Alexandría de Cèsare

Alexandria de Cesare (Valadorran: Alexandría de Cèsare) is a Valadorran revolutionary serving in the Valadorran Revolution as well as on the first government under Valencia I of Valadorra. Currently they are the owner of the San Cèsare Hacienda as well as part of the upper class of Valadorra.

### Early Life

Alexandría de Cèsare was born in 1646 to her two parents, Ferdinand de Cèsare and Catarina. Catarina died in childbirth, so most of her education was given to her by tutors, she saw no formal education out of private teachers and mostly lived within the Hacienda. Ferdinand's good economic sense caused massive growth within the family, however they still lacked any noble titles, which was a chip on Alexandría's shoulder for the rest of her childhood.

Alexandría was known to be a generally "rowdy" child, uninterested in most classes. It took a particularly harsh governess to finally teach her proper etiquette, she said this about Alexandría as a child.

"I was warned when I took this job that this child was going to be hard to teach, and I am thouroghly upset that I was lied to. While the hard to teach part was certainly correct, what I was teaching is not a child, but rather somewhere between a deranged alcoholic and a rabid squirrel. Sometimes I wonder if her Ferdinand is really her father or if it was instead a rattlesnake." - Unamed Governess

The only classes Alexandría took any interest in were history and fencing. Her fencing coach trained her mostly in private due to her father not wanting to increase her aggressiveness. She grew quite adept at using a sword under her fencing coach, which would serve her well in later years. As an only child, she was rather lonely throughout her early life. In her writings, she only wrote of one friend, Diego Martinez, who was from a military family that was a distant branch of a noble family in Milíria. When her father died when Alexandría was 16, she took full control of the estate and its finances.

### The Revolution

The passing of her father and the acceptance of new responsibilities did nothing to polish Alexandría's behaviour. She got in multiple fights over honor, causing the rest of San Cèsare to distance itself from her. She wished to enroll in the Royal Military Academy but due to her lack of any noble lineage, she could not apply. Her friend, Diego Martinez, however, applied and graduated as a lieutenant quickly. This was the beginning of a rift between the two.

Alexandría soon began to take notice of a strange tension in San Cèsare. People were starting to chaffe under the authority of Milíria, and despite Alexandría's agreement on a lot of their points, some revolutionaries targeted her, so she kept her head low for as long as she could. A few notable incidents including a slave trying to kill her and start a slave revolt as well as constant graffiti made her slightly upset, but she couldn't really blame them.

Alexandría couldn't avoid the revolution forever, and soon enough it came to her. In what is called the "Church Fire Incident", and increasingly rowdy peasantry started large scale riots in San Cèsare shortly after rumors of revolts elsewhere occured. The military there decided to try to disarm the peasants and force them to turn over weapons. This only aggravatted them more, and soon enough San Cèsare was in all out revolt and a provisional government was established, Alexandría was not invited to join this new government. The military commander of the force in San Cèsare, Diego Martinez, decided to take control of a church, which they rightly guessed the townspeople would not attack. There were some, however, who believed they should burn down the church, but they were exiled from San Cèsare. Under the cover of night, however, this group, calling themselves the "Incendios" snuck back into town and started a riot. Someone, and it is not known who, set fire to the church, causing the military force to seek refugee in Alexandría's Hacienda, which the townspeople put under siege. Exactly what Alexandría thought during this time is unknown, what is known, however, is that she executed every single person under her friend Diego Martinez and then had him executed as well.

### The Western Campaign and the Bayonet Battalion

With the death of her friend, Alexandría had cast her dice with the Revolution, although she seemed to have trouble under it as well. Arming her slaves (Something illegal under the previous government) as well as enlisting most of the Incendios, she formed the bayonet battalion. Despite no formal military education, she launched a campaign all along the Western reaches of Valadorra, employing "Agiladad" tactics. Poor musket skills and only basic horseback experience led her to favor Bayonet charges, hence the name of the battalion.

Logistically, her force was excellent. Their enemies always had large, heavy amounts of supplies, so whenever they overran a camp, they took what they could and burned the rest. They never stopped to occupy towns, instead moving quickly north through the countryside.

Small victories eventually won Alexandría the position of Volunteer Captain, which basically was a Captain without any of the pay or respect. Due to her not being well connected within the military and rash behaviour during battles, she became disliked within the hierarchy. Strange tactics such as hiding in forests, or quick retreats in order to swing around and hit the exhausted enemy caused caution towards giving Alexandría anymore power.

### The Naval Theatre

Alexandría came to realize that despite her victories, Milíria's control of the seas was causing problems. It allowed for them to assert control over vital coastal regions, and even, on one occassion, attack San Cèsare itself. This attack frightened Alexandría to the point where she requested to be put in charge of a small naval fleet to attack Milíria's fleet led by Miguel Ángel Atenas, one of the brightest military commanders during the war on the side of Milíria's. The military leaders, already wary of her, said no, and furthermore demanded she not build any new military vessels. Alexandría, determined to defeat Miguel, who she saw as her rival, decided to hold winter camp in San Cèsare and read up on naval tactics there.

When Spring came, she fitted a around 6 merchant ships with cannons and set sail, seeking to engage the enemy fleet near an island off of San Cèsare. While ingenuitive at lightning tactics on land, Alexandría's relatively little knowledge on naval warfare made her more cautious and therefore she used conventional naval strategies. Lining her ships up length wise against an island off the coast of San Cèsare, she expected Miguel to do the same, and line up his ships so the two fleets could open fire. Instead, at the last minute, Miguel veered his fleet off towards a small pass and started gunning it to San Cèsare. He split his fleet, one taking the western pass, the other taking the eastern. Now caught between two enemy fleets and an island, Alexandría made the fatal mistake of chasing down Miguel. Miguel, strangely let Alexandría pass unopposed back to the inner bay of San Cèsare, but as her ships passed by, parallel, Miguel's ships pivoted once again to be perpendicular to Alexandría's fleet. Now, finally, Miguel made his move. His fleet pincered Alexandría's fleet and ripped it to shreds, his ships moving between the gaps. In all the hellfire of the battle, Alexandría only made it out alive by clutching a piece of floating driftwood and pretending to be a dead body.

When Alexandría finally reached San Cèsare, she found it smoldering, and yet, it stood. According to her soldiers, Miguel's ships made a beachhead landing, attempting to pincer the town. Alexandría's veteran troops, however, hid along some cliffs near the beaches, and managed to push back the enemy to the point where they almost torched Miguel's flagship. At the end of the day though, Miguel made the strategic decision to simply bombard the town as the grounded soldiers could do nothing but watch and protect their families as their homes burned. This was a terrible blow to morale, and almost cost Alexandría everything, including her rank. Through good fortune, however, Alexandría wrote a speech known only as "The Apology" claiming full responsibility for the defeat and promising to do everything she could to fix the damage she caused. This heartfelt speech managed to win back the loyalty of almost mutinous soldiers, and throughout the rest of the spring and early summer campaign, she would sleep in camp rather than her Hacienda, and instead turned her family home into the center of military operations in the town, although the town is yet to be fully rebuilt after the disaster.

Recognizing her inability to win a naval battle, Alexandría delegated the task to one of her late father's friends, Valentino Santiago. He was a merchant who traded goods all around the world, but his tavern tales of outrunning pirates got Alexandría's attention. He was also the town drunk... but Alexandría didn't really have any other options.

She also didn't have any boats, and wasn't allowed to build any, nor did she have the resources to do so. So, she decided to cast the die once more and sent out a false message to the revolutionary government claiming there was a large fleet assembling off the coast of San Cèsare and requesting support. When support came, they found no enemy fleet, so they docked. As they disembarked, Alexandría congratulated the dumbfounded commander on his victory, and said that his large force scared off the enemy. As a reward, Alexandría said, she would give the commander as much booze as he wanted. With the commander thoroughly inebreated, In the middle of the night they stole the ships and sailed north to a place known as the Red Cliffs...