Halder Skalice
| Biological | |
| Full name: | Halder Deyos Skalice |
|---|---|
| Born: | July 18, 10 WB |
| Birthplace: | Tuntar, now part of the Scandian League |
| Sex: | Male |
| Race: | Forest Clan |
| Hair: | Gray fur, though more and more white |
| Eyes: | Blue |
| Height: | 6' |
| Weight: | 200 lbs |
| Personal | |
| Marital Status: | No |
| Family/Relationships: | {{{family}}} |
| Religion: | Atheist, like any good communist |
| Title: | Chief of Staff of Scandian League Combined Military |
| Nicknames: | Night Wolf, Vampire Wolf |
| Hobbies: | Bow hunting, go |
| Known skills: | Winning battles |
| Favorite color: | |
| Inspiration: | Like virtually any soldier in the Web, Halder looks up to Celiose Cole. |
| Motto: | “Nothing's gonna change my world.” |
Halder Skalice is the military commander of Scande's armed forces, and it would not be an exaggeration to say that his skill at command allowed the League to continue to exist in the face of aggression from the other, stronger Great Powers.
Contents
History
Halder Skalice was born in a land constantly torn apart by war, always being invaded by someone or other. The Dragon Clan hunted his people for sport. Halder's father was tied hanging from a tree and left to starve and rot by occupation forces. Halder chose to fight, forming a resistance cell called Rabies, along with other leaders like Enrika Epyon. Supported by the Celpo and with Halder's tactical mind, Rabies become one of the largest and most successful anti-Dark Wrath movements. When the Scandian League was formed, the new leadership squabbled endlessly, but agreed on one thing: Halder Skalice should lead the new Scandian League Combined Military.
Halder was initially frustrated by a corrupt government that refused to see to the League's defense. In his mind (and the minds of most Scandians), another invasion was all but inevitable. Travin Rumanski promised to "do what was necessary to defend the land and nation," including ample military spending. When the Dawn Revolution came, Halder did not use the military to intervene -- he merely let it happen.
Travin delivered on his promise, and then some. The Scandians built a modern mechanized war machine imbued with speed and stealth, the traditional values of the hunter. Halder occasionally clashed with Travin on certain details of policy -- notably, he opposed the Dracoforms, believing them to be an exorbitant waste of resources. This prompted Travin to remark, "Your problem, my dear Halder, is that you lack vision." Skalice became increasingly aware of the kind of man Travin was, as in Rumanski's first year virtually all of the old communist leadership was purged. Halder became increasingly aware of the fact that he could easily be purged, too; despite his command of an increasingly powerful military machine, Halder's life was ruled by fear and uncertainty.
Travin, for his part, delights in keeping his main commander (and potential rival) off-guard with his characteristically macabre behavior. Once, Travin called a meeting with Halder, the other service chiefs, and the S/31 chief; Halder assumed the meeting to be a routine briefing on Coalition hostilities. Travin pointed to the S/31 chief -- the head of Scandian intelligence -- and announced that he was too much a threat to the Scandian people to let live, and then ordered his dragon clan bodyguards to tear him limb from limb. Halder is well aware that this kind of thing could happen to him at any moment.
Despite his abject terror of koyzha, and the sword of Damocles hanging over his neck, Halder actually does believe in Travin Rumanski. Although he is not an ideological communist, he believes that Travin has accomplished two things exceedingly rare in the history of the Dragon Dimension: relative security from external invasion, and food on the table of every home. Quite unlike TO Halberg, Halder Skalice shows little inclination to ever take the helm of the nation; when his old friend Enrika Epyon urged him to do so, he was consumed with terror that such talk would get him executed and refused, going so far as to consider turning her in to the Solidat. He arranged for her to leave the country instead.
Generalship
Unlike many of the Web's commanders of the first rank, Halder does not cut a particularly charismatic or imposing figure; indeed, despite his wolfish appearance, he exudes a certain nebbishness. Of course, living your life in fear of a master who could execute you on a whim perhaps has that effect. Halder constantly worries that winning a battle might make him "too popular", leading Travin Rumanski to dispose of him, and of course losing a battle might mean that he is no longer useful and could be executed anyway. Despite this, Halder is one of the only high-ranking people to ever "talk back" to the man called koyzha -- but he needs to be careful about it.
Halder's hallmarks are careful planning and preparation (when possible), followed by rapid execution. He is notable for using feints and other ruses, typical of the Scandian/Scandish style ("the way of war is the way of deception.") He has often been shown to bypass secondary or peripheral objectives to attack the enemy's main force. His predilection for night operations earned him the nickname "Vampire Wolf" or "Night Wolf." Many have criticized his conduct of the Leviathan War, where Halder produced many victories, but was unable to deliver the war. Armchair generals, of which there are many in the Web, consider Skalice an unparalleled tactician, but a middling practitioner of grand strategy. Similarly, to outside observers note that Halder often engages in turf wars with SLCM-Sea and SLCM-Space, rather than "rising above it all" a la [[Celiose Cole -- this is however a deliberate ploy on the part of Travin to prevent any one service from becoming too influential.
Notable Battles
Leviathan War
By far the biggest conflict Halder commanded. On the one hand Halder achieved several stunning victories; on the other hand he was unable to "seal the deal" and win the whole war. Some have insisted that this proves Halder is a superlative tactician but a poor strategist; however, this assumes that the Scandians COULD have won the Leviathan War in the face of increasing Guardian and Tasnican support for the Esper Union.
The Battle of Nikeah
Considered by many to be Halder's masterpiece. The Scandians a revolt in Doma, and let slip to Esperian intelligence that Doma and Narshe were the initial goals of the invasion and used their air fleet to deploy troops accordingly. When a large SLCM-Sea fleet escorting a large invasion force arrived, the fleet appeared on course for Doma, even conducting shore bombardments. The Esperians believed Halder was following the Grand Army amphibious operational playbook, which called for a lengthy preparatory bombardment for the attack. The Esperians were thus totally caught off-guard when a large Scandian force landed in the dead of night near Nikeah and made a dash to the city; by dawn, Esperian citizens awoke to an occupied city. Scandian Assault Engineers tunneled under the city to provide an additional mode of ingress and attack the Esperian headquarters. The Esperian response was spirited and energetic, but disorganized as the Scandians already controlled many of the key intersections and had used Headhunter units to disorganize local commanders. After a few days of intense fighting, Hannibal de'Zama himself ordered a retreat, though he stayed behind to coordinate resistance himself. It had been unthinkable to most of the Web that the capital of a Great Power could fall so quickly. However, it had been unthinkable to the Scandians that the Esperians would continue fighting after such a loss, and that Theodore Orville Halberg would be able to rally them into a comeback.
Orteja Canyon ("the Bloody Cauldron")
Fighting in Damcyan, Halder had only a small SLCM force available, along with a rapidly disintegrated Damcyanese army. He opposed a large Fabul army fresh off a victory from Arderine Pass and a smaller but extremely tough force of Toroian rangers. In the middle of a large dust storm, Halder ordered battered Damcyanese units to take shelter in Orteja Canyon. The Fabulians believed this was an error, as there was not escape from the canyon, and they eagerly moved to attack despite the inclement weather. Once the battle was joined, fast-moving Scandian units moved in to the high ground and rear, trapping the Fabulians in the canyon and slaughtering them to a man. It is said that Orteja Canyon, the "Bloody Cauldron", is still scarlet with their blood. This victory was still too little too late, however; the Damcyanese government collapsed as soon as Halder was recalled to Esper to deal with Halberg's REF.
Second Hosluftgrad
Halder finally faced his rival TO Halberg here, at Hosluftgrad. His plan was to use a series of small offensives to "break up" the REF, which was after all drawn from many countries and sources, and shove the Dracoforms through a gap in the line. The REF under Halberg, however, was able to maintain cohesion even in the face of a poison gas attack, and Halberg's elite STORMs broke up the Scandian attack. The Scandians were low on fuel due to the destruction of energy producers in Arad by the New Wraith; wargamers love to debate alternate outcomes of this battle. ("If the Scandians had two more tankers full of petrol, the Esperians wouldn't have had a chance!" "No way! And if Hannibal had been there, the Scandians would've been crushed!")
New Wraith
Halder worked with his former adversary in Naba'al to defeat a large New Wraith force. The two men swore an oath to do whatever they could to prevent another war between their countries.
Three Week War
A fairly easy victory for Halder; the Eblanese forces were numerically superior to Halder's small Scandian force, but they were cut off from supplies and largely consisted of poorly-trained conscripts. The Scandians also had generous magical support from the new Mysidian Commonwealth; an initial clash sent many Eblanese soldiers running from the battlefield in what Nauquan Kurita characterized as a "shameful display." Though Kurita wanted the Eblanese to fight to the last man, Shogun Tiberius Shiawese overruled him and negotiated a surrender and retreat.
