Walter, 5th Viscount de Hornè

Walter, 5th Viscount de Hornè (6 August 1945-11 April 2007) was a Ferrodwiyinian nobleman, drug lord, mafia baron, and Minister of Internal Affairs from 1975 until his death. From 1970 until his death, he was the region's major cocaine and hashish dealer. He has been linked to several underground organisations that carried out an important number of executions of major drug dealers during the 1990-2000 period, which helped the Empire reach its current state of safety and were later declared to be approved by Emperor John X. In a letter to major newspaper The Ferrodwiyinian Reporter dated 30 November 2005, he pointed out the murders served two purposes: to make the Empire safer, and to secure his family's hegemony in the drug dealing business.

Early life

Walter was born Walter Vilica-Hornè in Hornè House, Andalacia to The Hon Randolph Vilica-Hornè, who three years later would become the 4th Viscount de Hornè, and Catherine Jagüey, daughter of cotton baron Sir Xavier Jagüey, SA. From an early age he showed outstanding intellect, speaking French fluently by age eight and playing complicated piano pieces by age ten. By the time Walter was fifteen, he demonstrated great skills for business and an enormous ambition, seeking deals with important local merchants for his father's estate, Sklow Hamlet. By age eighteen, he had turned Sklow into a major producer of honey, importing to the whole country and enlarging his father's wealth, as well as amassing a considerable fortune of his own. He studied in various prestigious private schools in the Empire, including the Imperial Thorbington Institute, where he met John X and became close friends with him.

Marriage

On 28 January 1968, Walter married Marie, 3rd Countess Massieu. They had three children and four grandchildren:

• Randolph, 1st Count de Hornè (1970-2015) married Sophie Puniewska, 13th Lady Puniewska on 13 April 1997 and has two sons:
  • Stephen, 2nd Count de Hornè (b. 1999)
  • The Lord Robert (b. 1999)
• Lavinia Duldorov, Princess Duldorov (b. 1973) married Fyodor, 2nd Prince Duldorov
  • Sergei Feodorovich, Hereditary Prince Duldorov (b. 1998)
• The Lord Hans Vilica-Hornè (b. 1975) married Ms Christina Felsen
  • Ms Margaret Vilica-Hornè

Career

Walter first started dealing with cocaine after his marriage to Marie, when he entered a business with his brother-in-law The Baron Morin, Governor of Virycova. He had deals with Roman Schwecherl, a powerful drug lord who dealt with neighbouring traffickers. Both Lord Morin and Schewcherl died after a quarrel with the police, and they named Walter as the successor to their businesses. He thus rose to prominence and became one of the major mafia leaders in the region. Throughout his life he commercialised over four thousand tonnes of cocaine and a twenty tonnes of hashish. He inherited Schewcherl's shell business Schechwerl & Co, a multinational transport company. On 7 May 1975, he was appointed Minister of Internal Affairs by John X, whom he had met during his time at the Imperial Thorbington Institute, a prestigious boarding school in the Ferrodwiyinian countryside. He served as Minister until 2004, when his health began to deteriorate.

Executions

In 1985, Walter received authorisation to carry out the non-official executions of over twenty mafia leaders and patriarchs, including Julian Evercil of the Evercil Clan, the 4th Baron de Jossclaude of the Valentin family, and Maria Yoskoeva of the Moscow Group. He spent five years analysing his subjects before executing Lord de Jossclaude in his country home. The following ten years he silently killed the rest of the leaders who refused to reach an agreement with him and the Crown. At the end of the period, fifteen executions were reported. The last victim to be found was Maria Felixovna Yoskoeva, who retreated to her country estate abroad when she heard about the Baron de Jossclaude's death. Rumours that ran through the Empire reported Sir Sebastian O'Farrell, Seraphim Disterra, and Lady Carmen Manssur agreed to make their businesses vassals to Lord de Hornè's trafficking network. Between three and five more leaders fled the country before they could be found. Many say they are all aristocrats who relocated to the nearby Kigdom of Lightmaple, where they were granted asylum by the Queen, who maintains a close friendship with the Emperor, so it is presumed she keeps him informed of their whereabouts. Members of the main branches of the Schechwerl & Co criminal group have reportedly scattered about the country and are supposedly actively looking for them.

Later life and death

Walter quietly maintained the underground distribution of narcotics afloat until his death. He died in 2007 at his country estate, Sklow Hamlet. He died before seeing his dream of the viscountcy being raised into a countship come true. On Walter's death, his son Randolph inherited Schewcherl & Co, which he ran for six years until his death at the end of January 2015. The business was subsequently inherited by Stephen, Randolph's elder son. The latter's brother, Lord Hans, reportedly runs it until Stephen comes of age, although he is allegedly well aware of the drug empire he's inherited and is learning how to administer it.