Difference between revisions of "Arete Family/Averyll"

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== Overview ==
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{{Character 3
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|image=[[Image:AveryllNew.png|300px|thumb|center|'''Averyll Arete''' commanding the field at the victorious Battle of [[South-East Island/Lesthem|Lesthem]], where the heroic Pontifex Phear was unfortunately killed, after which she was elected as the new Pontifex of [[Toren]].]]
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|name=Averyll Arete
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|age=28
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|class=Mentor
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|realm=Toren
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|island=South-East
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|honour=145
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|prestige=31
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|title=
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|former titles=Pontifex of [[Toren]]<br>Countess of [[South-East Island/Jerelin|Jerelin]]<br>Marshal of the Army of Tor<br>Fiduciary of [[Toren]]
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|history=Began her career in Toren (07.06.06)<br>Appointed as Countess of [[South-East Island/Jerelin|Jerelin]] (09.08.06)<br>Appointed as Marshal of the Army of Tor (11.29.06)<br>Elected as Fiduciary of [[Toren]] (12.27.06)<br>Elected as Pontifex of [[Toren]] (3.17.07)<br>Banned from [[Toren]] by Gheros (07.26.2007, Reason: ''overthrown by a rebellion'')<br>Ban lifted by Gaius Julius (07.27.2007)
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}}
  
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As a mentor, I am responsible for teaching my students the following lessons:
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Whether they adore her for her unfaltering devotion to her realm and religion as well as her success as a strategist and tactician, or they loathe her for her seemingly endless brutality and complete disregard for "the petty quibbles of lesser mortals", Averyll is by far the most (in)famous member of the Arete family, and her name is among the most recognizable on the [[South-East Island]], inspiring fear amongst her enemies and awe amongst allies.  Despite these same qualities, or perhaps because of them, Averyll easily found a home on the war island and has earned herself many nicknames of notoriety.  Her career is likewise marked with many inflections, often directly connected to some of the most important events in the history of the entire island.  Here is her story.
  
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* Recruitment and maintainance of units
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==The Butcher of Lesthem==
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* The chain of command - realm hierarchy, general and ruler
 
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* Basic combat tactics
 
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* Unit settings
 
  
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In other words, I am here to teach you how to be a good soldier, and so this page is dedicated to my students for exactly that purpose. However, I will also try to answer any other questions you might have, such as how <u>[[taxes]]</u> work or what other <u>[[classes]]</u> will be avaliable to you, so please do not hesitate to ask (using the in-game messaging system, of course!).
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Averyll began her career on the South-East Islands in Toren, far away from her family on [[Atamara]]. Like her sister [[Arete Family/Aeryn|Aeryn]], Averyll is very studious, but whereas Aeryn is passionate about the religion, law and other administrative affairs, Averyll's interests are strictly limited to the art of warfare, and so, at the recommendation of Sir Phlex, who was the Count of Washford at the time, Averyll decided to leave her ancestral home for more war-torn realms. In Toren, she met Pontifex Phear, the brother of Sir Phlex, and he appointed Averyll to the command of Jerelin after only two months in Toren, probably due more to the administrative success of her sister than anything Averyll had done herself. Regardless, Averyll soon became Toren's one and only mentor, and many of her students later became very successful leaders in Toren, including the [[Arylon Family|Fisc Arylon]] (who has served as lord, marshal, banker and general), [[Danlawer Family|Gaius Julius]] (who has served as lord, marshal, general and judge), Count Necroid of Neralle and Count Bailyhn of Berakor.  Eventually Averyll's lessons became the canonical texts of the [[Aristoi Atamarism/Academy/Military Studies|Military Studies]] program at [[Aristoi Atamarism/Academy|Aristoi Academy]].
  
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== Units ==
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Averyll's reputation continued to grew, and that right quickly. She was appointed as the Marshal of the Army of Tor, and thus became part of Toren's Military Council. Later, she was elected as Fiduciary of Toren (the only Banker left of SEI), and thus became part of Toren's Advisory Council. Through the combination of these two titles simultaneously, Averyll became intimately familiar with the effects of takeover strategies, and successfully coordinated several takeovers of her own. Her most famous victory was the takeover of Lesthem, which earned her the reputation of being a brilliant military strategist, but the unprecedented brutality she demonstrated there also earned her the nickname "The Butcher of Lesthem". The infamy she earned during the takeover of Lesthem was not only due to her brutality, but also due to the outcome of the last [[Battle of Lesthem]], for it was the battle that ended the life of the heroic Pontifex Phear, and thus brought an end to '''The Golden Age of Toren'''.
  
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Obviously, the first order of business for a soldier is to acquire a unit to fight battles with.  You probably already have a small unit of 20 to 25 men with decent equipment and a little training.  You probably received this unit from your family (extra guards from the family manor I suppose).  Eventually, however, you are going to need to recruit more men.  There are five different kinds of units, each with their own strengths and weaknesses.   
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Averyll was immediately elected as the new Pontifex by the extremely narrow margin of only 3 votes (over Cyperus, Duke of Toren Stronghold), and shortly thereafter retired from her positions as Countess of Jerelin, Marshal of the Army of Tor and Fiduciary of Toren, citing a conflict of interest in both writing policy and implementing policy at the same time. Doing so also created new leadership opportunities for other nobles in the realm. However, the legitimacy of her rule was immediately brought into question.  According to the [[Toren Herald/Issue 1|Toren Herald]], "Shortly following the Averyll's election. Karibash the Great, made a startling speech full of hate and spite directed towards Lady Averyll." More specifically, Karibash, who was a member of Averyll's own Advisory Council at the time, stated that Averyll was too inactive to adequately perform as a ruler and furthermore claimed that his achievements easily matched hers.  Not even 6 hours had passed since the votes had been tallied.  Gheros, who was serving as the Haruspex Maximus at the time, stated that if such harsh words had been spoken against any other ruler, she would impose equally harsh penalties, but since it was directed at Averyll, she would do nothing to enforce order.  The Toren Herald continues, "Averyll, surprisingly doesn't seemed bothered by Karibash and hasn't spared the effort to argue with him." This later proved to the norm for Averyll, who made a point of not participating in the public forum on matters unrelated to the war.  Things soon began to calm down; however, four days after the election, Gheros initiated a referendum calling for a re-election. Her reason for doing so was that Cyperus was in Taselak's prison during the election and thus was unable to effectively campaign for the position. The referendum closed in Averyll's favour by a large margin, thus concluding the debate over her legitimacy, but opposition to her rule continued to grow nonetheless.  And so began '''The Dark Age of Toren'''.
  
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* <b>Infantry</b> - Basic melee unit (can only attack units in the same column of the battlefield).
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==The Tyrant of Tor==
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* <b>Archers</b> - Basic ranged unit (can attack units in adjacent columns, but very weak defense).
 
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* <b>Cavalry</b> - Very effective against other melee units, but weak defense against ranged units.
 
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* <b>Mixed Infantry</b> - A ranged unit that is significantly more effective in melee than archers.
 
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* <b>Special Forces</b> - A melee unit that is very effective against all other unit types.
 
  
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You cannot combine unit types.  It's either all or nothing.  Therefore, it is important to understand how to use each type effectively so that they don't get slaughtered at the outset of every battle.  But before we get to combat tactics and military strategy, lets first worry about how to acquire a unit and, once acquired, how to keep them happy and ready for battle.
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Some consider Averyll's reign as ruler of Toren to be the Dark Age of Toren because they hate and fear her.  One noble of Toren even called Averyll a "wretched whore" (his comments went unpunished, although he was later banned for treason as a result of his involvement in a conspiracy).  However, most consider Averyll's reign to be the Dark Age of Toren because her rule was plagued with, as one noble so eloquently put it, "a greater ill-fortune than any other ruler on any other island at any time in history." The Truth of this statement may be a bit exaggerated; however, it nevertheless remains true that every single crisis that befell Toren during Averyll's reign was initiated not by Averyll herself, but rather by the domestic nobles that hated her and the foreign nobles that feared her.  Regardless, those few malcontents within Toren immediately set themselves against Averyll, and the judge never once attempted to enforce the realm's laws against disobedience and insubordination.  Consequently, this discontent grew into a rebellion, which came to be know as The [[Toren Civil War]].  As hate was permitted to run rampant within the realm, so to did fear immediately set in amongst nobles and leaders outside the realm, not because they knew Averyll well, but rather because they did not know her at all.  Life and death, victory and defeat, had so far been the predictable result of the treaties written by the late Pontifex Phear, and no one outside Toren (and some not even inside Toren) knew whether or not Averyll would uphold the terms of the agreement.
  
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=== Recruitment ===
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When Averyll made it clear that she would honour the precedent set by Phear to support the treaty with Ikalak, King Cronos of Taselak began to coordinate his efforts with the underground rebellion that had been growing in Toren. On April 14th, less than one month after Averyll's election as ruler, the Seperatists declared rebellion. The declaration was timed with the onset of two takeover attempts by Taselak, thus forcing Averyll to choose between defending her realm and defending her crown. Together, the King of Taselak and the Rebel Leader each preached that Averyll had transformed the Toren Theocracy into a Tyranny.  Henceforth, Averyll became known as "The Tyrant of Tor".  But before Averyll could respond, the situation became even more dire.  Despite Averyll's proclamation of her commitment to the Treaty, even in the face of open-rebellion, Prime Minister Maximus of Ikalak doubted her commitment and so he ordered his troops to cease-fire for the duration of the rebellion. Thus, Averyll was forced not only to defend her realm against two simultaneous takeovers amidst open-rebellion, but also to do so without the assistance of allies as promised by the very same treaty she supported.
  
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If tactics and strategy did not play a role in the outcome of a battle, than the only statistic you would ever have to worry about is <b>Combat Strength</b> (usually acronymed "CS"). But tactics and strategy do play a role. It may be helpful to think of combat strength like the term "par" in golf.  Just like "par" is what you should score if you don't make any mistakes (such as hitting the ball into a pond), combat strength is an estimate of how well your unit is capable of performing in battle assuming you don't make any mistakes (such as ordering a unit of archers to charge a cavalry unit).  Let us now take a look at how to recruit the best unit for the money, and later we will discuss how to use that unit to the best of its ability.
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Out-numbered with fewer resources and diminished morale among peasants and nobles alike, Averyll choose to put the realm before herself, and she ordered the troops to defend the regions being taken over by Taselak. Fortunately, the rebellion was defeated despite their effective conspiracy with the enemy ruler. Unfortunately, both takeovers were successful, in part due to the absence of allied forces, in part due to all of the rebels being in the capital instead of on the battlefield.  To make matters worse, two dozen Toren nobles were lost as a result of the rebellion, some for being rebels, others left because they were convinced Toren was about to fall. With the loss of the legendary Phear, as well as two dozen other nobles, having suffered a rebellion and the withdrawal of their ally from the conflict, these were truly the darkest days yet seen in the history of Toren, and yet the darkest had yet to come.
  
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You can only recruit a unit in your realm's capital (unless you are a hero, but that's another lesson entirely).  Below is the information you will be given when you are deciding what unit to recruit. (Note: ranged units, namely Archers and Mixed Infantry, will also have a "range", which equals the number of columns their arrows can "arch" on the battlefield.  Battlefield columns are discussed later.)
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Even though the rebellion was over, Maximus did not lift the cease-fire. Instead, a referendum was called in Ikalak encouraging Maximus to take advantage of Toren's weakened state, betray the Treaty, and end the "boredom" by conquering the island without delay. After quelling the rebellion and orchestrating a strategy to retake the lost regions, Averyll managed to convince Maximus to at least enter into negotiations before abandoning the treaty he had previously begged her to uphold.  Eventually, Maximus agreed to abide by the treaty and even signed an amendment requiring a greater involvement of his forces in the war against Taselak, and so Averyll managed to retain the spirit of the treaty and keep Toren alive. She than declared martial law (i.e. she dictated military strategy instead of the general), retook the lost regions, as well as a couple new regions, and even raised morale, loyalty, and production from the single digits to the mid-nineties in all of the regions that had been decimated by the brutality of the volley between Taselak. Toren was at the peak of its power, and it looked as though Taselak would not last the month. However, on June 15th, Maximus announced for the second time that he intended to break the Treaty.  No warning was given.  No negotiations took place.  The announcement was made, and the attacks immediately began, on two fronts.  It was not long before Toren was once again reduced to a mere handful of regions.
  
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* <b>Troop Name</b> - This is not an important factor.  If you don't like the name, you can change it.
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==The Last Pontifex==
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* <b>Type</b> - You can select any unit type you wish, so long as you don't already have a unit.  If you already have a unit, you can only recruit men of the same type as the unit you already have.
 
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* <b>Train</b> - The higher the better; however, training will improve over time with combat experience and training exercises.  It is one of the most important attributes that factor into combat strength, but since you can improve it after recruitment, it is okay to recruit unit slightly less well-trained as you would prefer in order to save a few gold.  (I tend to recruit men with training between 45% and 55%)
 
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* <b>Equipment</b> - The first number represents the quality of the unit's weapons (their offensive statistic), the second number represents the quality of the unit's armour (their defensive statistic).  These numbers will not change over time (but if you are adding more men to an already existing unit, the equipment value <i>per man</i> will be averaged).  Along with training, this is a very important attribute.  (I tend to recruit men with <i>at least</i> 50% in both, preferably more like 65%).
 
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* <b>Home</b> - The region from which the unit was drafted.  This is not important unless you are a region lord or are otherwise responsible for the administration of the realm.
 
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* <b>Mor.</b> - Morale is an important factor (and reflects the morale of the units home region) but this will change over time, and is fairly easy to improve once recruited.
 
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* <b>Avail.</b> - The number of men avaliable from this recruitment center.  Since you can only recruit from one center at a time, and each time you recruit it costs one hour of your time, this factor is only important if you are short on hours and need more men than are avaliable (unless, again, you are a region lord, etc.).
 
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* <b>Cost</b> - The cost in gold is per 10 men (though you don't need to hire 10 men at a time).  Cost does not factor into combat strength, but higher cost generally corelates with higher combat strength.  The other reason cost is important is because when you are done recruiting the men, you want to make sure you will still have enough money to pay their salaries (so don't spend your life savings on men who will abandon you after a week because you can't pay them!).
 
  
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It is true that with more men in your unit, the higher your units combat strength will be, but what many troop leaders don't realize is that with each man you add to a unit, the combat strength <i>per man</i> decreases.  For example, let's say unit A has 15 men in it, and unit B has 50 men in it, but both units have the same training, equipment, morale, etc.  Unit A may have as much as 25 CS/man, but unit B might only have 10 CS/man.  The reason is that no matter how good a troop leader you are, it is easier to keep 15 men in order than it is to keep 50 in order.  So don't worry too much about always having the largest unit you can get.  Sometimes there are more important things to worry about.
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Once Maximus broke the long-standing Ikalak-Toren Treaty, Duke Cyperus attempted to negotiate a new treaty with Taselak, and he did so without the knowledge, consent or authority required of Averyll.  Mischa, the new ruler of Taselak, refused to consider any terms until Averyll had been removed from office.  Averyll agreed to step down as ruler in order to save the realm, but only after having seen and agreed to the terms of the Treaty that would take place after her resignation.  She stated that her removal from office was the only bargaining chip Toren had to negotiate equitable terms, and furthermore, that if she resigned prior to signing a treaty, Taselak would have no reason to sign any treaty at all.  But Mischa refused to even reply to Averyll's letters, and eventually the nobles of Toren, including Duke Cyperus, were once again plotting rebellion.  However, before Cyperus was able to rally his supporters, Gheros, who was still Haruspex Maximus, initiated the second rebellion.  With her own judge, the person whose job it was to prevent rebellions, against her, Averyll finally gave in.  She ordered that no one join the loyalist forces and instead allow the rebellion to take its course, and with the exception of a few radical loyalists, that is exactly what happened.  The Theocracy was overthrown and Gheros became Queen of the new Kingdom of Toren.  Thus, Averyll became "The Last Pontifex".
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In the beginning, there will be one more factor you should take into consideration, and that is your own personal honour.  Recruitment centers will not allow you to have more men than your honour deems you worthy of leading.  The maximum number of men you are capable of leading is therefore determined by your honour.  As you prove yourself in combat, your honour will increase, and with it so will the willingness of the recruitment centeres to give you more men.  Eventually, your honour will reach a point that they would be willing to give you more men than you would ever want to lead, and so it won't be a problem.  But in the beginning, you will only be able to lead about 30 men at a time.  But don't fret.  I rarely bother with more than 40, and it is not uncommon for me to lead a unit of 20 really good men.
 
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=== Maintainence ===
 
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Once you have a unit, you can check on their stats by either clicking on your name or your units name (both located at the bottom of the screen).  As you look at the unit's stats (in the right hand column) you will notice several statistics that were not present at the recruitment screen (including Combat Strength, which we have already discussed above, and will be discuss in greater detail later).
 
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* <b>Type</b> - The unit type (as discussed above).
 
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* <b>Strength</b> - The number of men in the unit.
 
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* <b>Training</b> - The average percent of training that each man has (also discussed above).
 
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* <b>Weapons/Armour</b> - The quality of the unit's equipment (also discussed above).
 
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* <b>Equipment Damage</b> - As your men engage in activities, any activities, such as traveling or training but most especially in combat, the equipment that your men used gets damaged.  As the equipment gets damaged, the effectiveness of your unit decreases.  Whats worse, as the equipment damage increase, so does the probability that some of your men will be injured (even if they aren't in combat).  Equipment can be repaired in regions with repair centers, and sometimes after a battle you can salvage decent equipment from the dead.
 
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* <b>Morale</b> - Morale will decrease as your men engage in activities they do not like to do, such as traveling far away from home, doing manual labour (i.e. civil work), or watching their friends die in battle.  If morale becomes too low, not only will your combat strength decrease, but your men can abandon you, or even mutiny.  Morale can be raised by allowing your men a few hours of free time, or by entertaining them in a city.
 
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* <b>Cohesion</b> - Cohesion is how well the men in your unit get along with each other.  Cohesion will raise as your men do things together, such as train or get drunk, but most especially as a result of fighting alongside each other.  Unfortunately, you want high cohesion <i>before</i> you fight a battle, so it is not recommended that you rely entirely on battles to raise cohesion.  In addition to improving combat effectiveness, higher cohesion results in decreased probability that your men will retreat from battle.  Everytime someone in your unit dies, there is a chance your men will retreat, but high cohesion reduces that chance.
 
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* <b>Total Combat Strength</b> - This is the statistic that matters most (though as I have already said, it is not the only thing that matters).  Roughly, what it tells you is: if your unit were to battle another unit one-on-one and both you and the other troop leader were to lead your respectives units as they should be led (which almost never happens) than the unit with the highest total combat strength would be the unit to win the battle.  The unit would not emerge unscathed, of course, but it would emerge victorious.  This is not strictly true, as you will see in the tactics section of this lesson, but it is true in general.
 
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* <b>Designation</b> - Unit designation is discussed below in the "Unit Settings" section of this lesson.  For purposes of maintainance, the relevant factor is the amoung of pay the unit expects.
 
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* <b>Last paid</b> - Your men expect to get paid on a regular basis.  If more than 5 days go by without being paid, your men begin to suffer a morale drop.  If you don't pay your men in over a week, even if their morale is high, they might abandon you anyway.  Paying your men will, of course, also cause a small increase in morale, but not if they've already abandoned you.  Moreover, if your men abandon you because you didn't pay them, you will personally suffer a loss of honour.
 
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== The Chain of Command ==
 
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Every realm has two heirarchies: a feudal heirarchy and a military heirarchy.  The feudal heirarchy is led by the ruler of the realm, whereas the military heirarchy is led by the realm's general.  Most nobles belong in some way to both heirarchies.  Every noble (except free and non-aligned nobles) has sworn alliegience to a particular region, which in turn is aligned to a particular duchy, which in turn is aligned to the realm as a whole.  In most realms, the chain of command follows this same path.  Free and non-aligned nobles report directly to the ruler and general.
 
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=== Military Heirarchy ===
 
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* <b>General</b> - The general (often otherwise refered to as the Paladin Primus, High Marshall, or some other such title) is the noble responsible for determining the military strategy of the realm.  He (or she) is usually also the realm's tactician, responsible for coordinating the efforts of the troop leaders on the battlefield.  Most of the orders given to troop leaders will come from the general.  The general works very closely with the ruler so that the military strategy and diplomatic strategy are not only consistent, but hopefully complimentary.  Disobeying the orders of the general will often result in harsh penalties from the realm's judge.
 
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* <b>Marshall</b> - The next position in the military heirarchy is the marshall.  Every realm has one marshall for each duchy in the realm.  Standing orders are provided by the marshall and, in the absense of the general, it is usually a marshall that will be in charge of military affairs.  If your realm has more than one duchy, and therefore more than one marshall, than you report to the marshall assigned to your duchy (however, in the absense of the general, you should treat whichever marshall stands in as if he or she were the general).  Disobeying the orders of your marshall will also usually result in a penalty from the judge, unless of course the marshall's orders conflict with the generals orders.  The general's orders will always take priority over a marshall's orders.
 
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* <b>Region Lords</b> - Technically, the next in line in the military heirarchy are the region lords, but their role in the military heirarchy is minimal.  It is usually the duke or duchess that will fill in for a marshall if the duchy's marshall is temporarilly absent; however, should the position of marshall become vacant, the position is rarely filled by the duke or duchess.  It is usually filled by a region lord, and usually from one of the regions belonging to the duchy.  Until that time, except in exceptional circumstances, region lords will not give orders related to the military affairs of the realm.
 
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=== Feudal Heirarchy ===
 
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* <b>Ruler</b> - The ruler (often otherwise refered to as the Pontifex, Queen or some other such title) is the noble in charge of leading the entire realm, but many of these responsibilities are overseen in greater detail by others under his (or her) charge, such as the general (for military affairs), the banker (for taxes and trading), the judge (for legal matters) and the dukes and duchesses (for the adminisration of regions).  Diplomacy, however, almost entirely depends on the ruler.  Given the sovereignty of the position, many realms consider disobeying the orders of the ruler to be akin to treason; however, since most of the concerns of the ruler are non-military, the orders of the ruler do not often go to troop leaders but rather to region lords and other nobles in administrative roles.
 
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* <b>Duke (or Duchess)</b> - The next in line in the feudal heirarchy are the dukes and duchesses of the realm.  There is one duke (or duchess) for each duchy (a city and its neighboring regions).  They are responsible for overseeing the general good and welfare of those regions and thus spend a great deal of their time coordinating their efforts with the various lords of the regions that belong to their duchy.  Disobeying the orders of the duke or duchess of the duchy you are aligned with will carry serious consequences, but such orders will be very rare and, like marshalls, you only have to answer to the duke or duchess of your duchy, no other (though it is generally considered both unwise and impolite to ignore your superiors, even if they aren't directly in your chain of command).
 
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* <b>Region Lords</b> - The next in line in the feudal heirarchy is, again, region lords.  Orders to troop leaders from rulers and dukes will be rare because most of their orders will go directly to the region lords.  Region lords are as much the backbone of regional administration as troop leaders are the backbone of military affairs.  Region lords will sometimes appeal to troop leaders for assistance, but usually their concerns are limited to the abilities of bureaucrats and traders, not soldiers.
 
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== Unit Settings ==
 
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=== Conduct ===
 
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* <b>Evasive</b> - drastically increases the chance to evade combat with enemy units.
 
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* <b>Defensive</b> - only engages enemy units if they engage you.
 
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* <b>Normal</b> - initiates combat with any enemy units in the region (and sometimes neutral units).
 
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* <b>Aggressive</b> - engages all enemy and neutral units (and sometimes even allies).
 
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* <b>Murderous</b> - will attack anyone in the region, possibly even realm-mates and peasants.
 
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=== Designation ===
 
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* <b>Regular Army</b> - Standard designation.
 
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* <b>Sentry</b> - Higher combat strength than regular army, but slower travel times (most often used for militia units)
 
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* <b>Police</b> - Diminished combat strength, but not as averse to civil or police work (the only designation avaliable to bureaucrats).
 
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* <b>Vanguard</b> - Faster travel times than regular army, but are 20% more expansive than regular army.
 
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* <b>Mercenary</b> - Higher morale, but 50% more expensive than regular army (the only designation avaliable to traders).
 
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=== Field Position ===
 
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The battlefield is divided into 11 columns (numbered 1 thru 11 from left to right).  The attacking army starts on the left, the defending army on the rght.  If the region has fortifications, then the 5 columes on the right will be colored gray and represent the area of the battlefield behind the fortifications.  Which column your unit will begin in will depend on your field position.
 
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* <b>Front</b> - If you are attacking, you will start in column 5.  If defending, column 7.
 
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* <b>Middle</b> - If you are attacking, you will start in column 4.  If defending, column 8.
 
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* <b>Back</b> - If you are attacking, you will start in column 3.  If defending, column 9.
 
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* <b>Rearguard</b> - If you are attacking, you will start in column 2.  If defending, column 10.
 
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Therefore, columns 1, 6 and 11 are always empty at the beginning of a battle (but they may become occupied as the battle progresses).  If the defending units are dug in or are behind fortifications, it is not likely that they will "advance" from column 7 to column 6 until all the attacking melee units are disabled (i.e. wounded, retreated, etc.).  If the region has fortifications, it is very difficult for the attacking units to "advance" from column 6 to column 7 without seige engines.  Ranged units will only "advance" from toward the enemy if there are no enemy units within their range.
 
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=== Unit Formation ===
 
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* <b>Line</b> - Normal defense and attack against both ranged and melee units.
 
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* <b>Box</b> - Improved defense against melee units, but decreased defense against ranged units.
 
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* <b>Wedge</b> - Improved attack against melee units, but decreased defense against melee units.
 
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* <b>Skirmish</b> - Improved defense against ranged units, but decreased defense against melee units.
 
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== Basic Combat Tactics ==
 

Latest revision as of 19:27, 18 November 2023

Averyll Arete commanding the field at the victorious Battle of Lesthem, where the heroic Pontifex Phear was unfortunately killed, after which she was elected as the new Pontifex of Toren.
Full Name: Averyll Arete
Age: 28
Class Mentor
Realm/Island: Toren, South-East
Honour/Prestige: 145 / 31
Title(s):
Former Title(s): Pontifex of Toren
Countess of Jerelin
Marshal of the Army of Tor
Fiduciary of Toren
History: Began her career in Toren (07.06.06)
Appointed as Countess of Jerelin (09.08.06)
Appointed as Marshal of the Army of Tor (11.29.06)
Elected as Fiduciary of Toren (12.27.06)
Elected as Pontifex of Toren (3.17.07)
Banned from Toren by Gheros (07.26.2007, Reason: overthrown by a rebellion)
Ban lifted by Gaius Julius (07.27.2007)

Whether they adore her for her unfaltering devotion to her realm and religion as well as her success as a strategist and tactician, or they loathe her for her seemingly endless brutality and complete disregard for "the petty quibbles of lesser mortals", Averyll is by far the most (in)famous member of the Arete family, and her name is among the most recognizable on the South-East Island, inspiring fear amongst her enemies and awe amongst allies. Despite these same qualities, or perhaps because of them, Averyll easily found a home on the war island and has earned herself many nicknames of notoriety. Her career is likewise marked with many inflections, often directly connected to some of the most important events in the history of the entire island. Here is her story.

The Butcher of Lesthem

Averyll began her career on the South-East Islands in Toren, far away from her family on Atamara. Like her sister Aeryn, Averyll is very studious, but whereas Aeryn is passionate about the religion, law and other administrative affairs, Averyll's interests are strictly limited to the art of warfare, and so, at the recommendation of Sir Phlex, who was the Count of Washford at the time, Averyll decided to leave her ancestral home for more war-torn realms. In Toren, she met Pontifex Phear, the brother of Sir Phlex, and he appointed Averyll to the command of Jerelin after only two months in Toren, probably due more to the administrative success of her sister than anything Averyll had done herself. Regardless, Averyll soon became Toren's one and only mentor, and many of her students later became very successful leaders in Toren, including the Fisc Arylon (who has served as lord, marshal, banker and general), Gaius Julius (who has served as lord, marshal, general and judge), Count Necroid of Neralle and Count Bailyhn of Berakor. Eventually Averyll's lessons became the canonical texts of the Military Studies program at Aristoi Academy.

Averyll's reputation continued to grew, and that right quickly. She was appointed as the Marshal of the Army of Tor, and thus became part of Toren's Military Council. Later, she was elected as Fiduciary of Toren (the only Banker left of SEI), and thus became part of Toren's Advisory Council. Through the combination of these two titles simultaneously, Averyll became intimately familiar with the effects of takeover strategies, and successfully coordinated several takeovers of her own. Her most famous victory was the takeover of Lesthem, which earned her the reputation of being a brilliant military strategist, but the unprecedented brutality she demonstrated there also earned her the nickname "The Butcher of Lesthem". The infamy she earned during the takeover of Lesthem was not only due to her brutality, but also due to the outcome of the last Battle of Lesthem, for it was the battle that ended the life of the heroic Pontifex Phear, and thus brought an end to The Golden Age of Toren.

Averyll was immediately elected as the new Pontifex by the extremely narrow margin of only 3 votes (over Cyperus, Duke of Toren Stronghold), and shortly thereafter retired from her positions as Countess of Jerelin, Marshal of the Army of Tor and Fiduciary of Toren, citing a conflict of interest in both writing policy and implementing policy at the same time. Doing so also created new leadership opportunities for other nobles in the realm. However, the legitimacy of her rule was immediately brought into question. According to the Toren Herald, "Shortly following the Averyll's election. Karibash the Great, made a startling speech full of hate and spite directed towards Lady Averyll." More specifically, Karibash, who was a member of Averyll's own Advisory Council at the time, stated that Averyll was too inactive to adequately perform as a ruler and furthermore claimed that his achievements easily matched hers. Not even 6 hours had passed since the votes had been tallied. Gheros, who was serving as the Haruspex Maximus at the time, stated that if such harsh words had been spoken against any other ruler, she would impose equally harsh penalties, but since it was directed at Averyll, she would do nothing to enforce order. The Toren Herald continues, "Averyll, surprisingly doesn't seemed bothered by Karibash and hasn't spared the effort to argue with him." This later proved to the norm for Averyll, who made a point of not participating in the public forum on matters unrelated to the war. Things soon began to calm down; however, four days after the election, Gheros initiated a referendum calling for a re-election. Her reason for doing so was that Cyperus was in Taselak's prison during the election and thus was unable to effectively campaign for the position. The referendum closed in Averyll's favour by a large margin, thus concluding the debate over her legitimacy, but opposition to her rule continued to grow nonetheless. And so began The Dark Age of Toren.

The Tyrant of Tor

Some consider Averyll's reign as ruler of Toren to be the Dark Age of Toren because they hate and fear her. One noble of Toren even called Averyll a "wretched whore" (his comments went unpunished, although he was later banned for treason as a result of his involvement in a conspiracy). However, most consider Averyll's reign to be the Dark Age of Toren because her rule was plagued with, as one noble so eloquently put it, "a greater ill-fortune than any other ruler on any other island at any time in history." The Truth of this statement may be a bit exaggerated; however, it nevertheless remains true that every single crisis that befell Toren during Averyll's reign was initiated not by Averyll herself, but rather by the domestic nobles that hated her and the foreign nobles that feared her. Regardless, those few malcontents within Toren immediately set themselves against Averyll, and the judge never once attempted to enforce the realm's laws against disobedience and insubordination. Consequently, this discontent grew into a rebellion, which came to be know as The Toren Civil War. As hate was permitted to run rampant within the realm, so to did fear immediately set in amongst nobles and leaders outside the realm, not because they knew Averyll well, but rather because they did not know her at all. Life and death, victory and defeat, had so far been the predictable result of the treaties written by the late Pontifex Phear, and no one outside Toren (and some not even inside Toren) knew whether or not Averyll would uphold the terms of the agreement.

When Averyll made it clear that she would honour the precedent set by Phear to support the treaty with Ikalak, King Cronos of Taselak began to coordinate his efforts with the underground rebellion that had been growing in Toren. On April 14th, less than one month after Averyll's election as ruler, the Seperatists declared rebellion. The declaration was timed with the onset of two takeover attempts by Taselak, thus forcing Averyll to choose between defending her realm and defending her crown. Together, the King of Taselak and the Rebel Leader each preached that Averyll had transformed the Toren Theocracy into a Tyranny. Henceforth, Averyll became known as "The Tyrant of Tor". But before Averyll could respond, the situation became even more dire. Despite Averyll's proclamation of her commitment to the Treaty, even in the face of open-rebellion, Prime Minister Maximus of Ikalak doubted her commitment and so he ordered his troops to cease-fire for the duration of the rebellion. Thus, Averyll was forced not only to defend her realm against two simultaneous takeovers amidst open-rebellion, but also to do so without the assistance of allies as promised by the very same treaty she supported.

Out-numbered with fewer resources and diminished morale among peasants and nobles alike, Averyll choose to put the realm before herself, and she ordered the troops to defend the regions being taken over by Taselak. Fortunately, the rebellion was defeated despite their effective conspiracy with the enemy ruler. Unfortunately, both takeovers were successful, in part due to the absence of allied forces, in part due to all of the rebels being in the capital instead of on the battlefield. To make matters worse, two dozen Toren nobles were lost as a result of the rebellion, some for being rebels, others left because they were convinced Toren was about to fall. With the loss of the legendary Phear, as well as two dozen other nobles, having suffered a rebellion and the withdrawal of their ally from the conflict, these were truly the darkest days yet seen in the history of Toren, and yet the darkest had yet to come.

Even though the rebellion was over, Maximus did not lift the cease-fire. Instead, a referendum was called in Ikalak encouraging Maximus to take advantage of Toren's weakened state, betray the Treaty, and end the "boredom" by conquering the island without delay. After quelling the rebellion and orchestrating a strategy to retake the lost regions, Averyll managed to convince Maximus to at least enter into negotiations before abandoning the treaty he had previously begged her to uphold. Eventually, Maximus agreed to abide by the treaty and even signed an amendment requiring a greater involvement of his forces in the war against Taselak, and so Averyll managed to retain the spirit of the treaty and keep Toren alive. She than declared martial law (i.e. she dictated military strategy instead of the general), retook the lost regions, as well as a couple new regions, and even raised morale, loyalty, and production from the single digits to the mid-nineties in all of the regions that had been decimated by the brutality of the volley between Taselak. Toren was at the peak of its power, and it looked as though Taselak would not last the month. However, on June 15th, Maximus announced for the second time that he intended to break the Treaty. No warning was given. No negotiations took place. The announcement was made, and the attacks immediately began, on two fronts. It was not long before Toren was once again reduced to a mere handful of regions.

The Last Pontifex

Once Maximus broke the long-standing Ikalak-Toren Treaty, Duke Cyperus attempted to negotiate a new treaty with Taselak, and he did so without the knowledge, consent or authority required of Averyll. Mischa, the new ruler of Taselak, refused to consider any terms until Averyll had been removed from office. Averyll agreed to step down as ruler in order to save the realm, but only after having seen and agreed to the terms of the Treaty that would take place after her resignation. She stated that her removal from office was the only bargaining chip Toren had to negotiate equitable terms, and furthermore, that if she resigned prior to signing a treaty, Taselak would have no reason to sign any treaty at all. But Mischa refused to even reply to Averyll's letters, and eventually the nobles of Toren, including Duke Cyperus, were once again plotting rebellion. However, before Cyperus was able to rally his supporters, Gheros, who was still Haruspex Maximus, initiated the second rebellion. With her own judge, the person whose job it was to prevent rebellions, against her, Averyll finally gave in. She ordered that no one join the loyalist forces and instead allow the rebellion to take its course, and with the exception of a few radical loyalists, that is exactly what happened. The Theocracy was overthrown and Gheros became Queen of the new Kingdom of Toren. Thus, Averyll became "The Last Pontifex".

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