Arteb Stotskov

**Arteb Stotskov** was a Toscovish general who fought for the Rebel Princes during the War of the Fifteen Princes. Initially a lieutenant in the Warband of Rebel Prince Zhincis, he was promoted to lead the Eastern Defence Army for his unwavering loyalty.

Before the civil war or the Sixth Plague of Ihyll, Stotskov was a soldier in the Golden Army. After the Sixth Plague broke out, his wife contracted the disease, though she was ultimately cured by the Kymelian Order, who turned her from a Krighal Taresh to a Krighal Vitna. For her own safety, she went into hiding in the Blue Forest to avoid Budimiv I and his Beasthunters who killed any Krighal, cured or not, indiscriminately.

However, the occasional raid deep into the Blue Forest brought back prisoners, with Stotskov's wife being one of them. She was brought back to Toscov, where her hands were chopped off, she was decapitated, and her body was left on display as a warning along with hundreds of other Krighal. Arteb was dishonourably discharged for trying to hide his wife from the Beasthunters, at which point he returned to his native Tyanov.

Once the War of the Fifteen Princes broke out after Budimiv I's death, Stotskov was one of the first to join the side of the Rebel Princes, falling in line with the accomplished strategist-prince Zhincis. While other rebels fought for glory or wealth, Stotskov was driven by unfiltered hatred, and it showed. He fought harder than any other soldier on the battlefield and inspired a passion and battle-lust in his comrades, which saw him promoted to the rank of lieutenant. However, while a figurehead to rally behind, Stotskov also became infamous for subjecting Imperial prisoners to horrific methods of torture, giving many of his allies mixed feelings about the man.

Somebody who had no doubts about Stotskov was Prince Zhincis. After the Fourth Battle of Machayya, he had been suddenly thrust into the leadership position of the Rebel Princes due to the death of Prince Durkrin. With his position unsustainable in the west, Zhincis crossed the Kinzovan Mountains and took Arkhalesk, which henceforth became his base of operations. Zhincis drove the Imperials back to Kinzova, reinforcing the mountain passes. To create an organised unit to hold the passes, Zhincis raised a new army: the Eastern Defence Army, which he controversially put Stotskov in charge of. Zhincis had hoped that the general fear amongst the Imperial ranks of being captured by Stotskov would cause defections, though it can be argued it only made them fight harder or choose death over surrender.

One way or another, Stotskov served dutifully as general of the Eastern Defence Army, repelling many Imperial assaults. Much to his annoyance, Zhincis forbade him from pursuing and strictly tasked him with defending the passes. This did not stop Arteb from sending out the occasional party to capture Imperial scouts and string them from the walls of his mountain forts in brutal displays. He held the mountains until the end of the war in 156 AW.

After the civil war ended in compromise, with Zhincis being made Prince of Arkhalesk, Arteb was employed as an important military advisor in the Princely Army of Arkhalesk. However, with the civil war no longer raging, cracks began to appear in Arteb. The violence and the cruelty had acted as outlets and distractions, yet beneath his infamous reputation was a truly broken man. In his last days, Stotskov was a drunken shell of a man, unable to lead a single soldier. In late 160 AW, four years after the end of the war, his subordinates found him dead in his room, having slit his own throat the night before.