Kaillus Sicarius


 * "'It is said that no traitor escapes the eye of Sicarius for long.'"
 * "―Legate Sha'dra"

Kaillus Sicarius, the older brother of the infamous Mariber Sicarius, was a male Imperial who served as a high-ranking officer in both the Imperial Legion of Skyrim and the Imperial Legions of Cyrodiil. Serving the Empire during the Second Siege of Solitude, he was given a General's commission in the Imperial Legion following the outbreak of the Covenant Wars, not being assigned to a Blade, but having an equal rank to them, and, at times, superior. The General overcame the distrust he initially had for the Elder Council to successfully combat the Covenant in several battles throughout the conflict.

He and his younger brother, Mariber, grew up in a family steeped in tradition, prestige, and accomplishment in politics, science, the arts, and the military. Although they were good soldiers, both were sent to the fronts of Skyrim when the Stormcloak Rebellion rose. While Mariber found it hard to leave Cyrodiil for a smaller province, and even considered it a demotion, Kaillus resignated and accepted his duty faithfully. In Morthal, he and his brother helped train the guard militia to defend themselves from both physical and manipulative warfare.

Kaillus worked side by side with a partisan named Rilana Cosatius, to whom his brother grew infatuated with. As Mariber eventually was deployed to Markarth, however, their relationship grew intense and they became lovers. Mariber was devastated with such news and defected Imperial service, much to Kaillus' dismay and feeling of guilt. Nonetheless, it fell to Kaillus to do his duty and stop the actions of his brother. Shortly after a massacre caused by Mariber and fellow rogue legionnaires, Morthal cut ties with the Imperial Legion as other cities had done, prompting Kaillus to be reassigned to Solitude.

With the outbreak of the Covenant Wars, Kaillus led the last resisting legionnaires out of Skyrim in the Retreat to Cyrodiil, alongside his close friend and comrade Kydonius Therin and Blade Grandmaster Quintus Petreia, having fought in the Second Siege of Solitude and in the first as well. Due to his prominent reputation having grown in Skyrim and political lobby involving the Therin family, the Elder Council decided to raise Kaillus to the position of General, handing him control over two Legions: the Seventh and the Second, both of which he extensively used in the Covenant Wars. While he divided the 7th in many cohorts, distributing them to the command of Blade Masters, he assigned the 2nd to the occupation of outposts and conquered territories.

Although the General was able to deal the Covenant several mighty blows in a massive campaign the following two years, his unexpected death prevented him from destroying the fledgling government. Sicarius took his own life after growing disillusioned with the dragging of the war, and the fact that, in Hammerfell, his brother provoked him into exploding a building in which his pregnant wife, unbestknown both to Kaillus and Mariber, was.

Legionnaire
Kaillus Sicarius was born into the Sicarius family, an old, wealthy and powerful clan that had originally been part of the Colovian conquests and still remained dominant in the politics and business of the Heartlands, as well as carrying strong influence in the politics of the Elder Council. Though Sicarius took pride in his family's history of service to the Cyrodiilic Empire and accomplishments on Bravil, he resented the lack of respect his family received in comparison to the aristocratic families of the Imperial City, fueling in him a burning ambition to excel.

As a young man, Sicarius and his brother enrolled in a military academy, in accordance with the Sicarius family's strong military tradition. Driven to live up to every aspect of the family legacy, young Kaillus Sicarius cultivated expertise in multiple fields, establishing a reputation as an intellectual prodigy with a well-rounded mind. He displayed great aptitude as a tactician in the course of his schooling, drafted ship designs, broke new ground in xenobiology theory, and demonstrated great talent as a leader. A keen analyst of the political situation, Kaillus perceived the Mede Empire to be a decaying institution, and envisioned a new future for Cyrodiil. His vision was a militant one, authoritarian and with the will to support an Emperor that would truly conquer, and he possessed a driving ambition to rise to the ranks of power, where he could affect change.

After graduation, he and his brother Mariber joined the Imperial Outland Provinces Security Force, a military policing force that kept the interprovincial lands, which included Skyrim, safe from criminal activity. Kaillus was a fast riser who achieved the rank of commander, and during the course of his service visited the Imperial City, capital of the Empire, several times. There, around 4E 215, he befriended Kydonius Therin, heir to the County of Anvil and an accomplished warrior who was near Kaillus' age.

Tensions in Skyrim
Sicarius was known for his support of Callistus Therin and intellectual argumentation in favor of the High Chancellor's moves to consolidate power in the Elder Council, and frequently advocated Therin's policies before the Elder Council once he got in a position to report the advances of the rebel cells that had been growing in the North in front of the Councillors, a venue in which he had great success. Sicarius' family had many friends within the Elder Council, as well as in the business realm, contacts that allowed him to further rise in influence. By 4E 210, Kaillus was serving as the Imperial Governor of Morthal. His brother, Optio-Brigadier Mariber Sicarius, served as his Minister of Security, while their connection in the city, Rilana Cosatius, would often travel to Cyrodiil with his brother Mariber to represent the interests of Morthal as a city under the Empire before the Elder Council. Under Sicarius, the city remained loyal to the Empire, even as the region became a hotspot of activity for the growing rebel movement and the neighboring Dawnstar seceded, becoming the first Free City of Skyrim--that is, neither a part of General Kellogg's Rebellion or the Empire.

Around that time, his brother was deployed to Markarth, offered the position of Imperial Governor as his influence in Morthal started to rise. He was given command of his own cohort, which he had named Gray Rangers due to the fact that their armors would often be covered in gray mud, a common ocurrance in Morthal. Life without his brother was harder, since Mariber would provoke fear in most rebel cells that would, from time to time, appear in Morthal due to his feisty and menacing nature. However, upon his departure, Kaillus and Rilana, the Imperial cadet of the Legion to whom Mariber was infatuated, started to grow a relationship that eventually turned romantic. They married, but upon Mariber's discovery, the brother of Kaillus defected from the Imperial Legion along with his entire cohort, all of whom had been disillusioned with the purpose of the Legion after their stay in Markarth, and became a criminal sect, still known as the Gray Rangers. The Gray Rangers, under Mariber's violent leadership, would often attempt to sabotage Morthal's military garrison. Their actions led to the people and the Jarl of Morthal believing Kaillus' government of the Legion in the city to be ineffective, which, in turn, contributed to Morthal becoming the second city to emancipate itself from any faction, becoming a Free City as well.

The subsequent decision of the Elder Council was to realocate both the Prince of Anvil, who had been serving as an envoy in Whiterun, and Kaillus, to the Haafingar city of Solitude, where the Empire would concentrate a bulwark of defense to remain positioned in Skyrim.

The Covenant Wars begin
In 4E 225, the Covenant Wars were on the verge of breaking out between the Empire and the secessionist government, the Covenant. Solitude was a major Imperial stronghold during the prelude of the war, a significant forward position surrounded by heavily armed Covenant cities—and it was under Sicarius' command. Kydonius Therin commanded the Empire's fleet in the area. Solitude and Markarth were the province's key cities, but in the later months of that year, Markarth defected to the Covenant. Therin commanded a major defensive in Markarth, losing the First Siege of Markarth but seizing much of the Reach from the Covenant. While Kydonius Therin was holding off the enemy, Legate Kaillus Sicarius, too, made a name for himself in the early stages of the Covenant Wars. Not all was fighting, as he engaged in multiple negotiations with the Covenant, and was aided in many of them by the Grandmaster of the Blades, Quintus Petreia.

At some point in the later months of 4E 225, Sicarius was made by the Elder Council the Imperial General of the entire Skyrim. Subsequently, Sicarius and Kydonius Therin undertook a mission of reconnaisance of the Dawnstar territory. During the mission, however, he, Therin and his men were ambushed and attacked by Covenant forces. After being forced to surrender, Sicarius and Therin, along with other legionnaires were taken as prisoners for execution in the Ports of Dawnstar. Once they were freed by a rescue team led by the Blade Master Ekone and Raego Stormblade, a battle ensued.

Although initially surprised to see the Blades, and elated to be redeemed from capture, Sicarius quickly became pessimistic about the overall situation since they were still in the heart of enemy territory. After taking a moment to consider Master Ekone's escape plan, Sicarius interjected with an idea of his own—to keep the group, small as it already was, together in order to improve their chances of both protecting the valuable information and escaping from Dawnstar. Nonetheless, the Imperials were all teleported to safety by the timely arrival of Grandmaster Quintus Petreia.

The Covenant Wars
Later that year, the Elder Council agreed that due to his valor in Skyrim, despite his failure in keeping Solitude after the debacle in Dawnstar, Sicarius should be made a Legion General, being given command of the Seventh and Second Imperial Legions.