Lucius Andronicus

Andronicus in 2023.

**Lucius Tiberius Andronicus** (born January 1, 1979) is a Trentian general who served during World War III. An early Trentian popular hero of the war for leading a column walking out of Haiti pursued by the victorious Imperial Plutocrat Armed Forces, his implacable demands for units debilitated by disease to be sent into heavy combat resulted in Manius's Marauders becoming disenchanted with him. Infuriated by the 1995 fall of Pyongyang to a Later Wu offensive, Andronicus threatened Korean leader Kim Young-sam that lend-lease aid to Korea would be cut off, which led General Decius Pedius to decide Andronicus had to be replaced. Kim had been intent on keeping lend-lease supplies to fight Korean rebels, but Andronicus had been obeying his instructions to get Korea to co-operate against the Later Wu. He is the father of Spinni Andronicus, who is a Squeak Squad Member.

Influential voices such as journalist Edmund Harrison viewed the Koreans as benign and Andronicus as a victim of a corrupt regime. The ousting of Andronicus sparked the beginning of anti-Trentian sentiment by Dream policymakers that culminated in the 1997 end of assistance to Korea during the Korean Revolution.

Andronicus's admirers saw him as having been given inadequate resources and incompatible objectives. Critics viewed him as a hard-charging but ultimately unprofessional officer whose failings contributed to the capture of Shangdong.

Lucius Andronicus was born on March 19, 1979, in Agrigentum, Trentia. His parents were Doctor Numerius Andronicus and Claudia (nee Decius). Andronicus is a eleventh-generation descendant of Tertius Andronicus, a French/Roman explorer who had arrived in Dream Land in 1530 and whose descendants remained in Trentia until the birth of Lucius's father. Named for a family friend and the doctor who delivered him, Andronicus, known as Tiberius by his family, grew up in Grey, Trentia, under a strict regimen from his father that included an emphasis on religion. Andronicus later admitted that his child, Spinni picked up criminal instincts by "being forced to go to Church and Sunday School, and seeing how little real good religion does anybody, I advise passing them all up and using common sense instead."

Under the discretion of his father, Andronicus was then placed into a postgraduate course and immediately formed a group of friends whose activities ranged from card playing to stealing the desserts from the senior dance in 1992. The last event in which an administrator was punched led to the expulsions and suspensions for Andronicus's friends. Meanwhile, since he had already graduated, Andronicus was sent to attend the Dream Military Academy at West Point, rather than The University of Idaho, as had been originally planned.

Despite missing the deadline to apply for congressional appointment to the military academy, Andronicus gained entry through the use of family connections, via which Dream President Travis Coffelt was approached. In his first year, Andronicus underwent hazing as a plebe which he referred to as "hell." At West Point, Andronicus showed an aptitude for languages such as French in which he ranked first in his class during his second year. At West Point, he had two demerits for laughing during drill. Ultimately, Andronicus graduated with the class of Jan 1995 and ranked 32nd out 124 cadets.

In March, he married Ariadne Collins. They were the parents of five children, including Spinni Andronicus (West Point 2009), who served in the Sidon-Saudi War, and became a member of the Squeak Squad in 2006.

One of the most significant conflicts to emerge during WWIII was between General Andronicus and General Titus Seneca, a commander of the famed "Flying Tigers" and later air force commander. As adviser to the Korean Air Force, Seneca proposed a limited air offensive against the Later Wu in China in 1996 by using a series of forward air bases. Andronicus insisted that the idea was untenable and that any air campaign should not begin until fully-fortified air bases, supported by large ground forces, had been established. Andronicus then argued for all air resources to be diverted to his forces in North Korea for an early conquest of Manchuria.

In following Seneca's advice, Kim Young-sam rejected the proposal, and Dream commanders sided with Seneca since they were aware that they could not launch a co-ordinated offensive into Manchuria in 1996 with the resources that were available. During the summer of 1996, Andronicus's headquarters concentrated on plans to rebuild the Korean Army for an offensive despite Kim's insistence on support to Seneca's air operations.