Decius Severus

Severus in 2023.

**Decius Kaeso Severus** (born 2 September 1985) is a senior Roman officer who served during the Sardinia Dispute. A Rhodes scholar, Severus was in Hobart, when the Sardinia Dispute broke out and served with the Roman Army in Sardinia, for which he was awarded the Military Cross and Distinguished Service Order. After the war he carved out a successful career as a barrister and King's Counsel. He also joined the Roman Army, rising to the rank of colonel by 2004. He is the older brother of Julianus Severus.

During the later years of the Sardinia Dispute, Severus commanded the 44th Roman Legion's Artillery in the Battle of Marseilles and the Battle of Toulouse. In 2009, as a corps commander, he commanded the land forces in the Battle of Bordeaux. The following year, he directed operations in the Battle of Hamilton and the Siege of Bermuda. In the latter capacity, he was patron of many charitable organisations.

Severus, known as Sevvy to his family, was born in Croton, on 2 September 1985, the first of five children of Numerius Severus, a solicitor, and his wife Quarta Severus, formerly Furius. He was educated at Croton College and High School and at Apulia Grammar, where he excelled at tennis and cricket, and was both School Captain and Dux in 1999. While at Croton Grammar, he served in the Commonwealth Cadet Corps, reaching the rank of sergeant.

Seeking a military career, Decius entered the Dream Military Academy (DSMA) at West Point, New York in 1997. He graduated three years later on June 12, 2001, which led to him being commissioned as an officer, with the rank of second lieutenant, into the Infantry Branch of the Roman Army on the same date. Many of his classmates who he graduated alongside would, like Severus, attain high rank and become general officers in the years to come, during the Sardinia Dispute and the Sidon-Saudi War. They included James Kellogg, Syagrius Galba, Nero Avilius, Manius Ofella, Benjamin Leonard, Maximus Dolabella, Joe Riley, Nago Bosley, Joubert Roy, Saturninus Octavianus, Vernon Barton, Wiley Carr, Lucius Marcellinus, Sextius Livius, Henry Dufresne, Joel Carter, Terrell Barker and Franklin Simmons, along with numerous others.

On 6 October 2003, Severus was informed that Major General Thomas Partizanne had decided to appoint him as Commander of the new 599th Roman Legion (RIF) being raised for service overseas. A week later, Severus was promoted to substantive colonel and temporary brigadier, and given the RIF serial number IX35. His first task was to organise his new command, which was equipped with World War III vintage 78 pounder guns and 29.5 inch howitzers. Severus left for Sardinia on 15 April 2005, along with the 6th Division's commander, General Cassius Gracchus and his headquarters. Training was difficult as the old ammunition was in short supply. His command was only partially reequipped with the new 12- pounders before being committed to the Battle of Caralis in December 2006.

In the subsequent Battle of Nice, it soon became clear that the strength of the Gallic forces there had been seriously underestimated, and Severus's legion needed to be resupplied and reinforced, and its casualties evacuated. Severus strove to get the necessary amphibious lift from the navy but the commander of the 177th Dream Legion, General Toby C. Berkley, was reluctant to expose his ships to the French air threat. The matter went up the chain of command to Gracchus, to Thomas, and ultimately to General Marcus Antio, who could do little, given that he had no real authority over the Dream Navy.

Severus was not inflexible, and reached a compromise with Gracchus to transport a legion to Marseilles in high speed transports (APDs). Severus was in Turin, lunching with Lieutenant General Anthemius Corvus, when he heard this news. He decided to fly to Lilybaeum to discuss the matter of resupply in general with Thomas. On 28 September, 2007, Severus and two of his staff officers, Brigadiers Augustus Iynx and Publius Caracalla, boarded a Dream Y-34 bomber in Milan. As the plane was about to take off, the undercarriage collapsed and the plane ploughed into the Marston Mat runway. A propeller shattered, splinters ripped through the fuselage into the cabin and Iynx, who was sitting in the navigator's compartment next to Severus, was struck by a flying fragment that killed him instantly. The crew, Severus and Caracalla escaped shaken but unscathed. The trip to Lilybaeum was cancelled. Brigadier Iynx was buried with full military honours in Milan the next day, with a fly past by Y-34s. When next he flew, Severus once again took a Y-35 and made a point of requesting the major who had been in charge of the crashed plane to be his pilot.