Fryderyk August Stanisław Jozef Sask, better known publicly as
August Sask, though he is formally referred to as
Augustus IX of Poland ( born 17 January 2611) was a prominent military leader of the Terran Empire, and is seen as a linking point between the Late Empire and the succeeding Central Galactic Union. The scion of the Albertine House of Wettin, he was heir to the Polish royal titles-- which, while not according any claim to land or governance, placed him in the old Earth aristocracy. Despite this, he shunned his noble heritage and sought a career in service to a higher ideal: the Empire. At age 16, he pursued an accelerated university education at home first in Krakow, then enrolled in the imperial military academy at Cape Canaveral as soon as he turned 18.
After attending Space Academy, he took an officer's commission in the Imperial Space Navy in the 2630s. He served during the Cruxite War as an officer aboard a destroyer spacecraft. He took command of the destroyer during combat, in which the captain and XO both died from a radiation leak, and he retained command through the end of the war in 2635. Promoted to Captain in 2640 and Counter Admiral in 2648, he seemed set on an illustrious naval career. However, in 2650, his father Casimir died and he inherited the peerage title
King of Poland; he also inherited an appointment as honorary Colonel of the 7th Guards Uhlans Regiment, an light armored reconnaissance brigade in the Imperial Army reserves. To the surprise of many, he decided to give up his career in the Navy and requested to transfer to the Army; a rare occurrence, but within the regulations of the Terran military. He stated that his wartime experience soured him on "empty honors" and he desired to command the regiment in fact, not merely in name. Despite being nearly forty years old, he enrolled in a course at the Armor School and underwent Harsh Environment Training. He was transferred in grade, with the rank of Brigadier General.
He was promoted to Major General in 2656 and took command of the 12th Guards Cavalry Division, followed by an appointment in 2663 as a Lieutenant General in command of the 33rd Cavalry Corps. At the start of the Great War in 2665, he was promoted to full General and placed in command of the III Field Force, an army group-sized joint command of mixed Army, Air Force, Marine, and Space personnel with responsibility over planetary operations in the Carina Arm against the Federation of Solar Soviet Republics. It is in this role that he achieved his greatest victory at the Battle of Khoz in November 2667, after six months of grueling combat. His experience in both space combat and ground operations gave him the necessary wisdom in executing complex battle plans such as that at Khoz Prime, where orbital supremacy would be achieved rapidly and followed up by waves of ground troops. After the War, he was appointed high commander of the occupied territories in the Kasian Sector, and promoted to Field Marshal, and was on the shortlist as the next Army Chief of Staff. He found himself removed from active command in 2678, however, rumored to be due to pro-monarchy statements he made regarding the new Republic and its nationalist order. If this rumor is true, it was not made apparent, as Sask was appointed superintendent of the important Army Staff College. He found himself assigned to an active combatant command again in 2684, overseeing critical anti-piracy operations in the Aquila Stream, but was reassigned to the Staff College in 2687 and filled out the rest of his military service there.
He retired in 2695, at the mandatory retirement age of 84. He was appointed Chancellor of his
alma mater, Jagiellonian University, and also occasionally exercises the right to sit and vote in the Central Galactic Congress as one of the noble members of the unicameral legislature. He mostly advocates on behalf of military pensioners and veterans affairs. His legacy is a powerful one, as a figure that links the Imperial past with the Republican present in the galaxy. His tenure at the Staff College has shepherded an entire generation of senior officers with his theories of combined arms warfare, and even in retirement he remains an icon and a war hero.
Here we see him in his navy uniform circa age 37, one of the youngest admirals in the fleet; then in Imperial Army service uniform, with Polish style collar insignia and cavalry boots, age 56; and lastly in the new Union Army's summer white ceremonial uniform, in his early seventies.
