Chapter 19: The Six Generals

For much of the high nobility across the five kingdoms, preservation of wealth and power was what dictated their obligations and actions. Holding onto what they had became critically important, even at the expense of the people they swore to protect: be them family or citizenry. The lure and corruption of money made many nobles do terrible things in the pursuit of a familial legacy, just so they could keep the standards of luxury that they had come to take for granted.

Arranged marriages were often the easiest way for nobles to keep themselves in purse and power, whilst ingratiating themselves further amongst social circles. Daughters were nothing more than bargaining chips, sold off to prospective husbands in exchange for: monetary compensation, royal affectations, court intrigue or a boost in social standing. As well as being broodmares for unflattering corrupt men.

The same was true for any other sons born after their eldest brother. First born sons carried on the family name and became the new era high nobility, keeping their accumulated wealth close and bloodlines continuously affluent. Younger brothers were shunned, and in some families abused. Military service was seen as a way for patents to offload any spare sons and prevent them from becoming rivals to their older brother.

If a first born son died prematurely then the families wealth and power would pass into the next oldest son, unless that son was hated and abused by his parents. In which case the next boy would take on the role, or if there wasn't another boy available, the parents would give over control of the family to one of their relatives; an uncle or male cousin. Bypassing daughters or son-in-laws. As nothing nauseated the nobility more than the idea of their money being given over to another family, even if they had married into them.

Whereas for the few lesser nobles; there were some, who somehow, down to either ingenuity or luck, managed to attain or create for themselves some level of wealth and influence. Holding onto them was not something they concerned themselves with, mostly because they remembered what I'd was like to live a working life, struggling to feed families of oneself, not to mention the sacrifices made in order to reach a place of moderate security.

These lesser nobles were treated with respect and admiration by the ordinary people living off the land, as they modernise villages into towns that could begin to attract merchants to them and have new routes through to the other cities of Katolis, and further afield.

To Tenjiki Tsukasa however, the concept of monetary preservation was irrelevant and as much as he enjoyed his accumulation of power, as was evident by his military rank of General; which proved the former and his exalted upbringing disproved the latter. He truly believed that the only thing that was of any worth in the world was strength, not the power and influence that came with it but the feeling of battle against equally strong opponents. And the stronger the better, elves and dragons he would relish the prospect of fighting them, all for the exhilaration of defying death. All Tsukasa desired in life was fighting and killing as many strong opponents as possible. In either the defence of katolis, and the Pentarchy as a whole, or in discreet raids into Xadia.

Tsukasa was born into one of the highest ranked noble families of Katolis, directly below the relatives of the current royal family, House Vermilion and House Silva.

House Belmarsh was a military family that could trace its origins back to the original war for the crown. The founder of the House Belmarsh, Sir Léon Belmarsh, had been granted land by a the first king as thanks for his tactical and strategical plans and for being a steadfast ally, during the Founding War, as it later became known as. The war pitted seven noble families against one another for the right to rule Katolis as its Royal Family, and at present day all but one of those seven families were extinct.

Aside from the two other royal Houses and House Belmarsh, there was another high noble family had assisted in the unification of Katolis and the creation of monarchy; the Amari Family. Which had been a boon to the winning side, as having the only humans to wield primal magic as allies was both great strategy and politics.

After victory had been acquired and the new throne claimed, the Amari's were named as the kingdoms' official Mages whilst House Belmarsh became was named as the dynastic hereditary Head of the Army, which was honoured by successive Katolis Kings. To the contrition and disdain of House Silva, House Vermillion was never overly concerned with whom ran the military, and once the nine knight squads were formed House Vermillion recognised the importance of border security and the training of armies that were not too tightly regulated or controlled by the King.

Tenjiki Tsukasa changed his name when he was eight years old, and subsequently refused to adhere to orders given by his parents if they called him by his Belmarsh name. By the time he was eighteen he had all but abandoned his old life and moved out and away from the ancestral mansion deep within the Yarlsborg forrest, and forced his induction into the Breach garrison by challenging its commandant to a duel. moreover, just for the sheer hell of it, he entered Xadia and brought back the decapitated head of an elven High Lord as well as Magma Titan for his training ritual, or what others called his 'sadistic magical enhancements'.

No one in his new life ever asked him what his real name was, or why he chose to leave behind a life of high nobility. If anyone even tried to broach the subject with him he would glare venomously until that person backed away. At the Breach he was able to train further in sword and stealth skills, hardening his resolve to become a scout/warrior conducting counter raises into Xadia along side knights from any of the nine squads. Who he liked seeing unsettled, as his brutality and sheer lust for battle always made others unnerved.

And yet, charging headlong into a fight and the results that he attained, was what eventually brought him to he attention of a much younger King Svengauld who would name him to the position of Captain of the Guard, the leader of the kings elite bodygaurds, when he was the age of twenty four. Brutality became Tsukasa's trademark. So much so that humans and elves began to fear him, wonder if the captain was even sane. To which, if anyone asked, Tsukasa would simply grin. Devilishly.

Eventually, the nine squad captains began to question, not just Tsukasa's sanity but the morality of his tactics during raids and during interrogations of dissents and captured elves. But since he was deeply respected and trusted by the King, there was nothing that any of the captains could do to stop or limit the insatiable spirit that dwelled within Captain Tsukasa.

At the age of thirty two, Tsukasa was named by King Svengauld as one of the Katolis's top military leaders guarding one of the six major fortresses along the Human-Xadia border. Of which the Breach was one. Alongside: Sir Richard Aurelius, Sir Devin Mallory, Sir Oliver Trenton, Sir Anton Dreyfus and Dame Misano Esdeath, Tenjiki Tsukasa became one of the Six Generals.

The only military personnel in the Pentarchy who outranked the nine squad captains, and whom led forces that were semi-independent of the five kingdoms individual militaries but were ultimately loyal to humanity, and to King Svengauld.