Death Legion
deathlegion.png

History

The Death Legion is a race of demons. They used to inhabit one of the planes of the Dungeon Dimensions but were banished following events leading up to the Cataclysm. Their physical forms are constantly changing, by the harnessed corruption of their home realm bound in their bodies.

The Dungeon Dimensions are completely alien to how we think of as the Elemental world. It is most easily described by likening it to some sort of hell where many different demon races fight each other back and forth for dominion. Each area is different from the next - one may be a seemingly endless land of black sand where you can see some manner of night sky, another a cave system that leads into larger caves. They all share some traits, however – without fail, each and every one is more like a battlefield than anything else. The Dungeon Dimensions are also profoundly magical and most believe that this is the reason why there is constantly so much violence in them. New powers are endlessly emerging or evolving and older powers seek to control them or avoid being destroyed by them. In some areas, demons are bred like cattle to fight and die in the wars of the demonlords. Thus the Dungeon Dimensions exist in a state of war that drags on forever, only halted by the occasional failed attack or defeat of a race.

The Death Legion is the losing side of such a struggle. Emerging as a fighting power around five thousand years ago, they struggled with local powers until they had achieved a patch of land to call their own. Their power was drawn from red powerstones found in the quarries beneath their lands. It turned them into great fighters, highly violent, but also gave them an unquenchable temper and made them prone to rash actions without considering the long-term goals of the race.

Thus, they assumed a position of offense by attacking and butchering the other demon races in nearby lands, until they met their match around 50 years before the Cataclysm. In that time, they initiated what began as a successful siege of a vast fortress controlled by a bordering demonlord. However, the brute force and overwhelming numbers of the Death Legion were beaten aside by the massively intelligent demonlord who was defending the fortress. Older than the Death Legion itself, the demonlord drew from his experiences of thousands of years on the battlefield and arranged for supply lines to be interrupted and frequent flanking attacks to upset the camps of the Death Legion. The strategy proved effective and, faced with an indestructible fortress ahead to halt their violence and being outmaneuvered by flankers in the areas around the fortress, the Death Legion found itself in a dangerous situation. After fifty years of sieging the fortress, the Death Legion had become more entrenched and dependent on their own defenses to survive, than the fortress they had attempted to destroy. When the defenders of the fortress began a series of attempts to break out, the Death Legion lost all faith that they would succeed and decided to break camp.

Thus it was that, at the time of the Cataclysm, the Death Legion was in full retreat and being hounded by enemies on all sides swooping in to take advantage of the Death Legion's changing fortune. Taking advantage of the needlessly spent resources of the Death Legion, their enemies did not stop pursuing them and soon the lands were taken over by various factions. What forces remained began a long walk away from whatever hostile force was most threatening every day but being surrounded by enemies, such a strategy could not succeed.

The exodus came to an end when they reached the gates leading into another dimension. Now facing certain extinction and with no end of enemies in sight, the Death Legion hoped to leave the area and restart elsewhere by traveling through the dimension gates. There, all those races who wanted them gone had gathered a great army to defeat them. The leader of the Death Legion, dubbed the No-god, used all of his magic to open up the gates, while the magic of the enemies was directed to try to keep them closed. During the final struggle, the external event called the Cataclysm occurred and, perhaps drawn to the powers channeled into the gates, scattered the remains of the Death Legion across all of the Dungeon Dimensions. But not all were lost though - a few thousand appeared in the Elemental world.

The Death Legion were cut off from an existence they understood and more importantly their leader. At first they thought this new land was soft and easily conquered but quickly changed their minds as their scarcity in numbers, leadership, and supply of red powerstones made them an easy target by raiders. Where they used to depend on brute force and having a great number of soldiers that were expendable, their tactics initially proved ruinous. At the same time, many of the other races banded together against them to rid the world of a demon invasion.

The Death Legion now faces a precarious situation where they must attempt diplomacy, unthinkable in the Dungeon Dimensions where none can be trusted, for them to have a chance at growing in strength again. Fortunately, they lack this thing called "morality" that many other races seem to think is of such great importance. It will be a cold day in Hell before a demon is beaten in a fair fight by a mere man.

Faction Strengths/Weaknesses

Strengths

Bred as Slaves The Death Legion was bred by the No-god to fight and labour day and night, no matter what hardships they endured. They expect no less from the population they now control.

Any Production only suffer 50% of the reduction from unrest in a city.
Possess Minds The Death Legion is able to possess normal minds with Demon souls. The process requires a huge ritual where most Demons will simply lose their lives instead of being useful. Who is actually possessed is also very hit and miss which is why this ability is used mostly to capture fortressess or other strategical locations.

The faction has access to the spell Possess Minds. The spell instantly flips a city to Death Legion control and costs 200 Demon Souls (see Limited Numbers).
Flesh Bound Tome Unlocks Cull the Weak, a spell that sacrifices an ally to regain mana and health

Unlocks Death Lash, a spell that boosts an allies attack and initiative but kills them at the end of combat

Unlocks Candlecloak, a spell that does fire damage to anyone who strikes your units with a melee attack

Unlocks Consume, a spell that destroys a shard in your territory to gain 200 mana
Death Forge All Death Forges count as +1 Death Shard power as well, and generate 2 Mana per turn. In addition each Death Forge will breed 1 Demon Soul per turn

Weaknesses

Limited Numbers The Death Legion suffered disastrous losses before entering the Elemental World. They are limited in number.

Each Death Legion unit requires 1 Demon Soul resource per member. The faction starts with 20 Demon Souls. Demon Soul resources are also bred from all cities, equal to 1 per 150 Production.
No Blood Forge This faction may not build or benefit from Blood Forges

Bloodline

Bloodlines apply to all units of this race.

UnitstatIcon.png Blood: Death Legion +25% Fire damage resistance.

Death Legion units receives one random buff at the start of combat from the following list: +5 Dodge, +10 Dodge, +5 Accuracy, +10 Accuracy, +33% Pierce damage resistance, Unit is healed for half missing health, +0.5 Tactical Health regeneration per level, +10 Defense when auto-defending, +1 Moves, Unit gains Poison attack equal to its level, Unit gains Lightning attack equal to its level, Unit suffers undefendable damage equal to 20% of Current Health, Unit loses its first turn, Unit suffers -10 Spell resistance, Unit suffers -3 Initiative.

Death Legion counts as:
Demon
Humanoid
Different Genders*
*Males have red necklaces, females don't

Death Legion Champions may not pursue the Path of the Governor.

Special Traits for Unit Designs

These traits are exclusive to this faction and can be used for their Unit Designs.

Trait Cost Effect
Corruption: Physical Fortitude 10HourGlass_Icon.png
1Icon_Crystal.png
At the start of combat, unit gains 30% damage resistance to either Blunt, Pierce or Cutting damage. May not be selected at the same time as any other Corruption.

This trait costs 1 Crystal per unit member.
Corruption: Corruption: Magical Fortitude 10HourGlass_Icon.png
1Icon_Crystal.png
At the start of combat, unit gains 66% damage resistance to either Fire, Cold, Lightning or Poison damage. May not be selected at the same time as any other Corruption.

This trait costs 1 Crystal per unit member.
Corruption: Alien Essence 10HourGlass_Icon.png Unit gains +15 Dodge against any unit that is either Twisted or Summoned. However, when attacked by any God this unit suffers -30 Resistance to physical attacks (if the God is Summoned or Twisted, both effects still apply). May not be selected at the same time as any other Corruption.
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