Llyras Vitkus

**Llyras Vitkus**, born *Llyr Cyledr* (1678 - 1775), was a Celtican prince who served as an admiral of the Royal Liotainian Navy during the Firoccan-Liotainian War. He married Princess Vilmante, the sister of Liotainian king Karolis, and remained in Liotain after the end of the war.

## Early Life and Education

Born under the name Llyr Cyledr in 1678, he was the youngest son of the Celtican queen Solenn. His niece Anastasie, the oldest daughter of his sister Astrid, was only eight years younger than Llyr; she would become Queen Anastasie IV in 1700, at the age of fourteen.

As a youngest son, Llyr had relatively few responsibilities, with very little chance of inheriting any sort of authority whatsoever. In 1694, a family member described him as "indolent and worthless, timid and spoiled, his mind stunted in development like that of a particularly dense serving-boy, interested only in humming crude off-key songs and strutting before the girls like a rooster." Llyr was noted as being quite sickly during his early years.

In 1695, the seventeen -year old princeling was sent off to the Celtican Navy to become an officer, although his mother confided to a friend "I don't expect we'll see him again - he'll probably expire of exhaustion if he's ordered to do an hour of work. I have nevertheless given instructions that his captain treat him without any royal deference, in the hope that perhaps his expiration be swift."

### Celtican Naval Officer

In defiance of all expectations, Llyr flourished as a naval officer, although he remained physically weak. Initially assigned to a line-of-battle ship based in Florentina, Llyr gained a promotion to lieutenant after a year, with his superior officer writing that "he swiftly learned the art of navigation and seamanship." From 1695 to 1697, he served aboard the ship-of-the-line *Couronne*, but in 1697 arranged a transfer to the frigate *Trompeuse*, part of a squadron bound for the Dengfeng coast to suppress piracy.

In 1698, the *Trompeuse* visited the port of Karindah in Anitkabir, where the ship, and Prince Llyr, became involved in an international incident. Several Kabirite slaves attempted to escape captivity by stealing a boat and rowing to the Celtican frigate. Llyr, as the officer on watch at the time, brought the escaped slaves on board and gave his word of honor not to hand them over to the authorities. The local officials threatened to bombard the *Trompeuse*, still anchored in port, in an attempt to recover the slaves; but the Celtican officers refused to be intimidated.

Llyr received a promotion to second lieutenant of the *Trompeuse* in 1700, but Llyr was increasingly dissatisfied. Aside from fighting pirates on the Dengfeng coast, the Celtican Navy was dealing with an unusual period of peace; opportunities for promotion, even for a prince, were relatively few and far between. In late 1700, however, relations between Firocco and Liotain were disintegrating. War was declared on 17th December of 1700.

## Liotainian Service

In September 1701, Prince Llyr resigned his commission in the Celtican Navy and began making his way overland to Liotain with the objective of securing a naval commission from the Royal Liotainian Navy. Llyr hoped he would be able to acquire some combat experience in the war with Firocco.

The Liotainian Navy had suffered a major defeat in August 1701 in the Five Days Battle. The Liotainian galley fleet, under Admiral Andrius Liepa-Melis, had been driven out of their protected anchorage by Firoccan fireships, and then hounded down by the battle-fleet of Admiral Count Carlos of Balefornia. The Firoccan government expected that this catastrophic naval defeat would force the Liotainians to ask for terms, but the Liotainian King Karolis refused to admit defeat. Karolis kicked off a major effort to rebuild his shattered navy, and eagerly accepted foreign volunteers, particularly those with significant experience.

Arriving in Liotain, Llyr used the pseudonym *Llyras Vitkus*. Having plenty of experience with square-rigged sailing ships, Llyr was immediately given a captain's commission. He was initially given command of the *Undinėlė* (Mermaid), a twenty-eight gun xebec which had been modified with a square-rigged foremast and mainmast.

### Captain of *Undinėlė*

From October 1701 to May 1703. Commerce raiding!

Although built as a trading xebec, *Undinėlė* was fairly large for her type at just shy of four hundred tons, built in 1699 at Rietavas. In September 1701, the ship was purchased from her civilian owners who had planned to convert her to a privateer. Once in naval hands, the Royal Liotainian Navy's new chief constructor, Teyrnon Morfran, ordered her modified to a square-rigged ship, and armed with twenty-eight light guns. Due to a shortage of naval artillery, *Undinėlė* carried twenty 3kg iron cannon on her main deck, and eight bronze 0.5kg falconets on her quarterdeck.

After taking command of *Undinėlė* in October, Prince Llyras received orders to harass Firoccan transports heading to the besieged port of Svyturys, which was the primary objective of the Liotainian war effort. *Undinėlė* cruised for nearly two months and spotted dozens of Firoccan ships; but all of the vessels were heavily-escorted, and the crew claimed only one prize - a Firoccan fluyt carrying wheat. Firoccan warships pursued *Undinėlė* six times over the course of the cruise, although Prince Llyras used his ship's speed to evade action on all occasions.

Having met only heavily-escorted convoys bound to Svyturys, Prince Llyras petitioned for the opportunity to cruise off the Syrellian and Astyrian coast. Liotainian privateers were already finding this region a lucrative hunting ground, since the Firoccan Armada could not provide escort to their merchant ships in all areas. In February 1702, *Undinėlė* arrived off Pamplonia, Syrellia, where he was rewarded with the capture of four Firoccan ships in quick succession. Moving north to the Astyrian coast, Prince Llyras hunted for the small Firoccan warship *Soraia*, only to discover that it had been captured in February by Liotainian privateers led by Ansaldo and Marius Ferrodumond.

By March, Prince Llyras added another three Firoccan ships to his prize count, although he ordered two ships, with less valuable cargoes, burned rather than sent home as prizes. A total of five vessels were captured during this first cruise, and Prince Llyras returned to Rietavas in late March.

The *Undinėlė*'s third cruise, which began in May, was aimed at interdicting Firoccan trade along the coast of Eirenn and Pictfearr. *Undinėlė* stayed out for nearly four months before returning in late August, having taken six more prizes, including a Firoccan naval brig. A fourth cruise to the Astyrian Sea in September yielded another five prizes.

### *Pergalingas*, *Rekyva*, and Courtship

In 1703, Llyras was promoted to command the new sixty-gun ship-of-the-line *Pergalingas*, ordered from the naval shipyards in Sventoji. The *Pergalingas* was commissioned in June, with a green crew of recently-recruited landsmen. Llyras took the ship to sea almost immediately and began training his sailors.

In April 1703, Prince Llyras was presented to King Karolis and the Liotainian court, where he was well-received. By this point, his identity as a Celtican prince was well-known, and he received a further invitation to join a hunting party, where he was paired with Karolis's sister, Princess Vilmante. The two formed a quick friendship, and married in November 1703.

Being well-regarded for his training skills (and now very well-connected politically), Prince Llyras was given command of *Pergalingas*'s sistership *Rekyva* in January 1704. The ship, along with the smaller 44-gun ship-of-the-line *Sv. Linas Misionierius* and the frigates *Erelis* and *Drakonas*, formed a small squadron that operated out of Sventoji over the following months, shepherding merchant vessels bound to or from Valpo and Antargentine ports. As the senior-most captain, Prince Llyras flew the broad pennant of a commodore.

#### Battle of Girkalnis (1704)

*Main article: Battle of Girkalnis*

On 17th of April 1704, Prince Llyras's small squadron, led by *Rekyva*, cruised along the Liotainian coast near the port of Girkalnis, with orders to investigate an unknown warship spotted offshore several days prior. Shortly after dawn, *Erelis* spotted a strange sail and went to investigate. The strange sail quickly resolved into a Firoccan squadron, led by Rear Admiral Javier Villafane de Lezo, on a mission to raid and harass the Liotainian coast.

Villafane de Lezo's squadron was composed of the two fifty-six gun ships-of-the-line *Leyenda Negra* and *Asedio*, accompanied by two small frigates, *Madeira* and *Azoros*. The two fleets were very well-matched in numbers of ships and guns, although the Liotainian ships, particularly *Rekyva*, carried heavier armament; the Firoccan crews had a higher degree of training. After two hours of combat, both sides withdrew to conduct repairs. *Rekyva* had taken significant damage as Villafane de Lezo had focused on her early in the battle. However, the Firoccan frigates had been seriously mauled by *Erelis* and *Drakonas*.

In the afternoon, after the Liotainians finished their repairs, wished to renew the action, but the low wind had shifted and made this extremely difficult. After several hours, Prince Llyras decided to put over his helm and bring his four ships into the harbour of Girkalnis. Seeing the Liotainians depart the battlefield, Villafane de Lezo analyzed his own battle damage and elected to withdraw from the Gulf of Argent. Both sides claimed victory, but most historians view the conflict as a tactical draw.

### Admiral of the Van

In the aftermath of the Battle of Girkalnis, Prince Llyras was promoted to Admiral, and made second-in-command of the Liotainian battlefleet, under Admiral Vincentas Adomaitis. The two officers met in 1703 but had only a passing acquaintance with each other prior to Prince Llyras's promotion. However, they became a very well-drilled team

## Further Career

From 1718 to 1744, was Naval Commander-in-Chief.

## Family

Prince Llyras and Princess Vilmante had three children: two daughters and a son who died in infancy.

* Grafin Jadvyga Vitkus
* Grafin Jelena Vitkus
* Graf Jonas Vitkus

Llyras's granddaughter (through his daughter Jadvyga) was Maurizia Urmana, who became queen of Liotain in 1780. As a result, Prince Llyras is a direct ancestor of the current monarchial house of Liotain.