View source for Ral Merik

{{InfoBoxCharacter
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| caption             = Ral Merik
| birthdate           = 
| died                = [[2452]]
| othernames          = 
| affiliation         = [[Capellan Confederation]]
| profession          = [[General]]
| parents             = 
| siblings            = 
| spouse              = 
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}}

==History==
'''Ral Merik''' was the commanding officer of [[Merik's Grenadiers]] in [[2451]].<ref name="HL(TCC)p34"/><ref name="HB:HLp19"/>

In June or July [[2451]] [[Chancellor]] [[Duncan Liao]] took bad advice from counsellors concerned with the growing influence of Turkish General Ral Merik and commanding officer of Merik's Grenadiers. In an attempt to limit Merik's influence by reducing the size of the Grenadiers by half, Duncan instead prompted Merik and his command to mutiny. The Grenadiers staged a revolt that was planned and executed well, and led to them capturing Duncan Liao in his winter palace and holding him hostage.<ref name="HL(TCC)p34"/><ref name="HB:HLp19">''Handbook: House Liao'', p. 19, "The Time of Tribulation"</ref> After taking Chancellor Liao captive, General Merik appointed himself ruler of the Capellan Confederation. He bestowed upon himself and his unit the title of the "Time of Protectors of the State". His era of rule soon became known as the "Time of Tribulation".<ref name="HL(TCC)p34"/>

These triggered what was called in the [[Capellan Confederation]] as the [[Merik's Grenadiers' Revolt]].

In February [[2452]] Duncan committed suicide, hence liberating her sister to act. [[Jasmine Liao (25th c.)|Jasmine Liao]] swiftly declared herself Chancellor.<ref name="HL(TCC)p34"/> Within an hour, Jasmine had ordered the [[Second Hexare Lancers]]<ref name="HL(TCC)p34"/> - the regiment she commanded as [[Colonel]]<ref name="HB:HLp19"/> - into battle against the Grenadiers. The Lancers would fight against the Grenadiers for two days, with Jasmine repeatedly refusing requests from the Grenadiers to surrender. By the 1st of March the Grenadiers had been wiped out.<ref name="HL(TCC)p34">''House Liao (The Capellan Confederation)'', p. 34, "Tribulations"</ref><ref name="HB:HLp19"/>

===Death and Legacy===
Ral Merik's revolt made Jasmine Liao reform [[CCAF]] military by purging it of its military hierarchy.  This purge would be known as the 2nd of Time of Tribulation, as two years would come and go with hundreds of officers put on trial as traitors and put to death.  She then took command of nation's divisional and sector commands into the Chancellorship, and as of 2455 that military commander may attain rank higher than [[Colonel]].<ref name="HL(TCC)p34"/>

==References==
<references/>

==Bibliography==
* ''[[House Marik (The Free Worlds League)]]''

[[Category:Capellan Confederation Characters|Merik, Ral]]