Gordain d'Yseult
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Gordain d'Yseult's origins are unclear. Common records tell that he was a baron of Chanaud at the beginning of the 1st Laatzenard War, but is debated whether in truth he actually held that position. d'Yseult's memoirs are curiously vacant of any mention of his early years. Some historians, including the noted Sir Michael Howe, point to the fact that the records concerning d'Yseult's borny only appeared around 1600 C.E. more than twenty years after the initial fact. Howe goes on to claim that this part of d'Yseult's life was deliberately changed at the time so as to gloss over the general's true origins. In what that origin might have been, speculation abounds. The bastard son of a noble, a mercenary war leader, an outlaw, or even a Borriad soldier of fortune; all have been brought up and debated.
Regardless, the beginning of the final part of the 1st Laatzenard War in 1576 C.E. (The war itself had begun in 1528 C.E. and had continued on and off for that time due to lack of funds and to resistance from the nobles at the idea of fighting beyond the campaigning season) shows a young d'Yseult enlisted as an officer in the Comte of Chanaud's forces. He was there while the army sat just beyond the border for almost four months because the nobles couldn't agree on a leader or on a single strategy. According to d'Yseult's later book, it was this setback that first planted the idea in his mind that a professional army was needed in Sicinia. He kept his ideas quiet from the other lords, but word that a young lord had a proposal about a professional army reached the king, Auguste VII, who had had similar ideas and so summoned d'Yseult. There the two men talked for hours, with d'Yseult finally leaving the king's tent and Auguste's choice for the army's general. d'Yseult's liege lord Comte Geruste d'Fare seconded the agreement, hoping to use d'Yseult for his own agenda, and with the combined support of the king and the comte of Chanaud d'Yseult was made general.
The initial response to d'Yseult's generalship was a mixture of amusement, surprise, and envy from the nobles, who wondered how this small upstart had come to command their army. However, d'Yseult immediately proved himself as he outmaneuvered the Laatzenard militia, or fyrd, and successfully laid siege to Aristiden. Through the work of paid agents within the walls and a short but bloody escalade, the city fell to Sicinia, ending the 1st Laatzenard War. Auguste made d'Yseult Baron of Aristiden on the spot, and together the two men, now close friends, retired to the king's pavilion to make plans.
When at last they emerged d'Yseult carried the king's carte blanche, which in effect gave him power second only to the king's. d'Yseult used this power to put into motion the ideas that he had so carefully worked out with Auguste: a professional army. In actuality, d'Yseult saw this group of professionals, labelled La Légion de Choc, as not so much an army in its own right but as a core group of soldiers that would be the iron fist of any Sicinian army. To create this army d'Yseult scoured Sicinia and beyond for the best and most ruthless soldiers. Some came from County forces, others from mercenary companies, others because they knew other profession besides killing. All were paid well and trained hard. d'Yseult, although envisioning them as part of a greater army, trained and organized La Légion de Choc as if it were an army in its own right, with pikemen, billmen, musketeers, artillery, and cavalry. By 1592 La Légion de Choc totaled some 7,000 incredibly well-trained and well-motivated soldiers, ready and willing to enter battle whenever it came.
They would not have to wait long, as in that years border skirmishes along the new northern border with Akaeia escalated into war. d'Yseult was made general of the combined army and with both La Légion de Choc and the County armies he marched north. d'Yseult once again demonstrated his talent for manuever, successfully running circles around the surprised Akaeians. His victories, first at Peenemunde and then more decisively at Sprenstiche, were due mainly to La Légion de Choc, which time and again acted as the Sicinian spearhead, punching through the Akaeian line to strike the enemy flanks from the rear. By 1594 it looked as if all Denard would fall under Sicinian control.
Alas, it was not meant to be. The County forces felt that with the battles won they could go home, especially after being away from home for two years. d'Yseult pleaded with them to stay, but despite his best efforts the County forces, some 21,000 men and three-quarters of his army, marched home. The Akaeians, upon learning of the departure, immediately sought battle with the suddenly outnumbered La Légion de Choc, hoping to destroy this threat now while they had the chance. It is unclear whether d'Yseult likewise sought battle (his memoirs give that indication) or whether he found himself outmanuevered. One way or another, he and his 6500 men found themselves at a place called Zeebergen, facing a force of 10,000 Akaeians. It was here that d'Yseult's insistence on making La Légion de Choc an army in and of itself paid off, giving him all the elements of an army including (most importantly) artillery.
The Akaeian commander, remembering the Sicinian tactic of massing at the center and then breaking through, concentrated enough forces there to make that impossible. As the two armies joined, d'Yseult found himself in a battle of pike against pike, where whoever had the most men would be the winner. It was, ironically, an Akaeian victory in the center that saved the day for the Sicinians. The superior Akaeian forces in the center were able to push through the Sicinian lines, which broke in two. The Akaeians seeing d'Yseult and his battery of culverins standing close by, charged them. d'Yseult, who upon seeing the breakthrough ordered his gunners to double-canister their guns, waited until the Akaeians were mere yards away before giving the order to fire. The result was terrible, as the men closest to culverin muzzles were torn apart. Into the sudden breach charged the Sicinian cavalry, exploiting the hole in the Akaeian pike wall. Once inside the pikes they were able to inflict terrible damage on the Akaeian pikemen, who turned and ran . The two wings of the Sicinian infantry now began pinching the enemy center closed. The Akaeian cavalry, who had been waiting at the battle's edge to pursue any Sicinian survivors, now found itself on the wrong side of the battle. The Akaeian commander, seeing all hope for triumph gone and a good part of his army threatening to be cut off, sounded the retreat. The two sides camped close by each other that night, and by mutual consent the next morning buried the dead and withdrew.
With the death of his friend Auguste in 1596 C.E., d'Yseult saw his hopes of taking the northern province slipping away, especially under the rule of the disinterested monarch Reynarde I. Continually struggling to keep his army intact, d;Yseult continued to fight until 1623 C.E. when he at last succeeded in taking Denard and a treaty was signed.
to be continued...
