Osa Tusk (born c. -50, died -18)
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679 Craven Coltal Candoam, C.[]
"Coltal and Gibral Anyly Adesican eventually asserted control over the legions and their rival commanders, but the flight of Barbar and the temporary relief from his strategy had allowed Naechis to regroup and rearm. Osa Tusk had assumed command of the army along with Inachiron, Roam's old enemy who had fled from Kyraspa in the early stages of the war."
"Tusk and Inachiron drew the Roamans, eager for a battle rather than petty raiding, into a battle on unfavourable ground at Sabas. Inachiron's expert use of elephants helped rout the Roaman legions. Seeing that the battle — and the campaign — was lost, Coltal surrendered."
"The ransom paid was enough to re-ignite the Naechisian war effort, supporting the hiring of mercenary forces from Issycria and beyond Meder and buying the loyalty of tribes in the Crylaltian interior. Coltal returned to Roam in disgrace, widely derided as craven for not taking his own life and thus costing Roam — already in a precarious position due to the revolts of the provinces — many of the gains that it had made over the past eight years."
865 Young Sural Pavinny Ops, S.[]
"Osa Tusk and Inachiron had united many of the tribes of the Crylaltian interior against Roam and Kyraspa, and most agreed that the coming campaign would be decisive, with both Roam and Naechis stretched to breaking point."
"The campaigning season was moderately successful, with Machyal making steady territorial gains along the Crylaltian coastline, but unable to draw Osa Tusk or his Crylaltian allies into a pitched battle. Progress was halted by the sudden death of Hyberital Barbar Adesican in Roam, throwing the peace agreement from the end of the civil war into disarray. Machyal returned to Roam to have himself confirmed as suffect Consul, and — much as when Barbar himself had left Pricia to defend Roam at the outbreak of the Provincial War — his commanders fell into squabbling in his absence. Sural counselled the Marshals Tantal Voriel-Cuinsal Juctor and Trassidyal Juctor Qualens against their vainglorious expedition into the Crylaltian interior, which resulted in the almost total destruction of an entire legion in a trap set by Osa Tusk and the native Crylaltians. Once again, nobody listened to Sural."
"As Machyal Sarevir-Machyal Voriel had not been able to bring Osa Tusk to battle in Crylalt, he turned his gaze to Pricia. The previous year, Inachiron had been assassinated in Naechis whilst beseeching the Council for more support for their campaign, so Machyal hoped to strangle Naechis itself and cut off support for the wily general from what was clearly a divided leadership. Sural accompanied him, never shying away from advising or critiquing Machyal's plans or constitutional arrangements. The forces defending Naechis-Beast rashly sallied forth in an attempt to catch Machyal's invasion force off-guard, but allowed themselves to be caught in a vulnerable position at Koumys. Following a comprehensive victory over this inexperienced and badly commanded army, Machyal took a cue from Inachiron himself and began to burn the wells of Naechis-Beast rather than attempt to storm the city itself. Sural advised Machyal to execute all of the prisoners taken in this offensive without question, not only because the expeditionary force was ill-supplied and living off enemy land as it went, but because it would demoralise the Pricians that were sworn to Naechis.
The devastation of Pricia lasted for two years before Naechis succumbed to defeat. Sural took a leading role in negotiating the surrender terms of the city, insisting to Machyal that anything short of crippling their enemy would result in repercussions within a generation. He even suggested in private that the Roaman army should disregard diplomatic convention and notions of decency and burn the city of Naechis to the ground while it had the chance."
"Machyal was accused of hurrying the negotiations in order that he would be declared the conqueror of Naechis before elections could be held in Roam to allow a challenger to swoop in for his glory, but the peace deal was still perceived by the Naechisians to be a humiliating and undeserved admission of total defeat, particularly while Osa Tusk still commanded an undefeated army in Crylalt."
975 Old Degnal Voriel-Otibryal, C.[]
"Degnal returned to the sea, determined not to let the territorial gains of the past several years be undermined by internal squabbling drawing manpower away from the front line. Since the start of the Provincial War, Osa Tusk and Inachiron had routed the Roaman legions remaining in Pricia under Craven Coltal Candoam and Gibral Anyly Adesican, and defeated the Kyraspans defending the Kyraspan Strait. The Roaman fleet in the Dedissan Sea was constantly manoeuvring and counter-manoeuvring with the Naechisian fleet, supporting and harassing the armies in Crylalt, waiting for favourable conditions for a decisive battle."
"Degnal's detachment reinforced the Roaman fleet with several additional squadrons of ships that had been constructed in Scalify. Ambyal Voriel Candoam was commanding the fleet as Marshal, and decided that the balance of power in the theatre had swung in Roam's favour. He drew up half of the entire Roaman fleet between the Sycadine islands south of Crylalt, and set the other half to blockading Sycadram, a major city on the Dedissan Sea that Tusk and Inachiron had established as their supply port in Crylalt.
The Naechisian fleet came to the aid of Sycadram, anticipating that the Roamans would disengage rather than fight a battle with the land to their backs in unfavourable winds. The Roamans did not disengage, however, but held a deepening "anvil" line that drew the Naechisians in, led by Degnal. The Roaman "hammer" line, led by Ambyal, swept in from the Sycadine Stacks and outflanked the Naechisians.
Even with their strategic advantage over the Naechisians, the battle was a fine run thing. The Naechisians were still far superior seamen, and manoeuvred quickly to avoid the worst of the flanking attack, and many managed to stay out of the reach of the Spydoron Beaks that the Roamans were so reliant upon for a good while. Several squadrons of Naechisians managed to ram their way through the Roaman lines and flee the battle or attack from the rear, causing the initial lines of battle to descend into chaos. The naval engagement was the largest in known history, with in excess of three hundred ships and one hundred and fifty thousand men on each side. The Roamans lost fifty-seven ships and in excess of thirty thousand men, whereas the Naechisians lost more than seventy ships, with an additional hundred and four captured. Some fifty thousand Naechisians died, with an additional fifty thousand captured. It was the deadliest day of the Crylaltian War for either side, and largely overlooked in Roam due to the Civil War."
"While Degnal had returned to Roam for the funeral, the Naechisian fleet attempted to break out of the harbour at Naechis-on-the-Sea, and was nearly completely destroyed by the Consul Pampal Barbar Qualens. Deprived of a navy, its vassals abandoning it and unable to feed its citizens, Naechis sued for peace with Moody Machyal Sarevir-Machyal Voriel."
1054 Scruval Qualens, C.[]
"The gains of Inachiron and Osa Tusk in the south and the interior, where they managed to unify a confederation of tribes, threatened to roll back all of the Roaman gains since the beginning of the year. The sense of the turning tide and being abandoned by the politicians squabbling in Scalify caused morale in the legions to plummet, and Scruval and his fellow Officers had to resort to harsh disciplinary procedures to keep order from completely unravelling. "
"The loss of a legion led by Tantal Voriel-Cuinsal Juctor and Trassidyal Juctor Qualens into a trap set by Osa Tusk in the Crylaltian Interior distracted Scruval from his proposal as he spent much of the remainder of the year helping to organise the raising of a replacement legion and seeing to its supply needs. His colleagues in Roam were impressed by his diligence, and the new legion was in Crylalt training under Machyal before the harvest. "
1174 Proud Machyal Sarevir-Machyal, C.[]
" The Naechisians under Osa Tusk and Inachiron had defeated the Kyraspans defending the Kyraspan Strait, and were rolling back hard-won Roaman gains in Crylalt while the focus of Roam was in Scalify."
"Hyberital Barbar Adesican could not afford to take advantage of Machyal's mistake, however, as he needed to divert forces back to Crylalt to counter the moves of Osa Tusk and Inachiron, who had begun to unite the tribes of the Crylaltian Interior against the Roaman-held coasts."
"During the first campaigning season in Crylalt, Moody Machyal's forces made gains retaking cities and towns along the coastlines of the continent, but could not draw Osa Tusk and Inachiron out of the more barren interior, where they had skilfully unified a confederation of fiercely independent tribes against the Roaman occupation. Proud Machyal shared in his father's frustration, and learned to respect the tribal riders who struck out of the interior at overextended points in the Roaman lines and then melted away. To attempt to stymie the free movement of these attacks, Moody Machyal began to construct a series of walls and forts around the hem of the interior, with spokes radiating outwards to partition each city into its own theatre. Proud Machyal's husband Anylyal was placed in charge of the project, which was aided by the input of the great Kyraspan inventor Spydoron, inevitably earning the wall the name of the Spydoron Web.
Moody Machyal's campaigning season was interrupted by news of the sudden death of Hyberital Barbar Adesican in Roam. Afraid of what might arise from the political vacuum given the fledgeling political alliance with Vulgar Renyal Sarevir Juctor and Barbar's allies in the Senate, Moody Machyal returned to Roam to seek appointment as the suffect Consul. Proud Machyal remained in Crylalt, where Moody Machyal's lieutenants fell into petty squabbling. Proud Machyal and his husband Anylyal advised caution and consolidation behind the new walls until Moody Machyal returned, as did Young Sural Pavinny Ops, who had been an irritant in the camp since the end of his term as Sentinel. The Marshals Tantal Voriel-Cuinsal Juctor and Trassidyal Juctor Qualens, who believed that Osa Tusk had overreached himself in an attempt to take advantage of Moody Macyhal's absence, led a legion into the Crylaltian Interior to cut off Tusk's forces. The jaws of Tusk and Inachiron's trap snapped shut, and the legion was scattered across the wastes and mountains to be picked off one by one by the barbaric natives. Moody Machyal, upon his return from Roam, was furious at the loss of the men he had hardened into a fighting force, and the sloppy leadership of Tantal and Trassidyal which had cost them their lives. When Vulgar Renyal suggested that Tantal be appointed as Consul for the second year of their arrangement, Moody Machyal rashly agreed so that the man would be out of his sight. He softened towards Young Sural, offering the man command of an army, in which Proud Machyal served as second-in-command. Hoping again to draw Tusk into battle or foment strife amongst the confederated tribes, Moody Machyal embarked on a multi-pronged series of brutal raiding incursions from behind the walls of the Spydoron Web into the interior. Young Sural and Proud Machyal oversaw the burning of what meagre fields and villages existed in those lands."
"Osa Tusk was not drawn to battle, nor did the tribes of the interior abandon him, but Inachiron was lynched by jealous councillors in Naechis whilst attempting to secure support for Tusk's forces and co-ordination with their potential Issycrian allies. Confident that Tusk's army could not effectively break past the Spydoron Web, yet unable to commit to a long-term incursion into the unforgiving interior, Moody Machyal instead turned his attention to Pricia itself, emboldened by the infighting evident in Naechis."
"The raiding of Pricia continued for over a year. In Crylalt, Osa Tusk broke through the Spydoron Web and attempted an assault of Kyraspa, which would have threatened to cut off Moody Machyal's expedition force, but luckily Spydoron's incredible machines helped defend the great city. When Trassidyal Juctor Qualens attempted to catch Tusk's forces before they could escape Kyraspan lands, he was captured. Vulgar Renyal offered safe passage for Osa Tusk back to Naechis as part of the negotiations for the ransom of Trassidyal, but the Naechisian general refused."
"Moody Machyal was accused of hurrying the negotiations in order that he would be declared the conqueror of Naechis before elections could be held in Roam to allow a challenger to swoop in for his glory, but the peace deal was still perceived by the Naechisians to be a humiliating and undeserved admission of total defeat, particularly while Osa Tusk still commanded an undefeated army in Crylalt."
"Moody Machyal acquired assurances from Naechis and Osa Tusk that the treaty would stand by overseeing the transport of Tusk's army back to Pricia as a show of good faith. The army was not asked to surrender, but afforded the honours due to its status as an undefeated force, though Osa Tusk himself was taken prisoner by Moody Machyal in exchange. Proud Machyal dined with Tusk fairly often during the war, eager to learn from an undisputed military mind, and grew to like the man, hoping that the gods would spare him from being trampled by Roam-Beast. Moody Machyal then left Pricia for Crylalt, though not without hiring a force of Mughannean horsemen who had proven themselves equal if not superior in their abilities and courage to those of the best Sarevirs."
" Moody Machyal, Proud Machyal and their captive commander Osa Tusk, who enjoyed discussing strategy with them over dinner, agreed that their forces needed to act decisively or else risk becoming outnumbered."
"Before he left, Proud Machyal watched with a heavy heart as Osa Tusk was crushed beneath the feet of Roam-Beast, lamenting the pointless loss of a keen military mind who might have been able to help Roam in its pacification of Crylalt. The Senate ratified the peace treaty with Naechis, although Naechis itself had fallen into bitter political infighting in the wake of their defeat which — along with the delay between the negotiations and the ratification — undermined the legitimacy of the peace. "