“Charger” Chaussinar Dies at 57

GHALT — Eriell “Charger” Chaussinar, famed general of Aundair’s 4th Cavalry Brigade, died at his manor west of Ghalt last week at the age of 57. A proclamation from Queen Aurala praising Chaussinar for his service to Aundair is expected tomorrow.

The general’s eldest daughter, Karria ir’Brochem, said the general had been ill for weeks and had spent most of his last days sleeping peacefully, surrounded by friends, family, and comrades from the Last War. Shortly before midnight on Zol, however, Chaussinar reportedly roused briefly and asked, “Kervann, is that you?” Then he raved for a bit, whispered, “March on, Aundair,” and passed away. Ir’Brochem explained that Kervann Andrihl had been Chaussinar’s chief of staff until his disappearance and presumed death in the Battle of Mournsedge in 994.

The general’s storied military career began in the unlikeliest of places — the Poetics Department at the University of Wynarn, where Chaussinar was the youngest tenured professor in the school’s history. By the time he had reached his mid-twenties, he had already earned fame in literary circles for his annual Ode to Spring collections, which were distributed each year on Eyre 21st.

But in 970 YK, in the aftermath of the Raven Incursion into central Aundair, his Ode to Spring consisted of a single poem called The Horseshoe’s Lure. On the day of its publication, Chaussinar resigned his position at the university and enlisted in the Aundairian cavalry.

Chaussinar quickly rose through the officer corps, where he became known as the “Red Professor” because of his former career and reddish hair. But at the Battle of Jarrek’s Hill in 978, he earned the nickname “The Charger,” which his troops would use throughout the rest of his career. Encircled atop the hill, Col. Chaussinar’s regiment executed a charge that spiraled down the slope, striking three different Thrane regiments in a matter of hours. This bold move allowed Chaussinar’s regiment not only to escape the encirclement, but also to leave the Thrane units in disarray and unable to pursue.

Jarrek’s Hill was only the beginning for Chaussinar. He participated with distinction in the Scion’s Sound Landings of 982 and rode to the rescue of the Aundairian 18th in the Battle of the Fire Pillar in 984. The following year, he was promoted to general and placed in direct command of the 4th Cavalry Brigade. Eventually, he was given operational command of Aundair’s southern front.

After the war, Chaussinar briefly took an interest in national politics, advocating an aggressive stance toward Thrane. But his time in Fairhaven ended with the famous altercation in which he stormed out of Fairhold after shouting at the queen’s advisors, “Are we going to talk, or are we going to get Thaliost back?” Chaussinar then mounted his warhorse, Zandraur, and rode back to his manor, where he remained in seclusion until his death last week.

Next Sar at noon, the general’s funeral procession will begin at the Chalice Center lightning rail station, then proceed past the University of Wynarn. As it passes, the University choir will perform Lay of the Dragonhawk, March of Tensin, and a new work entitled The Charger Spurs Us Onward. The procession is scheduled to arrive in the Sovereign Ward’s Hall of the Assembled Host at 2 p.m. for Dol Arrah’s Ceremony for the Departed. Then Chaussinar’s body will lie in state for three days in Fairhold Palace’s Vermillion Pavilion. Viewing hours there will extend from sunrise to sunset.