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.

See also Character List: Ehrenfest.

The duchy is bordered by the following 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

The duchy of Ehrenfest is currently ranked tenth among the duchies of Yurgenschmidt. This is due both to remaining neutral in the civil war, and the trends recently introduced. While it has not historically been an economically powerful region, the emergence of printing and plant paper technology, as well as several new fashion trends, are poised to make Ehrenfest a sought-after trading partner in the coming years.

The duchy's colour is ocher (dark yellow), and the symbol of the archducal family is the lion. The archduke is represented by a three-headed lion.

See History and Story Tab.

See History and Story Tab.

Ehrenfest stretches far enough north to south that there is a noticeable difference in climate between the tips of the duchy. The northernmost province of Haldenzel has significantly harsher winters, in which even the fastest flowing rivers freeze over. 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.

The duchy is surrounded by a barrier upheld by a magical construct called the Foundation Magic, which needs regular mana supplied by the Archduke and his family. This barrier is purely magical and invisible to the naked eye. It does not prevent animals and feybeasts from crossing the border, but blocks spells and other magical effects. It enables the Aub to sense when anyone above a certain mana capacity comparable to a noble crosses over. It is unclear whether this sensing ability extends to feybeasts as well.

Ehrenfest is the only duchy in Yurgenschmidt where trombe is known to grow. This is also the reason why Ehrenfest is one of the few duchies allowed to teach their knights the spell to create black weapons.

It is also home to the very rare Blenrus feytree, which grows solely in its northern-most province of Haldenzel.

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 renowned throughout Yurgenschmidt.

See Laws and Rules

One of the oldest factions currently active in Ehrenfest, the Leisegang faction includes many of the duchy's most powerful families. Its base of influence is concentrated in the provinces, such as Groschel, Leisegang and Haldenzel, rather than in the city of Ehrenfest.

There is some overlap between Leisegang nobles and the allied Florencia faction. This is in part because "Leisegang" can describe a noble's bloodline and ancestry, not only their political views. For example, Elvira — the leader of the Florencia faction — is technically considered a Leisegang noble, since she was born in Haldenzel. However, the two factions' political agendas diverge in several key areas.

Key political tenets of the Leisegang faction 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.

Membership
The faction originated from the Ahrensbach archduke candidate Gabriele, who forced her own marriage into Ehrenfest. She tried to have her retainers marry the archnobles in Ehrenfest to expand her influence, but this couldn't work as most archnobles are related to the Liesegang faction by blood, who were hostile towards Gabriele for causing the daughter of Previous Count Leisegang to be demoted. Therefore, she had her retainers marry mednobles with higher mana capacities, and they became the core members of her political faction. When Veronica grew up, she took over her mother's faction and expanded their influence from there, thus the faction took her name.

Just a few years ago, the Veronica faction was the dominant force in Ehrenfest politics. 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 harassed and ostracized nobles she disliked, fueling deep grudges against her in the Leisegang faction that still persist 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.

Membership
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 Veronica for abuse, Elvira welcomed her into the faction with open arms. Because of her higher rank, the faction took her name instead, although 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 to the former Veronica faction.
 * Strong opposition to Ahrensbach and Georgine.

Membership
Not every family will chose to fully join a faction.

Due to how easy it is for archnobles to crush lower status nobles, most laynoble and mednoble families wish to avoid the risk of fully joining any faction and thus become a target for opposing factions. Such families generally form only light attachment with one faction, while trying not to become too hostile to others. They tend to drift closer to the currently most powerful faction, but take care not to get too close since the power balance could change any time.

This requires a careful balancing act, since not being cooperative enough with the leading faction might be conceived as hostility, especially with particularly entitled individuals like Lady Veronica, but at the same time doing too much will turn the other factions against your family to the point where you have no other choice than to join the faction you leaned toward for protection.

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




 * Because the lion is the symbol of the archducal family, only relatives of the archduke 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 own personal interests. For example:
 * Rozemyne, who's obsessed with books.
 * Justus, who's obsessed 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 that 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) and was thus unable to take a side. In the end, the Civil War ended with Ehrenfest staying neutral throughout.
 * Currently there are around 800 registered nobles in Ehrenfest, about 300 of which live in the Noble Quarter. The ratio between archnobles : mednobles : laynobles is roughly 1 : 4 : 3.
 * Despite being similar in name, Hirschur is not related to the Hirsch province.