- "Eden is, and always will be, my Jewel."
- ―Griffin
Eduardo Griffin was a long term figure in the government of Yridia IX, serving as the governor of Eden City. He was once known as a man who would do almost anything to gain influence and personal power and nothing to risk losing it. More recently, his attitude changed, resulting in punishment from the sovereign he once served and later culminating in his death.
Personal life
Early life
Griffin was known as a disagreeable but intelligent man.
Eduardo was born on Coruscant to Paul and Carrey Griffin in 17 BBY. His father was an immigrant from Corellia while his mother was a local to the urban planet. He had one sister, who died soon after birth along with his mother.
Paul raised his son in a government sponsored apartment, within five minutes from his work as an advisor to one of the Emperor's many bureaucrats.
Education
During the final years of the Galactic Empire, before the fall of Emperor Palpatine, Griffin attended the Diplomatic Institute. He clashed with a number of his professors, whose views were polar opposite of his own, but managed to externally skew his belief; a skill which later aided him in rocketing through positions in the government of his home planet.
During his time at the university, he met the woman who would later become his wife, Fiona Verheart. The pair had numerous vocal altercations while in the privacy of their respective apartments. In public, however, the couple formed a picture of perfection; everyone close to them thought that they were happy together, which only enhanced Griffin's public image.
Griffin graduated at the top of his class with a degree in Consular and Defense Diplomacy.
Political Life
An Opening
Griffin, thanks to a combination of his father and his studies, gained an internship within his father’s office in 1 ABY. He adapted quickly to the stark differences to what he had learned during his studies and how the real world operated under the Galactic Empire. By 3 ABY, Griffin was appointed as the Empire’s ambassador to the Yridia system and relocated to Eden City on Yridia IX. This was to be Griffin’s first long term trip off of Coruscant and away from his father.
When the Empire fractured a year later and with the ushering in of the New Republic, very little changed for Griffin except for whom he reported to on Coruscant. He had no strong feelings about the change in power as long as the currency received was still usable for the niceties he had grown to enjoy.
A Dark Presence
Griffin continued to work in Yridia IX's government and made powerful allies in the system. He planted his fingers into a number of lucrative deals, legal and illegal. It wasn’t until 19 ABY that he noticed subtle changes in the government and who was leading it. Key players mysteriously disappeared from office and others were elevated to take their place. The notable of these changes was the removal of the Governor, who had held the position for ten years. No one was initially promoted to the post, and a state of unrest within the government settled in. Power plays were made for the office by many figures, including Griffin himself, but a vote never went to the public.
In the last weeks of 19 ABY, an off-worlder arrived on Yridia IX, sporting official documentation with the seal of the New Republic that named him the new Governor. No one protested the forced placement, and the tension in the city seemed to settle. Eduardo, however, couldn’t stifle the nagging feeling he was beginning to have, that something deeper and more mysterious was afoot in the Yridia system.
Governorship
Eduardo Griffin takes the office of Governor.
The dark truth about Clan Tarentum’s control of the system and the Brotherhood’s existence was revealed to Griffin by the Governor, who was actually an associate of the clan, in 23 ABY. He was offered Governorship during the same meeting, having been told that he would in effect be nothing more than a well paid figurehead. He accepted the proposition an hour later and was confirmed as holding the office the following day.
The first major issue faced by Griffin while he was in office was the Yridian Revolt in 24 ABY, of which he informed Tarentum officials as soon as he caught wind of it. He also secretly supplied information to the Yridian people, hoping that by playing both sides he would retain power regardless of the outcome. After the incident was resolved, he made a show of persecuting anyone he could lay blame on for their part in the revolt, hoping that it would increase his favor with the secretive clan and in turn the size of his pay packet. Around 29 ABY to 30 ABY, however, his viewpoints and motives began to change.
Power Plays
Griffin’s time as Governor saw a number of wars and conflicts brought to the system because of Clan Tarentum’s presence there. Overtime, he grew resentful of the work this placed on his desk in the form of having to find more money to give to the clan to help them rebuild and recover. This also included imposing taxes on the citizen population, which affected his approval ratings as well as the clan's.
The Governor, unbeknownst to Tarentum, sized up the clan through external reports and intelligence. His ultimate aim was to take advantage of the clan's weaker military structure and overall size, hoping to manipulate its leaders for governmental gain by implying a second revolt. This was quite a change from his former demeanor, as he was usually loyal to Tarentum despite his occasional secret dealings and requests for tax hikes and loans.
After the Ninth Great Jedi War, Griffin met with several Tarenti to discuss new taxation on his city and made his veiled threats. They were not received well, as Tarentum leaders threatened to level the city if Griffin did not cooperate. Unbeknownst to all of them, an attack would actually occur, as a PCL 27 freighter crashed and subsequently exploded on Yridia IX's surface, destroying a large amount of Eden City.
Exile
Convinced by the crafty Stanson Rend that Tarentum was responsible for the crash on Eden City, Griffin arranged for mercenaries to find the Tarenti who remained on the planet and arrest them or kill them. Little did Griffin know that he was playing right into Rend's scheme, and the head of the most prominent criminal family in Eden accused the governor of treason, shooting him in the kneecap so he would not escape. Left with the choice of death or exile, Griffin chose the latter, as Rend's men forced him onto a ship that transported him out of the Yridia system.
Griffin returned to Coruscant a bitter man. His wife, exiled like he was, tried to comfort him, but the man soon resorted to drinking and gambling after days of attempting to find a seat in the government again. He continued to plot revenge on Tarentum and Stanson, who had assumed the position of Eden's governor since Griffin's departure.
Finally, he found a way back to the Yridia system. With the help of Tarenti Ronovi Tavisaen Tarentae's brother Yaske, he hired various fighters to seize the government building. With Stanson held in his office, all looked hopeful for Eduardo until Ronovi and her fellow Tarenti slaughtered the Elites, including Yaske, leaving Stanson free to attack. Stanson used the same blaster he had used to disable Eduardo to kill him, burying a bolt into his brain and letting him die without anyone seeming to notice or care.
Trivia
- Despite Windos's best efforts to make a suitable first name, the name "Eduardo Griffin" simply makes Tarentum members think of Family Guy - particularly, one episode, when the broken penis of Michaelangelo's David flies through Peter's boss's window, who grasps it in his surprised hands and exclaims, "I shall call you Eduardo!" Members have their suspicions that the episode is actually where Windos got the name to begin with.