King-consort and general of the Valendo (map) army came from humble beginnings as the son of the master engineer and proprietor of the Artifex Ship Building company in the port city of Haliford.

I imagine a teenaged Garon skimming stones and not knowing what to do with is life before his father convinces him to apprentice in the ship building yard. Here Garon learns from his father what it is like to be a leader – to not have all the skills required to get the job done and declare “my ship is built” when a new creation is launched into the waves with a new captain at the helm.

Murder and intrigue arises as one of the first scouts of the Kingdom of Nearhon attempt to spy on building techniques and disrupt the construction a new class of warship.

Garon becomes enmeshed in the plot and eventually kills for the first time – the Nearhon scout is no more. Realising adventure is in his blood, he leaves his father’s company and begins life as a mercenary. He soon comes to lead his gang of mercenaries and when the population rises up in rebellion against their dogmatic and uncaring King Jeremiah, Garon is called on to lead the People’s Army of Valendo.

Complications arise due to his romantic entanglement with an aristocratic girl he only knows as “Am”. She disappears before the battle begins and the rest of this back story is revealed as part of The General’s Legacy. It heralds the beginning of the 30 year war between Nearhon and Valendo that Garon is destined to never end. That task shall fall to his protege and grandson, Prince Cory.

To show how big the boots young Prince Cory must one day fill are, The Generals Legacy begins with Garon’s last battle in Beldon valley: