James Shields

James Shields (11 March 1947 – 23 May 2019), was a Merrifortian middle-class man who became the first President of Merrifort.

Shields was born in southern Merrifort to a farmer family of mainly Esta Ostadian and Merrifortian ancestry. After serving in the Merrifortian army, Shields was honored by ??? and became the president of Merrifort, which ended the absolute monarchy Merrifort had before.

During Shields’s term as President, Merrifort was renewed. He also founded the Archangel Confederation along with the other heads of states. His term of office in 1802 marked the beginning of a more democratic system in Brunant and the subsequent end of the Carrington regime, as his son David James Carrington was forced to sign and recognise the Constitution of 1802.

Early life
The firstborn surviving child of nobleman Edward Carrington (1705 - 1759) and Anne Ford Carrington (1713 –1752), James Carrington was born on their small family estate located near Reading, Berkshire in southern England.

Carrington is primarily of English, Norwegian and Scottish descent; his paternal great-great-grandfather, William Carrington, emigrated from the Faroe Islands in the North Sea in the early 17th century to the town of Inverness in northern Scotland. He later changed his name from Vilhelm Carlsen to William Carrington to avoid discrimation and to better identify and assimilate into the local culture. William primarily worked as a fisherman, as did his children and grand-children until Thomas Carrington, James's paternal grandfather, became a noteworthy Tory politician in the county of Berkshire and was briefly appointed in the House of Commons.

Two of James's siblings survived to adulthood: his younger brothers Alexander and George. Four siblings died before adulthood: his two younger twin brothers David and William died at the ages of seven and four, his younger sister Catherine who died while in infancy, and his youngest sibling Frederick who died at the age of ten in 1758. His younger brothers would later go on to serve as major generals during Carrington's term as President of Brunant.

Carrington spent most of his childhood at his family's estate and in the town of Reading, where his father primarily worked as a local lawyer. While on holiday in Bermuda in 1749, his mother died of malaria. This event tragically impacted Carrington's life so much that it lead to modern historians believing Carrington may have developed some form of post-traumatic stress after the event.

The death of his mother prevented him and his siblings from an education at a local school, as his father became extremely paranoid of his children's safety after her death. He and his siblings instead recieved education from a variety of private tutors. In 1756 at the age of 17, Carrington joined and briefly served in the local militia as a cavalry officer. After only a year of serving in the militia, he left and attended the University of Oxford, dropping out in mid-1758. He enlisted in the British army in 1759 as a dragoon during the Seven Years' War. Carrington primarily fought in central Canada during the French and Indian War. After the war ended, his regiment was brought back over to mainland Britain and was stationed in central London. While there, Carrington met Andrea Zeller, the daughter of a prominent physician in London who was originally from Hanover. The two quickly married in 1764, and purchased a small castle on the outskirts of the town of Perth in Scotland, where they spent a majority of their life together.

Invasion of Brunant
In 1783, after becoming increasingly interested in ruling over a foreign land, Carrington began hiring various mercenary comapanies in order to invade the island nation of Brunant. By January 1784, he had recruited over ten local mercenary companies under the ploy that he was liberating the "tyrannical authoritarian regime" and "saving the Anglo-Saxon peoples from extinction in the country", referring to the recent Borderers Revolt. The invasion officially began in March, when Carrington and his main army landed on Brunant near Sint-Markstad.

He quickly sent his personal marshal Owen Halsey MacLellan to Donderstad in order to take control of the key town, and the Battle of Donderstad commenced. The battle soon ended with a decisive victory for MacLellan's troops, and the regiment split into two seperate armies in order to siege more towns within a shorter period of time. The two armies won multiple skirmishes while also burning down local farms and feeding their troops. The two regiments and Carrington's personal army soon all fought together at the Battle of Grijzestad, where the Brunanters finally surrendered at in late August of the same year.

On 22 August, he replaced Pieter I with his nephew Adrian II.

Presidency
Carrington was officially declared and recognized as President of Brunant by Adrian II and his de facto Chief Minister Willem van Fedlesen on 10 September 1784 with the Treaty of Brunantstad, which is considered the beginning of his life-long term. The treaty destroyed the position of Chief Minister and replaced it with the President, which effectively took complete control of the national government and made the monarch a lesser power, somewhat originally resembling a constitutional monarchy. In fact, shortly after his inauguration took place on 3 November 1784 in the main hall of the Realpaleis, a short-lived Cabinet was established under Carrington's administration. However, the Cabinet was quickly dismantled in March 1785 after multiple conflicts erupted between Cabinet members who argued over a bill renaming Brunant to Carrington Island, which eventually unanimously passed in 1786. After the Cabinet was disabled, Brunant quickly converted from a governmental system resembling a semi-constitutional monarchy to an authoritarian dictatorship.

The freedom of the press and freedom of speech were later banned in 1787 and replaced with the propaganda-based state press primarily controlled by Edmund Laurence, one of Carrington's closest political allies. Despite these radical changes, freedom of religion was heavily encouraged by the Carrington administration and the power of the church was heavily lessened, with the Brunanter Inquisition officially ending in 1784. Carrington also proved to be an efficient administrator and military organizer, with the national Brunanter economy steadily increasing since due to his heavy taxation policies the poorer classes and with the Royal Guard being founded in 1788.

Later life and death
His frivolous expenses and heavy taxation on the poorer class led to a lot of resentment among many Brunanters, and this eventually led to a coup against him in 1800, largely perpetrated by King Adrian II and other royalists. Carrington was arrested on the 12th of February that year and imprisoned in the Adriankastel. Carrington feared being executed and was mistreated while in prison. But, four days later some 500 soldiers refusing to take orders from the king stormed the Adriankastel and freed Carrington. He quickly rallied more men to his cause, under the guise of defeating "the man who betrayed his homeland". Adrian fled the country in disgrace, disguised as a woman and Carrington was hailed a hero. But there was still opposition from many in society. In 1802 Carrington was poisoned by one of his cooks, who was a Dutch royalist and sympathized with King Adrian.

Personal life
In 1764, Carrington married Andrea Zeller. The two later divorced in 1791 and had David James Carrington as their only child.

In terms of religion, Carrington was a deist.

Legacy
Carrington is famous for having founded the modern Royal Guard in 1788, as a dedicated military force. Carrington College in Carrington is named after him. While hailed as a "great liberator" and "father of the nation" throughout the 1800s, perception of him has changed. With the Liberal Revolution and a general liberalization of thought, he has come to be seen as a man interested in his own power and not of the people.

Shields’s actions and reforms have changed the state and monarchy. His actions gave control of the majority of mainland Merrifortian territory to the democratic government, while the Royal Family was allowed to continue governing territory of Dospines. He also made reforms to reduce the power and wealth of the church, and was instrumental in formally ending the Merrifortian Civil Wars caused by the Second Revolutionary War in 1968.

The National History Museum in Newport in honor of Shields and his life contributed to reforming Merrifort, exhibited his items seen in the Presidential Hall.