Clifford Cafferen

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The Reforms of Clifford Cafferen began not long after, with Clifford enacting many Lordly decrees in an effort to ensure that nothing like the Horrific Night could occur again. As the decades passed, his reforms and building projects began to bear fruit, with the economy of the Garden Coast florishing under Cafferen rule like never before. This economic growth allowed for a rapid expansion of the Cafferen military, a feat not achieved in the history of the Cafferen Lordship, which put an end to military crisis. His reforms of the peasantry, and enforcing true feudalism on his Andal subjects also put an end to the religious crisis, and put the focus less on religious differences in the Lordship and more on the class differences in the Lordship instead. For these feats the nobility came to love Clifford, and the peasantry came to utterly despise him.

Clifford also hollowed out the Meros Chateau in the 170's A.I. It was once a great chateau built by the Lord Theo Cafferen for his and his guest's relaxation. Instead of maintaining its original purpose, Clifford turned it into a massive tax collection office, from where his tax collectors could organize their craft and make collection more efficient and organized. This amount of focus on improving the administration of the tax collectors turned out to be yet another blow to the peasants fortune. Perhaps Clifford's most impressive architectural accomplishment, however, was the great rebuilding and improvement of the Beachcastle. The walls were greatly expanded allowing more buildings to fit behind it, and thus directly under the Cafferen Lord's protection. The keep itself was rebuilt from scratch, with new rooms and halls which could host many more guests than before. Any remaining traces of the First Man architecture in the old Beachcastle that had survived the past hundred years of Cafferen rule was now firmly gone, replaced by sturdy [[Andals|Andal]] engineering practices.

Clifford also hollowed out the Meros Chateau in the 170's A.I. It was once a great chateau built by the Lord Theo Cafferen for his and his guest's relaxation. Instead of maintaining its original purpose, Clifford turned it into a massive tax collection office, from where his tax collectors could organize their craft and make collection more efficient and organized. This amount of focus on improving the administration of the tax collectors turned out to be yet another blow to the peasants fortune. Perhaps Clifford's most impressive architectural accomplishment, however, was the great rebuilding and improvement of the Beachcastle in the 160's A.I. The walls were greatly expanded allowing more buildings to fit behind it, and thus directly under the Cafferen Lord's protection. The keep itself was rebuilt from scratch, with new rooms and halls which could host many more guests than before. Any remaining traces of the First Man architecture in the old Beachcastle that had survived the past hundred years of Cafferen rule was now firmly gone, replaced by sturdy [[Andals|Andal]] engineering practices.

The new Beachcastle was a symbol of authority for the Lords who dwelled within, and it firmly cemented the reforms of the Clifford Cafferen. The peasantry lost their will to violently reverse the decrees after it was built, because no meaningful attack could be made against it, no matter how sizeable the force, that much was assured. This newfound authority over his subjects allowed Clifford to honor a deal he had made some years before with the King Garth IX [[House Gardener|Gardener]] in 148 A.I. where the King would provide aid in rebuilding the Beachcastle, and in exchange Clifford would settle some Children of the Forest in the Garden Coast. He sectioned off a particular forest outside the village of Fencefield, barring peasants from entering it, for them to have, on the condition that they keep their presence there a secret. This was agreed to, and many Singers would settle there. On the journey to confirm the deal with the King Gwayne Gardener, through the cold winter he traveled, during which his horse collapsed and Clifford was thrown to the ground. He was left with many long scars on his face from the ordeal.