Legion

The Legion is the race loyal to the Aeon Krath. They are a warrior race bred to fight and trained from birth to be the best warrior in existence. They live for the ultimate battle and to die gloriously against a foe better then they are. While the least technologically advanced, they make up for it in battlefield prowess and small leaps in technology they have acquired over the years.

History

It is told in legend that the Aeon Krath sliced his arm in a duel with the Aeon [Vex]] and a drop of his blood landed on the barren soil. After the battle Krath took up the wet soil and formed it into a man, breathing life into him. Forming Argos as a full grown man. Krath taught Argos all there was to being a warrior and then Krath formed the first tribe for Argos to lead.

Many generations later as the Legion began to fight among themselves and their society began to deteriorate one ambitious Legion soldier named Seren climbed to the top of a nearby hill and proclaimed himself the ultimate ruler of the Legion. Should anyone wish to challenge his decree they could remove him from the hill by force. It is said that Seren fought for 6 days and 6 nights non-stop, and when the fighting finally ended he was named Seren the Unkillable and became the Legions' first High Warlord.

Their race is now broken into a number of small factions that each live on different areas of their world, these factions meet constantly on the battlefield to challenge each other over land, politics, or even just bragging rights. However in times of need all the clans form together behind the High Warlord to face whatever challenge may be out there.

Culture

Legion soldiers live for two things, one is the challenge of winning a fair fight and the other is the glory of meeting the person who will best them and bring them to their death. From birth Legion children are taught to fight with honor but to never back down from a fight. While Legion will not go looking for a fight for the sake of a fight, they have no issues with fighting for something they want.

Legion are broken into dozens of tribes that each rule separate areas of their domain, each tribe is ruled by a warlord while the entire Legion culture is governed by a High Warlord. The High warlord is used as a mediator to insure that the challenges between tribes do not get out of hand.

The Legion are not bloodthirsty, instead Legion simply see combat as the only true test of an individual, involving both mental ability, physical strength, athletic prowess, and cunning. Legion issue challenges for anything that they want, from as large as control over a city to as small as settling a dispute between two siblings. True Legion combat rarely ends in death, though if it does it is seen as an honor that one would be able to best another and send him to his death.

Legion live for the challenge of the fight, not for the act of killing. Killing simply happens in fights. To minimize the impact that such continuous wars and battles would rage on their culture they fight with a very strict set of rules as to what is and is not permitted. Civilian's and city's are completely off limits, with such care taken that many times civilians will come from the nearest city to watch a battle unfold. Seeing it as a spectator sport. When a challenge is made the exact limits of the challenge are stated and when the terms of the engagement are met all combat stops. Anyone who endangers a civilian or who pushes an unfair advantage or who seeks to cause unneeded bloodshed is dealt with swiftly. Often with that individuals own tribe hunting them down.

Growing up Legion

Childhood for Legion children is surprising not unlike our own. Families care for their children and mostly have a platonic family. However all of a child's educational efforts are put to increasing their adeptness at combat. From a young age children learn games of capture the flag, hide and go seek and man hunt. Track, wrestling, shooting sports, and fencing are all strongly encouraged activities. When a child reaches the age of 10 they are enlisted with the local combat and arms instructor who will continue their education in the combat arts of their factions following. At this stage the child's life focuses on nothing but the bettering of himself in combat. By the time the child has reached 16 they would be qualified a master by our standards.

Those who are not proficient enough in their field or who fall behind the class are systematically removed from instruction and re-evaluated as a scientist, tech, or other useful non-combat field. To be removed from combat training is not meant to be seen as a shunning, as these roles are vital to the continuation of the culture. However due to the amount of weight placed on being in the military it can be a very hard transition. Because of this many sectors of civilian life will still see challenges thrown down between equals. Though challenges between soldiers and civilians are extremely rare and looked down upon.

Much of Legion children's life revolves around competition, and both the boys and the girls will fight and compete in anything they can do. It is common to see brawling in school, and the instructors encourage it. Many times Legion schooling will force the children to fight over limited supplies. By the time a Legion child has reached 18 years of age they are actively enrolled in their factions arms as a scout. Scouts are used as messengers and terrain scouts. This gives the young a chance to see how the combat arms operate and gives them battlefield experience without forcing them to face off against an opposing factions best warriors. At 19 the child can enlist in full out Legion campaigns in service of his/her tribe or of the High Warlord.

Domain

The Legion has been at war for as long as they have existed. However a very strict code exists to prevent them from slipping into the stone age. Walking in the Legion Relm you will witness massive battlefields where the ground has been bombed and scorched to nothing but sand and rock, but progressing on just a little more and you'll enter a Legion city, where nothing has been touched. These places show no sign of conflict. These city's carry a very similar look and design to 1950's America's and are filled with shops, and the occasional open air market. The streets are kept very clean and crime is a non-existent.

While sneak attacks do occur, most Legion fights occur as organized fights on pre-selected battlegrounds. Many animals can be found, from large elk and bear to small mice, rabbits, and birds. The sky always has a slight redish hint to it however from smoke and dust that has been blown into the air over the years. Streams run quite frequently but lack the calming nature as most are the cause of explosives ripping a hole into a natural spring.

Some locations of the Legion domain, however, look as if they have been untouched. Many of these are historic landmarks where great battles were once fought. To fight on these lands is to deface the honor of those who died there, assuming that you are a better warrior then those before you. These lands are off limits for combat and to destroy one is one of the most grotesque crime one may commit.

To the North of the Legion last stronghold lies the ruins of the Great City. The once home of the High Warlord. It was destroyed many years ago by The Blasted ones. The zone is an alien landscape now. With the entire zone radiating dangerous Aether radiation, and mutated animals and people scraping a living off the land. A line of Watch towers now constantly watches the boundary between the Legions territory and the land of the Blasted Ones.

Appearance

Legion clothing tends to be various forms of olive and grey with hints of green. They go for earthy tones that are both easier to maintain and keep clean as well as provide better camouflage should they be called to battle on short notice. Weapons are simply assumed and to see someone without one is more of a rarity than the other way around. Military issue battle dress uniforms (BDU's) are a typical garb of warriors of northern areas while the warmer areas the warriors may be seen in as little as a pair of shorts.

Legion armor shows many of the signs of their war torn history, leather shoulder armor that resembles the heavier plate armor of knights of old is often seen and their helmets often carry a flared red plumage. Long leather boots and swash-buckling sword belts are common though some Legion units prefer to wear shorter canvas boots.

Many Legion will wear a long red cloak as part of their uniform. Legion soldiers sometimes find themselves in battle for long stretches of time, and their long cloaks serve many purposes. From being used as a blanket to sleep under, to protective rain gear and even as bandages in a pinch. The cloaks come in a wide range of patterns, though red is often the main color used as it covers the color of any blood that might be on the warrior, preventing an opponent from seeing where an old wound might be a weak point.

Ways of War

To the Legion, war is a great game. It is the challenge that every warrior aspires to. What better way to test yourself and see what you are really made of than to enter into combat? Legion will seldom turn down a challenge.

Prior to an engagement the parties that are setting up the battle will meet in a neutral location where they will engage in a 'bargaining', a ritual negotiation where both parties will inform the other what forces they wish to bring in order to insure that the fight is fair. Terms of the engagement will be determined such as the length of time, any boundary lines, and what tactics are approved of or not. A win condition will also be agreed upon. Sometimes this is to simply capture the objective in question, other times it can appear almost game like with win conditions being to capture the enemy flag and hold it.

Once the 'bargaining' has been completed the forces will amass and await the decided upon start signal.

The Legion have had many generations to perfect war, and while death is inescapable, there is far more honor to be gained by defeating an opponent and not killing them. However every Legion solider is born knowing that somewhere out there is another warrior who is better than they are. Their only goal is to meet that individual in battle and to show themselves a worthy opponent before they are slain.

Language

The Legion's preferred language is a non-verbal one called 'Flow'. Due to the loud nature of warfare it has become important for them to be able to give and receive orders without the need to hear the one they are speaking with. 'Flow' is made up of hand and arm gestures.

There are two versions of the language. The 'High Imperial' form of Flow uses both hands and is usually used on a battlefield when detailed explanations need to be performed, such as prior to a conflict. 'Combat' form of Flow is a short hand of the language which uses a single hand and can be performed rapidly, with a number of gestures meaning different things based on the other gestures used around it. This faster and single armed version of the language is usually used in the thick of combat when distractions can be common and information needs to be conveyed quickly.

The Legion will also use spoken word when the situation calls for it. Such as to convey information over longer distances when permitted. It is also considered rude to use 'Flow' when conversing with an opponent or someone from another tribe as many words of 'Flow' are specific to each tribe and can easily be confused or misunderstood. In addition, there do not exist non-combat words in 'Flow', so discussions such as trade are always performed in the spoken tounge.