Louis Drebyu

Crest of the Prince Drebyu of the Saepic Confederacy

**Prince Louis Drebyu** (20 July 1979 - 3 September 2019) was a Saepic prince and military commander. He was the designated heir of King Cathorii X, who adopted him on 8 February, 2013. He played an important role in the Livic invasion of the Saepic Confederacy. The invasion would lead to his fall from power in 2019, when the Confederacy was dissolved. He suffered from chronic illnesses since his final battle, which slowly debilitated his health and eventually led to his death on September 3, 2019.

Today, he is regarded as a skilled divisional commander who proved to be out of his depth when commanding large field armies. His defeats and miscalculations caused many losses to the Confederacy. He is nevertheless remembered in the Livic Empire for his rise from being a homeless orphan to the heir of the Saepic throne, and he has become a symbol of perseverance and inspiration.

## Early Life

Louis Drebyu was born to an impoverished family in the city of Nantgarth on July 20, 1979. Little is known of his family's lives, as they had left him just a few years after his birth. He was raised in a parish in the city, with the head pastor taking care of him. He would stay at the parish till the age of 14, at which he expressed his wishes to join a school and obtain a formal education. However, there simply wasn't enough funds with the pastor to support him in this endeavor, and Drebyu had look into ways to make money. He later decided to join the army, and at the age of 15, he enlisted in the Saepic Army.

He displayed great willpower, and at the age of just 17, he was made a private of the army. During this time, however, the Confederacy was at peace, and there wasn't much to be done for the average soldier. Hence, he decided to offer his service as a mercenary to the Realmic army under Groch Hendwil. Hendwil had recently signed several diplomatic treaties with the Saepic Confederacy, and so accepted Drebyu's services. Drebyu served well in the expansive wars of the Realmic army, and at the age of 19, returned to Nantgarth with a sizeable amount of wealth earned honestly as a serving soldier.

## Career

Using his wealth, he decided to enter the military academy, and after 4 years, at the age of 23, was granted a commission and earned the rank of second lieutenant. He also spent a large sum of his wealth in helping his parish pastor, who was now struggling financially. He now decided to raise a company of men to join the Qantara Sultanate, which was preparing for war against the newly founded Livic Empire. He and his men were welcomed into the Qantara Sultanate, and he soon began coordinating guerilla raids against the Livic army. He was fully involved in the war, which would last over 10 years, during which his small company would grow to the size of a brigade of 6,000 men.

During his time in the Sultanate, he also sent updates of his progress and accomplishments during the war back to his commanders in the Confederacy, leading them to eventually promote him to divisional commander. However, nearing the end of 2012, the war was ultimately lost, and Drebyu fought a skillful retreat back to the Confederacy. His accomplishments during the war impressed King Cathorii, who saw potential in him to be a successor to the Saepic throne. He ennobled Drebyu as Knight Errant of Kefkezny, as a test to see if Drebyu could be a capable administrator.

## Rise to power

In his new role as Knight Errant of Kefkezny, Drebyu showed skill as a taskmaster and as a hard worker. He helped improve the town's quality of life, as well as helping to improve its facilities. His progress won the king's favor, and he was elected to be the successor of the Saepic throne. He was formally adopted by the king, and he was elevated to Prince of the Confederacy on 8 February, 2013. He was also made Commander-in-Chief of the Army of the King.

## Prince of the Confederacy

As prince, he would prove to be a skilled administrator. He also advocated for more vigorous recruitment campaigns, to make the army larger. As prince, he also made his pastor the High Priest of Nantgarth, and gave him large gifts of money, as thanks for helping raise him in his youth. He enjoyed a lavish life in the Royal Palace of Whitbrien.

## Livic Invasion of the Saepic Confederacy

### Campaign of Demariies (2017-2018)

In the summer of 2017, the Livic Empire launched a surprise assault on the Confederacy, with two large armies forming the spear-tip of the invasion. Drebyu quickly moved his army to meet the invading forces. For the duration of the war, Drebyu would act as the *de facto* commander of all Saepic forces, even though King Cathorii was the Supreme Commander. He quickly devised a plan to split the 2 invading armies, and defeat them seperately. It was a good plan, however it was poorly executed. His army met the 2nd Army under Lieutenant General Ronald at the Battle of Saalfer, where he was soundly defeated. He retreated, however, news came of Commander Larence's success in pushing back General Roose IV's forces at the Battle of Zardenn. He decided to lure Ronald's army further, and ordered Larence to come up on Ronald's rear. He would then turn his own forces and crush Ronald's army.

However , after learning of General Roose's defeat, Ronald made the decision to move back to Roose's lines, forcing Drebyu to give chase. In the ensuing chase, Major General Markus fought a series of skillful rear guard actions to slow down Drebyu's attacks. This also bought enough time for General Roose's forces to recover. However, instead of trying to encircle Drebyu's army, which was now too far from Larence's army, Roose made the controversial decision to fight Larence's army again. Larence had already seen the danger in which Drebyu's army was in, and tried to force march his own army to save him. Roose reached Larence's army, and they fought at the Battle of Palaasy, where Roose was once again defeated. Roose was again forced to retreat. Meanwhile, the lack of support from Roose meant that Ronald had to fight another risky battle with Drebyu. He turned near the Aynor river, which formed the natural border between the two nations, and fought at the Battle of Goldenliif, where Ronald once again defeated Drebyu's forces. When news arrived of Roose's decision to fight Larence, the Livic generals were furious, and began devising a plan to remove Roose from power.

A few days later, the Coup of 2017 occured, and General Ronald was now the new commander of the 1st army, and *de facto* ruler of the Livic Empire. The 2nd Army would now be commanded by Lieutenant General Markus. They now decided to fight Drebyu and Larence separately. This plan succeeded, and the Saepic lines were pushed all the way back to the city of Demariies. The Livic forces laid siege to the city, which fell in mid 2018, after around 5 months of hard resistance. Due to his failure, King Cathorii decided to split the main body of the army into 2, and gave the smaller wing to Drebyu. He worked hard to expand the wing, and it grew to the size of 32,000 men. He named it as the Army of Demariies. After the capture of Demariies, however, the Livic forces stopped, since the army was now exhausted of over a year of constant war. The same issue was suffered by the Saepic army.

### Campaign of Nantgarth (2018-2019)

After around 2 months of rest, the Livic forces resumed their advance. The next key objective for them was the city of Nantgarth. The defense of the city was of special importance to Drebyu, as it was his city of birth and childhood. The 2 Livic armies joined together to form a massive army of 152,000 men, hoping to force a decisive battle for the city. The battle came, at the First Battle of Nantgarth, where the combined Saepic army under the overall command of Drebyu defeated Ronald, and forced him to retreat. It was the first major victory Drebyu had achieved, however later evaluations of the battle have indicated that the main commander responsible for the victory was in fact, Larence. The overzealous Drebyu now chased after the retreating Livics, but the retreat was a trap.

Drebyu found and attacked the rear guard of the main Livic army under Brigadier General Grem, who skillfully held him off, as the main body split back into the 1st and 2nd armies, and started to encircle Drebyu's army. The army was not able to fully escape from the trap, as a division of 12,000 men under Collen Alfred was fully encircled by the Livics, and had no choice but to surrender. The demoralized Saepics were forced into another battle for Nantgarth, the Second Battle of Nantgarth, where the Saepics were defeated, and forced to retreat. Nantgarth was captured, and now the only major city left was the capital, Whitbrien.

### Campaign of Whitbrien

King Cathorii once again took command of the center of the army, and ordered the army to continue retreating, hoping to find a suitable ground to fight on. Drebyu's Army of Demariies was now around 29,000 strong, and formed the left wing. The right wing of the Livic army under Markus, with a vast cavalry reserve, were able to catch up to Drebyu's wing, which was moving slower than the rest of the army body. They met at the Battle of Henyes, where Markus won a stunning victory that destroyed more than half of Drebyu's wing. He retreated with only around 14,000 men. The victory forced Cathorii to keep moving, until they reached a vast field with flat valleys near the village of St. Mary. Cathorii was urged to make a last stand there.

#### Battle of 2019

In the decisive battle of 2019, Drebyu's attacks had failed to capture any objectives, and in the retreat, he was captured by Livic light cavalry. He, alongside his adopted father, were taken prisoner back to Whitbrien. The small garrison at Whitbrien surrendered immediately when he had seen that both Drebyu and Cathorii were captured. In the Capitulation of Whitbrien, General Ronald V made it clear that his intention was to fully annex all of the Confederacy's territories, and to officially dissolve the Saepic Confederacy. An enraged Drebyu had no choice but to accept, and all of his positions were subsequently stripped.

## Later life and death

Soon after the capitulation, King Cathorii X was found dead in his room, with the scene making it clear that he had committed suicide with a pocket blade. A distraught Drebyu took responsibility for all of the losses suffered by his people. He started suffering from mental depression, and began developing symptoms of skin cancer. He was allowed to live in his estate, but his income was massively cut due to war reparations.

Drebyu died on September 3, 2019, due to the skin cancer, which had reached the unrecoverable stages at the time of his death. He was buried in St. Andrew's Cathedral in Whitbrien.

## Legacy

> "Despite his blunders during the final war, Prince Drebyu remains a famous and rather celebrated leader. His rise from being an abandoned orphan in the streets of Nantgart'h, to being the heir to the Saepic royal throne, is a truly inspiring and remarkable story. A young man once destined to live a difficult and turbulent life, with immense willpower and ambition, managed to change his destiny to live a thrilling life of adventure and power".
>  Theo Loub, Livic military scholar and artist
>
>

Livic military scholars consider Prince Drebyu as a skilled and capable division commander who proved out of his depth when commanding large field armies. His defeats and miscalculations caused many losses to the Confederacy. He is nevertheless remembered in the Livic Empire for his rise from being a homeless orphan to the heir of the Saepic throne, and he has become a symbol of perseverance and inspiration.