Ari Clerks

Ari Clerks

Full Name: Aristotle Clerks

Role: Vice President of United Vinland

Summary

Ari Clerks was the owner of Clerks and Co., the largest importer/exporter in the Vinland Colonies. He is credited with the creation of the Fishing Line, an efficient way of processing Jullicut's incoming and outgoing goods. Before the War of Revolutions, he was one of the main organizers of the Grand Colonial Council where he introduced the Vinland Constitution. Following the war and the ratification of the Vinland Constitution, he went on to become United Vinland's Vice President.

He is pessimistic toward the masses and is skeptical about the public's ability to intelligently choose what is best for a healthy society.

Colonial Vinland

Thanks to Jullicut's preference toward private ownership, Ari Clerks created Clerks and Co., and entered partnerships with many of the fleets within the colony to receive their goods and distribute them within Colonial Vinland while also handling the receiving and outgoing shipping of Colonial Vinland's exports.

He is largely credited for the creation of the Fishing Line, a system of processing imports and exports by assigning a single task to a worker, and having that worker repeatedly perform that task as each good reached them before that good moved to the next worker in the line. There are rumors that his wife at the time, Theresa Grills, was the truly creator of the fishing line, but that rumor has not been confirmed.

While running his business in Jullicut, he was approached by a Jullicutter named Art Penn who had intentions of starting his own company to create a new product he developed called the Internal Combustion Engine. Seeing the potential of this product, he backed Art Penn's company and gifted him the land for his factories. The land which would one day become Camlann.

The Grand Colonial Council, the Wine Bath, Imprisonment, and the War of Revolutions

Increased duties ordered by Deus Ultima led to increased tension among many of the sailors who worked until the Clerks and Co. banner. Noticing the various protests occurring in Jullicut as well as in the other colonies, Ari Clerks arranged for important colonists to meet to discuss independence as well as introduce his idea for a master contract to govern the new country, the Vinland Constitution.

The Grand Colonial Council ended without a decision, and upon his return to Jullicut, he was greeted by a rebellion led by one of the captains of his fleet, Sam "The Torch" Baharme. In an incident known as the Wine Bath, Sam Baharme and other members of his crew threw all of the wine barrels off an outbound ship. This led to a sea battle between The Blessed and Sam Baharme who did not survive. After the battle, he was accused by his wife of aiding and abetting Sam Baharme, and was promptly stripped of his ownership in Clerks and Co and sentenced to Fyorina for punishment. Before he was transferred out of Jullicut, he was also informed that his wife had received a blessing of divorce in exchange for her testimony, and she went on to become an Executive for Camlann.

During the War of Revolutions, Ari Clerks was sent to the dungeons of Fyorina. He was tortured at the hands of Warden Oranje until finally being free by General Harmen's attack on Castle DeBaree.

United Vinland

Following the ratification of the Vinland Constitution and the creation of United Vinland, many people nominated Ari Clerks to be the President. He rejected the role in favor of General Harmen who in turn named Ari the Vice President. His main responsibility as the Vice President was the development of Liberty's Light to serve as the nation's capital, although some people see him choosing that responsibility as a way to compete with his former wife who was the chief designer of Camlann City.