Antoine Nouveau
Antoine Nouveau de Fontaine is a Sanéan politician and the Chief Justice of Sanéa for all of it's history (so far). He is famously the leader and founder of the Reformist Party of Sanéa and pioneer of Sanéa's judicial system. He is also the founder of the city of Fontaine in southern Dirynum, as well as founding and leader of the Church of Celestialism (founded after a schism with the Church of Sol) though this is a much lesser known and discussed fact.
Early life
Antoine was born in the small village of Sferracavallo before it became a part of any organized state. His father, a Diryn, died while rescuing Testifikans from a house fire when he was only four years old. This forced his mother, a Proto-Fontanian (a group of people originating from the far east beyond Cinder), to raise the young Antoine by herself. When Antoine reached the age of 7, him and his mother moved to the city of Palermo in what at the time was the Duchy of Dyrenar. It was in Palermo that Antoine began to grow an interest in the areas of law, politics, history, science, and the arts. His mother, through her incredible and cunning wit, managed to rise her and her son to the rank of nobility within the duchy. This allowed Antoine to have unfettered access to be best forms of education available in the duchy.
Antoine was largely considered a polymath, easily understanding a variety of topics and even being able to expand upon all of them. By the age of 11 he was fluent in Diryn, Danuvian, Fontanian, Parakascean, and Ritannian. He was respected by his professors and classmates alike for his great intelligence and compassion for a noble. But Antoine's life would come crashing down when he was 13. Another fire would wreak havoc in Antoine's life as he was stuck inside of his family's burning manor. When all seemed bleak and he felt as if death had reached him, his mother ran to him and shield him from the fire. This act caused for a bright flash of light to overtake the night sky and soon after a sudden torrential rain poured down on the city completely putting out the fire. Antoine's mother had been the successor to the divine title of Lunaqua without her ever knowing, and her selfless sacrifice and undying desire to protect her son unleashed her divinity. But, due to her becoming a divine being, she was no longer allowed to live among mortals for extended periods of time, therefore she was forced to leave her 13 year old son alone in an unforgiving world. Additionally, as a side effect of Lunaqua's powers being unleashed so close to Antoine, he was stripped of his humanity and turned into a being of pure water capable of taking on any shape and hydrokinesis.
After those events, Antoine went through a long period of depression. Due to losing both his father and mother to fires, Antoine became antagonistic towards fire and deities that ruled it. Antoine was never the same after this event, some say this is what brought about his snarky attitude. But, despite all his suffering, Antoine kept going and succeeding, eventually graduating from Tintorini University at the age of 17 with a major in political science. After graduating he would resume his role as the head of House Nouveau and begin to truly establish himself in the world stage.
Career
Dirynum
Founding of Fontaine
After coming back from Tintorini, Antoine decided to leave Palermo and establish a new city based on Diryn and Fontanian cultures and ideals. He would found the city Fontaine at the southern most point of the Vita River where a small Testifikan village lied. With financial assistance from Palermo and support from his friends Sol Aureus and Azer Oliveira, Antoine began the creation of a great city. Azer specifically began to live in Fontaine being the chief architect in the construction of the Cathedral of Fontaine.
Overthrow of Quentin Kazymir
What is probably Antoine's greatest early achievement: he was chosen to be the judge during the trial of Duke Quentin Kazymir. Though Antoine had his personal grievances with the Duke, Antoine knew that honesty and justice were crucial in the court of law and that a new Diryn nation could not be founded on a foundation of lies. That is why he promised himself to hereinafter to never allow for his personal bias to affect his judgement and that his decision would be purely based on the arguments presented at trial.
The trial proved to be a tense and long ordeal. The stakes could not be higher. As prosecutor Dante presented her arguments and Duke Kazymir defended his dignity, Antoine watched and listened to every detail formulating a decision based on every word and action made by the two individuals. The events of the trial were televised and reported throughout all of Cinder, the world stood still waiting for Antoine's decision. In the end, Duke Kazymir was declared guilty on all accounts and sentenced to death. The Duke would soon be executed publicly by guillotine as spectators from all over Cinder watched. In these events, Antoine found himself as the judge, jury, and executioner.
Chief Justice of Dirynum and Minister of the Interior
After the overthrow of Kazymir, a new duke was selected: Cyrus the Benevolent. The new duke gathered all the noble houses of Dirynum and built from the old regime a new and even more powerful Diryn state. From these gatherings, Antoine found himself with the positions of Chief Justice and Minister of the Interior. This would mark the first time Antoine held political positions. This period was rather uneventful for Antoine, with Sol Aureus and Cyrus taking most of the international spotlight, but Antoine was content with bidding his time.
Sanéa
Unification of Sanéa
On the 12th of March, 2024, a proposal was brought to the Diryn Government by the Messinians for the unification of the two states. The noble houses of Dirynum were called together by the Duke to discuss whether or not to go forward with the unification. Antoine was highly skeptical of Messinia, viewing them as imperialistic in nature, and felt that this unification would leave the Diryn people as a junior partner in this new state. But, after assurances from Duke Cyrus, Antoine said he would accept the unification and sign the constitution if Fontaine was promised its autonomy as a thema. The Constitution of Sanea was ratified on the 17th after the last remaining signatures (Nouveau, Aitherós, and Virentila) were acquired.
The First Reign
During the first reign (the period of rule between Cyrus the Benevolent and Tarasius of Ephesus), Antoine began to become a very active political figure: winning a seat in the senate, passing the commonwealth's first amendment, and being appointed as Sanea's first Chief Justice. Antoine quickly rose as one of Sanéa's most prominent political figures. It was also during this period that the first Supreme Court case, Thematic Duty V. Haartmann, took place. The first reign was marked by political infancy, with the government more focused on polishing the system than bringing about change.
The Second Reign
The Second Reign was brought about by the death of Diarch Tarasius and the ascension of Luis Kazymir (cousin of Quentin Kazymir) to the throne. During this period, Antoine became one of Sanea's two most prominent politicians along with Ivan Elvstrøm. Soon after the ascension of the Liberal and Golden Eagle parties, Antoine founded the Reformist Party of Sanéa, a party built on the principles of equality, cooperation, collectivization, democracy, and monarchy. The early period of the second reign was marked by rising political division within the commonwealth, especially between the Liberal and Reformist parties. The Golden Eagle movement was disbanded after its founder, Licht Kalradoi, left to found the Empire of Ashannar. This left Sanea's political stage split into only two parties until the formation of the Freedom and Solidarity Party by Bca.
The second Senéan elections ended with a Reformist sweep with them receiving 58% of the vote, the FSP receiving 25%, and the Liberals receiving 17%. Despite the clear popular support for the Reformist Party, they only received two seats in the senate. Antoine, understanding the problems brought about by political division, decided to nominate Bca the candidacy of Consul believing her to be a neutral party in the Reformist Liberal divide. With the support of the Reformists, Bca became Sanéa's third consul. Her consulship had a shaky start as she became severely sick soon after being elected leaving her unable to carry out her duties. This was the first signs of the inefficiency of Sanéa's current system and Antoine was fully intent on fixing it. After Bca's recovery, her consulship was mostly calm and served the purpose it was meant for with bipartisan cooperation becoming increasingly common.