Clifford Cafferen
Clifford Cafferen was the Lord of the Garden Coast from 140 A.I. to 189 A.I. During his long reign, many feudalistic reforms were enacted, tying the peasants in his Lordship to serfdom and weakening the power of the commoners. He also oversaw a major economic and military expansion in the Lordship.
Appearance
A large, bushy beard and hair pulled back into a long braid, Clifford was in his early years resplendent with auburn colored hair, which grayed and eventually whitened with age. His signature pose, with his arms crossed and his back straight gave off the appearance that he was slightly taller and more domineering than he actually was. In actuality, he was of average height, though through rigorous training he maintained a solid muscle bulk for the majority of his life. His strict dietary restrictions that he placed on himself in his later life often led to bouts of malnourishment, which made him very thin at times. Long scars would adorn his face after his winter travel to Highgarden in 157 A.I.
Personality
Strict and harsh to the extreme, especially to those who lived in his Lordship. Clifford wanted the best out of everyone who worked under him, and he wasn't shy to tell them the truth of that. He held a deep hatred of the peasantry, borne of the events of the Horrific Night, which he experienced as a young man. There was a certain, in contrast to how he would be remembered, softer side to him, displayed in his many poems to his son, Sefton. His brutal reforms of the Lordship, aimed against the commoners, would earn him two views in the eyes of the people after his death. To the nobility, whom saw his reforms as necessary and wise, he would be known as "the Reformer", but to the peasantry his name would forever be scornfully mentioned alongside the nickname they gave him, that of "the Tyrant". In the centuries after his death only the peasants view of Clifford would be remembered, and thus in the Garden Coast his name would become synonymous with tyranny.
History
Born on the Twenty-Eighth day of the Sixth Moon, 118 A.I. Clifford would be born in the midst of his Lord grandfather's reign, the Lord Theo Cafferen. It was a time of emerging crises in the Garden Coast. The Rapid Disintegration of the Cafferen Military had left the Lordship weak to both internal and external threats, and although Theo was setting the foundations for the road to recovery from this, it still was in a bad shape. Religious tensions too were spiraling under Theo's nose, and in 121 A.I. the death of Clifford's father, Meros Cafferen, meant that the three year old Clifford was now the heir to the Garden Coast. There was even some talk that the Lordship should be passed to another if Theo passed on before Clifford reached of age.
Fortunately for Clifford, his right to the Lordship was continually protected by his Lord grandfather throughout the young boy's childhood, and Theo even made sure to give Clifford a very good education in all manners of administration and stewardship, which well prepared the young man for the duties of being Lord. In 134 A.I. he would become a man grown, knighted by Ser Arros, one of Theo's noble advisors and secretly a member of the Zealot faction. Just a year after becoming a man grown, Clifford would be wed to the Lady Deana Qorgyle in a grand wedding ceremony held in the Garden Coast. Their marriage would prove a long and fruitful one, with the pair having six children, two boys and four girls, although tragically their second son, Allard, would be slain in battle at just seven and ten namedays.
If there was any suspicion of Clifford being involved in the Zealot movement like his father Meros was, those were dashed when the Horrific Night unleashed religious violence across the Lordship in 139 A.I. In the middle of the night Clifford was awoken to news of the Zealots imminent attack against the Beachcastle. Immediately Clifford got up, put on his armor, and fought to defend the walls which guarded the lone Heart Tree of the Beachcastle. It was a bloody, successful stand against the Zealots, and when they retreated from the walls out to the open plains, Clifford assembled several dozens of knights to mount up and ride them down. The Zealots stood no chance against armored knights on armored horses, and they were utterly routed. The morning after the Horrific Night, it is said that Clifford joined in the torture of several of the prisoners taken. Just one year later, in 140 A.I. Theo Cafferen died, and the Lordship went to Clifford, who had just two and twenty namedays.
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 in the 150'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 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 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.
Throughout his decades of rule, Clifford would also spread the connections of House Cafferen throughout the Reach, with three of his four daughters being wed to men who would eventually become Lords, whilst his son Sefton married a daughter of the Lord Middlebury. His granddaughter via Sefton, Norella, even married the heir of the Lord Eddison Manderly, his name being Garland Manderly. Thus, many Houses in the Reach could now claim to have Cafferen blood, which earned Clifford and his heirs many friends throughout the kingdom. Throughout his son Sefton's troubles with stress and paranoia, Clifford would write him soothing poems filled with kind words and loving remarks, which did indeed help his heir's mood somewhat.
However, it would seem likely that the death of Clifford's wife in 186 A.I. at the age of seventy-one was the beginning of the end for the long-lived Lord. His bouts with malnourishment became more frequent and harder to recover from, and he eventually became infirm and stuck in his bed. Eventually, he found that he couldn't even lift his hand to write any more poems, and some months later, in 189 A.I. he would pass away, at the age of seventy.
Summary
Only just a few months shy of ruling for over fifty years, the entire mid-second century would be known for Clifford's reign. It was brutally autocratic, but also prosperous. It was beautiful, and it was terrible. It was created by the will of one man with strong beliefs, for good and ill both. Though he will forever be remembered as "the Tyrant", his name to always be reviled and hated, that did not mean that he wasn't the exact type of Lord that was so desperately needed in the Garden Coast at the time. When he ascended to the position of Lord, religious tensions were strife, the economy and military were in shambles, and the Lordship was still in grave danger of total collapse. Clifford fixed all of it with both his own immense administrative skill and his harsh vision for what the future must look like. By the end of his reign, though he was hated by his people, the economy and military were stronger than ever before, the succession was secure, and the diplomatic connections of the House were widespread. When he died, it was truly the end of an era, and everyone in the Lordship knew it, even if many celebrated it.
Clifford was succeeded by his eldest son, Sefton Cafferen, which occurred smoothly and without any opposition.
Quotes by Clifford
"This...this must be a jest...a cruel joke..." - Clifford's thoughts while reading the journal of Theo Cafferen, specifically where Theo wrote about meeting with a Child of the Forest.
"You see, cousin? These commoners, you can try and try to make them love you, respect you. My grandfather did nothing but good for these people...and look at them now..." - Clifford to his cousin Lothar the morning after the Horrific Night.
"Ledgers are battles fought with ink." - Clifford Cafferen to a young Garland Manderly, a ward of many years.
"And you will forgive me, but I know nothing of you, except that you come here and you claim my fealty. I pay my taxes to one man, I raise my banners for one man, and I swear my fealty to one man, my King. No crown has ever stretched as far as yours wants to, and I do not believe that you have any right to rule over me or mine." - Clifford to Queen Elenei Durrandon.
"Gwayne...hm? Never met him. With any luck, he'll be like his late brother, then. If you really can ensure there's no civil war on his ascension, that is wonderful news. The Gods know well what I lost in the last war between Gardeners..." - Clifford upon hearing news that Gwayne Gardener would probably seize the Reach throne after Garth IX died.
Quotes about Clifford
"Continue to prove not all Andals are as wretched as those to the North." - King Gwayne Gardener to Clifford.
“You’ve always had a mind for progress, Theo. Clifford would've been proud.” - Garland Manderly to the Lord Theodore Cafferen, Clifford's grandson.
"How very noble of you, gallant Fawn, to honor promises made to a Song yet ended." - Juniper, a Child of the Forest, to Clifford.
“In truth, Lord Clifford, there are few things I would like more in these years than to raise a cup with you again, and taste what story Dunstonbury can tell.” - Lord Tanton Manderly to Clifford.