Bel Riose

Bel Riose is a fictional character in Isaac Asimov's Foundation series. He was the last strong General of the Galactic Empire, Commander of the legendary Twentieth Fleet, who eventually came to be known as "the Last of the Imperials", and earned this title well. His tactical genius was compared with that of Admiral Peurifoy, and his skill at handling men to be far greater. A man of great military genius, he was also brave, competent, good looking, neither too young nor too old, a taker of calculated risks, and good to his men—in short, he was a popular general.

Unfortunately for him, he was born at a late point during the slow fall of the Empire. Riose yearned for the days when Generals proved their worth through the addition of new territory to the empire.

Riose got his chance when he heard rumors of the "magicians" from Ducem Barr and others, in reference to the scientists of the Foundation. At this time, the Foundation held a large portion of the periphery in economic control and word of the Foundation was beginning to reach the Empire at the Galactic Core.

As a stalwart and patriotic defender of the original Galactic Empire, Riose was shocked by the legend of Hari Seldon's plan to create a new Empire which would take over from his own; the Foundation was a real threat.

With several of the last great "ships of the line", pinnacles of Imperial technological and military prowess (of which few remained in those degenerate times), Riose set out into the barbarian Galactic Periphery to claim the Foundation in the name of Empire and Emperor.

Seldon had predicted that the Foundation would survive all trials, and Bel Riose knew this, but he bet his living will against the "dead hand" of Seldon's psychohistory.

In combat, Riose repeatedly defeated the Foundation through brilliant tactical and strategic planning. Eventually, Riose's fleet came within a day's travel of Terminus. Before he could complete his conquest, however, he was recalled by Emperor Cleon II, tried for treason, and executed.

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