Lady Ingrid Harris, Baroness of East Kilbarraigh
Ingrid Harris, -119 - -21, was a Caledonian noblewoman who was intimately involved in the events that led to the expansion of the Principality of Caledon, especially the Principality's victory over the Ildharan Empire in the Ildharan War of -86 - -80.
Early Life[edit]
Ingrid Harris, the youngest of 9 children (including seven boys) of Baron James and Baroness Sheila Harris of East Kilbarraigh, was born in East Killbarraigh (in the Stuart system) in -119.
Athletically inclined, she shunned the traditional Caledonian noblewomens' pastimes for aggressive outdoor sports, hunting and camping from an early age.
Educated at Saint Agnes school in Kilbarraigh, she eschewed marriage to a series of local suitors, and tried to user her connections to get first a commission in the Caledonian Marines (centuries before women were admitted to the military at all), then to the Royal Intelligence Service (RIS), with no better luck.
Intelligence Career[edit]
Finally, at age 23, she entered into a marriage of convenience with a Stephen Calhoun - a 41 year old intelligence case officer with the RIS. Calhoun needed a spouse for career advancement into the political wing of the RIS (and a young Baroness was a better platform than most for that purpose); Harris wanted to go where the intelligence action was.
This led Harris to serve as Calhoun's social foil - a useful cover, in point of fact, for intelligence purposes. This led the couple to Douglass in the immediate aftermath of The Uphaival, the splitting of the Grand Duchy of Douglass from the rest of the Principality.
It was there, while Calhoun was travelling on RIS business, that Lady Harris caught wind through other RIS and Douglass government contacts that the Iltharan Empire empire was making overtures to Douglass to participate in the invastion, and possible dismemberment, of the Principality.
Role in the Iltharan War[edit]
Harris and her small social circle - including a Douglass naval officer, Stewart Stuart, with whom she had a social and possibly romantic involvement - set up an elaborate deception for the Iltharan agents, posing successfully as Douglass agents, getting a fair idea of the Iltharan plans amd passing it back to the RIS.
This information led indirectly to the destruction of the Iltharan fleet at Victory (world) in -86.
The Caledonian Special Service[edit]
In recognition for his service, Calhoun was promoted into the RIS' political bureaucracy in -85; the next year, he and Harris mutually and amicably divorced - but not before he introduced Baroness Harris to Lord Ian Fraser, Duke of Pengilly, who was the assistant to Prince Jamison's intelligence advisor. Harris impressed on him her idea for a group of operators that would mix intelligence, social, paramilitary military, psychological and media effort to further Caledonian interests.
This organization, formed in -80, became the Caledonian Special Service (although the name didn't emerge until the 300s. Harris became the CSS' first-ever director - a fairly revolutionary ideal for a Caledonian noblewoman of the era. While Caledonian common women were fairly active as businesspeople and professionals, it was rare at that time for Caledonian noblewomen to move into such careers.
Later Life[edit]
Harris never married; her social life was the subject of much speculation. She retired from the CSS at age 71, and returned to her family's baronial estate.