Drosios -

![[characters_banner_2.webp]] `Apr. 24, 2025` · [[Horseapple]] · #Fragment #Characters #Bannerlord > [!custom-callout]- All mentions, including keyword “*Neretzes*” > *Pulled from* [[3-companion_strings-(Bannerlord)]] — “You might say that. I've served in the empire's legions for two decades. Once upon a time they were worthy of being called 'legions.' We served together for years, the same group of men under a single standard, and we'd die rather than see those standards falter or fall. But Drosios Neretzes led the last of the real legions into an ambush in the Battanian woods. You may have heard that story.” > > *Pulled from* [[3-heroes-(Bannerlord)]] — “Penton Neretzes was the son of the old emperor, Drosios Neretzes, killed at the Battle of Pendraic. Emperors' sons usually inherited the diadem, but that was custom, not law, and the Senate chose the general Arenicos instead. Most emperors would then have discretely eliminated such a potential challenger, but Arenicos took a calculated risk in the interest of imperial unity, and kept Penton alive. The Neretzes family traditionally were part of the oligarchic faction of the Empire and Penton now backs Lucon in the civil war.” > > *Pulled from* [[3-std-wanderer-strings-xml-(Bannerlord)]] — “But Drosios Neretzes led the pick of the legions into an ambush in the Battanian woods. You may have heard that story. I was laid up sick at the time. But a lot of my comrades didn't come back, and things were never the same afterward.” — “My family had debts, so I signed up to be a soldier under one of Old Neretzes's kinsmen. I guess I always liked men's work more than women's work. The legions took hill women as scouts but I was never the hidey-sneaky type. So I did what I did to be in the spear line.” > > *Pulled from* [[3-Travels-in-Calradia-(DLC)]] — “Skioren was a former member of the 'Shield Brotherhood' (Skolderbroda), a band of Nord mercenaries famous for their discipline. Salion for his part had fought with the 'Lost Legion' (the Legion of the Betrayed), a band of former Imperial soldiers who, feeling betrayed by the leadership of the Emperor Drosios Neretzes, abandoned the army to fight for silver. Salion and Skioren met, if you can call it that, on a battlefield, where their respective mercenary companies had fought for opposite sides, and both had been badly wounded. They helped each other stagger to safety in a peasant's barn, and after a month's convalescence, decided they never wished to be parted. The Shield Brothers would not admit a Legionary, nor would the Legion admit a Brother, so they found their way to Epicrotea and accepted work as enforcers for the local gang leader.” > > *Pulled from* [[3-std_story_mode-(Bannerlord)]] — “Neretzes, when he heard we were hesitating, sent us a message calling us cowards and traitors. And you say that to a Vlandian noble at your peril. Neretzes should have known what he was doing. We joined the Sturgians.” — “We had our shields but you can only point them in one direction at once. So we started to drop, one by one, until the Battanian falxmen came screaming out of the trees. Ordinarily they'd be very vulnerable to archers, but, well, old Neretzes hadn't thought to send any along with us. So they came upon us, chopping and slashing, and we fought until we broke.” — “He was one of the emperor's trusted commanders. He could not stop Neretzes from marching to defeat, but he managed to salvage something from the disaster. When the Sturgians came over our barricades, he managed to lead a group of Neretzes' guardsmen out the back.” — “Neretzes had an obligation to avenge the Battanian attacks on our land. He marched out, with all the forces he could gather. The Vlandians betrayed us, but that's what you expect from honorless barbarians. Fortune favored the enemy. What matters is that we did what honor required.” — “This is what I learned from a lifetime in politics: There is nothing worse than disorder. Suffice to say that I know better than anyone about the lies and cruelty that kept the Empire alive. But all the murders I ever committed in 10 years of serving Neretzes do not amount to the death toll in a single hour when an army storms a town.” — “Perhaps Neretzes was rash, sending our infantry up into the hills to storm the Battanian fort. But he thought he could grab the pass quickly, before the enemy had time to reinforce it. If he had made the other wager and that turned out to be wrong, people would say he was hesitant.” — “Let me tell you about myself... I was a confidant of the old emperor Neretzes. Officially I was not his spymaster, as I am a woman, but that was the role I played nonetheless. I liked Neretzes, and was very grateful for his trust, but he was not a good emperor. Too stubborn and principled. I probably should have poisoned him.” — “It was Sturgians who met Neretzes' guard face-to-face. My father ordered me to stay back as he led them into battle, but he was at their head. He forced them back, then they broke and ran for the shelter of their camp. We went and attacked their ramparts, and broke them, but my father was hit by an imperial mace at the moment of his triumph and died.” — “I don't know much about it. I know two who might, though. {IMPERIAL_MENTOR.LINK} - she once served as Neretez's unofficial spymaster. Then there's {ANTI_IMPERIAL_MENTOR.LINK}. He served on Neretzes' bodyguard, but people say now he's very different than he was back then.” — “The Battanians had planned an ambush up in a wooded pass for the imperial vanguard, then the Vlandians and Sturgians were to come sweeping down on their flanks in the battle. Our scouts found the Battanian ambush, but Neretzes did not listen, and blundered into it anyway.” — “While Neretzes' vanguard was getting slaughtered, we met the Vlandians. But the Vlandians brought lots of crossbowmen, and our horse archers took heavy losses. Eventually the armored imperial cataphracts showed up, and rolled over the crossbows. But we were caught in a melee with the Vlandian knights, and that was where things got bloody.” — “I was with the vanguard. Neretzes apparently knew that the Battanians had planned an ambush - the Khuzait scouts had told him. But he never bothered to inform us. So up we went, along a lovely wooded stream, until the Battanian arrows started whooshing in from all sides.” — “My father took the imperial dragon banner from dead Neretzes' hands - it's a famous story - and but then the little prince Raganvad tried to claim it. My father broke it over his knee, threw it at him, and told him to get his own toys to play with. Hah! It was a good, good day.” — “Emperor Neretzes led an army accompanied by Khuzaits and Aserai to fight a coalition of Sturgians, Battanians and Vlandians.” — “It doesn't look like much and I suspect this lot would give it away for a few coins, but I got it from a mercenary whom I treated once, and swore it was related to 'Neretzes's Folly'. I don't know what that means, except that Neretzes was, of course, the emperor who died in battle some years back. Maybe you can find out its true value.” — “I stayed with Neretzes until we were forced back to our camp by the Sturgian infantry, and then fought on the battlements. Eventually we could hold them no longer. I did not see what happened to Neretzes or to our banner. Arenicos got us out of there, and got us home. I did not respect Arenicos before, but that day I saw he was worthy to be Emperor.” — “Yes. I was a junior officer on Neretzes' staff. People say much about the battle that betrays a lack of understanding, of Neretzes and of the circumstances he faced.” — “The Empire had left us alone for a while, and Neretzes was offering silver for men, so I thought, ‘Why not? Let them help the Empire.’ Ah, I should have known. The best course with wars is to have as little to do with them as you possibly can.” > > *Pulled from* [[3-world_lore_strings-(Bannerlord)]] — “The Neretzes have always upheld the law, upheld order, and made sure that the best people are the ones in charge. So that's what I'm doing now.” ``` Project charatcer mesh: <BodyProperties version="4" age="68.02" weight="0.8194" build="0.3812" key="00056C0FC044330E9798869489288BA76C65677685B3D708B9A5917C94B6BA3B07C6C4780CDA898600001105000030A30000001F000000000000000011A04002" /> ``` > &emsp;&emsp; ![[encyclopedia_calradica.gif|center|300]] >*“A massive `Mount & Blade` wikipedia.”* About [Encyclopædia Calradica](About-the-Encyclopædia.md) About the [Project](Project-(Pillar).md) About the [Author](Horseapple.md) &emsp;&emsp;