Legion (Aethersteel)

{{Race
 * hasSetting=Aethersteel Universe;
 * hasDescription=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.

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.

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.

Legion Life
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.

At the age of 16 they are entered into the ranks of the military and begin their training to become a soldier. While the majority of Legion children will be entered into the military in some form or another, a number are denied entry. These will become members of lower castes but the drive of competition will never leave them. It is common for even simple laborers to challenge each other to see who can complete a project the fastest.

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.

Those who do enter the service are trained to fight for their tribe. These complex battles are governed by a harsh set of rules of conduct for what is permitted on and off the battlefield. But in the end, war is the truest test and therefore Legion soldiers hunger for this test of their skill. Wars can be fought over just about anything, from land to resources. From right to technology, to settling a political dispute. Regardless the reason however, specific victory conditions are set down before hand and the code of conduct understood by all sides. Turning war into a spectator sport that many will travel great distances to witness and record the events of.

Government
The Legion government system is broken into distinct tribes. Each tribe focusing on a different characteristic of combat.The size of a tribe can vary widely, with some tribes being only a few thousand people and others being millions large. Each tribe is led by a Warlord, an individual who is the strongest of the tribe.

The highest of all among the Legion is the High Warlord. Chosen for life the High Warlord is the leader of all the tribes. Governing over disputes and making the final call in judgements of honor.The High Warlord is selected through a Grand Melee, a battle that is held to select whom Krath has chosen to be the next leader of the Legion. The battle is open to any who wish to compete, but it is as much a political battle as a physical one. Allies in the Grand Melee can mean the difference between victory and certain defeat.

Trials
Legion citizens live for the trial. When one tribe or individual wants something that someone else has they can challenge them for it. This is done by the attacker stating the object of their desire and declaring what they are willing to risk to get it. The defender is then permitted to declare how valuable the object is and what they intend to defend with. The Attacker chooses the time and the victory condition, the defender selecting the location and the conditions of defeat. There is great honor in the trial, and in reducing how much you plan to bring to the battle after your opponent has already announced their force. It is taken as a grave insult in some cases when a laughably small force is brought to bear against a foe. It is even worse when that smaller force is able to achieve victory.

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.

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.

Ways of War
As the Legion have moved fluidly through time, always in conflict their warfare is a mix of many different martial forms. Firearms and swords are just as common as crossbows and Kungfu. Each form of warfare has it’s advantages and to underestimate a foe due to their method of combat is to accept defeat before you begin. Combined arms are common, with both infantry and vehicular combat occurring frequently. Some Tribes have even begun to dabble in advanced experimental technology brought out of the Basted Lands to the north. Plasma weapons, and jump packs have begun to change the face of warfare across the realm.

Legion Lands
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. }}