Four Horsemen

The **Four Horsemen** (commonly referred to as Julius' Horsemen, the "Deathbringers", and "the Messiahs") were a group of four military generals and holy men whose rise to prominence came from their part in the Battle of a Thousand Crests and, particularly, the skirmish involved in retaking the Sinn'mearnu city-fortress of Wulfe. The generals who were formally knighted prior-to the battle as Holy Knights for the House of Julius - Callixtus Thornbiter, Pelagius Mantra, Theodorius Collosi, and Hadrianus D'lanastion - were later deified for their work in the essential turning-point of the conflict. Though prior-to their arrival the Battle of a Thousand Crests was formally referred to as simply a 'battle', it was with the introduction of each man's cavalry forces that the event took on a more-grave essence, and became recognised as a war by most scholars even into modern times.

Paragons of the House of Julius, the Four Horsemen were given absolute power over the forces commanded by the House of Julius in Sinn'mearnu during the conflict, and were later allowed to retain their titles even after their retirement and postmortem.

The Horsemen were known for being radicalised depending on which member of the group was leading an effort with the collective; though they are necessarily remembered for being quite merciful, historians today contest that thought by showcasing that the horsemen's original aims were total extermination of what they deemed 'unpure' (as defined by the House of Julius).

## Origins and Establishment

The Four Horsemen did not originally form until in the late 1596 A.F, a year which contained the later-stages of the Battle of a Thousand Crests. Prior-to then, the generals who composed the quartet were Sons of Julius, enlisted into Prince Julius II's Whitestar Battalion. Each man had obtained the rank of General and thus were granted control of a force of up to 10,000 soldiers each unless in the case of absolute power during times of war. Due to their standing and ability in keeping cities well-maintained and the guard well-polished, each man was then individually picked from their posts to be knighted and then hold the title of "Sir".

If historians refer to various sources, though (texts which were not disturbed by the House of Julius, but instead written by local scholars and researchers), the Generals were originally all monks of the monastery located in the capitol of Constantinian, Ronae'boadash - otherwise known as the "Peaceful Place". The name was a terrible contradiction to the things which occurred within the monastery, though. All of the monks which had been chosen were former convicts, those sentenced to death by the Judges of their home cities who were later granted pardon once the D'lanastions took over their posts as governors. Prince Julius I had been merciful to each man, stating that through their service and piety that they would be relieved of the burden of their crimes; thus, all of his selected 300 monks agreed. Believed to be among the top students at the monastery's private school, Callixtus, Pleagius, Theodorius, and Hadrianus were enlisted into the Whitestar Battalion at the beginning of its formation as an offensive and defensive force for The Blackwald as a whole, differing in militias due to the fact that they absorbed a large amount of power by being underneath Julius' command.

### The Name

The name of the Four Horsemen originated from the local peoples who were fleeing Wulfe and Tacitan during the Battle of a Thousand Crests. Considering that each General headed a cavalry, it should be of no surprise that both they and the entirety of their forces were mounted and charged into battle thus. One local historian from Sinn'mearnu had obtained a testament from one of the refugees of the war, a young woman who witnessed the initial invasion of the attempt to recapture Wulfe:

*"There were so many of them. The stench was... Gods, that smell -- I'm honestly quite surprised I hadn't passed out. My children and I, we were fleeing, because war does that to people, yes? It terrifies them. It even terrifies soldiers. We were running. We were running from Wulfe, barefoot... when I heard a rumbling, and the ground began to tremour. [They] rode by us, a few kilometres away, just beyond a hill... there were [what seemed like] millions. I screamed, and we had to run faster, but at the front of every sect of them I saw the leaders... four horsemen. I knew in that moment that any one left in the [the city]... would not survive."*

 Through local rumour and legends, as well as official recounts of the war which were influenced by some gossip (partially) at the time, the generals would become immortalised through this name.

## In Modern Times

Following their deification, the Four Horsemen went on to become popular icons, especially throughout the south of the Northern Territories in provinces such as The Blackwald. They are minor characters in the revisited and revised compendium of the Holy Pslams, the holy book written by various authors across the House of Julius.