Xeres / Characters / General Ebbus
General Ebbus
A military genius who speaks in riddles only his soldiers understand.
Basic Information
Full Name
General Whiskerford Ebbus
Nickname(s)
"The Mumbling Strategist"
Race (Grade)
Catfolk (E)
Class
Fighter
Height
5'3"
Birthday
Goldenleaf 8, 1256
Age
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Birthsign
Bloodline Ability
Unknown
This Bloodline ability has not yet been unveiled to you.
Physical Description
General Ebbus, The Mumbling Strategist
Appearance
General Ebbus cuts a distinguished figure despite his modest height, with pristine white fur marked by battle scars that tell stories of countless campaigns. His amber eyes burn with tactical intelligence, constantly scanning his surroundings and cataloging details others might miss. His ornate armor, a masterwork of Anice craftsmanship, features intricate engravings of his military victories and is adorned with medals and honors from decades of service. His whiskers, unusually long even for a catfolk, twitch constantly as he mumbles, creating an almost hypnotic effect that draws listeners in. He moves with the precise economy of a career soldier, each gesture deliberate and meaningful, compensating for his unclear speech with expressive body language that his troops have learned to read like a second language.
Unique Characteristics
His most distinctive feature is his perpetual mumbling, a result of an old war wound that damaged his vocal cords but somehow enhanced his ability to communicate on a deeper, almost telepathic level with those who serve under him. His left ear bears a distinctive notch from a bridge viper attack during his youth, which he claims helped him hear strategy better. He wears a ceremonial headpiece adorned with small bells that chime softly when he moves, originally meant to alert others to his presence but now serving as a musical accompaniment to his mumbled commands. His tail, unusually expressive even for a catfolk, often draws tactical diagrams in the air while he speaks, helping convey complex strategies that his mumbling might otherwise obscure.
Personality
Positive Traits
- Brilliant tactical mind with unconventional strategies
- Deeply loyal to Anice and its citizens
- Surprisingly good sense of humor despite serious role
- Patient teacher who never gives up on recruits
- Leads by example from the front lines
- Treats all ranks with equal respect and dignity
Challenging Traits
- Literally impossible to understand for newcomers
- Refuses to write orders, insists on verbal commands
- Becomes frustrated when people ask him to repeat
- Overly superstitious about battle preparations
- Cannot stand still during strategic discussions
- Insists everyone call him "General General"
Mmph mmmrph hrmmm mmph-mmph, hrrrmmm mrrrmph mmmmph!
(Translation: "Victory favors the prepared mind, not the loudest voice!")
Hrrmm-mrrph mmm-mmph hrrrmmm, mmph mmph-mmph mrrrmph!
(Translation: "The battlefield speaks to those who listen with more than their ears!")
Mmmrph hrrmm-mmph mmph, hrrrmmm mrrrmph-mmph hrmmm!
(Translation: "In three dimensions, every wall becomes a doorway!")
Likes
- Dawn patrols along Anice's vertical defenses
- Teaching young catfolk climbing combat techniques
- Perfectly synchronized military drills
- Maps with excessive amounts of detail
- Canta fruit wine after successful campaigns
- When subordinates understand him without explanation
Dislikes
- People saying "What?" or "Come again?"
- Written reports when verbal would suffice
- Disorder in the vertical patrol routes
- Warriors who rely on strength over strategy
- Being asked to speak more clearly
- Anyone calling him just "Ebbus" or "General"
Background & History
The Unfortunate Naming
Born to eccentric parents who believed in "aspirational naming," young General Whiskerford Ebbus was literally named "General" as his first name, with his parents convinced this would guarantee him a military career. The confusion this caused throughout his childhood in Anice's vertical neighborhoods was legendary, with teachers constantly correcting themselves and other kittens mocking him for his pretentious-sounding name. His parents, both failed actors who ran a small vertical theater, insisted the name would make him memorable, though young General mostly remembered the teasing and the constant need to explain that yes, that was really his actual name, not a title he had somehow earned as a child.
The Bridge Viper Incident
At age sixteen, while training with the Claw Guard's youth division, General encountered a bridge viper during a routine patrol of Anice's middle bridges. The viper's bite paralyzed his vocal cords for three days, during which he could only mumble incoherently, yet something strange occurred: his patrol unit seemed to understand him perfectly, following his mumbled orders with unprecedented precision. When the paralysis partially lifted, his speech remained permanently affected, reduced to mumbles and murmurs, but the strange understanding persisted and even grew stronger. The incident led to his discovery that his mumbling somehow conveyed meaning beyond words, tapping into some primal understanding that transcended normal speech.
Rise Through the Ranks
Despite or perhaps because of his unusual communication style, General Ebbus rose rapidly through Anice's military hierarchy, his mumbled commands somehow achieving better results than clearly spoken orders from other officers. His soldiers developed an almost supernatural ability to interpret his intentions, claiming they could "feel" what he meant rather than hear it, leading to perfectly coordinated maneuvers that seemed impossible for units receiving such unclear verbal direction. His unconventional tactics, which included using Anice's vertical architecture as a three-dimensional battlefield and training units to fight while climbing, revolutionized the city's defense strategies and earned him promotion after promotion.
The Confusion of Rank
When General Ebbus was finally promoted to the rank of General, the bureaucratic confusion was legendary, with official documents reading "General General Ebbus" causing clerks throughout the kingdom to assume repeated typos. King Feroz and Queen Nalia found the situation so amusing they officially decreed that he must always be addressed by both his name and rank, making "General General" his official title in all ceremonies and documents. This has led to countless diplomatic incidents where foreign dignitaries assume they're being mocked or that there's a translation error, only to discover that yes, the military commander of Anice really is named General and holds the rank of General simultaneously.
The Vertical Defense Doctrine
General General Ebbus revolutionized Anice's military strategy by developing the Vertical Defense Doctrine, a complex system of three-dimensional warfare that takes full advantage of the city's unique architecture. His mumbled explanations of the doctrine have become legendary, with military scholars spending years trying to transcribe and interpret his strategic genius while his own troops simply nod and execute the plans flawlessly. The doctrine includes innovative concepts like "gravity-assisted assault," "bridge-point chokehold strategies," and "climbing cavalry," all of which sound absurd when explained clearly but prove devastatingly effective when implemented by troops who somehow understand his mumbled intent.
The Mumbling Corps
Over the years, General General has trained an elite unit known as the Mumbling Corps, soldiers who have served under him long enough to perfectly understand his incomprehensible commands and can even translate them for newer recruits. These veterans have developed their own form of mumble-speak when communicating with each other, creating an unbreakable code that enemy spies find impossible to decipher since even native speakers of Common can't understand what's being said. The Corps has become the most effective special forces unit in Anice's military, capable of conducting entire operations using only mumbles, gestures, and what they call "strategic purring."
The Great Wall Crawler Offensive
General General's finest hour came during the Great Wall Crawler Offensive of 1298, when a massive infestation of the dangerous arachnids threatened to overrun Anice's upper levels. His mumbled battle plan, which no historian has successfully transcribed despite hundreds of attempts, resulted in a coordinated vertical assault that eliminated the threat in just three days with minimal casualties. Witnesses describe him standing on a high bridge, mumbling frantically while gesturing with his tail, as thousands of soldiers moved in perfect synchronization across multiple levels of the city, executing maneuvers so complex that military academies still debate whether they actually happened or have been exaggerated in the telling.
The Diplomatic Challenge
Serving as Anice's military representative in diplomatic missions has created countless memorable incidents, with General General's mumbling causing confusion, frustration, and occasionally unexpected breakthroughs in negotiations. Foreign diplomats often leave meetings unsure what was agreed upon, only to find their own military advisors somehow understood everything perfectly and have already begun implementing mutual defense agreements. His presence at international military conferences has become something of a legend, with translators giving up in despair while generals from different nations nod knowingly at his mumbled presentations, later comparing notes and finding they all understood something different yet equally valuable.
Goals
Perfect the Universal Mumble
General General believes he is close to developing what he calls the "Universal Mumble," a form of communication that transcends language barriers entirely and can be understood by anyone regardless of their native tongue or species. His research involves studying the purring patterns of different catfolk tribes, the emotional resonance of musical instruments, and the vibrational frequencies of various mumbled sounds. He spends hours each dawn on Anice's highest towers, mumbling into the wind and listening to the echoes, convinced that the city's vertical architecture holds the key to perfecting this revolutionary form of communication that could unite armies across all nations in perfect understanding.
Establish the Vertical Warfare Academy
His greatest ambition is to establish a formal military academy in Anice dedicated to three-dimensional combat, where his Vertical Defense Doctrine can be properly taught to future generations of warriors from across Xeres. The challenge lies not in getting approval or funding, which the crown has already offered multiple times, but in figuring out how to create a curriculum that can be taught by instructors who might not understand his mumbling. He envisions a school where students learn to fight while climbing, conduct battles across multiple elevation levels simultaneously, and develop the intuitive understanding necessary to interpret mumbled commands, creating a new generation of warriors who think in three dimensions rather than two.
Decode His Own Strategic Genius
Perhaps most surprisingly, General General himself doesn't always fully understand why his mumbled commands work so well, suspecting that his bridge viper injury unlocked some form of tactical communication that bypasses conscious thought entirely. He has begun working with scholars and mages to study the phenomenon, hoping to understand and document the mechanism before he retires or dies, ensuring his unique gift isn't lost to history. His personal journals, written in a combination of standard text, tactical diagrams, and phonetic representations of mumbles, may hold the key to understanding how meaning can transcend words, but even he struggles to read his own notes from more than a year ago, suggesting his mumbling evolves constantly toward ever-greater incomprehensible efficiency.
Current Status & Relationships
Allegiance
Kingdom of Anice
Role
Supreme Military Commander
Royal Court
Military
Personal
🎭 Communication Advisory
Despite his complete incomprehensibility to newcomers, General General Ebbus is one of the most brilliant military minds in Xeres. Those who dismiss him due to his mumbling quickly discover that his troops respond to his commands with supernatural precision. His strategic genius has kept Anice safe for decades, and his unconventional tactics have never failed when it mattered. Attempting to mock or imitate his mumbling is considered deeply offensive by his troops and will result in immediate ejection from any military facility. New recruits are advised to spend at least three months in the Mumbling Corps' interpretation training before attempting to serve directly under his command. Most importantly, never, ever ask him to "speak up" or "say that again" unless you want to be assigned to the highest, most dangerous bridge patrol for a month.
General Ebbus
Identity
Allegiance
Anice
Role
Supreme Commander
Status
● Active