Marius Paius Tullus

Marius Paius Tullus (24 Reinhad, 467 AT - 9 Witherwood, 548 AT) was a Gernivian General and Authoranian politician, famous for leading the Gernivian and Knights of the Red Shield invasion of Presmotopia during the Blood River War.

Early life
Marius Paius Tullus was born in the Authoranian city-state of Sovenshire on 24 Reinhad, 467 AT to Linus Tullus and Marrian Paius. Tullus was born into a well known Gernivian family, with his father being a Gernivian General and his ancestor on his mother's side being a leading Gernivian General during the Bloody Trees War.

Tullus was the oldest of five children, having three younger brothers and a younger sister. At birth, Tullus was accepted by the Sovenshirian Elders and at the age of 5 he began his process through the Gernivian education and training system.

When Tullus was near completing the Sep Met Torrum phase of his training, his youngest brother, Alluis Paius Tullus died while training with his class. This affected Tullus and for the rest of his life he would be plagued by guilt over the incident.

Aside from the mishap during the final years of his training, Tullus excelled. When he graduated from his training at the age of 16, he was the best of his class, thus he had the honor of being automatically promoted to officer and lead his class as his subjects.

Early career
Much of Tullus' early career as a Gernivian officer was spent squashing resistance movements and dealing with territorial disputes. At the time, Tullus commanded a small reserve unit of under 10 men. During the Fraithian Uprising, the Gernivian offensive was failing as the Fraithians began to break down the Gernivian's left line. Tullus engaged his reserve force to aid the left line and ended up recruiting an additional 100 men from various reserve forces to push back the Frathians and save the Gernivian line from falling into a full rout. Due to this action, Tullus was promoted and became the leader of a Sentibian consisting of 100 men.

After Tullus gained command of a Sentibian, he distinguished himself as a capable soldier and expert tactician.

Battle of Tomaiasus
After Tullus gained command of a Sentibian, he distinguished himself as a capable soldier and expert tactician. This was most evident at the Battle of Tomaiaus, which was the last battle of the Tomaiaus Territorial Dispute. In this battle, Tullus had the rare opportunity to fight alongside the Authoranian Army. The Gernivians were often sent out on independent missions that required their fighting skills and only in bigger battles did the Gernivians serve alongside the Authoranian Army. The Tomaiaus Territorial Dispute was a war that Authorania needed to win in order to keep their territory but were losing and they called the Gernivians to help reinforce their lines.

At the climax of the battle, after a two week long siege, the Tomaians and the Authoranians clashed on the battlefield. The Tomaians outnumbered the Authoranians 3 to 1 so the Authoranian infantry was struggling against the Tomaian's attack. The Tomaian's had a world-class phalanx army, with the main phalanx positioned toward the attacking army and two infantry units stationed on the wings of the phalanx to prevent flanking.

Tullus decided to use his Sentibian to harass the infantry units to see if he could notice any weaknesses he could exploit. He noticed that the left infantry unit was made up of newer recruits because they were generally sloppy when dealing with attacks. Tullus then advised the Authoranian General, Domin General Li'Alian, to exploit the weaker left infantry, so they could open up an opportunity to flank. Li'Alian agreed and informed the Gernivian Captain of Tullus' plan. Tullus was given command of as many troops as he wanted and he focused a large scale and surprise attack on the Tomaian's left. As expected, the left infantry broke and Tullus sent in cavalry to quickly secure the rear of the Tomaian phalanx as the Gernivians caught up. Within the matter of minutes the Tomaian phalanx broke and they fled in a full rout. The Authoranians harassed the retreating Tomaians, reducing their numbers and within the matter of days the Tomaians had surrendered.

After this battle, Tullus was recommended for a promotion and he became the second in command to Captain Ellius Marthus, one of the Gernivian's best leaders.

Blood River War
The years after his promotion, Authorania was at relative peace and the Gernivians were rarely deployed. Due to the inactivity, Tullus became an instructor for the Sep Met Torrum phase of a Gernivian's training.

When the Presmotopians attacked the city-state of Boxer, beginning the Blood River War and began marching on Capital City, the Gernivians were deployed to support the Authoranian Army. Tullus still remained as second in command to Captain Marthus and he spent the early part of the war co-commanding units in the battles that raged around the border of Capital City.

The war had stagnated within Danes, where the Authoranian Army was dug in. King Xarnas collaborated with his Generals and came up with a plan to invade Presmotopia as their attention was turned toward Capital City. However, King Xarnas needed the Azerath Nations to join the war on his side in order for the plan to work. As a backup plan, in the case that the Azerath Nations did not join the war effort, King Xarnas would send in the Gernivians to cause disruption to the Presmotopian supply lines.

King Xarnas assembled 25 Gernivians to scout Presmotopia's defense force and report how much resistance they should expect during an invasion. He chose Tullus to lead the Gernivian force and promoted him to Captain.

Shortly later, Tullus and his men departed from Capital City and headed toward Boxer. Once at the decimated city-state, Tullus fanned out his men to check for any defense posts present at the border; there were none. Tullus then led his men across the river and into Presmotopia.

After a couple of days of scouting, it was clear that the Presmotopians left a very small defense force behind so they could focus more men on the front lines. He reported this to the King and waited for orders.

A short time later, 25 Jiarengradian Knights of the Red Shield approached the camping Gernivians. Expecting a fight, the Gernivians got into a defensive formation but the KRS leader assured them that they were there to aid. The Azerath Nations had joined the war effort against the Presmotopians but in response the Presmotopians broke the stagnation and began aggressively attacking. Due to this, King Xarnas ordered the joint Gernivian/KRS force to go with the backup plan and cause as much disruption to the Presmotopian supply line as possible. Tullus followed this order and the Gernivians and KRS crossed the border again and ventured into Presmotopia.

After scouting around for a day to see the location of Presmotopia's supply lines, Tullus came up with an idea. Now that the combined forces of Gernivians and KRS soldiers, they could cause as much destruction as possible to supply lines, towns, villages, farmland while they made their way to Presmotopia's capital of Nightshire. Hopefully the destruction they could cause would lead the Presmotopian King to believe he is being invaded by a large force and will recall a significant number of his forces from the front lines. Everyone agreed and the next night they would set out.

On the first night, dressed in all black, the Gernivians and KRS set out and attacked multiple defense bases, leaving no man alive. After raiding a few bases, they decided to begin attacking towns as a group of them were located near the recently raided base. Instead of slaughtering civilians, the Gernivians and KRS decided to scare them, hoping to bring their morale down. To achieve this, the Gernivians and KRS soldiers spent the night cutting off the skull faces of their dead enemies. With their faces painted black with soot, the soldiers used the skull faces as masks and the Skulled Uniform was born.

For the next several weeks, the soldiers went from town to town, slaughtering their animals and burning their crops. Every base they ran across, they raided. The soldiers soon began running into Presmotopian Elf Extermination Camps. The Gernivians and KRS soldiers began raiding these camps, which caused their first casualties. After raiding two camps, they had lost 5 men and Tullus decided to begin making their way toward Nightshire.

At this point, it was clear to the Presmotopian King that an invasion force was within his border. He began recalling men from the front to search for this invasion force and eliminate them. This recalled force wasn't large but it did relieve stress on the front line. Due to the increase in patrols, the Gernivians and KRS soldiers had to be more careful and come up with crafty ways of getting around. When they came across the town of Aethera, the town was heavily patrolled and getting through in secrecy was impossible. Tullus came up with a plan to have the Human KRS soldiers act as Presmotopian militiamen who were escorting captured Elf prisoners. So the KRS soldiers got into civilian clothing while the Gernivians put on rags and chains. The group managed to make it through the town but after exiting the city, a Presmotopian guard stopped them, suspicious of how fit the Elves were. After failing to convince the guard, Tullus killed him and they ran off uncaught.

A day later, the group made it to Nightshire. At the cover of darkness, they slipped past the guards and began burning every building they could and killing anyone that was in their way. It was no longer a secret who and where the invasion force were. As expected, the Presmotopian King recalled most of his soldiers to defend the capital. The Authoranian and Azerath forces cut down the small force left and began to follow the retreating Presmotopians.

The Gernivians and KRS soldiers were still wreaking havoc in the capital, cutting down as many soldiers as they could find. However, the slow pace of Authoranian and Azerath reinforcements caused strain on the Gernivians and KRS, who were drastically losing men. When the Authoranian and Azerath forces finally got to the capital, they made swift effort to relieve their stranded comrades. Tullus and the rest of the survivors hunkered down in a small house, fighting Presmotopian soldiers until the Authoranian and Azerath forces defeated the Presmotopian Army outside of the capital.

When an Authoranian unit found the remaining Gernivians and KRS, Tullus and 4 others were the last survivors of 50. Instead of falling behind the friendly lines to rest, Tullus charged the King's castle with the Authoranian and Azerath forces and ended up preventing the King from committing suicide. Tullus and the Presmotopian King engaged in a famous fight, one which Tullus won.

After the end of the war, Tullus was promoted to General and he was given command of an Authoranian Kadrian, consisting of 500 soldiers, the largest unit one can command.

Later military career
At the conclusion of the Blood River War, Tullus was promoted to General and given an Authoranian Kadrian. This was a very rare and prestigious position for a Gernivian. Most Gernivians keep to commanding Gernivians and rarely do they command Authoranian soldiers.

After this promotion, Tullus led the Authoranian Army to many victories in smaller wars. Tullus was best known for squashing uprisings and threats by asserting dominance before these threats became a major problem. This dominance began to affect other nations who were more willing to work with Authorania than before.

Tullus spent the next several years engaging in small wars and squashing uprisings until he retired.

Controversies
Although Tullus was generally regarded as a hero and a great leader, his actions during and after battles led to controversies.

When Tullus was beginning his career, squashing small uprisings, he often killed enemy soldiers who surrendered and sometimes murdered inhabitants of nations. This was common practice when Tullus was in training, while most nations would enslave their enemy or their population, Authorania was strictly against slavery so they would instead kill soldiers and civilians to "send a message". When Tullus first started doing this, it generally wasn't frowned upon but at that point it seemed old fashioned and unnecessary as Authorania was moving away from these treatments. However, Tullus was keen on this sort of punishment.

Later in his career, when he commanded an Authoranian Kadrian, he had his men perform mass executions of soldiers and civilians. At this point, the slaughtering of civilians and surrendered soldiers was regarded as taboo and Tullus was reprimanded for his actions. Since Tullus was typically "old fashioned" in his methods, he was just told apologize to his men and not commit those actions anymore.

Later life and death
Later in Tullus' life, he became involved in Authoranian politics. His sister was married to a prominent Authoranian politician, so he helped Tullus become a member of the Crown House. Tullus had always been fascinated with politics and he put forward bills that benefit the people. However, after a few years in the Crown House, he unexpectedly resigned.

After resigning from the Crown House, Tullus became an Elder of Sovenshire and some believe this was the reason why he left politics. He maintained the status of being an elder until 545 AT, when he retired from the military and politics and he left Authorania to live in his summer home with his wife at the Gellecier Plains.

On the 9th of Witherwood, 548 AT, Marius Paius Tullus died of natural causes at the age of 81. His body was sent to Sovenshire, where a massive funeral was held. He was interred into the Hero's Cemetery in Sovenshire.