Creation Et All/Legions
From BluWiki
The exact number of the Imperial Legions have varried over the reign of the Scarlet Empress with a past peak at eighty-one but an average of thirty-seven. They are expert troops, led and commanded by the Dragon-Blooded and have a reputation as such thoughout the whole of Creation. Even in the midst of the crisis created by the disappearance of the Scarlet Empress, fear is the natural reaction of foes of the Realm when an Imperial legion arrives.
To the profound relief of many in the Threshold, a reduction in active Legions - to thirty - has been inacted by the Regent and Greater Deliberative; in addition, the Legions have also been attached to sponsoring Great Houses.
Along with these policy changes came changes to the nature of the Legions. Under the Empress the Legions were elite soldiers led by commanders who had been promoted due to demonstrations of talent in the field; additionally, they were always sent into battle fully provised, equipped with superior arms and armor and possessing excellent discipline. However, now reorganized by the Great Houses, the troops are led by commanders who gained their position due to patronage and political maneuvering and both their equipment and discipline lacks for the changes.
Composition of a Legion
Each Legion, when of full strength, is made up of 5,000 soldiers (a mix of heavy and medium infantry) who are divided into 10 Dragons of 500 warriors apiece, each commanded by a Dragonlord. Four of the ten Dragons in a Legion normally make up the heavy infantry line while the remaining six are medium infantry. Seniority determines the ranking of the Dragonlords, although the command of the heavy infantry is normally reserved for more experienced commanders. Legions that are under-strength, for whatever reason, are usually redivided so that all ten Dragons are of roughly equal size.
A Dragon is divided into two Wings of 250 soldiers. Each Wing can independently operate in two Talons of 125 soldiers apiece. Talons are further subdivided into five 25-soldier unites called Scales that are broken down into five-man teams called Fangs lead by a sergeant, however the Fangs rarely operate alone.
In addition to the troops, every Legion has about 2,500 support troops divided into Talon-sized groups. These are typically organized into four Talons of skirmishers, two Talons of archers, four Talons of slingers, four Talons of cavalry (typically three that are light cavalry and one that is heavy), two Talons of camp guards, two Talons of engineering crews, a Talon dedicated to protecting the Legion's sorcerers and thamaturges and finally a signal corps. However, this is a theoretical definition of a fully supported Legion. Archers are less widely available than slingers, for example.
The command structure typically has around three hundred officers. In addition to the Legion's commanding general there are the ten Dragonlords, twenty Winglords, 40 Talon-Captains and 200 Fang-Lieutenants, plus a subordinant officer for every officer holding the rank of Winglord or higher (thus there are twenty Wing-Captains, ten Dragon-Captains and a Subgeneral). Additionally, there are 1,000 sergeants, one for each Fang. The High Commanders of the Imperial Army would like for all the officers in the Legions to be Dragon-Blooded but even if every Exalt in the Realm was a commissioned officer there would not be enough, so instead each Legion is lead by a General and Dragonlords who are Dragon-Blooded who serve as the foundation and leadership of the Legion.
