Diversion Tactics II.

In the long history of Verdant, with the exception of the elven empire, there have been few countries that had lasted for more than 1000 years. Since the fall of Lefheim only a handful of nations could withstand the pass of time, with new kingdoms rising and falling every couple of centuries.

Being the one of such, the Sorh Dynasty is a country with a rich history. Originally a leftover territory governed by a few elven nobles remnant of the former elven empire, they became an independent "rogue nation" in the eyes of the majority of elves, who, instead of helping in the construction of the new Holy Empire betrayed the high elven nobility (12 former families of Lefheim). This new nation was named as the "Sorhtrass Republic".

Thanks to their great military might, they remained as a strong power in the lands of the northern plains for 3000 years. But after the first holy war, the repubilc was going through a severe crisis result of their defeat in the conflict.

The crisis was further amplified by the great internal turmoil within the republic among the population, all of this caused in part for the customs and culture of the republic, which carried on with many of the ancient and outdated traditions of the elven empire. Slavery and the ideal of racial supremacy were very common in the Sorhtrass Republic, but the republic citizens, in its majority, humans, darkins and daurens were not happy with their treatment.

In a country were you and your progeny are bound to be servants for all eternity to a race of terrible masters, no matter how powerful was not right, add to it that on many of the neighbor nations there were cases of commoners that through their own efforts achieved great merits and became nobles themselves, of became rich, or weren't judged by others if they ever were to have children of mixed race, etc.

Due to the great inequality that existed in their country, the crisis only served as the final straw that broke the camel's back. That eventually, was what brought their downfall, with the reign of the republic ending in the year 248 H.C by the hands of its own citizens, who raised in revolution against the goverment, all of this under the leadership of some minor nobles who in disagreement to those in power, fought side by side with the commoners and the slaves alike in the civil war. After that, from the ashes of the old republic, a new country was formed, the Sorh Dynasty.

Many years later this event that marked the end of the republic was called "the liberation war".

From then on, the Dynasty declared the abolition of slavery and pushed forward for equal rights among all races, and interracial marriage. The first king became and example himself, by taking for a spouse a woman of from a different race.

Having survived for more than 2 millenia and 2 different holy wars, the Sorh Dynasty, like many countries in the northern plains, experienced a population boom.

This led to the crown to take an expansionist approach, resulting in a lot of war for territory in the last 100 years.

The current war with the karg Kingdom is in fact a result of the defeat that they've suffered more than a decade ago. When the recently King Alexander crushed their navy in the north sea. Along with their loss, the only secure trading rute with access to the Antana continent was also lost.

In an attempt to once again reclaim it, the Dynasty bidded their time for 10 years, accumulating their strenght. In proof of their determination, the Dynasty's army gave the commanding position of the operation to Admiral Gerios Barr, known for his fame in the south.

Different from what other people would think, the image of "The Sword of Monaii" portrayed in the rumors, as that of an upright and serious middle aged man with a righteous personality, were in fact, deliberatedly spread by Gerios himself as a way to make his enemies to lower their guard.

Though Gerios upbringing as the son of a merchant allowed him to live a fairly priviledged life, in the Dynasty's army there were very little amount of things the money of his family could've done for him.

To keep the great war machine that the Dynasty's army, thorough the whole country, military service was enforced to all males from the age of 15, leaving it as a choice for women 18 or older. This rule not only applied to commoners, but also nobles and royalty, in the words of the King "everyone has to make sacrifices". Although obligatory, the military service only had a duration of 3 years though, with the option to pursue a carreer within the army as an official, if you decided to leave though, the crown allowed to do whatever you liked under the condition that, if the country to ever face an inminent crisis, you'd be readily aviable as part lf the reserve corps.

For those who decide to remain in the army after service, you'll most probably end up being assigned one of the departments better alligned with your talents and abilities. But even among those who decide to make of the army their life, thing like a promotion are rare, being extremely difficult to make any progress at all, with examples of people that had barely gone up a couple of ranks after decades of service. Even so there almost no one who belived it to be unfair.

Among the most famous slogan in the Sorh Dynasty was:

"There's little to no differences betweend a talented soldier and a mediocre one in the battlefield, only life and death" these word represented the cruel reality of war in the mind of all soldiers, showing how difficult was to even make it out alive. But no everyone was content with just sirviving, and for those who've fought their way up, they belived to contain an even deeper meaning, for only the really talented and capable who'd trodden between life and death, distinguishing themselves from everybody else were truly deserving of their status.

Gerios was also a firm beliver of this ideology, the sirvival of the fittest, that's how he called it. Be it through violence, deception, direct approach or intrincate schemes, everything was considered fair game in his eyes. It was precisely this way of doing things that gained him the appreciation of his superiors.

The Sword of Monaii, was a nickname Gerios got way back in his early years, back then he was known to recklessly lead his troops into enemy lines, cutting through the battlefield like a knife. He the vivid example of cannon fooder, somehow though, he survived every single time.

He didn't really got famous until tye battle of Tandor, where, after the death of his commanding officer, he was forced to take charge of a whole battalion, and despite being seriously outnumbered, he persisted against the vulgonian[1] army. He defended his position for more than 2 weeks by using guerrilla tactics, constantly harassing and ambushing the enemy by making use of their knowledge of the terrain, eventually the efforts of Gerios beared fruit as reinforcements came to his aid and the enemy was defeated, claiming the victory.

[1] Vulgonian as in Vulgos, yes that's a country i have made up, i still haven't decided if its gonna be of any relevance in the future, but hey its something.