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.