Respitian General Stellisten: Year 466 By Imperator-Zor Watch

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Of all the military commanders of the 5th century after landfall few are as well regarded as General Dellist Stellisten of the Respitian League Army. The son of a prominent merchant family in Respite City, he was compelled into taking a commission by his father under threat of disownment in 422 at age 16 as a punishment for a scandal involving the (married) daughters of one of the senior Stellisten's business partners. He took to his military career surprisingly well despite a few disciplinary issues during training and got his first taste of combat in 426 in southern pacification efforts in the Bog Mountains. Even so he made his name known two years latter in the third war between The Respitian League and the Five Cities' Federation.



In this conflict Stellisten proved himself in a couple of engagements as a captain before being promoted to major and leading a force which made heavy use of Bog Mountain scouts and a company of elite Longbowmen (one of the league's greatest military resources despite the time required in training them) in addition to two more common companies of pikemen and and arquebusiers to considerable success, executing a number of daring attacks against the Federation's invasion forces despite their superior numbers. A peace treaty was struck in 430 and during said time, the major got involved in expanding the training regimens and improving the organization and training of not only his combat troops, but also the attached support personnel such as the supply department and medical teams. Stellisten proved his ability to lead an army and to properly administrate it as well. These efforts came which came 444 the League invaded the Federation after repeated violations of the terms of said treaty. In this conflict Stellisten showed his innovation again by his innovative use of artillery as not only siege weapons or castle defenses, but as offensive field pieces. At the battle of Wombat Ridge, he led an army of 2,600 men to victory against 7,700 League soldiers (including some of their elite guard) most famously by having well positioned cannons fire right into the Federal Army's flanks is the most famous victory of this war, though the Duck Lake raid and the Shattering of the Six Battalion should not be overlooked. In any case, in no small part due to Stellisten's tactical genius within 3 years the Five City's Confederation had suffered a defeat which they never fully recovered from.



In general Stellisten had a fondness for fighting at a range, drawing his enemies into traps and delivering focused attacks on specific points to undermine the whole of their army. These could be green recruits who would be quick to panic and rout, elite forces who posed a particular risk or simply individuals who were at critical points in the enemy's formations. While he was not much of a cavalry commander, he was good at selecting those that were in his subordinates and incorporating them into his plans. While many of his contemporaries had absolute confidence in the Push of Pike he had little enthusiasm for pikes and polearm armed troops, usually regarded as the decisive winners as secondary elements who existed to protect ranks of missile troops and as a means of delivering a coup de gras. He often used long linear formations to bring the maximum amount of musket fire he could to bear.



In 464, the Respitian League pledged support to the Darristonian Republic in it's latest war against the Kingdom of Haven. Stellisten was dispatched with an army of 4,000 soldiers including 800 Longbowmen and some of the kingdom's best artillerymen. The addition of these reinforcement was a major boon to the Darrenstonian forces who before his arrival were being pushed back from previously taken territory. Two weeks after his arrival he'd halted a Royal Army Advance at battle of Frenkshold and gave the Darrinstonians the opertunity to recover. After seven months a joint Darrenstonian/Respitian army was back on the march east, breaking through the Havanese lines and pressing onwards with the hopes of taking the city of Haven (despite Stellisten's insistence that the more prudent course of action would be to move about a hundred miles or so east to consolidate their foothold in said region) which after seven weeks they reached and besieged. The biggest disaster happened when their supply lines were cut by the Royal Havenese Navy using warships built in the south as Havenese reinforcements came in along the Haven River. General Stellisten fell six days latter at the battle of Horn Reach as he and his remaining men 3,200 men fought against 25,000 Havenese Regulars and Knigths to allow 12,200 Darrenstonian soldiers to fall back to positions they could hold. He held out for four days and managed to inflict 4,400 casualties on the Havense Army in doing so. An action which allowed the Republic to maintain it's foothold. In total about 209 members of that expedition would ever return home.



The Respitian Army would never be as capable as it was after Stellisten's death. Especially since a fair number of his best staff died with him. While it did remained generally capable and most of institutions were kept around afterwards and the Artillery Corps would retain a lot of his improvements, they were often undermined by a growing level of corruption in it's officer's corps as the gap between rich and poor in the League expanded. Some of which was deliberately encouraged as the League's rulers became fearful of the prospect of a coup. Some have argued that the course of history of the continent would have gone considerably differently had Stellisten lived longer and helped keep things up to snuff.

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