Elous VI

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Character Summary Elous VI Race: Isparian (Viamontian) Related Characters: Elous V

King of the Viamont on Ispar, possibly a son of Elous V.

During his reign, Viamont became a more unified nation with a well-trained army. The most accomplished warlords among the old tribal chieftains became generals in the new Viamontian army. Within the army's hierarchy, as a concession to the old ways, the tribal structure was maintained units were organized along clan lines, and each soldier was personally loyal to his hereditary lord, who in turn served Elous directly.

Elous established a war academy to make sure his own personal forces were the best-trained soldiers in Viamont. Other lords inevitably sent their own most promising soldiers to this academy, and this practice would become the foundation of the fearsome Ferran Knights of later days.

Under his command, the Viamontian army started their conquests of the other Isparian nations. It is worth noting that the conquest of Aluvia was a double success for Elous's gambit. The dramatic Viamontian triumph over the Aluvians at Ayrifal proved the wisdom of his decision to create a structured army, and the riches and glory offered by the conquest sated the appetites of his lords.

With their immediate neighbor conquered and safely under the rule of a puppet king, the Viamontians, in another astonishing feat of adaptability, turned themselves into mariners. Again co-opting Roulean expertise, they used the wealth and resources plundered from Aluvia to build a fleet large enough to transport their armies across the Ironsea. Thus began a wave of Viamontian military adventurism. Viamontian corsairs raided Roulean ports around the Ironsea, while the legions of the bull banner marched on Milantos and the newly formed nation of Gharu'n. The Milantans repelled their invasion in a horrifying scorched-earth campaign, while they succeeded in the Gharu'ndim nation because of instability in the succession of the Maliks. The people of Gharu'n and Aluvia both eventually pushed out the Viamontian-installed puppet kings and reclaimed their lands from the invader.

Outside of their military obligations, Elous VI gave his lords great latitude to maintain their own domains. The royal line still controlled the rich ancestral lands of the Corcosi and, by virtue of the Corcosi port network, held a near monopoly on the burgeoning trade between Viamont and the declining, but wealthy, Roulean Empire.