Leonard Aaron Mendel

Grand General Leonard Aaron Mendel (a.k.a. "Sol's favoured son")

"A shadow now covers much of the world. Yet even the smallest light can drive back the most impenetrable darkness."

— Speeches of the great general. By Alekander Göbel.

General Mendel is the greatest hero of Myzia. He led the forces of the League of Sol during the "Elf Wars" of the 5th century.

Mental characteristics

Personal history

Leonard was born in the tiny town of Droitstadt as the second son of the local Baron. He showed some promise with arms and became squire to Antonin Leon, the Count of Giroux. In 402, when Leonard was 14 the people's assembly in the Evonian Republic voted with an overwhelming majority that the entire Island of Ryva should be placed under the Republic's "imperium". At that time the island of Ryva was home to only a single elven settlement, the city of Magnis (modern Magnstadt). The island was home to a dozen human kingdoms and several more inderpendent cities, as well as the dwarven kingdom of Valammar . These all refused to bow to Republic rule, and so a invasion force war dispatched and war began. A war Leonard would play a pivotal part in.
Leonard fought in the Battle of Cyre in 402, when a Myzian army attempted to relieve their besieged capital. The battle went poorly, but Leonard distinguished himself. He saves Count Giroux' life by charging into the fighting after his lord was wounded. For this act of bravery he was knighted.
Cyre lost the Myzian army nearly dissolved. Myzia was not yet the mighty empire it would become, and the loss of the capital nearly caused the realm to break apart. Leonard, now a knight remained loyal. As reward he was given command of a small unit of cavalry. He began to raid elven scouting detachments and supply lines. He was greatly successful at this. The loot from such activities also made him wealthy. He used his newfound funds to ensure his men's well-being, and to recruit and equip more. By 405 he was leading one of the larger Myzian forces still in the field.
On a larger scale the war was going badly. The kingdoms of Ryva were disunited. There was no unified command, plan or even a formal alliance between the powers engaged against the elves. Many of the kingdoms of the island were not even engaged in the war. The elves had invaded the western part of the island. The kingdoms to the east and south largely tried to stay out of the conflict, hoping their rivals would bear the brunt and defeat the elves on their own. Meanwhile Valammar had declared neutrality. In return the Republic's Assembly had excepted them from the lands to be conquered. Myzia was nearly destroyed as a power, paradoxically this is what saved the kingdom. The Republic's armies did not finish the conquest of the kingdom. Instead they moved south into Cataali to destroy what they perceived as the greatest threat to their forces. Only a single Legion and some auxiliary units composed of mercenaries and humans from the newly puppet "Myzian Republic" remained behind to complete the destruction of Myzia.
Leonard understood that Myzia must have a true ruler if it was to survive the war. King Adelard Mäier was not that man. He persuaded Count Giroux to host a grand tourney. During that tourney the nobles of the realm presented an ultimatum to the king. He must resign, and allow the assembled nobility to choose a new king. He accepted, and resigned the crown, which was given to Duke Benjamin Fonrain. A well respected warrior. He appointed Count Giroux as his marshal. Leonard was made Baron of Lorenzstadt (then under elven occupation). The assembled nobles - now with renewed confidence in their leadership - assembled another Royal Army. They also created a common war chest for the realm, and granted the marshal and the king wide powers to pursue the war. For the first time in centuries the nobility accepted a land tax.
This new army ensured that the Republic's forces were confined to maintaining what they had taken, instead of expanding their holdings. Meanwhile the forces of southern Ryva were stirred to action by the presence of more than 30.000 Republic legionaries in Cataali. Navalon (a kingdom which lay along the southern coast of Ryva at that time) united with the forces of Cataali along with detachments from innumerable independent cities and towns along the south-east and western coasts. Late in 407 outside the town of Rauros the two forces fought, in the largest battle of the first elf war (War of the Assembly). 28.000 Republic soldiers faced nearly 90.000 men. The battle was costly and indecisive. The elves retreated after heavy losses. But their army did not rout. The forces of the alliance were badly mauled, but in possession of the field. Both forces settled into winter quarters soon after. In the Republic the taste for war now on the wane. The Assembly was persuaded to withdraw the Republic's armies from Ryva, and allow the "sister republics" they had established, to fend for themselves.
With the forces of the Republic withdrawn the Royal Army of Myzia now went on the offensive against the Republic of Myzia. City after city fell to the advancing army. Cheering crowds greeted the soldiers. Only a few strongholds resisted. Leonard revieved acclaim for taking the Behrend Castle. He also liberated Lorenzstadt, his new fief.
Two years of relative peace now followed. Leonard advocated for the creation of a formal alliance with the other Ryvan kingdoms. But instead old rivalries resurfaced. Cataali launched expeditions into the still weakened Myzia and took some border towns before they were stopped. During this time Leonard married Théa Königsmann, the daughter of a local merchant. In 410 their daughter Josiane was born.
In 411 peace came to an end. In Cataali the successful forces of that kingdom had laid siege to Magnis. The Consuls of that year were forced to respond. An army was sent and the forces of Cataali were utterly destroyed in the ensuing battle. The Consuls had only intended to end the siege, yet not the entirety of central Ryva lay open to them. They advanced without opposition until they reached the Myzian, Valammar and Navalon borders where they halted.
Leonard understood that this was but a rest for the elven armies. A pause to consolidate their conquest and bring in reinforcements. He begged the king to attack, to take the initiative. But he refused. Undeterred Leonard assembled his private forces, gathered his old warband to him, and paid some mercenaries to join him. With this forces he crossed the border and attacked a Republic garrison at Lastur. With surprise, numbers and generalship the garrison was overcome, and many taken captive. The Republic reacted by launching attacks in every direction. Leonard escaped punishment due to his military skill, invaluable to the Myzian king, and through his personal popularity.
This would be the "War of Rage" and lasted from 411 to 422 IC. Leonard distinguished himself in multiple battles and encounters. The war saw the kingdoms of Ryva unite under a common banner for the first time since the Imperium. A Holy League was founded in 414. In it Leonard was made captain of the Holy Army, a force composed of detachments from those Ryvan states not directly touched by the war. This hodgepodge army was soon forged into a hardened instrument of war by Leonard. It became famed for quick movement and aggression. Yet the war was largely a stalemate. The Republic's initial attacks were beaten back. The unified efforts of the League confined warfare largely within the border of Cataali. Yet they could not dislodge the Republican forces, nor repeat the battle of Rauros. A truce was agreed in 422. By then the elves still held three quarters of Cataali.
Now at peace Leonard became embroiled in politics. The king had not forgiven him for his action in 411. Leonard's popularity was perceived as a threat. The king feared a coup. In 424 Leonard was accused of heresy and imprisoned. He was sentenced to death by the king. Yet the sentence was not carried out. At the day of the execution the noblemen and prominent citizens of Cyre blocked the roads and prevented the prisoner from being taken to the scaffold. Leonard refused to leave the carriage, claiming that he had "often risked death for my king". He was soon pardoned. He now retired from politics. He left the capital for his fief, where he would live for the next decade.
435 saw the beginning of the final "elf war". The duchy of Azuelae saw a large popular revolt, and the Assembly in the Republic sent a force to support it. In respond the Holy League was re-formed to prevent south-eastern Ryva from falling to the Elves. Leonard was appointed "Grand-General of the Armies of Sol". The League sent a large army to Azuelae. For the next nine years Leonard would lead this army through every hardship and astonishing triumph. His greatest victory saw his army outright victorious over a both Consular Armies combined in the battle of Calabor. Finally with Azuelae secured Leonard marched his army west and laid siege to Magnis in 443. In the winter it became clear that the city was likely to fall, and that the Republic did not possess the strength to save it. Just after new-year Leonard meet with a delegation from the city in between the walls and the advancing trench lines of his army. There he was set upon by Republic assassins planted within the city's representatives. The Grand General was pierced by several daggers, and blasts of magic. His body was disintegrated after death, before the assassins were driven back to the city. This dust was recovered, and placed in the hall of Heroism in Cyre.
Only a few weeks after his death Magnis was stormed. Those of the population who did not manage to evacuate on ship were slaughtered nearly to a man in revenge for the death of the beloved general. After his death the King of Myzia declared Leonard a "paragon of humanity". He was granted a statue next to the minor deities in the Temple of Sol the Victorious in Cyre. Across the Imperial Realms he was hailed as the exemplar of a true hero. His eldest daughter was made duchess of Magnstadt. The line survives a noble house of Myzia to modern times.

Current Location

Hall of Heroism

Species

Humans

Life

388 IC 444 IC 56 years old

Circumstances of Death

Assassination by Republic Agents

Birthplace

Droitstadt

Place of Death

Magnis

Family

Mendel

Gender

Male

Belief/Deity

Sol

Aligned Organization

Myzian Empire