Vulpes Copiatus

Only surviving bust of Vulpes Copiatus

**Vulpes Copiatus**was a Kaiser, military commander, and patriarch of the Copiatus family who is known for his participation in the Perthic Wars, as well as the redemption of the Copiatus cognomen into the patrician class. He is the father of Horace Copiatus Tigrios.

Of all the Kaisers to rule over the Dinamid Republic, multiple historians concur that Vulpes Copiatus was by and large the most ambitious, as he is one of only three Kaisers to be born into a common genus and still become Kaiser.

Vulpes Copiatus was given a sobriquet, "Wolf of *Corrivalia,*" for his tenacious and effective martial leadership during the slave revolts in *Corrivalia* following the First Perthic War. As *praetor*, he earned the respect from the people of the nearby regions and was appointed as Legate. He would later become Kaiser, and even though his rule as Kaiser was only noted by its multiple defeats, he is still held in regard to his successes.

## Early life

Vulpes Copiatus is the son of Agrippa Apiero, daughter of Senator Claudius Apiero, and Agrippo Copiatus, son of Legate Pyrrian Copiatus. His parents had met in Lenorum sometime before 208 NCE, and were wed to one another to bolster the Apiero *genus*. However, after the Copiatus blockade and the failure of the Legate to survive running the gauntlet, the Copiatus name was irreparably tarnished. As Claudius Apiero was appointed Kaiser, he set to further distance himself from the pervious administration by disinheriting and disowning his daughter wed to Pyrrian Copiatus's son.

As his parents were estranged from their nobility, they were reduced mostly to the equestrian class, and relocated south of *Solernia* into *Corrivalia*, where they managed a large plantation throughout the childhood of Vulpes Copiatus. They worked the fields of Chelmenae, and though it would gain historical significance later, was very much out of the view of Dinamid nobility at the time.

Vulpes Copiatus grew up riding horses and practicing javelin throwing, even participating in many competitions and earning regional recognition at a young age for his sport.

In his teenage years, several small slave revolts erupted across *Corrivalia*, where Dinam's influence was somewhat limited. Both of Copiatus's parents were killed, and he was forced to escape Chelmanae with his two younger siblings in 185 NCE.

Vulpes Copiatus, estranged and now of the commoner class, managed to survive in the plains of *Corrivalia* with his siblings by attacking merchants and raiding plantations for food. Into his late teenage years, he gained notoriety as a bandit and was often hunted by bands of mercenaries and even small volunteer legions. However, his swift movements and unpredictability resulted in him evading capture.

Little is known up until 185 NCE, at which point it is known that he was in fact leading a small gang of bandits at this point, which included his younger sister and younger brother, known as the Lupentians in later dialogues.

## Bandit King of *Corrivalia*

Vulpes Copiatus was the leader of the Lupentians, an all-cavalry bandit ring of some several hundred members. Inadvertently, the Lupentians had put significant pressure upon the revolting slaves of *Corrivalia*, to the point that all of the revolts had ceased.

Vulpes Copiatus was rumored to have been, along with his cavalry band, to have been werewolves. Some accounts depict them as ravaging their prey in the forms of wolves, but these accounts are often unreliable, and there is nothing in official accounts describing them as such. Even still, he earned the sobriquet, "Wold of *Corrivalia*" based on these legends.

One of his most well-known exploits during this period is a successful raid of a mobile legion, in which an entire Dinamid legion was attacked, forced to surrender, and stripped of their belongings and equipment by only a few hundred Lupentians. A legion with the Kaiser was only a few miles away, and Vulpes Copiatus managed to slip away undetected. This aggressive, ambitious behavior characterized the bandit king.

The bandit king and his gang kept a sort of peace in *Corrivalia*, in exchange for tribute from local cities, while evading capture by Dinamid legions thanks to their knowledge of the landscape and their swift formation. However, after a failed cavalry charge in an attempt to raid a legion camp in November 179 NCE, Vulpes Copiatus was captured by Kaiser Damago Saturninus and imprisoned in Esperso, south of modern-day Degola in *Corrivalia*.

## Servitude in the Dinamid legion

### Escape and subsequent capture

Vulpes Copiatus was to be hung in Lenorum, and while he was being moved in chains to Lenorum, the captured bandit king managed to kill three of his captors only using his chains and escaped into the wilderness with only meager clothing and no equipment. He found refuge in a nearby village sometime in late 179 NCE, which was soon overrun by the Kaiser Damago Saturninus' legions. Copiatus remained hidden in a barn for several days before it was communicated to him that in return for his surrender, the Legate Horace Faeniculis would spare him his life, and would only indenture him. Copiatus agreed, and surrendered himself to the Kaiser.

True to his word, the Legate had Copiatus branded on his forehead, his left shoulder, and his left wrist with a *stigma* depicting a wolf and Dwarvish runes that offered a reward for his return if he abandoned his legion. The Kaiser Damago Saturninus was skeptical of the decision, but allowed it to pass if the Legate watched him unerringly.

### As a cavalryman in Nodia

Vulpes Copiatus became a legionnaire, and was among many legions that were assigned to the western marches of Dinam and Nodia. Though he began as a tender of cavalry and breaker of horses, Vulpes Copiatus was given an opportunity to ride with cavalry, but only on a colt in case he attempted to escape. In a decisive battle just south of Nocinae, Copiatus rode the colt past Nodian lines and drove back the rear left flank "like a rabid wolf," as described by Legate Faeniculis. For this, he was given full rights in the Dinamid cavalry by the Legate. The two become good companions, with the Legate acting as a sort of mentor to the orphaned Copiatus.

As a cavalryman, Vulpes Copiatus remained in Nodia until mid-177 NCE, when Legate Horace Faeniculis was fatally wounded by a snake bite while in camp. Having become close to Copiatus, Faeniculis asked him to take care of his daughter Livia, and sealed a letter to be brought to the Kaiser to inform him to appoint Copiatus as Legate.

Vulpes Copiatus allegedly rode for four days through a seasonal storm before reaching the Kaiser in the Regulan, near Ispizo. Though the Legate's recommendation was strong, the Kaiser still distrusted Copiatus and saw him as reckless and dangerous. Kaiser Damago Saturninus sent him to Lenorum with another letter to be appointed *praetor* of *Corrivalia*. In this way, he could relegate him to a harmless position and still adhere to the dying Legate's wishes in a different way.

### Praetorship in *Corrivalia*

Vulpes Copiatus wed Faeniculis' daughter Livia a few months later, and fathered two children. His eldest son he named for his father-in-law and companion Horace Faeniculis, and his daughter he named Agrripa for his mother.

As *praetor*, Vulpes Copiatus was tasked with management of a relatively peaceful province, which frustrated the young and ambitious man. However, he was fairly popular as *praetor*, after his peacekeeping services in the past and the stories of his rising military career. His story became well-known and the next decade of his praetorship came to pass without much incident.

### Appointment as Legate

#### Before the Second Perthic War

In 160 NCE, Vulpes Copiatus was relieved of his duty as *praetor* by the Senate to install the son-in-law of another Senator, Didus Cornelius. However, his popularity meant that the Senators would face backlash if they simply removed him from office, thus they had Kaiser Malicas Taritus appoint him as his Legate to satisfy the Corrivalians who might otherwise grow anxious, at a time where imports from Lonen were diminishing the value of crop yields in the region and causing unrest already.

The Legate only served in some missions to Nodia and protecting the Epidelles rivers before the Second Perthic War, in which he was thrust into one of the greatest conflicts of Merovian canon.

#### Kasmirian Theater

The Legate traveled with Kaiser Malicas Taritus into Kasmir to stop the Attacan army from crossing the Ebriot, the river dividing Kasmir by its northern and southern halves. Their strategy was to recreate the conditions in which they pursue their foes across the Epidelles, only to find that eastern Kasmir was absent of any army. The Dinamid legions were not facing bands of Nodians, but a sophisticated fighting force led by the so-called Father of Strategy.

The Legate and Kaiser were stranded in Kasmir for many months as Attacus Rex prepared to cross the Orphans. Small engagements ensued, but to no avail for either side. At some point while he was away, his son Horace Copiatus enlisted, and would later regroup with his father as a part of his legion.

#### Pursuit and injury

Back in the mainland of Dinam, the Legate Vulpes Copiatus eagerly pursued the Attacan army once it had crossed the mountains to the north in 158 NCE, a weakened and less numerous army. At the Battle of Tern, Legate Vulpes Copiatus was outmatched in a minor engagement as his cavalry failed to reach a critical bridge in time to prevent Attaca's cavalry line from smashing into his light infantry. The Legate suffered a grievous injury, taking two short spears to his right side and being struck by a sling. He was rescued by his son and brought out of the battle.

His injuries were a detriment enough that Vulpes Copiatus was not keen on combat initially; after Kaiser Malicas Taritus encouraged him to lead the unit towards Nocinae, the Legate agreed to take position and help direct the attachment. Later, after the battle went disastrously south and the Kaiser was consumed by Sterntar the Black, the Legate rode hard east until making it into *Velusia*. His injuries returned and he was bedridden for some time.

## Kaiser Vulpes Copiatus

### At the Frigid River

Forgoing the election that was typical for the posiiton of Kaiser, the Senate appointed Vulpes Copiatus as Kaiser in the hopes that his aggression would inspire a turnaround in the war against Attacus Rex. As a result, the young Kaiser was recalled to Lenorum for the induction ceremonies necessary for good fortune in war. Though he was reluctant to do so, superstitions among both his legions and the people of Dinam led to him returning for the ceremonies. During this time, Attacus Rex seized the opportunity to swallow territory from his disorganized legions.

The new Kaiser selected Talmy Cassius as Legate, and seeing the position of the Attacan army, capitalized on the eastern flank by reinforcing Vesus and building a camp north of Razo. The bank of the Frigid River was fortified as well to prevent the army from launching surprise raids, and throughout autumn Kaiser Vulpes Copiatus amassed a large force that managed to keep Attaca pinned. Supply lines from Nodia helped support the Attacan army, but it was becoming clear with winter approaching, the grain stores of *Velusia* and a passage through the Ivies mountain range was necessary, or he would have to either retreat to Nocinae or lay a siege on a Madelian city, which would go against the Perthic strategy thus far.

Kaiser Vulpes Copiatus had made sure to prevent Attacus Rex himself from coming across the Frigid River, seeing how the Spoiled River had been made borne to disease and rot. Despite the plagued field mice infecting some in the camp and eroding the numbers slightly, Kaiser Vulpes Copiatus was keen to the strategy and successfully quarantined his forces if they showed symptoms of illness, hundreds of years before such medicine existed. This is said to be one of the great strategies to come from a Kaiser almost prophetically.

However, the Battle of the Frigid River would prove for nought as Attacus Rex would lure the legions into a trap, killing his new Legate and driving the routed armies away from *Velusia* as Attaca marched south in pursuit, taking the Ivies as the winter approached.

### The Delayer

The Dinamid Senate resolved to raise new armies against Attaca under Kaiser Vulpes Copiatus, who was now without a Legate. Though his son Horace Copiatus served him in a similar way that a Legate would, because he was merely in his teens, he did not meet the minimum age and service requirements to be considered for the position, and was not chosen even as another Legate was selected much later. Despite this, he was successful in his role, and was often referred to as the "Little Legate."

Kaiser Vulpes Copiatus's distrust of the Senate was as high as ever, and feared now that they would try to sabotage his command after the crushing defeats. When the Senate voted to recall him to perform lengthy religious rituals for good fortune in battle, the Kaiser refused, insisting his army spend the winter drilling in Argane, in southern *Madelia* and almost on the coast of *Velusia*. As it was expected that Attacus Rex would advance into *Velusia* by spring and cross the Ivies mountain range by summer, Argane was situated in a perfect place to respond to the Attacan army marching south. During the winter, he selected as Legate Leonas Fabion, who would perform the proper rituals, and as expected spent much of the winter of 156 NCE in Lenorum.

Despite his distrust, the Kiaser was susprised when the Senate decided to resort to the traditional emergency measure of appointing him as *dictator*, a temporary commander-in-chief who would serve as both Kaiser and as a special type of Senator whose vote was worth ninety-nine Senators. Such a number meant that it would take a unanimous vote from the Senate to override him. The usual procedure required the presence of a Kaiser to appoint the *dictator,* so Vulpes Copiatus was made *prodicator*, or "acting dictator" instead, with the same powers.

During the winter, the Legate Fabion and Kaiser Vulpes Copiatus discussed strategy and how to defeat Attacus Rex, given the previous three defeats leaving many thousands of legionnaires dead. After deliberating, they agreed that direct confrontation had thus far not been successful, as Attacus Rex was thus far invincible in combat. Departing from the Dinamid military tradition of engaging the enemy in pitched battle as soon as possible, the Legate and Kaiser invented the so-called "Fabion strategy": refusing open battle with his opponent, but constantly skirmishing with small detachments of the enemy. This strategy would pick up in May 155 NCE, and continue for several years.

This course was not popular among the soldiers, earning the Kaiser Vulpes Copiatus the nickname *cunctator*, or "delayer," since he seemed to avoid battle while Attacus Rex marched south and threatened to spread disease and destruction. The Attacan army managed to cross the Ivies in the summer months, and fortified south of *Corrivalia* in October 155 NCE near the mountains near the city of Vantari. The Kaiser was able to shadow Attaca by moving on the heights parallel to the Attacan army's movements on the plains of *Velusia*, to avoid their cavalry which was supreme on flat terrain. This demanded great care, since Attacus Rex tried with all his skill to ambush the Dinamid legions. For this reason, a new marching formation, with three parallel columns of infantry, was developed instead of the single column that had been in use at Nocinae and the Frigid River.

The legions' constant harassment of the Attacan forces handicapped the latter's command abilities and gained many prisoners. The Kaiser refused to trade prisoners, and what prisoners were taken were sold into slavery on both sides. The fear was that Attacus Rex would trade prisoners who were ridden with disease, and devastate his armies, so once a soldier was in Attacan hands, they were considered as casualties.

Attacus Rex decided to march through through *Corrivalia*, one of the richest and most fertile provinces of Dinam and directly south of *Solernia*, hoping that the devastation would draw Kaiser Vulpes Copiatus into battle. Not only was *Corrivalia* the homeland of the Kaiser, but it would hinder the ability of their legions to shadow them if the lands were marred irreparably. As the year wore on, Attacus Rex pillaged *Corrivalia*for supplies and the land became so infested with disease that the many lakes and inland seas that the region was known for turned a sickly violet, and the plains and fields were reduced to barren wastes. Attaca also left alone property he knew belonged to the Kaiser, to sew distrust among the native Dinamians.

Kaiser Vulpes Copiatus had ensured that the only routes available were either throught he Ivies in winter, and towards Lenorum, which could lead to a winter siege. However, Attacus Rex opted instead to spend the winter in the village of Oncana, in southern *Solernia*, and relied on tribute from local villages that sustained his military.

This strategy would continue for another three years, as Attacus Rex fortified Oncana and ravaged *Corrivalia* and necessitated tribute from *Solernia* to sustain his army. Despite the weakening of the Attacan army, which continued to dwindle in number due to lack of reliable supply lines, infrequent attacks from the Kaiser's legions, and the growing despondency of his army led to Attaca's forces crumbling.

However, Kaiser Vulpes Copiatus could not outwait Attacus Rex. His role as *dictator* became increasingly unpopular, as well as his Legate, who was blamed for reducing the once-renowned "Wolf of *Corrivalia*" into becoming *culcator*. Legate Fabion was removed in a unanimous Senate vote in late 153 NCE, and by January 152 NCE, the number of Senators who were voting to keep Vulpes Copiatus as Kaiser was reduced to two, and finally only one holdout in February 152 NCE.

### Battle of Chelmanae

In March of 151 NCE, Kaiser Vulpes Copiatus relented and decided to lure Attacus Rex into a pure pitched battle in the plains of *Corrivalia*, where no tricks, ambushes, or surprises could happen. Kaiser Vulpes Copiatus had ridden the plains for decades, and knew them better than any other military commander in history. Outside the hamlet of his origin, Chelmanae, he prepared to confront Attacus Rex and his army just west of the Splintered River.

The battle was a decisive defeat, with the Kaiser's strategy resulting in a horrific defeat, the worst ever in Dinamid history and among the worst in world history. The Kaiser himself was killed in the battle, struck with a javelin while attempting to escape the slaughter, and his hands and head were cut from his body to send to insurgent states of Dinam as a mechanism for coercion. The rest of his body was never recovered.

## Legacy

### Military history

Though he is in part responsible for two of the three worst defeats during the Second Perthic War, Vulpes Copiatus was also an innovative commander whose methods of quarantine, three-line infantry, and Fabion strategy were not only necessary for the rest of the war, but also keystone elements of future successful armies. So in spite of his defeats, Vulpes Copiatus had a major impact in campaign strategy.

His decisions and mistakes were also keenly studied by his son Horace Copiatus Tigrios as well as his descendants Horace Virilo and Gaius Virilo Olivius, all of whom used them in battle to great success.

### Art and culture

The "Wolf of *Corrivalia*" heavily inspired art and myth at the time, with legends of the Wolf appearing in children's stories and gaining popularity as a redemption tale in his home nation. His aggressive but ambitious nature gave rise to popular conceptions of Corrivalians, even after it was slowly depopulated, many still called themselves Corrivalians out of pride. This pride can be easily pointed to Vulpes Copiatus, given that many Corrivalians too called themselves "wolves."

Vulpes Copiatus is heavily mentioned in any work that features his son, most notably *The Tiger's Tale* in which he is most positively portrayed as the greatest inspiration for Horace Tigrios being the man and legend he later would manifest. There is also substantial evidence that even shortly after his death, the legacy of his son's success redeemed Vulpes Copiatus once again as a great leader. Silver drachmas minted during the war have been featured with the face of Vulpes Copiatus, and his likeness of the wolf on its ulterior side.

During the Cultural Cleanse, Rosicrucians destroyed most of his preserved letters and busts in Lenorum. For a few centuries following, the only pieces of his existence that were recovered were his journals possessed by Gaius Olivius, word of mouth, and a few drachmas that survived into the Mythic Ages. However, once the seal on the City of Marble was lifted, a single bust was found along with many of his predecessors in the Hall Immemorial. His marble bust was damaged however in its movement from Lenorum.