Vic van Barcht

Vic van Barcht, also known as vicdomen, is an Alfheimi politician, merchant and soldier. He moved to Alfheim in October 2021. Initially just trying to find a new home for his family, he quickly got involved in local politics. During the Uldarash Civil War, Vic joined the military and became a member of the Loyalist War Council.

Early life
Vic was born in the now defunct Hollenkreis Republic to Claude and Sanne van Barcht. Being a merchant and moneylender, Vic's father was often away for business reasons. When he was still too young to join his father, Vic helped his mother around the forge. Whilst learning to shape metal was interesting, other professions caught his attention, and soon Vic started to bounce around the town doing various jobs. During this time an accident with Dragon's Breath turned Vic's skin scaly and green. This would not deter him, however. When he was 16 his father took Vic with him on his first business trip and started to show him the world. These trips sowed the seed's for Vic later departure from Hollenkreis in search of greener and more exciting pastures.

Moving into Axel
Vic was quickly invited by SuperEone to come and live in Uldarash as a citizen of Alfheim. After a long time spent travelling, he joined a group of settlers led by Niftyzebra to found a new city, Axel, along the Ice Sea. Vic arrived among the first of the initial settlers and immediately began working on growing wood and crops for the new town. Whilst waiting for the trees and crops to grow, he discovered how to brew alcoholic beverages. For his efforts in helping set up the city, Vic was rewarded with a position as Town Elder.

During the next weeks, Vic built the High Tower, founded the Grass Company and became one of the founding members of the Axel Underground market. Vic's need to travel never waned, and he often travelled to Market 55 to sell various goods. During these trips, he would frequently make detours to see parts of East-Uldarash and Aldovir. At the same time, Vic managed to secure a contract to produce Kraken's Blood for the Alfheim government.

Early career
Whilst the removal of Empress Caterina from power happened shortly after Vic's arrival in Uldarash, he did not pay much attention to it. Later on in the crisis, he began to read more into the court cases and the events surrounding the Empress. Vic quickly made up his mind and joined Loyalist Uldarash and publicly denounced Nikephoros and her supporters as tyrants and traitors. In a moment of zeal, Vic joined the Loyalist army despite having never held a sword in his life.

In preparation for the upcoming conflict, Vic steered the Grass Company to become an active part of Alfheim's war economy, producing great quantities of potions and drinks to support what he called "a War of Liberation". Initially, most of his military service was spent producing potions, Kraken's Blood, Knight's Brew and Infernal Rage for Alfheim's army. At the same time, Vic became more active in Alfheim's politics. Noticing the chaos of Alfheim's parliament, he proposed the Rules of Parliament so more productive debate could be had. This passed and during the next parliamentary session on the 20th of November 2021, Vic was elected to be Aflheim's first Speaker of the House.

Whilst working to supply the Loyalist war effort, Vic kept on training to gain his combat certification. This eventually succeeded, and he was deployed as part of Desert Foxes during the Second Battle of CoolioCity. During a retreat, the Loyalist forces were hemmed in by Auroran troops at the gates of Terroja. Vic split off from the force to distract the Aurorans and give the rest of his unit the opportunity to break out, losing a horn and nearly dying in the process. His unit escaped however, and they managed to drag Vic with them back to Republica Square. Only just being healed back up, Vic then participated in the Desert Foxes' unsuccessful amphibious raid on Hapatmitas.

War Councillor
In the aftermath of the Hapatmitas-Chevkri Campaign, a final letter written by the now missing Prime Minister Ashley was found that instated Ren, Thayff and Vic as temporary ministers of Alfheim, tasking them and Piotik with setting up an evacuation plan for Alfheim and Montroig to another continent. It also gave the Prime Minister's Emergency Powers to Vic until the end of the coming election. Along with Ren, Vic scouted out Vastellos as a possible place to resettle the Alfheimi people to. In the time between the upcoming elections, Vic only used his emergency powers once: to pass the Towns and Mayors act to break the power of Alfheim's mayors.

When the Eldham Entente won against Imperial Uldarash at the Battle of Fornost the mood in the Loyalist leadership changed and for his efforts so far, Vic was given a seat on the Loyalist War Council. Together with Ren and Thayff, Vic worked to rebuild Loyalist Uldarash's supplies and to gather allies should the civil war reignite. Mainly focussing on pots and experience, Vic managed to surpass all production targets set in a week. The signing of the Treaty of Terroja was somewhat of a disappointment for Vic as it felt like a lot of hard work was for nothing, but in the end he did choose to accept the deal.

Personal life during the Civil War
When not busy working for the war, Vic initially pursued restoring his relationship with the rest of his familiy. This succeeded and the Van Barcht familiy reunited with the Dwarven Asagrim clan and each other in Axel. He also became a student of Ren during this time, learning how to fight and how to conduct politics. During the latter parts months of the Civil War, Vic also got engaged to Alphonsine Gooblegins.