Arthur Paxton

## **Early Life**

Arthur was born on 1729 A.T.F in Londa the capital of the Empire of Brettland, he was the son of Brettish Nobles Evan and Mary Paxton. He was the second eldest of the Paxton children, and as the second son he was subject to a military upbringing. At the age of six his education began. His father used political influence and wealth to get Arthur a tutorship with a famed retired Brettish Admiral ‘Mad’Jack Lochsley. Mad Jack had a son of his own, James Lochsley. Paxton and James would become close friends over the years. At the age of sixteen Arthur served as squire to Legendary Knight Sir Martin Kingsley, a year later Arthur would be participating in tournaments in Aldurias winning his family fame and glory. His name was widely spread throughout the countryside, soon every man, woman and child living in Brettland would know the name Arthur Paxton.

At the age of eighteen Arthur was knighted and gained his first commission as an officer. He would serve with the Brettish Imperial 95th ‘’East Riding'' Regiment of Foot as captain for the next few months. Arthur's first taste of action would come when he alongside his childhood friend James Lochsley were both deployed to put down rebellious miners during the Salts War, these endeavors would earn himself more fame and a promotion. The war against the rebel miners ended quickly, partly due to Arthur's brutal repression tactics used to prevent the rebellion from further spreading. Shortly after the successfully putting down the rebellion, Arthur grew to regret his brutal suppression strategy in his own words deeming it "A dishonorable campaign against the common folk". Arthur was sent home after the campaign while his friend, James Lochsley, would remain in the region for years to come eventually transferring to the navy and becoming an Admiral like his father. James would later be sent to Orbis with a small fleet, where he would dock in Titus City assigned to protect the Brettish Embassy.

## **Career**

Upon arrival at his home in Londa, Paxton would continue the duties of an officer of the armed forces. He was later reassigned from the 95th ‘’East Riding'' Regiment of Foot and ordered to the maintenance of the 22nd Light Foot, where it was said he drilled them to be excellent soldiers. His life would remain the same for a certain number of years as he trained soldiers for The Queen's Army.

On a sunny morning in May, Paxton would learn through a newspaper that Brettland was planning a retaliatory strike in Orbis after his longtime friend, Admiral James Lochsley, was shot and killed in Titus City. Despite seeking for ways to transfered to the retaliatory Strike Team to avenge his friend, Paxton was denied a transfer. A few weeks later Paxton learned the Strike Team had been called off, after the pro-Brettish The Warlords State of Titus had regained firm control over the city. Upon deeper reading, Paxton would learn that his lifelong friend, James Lochsley, died defending Titus City from insurgents attempting to overthrow The Warlords State of Titus. Shortly after hearing of this Paxton retired from his service in The Brettish Queens Army, and used his funds he had saved up to travel to Orbis to avenge his fallen friend.

Upon arriving at Titus City, he sought service and was quickly employed as a personal bodyguard of King George The Fat. For the following months he would accompany King George on many of his diplomatic missions as he sought to consolidate his power. Paxton acted both as a bodyguard, and an unofficial eminissary for The Brettish as the Brettish hoped a Pro Brettish Orbisian Emperor would rise to power in Orbis and allow for Brettish interest to pave way on the continent. Paxton was content in his position however he felt that he was acting idle, and justice for his fallen friend was no closer than it was when he left Brettland. Paxton would have his view changed on Brettland and King George when the Brettish Parliament voted to Decommission Knights from The Queen's Army. Following this decision King George agreed that once he was crowned Emperor of Orbis he would do the same, and model his armies off of the Queen's Royal Armies. Paxton was enraged with this news, and found wise counsel in an unlikely friend, a Franikan man by the name of William Boomica. Over the course of the next few months Paxton and William would become close friends. They shared many of the same political and social views on how the world should function, although William was more of a political minded man rather than a warrior he respected Paxton's code of honor and his extensive education he had received. When the two were not attending to the matters of the state, they would frequently hunt together and drink together. Occasionally the two would play chess together and duel each other, William oftentimes would typically win a majority of the chess games they played, however when it came to dueling Arthur would always easily beat his new found friend in mock duels. As the years passed on Arthur soon began to witeness King Georges incompetence, and Tyrannical Rule. While Arthur never dared consider treason, Arthur had begun to dislike and eventually outright hate King George.

On 1755 A.T.F King George The Fat was assassinated by an unknown assailant, she in turn was quickly ousted by William who took the opportunity to lay the foundations of his own Empire. Arthur had felt indifferent about Azebellias assassination, while he privately wished she had been exiled rather than executed, he justified her death for her complacency in King Georges tyrannical rule, never once standing up to her father.

William confronted the Council of The Warlord State of Titus which was made up of the states top Generals and Administrative Staff. William demanded that The Council sign the papers legally stating that the secession of power from George's Daughter to him was recognized. The Council initially protested him on his demands but eventually, by force, agreed to do so. Even though the Council signed the documents and recognized William as the legal successor to The Warlord State, the Council was still executed by William himself. Arthur was not pleased with William's brutal execution of the council, and this would be one of the many instances that Arthur was openly critical about William's brutality. This act of brutality earned William the unofficial title as "The Unforgiving".

In late October of 1755 A.T.F King William the Unforgiving was crowned The King of The Warlord State of Titus. William's first edict was to consolidate his forces in Titus City. He tasked his greatest leaders with assembling an army, this would include Sir Arthur Paxton. Sir Arthur was already famous at this point as a Knight and renowned Warrior. His time in Titus City would only further his status as he rallied many of the loyal lords and nobles of the surrounding provinces to William's cause. In a matter of months Paxton would rise to become Williams most trusted General and was officially ranked "The Marshall" of the Warlord State of Titu's Armed Forces. During this time of immense reconsolidation of military forces, Arthur would begin to finance and build his own private army. Many of the knights who were decommissioned in Brettland, were now without a source of income and stripped of their military titles. Arthur had felt pity for his fellow brothers in arms, and created a knightly order in hopes to employ the large populations of knights decommissioned from Brettland. This order of knights was known as, Paxton's Order, and soon its numbers swelled into the thousands with knights from Histania, Brettland, Orbis, and Franika added to its ranks.

## ***The Northern Incursion***

Arthur Paxton's first major deployment in Orbis would be to campaign in the Far North under orders of William Boomica. Paxtons incursions into to the Far North would begin on 1757 A.T.F, Paxton's orders were to secure the Northern Realm, stop the rise of a Free Domain lead by Ivan Balinskie, and to cause a split between Karkos's Northern and Western Forces. Although William had his concerns about the growing Free Domain known as the United Vic Republics Union. William's primary motive to deploy Arthur was mainly to split Karkos's forces, as Karko's realm encompassed the city of Norkia, Vaedesia, and Carigo. Although The Realm of Karkos and The Warlord State of Titus were at peace, William feared Karkos's massive expansion and anticipated that the two powers would come into conflict at a later date. Thus William believed that if he could strike first, split Karkos's forces, and force Karkos's to fight on two fronts, he would undoubtedly be able to overwhelm The Realm of Karkos in one fell swoop.

Arthur was initially given command of an army of nearly 100,000 men, though Arthur could foresee logistical issues and also had to deal with a lack of experienced officers, due to the majority of The Warlord State's experienced higher ups being purged during the initial take over. Instead Arthur requested to take his own personal order of knights, William agreed and on December 12th 1757 A.T.F, Arthur Paxton would begin to rally his forces at Titus City in anticipation for the campaign. Nearly 20,000 Knights from Paxton's Order were summoned, most of them being Orbisian in origin, with Franikans, Brettish, and Reichlandian Knights littered amongst the ranks. Paxton's initial plan of conquest was to secure Vaedesia, afterwards he planned to move north and establish several camps near the United Vic Republics Union capital of Sven City. The surrounding camps would be used to harass caravans, and local patrols with the hope of leading Ivan Balinskie to come to the conclusion that a siege was imminent, with this Arthur hoped that Ivan would sally out and engage him in a field battle.

Arthur was willing to siege Vaedesia because unlike Sven City, and Norkia. The city itself was lightly defended, as General Ryan Dust had moved a majority of his armies South West to assist with peacekeeping operations in Carigo. The Second Siege of Vaedesia commenced on February the 26th 1758 A.T.F, and ended the same day it began. The city's garrison was quickly forced to surrender by the populace, and later Arthur was informed that the city had suffered the rule of Northern Tribals for several decades after the fall of The Duchy of Vaedesia. Thus the city's inhabitants were all too willing to come under the jurisdiction of an Southern King once again, even if the city had at one point been a rival of The Warlord State of Titus decades ago.

## ***The Battle of Sven City WIP***

After conquering Vaedesia, Arthur left a small garrison of 1,000 knights to keep order within the city. Arthur then proceeded to dispatch messengers to William to inform him of the successful annexation of the city, and to request troops from Titus City be diverted to garrison Vaedesia, a request William would never send. Arthur continued with his plan and marched to The Far North Arriving at Sven City on May the 2nd 1758 A.T.F. Upon arrival Arthur positioned his forward camp 50 miles East of Sven City. Arthur then positioned 14,000 of his men in the main camp, and constructed two more camps, one positioned on the other side of the city 30 miles west, and another camp 25 miles south. The Western and Southern camp each was given 2,500 knights, and was ordered to prevent any caravans or grain shipments from entering the city. Arthur, being a man of honor, ordered that the caravans and civilian's attempting to enter the city not be harmed and simply turned away, while patrols would be engaged at any chance to draw the attention of the United Vic Republics Union.

This attempt to deceive Ivan into believing a siege was imminent worked, and on May the 16th 1758 A.T.F, Premier Ivan Balinskie of the United Vic Republics Union and his Commissar of War Jolak Volkov sallied out of Sven City. Their forces consisted of 35,000 local conscripts, peasants, and volunteers amongst the city. Of the 35,000 who volunteered, only 5,000 were cavalry, most of which were commoners who privately owned horses and possessed little skill in cavalry warfare, with the rest of the army being made up of peasant infantry, hunters, and lightly armored militia units. Ivan Balinskie was aware of Arthur's main forward camp was in the East, and knew of the Southern Camps location, but he was unaware that Paxton had a third camp stationed to the west on the other side of the city. The Battle of Sven City began on May 18th 1758 A.T.F, the first engagement began when Ivan ordered his Commissar of War, Jolak Volkov to attack the southern camp. Jolak was given a force of 9,000 men and attacked the Southern Camp on May 18th 1758 A.T.F, the engagement lasted an hour. Although Jolak outnumbered the knights by a considerable margin, he was repulsed everytime he advanced against the camp.

By the fourth attack, the Western Camp had finally caught wind of what was happening and sallied out of the camp. It took the Knights from Western Camp nearly 10 hours to reach the battlefield, when the Knights finally arrived they had found that Jolak Volkov and his forces were in the process of retreating; instead of perusing the routing forces the reinforcements rode directly into the Eastern Camp to rally with the Camp Leader. The missed opportunity allowed for Jolak Volkov's forces to rally back to the main force and uncovered the Western Camps existence to the Vics. Although the Knights from the Western Camp had missed their opportunity to deliver a decisive blow to Jolak's second army group, the Southern Knights had already inflicted heavy casualties against the Vics, killing 2,400 Vics, and only suffering 300 casualties themselves. The main army group of the United Vic Republics Union merged back with Jolak Volkov's forces, now combined rising their total manpower to 32,600. Arthur had received word of what had transpired the previous day, and on May 19th 1758 A.T.F Arthur marched his main force of 14,000 knights out into the Tundra Flatlands.

Ivan responded by marching his troops as well, he positioned his army in an arrow formation. With 25,000 men forming an arrow pointing towards Arthurs position, with the most experienced militiamen and commoners at the frontlines, while rows of lines behind the frontline were littered with the less experienced conscripts and volunteers. Jolak was ordered to take the remaining men and form a line covering the opening and flanks. Ivan hoped that a frontline charge could be split with a counter charge upon impact. Splitting up the horsemen and allowing for the more experienced soldiers to cut them off from their leadership and overwhelm them with sheer numbers. In hopes of stopping any rear attack, Ivan ordered the remaining cavalry units be positioned in front of the spear wall formation covering the flanks. Although Ivan knew his units of untrained and lightly armored volunteer cavalry would stand no chance against any rear attack, he hoped a counter charge could be enough to stall or hinder the charge and allow the shield wall to advance and overwhelm the knights.

Arthur, knowing that Ivan was attempting a spin on the Wedge Formation, split his forces in two, ordering 7,000 men to hit the right side of the formation and the other 7,000 men to hit the left. Under no circumstances were they to attack the rear or center. Arthur then dispatched messengers to the united Western and Southern Camp Forces numbering 4,700 strong to engage Jolaks lines from the rear head on. Ivan was unaware that Arthur was commanding an army of experienced and disciplined soldiers capable of following through with percises orders under the stress of battle. This underestimation of Arthur would later become one of Ivans biggest regrets. Late noon, May 19th 1758 A.T.F, the fighting commenced. Arthur personally joined the fighting assisting the Right-Contingent of knights attacking the right side of Ivans Formation. Arthur and the initial front charge were immediately dehorsed by the more experienced soldiers, though as the following ranks of knights swept through the fallen Ivans ranks quickly broke. Arthur along with the other dismounted knights cut through the infantry that stood in their way, and Arthur personally made his way to Ivans position.

Ivan and Arthur met on the battlefield and dueled for nearly 6 minutes, Arthur was dressed in his plate armor and was impervious to Ivans attacks with a steel broadsword. Arthur quickly disarmed Ivan and plunged his engraved sword into Ivans chest killing him on the spot. Shortly after Ivans death, the rear attacking force of 4,700 knights began its charge. Jolaks lines quickly broke in a panic, both cavalry and infantry fleed alike, and Jolak was killed by accident as he was trampled during the panicked flee of his forces. The Battle ended by the morning of May 20th 1758 A.T.F, Paxtons Order had suffered nearly 2,100 casualties while the United Vic Republics Union had lost 11,000 men in the fighting with an additional 3,400 unaccounted for. To further add to the blow both the Premier Ivan Balinskie and Commissar of War Jolak Volkov had both been killed in battle. With the majority of its leadership killed, and its army decimated, Sven City surrendered the following day ceasing the existence of the United Vic Republics Union.

Arthur Paxton spared anyone who surrendered and gave them full amnesty, furthermore upon entering the city of Sven City Arthur prohibited any looting or retaliatory action to be taken against its citizens. Paxton's Knights diligently followed their leaders orders, and immediately following the battle there was a peaceful transition of power.

## The Loss of The North and The Battle of The Shield of Titus

Arthurs conquest of The Far North would not last, as Karkos had ordered General Ryan Dust to return north and assist him in the reconquest of the Far North. Karkos's forces alone outnumbered Arthur Paxtons forces nearly 10 to 1, but with the assistance of Ryan Dust and his forces, Arthur was facing certain death and annihilation. Arthur was willing to stand his ground until the end, but before he could entrench himself, Arthur was ordered by William Boomica to return to the capitol and abandon his conquest in The Far North. Arthur followed orders and abandoned the city of Sven City, additionally Arthur dispatched messengers ahead of him ordering his mock garrison of 1,000 knights in Vaedesia to abandon the city rally with his main force north of The Shield of Titus.

Ryan Dust had miscalculated Arthur Paxtons move, anticipating a retreat deeper into the Far North, Ryan mistakenly advanced past the chokepoint of the Shield of Titus. Whenever it became clear that Arthur Paxtons much smaller force had manager to outmaneuver Ryans forces by swinging to the East and then advancing south once more, Ryan could only play catch up with his strategic blunder. Ryan was able to dispatch a smaller vanguard of his force, sending forward an army of 30,000 men, mostly made up of ill trained Acrabian Levies and Norkish Warriors (Ryans Army was mostly comprised of melee infantry and light cavalry, possessing little to blackpowder infantry. A majority of the modernized infantry and equipment were under the command of Karkos). Even with a numerical advantage, Ryan Dust's Vanguard army was swiftly crushed by Arthur Paxtons forces at The Battle of The Shield of Titus in late July of 1758 A.T.F. After The Battle, Arthur was able to narrowly escape and out maneuver both Karkos's main army and Ryan Dust's armies, however all of his progress campaigning in the North had amounted to nothing. Vaedesia and Sven City were both conquered by Karko's forces within a matter of weeks.

## ***The Sacking of Pamplonei***

Upon his arrival back to the capital, William ordered Arthur to sack the city of Pamplonei. William had discovered that the King of Pamplonei, King Pablo The Second, had allowed military access to Ryan Dust's forces. To add insult to injury, Pablo even provided scouts helping Ryan's forces locate the fastest and safest route to the city of Vaedesia. William wanted to make an example out of Pamplonei, to remind anyone who helped his enemies that punishment would be swift and that he would be merciless. Arthur, being a man of honor, protested heavily against this. For several days Arthur attempted to convince his liege and longtime friend that this wasn't the right course of action.

William ignored Arthurs please, and ordered Arthur to sack the city, threatening that he would do it himself if Arthur protested. Arthur accepted, and planned on taking his Knightly Order and only allowing them to burn the city but not to hurt the inhabitants. Arthurs plan fell apart when William informed Arthur he would not be allowed to deploy his Knightly Order for this campaign, and instead to command an army of 35,000 directly from the Warlord State of Titus's Armed forces. Arthur marched his army to the city of Pamplonei, the city itself was not walled and compared to other major cities within the war, the city was considered to be small and unimportant within the greater conflict. The King of Pamplonei, Pablo The Second, had no standing army albeit for a small and feeble town militia, and his Kingdom had remained as a neutral party in the conflict up until Ryan Dust's arrival.

On August The 2nd 1758 A.T.F Arthur ordered his army to advance into the city, only burn down the buildings, and to spare the inhabitants including the King. The Army, which held more loyalty towards William than Arthur, instantly broke formation and flew into a rampage killing and looting indiscriminately. Arthur was horrified with his Army's immediate turn to barbarism, and Arthur began engaging his own men in combat attempting to prevent them from harming the inhabitants. King Pablo The Second, was later captured from his keep after the town's militia had been decisively defeated, and was hung from a tree branch stripped naked with his hands and feet cut off. The Sacking of Pamplonei lasted for 3 days, until all 14,000 of the city's inhabitants had either fled or been killed. During the first day, Arthur himself had slain nearly 10 of his own men, attempting to protect the city's inhabitants, before he was shot down by several of his own men. Thanks to Arthur's Orbisian Plate Armor, the bullets didn't penetrate and morally wound him. Unfortunately even though the plate armor stopped the bullets, it didn't prevent the blunt force trauma from breaking two of his ribs and causing major bruising. With little choice, Arthur limped away while the men who shot him returned to looting, having little care for the fate of their supposed commander. Arthur rode on horseback back to Titus City, where he stayed at a local inn healing and recovering from his wounds.

Arthur had returned to Titus City a changed man, he was horrified with what he had witnessed and angry with his long time friend. Out of sheer loyalty Arthur immediately reported back to William for his next orders after his partial recovery, but their friendship was permanently ruined and Arthur would never see William in the same light ever again. Nearly a week after the incident William Boomica, Ryan Dust, Kelumjin Eastmoore, Sebastian Wolfgang, Karkos The Conqueror, and Arthur Paxton were invited to a feast hosted by Sarah Cortes Maximus the Female Patriarch in Aldurias. An altercation broke out between Sarah and William over the legitimacy of the Patriarchs rule, leading William to challenge her right to the Patriarchy. During this confrontation Arthur was present at the feast, but kept quiet. Once he would have been right by Williams' side supporting him front and center, but now he sat quietly questioning his loyalty.

A year after the feast Williams' antics had caught up with him, and an Coalition to unite Orbis had been officially formed, with the goal to unite Orbis by force if needed. The Coalition was led by Sarah Cortes Maximus, and supported by Karkos The Conqueror and his Generals, Grand General Ryan Dust of The Realm of Karkos, and Kelmujin Eastmoore of The Palax Empire. Already outnumbered, the situation worsened when many of the officers and experienced nobles within William's army changed their allegiance after being called to arms by the Patriarchy, this was partly due to most of the Army's dedication to the Church of Titus, but also a growing fear of retribution by the Coalition if they were caught on the losing side. The Civil War for The Patriarchy had begun and the final showdowns during the War For Orbis would commence on May the 17th 1759 A.T.F.

## **The Battle of The Dominial River**

The Last Field Battle in The War for Orbis occurred near the Domional River in Acrabia, where William fielding an army of 111,000 men, would earn himself a decisive defeat at the hands of Sarah Cortes Maximus who fielded an army of 242,000 men. The Coalition of The Patriarchy began rallying their troops in Carigo, but ran into a dilemma. The number of soldiers being rallied was staggering, and it would take a fleet far too large to sail down The Dominal River to carry it to Titus City. To continue to add to the list of issues, ferrying individual portions of the Army would take far too much time, and posed the threat of leaving isolated Army Groups of the Coalition open for attack, allowing for Williams smaller force to pick them off one by one. It was proposed by some of the Coalitions generals that building a bridge could be a solution, however much like with the idea of going around The Dominal River, building a bridge of that size and magnitude would cost The Coalition precious time that they didn't have to waste. Instead the Coalition of The Patriarchy decided to take the fastest route to Titus City, that being The Dominial Bridge. The Dominal Bridge was a massive superstructure that exceeded that of any human architecture, the bridges designers, The Duvans, developed a bridge that was 1/3 of a mile in width and 3 miles long. Although an obvious choice to some, this was very risky in the grand scheme of the campaign. The Leaders of the Coalition knew that, William would discover their movement before their ultimate arrival. Which meant that regardless of how The Coalition Approached the bridge, it was a certainty that a battle would ensure upon arrival. Nonetheless the Coalition of The Patriarchy all unanimously agreed to March to the Dominial Bridge, and as expected upon arrival on the other side of the bridge laid Williams forces in waiting. William, as expected by The Coalition, had been informed by several scouts who had been in the area.

The battle began on May 17th 1759 A.T.F when Sarah Cortes Maximus, Karkos The Conqueror, Kelmujin Eastmoore, and Ryan Dust, had positioned their forces into three columns ready for battle. The First column was Line Infantry, followed up with the second line being made up of swordsmen, and the rear column a mix of knights, horse archers, and levies. The decision to put the cavalry in the rear was made by Karkos, who believed the cavalry would be better used as a rear guard to assist the flanks with haste as a majority of the fighting would be ranged warfare from either side of the river. Although Sarah Cortes Maximus was the leader of the coalition, it was Karkos who did a majority of the military leadership. Karkos then assigned his general, Ryan Dust, to command the artillery pieces. Kelmujin Eastmoore, a Drazzanian Warlord, was given command of the levies and cavalry in the rear. The first two columns of Infantry would both be led by Karkos and Sarah. William, horrendously outnumbered and outgunned, ordered his men to dig trenches along the river side. **Author Paxton** was ordered to remain in the frontlines with the Line Infantry and his Dismounted Knights. William ordered his last loyal lord, Mercenary/Lord Sebastian Wolfgang The Second, to hold the rear with the artillery and dispatch regiments to anywhere the line seemed thin. William only had enough men for one massive line to mirror his enemies, with his only reinforcements mixed with the artillery line directly behind him.

The beginning of the battle was immediately disastrous for William, commencing with the Patriarchs Artillery decimating William's lines. The situation worsened when the following morning after the start of the battle a heavy rain fell, flooding and washing out many of Williams trenches. Karkos initially tried strong-arming his way across the bridge, by deploying several thousand medium-heavily armored swords and bucklers across the bridge. Due to the bridges large size and Duvan origin, this allowed for a large-scale bloody meele to ensue for control over the bridge. Inevitably Arthur Paxton and his knights took the brunt of the infantry fighting on the bridge. The line infantry fire from across the river began to pick up, and although Williams men were better trained and better armed, the sheer numbers of the Patriarchs forces was too much for Williams lines. Nevertheless William's Army stood their ground, and the following morning the fighting ceased. For nearly a whole day both sides mirrored each other, running back and forth attempting to tactically outmaneuver one another, occasionally skirmishing with one another, though large engagements did not take place. Finally by the fourth day an all out attack was initiated by the Patriarchs forces, Karkos had spent the latter day constructing makeshift rafts and boats. While Karkos did this, Kelmujin Eastmoor was ordered to ride east up the river with a small contingent of Drazzanian Horse Archers and cross the river. The combined crossing of Karkos's men across the bride and river, followed by the flank initiated by Kelmujin decimated William's Army. William's rear Artillery Column and the Reinforcements scattered throughout immediately broke, while the main column held their ground, within hours William's Army was encircled.

During the confusion and fighting William ordered Arthur to rally what Knights he could, and ordered the army to break through the encirclement and retreat back to Titus City. Arthur initially protested Williams orders, refusing to leave his lord and men to die, William explained that he would hold the rear guard for the retreat and join him when they broke out of the encirclement. Arthur bregudgendly complied and began to pull the army back, with the combined force of his knights and what was left of the first column Arthur managed to break through the Drazzanian Rear Attack, breaking out of the encirclement and retreating back to Titus City. William and his rear guard of volunteers were able to buy time allowing Paxton and nearly 30,000 men to escape, but were unable to escape themselves. The rest of Williams' forces were either killed or captured. After this defeat William Boomica and Sebastian Wolfgang The Second were captured. **Arthur Paxton** escaped and rallied all the forces he could and held onto Williams Warlord State, entrenching himself in Titus City as ordered. Sarah Cortes Maximus showed mercy to William even after he hurled multiple insults at her demanding she execute him. He was banished back to his home in Franika on June the 26th 1759 A.T.F. Sebastian Wolfgang was also spared, and he was put under house arrest at his Estate outside of Gallius City, Sebastians Mercenary Company was also forced to disband.

## The Siege of Titus City

After The Battle of The Dominial River, William was captured and exiled back to Franika, Arthur took command of what was left of the Army and used it to its greatest extent. Arthur would use his remaining assets and fortify Titus City. Arthur had recalled the generals Gunnar Erman and Spike Baextii, who were in charge of Williams Southern Campaigns. With the extra reinforcements, Arthur Paxtons forces swelled from little over 30,000 men to nearly 94,000 men in total. Preparation work for the Siege of Titus City began in early July, and was completed in early August. During this time Arthur barricaded the Port of Titus City, commandeering old merchant ships to block off the river channel leading into the dockyards. Arthur then ordered Spike Baextii to take a detachment of his Knights, and rally supplies of grain, salt for preservation of meat, live stock, and barrels of water from the surrounding villages for his force to survive off of during the impending siege. Spike Baextii found great success in his endeavors to secure supplies, as many of the local villages bordering Titus City remained fiercely loyal to Arthur Paxton and his cause. Finally towards the end of July, Arthur tasked Gunnar Erman with stationing the remaining artillery batteries that were saved during the retreat from The Battle of The Dominal River, unto of the walls of Titus City. After Gunnar Erman had, to various degrees of success, managed to arm most of the City Walls fornications, he was then ordered by Paxton to barricade the streets with several battlements as a last resort if the walls fell. After finishing his fortification of Titus City, Arthur Paxton and the remainder of Williams forces entrenched themselves for months in Titus City until the arrival of The Patriarchs forces on December the 1st 1759 A.T.F.

The Patriarchy had wasted valuable time on their preparation of the siege, and their delayed pursuit had allowed Arthur Paxton to turn Titus City into a well fortified and well stocked fortress. The Patriarch's Forces quickly moved their forces into position, near the forward Arch on the Western side of the city Sarah Cortes Maximus, Karkos The Conqueror, and Ryan Dust positioned their forward siege camp. Alongside the Western Camps 140,000 men who were stretched around the entirety of the Western Side of the cities' walls, laid an embankment of several hundred artillery pieces under the command of Ryan Dust. To the North and East of the City, several small camps dotted the area with contingents of soldiers numbering under 23,000 men under the joint command of Kelmujin Eastmoore and Dien Gustovan who were tasked with preventing supplies from entering the city on the main camps flanks. The city was surrounded, however large pockets of areas had gaps in The Patriarchs siege lines due to a lack of manpower, and size of the City. The Largest gap being in the Southern region of the city, which was mostly river, but did have small patches of land strips that ran up to the port. The Artillery shelling began on December the 5th 1759 A.T.F and continued for five days, causing horrendous casualties for civilian and soldier defenders alike. Although the Artillery devastated the inner city, the Artillery proved near useless in battering down the Walls of Titus City, which were impervious to the Cannon and Artillery shots fired at the walls. Thus most of the Artillery Fire had to be arched as to shoot over the walls, resulting in what would later be described as one of "The Bloodiest moments in the entire War for Orbis".

On December the 11th 1759 A.T.F, in the early hours of the morning the first assault began. The Patriarchy had successfully tunneled underneath the main gate at The Arch of Titus City, and detonated explosives which saw a small section of the wall and the gates collapse. During this explosion Gunnar Erman, who had been present at the battlements running a routine inspection, had been injured gravely and was carried back to the center of the city on horseback. Leading the charge in the frontal attack was Ryand Dust and Karkos, who were leading several columns of Line Infantry and Dismounted Drazzanian Horsemen lended to them by Kelmujin Eastmoore. The Dismounted Drazzanians, being clad in traditional armor, and well trained in sword combat, slaughtered the Line Infantry forces of The Warlord State of Titus stationed there. The Initial force of soldiers that pushed into the opening was nearly 30,000+ men, while the defenders had roughly 17,000 men present at the defenses. Arthur Paxton was informed nearly 40 minutes after the fighting had started, he and Spike Baextii rounded up a small force of nearly 1,200 Knights from Paxtons Order and rushed to the frontlines.

Upon arrival at the frontlines, Paxtons presence both rallied and encouraged the men. Soon like a well oiled machine, the Line Infantry present began to reorganize and begin forming lines, while designated squads of soldiers would hold off the melee infantry in the tight exposures within the wall. Within a couple of hours, Arthur and Spike had the line infantry firing volley, after volley, after volley, into the crowds of assailants from the Patriarchs forces rushing in the breach. Even though the constant volley fire from Paxtons men devastated the oncoming soldiers from the Patriarch, eventually the sheer number of those flowing through the breech exceeded the fire rate of Paxtons Line Infantry. Although Paxton had other forces well within reach to alleviate the pressure from Ryan and Karkos's assault on their position, Arthur feared any reallocation of troops from neighboring positions would leave those areas of the battlement open for assault. Thus Arthur and Spike opted to hold their position until the last man.

Early into the assault Karkos and Ryan had been forcibly shuffled to the back of the attack by their guard units as Arthur's Line Infantry reorganized into their formations. By the 15th hour into the assault, enraged and exhausted Karkos rallied a large force of Drazzanian Dismounted Heavy Cavalry who had been cycled out from the frontline of the assault to rest, once he had gather a majority of these forces he ordered Ryan Dust to assist in a forced charge. By this point in the battle Arthur's men had began to run low on ammunition, and Arthur's force of 18,200 defenders had been whittled down to 9,670 men. Before charging in with his Vanguard, Karkos re-ordered all of his infantry to withdrawal from the opening and rest until the morning. Similar to Arthurs forces, Karkos also suffered heavy casualties as well, resulting in his initial Assault Force being decimated from little over 30,000 men down to roughly 19,600 men.

Throughout the night, Karkos had gradually pulled men away from the Northern Camps garrisoned by Dien Gustovan forces. By early morning Karkos's had come to the conclusion that Arthur Paxton had no intentions upon abandoning Titus City, and was willing to die there if needed. Thus by first sunlight, Karkos had ordered Dien Gustovan to march his forces (11,000 out of the 23,000 under Dien and Kelmujins joint command) and rally with his Assault Force for the Second Assault. By the later hours of the morning, Karkos's new Assault Force numbered 31,000 men, consisting of the original 19,600 who survived the first assault comprised of mixed units of Drazzanian Dismounted Heavy Horsemen and Northern Line Infantry, 11,000 Northern Line Infantry and Northern Militia from Dien Gustovan's Army, and 500 Knights of the Red Cross assigned to Karkos's Vanguard by Sarah Cortes Maximus, were now ready to commence the second assault.

At 11:32 A.M on December the 12th 1759 A.T.F the second assault commenced. At the front of The Patriarchs Assault was a vanguard of Knights of The Red Cross, Dismounted Heavy Drazzanian Cavalry, and various guard units of Ryan Dust, Karkos, and Dien Gustovan. In the front of the charge was Ryan Dust, Karkos, and Dien Gustovan. Upon reaching the breach, their Assault Groups vanguard was not met with a volley but instead a charge from the Line Infantry with Arthur Paxton, Spike Baextii, and the still gravely wounded Gunnar Erman at the frontlines. In what was called "one of the most poetic clashes of commanders in history" Arthur Paxton and Karkos met one another during the fray. Arthur cautiously approached Karkos, dispatching several soldiers attempting to interrupt the upcoming duel between the two leaders. Before Arthur was able to lock swords with Karkos, Ryan Dust had appeared out of the chaos and lunged at Arthur Paxton swinging his sword towards his neck. Arthur, with stoic professionalism took one step back, narrowly avoiding the swing, and immediately after dodging the attack, Arthur then took one step forward, kicking Ryan Dust directly in the stomach. While Ryan Dust was clenching his stomach after having the wind knocked out of him from Arthurs kick, Arthur used the hilt of his sword and bludgeoned Ryan Dust on the back of his skull . The sheer force behind Arthurs thrust was enough to render Ryan Dust unconscious and incapacitated for the rest of the battle. With no time to spare Karkos charged Arthur with his two handed Northern War Axe, swinging from left to right with no form and little care for who he hit next to him during the duel. Arthur was able to take advantage of Karkos's lack of form, taking small jabs at Karkos in-between his swings. But unlike many of his fellow Northmen who fought primarily with leather or chainmail, Karkos dawned a unique set of Northern Plate Armor resulting in many of Arthurs jabs having little effect on Karkos.

The duel continued for nearly 10 minutes, with Arthur continuously being pushed back further and further by Karkos. Out of either respect, or sheer astonishment, the men fighting around them began to slowly disengage one another to spectate the duel between Karkos and Arthur. Soon a majority of the combatants had ceased fighting one another all together, with the exception of isolated pockets of fighting farther away from where the duel was taking place. Karkos continued to push Arthur, until finally Karkos managed to land a hit on Arthurs right shoulder, even after Arthur had blocked the oncoming hit with his sword, the sheer momentum and force of Karkos's overhead swing shattered his blade, resulting in the axes blow coming into contact with Arthurs right shoulder. Even though Arthur was clad in plate armor from head to toe, the blow was enough to penetrate the stainless steel, and although the blow was not egregiously deep, the blunt force of the impact was enough to break Arthurs right shoulder causing him to fall on his back. Arthur now laid on his back, facing Karkos, totally vulnerable and as Karkos slowly approach regaining his breath, Arthur gripped the hilt of his shattered sword. Karkos then stood over Arthur with his axed raised over his head ready to deal the final death blow, as Karkos thrusted his axe downward Arthur managed to roll to the side narrowly missing the axe, he then took the hilt of his sword and skewered the hilt into Karkos's left leg. In the same motion while Karkos stumbled back, Arthur stood up and pushed Karkos to the ground before retrieving Karkos's Axe. Before Arthur could return the favor of a final death blow to the now incapacitated Karkos, he looked around to see thousands of soldiers all quietly looking upon him. Arthur knew that whatever decision he made, would not only be reflected in history books, but would define Orbisians across the world as either Noble or Savages like the Empire that fell before them. Arthur then looked around, dropped his axe and said "Enough....we have spilled enough innocent bloodshed for today, go home some of you aren't even old enough to read. How can you make history if you can not even read it.".

Surprisingly enough, both sides seemed to honor Arthurs orders. Soldiers from both sides began retrieving their wounded and weapons, however Karkos still laid on the ground screaming orders at his men. Karkos nearly foaming at the mouth and enraged, continuously barked orders at his men to re-engage. Nonetheless Karkos's orders fell on deaf ears, as Dien Gustovan and the now conscious Ryan Dust began to pull back with the rest of the men. In an last ditch effort to secure victory, Karkos retrieved a flintlock pistol that laid next to him from a fallen soldier, and took aim at Arthur Paxton and fired. Once the smoke cleared, a figure soon came into picture, now on their knees coughing with a thick stream of blood running from their mouth. It was Spike Baextii, he had noticed Karkos attempting to grab the Flintlock, and in an attempt to save Arthur Paxton he sacraffied himself. Within seconds of the gunshot, Arthur rushed over to Karkos and incapacitated him with one well placed punch to the face, Karkos's Guard quickly surrounded Paxton with their swords and flintlocks aimed towards him. For sometime both sides, sat on edge, in a resumed standoff. It wasn't until Ryan Dust, who escorting the wounded out of the breach, had noticed what happened and rushed over. Upon arriving Ryan Dust ordered Karkos's Guard to carry him away and for all of the remaining forces of the Patriarch present to return to camp.

The Forces of the Patriarch, tired, and exhausted from their previous assaults opted to negotiate with Arthur Paxton. Any renewed efforts to breach the city would reap even larger casualties from the previous assaults and a prolonged siege would never come to fruition as the city's extensive grain supply, and port next to the Dominal River would allow the city to remain under siege for years without threat of food shortages. Thus the The Patriarchy offered Arthur an agreement, All of Arthurs forces would be pardoned, William Boomica would be allowed to return from his exile in Franika and assist in the foundation of a Unified Orbis, all titles and land would retained by the upper echelon of The Warlord State of Titus, and every soldier would return home with a Veterans Pension. In exchange for these demands, the Warlord State of Titus would cease all hostilities with The Coalition of The Patriarchy, agree to a disarmament and ceasefire, and would officially join The Dominion of Orbis. Arthur hastily agreed, and on January the 1st 1760 A.T.F Arthur Paxton opened the gates of Titus City officially ending The War For Orbis.

## ***The End of The War & Later life***

After the War William became the Dominions leading Marshal for the Army of The Dominion of Orbis, he retained this title for a short time until he was moved to the position of "General of The Economic Sector ''. An incompetent successor by the name of James Wesley would replace him taking the position of Marshal, continuing with Williams Policy set before him. For the time being Paxton spent his days quietly watching over the countryside, shortly after the war William had decommissioned the remaining Knights thus removing Paxton from military service. Paxton had felt slighted by this unexpected move, for years he and his fellow knights fought as the main bulk of many Orbisian Armies. He felt that he, and his kind, were cast away as old relics once the warlords no longer needed them. This affected Paxton's and Williams' friendship and it would be nearly four years until they spoke again. During this time Paxton sought out many of the knights who were decommissioned in 1761 U.O and absorbed them into a private army of renegades who spent their days hunting down bandits and slavers who still plagued the fledgling Dominion. When Arthur wasn't conducting vigilante operations, he garnered a drinking addiction that would plague him for the rest of his life. Arthur had come to feel an immense and guttural guilt for his actions in The Salt Wars and his actions in Pamplonei years prior, thus he stress drank to erase the memories that haunted him. During Arthur's Tavern hopping escapades, he encountered an old grizzly war Veteran named Terminus. Arthur Paxton had hear stories of the Eternal Legate, a man cursed with immortality, and as old as the Romikkan Empire itself, fused with his Emesa Helmet that was burned into his face, and adorning Armor from the 10th Century; but Arthur could never have fathomed meeting him. To his surprise Terminus had sought Arthur out himself, Terminus was inspired by the stories he had heard about Arthur Paxton, and wished to meet him personally. Terminus was sorely disappointed upon finding Arthur Paxton to be a mere drunkard, who occasionally took to the sword when he grew bored. For several weeks Terminus would visit Arthur within the taverns he frequented within Titus City, Terminus would berate and heckle Arthur for his drinking addiction. After nearly two months, Arthur grew tired of constantly being harassed by a man who he believed was past his prime. On one occasion Arthur had taken his sword, and cut his table in half out of rage. Terminus, in an odd display, offered a wager, if Arthur Paxton beat him in a duel then he could take his ornate Romikkan Gladius, and Terminus would leave Paxton alone. However if Terminus won, Paxton would agree to beat his alcohol addiction and admit Terminus into Paxtons Order.

Paxton agreed to this wager and walked outside of the tavern to face Terminus, Terminus was clad in ancient Romikkan Armor, with his iconic Emesa Helmet fused to his face, and stood a staggering 7.9 feet tall. While paxton was dressed like a commoner wearing a tunic and stained trousers. Paxton drew his sword and lunged forward striking Terminus in the face, Terminus slightly stumbled back, and Paxton struck him in the face once more. The third strike is when things began to change, as for the first few seconds of the duel, Terminus had barely moved, save for the recoil from being stuck. However when Paxtons blade made contact on the right hand side of Terminus's face for the third time, there was no recoil, no stumble, and no reaction from Terminus. The blade had simply bounced off the blow, Arthur half drunk, looked directly into the soulless eyes of Terminus, now with his swords front tip dug in the mud from his failed strike. Arthur in a drunken confusion raised his sword in an attempt to land a fourth blow, as his blade came down, Terminus used his left hand and caught the blade with his bare hand. Terminus had dropped his Gladius that he was holding in his right hand, he slowly began to angle the blade down as Arthur began to struggle from Terminus's inhuman strength. Paxton began screaming in a fit of rage, and had struck Terminus numerous times in the face with his free hand. Each blow began to break Paxtons fingers, each strike becoming more and more futile. Before Paxton could land another punch, Terminus headbutted him rendering him unconscious, ending the duel within mere minutes. Hours after the duel Arthur Paxton awoke in a bed at a local inn, his hand having been wrapped up in a crude cast, and his belongings neatly set on a dressed near the bed. Sitting in the corner of the room in a wooden chair, was Terminus. Arthur quickly realised he had lost the duel, and after a couple months of recovering he honored his word to Terminus. Arthur had broken his alcohol addiction, and knighted Legate Terminus into Paxtons Order. For the remainder of the next three years Terminus and Paxton would forge a close friendship with one another.

In 1764 A.T.F James Wesley attempted to forcibly march on the Capitol after being informed his position as Marshal was going to be stripped from him due to his negligence in handling a Rebellion in Teratime. His soldiers, fearing a repeat of the centuries-long conflict that had just been concluded, assassinated him only miles away from the Capitol. Nevertheless the nation was thrust into chaos and like a domino effect, numerous governors and lords began seceding from the Dominion, all seeking to claim power in the confusion. William The Unforgiving began calling up the Legions of Veterans from the War for Orbis who rallied to his call, Paxton although hesitant rallied to the call believing only William The Unforgiving was capable of ensuring peace was maintained across the land. Although Paxton himself came to his friend's aid, he refused to dedicate any of the remaining Knights who followed him to William's cause, leaving Legate Terminus in charge of his Knightly Order during his absence.

## **The Battle of Norks Shore and Paxton's Death**

William's first move after securing Titus City was to march north, There the King of Avoria who pledged his loyalty to William, requested aid as Karkos marched an army of 112,000 men to annihilate the Avorians. Paxton marched with him, during the march Paxton had felt joy as he was able to rekindle the tales of many battles with Veterans from the previous conflict. William's army numbered nearly 96,000 men, however the majority of the army was infantry; they were well trained and fiercely loyal to William. Upon William's arrival he merged his forces with The Ryall's forces of 20,000 bringing his total force to 116,000 men. William was eager to push his line infantry forward against Karkos's army made up of mostly untrained levies and conscripts. Paxton was far more cautious staying close to William and ordering the Ryalls to cover their flank. When the battle started Paxton remained at the front with the men, to help with their morale and show strength it was said Paxton picked up a rifle and fell in with the Line Infantry. For a short time it seemed the battle was going to be a decisive victory for William, however as William's army decimated Karkos's levies, a large force of heavily armored cavalry approached from the flanks. In their glistened armor it was obvious to Paxton they were knights who were retained by the Northern Lord after the previous conflict.

It was said Paxton exclaimed with glee "They've brought knights! Ha ha this is where the fight truly begins!". The Knights clashed into the flanks sending Williams army in a panic, within minutes William had all but disappeared never to be seen again. Arthur made his last stand as he and small group of soldiers who stood their ground began forming a defensive circle. Arthur began using muskets with their bayonets to dismount the opposing knights from their horses, cutting down several of the knights he dismounted. Several of the knights he dismounted rallied together, and slowly began dispatching the line infantry that stayed to fight alongside Paxton. Once Paxton was singled out and alone, he was slowly cut down by the group of knights who surrounded him. Paxton was finally overwhelmed by the foot knights, falling in battle after being stabbed nearly 30 times, and shot at least 9 times. After the battle Karkos's men had found Paxton's body amongst the fallen, and out of respect Karkos had Paxton's body delivered to Brettland to be buried next to his parents Evan and Mary Paxton. Although he was in his late 70's even Sir Martin Kingsley, the Knight who had trained him, was in attendance at Paxton's funeral. Paxton's legacy was not carried on, as he never married and never raised or adopted any children. A second funeral for Paxton was held shortly after the Wesely War to truly honor Arthur Paxton, in which the attendants included Sir Martin Kingsley, Legate Terminus, Sarah Cortes Maximus, Gunnar Erman, Kelmujin Eastmoore, Roaric Ryan Dust, Kane Ryall,

## ***Personality***

Paxton had a tendency to be stubborn, with many referring to him as "Single minded". Though he was stubborn, Paxton was considered to be kind to those who cared about, pragmatic, charismatic, and he followed a strict code of honor that forbade him from committing the more heinous acts that would transpire during warfare. No one could deny that Paxton was brave as he often put himself in the frontlines of many battles alongside his men. Though some of Arthur's actions would carry a heavy aura of guilt around him, and he would subdue his guilt and anger by drinking, he was known to be an alcoholic for the last few years of his life.

## ***Appearance***

It was said that Arthur had a pale complexion to his white skin, he was bald and possessed blue eyes with a dirty blonde beard. Paxton also distinctly had large eyes for his head shape, Arthur weighed around 177 pounds and stood at 5.8 feet tall. Arthur dressed like the commoners of the land wearing long coats of linen and cotton. In battle he donned his set of late Orbisian Plate Armor that covered him head to toe in a thick stainless steel and carried his favorite sword that was hand crafted by his mentor Sir Martin Kingsley.