---
title: "Archer Maine"
type: "character"
nation: "esu"
ooc: true
infobox: (12 rows)
---
*This article contains external links to Wikipedia, which are intended solely for reference purposes.*
**Archer Sisu Maine** (né **Aalto**; 9 June 1888) is an Elysian revolutionary, Gestaltist politician, writer and political theorist. He is the first head of government of the [[unity-state]] since its founding in 1922, acting as the State’s Supreme Protector. A former member, and chairman of, the Communist Party of [[elysia]], he led the Revolutionary Guard as an important figure in the [[elysian-civil-war]], later going on to found the ideology of [[gestaltism]], and the world’s first Gestaltist state. His government won the ensuing power struggle, establishing a one-party state under the Gestaltist Party. His writings and ideas, derived from many Leftist schools of thought, gave rise to Gestaltism.
Maine’s career in politics began during his time studying history at the University of New Winscor, known today as Foundry. He gained an interest in socialism through personal connections of his on-campus, namely his future wife Emilie Henderson. He soon became a member of, and prominent writer for, the Democratic Socialist Party of Elysia, where he began accruing many followers. However, he was soon kicked out due to his increasingly radicalized view on the position of socialist movements and parties in the world, going on to join the Communist Party of Elysia with his followers, eventually becoming chairman. He and his family fled to [[karjania]] to escape from the national crackdowns on socialists during the Great War, eventually returning after the USE signed the Remington-Wesley treaty with Hollosend. He was one of the many socialist writers imprisoned during the Years of Oppression, and would later lead the ensuing wave of prison riots to establish the Spartacus Division of the Elysian Civil War, becoming a key figure on the side of the Revolutionary Guard.
Following the end of the civil war, he went on to develop his personal theories and ideas derived from many leftist schools of thought into the ideology of Gestaltism, using it as his platform to rise beyond the power struggle of the post-civil war era and being nominated as the Supreme Protector of Elysia, a title which was soon adopted to also mean the leader of the Unity State.
Maine is a divisive figure on the world stage. While those who support him idolize his achievements of founding a revolutionary government, his anti-imperialist stance, social reforms, welfare developments and workers control, others criticise him for establishing a dictatorship that oversaw the death of thousands during the civil war, and ensuing political repression. He is regarded as one of the most significant figures in Elysia.
## Early Life
Born on the 9th of June, 1888 in Midtown, Metro Regima as Archer Sisu Aalto as the only child of Markku and Leena Aalto, a Karjanian immigrant couple who’d moved to Elysia in search of better fortunes. Markku and Leena both worked at the biggest local newspaper, the Metropolitan, with Markku working in the printing department, while his wife worked as a reporter. Being an only-child, Archer’s parents did everything in their power to grant their son a good upbringing. He had some friends growing up, however was often bullied for his Karjanian accent when speaking Elvesterian, a habit he maintains to this day.
There is no record of the political leanings of Maine’s parents, however his father instilled within his son a strong moral code, as well as a sense of right and wrong. Archer was a keen outdoorsman and bookworm, often venturing to Axiom’s central park to read for hours on end. He also often played football with his friends, a habit which made the man a lifelong fan of the sport. Archer would excel in a variety of subjects in school, namely history, biology and languages. After graduating from High School, he was accepted into the University of New Winscor on a scholarship. When he was 21, his mother Leena died of cardiovascular complications stemming from a lifelong undiagnosed heart disease. The death of his mother hit Archer hard, even going so far as to cause his father and him to break contact when Archer couldn’t attend her funeral. He would talk to his father only later during his time as the Supreme Protector.
## University and Political Radicalisation
Upon entering the University of New Winscor, Archer moved out on his own to a flat near campus. He quickly began making himself familiar with the social scene of his University, meeting many new friends, like his mentor and eventual rival Karl Miller, as well as his future wife Emilie Henderson, big-sister of jazz singer Sebastian Henderson. The two would form a nigh-instant bond over their shared interests in literature and similar ideas of political theory. The two would start dating in 1909, eventually marrying in 1912 and having a son, Konrad Aalto, the same year.
Archer would gain momentum to his political career when he became a full-time member of the Democratic Socialist party of Elysia, becoming a well liked and respected writer for the Party’s newspaper “The Red Herald”, growing a sizable following inside the party. He would go on to participate in many student protests, campaigning for greater social and welfare reform, as well as for the improvement of the rights of workers and immigrants. However, his views on socialism would grow more and more radical with his time in the party, with a public argument with the then chairman of the party, Karl Miller, leading to him splitting off into the Communist Party of Elysia, along with the majority of his followers.
Maine would later graduate with a Master's degree in History, soon going on to teach History at the Mannheim Gymnasium in his hometown of Metro Regima. He and his family would flee to Karjania for the duration of the Great War to escape persecution by local authorities, living with Archer’s relatives there. He would come to expand his network of people further during his time in Karjania, meeting with and debating many fellow communist thinkers in the country during his stay. Following the end of the war for Elysia, he would return to Metro Regima with his family, becoming a representative of the area in Congress for the Communist Party. He would continue teaching at Mannheim soon after his return to the country.
## Imprisonment and Rise to Power
On the 30th of November, 1919, Archer Maine was attacked and apprehended by government forces near his home in Metro Regima, as part of the government’s wider crackdown on the enemies of the state named by President Vincent Stone. During the arrest, the police officers handling the case were given orders to only capture the named targets, and to execute or separate the rest. His wife was immediately executed afterwards and his son, Konrad, taken to an orphanage in Estellia.
Archer was quickly taken to Labour Camp Charlie in northeastern Elysia, a government-run labour camp 10km away from Moose Pen, built exclusively to house communist and socialist politicians and political activists. He was made to endure half a year of back breaking labour under harsh conditions, until then camp guard, and future Minister of the Interior, Gabriel Snipes, gave an opportunity for Maine to escape through faking his execution. He was brought out to a fire pit outside the camp where corpses from the camp were disposed of. He was soaked in gasoline and caught fire for a moment, leaving scars that are still visible to this day. In collaboration with Snipes, he and a contingent of rebelling camp guards took over the site as their base of operations. Through interrogating the camp administration, they came into possession of information on more labour camps, and that each of them received orders and answered to a central authority stationed in the Presidential Retreat of Griffon Hall, near Moose Pen. The rebelling guards quickly took over the site, bringing the city of Moose Pen under rebel control. It was within Griffon Hall that Maine, along with the senior staff on his side, announced the founding of the Elysian Revolutionary Guard as a movement to topple the tyrannical leadership of the current president.
Maine quickly took a senior administrative position within the organization. He was given the title of Captain and began planning for the liberation of more of the labour camps. Each camp added more men to their ranks, eventually culminating in the Guard forming a veritable army against the government. Maine was present for many of the civil wars major engagements, including the Battle of Fort Union, the initial breakthroughs on the Tango-Line by Guard units and the Battle of Nexus. The forces under his command managed to push and take the last Army holdouts in Nexus’ administrative district, capturing and summarily executing president Vincent Stone in the process.
After the war, Maine became an active political figure in the Elysian Reconstruction Authority, overseeing many projects delivering vital humanitarian aid to cities devastated during the civil war. During this time, alongside Alyssa Traton, a former follower of his movement from before the war, he wrote a political manifesto outlining a new sort of socialist ideology. He published his theories and ideas in a book called One Choir alongside Traton, giving rise to Gestaltism as a political ideology. Through clever compromise, negotiations with the right people, his status as a war-hero and the campaigning he did following the book’s release, his ideas gained quick traction throughout Elysia. Following the Authority’s first and only election in early July of 1922, the Gestaltist party gained an overwhelming majority in the newly created parliament. Following a speech he gave espousing the creation of a true State of Unity in Elysia, the parliament voted him in as the Supreme Protector of Elysia.
## Supreme Protector
Following his nomination into the office of Supreme Protector, Archer began immediately making a swathe of reforms to mend the wounds of his broken nation. He immediately moved to consolidate a large amount of executive power to himself, transforming the Elysian government into the Parliament, with the Politburo acting as the upper organ, and the Party congress as the lower organ. His early rule gave him immense popularity with the population, with his welfare and healthcare reforms early on being especially favoured by the general population. He moved swiftly to outlaw any other political parties or movements from the country, transforming Elysia into a totalitarian Gestaltist dictatorship under his rule.
He quickly assumed a position of political negotiator and figurehead for the state following the re-opening of diplomatic relations to the rest of the world. Abroad he gained a mixed reputation, with some political commentators criticising him for assuming a position of dictatorship and driving through policies of political censorship and mass surveillance, while others saw him as an open minded and levelheaded political figure helping to forge a much more fruitful future for the world.
In 1928, Maine spearheaded final negotiations for the re-entrance of Elysia into the wider Elyrian doctrine. The organization had previously criticised the Unity State for its dictatorial and authoritarian practices, however after multiple months of tense standoff and legislative changes, the two sides reached a compromise, permitting Elysia’s entrance back into the Doctrine.
## Personal Life
Maine lives in the Palace Protectorate in Nexus, the official residence of the Supreme Protector of Elysia. He’d renovated the building extensively since its changing of hands from the President of the United States. He spends most of his time in his office, a modestly decorated oval room with a variety of books he’s never touched, an alcohol cabinet consisting mostly of varying bottles of rum, national iconography, and a stuffed barn owl, the new symbol of his state. He lives in the Palace alongside his son Konrad, whom he has a strained relationship with due to his workaholic tendencies. In his free time, he often enjoys music and varying forms of culture, often frequenting art exhibits and theater plays in Nexus. Maine continues occasionally writing in his free time, ranging from political theory to tinkering with fiction. During summers, he enjoys spending time at his family’s cottage on the shore of Lake Skandario, purchased by his parents in 1914. His stated favourite book is The 7 Brothers by Karjanian writer [Axel Stenvall](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aleksis_Kivi).
He maintains cordial relations with most of his senior officials, being especially close with Minister of the Interior Gabriel Snipes, the two’s relationship continuing strong ever since the two met in Moose Pen in 1922. Currently, he maintains a secret romantic affair with the Chairwoman of the Gestaltist Party and fellow writer, Alyssa Traton.
Maine maintains strained relations with his extended family, having effectively been cut off from most of his family on the Karjanian side ever since the death of his mother. He would only reconnect with them after the illness and death of his father in 1928. His cousin, Liisa Aalto, is a decently renowned Karjanian artist. Up until he was hired for an espionage mission for the Unity State, he maintained a friendly relationship with his brother-in-law and Blue Moon singer Sebastian Henderson.
## Characterization
Maine’s own belief system is one of countless compromises and contradictions. While his ideology preaches universal acceptance and Unity of mankind, he maintains an intense personal hatred and disdain for people on the right wing of the political spectrum. His radicalization during his time in university, combined with his personal altruism towards others made him despise those that took advantage or abused people who couldn’t fight for themselves. At the same time, he acts as a dictator of a totalitarian state which maintains a wide level of censorship on any other forms of political expression. While he mostly keeps his thoughts on others under wraps in order to preserve amicable relations on the geopolitical stage, his actions tend to betray the smiles and pleasantries he offers his political allies.
He continues to carry an immense amount of grief from the death of her wife and the civil war that followed. He maintains a persistent amount of survivor’s guilt from this time, believing the devastation caused by the war was his fault. Not helping the situation is the strained relationship he maintains with his son, acting as his only active link to the past which was torn from him so suddenly. Whenever he is reminded of the mistakes of his past, he is often brought back to when he summarily executed Vincent Stone during the final hours of the civil war, manifesting in faint gunshots or the smell of blood.
Due to the tendency of those closest to him to be in the line of fire of those wishing to see him harmed, he often pushes those closest to him away to keep them from harm. This tendency has caused him to avoid establishing any new close relationships with people, believing both sides would be better off not interacting further to avoid harm being done to them, and preventing Archer from experiencing any more grief caused by the loss of those closest to him. He only slowly began opening up to others following the death of his father and the romantic affair with Alyssa Traton.
Despite all this, the strong moral compass embedded into him by his father in his youth often guides his policies and actions to this day. While sometimes naive or misguided, he does genuinely want the best for every human on Avium, his guiding principle for his politics, and for the wider Unity State, being that “no man has ever accepted new ideas from the barrel of a gun”.
