Stumpster

Stanly Masters, called Stumpster by his troops. He is a character of the 58-Year Plan short story.

Stumpster is the supreme commander of the armies of the People's Celtic Republic (also known as the PSF). Whereas Lycerius is the supreme leader of the country, Stumpster is largely in command of the armies. Stumpster lost both of his legs in the war against New Vikingland. This earned him entry The Order of Glorious Service and The Order of Valor, First Class.

58-Year Plan
He is most famous for his "58-Year Plan" to end the war, thought by many to be the best chance for peace. This plan has been criticized as too bloody, as it would increase the global death count from the war over the 1 billion 850million milestone. This plan is one of the only ones that doesn't involve a monumental switch to fundamentalism, from the current communist ideology. The suggestion mostly involves building up harbors and sea resources and then circumventing major ancestral choke points.

An excerpt from the official Celtania National Archives:

"Smoke hung heavily in the air as the Celtic military command sat quietly, heads bowed. None daring to meet the gaze of the new Supreme Commander. Plucked from the bubbling, stinking morass of the Giza expanse, the man was easy to dismiss out of hand. After losing both legs in a Viking counteroffensive during the 568th battle of El Amein, then-colonel Stanley Masters climbed hand over hand into a burned out tree to direct his troops, repulsing the Nordic onslaught and earning himself the affectionate nickname 'Stumpster' from his troops.

"What I am telling you is that Overlord Lycerius wants results, and I mean to give it to him! We've been stuck in our heavy-armor rut for too long, lost too many Celtic sons and daughters to those viking defenses. Throwing tanks against the expanse is like pissing on a brick wall; you won't get through, and the splashback stinks."

"Then what do you suggest, supreme commander?"

"We hit the viking cocksuckers for all they've got!" Stumpster chomped on a cigar (synthetic tobacco, a sad, cloned affair) and scraped his steel-capped feet across the floor. "The Americans agreed to peace, those pantywaists are terrified of the viking navy, they'll hold. We need to cut costs back home. The vikings love the sea, but we'll make it our bitch. Tear down whatever we need, and build offshore platforms for production. I want to start cranking out howitzers by the assload. We're going to build an artillery monster that would give Stalin a hard on.

"Who?"

"Shut up, twerp" Stumpster dismissed the Oversecretary of war procurement. "We're not dragging our treads across radioactive swamps anymore. We're going to clear the sea lanes around Eddinborough, put every tube we've got on transports, and then we're going to come down on Sydney like a pissed-off avalanche."

"There's no way we can support a landing in their territory." General Failbot, armor command, offered.

"THE FUCK WE WON'T!" Stumpster's legs sparked as he wheeled on the man. "I'm going to throw every man, woman, and kitchen sink into airlift and black out the skies over prauge. It will be hell, but I mean to open a second front on the vikings and WIPE. THEM. OUT." He turned and looked at the viewscreen, the ashen skies over the once-beautiful capital. "Nine hundred generations of our people have been spent on this war. It will take time to get ready, but I swear to gods that I will bring peace to this planet before THIS generation is spent."

Bombardment of Holmgard
One of the prospective launching points of a naval assault was the Celtic city of Holmgard, situated south and equidistant between the two Viking continents. Realizing this, the Vikings put the city under constant aerial and naval bombardments, effectively eliminating it as a potential launching point.

Landing at Sydney
Transports launched from the eastern coast of Edinborough were close enough to the Viking mainland to land near Toronto and Sydney respectively. Using Battleships to clear the landing zones of any units not protected by the two cities' Coastal Fortresses a pile of Howitzers was landed while a feinting attack hit El Amarna and drew the fire from the Viking air force and busied the Viking army. After capturing Sydney (and wiping Toronto out) an Airport was constructed in Sydney to allow the rapid reinforcement of airlifted troops. This combined with continued sea transportation allowed an undefeatable foothold in the Viking mainland.

Defense of Jarlshot
After the Celtic rampage through the southern part of the Viking continent the last line of defense the Vikings were able to mount was in defense of the UN and their recently relocated capital in the city of Jarlshot. The city bottlenecked the advance for two years before finally falling, and the remainder of the Viking empire fell in rapid succession.