Geography and people:
|Geographical Location of CLIQUE:| Northern Delraat.
|Cities:| The capital of the County is Jungher, a bustling city where all the gold and silver mined across the Simerk fiefdom is refined and exported. Another notable cities within Bângxeni are Lantzi, which grows bloated with refugees as the days come and go, and Zhan-Ger, where the Count spent a fortune to set up an arsenal to equip his hosts with rifles and other basic equipment.
Your Warlord:
|Name:| Olziytomor Simerk
|Title:| Count of Bângxeni, Lieutenant General of the Heavenly Imperial Army.
|Age:| 34
|Ethnicity:| Minga with unfortunate Quin ancestry.
|Personal Ideology: | Paternal Autocrat. Member of the Young Officer's Club, a cadre of like minded noblemen and officers who believe that the Heavenly Empire must adapt if it is to survive the modern world.
|Influence in the faction: | 15%
|Personality: | Stern, diligent and austere. Count Simerk holds high standards for himself and those around him. Ever since his ascension to the title of Count, Olziytomor has dedicated himself fully to reshaping the Simerk fiefs according to his own vision. Something that has put him at odds with the old guard.
|His Virtue: | Diligent. As much as he may push his subordinates, the Count pushes himself even harder. As far as he is concerned, the only way to lead is by example. And as such, even though his rather unorthodox positions may earn him little favor with the old guard of the Blacks, the men and women under his command can at least take comfort in the fact that their leader puts his money where his mouth is.
|His Virtue: | Ever since he first a position of power, the Count has proved again and again that there are few whose organizational and administrative skills could match his. Whether it is in ensuring the silver mines maintain productivity or turning a peasant rabble into something that resembles an army, Count Olziytomor Simerk can do it.
|His Sin:| The Count considers himself a just man. Loyalty and diligence must be rewarded just as crimes must be punished. The problem is that he's really fond of that last part. Before the war, Olziytomor Simerk had already garnered an unsavory reputation for his handling of criminals as his father's head constabulary. With the Emperor's death and the civil war, his fame spread farther as the opportunities to visit rightful punishment upon those who defied the Heavenly Throne increased. Mass graves, razed villages and collective executions are common whenever the host of the White Bird marches as the Count has little patience or mercy for those who refuse to surrender once given the chance.
|History and Background:|
Olziytomor Simerk was born the fourth son of Count Sartak Simerk by his favorite mistress, a half-Quin courtesan. Due to his fondness for his mistress, the Count also doted on the boy. Raised alongside the Count's other children gave Olziytomor a wide array of privileges and opportunities that the young boy grasped firmly with both hands. Always diving headfirst into whatever his father saw fit for him to do. Studies, bonding with his siblings, official functions, anything to please his lordly father.
The boy's diligence didn't go unnoticed by the Count and motivated both by the desire to reward young Olziytomor and placate his wife (whose demands for him to send the boy away grew even more unbearable), Sartak sent the future Warlord and one of his brothers to study in a Geisel University. It was there that the young man was exposed to foreign ideas for the first time. Unlike his brother, however, Olziytomor remained steadfast in his loyalty to the Heavenly Throne, even if he grew increasingly sure that the Empire needed urgently to reform its structures if it wished to thrive in this modern world and abandon the humiliations of the past. Not that he was vocal about it. He knew his place, after all.
Then his brother eloped with an actress, joining the growing community of anti-Imperial expatriates spread across the major cities of the Commonwealth. Olziytomor was recalled immediately, university be damned, Count Sartak wouldn't risk losing two sons to foreign degeneracy. Once safely back home, young Olziytomor was immediately dispatched to run a silver mine and told to make himself useful by his father. Whose trust on his bastard had been shaken by his brother's defection. Some even dared to say Olziytomor himself had been responsible for that.
Hellbent on proving his loyalty and worth to his father, Olziytomor threw himself on the task ahead. Using a mix of innate talent and lessons learned in the Reich's universities to bring the mine back from its downtrodden state over the span of a year. By the end of the following year, he had been given command of several other operations by his father, who by this point had deemed him loyal enough to trust again. And when his elder brother died, Olziytomor was called back to Jungher, where the Count made him Head of the Constabulary, in the hopes of ensuring that his surviving heir would have a loyal right hand.
Six months later, he fell from his horse and broke his neck. Now the Count's only living child, Olziytomor was hastily confirmed as the Simerk heir. The following years were spent in relative calm. Count Sartak's health steadily declined, allowing Olziytomor to gradually assert himself as the real power in Bângxeni. By the time the Heavenly Emperor was assassinated and the civil war started, Olziytomor was Count in all but name, ruling as regent for his bedridden father. And when Sartak died three years into the war, there was none to stop Olziytomor from inheriting his father's titles.
|Armed Forces:|
The core of the Count's military power are the "
New Harmonious Divisions". Olziytomor's own attempts at creating a modern military machine to replace the levies. Paid for and lavishly equipped by Bângxeni's considerable mineral wealth and drilled relentlessly by the Count and a cadre of foreign mercenaries and Imperial Army instructors formerly involved in the military reform project. They are the best fighting force available to the Count.
Below the Harmonious Divisions are the regular units of the
"White Bird Host" (Bângxeni's own feudal hosts). Over the last decade, considerable efforts were undertaken to reform the County's military structure beyond the NHD, with attempts made to replace the old system of feudal contracts with a modern County-wide conscription program. Progress has been stifled, however, by stiff resistance from the lesser Minga lords under the Count, who rightfully see this move as a threat to their position. As it stands, Count Olziytomor efforts have stopped short of breaking the stranglehold the Minga nobility has over the officer corps, something that he isn't that keen on pushing either way. Their quality and equipment is varied, as the Harmonious Divisions get the priority in both recruits and equipment, leaving the rest of the White Bird to make do with what's left.
Soldiers of the 16th Infantry Division on the way to ZhiliA few squadrons of aircraft are also maintained by the White Bird Host. Mostly for reconnaissance and scouting purposes.
|His finest hour:|
Count Oziyltomor Simerk reviewed the rows of armored soldiers marching with an impassive expression, hiding his satisfaction beneath a mask of stoicism. The roar of artillery could be heard in the distance, their thundering choir led by
Hwa's Lasses a battery of railway guns belonging to Count Ma Hwa. Simerk's own guns were part of the colossal artillery park assembled to crack open the Blue lines along lake Nin Sha. With the Whites now greatly reduced and the path to Saraat open wide, the Heavenly Imperial Army had seen fit to redirect its focus towards the Republican rabble to the south. A mighty host was gathered to dislodge the rebellious merchants and their lackeys from their positions taken last spring.
Simerk's role in this endeavor would be one of paramount importance. Brought upon by relentless politicking and donations of gold and silver to the Heavenly Throne. This would be his chance to wipe away the shame incurred by the debacle at Saozin all those years ago. While powerful guns pounded the Blue trenchlines and peasant conscripts cleared the minefields and soaked up bullets, his own Harmonious Divisions had been tasked with pushing through the enemy lines.
Tanks and mechs bearing the White Bird supported by armored elite soldiers, Olziytomor's pride and joy, would soon be going into the breach created by Baroness Ren Yi's levies. Yes, the Count allowed himself a slight smile, his forces were more than up to this task. And so were the troops of the other members of the Young Officer's Club, they would show the decadent oligarchs and old fossils alike just how powerful the Heavenly Imperial Army could be when under the right hands.
The spent Republican lines would prove no match for the cream of the White Bird Host. Entire regiments would be wiped out by the Harmonious divisions as they broke through the battered lines and into the Blue rearguard. By the end of the month, the Republican army would be in full withdraw across all the theater. Unfortunately, it was then that the Lavanians entered the war in the North.
|His darkest hour:|
The command tent had gone utterly still. Even the outside noises felt muted. All eyes now turned to the Count himself, who seemed intent on glaring the unfortunate radiowoman to death. And by her reaction, it actually looked like it would work.
"What do you mean we've lost Baotzi?" Borte, the Count's cousin, broke the silence. "That village is kilometers behind the frontlines. I took the bloody place myself!"
"Captain Kênsig has been pushed out with heavy losses. His regiment is scattered and White mobile assault forces are securing the surroundings." The communication officer repeated, haltingly.
"There's no way the Whites could have pushed so deeply into our lines without us noticing. Check again." Borte insisted, an edge of desperation seeping into her voice as she looked to the Count for some reassurance. "I assure you, Your Excellency, this has to be a mistake-"
"Lieutenant Yi is asking for reinforcements." The same radiowoman interrupted. "White tanks have hit the Kwan-ni outpost." Borte paled at that while the Count turned his cold glare to her.
"It seems our flanks were not as secure as you promised, Colonel."
"I had troops on all known routes, Your Excellency. I myself organized the patrol routes. If it weren't for-" Her pleas were silenced by a raised hand.
"And yet that wasn't enough. Fix this." The Count ordered, struggling to control his voice. "Before they cut us off completely."
"O-of course, Your Excellency." Borte nodded emphatically as she leaned over the map laid on the table. "I will rally the troops still in the area. In three days I can move the reserve regiments to the Wulin ridge, set up positions here and here before launch-"
"You will counter-attack now. Your Windriders should be rested enough to ride at once." The Count once again interrupted as he approached his cousin. "They may as well have an entire armored division pouring into our rearguard. A counter-attack on our front is only a question of time. You have cost us this operation, Colonel!" He barked as his cousin flinched under his glare. "Now you will go out and fix your mistake or die trying!" He finished, poking her repeatedly on the chest for additional emphasis.
By the end of the week, the White Bird Host had been pushed back from the Saozin Valley, encirclement and total disaster would be avoided by a hair's breadth. But losses were nevertheless substantial, two months of bloody progress were lost in the blink of an eye. The 9th Cavalry Division "Windriders" would lose 3/5 of its combat force in their desperate struggle to cover the retreat. Its commanding officer would lose both legs and barely escape the ensuing court martial with her head.
|Other Important People inside the Clique:|
Borte Simerk:The crippled Baroness, heads one of the lesser branches of the Simerk family. Her sprawling rural estates are one of the main suppliers of horse, draft animals and grain to the White Bird Host. Her military career ended with the Saozin debacle (no matter what her remaining ceremonial titles say). But despite the humiliation and crippling, she remains an influential actor within the County by sole virtue of her economic pull.
Qian Xun: The mayor of Zhan-Ger and overseer of the local arsenal, Qian Xun has been a long time ally of Oziyltomor, to which he owes his current appointment. Being of wholly Quin background (even if from a respected merchant family) has proved to be a substantial obstacle for his political career, which serves as an additional reason for his firm support of the Count and other reformists within the Royalist faction.
Tao Song: Another one of the Count's creatures. Simerk's appointed overseer for his family's mines (which happen to be all within the borders of the County, for the Simerk family holds monopoly over them for centuries already). Another half Quin who has "risen beyond his station" thanks to the Count's patronage. His ancestors have been retainers to the Simerks ever since one can remember. Tao himself can boast an engineering diploma from a Arcanain University.
Tartu Zamir: Hailing from one of the minor Minga families sworn to the Simerks, Tartu is the Count's right hand when it comes to military affairs. Sharing his lord's reformist outlook when it comes to the armed forces, he is far less enthusiastic when the issue are politics. Despite these differences, however, Tartu continues to serve to the best of his abilities, as long as the Count doesn't goes out of his way to oppose the agenda of the Heavenly Throne (or at least what he perceives it to be) and respects the rights of the Minga nobility.
