Kougradh Iro’nirdgveis
Kougradh Iro’nirdgveis President of the Rukadukaz Republic
Iro’nirdgveis, an Ovaghoun Vargr, was born on the Ikonaz Vilani world of Lusliki (Amdukan 0639) , at 947 Imperial. His family and packmates were ‘simple working-class factory workers,’ managing and maintaining delicate robotic machinery for the Vilani-dominated manufacturing firm Agkuuduu Precision Goods. Iro’nirdgveis had always aspired to be an actor, so at the age of 16 he left his home and relocated to the planetary entertainment capital of Lid Irdikhiirargimi.
He was fortunate to find one of the few Vilani directors, Kiirlik Mar, who could really work with the Vargr. Together, they made quite a team, building up a strong repertoire in the war and adventure-action film genre in the late 960s and throughout the 970s. However, it was Iro’nirdgveis’ forceful personality off the screen that started to garner a real attention in the public eye. Many Vargr respected his mastery of the Ikonaz Vilani language, making his points felt in ways that could not be easily dismissed as ‘another renegade Vargr rant.’ The Vilani respected Iro’nirdgveis’ respect and obedience to Vilani cultural mores, including conformism, collective decision-making, and respect for the ancestors and the Old Ways.
After the smash hit Howl of Triumph (Anglic translation), Iro’nirdgveis felt that it was time to make a partial shift to politics. He started up his own show in 982, again with Kiirlik Mar’s support. Iro’nirdgveis was a fair-to-mediocre political pundit until he met Ullgo Isiidhoskodzoen, a freelance political advisor and image specialist. She was the one who persuades Iro’nirdgveis to shift his focus from ‘beating the drum on Vilani holding down the Vargr economically’ to ‘levelling the playing field.’ After building up support, Iro’nirdgveis was finally invited to join a Vargr network of high-Charisma leaders in 985. Each leader would focus on building up his charisma on a given area and social strata of a given world, and would support each other’s initiatives. This particular Vargr network – not organized enough to be a political party, but too stable to be just an alliance of convenience – felt that Iro’nirdgveis had enough cross-boundary reach to gain a substantial number of votes among both the Vilani and the Vargr. After arranging Iro’nirdgveis life to suit the kind of package they wanted to sell – including marrying him off to his political advisor, positioning him as a leader of a Vargr- Vilani riot, and filming him in pseudo-military settings, his newfound political friends pulled enough strings to get Iro’nirdgveis recognized as a contender for the Presidency.
For over two years, Iro’nirdgveis campaigned and campaigned, ‘licking pups and kissing babies’, as the saying goes. He ran respectable numbers in the polls, but was still going to lose until his major opponent shot himself in the foot, denouncing ‘The Craft and Malice of the Vilani.’ His slip of the tongue was endlessly repeated, and the Vilani electors and public overwhelmingly dumped him – ignoring his pleas of regret – and voted for other Vargr. A plurality voted for Iro’nirdgveis, enough for a run-off election. In the two-candidate run-off, the Vilani voted for Iro’nirdgveis practically as one man, which – coupled with just enough voted from his Vargr supporters – led to Iro’nirdgveis winning the Presidency of the Rukadukaz Republic in 304-991. As President, Iro’nirdgveis has spent most of his time wrestling with Vilani corporations, attempting to get them to re-institute affirmative action procedures for the benefit of the Vargr. A few are willing to give a ‘hands up’ to Vargr-owned businesses, even providing up to 50% of the start-up capital in return for 40% of the ownership – ‘plus certain incentives’.
The other major internal issue, the continuous increase of the Irilitok Vargr and the slow displacement of the native Ovaghoun, has been pushed aside and ignored as much as is possible. The Irilitok have no voting rights, and are systematically discriminated against across the interstellar state. Being bred by humans as an easygoing and peaceable race compared to the more organized and militaristic Ovaghoun, they lack the charisma, the organization, and the ancient heritage of power and authority that the Vilani respect.
President Iro’nirdgveis is rather uninterested in interstellar affairs, so long as the Imperial fleets stay on their side of the border. Like most Ikonaz Vargr, he loathes the Hegemony, but they have been quiet so far. He often attempts to get the Menderes Corporation to invest more in the Republic, but they refuse to do so: “We’re a business, not a charity, a development fund, or an arm of the government.” Attempts to persuade Regent Harsha to push Mercedes Corporation to a more conciliatory attitude have gotten nowhere.
Family
As per Ovaghoun (i.e. Vargr Ikonaz) custom, President Iro’nirdgveis maintains a highly polygamic household. His charisma and wealth permit the maintenance of six high-rank and eighteen low-rank official mistresses, as well as three wives. Iro’nirdgveis has trouble keeping track of his 72 descendants, (and another eight ‘in the oven’) but the President does the best he can. Note: Vargr births tend to multiples: single births are rare, and have semi-mystical significance in Ovaghoun culture).
- Alvin Plummer. "The Lords of the Quarter, 993 Imperial." Stellar Reaches 13 (2011): 45.