Editing Narinder Selaj

{{InfoBoxCharacter
| image               = 
| caption             = 
| name                = Narinder Selaj
| birthdate           = 21 October [[2536]]<ref name="H:RWp55">''Historical: Reunification War'', p. 55: "Narinder Selaj"</ref>
| died                = 11 May [[2621]]
| othernames          = 
| affiliation         = [[House Selaj]]
| rank                = 
| title               = Prince of the [[Principality of Regulus]]
| position            = Commander of the [[Second Marik Auxiliary Corps]]
| profession          = Noble
| parents             = 
| siblings            = 
| spouse              = 
| children            = 
}}
'''Narinder Selaj''' was the hereditary heir to the [[Principality of Regulus]] and an officer in the [[Free Worlds League Military]].

==History==
===Early Life===
Narinder Selaj's upbringing revolved around two central pillars; the tenets of his Hindu faith, and the divine right of the [[House Selaj|Selaj family]] to rule the Principality of Regulus. This upbringing led to a man who was a study in contrasts; possessed of an acute intellect combined with a combination of detachment and ruthlessness that bordered on sociopathism, Narinder's outward appearance was that of a calm, polite and thoughtful individual. Unlike certain of his more emotional peers such as [[Grand Duke of Oriente|Duke]] [[Byron Allison]] and his son [[Lambert Allison|Lambert]], Narinder prided himself on never losing his temper - although those who underestimated him or believed that his calm appearance was a sign of weakness swiftly learned of their error in judgement.<ref name="H:RWp55"/>

===Military Career===
Early in his military career Narinder served as the commanding officer of the [[First Regulan Hussars]], the pride of the Principality, and his determined leadership of the First led to a swift rise through the ranks of the [[FWLM]]. By the time Narinder turned thirty, he was a [[general]] in the FWLM and the commanding officer of the entire [[Regulan Hussars]] [[brigade]]. In addition to his leadership abilities and martial skills, Narinder wielded a considerable degree of political authority and was Duke of [[Regulus]], and after the [[Free Worlds League]] joined the [[Star League]] Narinder was selected to command the [[Second Marik Auxiliary Corps]], the FWLM contribution to [[Operation MAILED FIST]] fought in the [[Rim Worlds Republic]].<ref name="H:RWp55"/>

Although the Second Marik Auxiliary Corps was smaller than a [[Star League Defense Force]] [[corps]], consisting of just six [[regiment]]s, it played a key part in MAILED FIST; acting under the authority of [[Captain-General]] [[Rhean Marik]], a key player in the [[Reunification War]] and the overall commander of the extended campaign to conquer the [[Magistracy of Canopus]], Narinder was required to ensure that his forces fought with strict adherence to the [[Ares Conventions]], despite [[First Lord]] [[Ian Cameron]] having declared that the Reunification War would be fought in defiance of the Conventions. In addition to ensuring that the FWLM forces were amongst the most civilized of all the combined SLDF forces, he was also expected to hold his own against not just the various SLDF generals in the Rim Worlds task force but also with the fiery and volatile [[Archon of the Lyran Commonwealth|Archon]] of the [[Lyran Commonwealth]], [[Viola Steiner-Dinesen]].<ref name="H:RWp55"/>

Narinder and the Archon clashed frequently and heatedly; both were of substantially higher birth than the lead SLDF officer commanding the task force, [[General]] [[Nathan Isaacson]], and both were effectively impossible for him to discipline as a result. This led to Isaacson frequently having to mediate between the two strong-willed and independent commanders, rather than focusing on the swift prosecution of the war.<ref name="H:RWp47">''Historical: Reunification War'', p. 47: "Nathan Isaacson"</ref> Despite this, the Second Corps fought a number of actions on various worlds across the Rim Worlds Republic, against both [[Rim Worlds Army]] and [[Rift Republican Army]] forces in what proved to be a fifteen-year campaign. During the [[2582]]–[[2590]] "island hopping" stage of the campaign Narinder was in command of Battlegroup Timbuktu, a formation composed from the Second Corps and the SLDF [[IV Corps (Star League)|IV Corps]], augmented later by a contingent of forces from the [[Draconis Combine Mustered Soldiery]], and Narinder was responsible for securing all of the worlds of the Timbuktu Province of the Republic. Despite clashing with ''[[Tai-sho (rank)|Tai-sho]]'' [[Harry Fujimora]] almost immediately over the brutal tactics used by the DCMS, Narinder successfully secured the Province.<ref name="H:RWp133">''Historical: Reunification War'', p. 133: "Island Hopping (2582-2590)"</ref>

Perhaps the most significant battle the Second Corps was involved in was the battle for [[Apollo (system)|Apollo]], the capital of the Republic; General Isaacson planned the operation to secure Apollo and took command of the naval elements of the operation, while operational command of the ground operation was passed to Archon Steiner-Dinesen, who led the landings and the assault on the capital city of Terra Prime, whilst Narinder was made her second in command and given responsibility for the military strike to secure the island estate within which Gregory Amaris had sheltered for the better part of twenty years.<ref name="H:RWp139">''Historical: Reunification War'', p. 139: "Bitter Harvests (2591-2596)"</ref>

The Archon's force made slow progress in their assault, landing on 21 March 2596, having to deal with conducting an assault in the midst of the monsoon season against the combined forces of the [[Seventh Amaris Legionnaires]] and [[Eighth Amaris Dragoons]] bolstered by well-prepared defenses that included bunker complexes and gun emplacements. The weather heavily favored the outnumbered defenders, while the various battles turned the ground outside the city into a quagmire, bogging down the SLDF units and sapping morale. The weather also prevented the SLDF from making use of [[aerospace]] forces much of the time, and it was only with the addition of those forces commanded by Duke Selaj that real progress began to be made.<ref name="H:RWp139"/>

Duke Selaj had managed to easily defeat the forces besieging the Amaris' estate, only to find Amaris himself to be unpleasant, hostile, and thoroughly ungrateful for his rescue; Amaris regarded Selaj as a provincial minor lordling from the Free Worlds League, despite the far greater wealth and population of the Principality of Regulus, and bitterly resented the time taken to rescue him and the poor conditions he considered himself to have lived in... conditions far more opulent than most of his citizens or the soldiers of the Task Force had endured. Despite the difficulties in dealing with Amaris, Duke Selaj was able to send his troops and liberated Amaris loyalists to join the forces outside Terra Prime.<ref name="H:RWp139"/>

Narinder's performance during the Reunification war and his extensive experience effectively guaranteed him a place in the FWLM high command; when he returned to the Free Worlds League in [[2597]] he succeeded [[Nicolai Kozurek]], the [[Marshal (rank)|Marshal]] of [[Tamarind]] as head of the [[Dormuth Council]].<ref name="H:RWp37">''Historical: Reunification War'', p. 37: "Command Structure of the FWLM"</ref> As head of the high command Narinder was second only to the Captain-General.<ref name="H:RWp55"/>

===Later Life===
Rhean Marik was appointed Narinder's superior again in [[2604]], a decision that offended his sensibilities, but the reduction in his influence wasn't as great as it might otherwise have been because Rhean spent so much time away on official Star League business. Nevertheless, Narinder plotted against Rhean with a number of allies in the Allison family, and it was rumored that Narinder and Lambert Allison launched a coup against Rhean in [[2616]]. The official record indicated that Rhean died of natural causes, but it was clear that Narinder continued to exert a great deal of power and influence over the Free worlds League during the [[Tomas Marik|Tomas Marik's]] first tenure as Captain-General. Narinder's influence began to decline with the appointment of [[David Marik]], Tomas' uncle, to the office of Captain-General.<ref name="H:RWp55"/>

===Death===
In [[2621]], Tomas Marik began his second tenure as Captain-General, and Narinder died four months after Tomas' appointment to office; discovered in his office one day raving about having seen ghosts, Narinder died shortly after of heart failure at the age of eighty-four.<ref name="H:RWp55"/>

==References==
<references/>

==Bibliography==
* ''[[Historical: Reunification War]]'' 

[[Category:Free Worlds League Characters|Selaj, Narinder]]