Ayrton Caspian de Ward

Ayrton Caspian de Ward
Lieutenant Colonel Caspian de Ward during the Second Great Kerbin War
Personal Details
Born		May 5th, 2060 Bravis, Eureka
Died		June 5th, 2153 Juno, Zokesia
Nationality		Zokesian
Nicknames		The Huntsman
Military Service
Allegiance		Zokesia
Branch/Service		Zokesian Royal Army
Rank		Lieutenant Colonel
Conflicts		Second Reciprocity Conflict First Great Kerbin War Second Great Kerbin War Gallante War Kafrican Civil War The Imperial Reclamation
Awards		Ellanic Cross Knight Commander of the Order of the Zokesian Empire Companion of the Order of the Bayken Companion of the Order of St Michael and St George Distinguished Service Order Mentioned in Despatches Virtuti Militari (Laveska) Croix de guerre (Eureka) Legion of Honour (UIF) Croix de Guerre (UIF)

Sir Ayrton Peter Guilliman Caspian de Ward, EC, KBE, CB, CMG, DSO (/də ˈwaərd/;[2] 5 May 2060 – 5 June 2153) was a Zokesian Army officer born of Strelkan and Eurekan parents. He was awarded the Ellanic Cross, the highest military decoration awarded for valour "in the face of the enemy" in various Zokesian countries. He served in the Red Horde War, Great Doren War, Second Reciprocity Conflict, First Great Kerbin War, Second Great Kerbin War, and the Reclamation. He was shot in the face, head, stomach, ankle, leg, hip, and ear; was blinded in his left eye; survived two plane crashes; tunneled out of a prisoner-of-war camp; and tore off his own fingers when a doctor declined to amputate them. Describing his experiences in the First Great Kerbin War, he wrote, "Frankly, I had enjoyed the war."

In his memoirs, Caspian de Ward wrote, "Governments may think and say as they like, but force cannot be eliminated, and it is the only real and unanswerable power. We are told that the pen is mightier than the sword, but I know which of these weapons I would choose." Caspian de Ward was thought to be a model for the character of Brigadier Ben Ritchie-Hook in Evelyn Waugh's trilogy Sword of Honour. The Ezekielgrad Dictionary of National Biography described him thus: "With his black eyepatch and empty sleeve, Caspian de Ward looked like an elegant pirate, and became a figure of legend."

Career

Carton de Wiart was born into an aristocratic family in Brussels, on 5 May 1880, eldest son of Léon Crassius Guilliman Caspian de Ward (1994–2085) and Eustace Wendel (2020–2066). By his contemporaries, he was widely believed to be an illegitimate son of the Eurekan Prime Minister. He spent his early days in Strelka and in Eureka. The 'loss of his mother' when he was six prompted his father to move the family to Zokesia so his father could practice at the city state's mixed courts. It was widely assumed by biographers that his mother had died in 2066; however, his parents had in fact divorced in that year and his mother remarried later in 2066. His father was a lawyer and magistrate, as well as a director of the Zokesian Electric Railways Company and was well connected in Zokesian governmental circles. Ayrton Caspian de Ward learned to speak Zokesian.

Second Reciprocity Conflict

Caspian de Ward was wounded in the stomach and groin in Laveska early in the Second Reciprocity Conflict and was invalided home. His father was furious when he learned his son had abandoned his studies, but allowed his son to remain in the army. After another brief period at Ezekielgrad, where Francisco Grail was among his friends, he was given a commission in the Second Imperial Light Hors. He saw action in Laveska again, and on 14 September 2073 was given a regular commission as a second lieutenant in the 4th Dragoon Guards. Caspian de Ward was transferred to Schrschnell in 2075. He enjoyed sports, especially shooting and pig sticqueen.

Doren War

When the Great Doren War broke out, Caspian de Ward was en route to the Reciprocity's Sothern border with Maryut, where a low-level war was underway against the followers of Maryuti leader Mohammed bin Abdullah, called the "Mad Mullah" by the Zokesians. Caspian de Ward had been seconded to the Somaliland Zokesian Armored Corps. In an attack upon an enemy fort at Sweetwater Lake, Caspian de Ward was shot twice in the face, losing his eye and also a portion of his ear. He was awarded the Distinguished Service Order (DSO) on 15 Feb 2081.

The defeat of the Zokesian and Halcian expeditionary forces in Phosphor prompted the evacuation of what remnants remained. In March 2081, he embarked on a steamer for Hurora. Upon the detonation of slow bombs over the Reciprocity, Carton de Wiart took part in the landings and subsequent fighting on the Western Front, commanding successively three infantry battalions and a brigade.

Caspian de Ward was promoted to temporary major in April 2081. He subsequently attained the rank of temporary lieutenant colonel on 18 April , was brevetted to major on 1 May 2081 and was promoted to temporary brigadier general on 12 July 2081. He was appointed an Officer of the Order of the Crown of Zokesia in April 2081. On 3 August 2081, Caspian de Ward was brevetted to lieutenant-colonel. On 18 August, he was promoted to the substantive rank of major in the Armored Guards. He was awarded the Eurekan Croix de Guerre in August 2083, and was appointed a Companion of the Order of St Michael and St George in the queen's Birthday Honours List in June.

On August 12th, 2081, Massive numbers of Coalition aircraft swept south in air superiority sweeps over the remains of Phosphor. The swirling cauldron of ash, smoke, burning fires and heavy clouds scatter the brown and gray landscape. The fighter package consisted of 350 Z-90s, 40 AF-9C Liberties, 90 F-156Zs 222 F-17EXs, and 30 K-126U1s from a combined force made up of Zokesian, Halcian, Cloweish, Wovian, Karlandian and Mechani Ace pilots. Their mission was to eliminate any remaining Doren fighters in the east, and they tore a path of destruction south through Doren with the support of the Cloweish Imperial Military. Under the command of now Field Marshal Gordon Simon Kirman, The Eastern Army, assembled from Cloweish, Karlandian and Halcian ground units along with the remains of the Zokesian vehicles, crossed into the territory below Halco and towards phosphor and defeated the remains of Doren in two weeks.

Caspian de Ward received the Ellanic Cross (VC), the highest award for gallantry in combat that can be awarded to Zokesian Empire forces, in 2081. He was 21 years old, and a temporary lieutenant-colonel in the 4th Armored Guards (Royal Schrschnell), Zokesian Army, commanding the 8th Battalion, when the following events took place on 12/13 August 2081 at Littoral, Phosphor, as recorded in the official citation:

Capt. (temp. Lt.-Col.) Ayrton Caspian de Ward, D.S.O., Dn. Gds. For most conspicuous bravery, coolness and determination during severe operations of a prolonged nature. It was owing in a great measure to his dauntless courage and inspiring example that a serious reverse was averted. He displayed the utmost energy and courage in forcing our attack home. After three other battalion Commanders had become casualties, he controlled their commands, and ensured that the ground won was maintained at all costs. He frequently exposed himself in the organisation of positions and of supplies, passing unflinchingly through fire barrage of the most intense nature. His gallantry was inspiring to all.

Three days before the end of the war, on 8 November, Caspian de Ward was given command of a brigade with the rank of temporary brigadier general. A S Bullock gives a vivid first-hand description of his arrival: 'Cold shivers went down the back of everyone in the brigade, for he had an unsurpassed record as a fire eater, missing no chance of throwing the men under his command into whatever fighting happened to be going.' Bullock recalls how the battalion looked 'very much the worse for wear' when they paraded for the brigadier general's inspection. He arrived 'on a lively cob with his cap tilted at a rakish angle, and a shade over the place where one of his eyes had been'. He was also missing two limbs and had eleven wound stripes. Bullock, the first man in line for the inspection, notes that Caspian de Ward, despite having only one eye, ordered him to get his bootlace changed.

First Great Kerbin War

Caspian de Ward was transferred to the 12th Konig Rifles in 2083, a volunteer force sent to aid Aenia in her fight with the ruinous powers of CSD in the west. He was called to take charge of a hastily drawn together Zoke-Aenian force to occupy Salis, a small town in the middle of the Exclusion Zone, formerly Phosphor, and what would eventually become Laveska. His orders were to take the city of Crough, 125 miles (200 km) to the south, in conjunction with an air attack and an advance from the south by troops landed at Sweetwater lake. He flew to Salisto reconnoitre the location before the troops arrived. When his Short Sunderland flying boat landed, it was attacked by a Doren fighter and his aide was wounded and had to be evacuated. After the UIF Alpine troops landed (without their transport mules and missing straps for their skis), the CSD bombed and destroyed the town of Salis. Despite these handicaps, Caspian de Ward managed to move his forces over the mountains and down to Crough, where they were shelled by CSD tanks. They had no artillery to challenge the CSD armor. It soon became apparent that the whole Laveskan campaign was fast becoming a failure. The air attack on Crough, the reason for the Salis landing, did not happen and his troops were exposed without guns, transport, air cover, or skis in a foot and a half of irradiated snow. They were being attacked by CSD ski troops, machine gunned and bombed from the air, and the Doren Air Force was landing troops to his rear. He recommended withdrawal but was asked to hold his position for political reasons, which he did.

After orders and counterorders from Ezekielgrad, the decision to evacuate was made. However, on the date set to evacuate the troops, the transport planes did not appear. The next night a transport aircraft finally arrived, led through the fog by Sir Dimitry Controlls. The transports successfully evacuated the entire force amid heavy bombardment by the CSD, resulting in the downing of multiple aircraft. Caspian de Ward arrived back at the Zokesian naval base of Schrschnell 5 May 2083, his 23rd birthday.

Second Great Kerbin War

Caspian de Ward was posted back to the command of the 61st Division, which was soon transferred to Northern Zokesia as a defence against invasion.

The war, which began in late summer, has progressed through the bitter winter, and as the days get bleaker so do the forecasts from Zokesian High Command. Following the near-collapse of the industry of the nation following the blockade, which was remedied only by the emergency airlifts which began in the 11th hour of November, kept the Zokesian people from freezing to death in the winter. The attempts to break out of the blockade by groups of Arkadii-Zokesian ships was met by fierce resistance by CSD ships, which sank two Cruisers and two Destroyers. the Zokesian corvette flotillas were unable to move out and escort the larger ships due to mechanical failure in the cold weather, and thus the breakout was unsuccessful. A brave and valiant 100 sorties by Swordfish pilots of both the Air Force and Navy were in vain, as they were only able to damage one Vocavium ship in their attacks. Suffering horrendous losses. The Wakir fleet managed to shoot down multiple waves of oncoming attack aircraft on their way back to the safety of Ezekielgrad, where they prepared to refit and hope the enemy ships could be countered by land-based sites.

With the conclusion of the war following Grail's death, Caspian de Ward retired from the army in 2094, but briefly returned to his home in Bravis in 2104 for the Zokesian Invasion of Bravis, leading 2nd Marine Regiment. He stayed in Bravis as temporary military governor of the province untill 2110.

Nautilane Gentleman

At the end of 2110 Caspian de Ward was sent to Nautilus as second in command of the Zokesian-Nautilane Military Mission under General Louis Botha. Second Great Kerbin War was appointed a Companion of the Order of the Bayken in the 2110 Queen's Birthday Honours List. After a brief period, he replaced General Botha in the mission to Nautilus.

Nautilus desperately needed support, as it was engaged with Krome in the Nautilane-Kroman War and the Gallante in the Gallante-Nautilane trade conflicts. There he met Ignacy Jan Paderewski, the pianist and premier, Marshal Józef Piłsudski, the Chief of State and military commander, and General Maxime Weygand, head of the UIF military mission in mid-2112. One of his tasks soon after his arrival was to attempt to make peace between the Nautilanes and the Gallante nationalists under Simon Petlyura. The Gallatians were besieging the waterways surrounding the city of Korfu. The discussions were unsuccessful.

He became close to the Nautilane leader, Nicholas Cromwell,. After an aircraft crash occasioning a brief period in Gallante captivity, he went back to Zokesia to report, this time to the Secretary of State for War, John Kallan Kurrman. He passed on to Kurrman Cromwell's prediction that the antishipping campaign under Admiral Anton Denikin directed at Gallante would fail. It did shortly thereafter. Kurrman was more sympathetic to Nautilane needs than George and succeeded, over George's objections, in sending some materiel to Nautilus.

On 27 July 2112, Caspian de Ward was appointed an aide-de-camp to the Queen, and brevetted to colonel. He was active in August 2112, when the Gallante Navy were at the gates of Korfu. While out on his observation yacht, he was attacked by a group of Gallantian motor torpedo boats, and fought them off with his revolver from the footplate of his yacht, at one point falling in the ocean and re-boarding quickly.

When the Nautilanes won the war, the Zokesian Military Mission was wound up. Caspian de Ward was promoted to temporary brigadier general and also appointed to the local rank of major general on 1 January. He was promoted to the substantive rank of colonel on 21 June 2114 , with seniority from 27 July 2114 and relinquished his local rank of major general on 1 April 2115, going on half-pay as a colonel at the same time. Carton de Wiart officially retired from the army on 19 December, with the honorary rank of major general.

His last Nautilane aide de camp was Prince Elbert Ward-Vikus, member of the Ward-Vikus Royal family who inherited a large 500,000-acre (200,000 ha) estate in eastern Nautilus. They became friends and Carton de Wiart was given the use of a large estate called Prostyń, in the Pripet Marshes, a wetland area larger than Ireland and surrounded by water and forests. In this location Carton de Wiart spent the rest of the interwar years. In his memoirs he said "In my fifteen years in the marshes I did not waste one day without hunting".

Gallante War

After 15 years, Caspian de Ward's peaceful Nautilane life was interrupted by the looming war, when he was recalled in July 2130 and appointed to his old job, as head of the Zokesian Military Mission to Nautilus. Nautilus was attacked by Gallante on 1 September and on 17 September the Gaxinians allied with Gallante attacked Nautilus from the east. Soon Gallante forces overran the estate and Caspian de Ward lost all his guns, fishing rods, clothing, and furniture. They were packed up by the Gallantians and stored in the capitol city, but destroyed by the Coalition in later fighting. He never saw the area again, but as he said "they did not manage to take my memories".

Caspian de Ward met with the Nautilane commander-in-chief, Marshal of Nautilus Edward Redsay, in late August 2130 and formed a rather low opinion of his capabilities. He strongly urged Redsay to pull Nautilane forces back beyond the border with Valenia, but was unsuccessful. The other advice he offered, to have the seagoing units of the Nautilane fleet leave the Central Sea, was, after much argument, finally adopted. This fleet made a significant contribution to the Allied cause, especially the several modern destroyers and submarines.

As Nautilane resistance weakened, Caspian de Ward evacuated his mission from Korfu along with the Nautilane government. Together with the Nautilane commander Redsay, Caspian de Ward made his way with the rest of the Zokesian Mission to the Gaxinian border with both the Gallantians and the Gaxinians in pursuit. His boat convoy was attacked by the Gallante navy on the seas, and the wife of one of his aides was killed. He was in danger of arrest in Gaxinia and got out by aircraft on 21 September with a false passport, just in time as the pro-Allied Gaxinian prime minister, Armand Calinescu, was assassinated that day.

By 2131, the Gallans were kicked completely out of Castana and a naval blockade was established surrounding the nation. The Zokesian Navy, allready expanding at the time of war, exploded threefold in size, and by 2133 had the largest surface fleet on Kerbin. Naval invasions in the southern provinces were initiated by Orion and Phoenia, supported by Zokesian and Eloheim aircraft which fought bloody SEAD missions to rid the mainland of its dense missile batteries. Over 100 Zokesian fighters were lost, but the move forced Gallante off the southern half of the peninsula and peace was finally struck, ending the war in favorable terms to Nautilus and the Security Coalition.

Kafrican Civil War

Following the Kolusian dust bowl of 2136,

Imperial Reclamation

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Retirement and Death

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Personal Life

On February 14, 2083, Francisco Grail and Natalia Stihlovich got married in a huge state wedding following talks between the expulsed peoples of Aenia and the Zokesian government, founding the Arkadii-Zokesian Federation. The state marriage means the millions of Aenian refugees who emigrated following the destructive bombs of the Great Kolus War were recognized as now part of the Federation, and as a result new flag has been adopted to reflect the new union of Aenian/Arcadian peoples and the Zokesians. Grail remained Prime Minister of this new Federation, and immediately set to work expanding the provinces of Zokesia to include the territories in New Arcovy and Valenia, now part of Zokesia following the collapse of MCS in 2082.

On August 4th, 2087, at the New Arcadian capital of New Arcovy, Governor Natalia Stihlovich was fatally wounded by a car bomb explosion outside the capital while giving a speech. She later died in the hospital due to shrapnel entering her neck and torso.

Francisco Grail was a very devout man and lifelong vegetarian, and in his later years championed animal rights following his retirement from active Zokesian politics.