Ghwang L'ei

Dr. Geoffrey Gwjang Hjei PhD OA SoST
Native name	王欷
Other name(s)	邐弛
Born	(1957-09-08) September 8, 1957
Allegiance	Themiclesia
Service/branch	Themiclesian Marines
Years of service	1986 – 2020
Rank	colonel-general
Spouse(s)	unmarried
Other work	Manual of Wetland Archaeology

Dr. Geoffrey Gwjang Hjei PhD OA SoST (Shinasthana: 王欷, gwjang-hjei; Sept. 8, 1957 – ) is a Themiclesian archaeologist, antiquarian, and military officer.

Early life

Gwjang Hjei was born on September 8, 1957, in Tubh County, Inner Region, Themiclesia. His father was a local construction worker, and his mother, a housewife. He grew up from a modest background but excelled in school and showed remarkable interest in history from a young age. He graduated from university as with a bachelor's degree in arts in 1980 and began work as a field archaeologist, to obtain income and pursue further research. He followed the renowned Dr. Ku of the Pond University and participated in several excavations in the Great Lake. In 1985, he obtained his doctorate working on prehistoric cultures in southern Themiclesia. The same year, he was made a research fellow in the Southern Antiquarian Society.

Military service

While Gwjang had never personally considered a military career, the Themiclesian academia of the 70s criticized the government, the armed forces especially, for not giving sufficient attention to preserving the prehistoric cultural sites that predate Meng settlement, which was sometimes described as a long-standing colonial hubris. Therefore, in 1972 the Ministry of Defence ordered each service to consult antiquarian authorities about the suitability of development. Gwjang was thus approached by the Themiclesian Marines, who were active in coastal areas in Prjin Prefecture, where Gwjang did research. Initially, he was retained on a board of consultants, but later the government decided that consultancy was not sufficient supervision to prevent damage to fragile archaeological sites. In response, the Marines decided to offer him a commission. The fellowship being financially unrewarding, he accepted the commission as captain in 1986. His primary tasks were surveying the land required for various developments and then reporting on whether development would threaten the integrity of archaeological sites.

In 1993, he volunteered to attend a programme hosted by the Foreign Office on international development, where he was approached by various diplomats and analysts. Through the several months in residency, he acquired additional qualifications and began working on non-archaeological matters. He was made major in 1991 and colonel in 1998. He became an international analyst in 1995. In 2000, he was appointed to head Themiclesia's military mission to Dayashina, which greatly boosted his reputation, both domestic and abroad, and made him a contender for higher office. After being recalled to Themiclesia in 2004, he was made Exchequer Secretary. Between 2007 and 2010, he led the Department for International Strategy, after which he represented Themiclesia again to Septentrion League's security forces; since 2009, he also held the title of Master of the Exchequer, which entailed few duties but is thought to place him in line as captain-general within the next few years. Though Margaret Skur is expected to become captain-general first, she was pushed back on the list due to a corruption scandal that occurred in the Department of Digital Technology, which she led. He was made captain-general in 2015.

His appointment was not without disputation. Some internal voices were critical of the appointment of an officer who not only had no combat experience, but also never led a field unit of any kind. However, the Government was satisfied that, according to the rules of seniority, he was, in fact, next in line to be appointed. Gwjang dealt with internal problems largely by ignoring them wholesale, not altering any of his predecessor's policies. He did, however, order a thorough, arms-length internal investigation for personnel abuse that held subordinates in check; previously, many commanders feared such investigations would ultimately reveal their own guilt or complicity, though Gwjang apparently did not. In 2017, he doubled the archaeology panel's membership from 6 to 12; he was voted Honourary President of the Southern Antiquarian Society.

2019 scandal and dismissal

Main article: Pervert incident (2019)

During the Themiclesian Marines' deployment to suppress drug cartels in Idacua, Gwjang was implicated in a tweet sent late in November that called the Freedom Warriors, the mercenary force they were fighting, "perverts". Some members of them were held prisoner by the Themiclesians, and FW's headquarters sent out a tweet asserting that no abuse of prisoners will go unreported. They utilized the hashtags #HumanRights and #Watching, where were lately used in a much larger conflict in Vyzhva to protest against widespread abuse by some of the forces operating in that area. It was later revealed that Gwjang flew into a temper hearing FW suggesting Themiclesia could ever abuse human rights. Construing this as an insult, he reportedly told the duty officer over the official Twitter account to respond in kind and would not consider more caution. When asked what insult should be levelled, he shouted the officer down that "your sort insult each other regularly and expertly; you need not my instruction to do the same to the Freedom Warriors." However, the insult thus applied has lately been a buzzword in Themiclesia and carried connotations unfriendly to Themiclesian women's rights groups. The Government instructed the tweet retracted almost as soon as it was sent, but not before it was widely transmitted. On Dec. 28, he was dismissed by ordinance, formalling handing over powers to his successor, Margaret Skur, on January 29.

See also

• Themiclesia