[center][h3][color=orange][u]Crowned Survian Republic[/u][/color][/h3][/center]

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[b]The Life and Times of Hélder Roque[/b]
Hélder Roque was born in 1880, in Almeida, Survia. Son to a tailor and a seamstress, Roque did poorly in primary school and at age thirteen began working alongside his father and mother in their homely shop that was run out of the backroom of their small home. In 1897, at the age of seventeen, Roque was given permission from his father to join the [i]Corpo de Voluntários de Almeida[/i], a youth infantry unit out of Almeida. From 1897 to 1898 he was trained and drilled as a volunteer rifleman. The Survians, who used the KR.91 rifle, were not well equipped. The [i]Corpo de Voluntários de Almeida[/i] (CVA) were given twenty rounds of ammunition a week, and their KR.91 rifles were all hand me down's.

On October 16th, 1899 Roque and the rest of the CVA, approximately 800 men were given brand new Kalpian KR.99 rifles. They trained for two weeks before on November 3rd, were shipped off to Survian Madasta off the Northern coast of Serranthia. Stationed at Fort Almeida, they were told to be on "high alert" for possible dissent in the colony. On December 17th, the natives of Madasta, named Heffans, attacked the fort and nearly overran the soldiers there.

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[i]Hélder Roque in Heffa, 1899, notice the Aetorian Cross[/i][/center]
On December 26th, the Tyro-Redanian navy showed up and forced the Heffans to surrender after a short bombardment. Roque was one of one hundred and fifty survvors. Given the new flag flying over the capital, Roque was interned for three weeks and then promptly allowed to return to Survia or to enlist in the [i]Tyrian-Nordserranthia Korps[/i], a landswehr unit reserved for colonials. Roque denied the offer and was given the [i]Aetorian Cross[/i] after several eyewitnesses corroborated his heroic actions during the [i]Siege of Fort Almeida[/i]  and on December 29th, was on a ship back to Almeida.

On January 1st, 1900, Roque was promoted to [i]Segundo-cabo[/i] and made executive of [i]10th Squadito, 1st Regimento de Almeida nº 1[/i], a reserve unit stationed in Almeida. For twelve months, Roque marched and trained and lived life under the sweating Almeidan sun. On November 14th, 1900, Roque--for nearly a year without reprieve or absence--was promoted to [i]Cabo-adjunto[/i] and given command of [i]10th Squadito, 1st Regimento de Almeida nº 1[/i]. 10th Squadito was not the best, nor was it the worst, but rather decidedly average.

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[i]10th Squadito, December, 1900[/i][/center]
Roque was similarly not an exceptional commander, nor a particular drag. While he had been lauded for winning the second highest medal of valour in the "Empire," several of his men openly asked Roque's loyalties, as they assumed he won the cross fighting [i]for[/i] the Empire. Not much of a showboater, Roque simply pulled the Aetorian Cross from his locker and stashed it away.