Member
Grijs
County of Zhaochen
Geography and people:
|Geographical Location of CLIQUE:| The county of Zhaochen lies within Zhendao region, encompassing a territory tretched over three major cities and several villages, and minor outposts.
|Cities:| Zhaolao, Xi'yan, and Caoroi lie within Zhaochen borders. Several villages, and minor cities, dot the landscape, but these three cities are the only influence on which the Count of Zhaochen may barter influence in the faction (outside of performance).
Your Warlord:
|Name:| Jacob Hecke
|Title:| Advisor-General
|Age:| 41
|Ethnicity:| Geisel
|Personal Ideology:| Democratic Authoritarianism
|Influence in the faction:| 9%
|Personality:| Stern yet humoristic. Cold, yet somehow warm at the touch of sensitivity. Jacob is a foreigner, isolated by virtue of his birth, not only in Zengrav, but also in his homeland due to the consequences of his retreat from the Reich. Having found himself wanted, his sense of caution is crumbling, yet his risk-taking demeanour never seems to fade. Smart and reputable amongst those who know his skills, Jacob has proven capable of running the county of Zhaochen, even if only behind the curtains. His military accomplishments have granted him at least a little credit, and he makes it known in his own way. Shame that due to his foreign birth, most of the credit falls at the feet of others.
|His/Her Virtue:| Skilled militarist. Jacob grew up in the Reich, and graduated through the rigorous military academy with reliable honours. Honours of which mean nothing here, but his skills are still noteworthy on the field of battle.
|His/Her Virtue:| Problem-solver. Puzzles, chess, and more local games; all of which Jacob finds interesting. Given little time, he finds the routine, and beats the game. But in the mind of Jacob, why can only games be games? Surely, reality is its own game to be mastered, as is the battlefield.
|His/Her Sin:| Excruciating pain. Born with an uncommon genetic disease before thought too remote for Geisel Reich to worry about, Jacob was forced to amputate his right leg and left foot in order to ensure a relatively longer life. Forced to walk with cane and pump medicine for the rest of his life, Jacob must cope. However, the bad news do not yet end there, for his lifespan is shortened by virtue of his condition, and he lives life in a similar manner.
|History and Background:|
The title of the county of Zhaochen was initially granted upon the first wielder as a titular honour, lacking material weight. It was a title forced upon political prisoners of high esteem to at least try and appease foreign enemies of peaceful negotiations. When Zengrav underwent the first reorganization, upon the creation of the region of Zhendao, the county of Zhaochen was organized under it in a material manner for the first time in history.
Now, hundreds of years later, the aristocratic dynasty of Ye has managed to lie claim to the territory for several centuries of history. During the rise of the Ye Dynasty, it held dominion over much of the Zhendao region, and even some territory in regional neighbourhoods. But the dynasty suffered when its paternal head died suddenly in the middle of an inheritance scandal, leaving the original family with little left but their ancestral claim on the Zhaochen area.
Whilst individually more powerful than its neighbours in the sense that it holds claim over three sizable cities, the family of Ye has suffered great shame at the head of families now lost to time.
Trying to make their own history in the light of this new era, the Ye family allied itself to the Royalists out of little reason but to maintain their societal status and political importance in the face of newer, more foreign governments. To ensure safety, they hired not only foreign advisors, but also mercenaries to maintain their borders. Best of which, Jacob Hecke, who has now become the pillar on which the faction stands.
|Armed Forces:|
Most of Zhaochen's power comes from their economy, one of which is relatively stronger when compared to its neighbours. But under Jacob Hecke's influence, several revolutionary methods of maintaining military and formation cohesion have been made to ensure Zhaochen's economy may remain a source of future political influence. Through use of mass-levies, eco-militaristic policies, and military culture, the armies of Zhaochen are comparatively adept at their task.
Whilst most soldiers are levies in any given military formation, actual 'levies' are denoted by their green eyes for warfare. Inexperienced in the matters of life and death in the fields of gruesome slaughter, they rely on stronger, more experienced eyes for guidance. Equipped by the state only during their first campaign, their forced to either adapt or perish.
Skilled in the arts of war through matters of experience, regulars have been through the deeds of war through and through several times over. Veterans of the battlefield, they have managed to accrue themselves either fame or fortune, allowing them to either barter or outright purchase their way to better arms and armour. Often times skilled at teamwork, or simply experiencing the matters of war with the same group of people over and over, a regular is a capable combatant both in formation warfare and close quarters chaos.
Personal bannermen, permanently employed by the governing family of Ye to maintain guard around the region and to ensure that safety and peace reigns within. Their duties have, over the passing of time, become those more commonly entrusted by an offensive military force. Capable of striking with great ferocity, and retreating with unquestionable haste in times of need, the Personal Guard, or Household Guard, have become a ferocious force to oppose.
The final favour Jacob Hecke made before closing all relation or communication with his now distant home was that of a friendly agreement. But in these times, an agreement between friends can become an agreement worth its weight in flesh and blood. The Volunteer Guard is comprised of a political movement of which Jacob Hecke and his friend, co-founder Kristof Heisenrüddel, organized during their time in the Geisel Reich Military Academy. Built on the backs of officers, soldiers, and elite fighters, they all ventured on with Jacob after Kristof and him broke up the group. Through donations made by their individual families, small and big, the volunteer guard has become the most elite form of military unit that the County may utilize, comprising a total of 1200 soldiers equipped with arms and armour otherwise foreign to the royal court and its arsenals save for their very best.
|Their finest hour:|
Here came the fools of yore, and so too shall future's fools come before us. Behold now, as the earth rips apart, and as the skies come crashing down. Bear now, the fate of fools, for nations come rushing on, and so too shall they succumb.
The battle had raged on for four weeks, neither side seeing much gain in their attempts to wrestle victory from the hands of the other. However, it was first with the arrival of Jacob Hecke, advisor-general from Zhaochen further beyond the horizon northwards. In his entourage he had brought reinforcements, but he was not the only one. The enemy, the reds, had brought along fodder of their own, but this time Jacob would spend no time prodding the enemy's weaknesses with expendables.
In his shadow he had brought along the best. His own men and women, soldiers of which he could rely on to carry the day and bring the flag of Zhaochen on the opposing side.
---
With a quick limp, and a sudden twitch of his left arm, Jacob brought himself stumbling down the steep rockface. He endured the pain, he was used to it to some degree, to ensure he would get the best view of his soldiers crushing the spineless reds and bringing their advances to a halt.He had already issued the plans, and made the arrangements. All that was left now, was to observe as his soldiers came back home victorious.
He seated himself along a suitably shaped rock, falling down on it with a thud, groaning slightly as he could feel the friction echoing his entire body. At his flank was his communications operative, a Minga woman with an 'uppity' perplexion to the frontlines.
He shouted out, in his broken and frankly miserable interpretation of the Zengravi language. The woman jolted at his speech, gleering at him in a somewhat insulted manner, before being caught off-guard by the sudden roaring of the volunteer guard's machine guns blaring off at the enemy trenches. "Come over here," Jacob said, waving over to his side, "I could use some company."
"I'd rather stay here!" She shouted at him, adamant on their distance. It would seem even the Zengravi royalist xenophobia wasn't exclusive to the regal-class. Everywhere he went, he was shunned, if not for his cane, then for his accent, or his demeanour. It was tiring, so he retorted, "I'm not particularly dangerous... C'mere, it's safe."
The woman was unsure of how to respond, the man in to his side was behaving in a rather unusual manner, especially for someone sitting at the edge of the battlefield, surrounded by friend and foe alike. Her uncertainty was apparent, so Jacob raised his voice again. "Don't worry, the Black have this entire mountain secured. Can't be more than fifty meters between us an the closest lookout." She moved closer, taking a homely seat at a rock adjacent to Jacobs.
The two of them looked across the battlefield. It was a mess, ramshackled trenches, improvised firing lines, and disorderly formations and hierarchy. The weeks of fighting had made its presence known, with hundreds of craters, mud, and corpses littering the battlefields two fronts. There was an anomaly, however. A formation of soldiers rushing towards the red lines from black trenches. They avoided every obstacle, even rushed straight through some, and came crashing down on their opponents who had been rushing a frantic defensive effort to hold them off.
To the Reds' dismay, the enemies they had opposed were those of the volunteer guard. Armed enough to ram straight through most gunfire without much worry, the hammer had met its anvil, and the Red trenches had been pierced.
Distant gunfire and audible screaming had made that fact known, not only to Jacob and his communications officer, but also to the enemy and the allied fronts. At the back of the Volunteer charge, the rest of the royalist forces came rushing, charging at the opposing trenches with reinvigoured perseverence. Their screams inspired those next to them, and soon, the entire army was charging at their enemies. Where those who faced troubles failed, their neighbours charged in, and thus they fed the failed charge with their own success, breeding further progress.
Before the day was done, the operation, operation thunderstrike, had become a massive success, gaining large swathes of territory in the region, and proving a good method for the accumulation of prisoners and other fugitives. The conflict was over before the sun had reached midday, taking a total of four hours to reach its completion.
Whilst the efforts of Jacob Hecke had been recognized in the personal construction of the stratagem in question, most of his glory was stolen from him by Minga officials and generals.
|Their darkest hour:|
"You are an idiot!"
"You'd have thought I'd have taught you at least something in my endless hours spent teaching you everything from ethics to local politics and social hierarchy!
"These are things that you should know, not me! Why can't you just accept the things that I endlessly keep beating into your head without any sense of understanding..."
The Count sat quiet before his assemblage of government officials and generals. The foreigner kept on the barrage, his ceaseless insults cutting deep wounds in the mind of the Count of Zhaochen. However, suddenly, the psychological assault stopped just as the throne room gates burst open with a loud bang.
The man before him, who had shouted his lungs into disrepair, was Jacob Hecke. However, the newly arrived had not been such a familiar sight. In fact, it was someone new entirely.
The man quickly halted, raising his head to his majesty, the Count.
"Your Grace, under authority of the Heavenly Emperor, your fiefs Quayan and Quayao will be confiscated as reparation for your acts during the Southern Conflict against the forces of the Blue-Shirt movement. The Heavenly Emperor hopes you will accept this humble punishment and better your efforts in upcoming campaigns!"
The man put a truly massive scroll, in accordance with traditional legal and judicial customs on this national scale, and turned around, before equally suddenly walking out with rapid, frisk steps.
Jacob and everyone else in the assembly were stunned.
Before long, screams and accusations were thrown from every which way at the foreigner who had come promising success and progress for the Ye family.
Jacob was distraught, he had thought he had left the Southern Front a victor, having vanquished not only the reds, but also the blues, during his latest expedition.
What was beyond his sight, however, was that with the vacation of his forces from the black-blue frontline, a vacuum too big to fill had been created, and the blues took advantage of it to the best of their ability.
|Other Important People inside the Clique:|
- Count Yan Ye of Zhaochen.
- Baron Xi Ye of Zhaolao.
- Baron Ye Ye of Xi'yan.
- Baron Cao Ye of Caoroi.
(more to come)
