Milen

The Emperor of Every Sea Milen Whakiki (a.k.a. The Seadrake)

Milen the Seadrake Emperor was the greatest battlemaster fighter ever to walk the Earth. He was a brilliant strategist, an amazing duelist, and an expert tactician. His fighting was artful, flawless, and stoic; his war planning was nothing short of inspired. He lacked magic entirely, and yet he bested one of the greatest magicians to ever live (Ponder of Shirpatra).  
Milen is known as one of the two great emperors of the Selkie Empire (The Khilaia ). His reign was the closest the Khilaia has ever gotten to seizing the Samvaran coastline for its empire- if not for the demigods that stood in his way, who could know how far his conquests would have gone?
Milen as a person can be hard to separate from his career. He was ambitious, cunning, and careful in keeping a stoic composure. Despite a cold and sometimes-apathetic facade, he craved attention and a feeling of importance. His soldiers were his friends and family, his world. He was always more comfortable campaigning than ruling, and the life of conquest slowly subsumed everything else for him.

Mental characteristics

Personal history

Early Life

Milen was born to a priestly family on the island of Motosui in the Khilaian Isles in 879 ME. The second son of the once-prestigious Whakiki family, Milen was expected to enter one of the Khilaian priestly orders to help restore the family's position in the oligarchy. While Milen's older brother Beihu obediently followed their parent's predestined plan, Milen was not quiet about his unhappiness with his priestly education. He often disobeyed his parents, struggled to remember oral traditions, and was written off by the extended family as inept and unintelligent. But even as the adults in their life wrote them off as incompetent, their siblings and friends supported them in their pursuit of their actual passions.
In this early part of his life, Milen dreamed of being a duelist. "Spectacle dueling" was a popular form of sport and entertainment in the Khilaia at the time: part combat and part performance art, duelists would often attach plotlines and ridiculous challenges (from blindfolds to convoluted rules) to their matches. Milen loved the drama, the storytelling, the style, and the strategy. He practiced relentlessly, and it was clear that he had both the natural talent and determination for it. While his family saw little use for this, they tolerated it as it did seem to improve his skill as a warrior as well as a priest. And as Milen explored the dueling world more and more, they increasingly gravitated to one idol: the champion duelist Samaela of Arashoka. In 894, when Samaela visited Milen's port district in Motosui, he even challenged the famous duelist to a friendly duel. While the teen lost resoundingly, Samaela was impressed by his skill and confidence. She recommended that, as a priest, he become a Warcaller initiate: essentially, a kind of priest that would operate more as a soldier, intelligence, and logistics officer than an accountant or ritual-keeper. Inspired by her advice, he threw himself fully into becoming a Warcaller - a position generally beyond what the Whakiki family specialized in that had never truly seemed to be an option. In 897, after three years of committed study, he was able to make it into the Warcaller ranks. 

Career as a Warcaller

The 890's and early 900's were a tumultuous time for Selkie warriors and merchants. Since the 700s, would-be raiders were directed Southward to Garadel to earn their fortunes. Samvara had a long history of trade treaties with the Khilaia and for centuries it was forbidden to imperil those treaties with piratical activity. Garadel, meanwhile, had hugely profitable trade in magical items and exotic materials. But with the rise of Zesheko in the 800s, it was becoming less profitable and more dangerous to trade or raid Southward. While several admirals operated large annual trade expeditions, many small independent crews began returning North to search for other trading or raiding opportunities. So, Milen becoming a Warcaller in 897 meant leaping into a chaotic political scene where more and more rogue captains were pushing the boundaries of the Khilaia's authority. 
Milen leapt into the political environment with gusto, enforcing the Khilaia's authority when he had to while offering aid to rogue selkie fleets when they raiding countries that were failing to fulfill their treaty obligations. He quickly gained a reputation as a fierce warrior, clever negotiator, and effective strategist- employing much of the showmanship of his duelist aspirations to his new job. He also continued to take directions and advice from the duelist champion that had sent him on this path: Samaela. Samaela, despite being an entertainer, was increasingly involved in politics and had joined the court of the Exarch Yarena Nimenin. Exarch Yarena was the leader of the March-Kingdom of Arashoka, the largest and most developed of the Khilaian colonies. As Milen rose in prominence for his daring exploits and shrewd politics, Samaela reached out to Milen to bring him over to Yarena's political faction. Milen became an agent for Yarena and Yarena became his political patron. Yarena was a force for centralization and stability at the time: she wanted fewer limitations on her powers and a stronger Khilaian government to distribute the loot more towards permanent landed holdings (such as the March Kingdoms). As a force for control, Yarena was deeply unpopular with the rogue fleets and needed someone to bring them to heel without risking a selkie civil war: and Milen was popular, young, charismatic, and naive. 
With one of the Khilaia's biggest names quietly kickstarting his rise to power, Milen skyrocketed in fame and influence. But as a novice Warcaller associated with dubious behavior, he had to fight a constant uphill battle to be taken seriously by the Khilaian oligarchs. That changed in 900 ME, when he petitioned the Circle of Elders for permission to invade the Kingdom of Marsham. Marsham was a nearby trade power with ancient ties to the Khilaia's trade network, and was theoretically a vassal-state of the Khilaia. But centuries ago, that vassalage had ended. Now with the Khilaia's hold weakening, Marsham had failed to pay its full annual tribute. To the First Speaker, sending Milen to go attack Marsham was a perfect way to get rid of this young troublemaker while also reminding Marsham of the dangers of not having the Khilaia's protection.

The Conquest of Marsham

Milen had not petitioned the oligarchs without a plan. In 899, he had captured a pretender to Marsham's throne named Pevem Baraja, that was fleeing into exile with his retinue at the time. Milen realized that Pevem's potential for outweighed his ransom and ultimately freed the throne-less king. In the year that passed, Pevem's allies within Marsham's Pratasa priesthood had mobilized support for him within the kingdom and the exiled prince had pulled together a small army of adventurers and mercenaries in Empria to boot. But to bring these disparate forces together, Pevem needed a fleet. He was once again at the mercy of Milen, and was willing to sign anything for his support.
Once Milen had Khilaian permission, he gathered together every fleet he could muster: rogue fleets who owed him favors, fellow Warcallers, political allies he had made on his own. The end result was moderately impressive in size but disjointed and lacking in unity: powerful in appearance and initial force, but unreliable in a drawn-out fight. Milen took this unstable alliance and used it to pick up Pevem's expedition force and headed straight for the capital city of Safimir. As Pevem approached, his allies across Marsham mobilized and Marsham was plunged into civil war. As Milen approached the capital, Marsham's navy sallied forth to meet him- but Milen was able to parlay with the admiral of the opposing force. Using the selkie's formidable reputation, Milen was able to convince the opposing admiral to join the rebels rather than oppose them- and used his enhanced forces to besiege Safimir. Milen and his companions then helped lead the takeover of the city, keeping Pevem under guard and effectively holding the new government hostage even as they installed it. Once the battle was over, Milen seized much of the treasury and extracted hostages and a treaty of renewed vassalage from Pevem. Marsham had fallen. 
Milen had not only conquered a major state, but had done so without Exarch Yarena's help. This was his first taste of true fame and power. For much of his career as a Warcaller, Milen had worked to impress his childhood idol and her allies. The conquest of Marsham had been done more for its own sake than for anyone's- the opportunity had presented itself and Milen had seized it because it looked important. But as the fleet sang his name as conqueror, he felt truly proud for himself for the first time. And he needed more.

Milen the Conqueror

Milen returned to the Khilaia a hero- and a threat. It became obvious very quickly that he was in danger when not with those loyal to him. Frightened and looking to solidify his claim, Milen gathered the fleets and turned towards greater conquests. The campaigns seamlessly flowed from one to another. Milen used the claims of the Ancient Selkie Empire to assert the Khilaia's rulership over most of the Samvaran coast, and with each conquest these claims were taken more seriously. After Marsham, Milen turned to Maruva- another empire weakened by a long and bloody civil war. Milen granted its colonial holdings "independence" (under the Khilaia, of course), starving the empire before crushing its leadership in 902. Next was another weak link, the corruption-riddled Kingdom of Terminar. When the Kingdoms of Empria fought for dominance in 905, Milen again intervened. Chaos begot chaos, governments weakened by trade embargoes and an increasingly volatile political environment. By the time the governments of West Samvara rallied against this new threat, it was too late: they were already crumbling from within. By 914, their alliances were ash beneath Milen's boot. The fleets of Garadel, fleeing from a now-dominant Zeshema empire, bolstered Milen's grand navy. 
In 914, things became more complicated for the Seadrake Admiral. For Milen was not the only selkie to have harnessed the rogue fleets for their own ends: in the North, Admiral "Black-knife" Harutza had carved her own little informal empire. When Milen headed into the Northern part of Samvara's inland sea to expand his empire, he crossed into Harutza's territory. For a year, Harutza turned his own tactics against him- scalping less-loyal fleets, mobilizing local alliances, performing daring night raids. In the end, Milen offered her independence as the Exarch of the North and agreed to leave her territory alone. 
This was only the beginning of Milen's selkie troubles, however. While Milen fought with Harutza, a separate threat emerged: a formal opposition faction within the Khilaia. This faction was a broad coalition headed by Kovaka Nimenin, daughter of Milen's patron Yarena. While Yarena did not join the faction herself, she was willing to feign ignorance (and quite possibly created the faction and used her daughter to run it with deniability), and Kovaka was able to use the March Kingdom's close proximity to the Khilaia to seize de-facto control over the Khilaian isles. In 915 ME, when Milen returned to the Khilaia to hold a triumphant celebration of his victories, Kovaka attempted to arrest him. He was able to fight his way out and seize control of the Khilaian Isles, beginning a brief but brutal Khilaian civil war. Milen threw himself fully into capturing Kovaka and by the end of 916 she was captured and the civil war was brought to a quick end. Yarena did not intervene to save her daughter and professed loyalty to Milen, but would remain a constant source of internal competition. 

Milen the Emperor

With the Khilaian Isles themselves occupied by Milen's troops, crowning himself Emperor of Every Sea was a simple affair. Despite many rumblings of opposition still embedded throughout the Khilaia, the selkie empire submitted fully to his authority. Milen understood that this was largely from his long string of military victories, and he quickly headed North to conquer yet more lands. From 917 to 920, Milen conquered the rest of the West Samvaran coast, bringing port after port to heel. But as Milen conquered more, the loot seized each year shrank. He was running out of wealthy Samvaran heartland states. He would have to turn elsewhere to expand the empire: either to distant Zeshema to the South (a quagmire of war that was built specifically to make selkie invasions unpleasant) or around the Northern peninsula of Shalanun to Shirpatra. Shirpatra was the empire of Ayshanism, ruled by a demigod and wealthy in gold and magic. It was said that its ruler, the Solar Demigod Aysha, could grant magical blessings unlike any other to any she chose: it would be the ultimate treasure, the ultimate sign of Milen's success. Of course, Milen had to have it.
But before Milen could invade, he would have to prepare the infrastructure. While merchant vessels did often make the journey, the ports were fairly small and currents are treacherous. A large fleet would face deadly attrition making the journey without improving their mapping and access to supply depots. Milen was unwilling to lose so many soldiers to attrition, and instead spent the next few years building outposts around the peninsula, mapping, and making test voyages. From 920 to 925, Milen put a pause on making war, as he prepared for his grand expedition. In 925, they were ready: the fleet was prepared, the route was sure. As Milen rounded the peninsula, the admirals rejoiced: Shirpatra was waiting to be plundered. But as Milen prepared the invasion, a messenger arrived bearing terrible news: hearing of Milen's departure, a league of subject states in Samvara had launched a joint rebellion. Milen stood at a crossroads: to face Aysha and do what had never been done, or save his empire from certain destruction. Milen chose to keep what he had rather than lose what could have been.
From 925 to 930, Milen chased rebels across Samvara. Selkie opposition had also raised their banners to seize his throne- every corner of his empire was rising against him. One by one he destroyed each tiny rebellion. After five grueling wars, it was done: the empire was secure. But Milen knew that some had just gone back to waiting for him to leave again. So when Milen left the second time in 930, he left behind a substantial garrison, confident that he could defeat Aysha with a depleted force. 
In 931, his planned invasion finally launched. He pierced through Shirpatra's allies, subjugating the Northern coast and burning a line towards the Holy City of Suwirsha. Shirpatra's forces melted before him, armies destroyed. But his fleet was being worn down. When he arrived in Suwirsha, magical fire rained down upon him. He was unready for Ponder, the greatest of clerics: Milen had a trap prepared to kill the cleric - which worked!- but by the time it did, Milen had lost too much. The battle was over before Haru even arrived to finish the job.
His fleet destroyed, far from home, Milen crawled to shore. Pretending to be an otter, he hoped to get back to the Khilaia, to try again. But a creature of Aysha's waited on shore, that knew what Milen was. It slew him, and Milen's body was dragged into the ocean by the tides.
The emperorship died with Milen- perhaps the dream of Empire did. Many have craved what he had, but after Milen no contender could possibly measure up.

The Selkie Empire Under Milen

Alignment

Lawful Neutral

Species

Selkie

Life

879 ME 931 ME 52 years old

Circumstances of Death

Slain in Battle

Birthplace

The Khilaian Isles

Eyes

Green

Hair

Curly black

Skin Tone/Pigmentation

Brown

Height

5'8

Aligned Organization

The Khilaia

Map of Milen's Campaigns 900-931