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The Evolution of Old Realm Legions

By Munificent Perception

Many thanks to Hand-of-Omega, Fallen Enchantress, livingdeath, Orzhov, DKPseude, drakensis, and Norhg for sharing their toughts on this topic.

Origins in the Primordial War

During the war against the enemies of the gods, the Exalted fought in hero-centered war bands.

Geoffrey Grabowski speculated that these were comprised of one hundred Essence 6-7 Dragon-Blooded who operated in support of a Solar-Lunar spousal pair with Permanent Essence Scores of 8 or 9. The Dragon-Blooded were likely accoutered with weapons, warstriders, and armor forged by the Jade-Souled. Likewise, Solars and Lunars were armed with wonders produced by the Great Maker himself.

Additionally, these detachments had been trained directly by the Celestial Incarna and Elemental Dragons.

While Mars, the Unconquered Sun, and Luna may have directed the war on a strategic level, the Chosen of Battles likely helped their fellow Exalted with regional planning and coordination. Other Sidereal acted as assassins, scouts, and logisticians, as well as probing the minds and natures of the Primordials alongside their Twilight and Half Moon counterparts. On the battlefield and backed by auxiliaries of Dragon-Blooded engineers, the Sidereal supported the Solar-Lunar war bands by stabilizing damaged areas of Creation and attempting to dominate the flows of Essence through geomantic warfare.

Mortals were employed almost exclusively for garrison duties in fortified positions, as the hordes of Primordial enemies and servitor races would have made their presence on dynamic battlefields suicidal.

There were probably no formally organized special operations forces. Rather, Circles of Celestial Exalted probably volunteered to tackle particularly difficult strategic targets. The worst case scenario for the Primordials would have been a ten-strong group of Solar and Lunar spouses with Sidereal assistants appearing inside their strong points.

Victory in the war against the Primordials led to the First Age of Man, when the Incarna turned Creation over the Exalted of humankind as promised. The first formally organized legions may have appeared late in the Primordial War, or sometime early in the First Age.

The Early First Age

During the Early First Age, the Exalted labored to create a complex magitech society and infrastructure. This Creation-spanning Realm and its technological base allowed mortals to play a greater combat role on the battlefield — armored in Gunzosha and Ashigaru suits and armed with fire lances, shock pikes, and storm lances.

The first Old Realm legions likely approached the complexity of Roman legions, with a core body of Dragon-Blooded heavy infantry supported by a variety of mortal ancillary units. In addition to Gunzosha and Ashigaru operating as light infantry and scouts, mortals probably formed the backbone of artillery auxiliaries. This standard-template legion template was common on the Blessed Isle and in the River Province. Armies garrisoning Creation’s four outer directions were organized around legions with regional variations suited to the elemental nature of their theater of operations.

Additionally, there may have been legions or smaller units specifically organized and equipped to fight incursions by the forces of the Wyld.

While little is known about how much outright warfare took place during the Early First Age — the author still hasn’t gotten his filthy mitts on Wonders of the Lost Age — It is possible that the Celestial Exalted managed to quash most potential military conflicts before open warfare erupted. On the other hand, the Primordial War may have left the boundaries of Creation so frayed that large-scale demonic and Fair Folk invasions were common. Additionally, pockets of the Primordials’ servitor races may have continued to menace the Old Realm for decades. Any such age of battles likely came to an end when the moonsilver rune border obelisks were emplaced, the Realm Defense Grid completed, and when reality-reinforcing trade caravans were up and running regularly.

As a matter of personal opinion, I like to think that each first-line Old Realm Legion was led by a circle of Solar and Lunar spouses. This would have put the top-end number of such legions around, 30. Given that the Solars and Lunars could not devote their time exclusively to their military responsibilities, senior Dragon-Blooded officers may have conducted a good deal of the legions’ peace-time administration and training.

Given the sheer size of Creation — 40% larger than during the Age of Sorrows by some accounts — secondary legions lead by Dragon-Blooded and Golden Child officers may have been established to act as garrison forces. This would have allowed Solar-Lunar dominated legions to respond quickly to crisis and to train fulltime without the distractions of garrison duties.

While the thorniest strategic targets would still have been dealt with by Solar and Lunar volunteers — as well as Sidereal assassins — formally organized Dragon-Blooded and mortal special operations units may have been established to support legion operations. Likewise, geomantic warfare formations likely grew in size.

Bridget’s discovery of sorcery, during the Early First Age added a potent weapon to the arsenal of the Exalted. The first Twilight and No Moon combat sorcerers appeared as the Exalted began to amass a body of spell casting knowledge.

When facing particularly powerful adversaries such as behemoths and Rings of legendary Fair Folk nobles, the Celestial Exalted likely turned command of the legions over to their Dragon-Blooded adjutants. They then advanced with their Circle mates to engage in direct combat — sparing mortal soldiers and terrestrial Exalts whose deaths would have served little purpose.

Additional First Age Formations

Other military units on First Age battlefields included the divine Bureau of Seasons’ elemental armies — such as its Aerial Legions — which were tasked to the Solar Deliberative to serve as a secondary defense force against the enemies of Creation. Additionally, the Bureau of Seasons employed the weather itself to counter Fair Folk and demonic incursions.

Though they had begun their long decline, the Dragon-Kings likely continued to field armies at this time. It is even possible that their armed forces inspired the organization of the Old Realm’s military.

Additionally, the Crimson Panoply of War possessed a potent force of martial divinities, though it is not clear if this was ever deployed to Creation from heaven. The Celestial Incarna seemed to have expected their Chosen to defend their terrestrial holdings without much outside help.

The exception to this was the Excellent Designers of Destiny and Sidereal Conjunctions. The Bureau of Destiny’s agents aligned the stars whenever possible to favor Creation’s defenders, and its agents strove to defend the Tapestry against errors which might have led to all-out war or large-scale incursions.

The High First Age

The High First Age may well have seen the Old Realm fielding a professional military that approached the complexity of the modern world’s. With the skies dominated by magitech aerial fleets, specialized air assault and airborne units were likely common.

In addition to aerial bombardment, the High First age saw the development of other powerful weapons. As the art of sorcery matured, a number of immensely destructive spells entered the repertory of the Old Realm’s combat sorcerers. Meanwhile, the Twilight Caste fabricated their first magical weapons of mass destruction.

In this environment, the legions may have focused on fighting in those congested and urban areas that could not simply have been reduced to rubble. Such legions most likely would have been organized as a mixture of light infantry for clearing buildings and heavy infantry whose specialties were street fighting and rooftops. Warstiders would have played a supporting role in such dense terrain.

Again, little is known about how many open military conflicts took time during this time. Given the sheer destructive power available to the Old Realm, its land forces were probably reduced in numbers and rarely fought battles in the open countryside. Additionally, the ability to ship troops via heavy air lift would have lessened the need to maintain extensive garrisons. Thus the bulk of the secondary legions were likely to have been disbanded.

The Declining First Age

The Declining First Age probably saw the legions increasingly shaped by the security concerns and paranoia of the Solars. The Lunars most likely found themselves excluded from command, even as the Golden Children rose to a more prominent role. The Dragon-Blooded may have been largely restricted to the bottom ranks of the officer corps, and mortals may have been given more important roles to balance out the power of the terrestrial host.

Military efficacy probably suffered a great deal at this time, as most reorganizations were driven by politics and power grabs rather than battlefield realities.

The Old Realm’s ground forces may have swollen in size so that Solars so that might have large-scale formations to parade about as a sign of their might.

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Comments

Very, Very cool. I do seem to recall a note in the ThusSpake...section by one of the writers - I forget which, and it's too late in the day for me to go looking - noting that combat units in the first age were largely based around the principle of fast strike, with garrison forces to do delaying actions? something like that. You might wanna take a look, though. But I like yer thoughts. :) - Molikai

Thanks! I’ve very glad that you liked them . I wrote this as a means of defining the relationship between the Dragon-Blooded and Solars during the First Age for my players. The only ThusSpake article I could find on First Age warfare was Grabowski’s. I’m sure I’ll end up having to rewrite some of this when I finally get my hands on Wonders of the Lost Age, which apparently contains several hints about warfare in theFirst Age. ~MunificentPerception

Found it. :) Here. and yeah, WoTFA is pretty interesting. More toys than Dies Natalis Solis Invictus! :) - Molikai

Thanks for looking that up! I’ll sit down and in the next few days and modify the text to incorporate Taylor’s ideas — in particular the power of the High First Age air transports. I still haven’t gotten a hold of WotLA. So sad! ~MunificentPerception

You write this like it should be written, you badass you. I appreciated every arrangement of words to form another lock of story as a work of art, and you need to clap yourself on the back *heartily* from me. - Paincake

Sweet! Glad you liked it. I’ve got for-real fiction of a similar quality posted as well.~MunificentPerception