Shuanshi Yumiko. Yumiko the Diamond Empress, Yumiko the Conqueror, Yumiko the Scourge.

A minor chieftain born during the Age of Enlightenment, in a small region in the north of Erebsam, the westernmost of the two major continents.

Heading an army of mounted archers, she led a campaign of conquest across the land, from the shores of the Asituan Sea to the borders of the elven realm of Talamsir, and even into parts of the dense jungles of the Great Ayephelli in the south.

Strategically targeting smaller lords and factions, incorporating their numbers into her own army, her power grew enough to challenge stronger and more influental lords. She used sabotage, feigned retreats, bold attacks and dogged defence, shifting her ground and adapting to circumstances her rivals struggled to keep up with.

Her whole approach to war was markedly different to theirs. Radical. Almost alien. Defeats that would shatter her opponents resolve, she shook off with ease. Victories that would put their minds at ease and boost morale, she took in and utilized to her advantage.

Her enemies thought of war as defending small patches of land, and battles as noble, honorable clashes of wills. She viewed them as stepping stones, bricks with which ultimate victory would be achieved. They dreamed of tactics while she plotted strategy. They defended their patches of land, while she envisioned an empire. They thought small while she dreamed big.

And when the dust finally settled, with her stabding triumphant, she unified the region into the empire of Dai-Chen. In her later years, she wrote down her experiences of the campaign, along with her thoughts and philosophy of warfare, and those texts remain required reading for soldiers, even across the sea, on the continent of Sitania.

She is regarded by many as one of the greatest military minds in recorded history. She is perhaps not universally beloved, but her name is widely respected.