Koenrid Margs

Koenrid Demian Iruna Margs (born 27 10 1941) is a Blauslander bilionaire, warlord and politician based in the Trust Territory of Central Ozara, who first rose to prominence in the 1980s for his role in founding the Florianswaurd-based agriculture company Akrakau and turning it into one of the biggest conglomerates of its kind in central Ozara. He has also served as the Stadfoeder, de facto head of state, of the self-proclaimed and partially-recognized X Self-Governing Region since its secession from Blausland after the latter's defeat in the Milima War, where he rules with near-complete dictatorial dominance. Margs is one of the wealthiest people in the world and by far the wealthiest in Central Ozara. Campos magazine and the Montefiore Billionaire Index estimate his net worth to be over B$22.4 billion (¥158.6 billion).

Margs was born to a Blauslander business magnate father and Union State lawyer mother in Sneedhavn, where he stayed for much of his childhood. He grew up alongside an older brother and sister, Demian and Iruna, with whom he shares his middle names. He studied for undergraduate degrees in business and law at the University of Hastabaurg in Sundemarck before moving to the Barenian L. P. Morridow School of Business, where he later completed a in business administration and a  in the same field in 1966 and 1969 respectively. During his time abroad, Margs reportedly had regular collusions with with a Hweit-led political society of the Blauslander diaspora based in Barenia, promoting moderate reforms on matters of race relations in Blausland and fundraising efforts for black charities. It is assumed that his association with the group influenced much of his current political views.

Moving to Blausland after his education, Margs began taking an interest in Blauslandish business at the encouragement of his father. He founded an investment banking firm in Seeckstood in 1973, a professional services and consulting company in the same year, and an alloying metal mining initiative in 1975. These initial forays were reasonably successful and made modest returns in their first few years. Emboldened by his early successes, he acquired a series of formerly Swart- and Niuja-owned farmsteads in Florianswaurd, a historically resource-starved and economically underdeveloped province, in 1981. He founded Akrakarma-Kaupon with those assets, an agriculture and food manufacturing company headquartered in Swarthlains.

Despite its humble beginnings Akrakau would eventually become his most profitable enterprise yet. The company quickly bought out its meager competition within its first few years and, leveraging its position as one of the few large-scale and stable employers in an impoverished region, attracted a profusion of workers and investors alike, its operations expanding exponentially in all aspects. It invested heavily into the region, expanding infrastructure and services even outside of its money-making obligations, building roads, maintaining water supply, and expanded the local education system in order to procure skilled workers. The deprivations of the Homeland Wars notwithstanding, by 1992, Akrakau, now more conglomeration than mere company, had grown into Blausland's most valued agriculture business, with the vast majority of agriculture in northern Blausland now being conducted by Akrakau and Akrakau associates.

It was Akrakau's resounding success that would propel Margs' political influence and make him one of Blausland's richest businessmen. It was this wealth and power, which he wielded as an official pro-business lobbyist, which prevented his "forceful removal" by the Blausblod Brothaskip in spite of his vocal objections to the increasingly extreme methods undertaken by Xrusi's Blauslandish Security Services to curb the ethnic rebellions, particularly ecocide, which invariably damaged Akrakau's agricultural operations. Relations between him and the Seeckstood regime remained strained at best. Nonetheless, his popularity in Florianswaurd was particularly strong, as he and Akrakau were seen as having "saved" the province from poverty and destitution. Margs' influence grew, while the Brothaskip increasingly found themselves shorthanded when it came to curtailing him and Florianswaurd's increasing autonomy.

When matters came to ahead in the early 2000s and the country was invaded, Margs gathered his closest associates, moved to war-torn Swarthlains, and resolved to finally realize his ambitions. With the help of Akrakau, his domestic popularity, and a not insignificant amount of hired foreign mercenaries, he declared the region's secession from the now defunct Blausland. Parts of the province that went with him were officially proclaimed as the X Self-Governing Region, with Margs as its Stadfoeder. The local BSS garrison was quickly overwhelmed soon thereafter, its remnants left to the mercy of the invading Coaliation forces. As the leader of X, he built upon the foundation that had already been built in the past few decades. He used Akrakau to establish complete societal and economic dominance in the new state, while the mercenaries and a corps of local paramilitaries maintained law and order, often to bloody ends as they clashed with both Hweit and Swart militants alike. In spite of the violence, X would become one of the more stable post-Blausland states, and while Margs would be widely branded as a warlord due to the autocratic nature of his regime by the international press, he is still revered by his people, and, perhaps most importantly of all, still got to keep his wealth.