Full Name: Brycen Taylor
Date of Birth: 16th of November, 1768
Nation Affiliation: Merenia
Position: Military (Captain)
Bio:
Born in the County of Hadleigh in 1768, Brycen's early childhood was noted only by the fact that he was a commoner and that he was the youngest of five children. He was a bright commoner at that, however, as he studied locally, taught basic reading and writing along with basic arithmetic by the few locals that could. Scrounging for both learning material and funds as a farmhand, he eventually found the shields to attend a university at the age of 25. He spent two years in a cramped city earning a degree in rhetoric, with a potentially 'promising career in the Parliament' as one of his professors put it. But he did not pursue the career, despite a return to his hometown and a brief month-long campaign, which ended due to the absence of funds. Resident as a local administrator at the age of 27, he often settled the disputes of townsfolk over legal matters, composed documents for locals, and kept track of the town's treasury. He married soon after, and by mid-1794, he had a son on the way.
However, the knowledge of widespread war by mid-1794 drew a tension of the County of Hadleigh, and posters of a unit being mustered, the 'Hadleigh Regiment of Volunteers & Fencibles' as the documents put it, drew many to fight for a shield a day, which was more than most had earned in a month subsisting off the land. Seeing the male population of his town dwindle and the women and older children pick up the plow and tools, Brycen soon took his leave as well, leaving his work to his wife, a woman as literate as he was. His status as a so-called 'intellectual' bore much merit in his rank and pay, as he was initially slotted a Sergeant of Volunteers, but was deemed 'unfit to be a Non-Commissioned Rank', and was given a commission for Cornet, but was then given the rank of Lieutenant and a platoon of his own before the regiment of approx. 550 shipped out.
By 1795 the Hadleigh Fencibles, as they had adopted their shortened name, had joined with the main force of the Royal Army. Assigned swiftly to the Reserve Corps, the regiment spent its time guarding baggage trains, scavenging rations for the army, and, during battles, being part of a third reserve line that would never see action unless the two professional lines broke. The baptism by fire would come in 1798 where the Reserve Corps was given a position within the second line to take the place of a broken professional regiment. Under a hail of cannon and fire, they would not fire a shot before the order had been given to retreat. Having lost 12 of their 550 (4 killed, 8 wounded), the command of the Hadleigh Fencibles were rightly angered and only under threat of desertion were they given a permanent position in the second line with the V Corps.
Years went by and non-noteable skirmishes ticked by. 1801 changed everything. At Ten Fields, the Hadleigh Fencibles and the rest of the V Corps were to hold the extreme left of the Royal Army in order to match the wide line of the opposing Black Army. The Hadleigh Fencibles were given a position along a wheat field against a hill, exposed to fire. However, they performed as ordered. Brycen's platoon, first in the order of B Company, was laid along a fenceline, partially obscured by the tall wheat stalks. The entire regiment bore the brunt of an assault, as did the V Corps. Collapsing under the elite troops of the Black Army, the V Corps was all but destroyed, allowing the Black Army to catch many units of the rest of the Royal Army as they retreated. Of the 550 Hadleigh Fencibles that left Merenia, only 210 remained combat effective. For gallantry, and as one of the only surviving officers, Brycen was appointed Captain of Volunteers, given what was left of the Hadleigh Fencibles as his 'provisional company'. The ensuing reforms saw his company become A Company, 28th Regiment of Foot, and his title became Captain of Infantry. His now vetted troops were given all the luxury of professional soldiers, with the pay rate for each private doubling to two shields a day, and their older musketry being replaced by surplus stock of proper flintlocks.
