Okus II, Prince of Arkhalesk

**Okus Volkiva**, sometimes called **Okus the Bootlicker**, was a Toscovish bureaucrat who acted as the 13th Prince of Arkhalesk. He was the last member of House Volkiva to hold the Principality, as he would ultimately be deposed in 153 AW.

Born in Volkiv, Okus was a far-flung descendant of Ki Volkiva, the 6th Prince of Arkhalesk. A minor noble, he entered the local administration of his hometown. While chaos gripped the Principality as it passed between Gavre I, Irilil I, and finally, Vissil I, Okus' position remained stable, and nobody expected him to ever hold any real power.

In 120 AW, Prince Vissil was murdered in cold blood, and the murderers were never found. With no clear line of succession, an imperial decree from Toscov signed by Emperor Gazrev I named Okus as the new Prince. This was an extremely controversial decision locally, as Okus was a relative nobody at the time. However, he took the position anyway, becoming Okus II, the 13th Prince of Arkhalesk.

Okus II showed total loyalty to the Emperor, who had lifted him up from minor bureaucrat to prominent Prince. While the Principality of Arkhalesk was notoriously independent and uncaring about the imperial government in Toscov, Okus II followed every order that came from Gazrev I. When Gazrev I died in 136 AW, he was succeeded by Budimiv I, who Okus also followed without question. This earned him the local nickname of "Okus the Bootlicker" by his fellow disgruntled Arkhaleskians.

In 140 AW, the Sixth Plague of Ihyll broke out across the Golden Empire, turning ordinary Humans into deadly and savage beasts: the Krighal Taresh. With the roads being stalked by these fierce predators, communications began to break down between the Empire and its vassals, forcing many rulers to act independently. Okus II did not excel at this, having relied on the orders of the capital for his reign until now.

In 145 AW, Budimiv I was assassinated by his own son, Woldar, who had become a Krighal Vitna, a partially cured Krighal Taresh who kept their beastly bodies but retained their Human sanity. In the wake of the assassination, Ludimik II took the crown under shaky circumstances. Corrupt and inefficient, his siblings rebelled as the Empire began to collapse into factionalism. This would be the outbreak of the War of the Fifteen Princes.

Okus II remained loyal to Ludimik II, joining the Imperial Princes. He rallied the Princely Army of Arkhalesk. Still, the war didn't cross the Kinzovan Mountains for the most part, meaning Arkhalesk and neighbouring Trestovo remained relatively stable despite the chaos in the western half of the Empire. However, Arkhalesk couldn't remain unspoilt by war forever. In 153 AW, after seven years of fighting, Rebel Prince Zhincis abandoned all lands west of the Kinzovan Mountains, briefly capturing the city of Kinzova before retreating east, targeting the Principality of Arkhalesk.

Okus rallied his forces and met Zhincis at Kharibirsk but was defeated. He retreated alongside his demoralized army back to Arkhalesk, which would soon after be besieged. The city fell in less than three weeks, and Okus remained a captive until the end of the war. Despite many attempts, Prince Zhincis was impossible to dislodge from his eastern position, despite numerous attacks by Ludimik II and Prince Deslov. As the war dragged on into a bloody stalemate, a peace treaty was negotiated in early 156 AW.

For peace with the Empire, Zhincis would become the new Prince of Arkhalesk, ousting Okus II and House Volkiva. While Okus was outraged, he was in no position to negotiate as the Emperors no longer had a use for him. Zhincis freed Okus from prison upon taking the Principality, and he returned to his native Volkiv, where he lived out the rest of his days until his death in 161 AW.

## Military Career

* War of the Fifteen Princes
	+ Battle of Kharibirsk - Defeat
	+ Siege of Arkhalesk - Defeat