Olander

The scars of national humiliation run deep in Olander's kingdom of birth. Sandwiched on all sides by greater powers, it seemed as though there was no ground their weak king was not willing to give for a little peace and security. Enemy kings learned quickly their armies could be bullied. There were only so many defeats the kingdom could take before foreign conquest seemed inevitable. It was under this cloud of hopelessness and resulting corruption that Olander graduated from Military Academy. Only the naivety of youth gave Olander any hope. Olander soon received a crash course in the harsh realities of army life on the distant border. But even there his almost supernatural instinct for strategy elevated his soldiers above the crowd. Under Olander's guiding hand, the borders of their shrinking kingdom suddenly became unusually secure. Creeping modernization started to deliver real improvements to discipline. Several textbooks on military strategy later and the King had recognized Olander's genius, appointing him as their youngest ever field marshal at only 30 years old. The driving force behind Olander had always been to wipe the slate clean of all the humiliations they had suffered at the hands of their enemies. A tall order, but Olander soon had his chance. An enormous enemy force arrived at the kingdom's doorstep, determined once and for all to put an end to Olander's home. Olander took great personal delight in slicing into little pieces the handwritten Letter of Surrender his own king had authorized. As Olander swore, there would be no peace in his time. Even then he saw the hint of weakness in the vastly larger enemy force—a certain clumsiness, logistical vulnerability, tactical weak-points a clever general could use. Olander plunged headfirst into the greatest battle that his soldiers had ever known. The fighting lasted for months and like a nightmare that they could not wake up from, the enemy somehow found itself on the losing side. Olander had somehow achieved the impossible: their first major victory in the face of a far greater power. Olander's king was smart enough to realize not only that he had the advantage but also every right to press it. Olander's kingdom began to expand outwards, first by conquering their would-be conquerors, but then even further. Dreams of empire began to float before the king's eyes. Just how far could their borders stretch under Olander's military command? Historians will never know. Nor whatever was said behind closed doors in the king's council. In the end, Olander's resignation could not be kept secret. He had decided to leave the king's employment and the military, his decorated post and his decorated past. A lesser man would be risking execution, but Olander's status was such that he was allowed to roam free. "Maybe some other town out there needs the likes of myself as an advisor? If they have patience enough for an old man..."