"The greatest weapon in the arsenal of any Turamzyrrian soldier is not the broadsword, nor the lance, or even the bow, for these things are useless beyond belief when compared to the weapon that is will.   I have seen a thousand dead men run across a great expanse of open field into the face of arrow, stone, and crossbow bolt to wrest victory from the very maw of defeat, not because they were better trained, or better equipped, or led by superior men... but simply because they refused to accept the inevitability of their own demise.   On that afternoon, each of them to the last man believed that they could climb a celestial ladder into the very heavens and put each and every last god of light and darkness to the sword.   A greater weapon than will has never existed."  ---- General Aramur Kysus, from a journal excerpt, circa 4850
 

   Aramur Kysus was born in 4825, in the shadow of the walls of Tamzyrr.  The son of an illiterate blacksmith and a seamstress, Aramur was the youngest of three brothers living in relative squalor in the Lowtown district beyond the walls of the great city.   His father was a veteran of the First Elven War and a patriot, naming his third son after the courageous hero Aramur Forean, the renegade mage who had led his small band of human rebels against the Elves in the North, so many years before.   He instilled his sense of patriotism in young Aramur, telling him stories by the firelight of distant lands, strange creatures, and courageous men.   While his father toiled over a forge, a young Aramur helped out by running messages between merchants and shopkeepers for food and a small amount of coin.
 

   When he was 9, his mother and oldest brother passed suddenly, having fallen victim to one of the ever-present plagues that ravaged the expansive poor districts of the great city.    Despondent and broken, the elder Kysus took Aramur, and his remaining brother Davius and moved farther out into the country, having been hired to Smith and maintain an armory for a country Nobleman.   Though still relatively poor, their new lifestyle afforded them a cleaner, more decent lifestyle, and Aramur began to spend time learning to read and write from an old woman who lived nearby.   He developed a love for the written word immediately, and his new passion for learning consumed him.   He quickly became a voracious reader, taking every opportunity to borrow books from some of the wealthier families around the nearby town.    His writing skills improved as well, and by the time he was 14, he was earning a tidy sum writing and transcribing letters from the soldiers of the nearby garrison to be sent to their families and friends.
 

By 16, Aramur had become fascinated with military life.   He rejects a generous offer from the local Count to help administer the library at his manor, which would also allow him the opportunity to study in one of the Empire's finest Academies.   Upon learning this news, and of Aramur's recent fascination with the Military, Aramur's father becomes enraged.   They argue and fight long into the night, ending with Aramur grabbing a handful of his books and personal belongings and leaving.   Aramur Kysus enlisted as a soldier in the Imperial Turamzyrrian Army in the spring of 4841, and entered into a life that promised life under the most difficult and dangerous of circumstances, a low wage, and little else.
 

   After receiving a rudimentary training in the use of the longsword, axe, shield, and maneuvering in the heavy chain armor of a infantryman, Aramur was sent many miles to the Southeast, to the County Trauntor, and assigned to the 5th Legion of the Imperial Turamzyrrian Army of the Silver River, one of the most distinguished and decorated in the entire Empire, due to the amount of action it had seen in its home region near the borders of Ta'Faendryl and Ta'Vaalor.    The Army of the Silver River was under the command of the Legendary Sentinel Greythane, a military and political hero of the Empire whose reputation and standing in Trauntor was greater than that of the Empress.   Aramur, having learned of his assignment, wrote a letter to his father expressing his regret at having left, but defended his decision and declared his resolve to serve his Empire and honor his family.
 

   Aramur soon receives his first chance to prove himself.   After a brief time in the camp of the Legion, he is attached to an infantry battalion, under the command of a Captain, and dispatched to the northern wilderness of Ta'Faendryl, where the Faendryl war had just begun to rage.   Battle tempers Kysus' enthusiasm of the glorified military life.   In his first combat, a young lieutenant ordered a infantry charge into the flank of a small group of Demons that had been summoned by Faendryl Sorcerers, resulting in a quick, bloody ending.   Half of the men in the charge had either run or been paralyzed with fear upon being attacked and seeing their brash young lieutenant dragged from his horse and disemboweled by one of the demonic terrors.  The other half that stood and fought had little chance to do much more than defend their lives as they fell into a full retreat, the demons having penetrated their ranks and shattered their leaderless morale.   Aramur Kysus was hooked by a demonic claw and flung a distance into the fray; upon gaining his feet, it was all he could do to escape with his life.    Upon rallying behind Imperial ranks once again, Kysus saw few of his comrades around him.  The Battalion had sustained eighty percent losses.
 

   In the following days, Kysus was thrown again and again into the bloody face of war.  Imperial Military Tactics of the time were built on lines of light infantry.   Men would stand in a broad line at arm's length from one another, with broadsword, longsword, flail, or axe in hand with a shield, and march slowly toward the opposing army, while supported with a hail of arrows from the archer's battalions to their rear, with cavalry in reserve to be used at the absolute proper moment to break the will and backs of the opposing army.   These tactics were being seen to be an utter failure in the Faendryl War.    Faendryl sorcerers used the Maelstrom spell with great effect, not only on the infantry, but also on the archers, often cracking the morale of Imperial formations before they ever truly entered the battle.   In one such defeat, Kysus was badly wounded, having been electrocuted by a bolt of Faendryl lightning and pelted by a number of huge hailstones before being dragged to safety.   He spent several months recovering from his wounds at Barrett's Gorge, the last outpost in the extreme Southeastern corner of the Empire, and the gateway to Ta'Vaalor.  Barret's Gorge was the only pass through the Dragonspine for thousands of miles, and had been the staging point for many invasions headed both directions through the mountains.
 
 

  While at Barret's Gorge, Kysus was promoted to the rank of Sergeant, his commanding officer having cited him for "Great bravery in the face of bloody combat".    In a Legion where the average lifespan of an infantryman averaged five months, Kysus was approaching a year's service in the Army.    Having fully healed from his wounds, and having begun his training with the broadsword and the flail, Kysus was sent once again to the war in the late fall of 4841.    Having now qualified himself as proficient with three forms of weapons, he was assigned to a detachment of heavy infantry tasked to defend an Archer's Battalion.    Action was much slower for Kysus in his new assignment, and his new rank afforded him the luxury of his own tent while on the campaign.   Kysus closely observed the movements and tactics of both sides during through the next couple of years, and noted his observations in a journal.  He began to secretly write his opinions of Imperial Tactics in the Faendryl War, and his bold ideas of how to reform these tactics to better combat their enemies.   Fearing discovery of this fledgling work of his, he keeps the leather-bound journal a secret from even his most trusted friends.
 

  In the spring of 4842, during a siege of a Faendryl outpost, Kysus detected a Faendryl Mage slip from invisibility behind the ranks of the assembled Legion.  Fearing the already demonstrated power of summoned meteors, Kysus leapt from a boulder at a height of nearly twenty feet, striking out with his broadsword and cleaving the Mage nearly in two.  The assembled officers a short distance away were startled to turn and see the sight, and Kysus was immediately credited with saving the lives of hundreds of his comrades.   Imperial Mages later identified the Faendryl Mage as being the Overlord of the besieged outpost.   Upon seeing the head of their slain Lord upon a lance at the head of a cavalry formation, the morale of the Faendryl defenders cracked, and the Outpost fell during a nighttime barrage of flaming arrows and burning pitch.  Kysus, for his act of courage and vigilance, was recommended by the Commanding General of his Legion to receive the Order of the Flame, one of the highest military honors in existence.  Kysus was also given a field promotion to the rank of First Lieutenant, an extremely rare occurrence, as most of the Turamzyrrian Officer Corps were Academy trained.
 

   Kysus immediately took to life as an officer.  He had always believed that he would achieve such a rank, though none could have guessed that it could happen so fast.   At the age of nineteen, he had already managed to survive in one of the bloodiest wars in Imperial history.   He was given a horse, a large raise in pay, and training in cavalry tactics.  He also was issued a burnished steel breastplate bearing a gilded Sunburst, the Symbol of the Imperial Army.   Kysus relished his new rank, and took every opportunity to train with his men in every aspect of combat.   All of his Battalion, from the boy faced young men, to the hardened veterans quickly came to respect and like their new Lieutenant.   They knew that despite his lack of age, he had an unflappable confidence about him, and he tempered that confidence with a respect for the capabilities of his enemies.   This made him an effective leader.  In battle after battle, he won the respect and trust of his superiors with his ability to limit his losses while maximizing his gains in combat.    During his training maneuvers, Kysus began to incorporate some of his new theories and tactics of warfare into the standard regimen of infantry movement.    During a major battle near the City of Ta'Faendryl in the summer of 4842, Kysus finally had the opportunity to put these new tactics into action.
 
 

    Having been placed in reserve for a battle for a line of rocky hills, Kysus was ordered to take his Battalion through a large meadow of ten-foot tall grass to find and lead a Battalion of lost Archers to the front.   After finding the Archers, the two battalions started back to the Battleground.   Kysus had requisitioned a number of tower shields for his men to beat a path through the grass and lances to help keep the formations straight during the march.   Upon entering a great clearing, Kysus’ force was ambushed by two Brigades of Faendryl light infantry that had been trying to flank the Imperial positions.   Kysus knew that his force was outnumbered nearly four to one, and that there was no safe place to retreat to.   He gave the orders for his men to engage a new tactic, and tried to persuade the commanding Lieutenant of the Archers to stand with him.  When it became apparent that the commander of the Archers intended to retreat, Kysus relived him of his command on the spot with his broadsword.   He then ordered his subordinate to form his Archers for battle.   In the front, Kysus' new tactic was taking shape.  His infantry knelt shoulder to shoulder in front, their tower shields forming a seamless line nearly four hundred men wide.  The second rank interlaced themselves with the kneeling first rank, laying their tower shields over the heads of all of the assembled soldiers, forming a shell of armor nearly impenetrable by the barrage of arrows that were now starting to fly into their formation, just ahead of the mass of advancing infantry.
 

    As the Faendryl infantry came running into arrow range, the Imperial Archers let their arrows rain in a deadly arc into the onslaught.   Faendryl infantry fell in staggering numbers.   By the time the charge reached the line, their numbers had been reduced by a full half.   Upon reaching the shield wall, the Imperial lances were thrust outward from the formation.  The Faendryl infantry, surprised and moving too fast to react, were impaled upon the lances and slain in great numbers.  The Faendryl officers, shocked and surprised, ordered a retreat that was not acknowledged in the confusion of battle.   Kysus called out a command, and the Wall of Shields reformed into two close ranks of infantry four hundred men wide.  Realizing too late that they were in grave danger, the Faendryl Warriors began to retreat, and were quickly mowed down from behind by the quicker, fresher legs of the Imperial Infantry.   The victory was complete.   In scarcely a quarter hour of fighting, Kysus' force had annihilated two Brigades, or nearly four thousand Faendryl Warriors.   This staggering defeat, coupled with the lack of support those two Brigades would have offered to the main Faendryl Army some two miles away, led to a decisive Imperial victory.
 

 
   Kysus' new tactics were a total success in their first trial.    While news of his killing of the Archery Lieutenant did not rest well with the Command, word of his great victory had spread through the entire Legion, and beyond, and Kysus was promoted to Captain in the fall of 4842.   After his promotion ceremony, Kysus was called to meet with the High Officers of the Legions to discuss his "tactics".     Kysus explained the history of his studies of Imperial tactics, and how he had come to develop new ones specifically for the Faendryl War.   Kysus then produced his leather-bound journal and presented it to Marshal Greythane, a younger brother of the Sentinel himself, for his perusal.   Upon reading through Kysus' journal, Greythane denounced the tactics as "cheap tricks" and a "serious mockery and misuse of men and equipment".    In a letter to the Sentinel, Greythane requested that Kysus be recalled to Barret's Gorge, citing his presence on the front as a "Dangerous and subversive presence to the collective morale of the Legions".
 

   Kysus, disappointed at the reprimand but not deterred in his belief in his abilities, was stripped of his men and returned to Barret's Gorge to take command of a defensive force in the foothills near the town.   Upon his arrival, he was ordered to meet with the Sentinel himself, and to present his Tactical Journal for the Sentinel's reading.   Two days later, another meeting was arranged, and the Sentinel proclaimed Kysus to be "Nothing less than a natural tactician", and "One of the Empire's best officers".      Seeing the need for a change of tactics in the War, the Sentinel ordered Kysus back to the front, as nothing less as than an advisor to the Legions, tasked to quickly and efficiently incorporate his tactics into the Imperial Army.
 

   By the time Kysus returns to the War, The Imperial Army effort against the Faendryl is in disarray.   Imperial Officers, bolstered by a decisive victory at Gellig, had decided to divide their forces in a new offensive deep into Ta'Faendryl.   Unfortunately for the Imperials, this coincides with the Faendryl unleashing a handful of their greatest Demonmasters into the War, lashing out with a fast moving counterstrike that breaks the back of the offensive.   Unable to maintain morale in the Legions, it becomes obvious to all, including Kysus, that the War may be lost.   Shortly thereafter, in the winter of 4842, The Empress gives the order to cease hostilities against the Faendryl, effectively ending the War.
 

   In the years after the Faendryl War, morale in the Imperial Army is at an all time low.  Many Officers choose to retire or resign in humiliation or disgust at their collective failure to achieve victory.  Among the rank and file, word quickly spreads of the unholy Demons that broken the back of one of the most distinguished Armies in the Empire.  Recruitment suffers badly as a result. It becomes apparent to the Sentinels and the Imperial council that something must be done to improve morale and rebuild the Army into what it once was.   In 4847, construction begins on the Demonwall, a massive manmade barrier that would run thousands of miles across the southern border of the Turamzyrrian Empire as a first line of defense against any future attack by the Faendryl.   The project would take 62 years to complete, nearly breaking the Imperial Treasury.   At the behest of Sentinel Greythane and the newly crowned Emperor Wayrick Anodheles, Kysus returns to Tamzyrr to take part in meetings regarding "Army leadership".
 

   In 4848, after a series of meetings with the Legendary Knight Sir Pyrrhon Von Kammersteyl, of Immuron, Kysus, and a large number of bright young Imperial Officers join with Von Kammersteyl in forming the Order of the Golvern Star, an elite Military group comprised of Knights, squires, pages, Noblemen, and high-ranking officers of the Turamzyrrian military.   The purpose and goals of the OGS are far reaching.   They provide a strong presence of competent leadership on the battlefield, their Knights being among the most fearsome warriors to be found on any field of battle.  The Officers, led by Kysus, establish the Imperial Turamzyrrian Academy, at Tamzyrr.  At the Academy, cadets receive training on everything from Military history and tactics dating back thousands of years, to the finer arts of language, diplomacy, and protocol, to training in all forms of weapons, armor, and horsemanship.   Officers that graduate from the tough regimen of the Academy are given a field assignment immediately at the rank of Lieutenant, and carry with them the knowledge and skills of all but the most seasoned field officers.

 
  The presence of OGS Knights and Officers among the ranks energizes the Imperial Army from border to border.  A campaign to root out hordes of Orcs, Goblins, and Giantmen from the Dragonspine is an overwhelming success.   As the settled frontier of the Empire expands to the North and East, trade begins to flourish within the Empire, and the ranks of the Army begin to swell once more.   While all but the rarest Knight is of Noble blood, any common boy could aspire to wear the gilded Golvern star on the high neck of his black leather officer's dress coat. The Empire enters a new era of prosperity.
 

  Back in Tamzyrr, Aramur Kysus is promoted to General in 4856, at the age of 31.   His legendary status within the Empire is at an all time high.  He is directed by the Emperor himself to oversee and teach at the Academy.   Kysus instructs Cadets there for the next 11 years in Military History and Tactics with the same passion he showed as a boy on the battlefield.  In 4867, Kysus takes command of a Legion of Light Cavalry to put a stop to a series of raids that have brought trade with the Elven Empire to a near standstill.   He reaches Barret's Gorge in Early 4868, and using a new series of tactics he has developed for rapid strikes with cavalry, he tears to pieces several mountain encampments of Dwarves and Giantmen that had effectively closed the trade routes through the Dragonspine.  Scribes who surveyed the encampments after the attacks noted that "The Bandits within these camps were so unprepared, and were struck so quickly and decisively that stewpots still boiled over burning campfires, and many of the dead wore only their gambesons and/or cloaks, most unarmed."
 

   Kysus returns to Tamzyrr in the fall of 4868 to a Hero's Parade.   The Emperor, in a show of gratitude, gives Kysus a massive land grant in County Trauntor, on the Silver River.  Kysus returns to Tamzyrr to teach at the Academy, which he does for 19 more years.   During that time, his political power and clout grows immensely.   In the winter of 4886, Assassins of "Unknown Origin" nearly succeed in taking Kysus' life in a brazen attack on his carriage near his Estate on the Silver River.  Shortly thereafter, a scandalous rumor about a bastard child borne by a prostitute surfaces that calls Kysus' moral standing into question.  In the spring of 4887, Kysus announces his retirement from his role at the Academy, and he accepts a commission under the Sentinel in Trauntor as an advisor, effectively going into semi-retirement at the age of 62.  He leaves Tamzyrr for the last time.   Living in relative seclusion on his Estate, Kysus occasionally publishes new works on Military Strategy and Tactics to be employed within the Army.   In 4891, Kysus marries for the first time at the age of 66 to Constancia Therron, a devastatingly beautiful woman of 23 years.   The couple is rarely seen in public, save for society events at the Estates of local Noblemen and high-ranking Military Officers.
 

   In 4893 The Sentinel Greythane dies of a blood disease.   His son, appointed by the Emperor, assumes the role of Sentinel against the advice of Aramur Kysus.   Kysus, angered with the brash, arrogant manner of the young Lord Greythane, writes the Emperor to protest the appointment, suggesting that Lord Alrick, of House Aellorean, the political adversaries of the Greythanes, would be better suited to the role of Sentinel, as Lord Alrick Aellorean was a active General in the Imperial Army.   The Emperor replies to Kysus, telling him "while I respect your judgment and opinions as a Military Officer of the highest standing, you would be well advised to refrain from involving yourself in the political affairs of the Empire."   Kysus, feeling thoroughly rebuked, Kysus withdraws from public life even more.   He accepts no visitors, save for Lord Aellorean and his young son, Renick, who aspires to follow the footsteps of his father and the Legendary Aramur Kysus.
 

  In the fall of 4914, Aramur Kysus dies, at the age of 89, from apparent natural causes.   He receives the high honor of being the only man buried on the grounds of the Imperial Academy in Tamzyrr.   Constancia receives half of his material wealth, the other half being put into an endowment to sponsor poor young men aspiring to attend the Imperial Academy.  His massive Estate on the Silver River is left to his only true friend, Lord Alrick Aellorean, effectively doubling the size of his lands, and clout in the Empire.
 

   The poor boy that had become a General had left an indelible mark on the Empire he so dearly loved.  The revolutionary tactics and strategies that were born of his mind changed the face of the Imperial Army forever.  To this very day, his gravesite at the Imperial Academy is a hallowed place where Cadets have made a custom of studying and praying among the hanging gardens and soft grass, perhaps hoping to receive a bit of divine knowledge or wisdom from the spirit of the master himself.