Ehrenfest (Duchy)

Ehrenfest (エーレンフェスト, Eerenfesuto) is a duchy on the eastern border of Yurgenschmidt. It is currently governed by Sylvester, the Seventh Aub Ehrenfest. The capital of the territory is the city of Ehrenfest.

The duchy is bordered by the following other territories:
 * The duchy of Ahrensbach to the South
 * The duchy of Klassenberg to the North
 * The duchy of Frenbeltag to the Southwest
 * The duchy of Zausengas to the Northwest
 * An unnamed other nation to the East/Northeast

Ehrenfest stretches far enough north to south that there is a noticable difference in climate between the tips of the duchy. The nothernmost province of Haldenzel has significantly harsher winters in which even the fastest flowing rivers freeze over, while in the southern provinces at least some of the rivers remain unfrozen throughout most of the winter.

Apart from the generally already warmer climate, the southernmost province of Griebel is further heated by the presence of the active volcano Mount Lohenberg, which is only kept from erupting by the local feybeast draining significant amounts of fire-related mana. If too many of the beasts are slayn or too many of their eggs are stolen, the mountain will errupt.

The duchy is surrounded by a barrier upheld by a magical construct called the Foundation Magic, which needs regular mana supply by the Archduke and his family. Among other things it blocks most magical effects and spells. Spoiler from Part 4 Volume 4 This barrier is purely magical and invisible to the naked eye. It does not prevent animals and feybeasts from crossing the border.

Spoiler for Part 4 Volume 5 The barrier surrounding the duchy does not prevent anyone - animal, feybeast or Human - from crossing the border. It does however enable to Aub to sense when anyone with the mana capacity of a noble crosses over. It is unclear whether this extends to strong feybeasts as well.

Spoiler from Part 4 Volume 4 The province of Leisegang is a very fertile region and produces the most food out of any of Ehrenfest's provinces, leading many to call it "Ehrenfest's Breadbasket".

The current archduke is Sylvester, the Seventh Aub Ehrenfest. He is married to Florencia, his first wife, and has no plans to take any other wives. The line of succession includes six archduke candidates:


 * Wilfried, the archduke's oldest son.
 * Rozemyne, the archduke's adoptive daughter and the current High Bishop.
 * Charlotte, the archduke's second daughter.
 * Melchior, the archduke's youngest son (not yet baptized).
 * Ferdinand, the archduke's half-brother and the current High Priest.
 * Bonifatius, the previous archduke's brother and the former Knight Commander.

Other significant figures include Karstedt, the current Knight Commander, and his wife Elvira, who manages Ehrenfest's printing industry and despite what the name might suggest is the actual leader of the florencia faction. Although no longer formally an Ehrenfest noble, Hirschur is the duchy's dormitory supervisor at the Royal Academy and a researcher renown throughout the land.

One of the oldest factions currently active in Ehrenfest, the Leisegang faction comprises a noble's bloodline as well as political views. There is some overlap between Leisegang nobles and the allied Florencia faction.

Key political tenets include:


 * Strong support for Rozemyne as the next Aub, since she is believed to have Leisegang ancestry.
 * Strong opposition to Wilfried as the next Aub, since he was raised by Veronica and has Ahrensbach and Frenbeltag ancestry.
 * Strong opposition to Ahrensbach and the former Veronica faction.
 * Moderate support for Sylvester as the Aub.

Known members include: Previous Giebe Leisegang, Giebe Leisegang, Count Groschel, and Giebe Haldenzel, as well as Brunhilde, Hartmut, Leonore, Traugott, and their families.

Just a few years ago, the Veronica faction was the dominant force in Ehrenfest politics. Its leader Veronica was the mother of the archduke and had control over the education of Wilfried, who was publicly known to be the next archduke. Her influence was even strong enough to lock out the province of Haldenzel from getting any small chalices for Spring Prayer, nearly bringing it to ruin. She also caused many other issues for people she did not like, fuelling a deep hatred of those suffering under her that can still be felt today, despite her removal from power.

The Veronica nobles supported Sylvester as archduke, since he was Veronica's chosen heir. They were adamantly against Ferdinand, his half-brother.


 * Strong support for Sylvester as Aub and Wilfried as his heir.
 * Strong opposition to Ferdinand.
 * Strong opposition to the Leisegang faction.
 * General support for closer political ties with Ahrensbach.
 * General opposition to those out of favor with Veronica, including Elvira and Florencia.

After Veronica was imprisoned and sent to the Ivory Tower, her former supporters pulled their support from Sylvester and became dissatisfied with the archducal family, instead turning to his older sister Georgine. They are now called the "former Veronica faction" or, less commonly, the "Georgine faction."

Key political tenets:


 * Strong support for both Georgine and Ahrensbach.
 * Strong opposition to Sylvester and the current archducal family.
 * Strong opposition to Rozemyne, who is rumored to be a commoner.
 * Strong opposition to the Leisegang and Florencia factions.
 * (Previously.) A preference for Wilfried, who was raised by Veronica, to be the next Aub. Wilfried's show of loyalty to Sylvester and opposition to their faction has caused this view to decrease.

Prominent members include: Grausam, Gloria, and Royella.

Elvira formed this political group as a counter-faction when the Veronica faction was at the height of its power. It was comprised mainly of nobles who were subject to harassment by Veronica and her allies.

When Florencia married into Ehrenfest and was also targeted by her mother-in-law for abuse, Elvira welcomed her into the faction with open arms. Because of her higher rank, the faction took her name instead, though Elvira remained the leader.

Although the Florencia faction overlaps a good deal with the Leisegang faction, and the two are on fairly good terms, they have some key differences in their political ideologies. Most critically, the Florencia faction supports Wilfried as the next Aub, while the Leisegang faction supports Rozemyne, who does not come from Veronica's bloodline.

Key political tenets include:


 * Strong support for Sylvester as the Aub.
 * Strong support for Wilfried as the next Aub.
 * Strong opposition for the former Veronica faction.
 * Strong opposition to Ahrensbach and Georgine.

Prominent members include: Elvira (leader), Florencia, Sylvester, Karstedt, Ferdinand, Ottilie, Rozemyne, Wilfried, and Charlotte.

Spoiler from Part 4 Volume 4 About 200 years ago the family of Eisenreich were declared traitors to the King and their duchy was crushed. After redrawing the borders of the duchy to their current state, the King appointed the Ehrenfest family as the lords of these lands. Wanting to make sure not to be associated with traitors, the first Aub Ehrenfest did not retain any of the Giebes appointed by Aub Eisenreich and instead filled the ranks with his own trusted allies.

When Drewanchel invented the sanitary slime magic tool 80 years ago, Ehrenfest was among the bottom five duchies in ranking and accordingly had to wait a long time for the privilege to buy this technology. When they were finally able to aquire it, it came at a rather inopportune time, since it was right after Lady Gabriele of Ahrensbach had forced through a marriage between her and the second son of the Fourth Aub Ehrenfest. As a result of the politics surrounding the marriage, Gabriele's husband was given the title of Count Groschel and left the city with his family to take up residence in his new domain, taking all of their mana with them. This negatively impacted the archduke's family so much in mana capacity that they could not make full use of the new technology right away due to the high mana cost of using creation magic to make a sewer sysytem. To keep up appearances they first re-made the dormitory at the Royal Academy, since this was the place where the majority of interactions with other duches happened. It took several years to finally be able to establish a sewer system for the archduke's castle and several more years for the rest of the noble's quarters. Due to higher priorities the establishment of a sewer system for the lower city was pushed back time and again until most people had already forgotten that such plans ever existed, particularly when the people involved in drawing up the original blueprints started to die off from old age or other causes. And so the plans lay tucked away in the Aub's personal storage for decades, only being rediscovered recently by scholars in the employ of Lady Charlotte, one of the seventh Aub Ehrenfest Sylvester's daughters.

Several years ago there was a coup within the Sovereignty. Though Ehrenfest formally stayed neutral in the conflict and thus didn't suffer any losses in the fighting, many nobles from the region died and others moved to other territories. Furthermore the new king also enacted a purge of anyone believed to be affiliated with the brothers he had been fighting, even in the neutral duchies. Due to this, Ehrenfest, like all duchiers of the Sovereignty, is suffering a severe shortage of mana, causing much difficultty. Many nobles who had been sent to the temple were called back to their families and many of those remaining were called to the main temple in the Sovereignty, in turn causing a secondary mana shortage in the temple.

While Ehrenfest had several outstanding nobles in the past, almost all of their accomplishments stayed on an individual level and failed to raise the the duchy as a whole. Some of the individuals mentioned are Professor Hirschur who's scientific discoveries baffled even Professor Gundolf and the former blue shrine maiden Christine, who's incredible skill with the harspiel left an eternal impression on those who heard her play, including Prince Anastasius.

The duchy of Ehrenfest consists of 28 provinces plus the central district:




 * Nobles of Ehrenfest receive an ocher/yellow cloak when they go to the Royal Academy. The ocher colour is the Ehrenfest ducal colour.
 * The banner animal of the Duchy is the lion. Only members of the Archducal family are allowed to use a winged lion as their Highbeast and only the Aub may use a three-headed, winged lion.
 * Ehrenfest was known for producing many eccentric but talented individuals that will go out of their way to pursue their personal interest. For example:
 * Rozemyne, who's obsessed with books.
 * Justus, who's obssessed with information gathering.
 * Sylvester, who's fascinated with new things and experiences.
 * Hirschur and Ferdinand, who are obsessed with magical research.
 * Angelica, who's obsessed with strength.
 * Hartmut, who's obsessed with Rozemyne's sainthood.
 * During the Civil War, Ehrenfest was sandwiched between duchies supported the first/forth prince (Zausengas and Frenbeltag) and duchies supported the third/fifth prince (Klassenberg and Ahrensbach). Since the Aub back then was ill and bedridden, no important political decisions could be made. When Sylvester succeeded as Aub Ehrenfest, he was torn between Veronica (who supported Ahrensbach) and Florencia (who's from Frenbeltag) thus unable to take a side. In the end, the Civil War ended with Ehrenfest staying neutral throughout.