utilities, colonial matters, etc. Robert Arthur Talbot Gascoyne­Cecil, 3rd Marquess of Salisbury, Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs

Background: You were born in 1830 and was the second son of the 2nd Marquess of Salisbury. Your family ​ owns large estates in Dorset and Hertfordshire and is both incredibly wealthy and powerful in the UK. In 1840 you attended Eton College but had to leave because of bullying. The constant social ostracization you suffered led you to believe most people were cowardly and cruel, and that the mob would run over sensitive individuals. You then attended Oxford where he underwent a profound religious experience, becoming a much more pious man.

Following your time in Oxford you joined Lincoln’s Inn, which is recognized to be one of the world's most prestigious professional bodies of judges and lawyers, at the age of 17. Heeding his doctor’s advice to travel, Robert had an incredibly cosmopolitan experience, visiting much of the British Empire, especially in Africa and Australia.

You then entered in 1853 into the House of Commons as a Conservative for Stamford. One of the key points of your campaign was your opposition to secular education as well as government interference in the Church of England, which you felt was a violation of the English constitution. In 1856 you began to carry your opinions out through conventional media, and so published articles anonymously for the Saturday Review. You also published in 23 journals for the Quarterly Review, the foremost intellectual ​ ​ ​ journey of the age, and many other publications, giving you a solid grounding in media and communication. At the same time you began to become more and more influenced by the Lord Salisbury, who convinced you of the need for a foreign policy specialist independent of the media and constituents, and that Britain should only act if it means to uphold Christian traditions or to use force.

In 1866 your older brother passed away leaving you as the now Viscount Cranbourne. The same you year you entered service as the Secretary of State for India under the third government of Lord Derby. Robert fought against British abuses of the Indian peoples and he loathed the opinions of so­called “experts”, who were more keen on saving the British Empire money rather saving lives. At the same time though you also adamantly opposed systems of proportional representation and the expansion of suffrage. Regardless of your opinions though you were a very comprehensive politician. You mastered statistical analysis so you could examine how policies would affect constituents; this knowledge famously led you in controversy with Disraeli over the expansion of suffrage and the lowering of direct tax requirements. Using your understanding though you were able to save small constituencies from entering into a sort of mob rule era that was supposed to be the result of Disraeli’s tax and voter policy. Ultimately the controversy became exceedingly complicated, delving into numerous partisan relations and antiquated laws; the end result though was your alienation from some of the elites within the conservative party for your contesting, but also your popularity in small boroughs and rural areas in the UK.

In 1868 your father died and you inherited the Marquessate of Salisbury and thus became a member of the House of Lords. Your next major appointment came with your return to government in 1874 when you were once again appointed to serve as the Secretary for India. In 1876 you were also appointed to be the British ambassador at the Constantinople Conference. Showing your ability as a foreign representative you were then made the foreign secretary in 1878; for your service at the Berlin conference during this tenure you were awarded with the Order of the Garter.

In 1881 a radical shift in your career when the conservative party became very tumultuous. After a period of internal conflict you emerged as the leader of the Conservative party. You next entered into conflict with Prime Minister Gladstone in 1884 over the suffrage reform act as you argued a simultaneous redistribution act for seats in Parliament would also be needed. At the same time you also dismissed women's suffrage and higher education during this time throwing you into further conflict with the liberal party such that you now principally agree with its members. In the end though a compromise on the Reform Bill for suffrage was reached and suffrage was indeed expanded. In 1885, following your successful tactics as the Leader of the Conservatives, you became the Prime Minister of a minority administration, lasting only a year.

During your brief tenure you supported many an expansion of workers rights and safeguards in the labor sector. This however, resulted in a large amount of backlash as many hailed you as a state socialist for your proposals. You were poised to return in 1886 to be the Prime Minister of a majority Conservative government due to the Liberals split over the Irish Home Rule movement, but a bout of illness struck you suddenly. For the next few years you were unable to serve as the Leader of the Party, however, in 1888 you were reappointed as the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs to honor your service to the party.

Portfolio Powers ● Overt ○ As the Secretary for Foreign Affairs you are able to engage in diplomatic talks for the British Empire; however, given your involvement in this Special Committee for African Colonization your role has been limited in power to largely only deal with nations with direct roles in Africa ○ You are a powerful man within the Conservative Party and so are able to help shape the platform of the party publically and speak on Conservative issues; you are also quite popular amongst a large amount of conservative voters ○ Robert has large support from denizens of India and concerned citizens in Britain of colonial rights due to his service both India and at home on the issue

Rudyard Kipling

Background You were born in 1865 in Bombay and when Rudyard was 5, were taken to live with a couple in England who boarded children if their parents served in India. It was during this time in England that Rudyard faced neglect and abuse at the hands of his foster parents. Rudyard was eventually taken out of the system by his aunt and attended United Services College in London, a school that prepared young men for eventual service in the British Army. You graduated but didn’t have the academic ability to achieve a scholarship to Oxford. Instead, your father procured for him a job in Punjab as a Principal of the Mayo College of Art and Curator of the Lahore Museum. You were then to be assistant editor of a small local newspaper, the Civil & Military Gazette. ​ ​

During this time, you were a writer and editor for not only Civil & Military Gazette but also The ​ ​ Pioneer in Allahabad. While he was at The Pioneer, you began frantically writing, publishing six collections of short novels containing a total of 41 stories, some quite long. Ultimately you were removed from The Pioneer due to a conflict over choosing stories for the paper. After having left the Pioneer, you ​ ​ ​ traveled the world and visited San Francisco, Hong Kong, and Japan. After having spent some time in the United States with American writer, Mark Twain, you made his way back to London.

You now reside back in London where you have had some great success with your submitted stories into various magazines. You are currently engaged to be married to a Carrie Balestier and is finishing up one of his novels: The Light That Failed. You hope to continue writing stories that inspire ​ ​ those in Britain to see the outdoors, to travel, and to love their country. Your most recent effort in this regard has been the writing of a poem titled, “The White Man’s Burden”, in which you display your perception of race relations and the role of especially the British Empire in shaping the world and civilizing other parts of it.

Also while you have been back in London you have come into contact with the Duke of Cambridge after the both of you were on your way to London from Cambridge and your carriages broke down next to one another. The two of you bonded after the Duke offered his servicemen to help repair the carriage you were in. You then offered to write a positive story about the experience. When the two of you reached London he invited you to his residence where you discussed politics and the role of the British Army. By the end of the evening you had won a powerful friend: the Commander­in­chief of the Army and cousin to Queen Victoria.

Portfolio Powers ● Overt ○ You are one of the icons of the Empire right now for your publications; you inspire much confidence in the ideals you support and so to many you are almost a cultural figure, able to publish what some would call propaganda ○ Your involvement in the Royal Society of Literature has given you access to many publishers within the United Kingdom as good friends and associates who may be willing to assist you in your own business ventures in writing ○ You have made a sizeable amount of money for your work, and recently you have reached a new market in India which has given you much needed fluidity of capital, however, you will need to keep coming up with interest novels to keep your public interested in funding you

George Hudson, “The Railway King”

Background: You were born in Howsham, near York, in the year 1800, to parents John and Elizabeth Hudson. Your mother died at the age of 38, when you were but six years old, and your father followed two years later; as such you were brought up by your older brothers William and John, who left you at the age of 15 with a cursory education. Following this, you were apprenticed to Bell and Nicholson, a draper firm in York, ​ and upon finishing your apprenticeship in 1821 were taken on as a tradesman and given a share of the business. By 1827, the firm had grown to be the largest business in York, with your name in replacing Bell’s after his retirement. Then, in 1827, your great­uncle Matthew Botrill passed away. You had taken care of him for a long while he was ill, and so when he passed he left you his fortune of £30,000 as thanks. Using this money you would begin your journey into the world of capital investment and industrial production.

In 1833, several York businessmen and yourself got together and formed a railway committee with the goal of linking York to Leed. This would enable the city to enjoy cheaper coal, and emulate the industrial success being enjoyed by Leeds, Bradford, and other West Yorkshire towns. Given your financial acumen and management skills, you were made the treasurer of this group and became the largest shareholder at 500 shares. You then became the chairman, and under your chairmanship, this York and North Midland Railway (YNMR) company expanded to join with other railways and create a larger network of transportation. The Act of Parliament for the scheme was authorised in 1836, estimated to cost almost £370,000. When all was said in done you held one of the largest stakes in the railroad industry in Britain, with a huge portion of the tracks belonging to your committee.

You were then involved in the centralization and consolidation of transportation networks; with this, you rapidly rose to be one of the most powerful influences and financial interests in so many railways, that in 1842 you arranged the creation of the Railway Clearing House. This was an organisation set up to manage the allocation of revenue collected by pre­grouping railway companies of fares and charges paid for passengers and goods travelling over the lines of other companies.

England was soon in the grip of a bubble in the railway industry, or “Railway Mania”, and you stood at the centre of the phenomenon. By 1844, you controlled more than 1,000 miles of railway, and were dubbed the “Railway King”. Your wealth allowed you to buy several Yorkshire estates, including the 12,000­acre Londesborough estate, and Newby Park. In 1846, you then outlined plans for 32 Parliamentary Bills for railway projects costing a total of £10 million, and became a Tory Member of Parliament (MP) for Sunderland. By this point your companies controlled over a quarter of the railways then built in England, and you were poised to absorb more companies.

In 1845 you were then appointed to the Eastern Counties Railway (ECR) as the Chairman as well as the mayor of York. You appointed David Waddington as your Vice­Chairman, and the two of you began a love affair with corruption, as you both fudged the books to illegally pay shareholders high dividends following safety and timekeeping concerns. You also learned that Waddington had created a slush fund of over £8,000. You also at this time began to cut safety standards for your railways. This, however, did not stop you from expanding aggressively throughout the 40’s into the 1850’s. During the 1850’s you saw your finances continue growing and all seemed well, however, in 1856 it was discovered that you had committed fraud. You had been illegally pretending that many of your shareholders, including yourself, had been doctoring traffic accounts to pay higher dividends. You had also ignored countless safety regulations. The result was a series of lawsuits against you and your company that lasted until the mid 1860’s, when you emerged damaged but not beaten. You had lost much of the railways you had lain and planned for in Scotland and along eastern England in the settlements of your fines. You had also lost much respect from the people. At the same time, you remained a very powerful businessman and still maintained a large share of ownership in English railways. The scandal also negatively impacted your political career, meaning that you were forced to leave the House of Commons and instead begin a career of silent funding.

With your fortune and respectability diminished, you now seek to redeem yourself in Africa and establish a new Empire there, building local routes and working with the army and explorers to link up the continent.

Portfolio Powers: ● Overt ○ As someone deeply involved with railway commerce, you have a significant amount of personal capital at his fingertips, and lasting partnerships with railway giants ○ Your ownership in a number of railways that are essential for both cargo and personal transport throughout middle England has made you, if not well­liked, at the very least relevant in people's lives. As such you are still a powerful figure in the Midlands, especially amongst emerging industrialists

st George Nathaniel Curzon, 1 ​ Marquess Curzon of Kedleston, Viceroy of India ​

Background: th You were born the eldest son to Alfred Curzon, the 4 ​ Baron Scarsdale, Rector of Kedleston in ​ Derbyshire, and his wife Blanche, also of a prominent family. Raised more by your austere governess than by either of your parents, you were educated at Wixenford School, Eton College and Balliol College, Oxford. You would prove to become a polarizing figure who inspired either great feelings of attachment or hatred; few ever felt neutral about you in your life.

Your career began with your appointment as Assistant Private Secretary to Lord Salisbury in 1880, and in 1881 you entered Parliament as Member for Southport in south­west Lancashire. Your early political career often dealt with opposing the question of Irish home rule, and reforming the House of Lords. You the later served as Under­Secretary of State for India and Under­Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs.During this time you captivated many a man with the passion with which you would speak of foreign affairs and also of the necessity of the solidarity of the Empire. For this reason you quickly garnered a reputation as a staunch imperialist seeking to expand British influence.

In the meantime, you travelled around the world: Russia and Central Asia, a long tour of Persia, Siam, French Indochina and Korea, and Afghanistan and the Pamirs. One these travels, you published several books describing central and eastern Asia, as well as related policy issues. You were fascinated by life in the Orient and its and geography, and for your research and notes were awarded the Patron's Gold Medal of the Royal Geographical Society for your exploration of the source of the Amu Darya (Oxus). Your journeys allowed you to also study the problems of Asia and their implications for British India, whilst reinforcing your pride in the Empire and her imperial mission. Your travels also led you to believe fervently in the Russian threat to British colonial power, especially through the Persian and Afghani regions. As such you felt strongly that the government behaved too apathetically towards Persia, which could act as a valuable defensive buffer to India from Russian encroachment.

In the year 1889 you were appointed as Viceroy of India. Whilst in office you have concerned yourself mostly with the Great Game between the British and Russian Empires for control of Central Asia; he holds deep mistrust of Russian intentions. However, you have also taken up a number of roles in trying to secure the Indian subcontinent itself against internal strife. You have reinforced the British government's domestic security apparatuses in India and have also created a number of sub­committees and local tribunals to attempt to address local grievances and concerns, though given your haughty imperialist tendencies, you are still viewed with mistrust in India.

Portfolio Powers: ● Overt o As the viceroy of India, you runs the colony in the name of the British monarchy. Largely unencumbered in the exercise of authority, you have the British Indian Army very close to you and also are the ear for many of the Princely States who wish to communicate to Britain o Upon your appointment as viceroy, you were also created a Peer of Ireland; this ensured that you would be free, until your father's death, to re­enter the House of Commons upon his return to Britain and thus enhance your political power; you may choose to do this at any time, however, doing so will place you under more scrutiny, especially from Irish people and ministers.

nd Sir George Otto Trevelyan, 2 ​ Baronet, Secretary for Scotland ​ Background: th You were born in Rothley Temple, Leicestershire on 20 ​ July 1838. You are the only son of Sir st ​ Charles Trevelyan, 1 ​ Baronet and Hannah, daughter of Zachary Macaulay and sister of Lord ​ Macaulay.You attended school at Harrow and Trinity College, Cambridge. During your attendance at Trinity you became the President of the Cambridge Union Society and also gained admission as a Cambridge Apostle. In 1862 you travelled out to India as a civil servant; during this time you made a number of friends within the Indian government as you worked to report on several instances of human rights abuses. Then in 1865 you returned home where you won as a seat for Tynemouth and North Shields as a Liberal. In the general election later in 1868 the party returned you for Hawick Burghs, which you would serve as PM for until 1886. In 1868 Gladstone appointed you as the Civil Lord of the Admiralty, though you only served for two years; in 1870 you resigned due to ethical conflicts with the Education Bill of that year. Despite your removal from the office, you continued to advocate for military policy, such as wide sweeping reforms to the army; in particular you thought that the army should cease buying commissions. You were also involved with civil and social discourse about laws as well though. To many you have been one of the most vocal supporters of county franchise of any MP’s; while your Bill proposing this failed at its second reading, you still remain as a well respected figure for your efforts and an idol politician amongst agricultural workers. Still on more issues you became an even greater champion of the people's will. You sought to extend women’s suffrage, reform metropolitan governance, disband the House of Lords, and create the direct veto. In 1880, following another victory by Gladstone, you were again appointed to a position within the Lord Commissioners of the Navy. You were this time made the Parliamentary Secretary to the Admiralty, during which you managed creating contracts and also purchases for the Navy. While the position was going well, in 1882 Lord Frederick Cavendish was assassinated and so Gladstone appointed you as his replacement. This made you both Chief Secretary for Ireland and a member of the Privy Council. This appointment began a series of increasing highs for your career as you were then made Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster. You were then appointed to be the Secretary for Scotland and Vice­President of the Scottish Education Department, however, the same year in 1886 you resigned over a dispute concerning Irish Home rule; you believed Gladstone was being to liberal with the Irish and should try and retain the island under more direct control. That same year you also saw your father die and your ascendency to baronetcy, as well as a lose of your seat in Hawick in the General. You then returned to the Liberal Party with Gladstone following a resolution to your conflict with the Home Rule scheme; in 1887 you then reentered the House of Commons as a member for Glasgow Bridgeton. Then, following the death of the Secretary for Scotland under Lord Salisbury, you were appointed to the position as well as the Vice­President for the Scottish Education Department. This was both a boon and a curse though, as it placed you within a Tory held government, limiting the direct action you could take without their approval in Scotland.

Portfolio Powers ● Overt ○ As the head of the Scottish Office you are in charge of both the execution of justice and with the principle matter of domestic governance in Scotland; given your position within a conservative government though you are not unhindered when acting ○ As the Vice­President of the Scottish Education Department you have an outstanding role in helping shape education policy in Scotland and in boosting school attendance ○ As the MP for Glasgow Bridgeton you are fairly close with your constituents and have managed to gain friends within the Glaswegian shipbuilding industry

Sir William George Granville Venables Vernon Harcourt ­ Chancellor of the Exchequer

Background: You were born in 1827 in York to a family of old lineages and proud bearings. Related to many of the Great Houses of England and a descendent of the Plantagenets, your familial wealth and influence was both a boon and source of ridicule in the political sphere. Your childhood was a well managed one. Your father wished you to be refined and of your heritage and so denied you a public education, micromanaging your education until your enrollment in Trinity College, where you sought to pursue your interest in mathematics. In the end you found the program wasn’t right for you and leaned away from math. While your father desired you to enter into the political sphere, you found yourself more inclined towards journalism and law. You also steered away from your families Tory allegiances and instead wrote in support of Liberal candidates like Robert Peel. In 1854, after much study, you were called to the Bar at the Inner Temple. You quickly became a noted speaker and with this motivation began to write for the Saturday Review. You then became increasingly politically involved, supporting Gladstone’s efforts to ​ become Prime Minister and also commenting on British sympathies with the confederate states as a disgrace. At the same time you became a rising figure within railway and international law such that by 1866 you were a part of the Queen’s Council and in 1869 became the Professor of International Law at Cambridge. While your legal career began to blossom, you also began to enter the political world. In 1868 you entered as a liberal for Oxford in Parliament, a position you held for 12 years. You served admirably and supported Gladstone on his rise to power. In 1880 the fruits of your labor paid off and you were appointed Home Secretary following the Liberal victory. You lost you seat in Oxford though in the reelection, however, managed to remain a PM by gaining Darby as your district. Once in office you worked hard, passing the Ground Game Act of 1880 and also the Arms Ireland Act of 1881. You were also highly reactive during the London bombings in helping to address the crisis. However, your harsh conviction around the law quickly brought you into conflict with Irish members of parliament, ensuring your unpopularity amongst the Irish. For your accomplishments you were then appointed to be Chancellor of the Exchequer in 1886 following Gladstone’s reelection. From then on you acted as the political deputy of Gladstone and as such was valued quite highly within the Liberal Party. Despite this your personality never inspired very much enthusiasm from the public, and as such you were not particularly popular amongst the people. However, despite your lack of charisma is could not be argued that you were not competent fiscally. In the mid 1880’s you were already in plans to begin drawing up budgets for British colonization for Africa and also interested in reforming the tax system, especially around estates taxes and concerning death duties.

Portfolio Powers: ● Overt: ○ Power of the Budget: As the Chancellor of the Exchequer you have unique power in ​ planning the budget allocations of the Empire; while this process is highly complicated and carefully monitored it would not be impossible for a Chancellor to discretionarily use some funds for the purpose of creating greater revenue for the Empire. ○ Political Deputy: As the deputy of Opposition Leader Gladstone, you hold a position of ​ high trust within the Liberal Party. You act as a sort of whip for the party and are also responsible for representing the party interest on a number of issues, giving you a great deal of PR; however, given you lackluster personality you are limited in deploying this directly to the people ○ Tax Law and reform: As the Chancellor of the Exchequer you have an extremely ​ important say in the way that the tax system works. Unlike the other roles of the Chancellery this is also a position very closely linked to you as your interest in reforming the system has closely acquainted you with most of England's chief economists on taxes and also with the government's contracted accountants and tax collectors.

st George Frederick Samuel Robinson, 1 ​ Marquess of Ripon, Secretary of State for the Colonies ​

Background:

You were born in Downton Street, London in 1827, the second son to the then Prime Minister and st th 1 ​ Viscount Goderich, and his wife, daughter of the 4 ​ Earl of Buckinghamshire. You did not attend ​ ​ public school or university, and were instead privately educated. You were also styled the Viscount Goderich until 1859 and despite being of Tory stock were yourself a liberal.

Meanwhile in 1852 you began your diplomatic career, attending the special mission to the Brussels Conference on the Italian affair. That same year you entered the House of Commons as a member for Hull, though you were removed for unknowingly winning by corruption. You reentered the House though in 1853 for Huddersfield, and later in 1857 for West Riding. During your time in the House of Commons you primarily advocated a standard liberal agenda, but your career took off in 1859. That nd year you succeeded your father as the 2 ​ Earl of Ripon, and then later succeeded your Uncle as the senior ​ title of Earl de Grey, which you then combined to create the title Earl de Grey and Ripon. With your title you were entered into the House of Lords and for two years served as the Under­Secretary of State for War and then from 1861 – 1863 as the Under­Secretary of State for India. You enjoyed your work within these departments very much, especially with regards to British imperial affairs and imperial integrity.

Then in 1863 you were made a Privy Counsellor and the Secretary of State for War under Palmerston. You held this position until 1865 when you were appointed under Lord Russell to be Secretary of State for India. Then in Gladstone’s Cabinet you served as the Lord President of the Council until 1873. In this position you were the Chairman for the joint committee to resolve the Alabama Claims issue with the United States, for which you were created Marquess of Ripon in York. In 1869 you were also made a Knight of the Garter and in 1878 served as the President of the Co­operative Congress. You also formalized yourself a man who supported the labor movements of workers and increasing wages; you were also a chief advocate for a state solution to unemployment issues.

It was during Gladstone’s second cabinet that you found yourself though, as you were appointed to be the Viceroy of India in 1880 until 1884. During this time you decided that you would dedicate your political career to matters of the colonies for the good of the Empire. You sought to expand Indian legal rights and grant them better recourse in court though were unable to pass your bill through parliament. You also became something of a conservationist, expanding the process of forest conservation through India.

Perhaps most controversially you became a supporter for the Home Rule movement of Ireland, which while endearing you to Irish politicians, has divided you from the many British ones who are adamantly against it. Still, this did not slow your career. In 1886 you were made the First Lord of the Admiralty, a position which you held graciously until 1888, when you were made the Secretary of State for the Colonies. This was your coup de gras moment, from which you would be able to best service the Empire by serving her territories.

Portfolio Powers: ● Overt ○ Secretary of State for the Colonies: With this position you are the acting man in charge ​ of managing the Empire various colonial dependencies. This mean set Britain’s interactive policy with the protectorates, mandates, princely states, dominions, and colonies. Since this committee focuses on Africa your powers have been focused more towards Africa and the Middle East ○ Marquess de Ripon: As the Marquess of Ripon you have some sizeable influence within ​ Yorkshire and also have landed assets in the form of some property several miles outside of York from which you can act; this influence may also serve as route towards the Duke ○ First Lord of the Admiralty: During your time heading the admiralty you acted sensibly ​ and with conviction, working to improve the position and supplies of the Royal Navy. As such you are close with the Civil Lord of the admiralty

James Craig, 1st Viscount Craigavon, Parliamentary Secretary to the Admiralty

Background

You were born January 8, 1861 on the outskirts of Belfast, the capital and largest city of Northern Island. Your father and namesake is an affluent whiskey distiller of humble beginnings. He began working for the firm of Dunville Whisky at a young age and, over the course of a trying career, eventually became a partner worth millions. You grew up in Craigavon ­­ a home situated on grounds of substantial breadth overlooking the beautiful Belfast Lough ­­ as the youngest of seven children and went on to receive a fine primary and secondary school education at Merchiston Castle School. Inspired by your father’s lofty position in Irish society, you began work as a stockbroker and soon acquired the funding needed to open your own firm in your hometown.

Living in a place as up and coming as Belfast, however, gradually sowed the seeds for your future in politics. Local industrialization schemes considerably less developed and well­actualized than their British counterparts allowed key industries ­­ such as linen, rope­making, tobacco, heavy engineering, and shipbuilding ­­ to thrive, but largely at the cost of the dignity of industrial workers and the standard of living of those dwelling in increasingly overcrowded inner city neighborhoods. The nearly simultaneous mechanization of human capital and labor at large demotivated the working class and prompted unionization. You bore witness to the transformation of Belfast into a crucible of social and economic forces and, feeling emboldened by the £100,000 legacy inheritance you received after your father’s ​ passing, you decided to join the Royal Irish Rifles upon its creation in 1879 as a means of jumpstarting your political trajectory. Though low in rank, you meticulously documented the effects of the newly passed Childers Reforms on the restructuring of the infantry regiments of the British Army ­­ a habit you began with your observations of Belfastian society and continued throughout your career ­­ and used those records to better your knowledge of military life and internal culture. After a deadly bout of dysentery, you became Deputy Assistant Director of the Sudan Military Railroad, a new project designed to facilitate the quick transmission of supplies to the Anglo­Egyptian army prosecuting the Mahdist War.

When you returned home, you were commended for your successes abroad and elected Member of Parliament for East Down. Ever the staunch Protestant, you aligned yourself closely with the Protestants of the Irish province of Ulster and aimed to parliamentarily advance their agendas ­­ most rooted in a fundamental opposition to Home Rule. You initially faced the wrath of the Irish National Land League, a political organization that sought to rescue farmers from poverty by abolishing landlordism and withstanding absorption into industrial society. During the Land War ­­ the three­year peak of League­led nationalist mobilization ­­ you, under the impression that the Catholic overtones of their campaigns inexplicably targeted Protestantism, actively worked to suppress the movement and, for the most part, succeeded. Following your appointment as Parliamentary Secretary to the Admiralty, you have redirected your suppression efforts towards the Irish National League, a group founded by George Parnell in 1882 that lobbies for Home Rule and further enfranchisement reform. The riots that ravaged Belfast ­­ where Home Rule has essentially divided the city ­­ in 1886 has created an even greater impetus for you to quell what you consider to be a tide of nationalism falsely founded on anti­Protestant sentiment.

Another sizable item on your plate is the expansion of the network of Protestant missions in the African colonies. Anglican and Catholic missionaries ­­ whose superiors administrate them at home, far from the frontlines ­­ have begun to contest and even lay claim to territories designated as Protestant. Although the late and legendary Protestant missionary martyr David Livingstone lives on as a symbolic beacon for proselytization in Africa, his death in 1874 created an absence yet to be filled. From the Royal Geographical Society you have acquired Livingstone’s personal notes, in which he describes in detail the spiritual calling for exploration. You have begun to use his name and rhetoric to rally Protestant spirits around the missionary base in the Cape Colony and on the Guinea coast.

Portfolio Powers ● Overt ○ The Ulster loyalists are impressive in number, but lack organization. Your position in government, combined with your oratorical skills and extensive history of combatting Irish Catholic nationalism, primes your candidacy for leadership. At present, the loyalists respond to you and are willing to support you with paramilitary operations and fierce politicking. ○ As Parliamentary and Financial Secretary to the Admiralty, you are tasked with governing the Royal Navy. Together with the First Sea Lord you head the Board of Admiralty, which consists of a mix of politically active Naval Lords known as the Lord Commissioners of the Admiralty. You allocate resources as you see fit, laying the groundwork for the provision of ships. ○ David Livingstone paved the way for a sprawling Protestant missionary network, venturing to obscure villages and devising efficient routes along the coast and within the African interior. Although his visions have not quite come to fruition as far as conversion is concerned, the missions, as they stand now, not only give you a foothold in the region but provide you with intel and little­known passages that circumvent geopolitical barriers.