Name: Markel Darkis
Age: 23
Gender: Male
Appearance: Markel has short red hair, blue eyes and pale skin. He is very slim to the point of being scrawny and is a few inches above average height. He appears somewhat sickly and unwell much of the time due to his illness.
Position: Landlord
Background: Markel is the second son of Khazine Darkis, the former ruler of the nation Colonis.
When he was young his father wished for him to study politics and to act as an advisor to his older brother and planned inheritor of his father's title Colin, though Markel, feeling from youth as though he was confined to not being able to make his own choices, instead opted for what he saw as the freedom of the military and began training at a young age. However, at the age of 15 he fell sick with an unknown illness which gradually deteriorated his health. His father then forbid him from serving.
Seeing not much alternative, Markel spent most of his time confined to his family's estate where he mostly studied military doctrine and history, wishing that he could one day go off and fight in similar battles to the ones he read of.
Roughly 6 months later the bloodiest conflict in Colonian history broke out.
Just on the edge of Colonis' lied the nation of Zilka and it's people, which the Colonians simply called Zilks. The Zilks had traded and coexisted with the Colonian's near their land for decades, though lately these people had become more and more disjointed and disloyal to Colonis and Lord Darkis became worried of the Zilk influence, fearing that the Zilk's were turning the outer territories against Ashalen, the capital of Colonis.
Darkis sent out one of his generals to assess the situation, who never returned. What had happened to him was unknown, though most of his lieutenants believe he had been murdered and pushed Darkis to retaliate by pillaging the nearest Zilk village. Darkis ordered that none of his troops attack the Zilks until he could become fully aware of the situation, however one of his men lead a small force into outer Zilka, raiding several villages and killing hundreds. Darkis and his inner cabinet had no idea that the action had taken place, and the next day when Zilk forces assaulted outer Colonian cities in response, Darkis saw this as an unprevoked action and declared war. So officially began the Zilka War.
For roughly two thirds of the conflict, the Colonian Army had been on the defensive all the while being pushed back towards the capital territory. While many Colonian soldiers and civilians had lost their lives or been captured, to it's leaders the much greater loss was the loss of around %60 of their territories as the Zilks pushed on from all sides. Refuggees flooded into the central areas and their increasingly crowded cities as almost all industrial production was exclusively focused on equipping the military. Despite the hardship on the battlefields and at home, the war had Colonis' many diverse and disconnected peoples come together and become unified against a single enemy. Because of the great manufacturing focus on military equipment and fortifications very few new buildings were created to house the refuggees, though they found themselves being taken in by the people of the places they had fled to. It was not uncommon for three or even four families from different areas to live under one roof. During most of the war Markel acted as an advisor to his father as well as his brother Colin, who spent much of the conflict fighting on the frontline as a general.
After two and a half years of continuous Zilk advancement their attacks stopped. The Colonian commanders feared they were gathering their strength for a massive assault against the remaining areas. Believing that his defences would not hold against such an attack, Lord Darkis opted to go on the offensive and reclaim Colonis' lost ground. His eldest son and heir to his title Colin lead the attack, which was a massive success as the Zilks up until this point believed that the Colonians couldn't effectively fight offensively. Unfortunately three months into the counteroffensive Colin was killed, which devastated his father. While Markel was somewhat jealous of Colin being chosen to be the next Landlord even despite it being tradition for the eldest son to take the title, he still greatly admired his brother and pushed his father to continue the war and annihilate the Zilks in response. Despite his sadness, Lord Darkis curiously instead made peace with the Zilks and even let them have some of the Colonian land around their borders. Markel, more angered than saddened by the loss of his brother, was furious. The three year war was now over, and both sides sought about rebuilding.
Markel was 19 when the war ended. With no other sons Khazine Darkis appointed him as his heir, and for the two remaining years of his life educated Markel on how to effectively lead Colonis. Markel never got over his father's decison to make peace with the Zilks rather than destroy them, but in time he came to respect him greatly and vowed to do whatever he could to be as great a leader as he when he passed on. Khazine Darkis died peacefully at the age of 48. He had taught his son to rebuild Colonis and usher in a new time of peace and prosperity, but Markel thought this view was naive and that his homeland would always have aggressors seeking to destroy it. The biggest potential threat on his mind was the severely beaten but still present Zilks, who still occupied around 10% of pre-war Colonis.
Just a few days after taking the title of Landlord, Lord Markel Darkis gave his Army the order to take back these lands and from there drive deep into Zilka with the intention of destroying it once and for all.
Two years later and Zilka is now effectively a few scattered villages and towns. Markel, paranoid of the outside world, has since then put an increasingly large focus on strengthing the military.
Personality: Markel has a rather calm and friendly demeanor publicly, however when in talks with officials on national matters he is often quick to anger and has been known to issue impossible to fulfill demands to those serving under him. He is something of a perfectionist and constantly pushes himself, those around him and his country itself to strive for excellence. Despite this he greatly respects his subordinates and admires the Colonian people, particularly it's soldiers.
Markel's main desire is to see Colonis returned to it's pre-war glory, just as his father wished. Because Colonis has been self reliant for much of it's history and it's people still fully believing that the outsider Zilk invasion was completely unprovoked, Markel has a distrust of other nations and is a firm believer that the only person a Colonian can trust is another Colonian.
A major influence on Markel's personality and behaviours is his health, which becomes increasing worse over time and makes him appear very frail. He doesn't often appear publicly because of this, and while he previously used a walking stick he discarded it after becoming Landlord. When he does appear to anyone other than his immediate subordinates and trusted friends he takes a variety of drugs and tonics to prevent any sign of his physical weakness from showing. Markel believes his sickness will claim his life within the next ten years, but he has accepted this fact. His main concern is finding a good candidate for Landlord after his death.
Domain, Colonis: Colonis is essentially made up of several small provinces which form it's territories. All Colonian land exists northeast of Lake Mitre. The inner territories, being closer to the capital and it's influence, have always been more loyal to the Landlords, are more fortified and overall have a higher standard of living. The inner territories are Ashalen, the most populated territory and capital, Skarvka, known for it's vast mines, and Haska, renowned for it's manufacturing capabilties. The outer territories are primarily agriculturally focused and all of them were taken by the Zilks during the Zilka War. Rebuilding efforts on these areas have so far been good and a series of roads guarded by the occassional fort connect them together, but many of their people who fled to the inner territories have yet to return and still dwell in their cities. Redeveloping the outer territories to increase the viability of the nation as a whole is one of Markel's foremost goals, though he currently still mainly concerns himself with strengthing the military.
Troops: Being a rather unexpansionist yet paranoid nation, Colonian military might has always been centred on it's armies which are typically geared towards territorial defence. The men of the Colonian Army are well trained and equipped volunteers, though it as a whole lacks varied combat experience due to only fighting one major war in two decades.
In addition to the regular army there is also the Pioneers and the Militia.
The Pioneers are an initiative Khazine Darkis established late in his life during the Zilka War. He envisioned them as an elite reserve cavalry force able to quickly reinforce threatened areas and from there repel attacking forces, however a year after his death Markel repurposed them into highly mobile raiders to wipe out the remaining pockets of Zilk establishment around Colonis' borders. So far they have been devastatingly effective, the results can be seen in the hundreds of recently captured Zilk slaves being marched through the streets of Colonian cities every few months to work the nations many mines and foundries. Tales of the Pioneers 'heroic' exploits against hardened foes are legendary among the Colonian people, though in fact they now primarily sweep through and burn down unwitting Zilk villages murdering at will and taking whatever survivors there may be as slaves as vengenace for similar acts during the Zilka War. There are also rumours that at least some Pioneer units use Zilk prisoners of war for bloody 'training exercises'.
Nevertheless, the Pioneers are a rather small yet very effective force and have proven themselves in battle against hardened opponents.
The Colonian Militia is essentially a much more unified and competant version of the various bands of fighters old Colonian villages would organise to be the first line of defence against a sudden enemy attack. With the regular army stretched to the breaking point during the Zilka War, Khazine Darkis saw the need for a proper reserve fighting force should they fail. While the Zilk offensive was halted before that need was absolutely paramount, Darkis continued his work in creating a unified reserve force should they, or another threat, attack again.
The Militia was the outcome of many years of negotiations, trade and treaties between the Colonian territories which had been scattered diplomatically due to the devastating war, believing that none of them had fully supported each other in the crisis. After much work the Grand Militia was created, which had a standard uniform and and fought for and answered to Colonis as a whole rather than any particular territory. Khazine Darkis saw it's creation as his greatest achievement. Not only was it a capable reservist force, to him it also embodied true Colonian unity as it's members were mostly from different territories, rather than the regular army which members had mostly come from Ashalen.
Before Khazine died, he left his son with the duty of refining and upkeeping the Militia, believing it still could be and needed to be improved. Firstly he had many of his more experienced commanders and officers train the Militia forces rather than command the Pioneers or regular Army, as the threat of the Zilk territories was now virtually nonexistant. He then sought about acquiring more members as part of a long term defence plan.
While the Militia already had a reasonable recruitment rate as it's members were paid fairly well and legally could not be sent outside of Colonian territory, Markel, paranoid that another invasion would happen at some point instilled conscription on all territories. Each one would have to send a certain number of young able bodied individuals to serve for a year every so often. This was mostly seen as a good thing, as during Markel's reign Colonis itself has seen peace and therefore the Militia forces could train extensively and need not see combat beyond suppressing the occassional slave uprising. Conscription was seen as a safe method of gradually preparing the population for an invasion. However, later Markel also made the controversal choice of ordering that women as well as men must serve, primarily arguing that if Colonis is again attacked women will end up having to fight anyway, but they are not allowed in any force beyond the Militia.
Is it seen by many as unjust that women can be conscripted in the Militia but cannot voluntarily join the regular army.
