7th Legion

The 7th Legion was raised as part of the imperial Dercian army in the last hundred years of the Second unification war   

Notable characters

Felix Aurelius:

Felix Aurelius was a part of a respected noble family and was given the command of the newly raised 7th Legion, which would be his first command. For the first years of his command, the soldiers around him talked about how he only got the command due to his family's connections to some senators. While the rumours were true, Felix would end up gaining the men's trust when during the legions' first significant battle, Felix was to be found among the first line of soldiers and would fight with such ferocity that he earned the respect of the soldiers. Felix Aurelius would stay with the Legion for 20 years before being killed during the last major defeat for the Dercians, the battle at Kings Mountain.  

Cyna Astalles 

Cyna Astalles would take over the Legion after the Legion had been rebuilt. Unlike Felix, the soldiers would quickly accept Cyna as the new commander of the Legion due to this not being her first command of a legion. The previous commands had all been successful. Also, many of the soldiers were happy to be commanded by an Astalles as members of the royal family had during the war become known as competent commanders and that they cared for their soldiers under them, so when the 7th got an Astalles, the morale of the Legion rose high, and under the command of Cyna, the Legion was given several areas of the Alliance of City-states. that they had to conquer, one of them being the area where the war would come to an end in 842.  

Banners/symbols

The 7th Legion uses the standard legion symbol with the legion number seven with the Legion's motto underneath this.   The Legion also makes use of the symbol of the house of Aurelius. The Legion had, after the defeat, asked the house of Aurelius for permission to use the symbol of the house as the symbol of the Legion as a tribute to their former commander, who they, over the years, had come to respect and love, with many of the veterans having served their entire time under Felix Aurelius.   The legions' shields all carry the symbol for the Lady of the Dark surrounded by the words "Not even the Lady can stop the 7th."

successes

Over the years, the legions would experience many victories in battles all over the southern part of Dercia, such as the battle at the river Teia where the legion would successfully drive back an enemy army into the river. Or the battle on the sands where the legion would, alongside four other legions, defeat a Clifian army on the beach. The Clifian army had been sent to reinforce the current clifian armies roaming Dercia during The war of Western expansion.   It also often was the legion sent to crush some rebellions in recently occupied territories, but more often than not, managed to defeat the uprising through the diplomacy of Cyna Astalles than on the battlefield.

Failures

Besides the battle at Kings Mountain, the only other event that the legion is willing to accept as a failure is during The Decade of 5 Emperors were in the first year of the rebellion the legion suffered several defeats to the rebel legions, a shame many in the legion still think of to today, 130 years after the conclusion to that war.

Their defining moment

Most soldiers in the legion and people who know their story will agree that the 7th legion's defining moment came the night before the battle at Kings Mountain. According to the stories, the goddess of Death, the Lady of the Dark, appeared in the legions camp and warned that the following day the legion would suffer a devastating defeat with the legion almost being wiped out, she is said to have said that the legion could still survive, they would have to retreat from the area, to which many of the soldiers began yelling at the Lady for calling them cowards to which she calmly replied that she had seen enough young people being sent to her realm over the centuries of war that she was willing to go out of her way to save a few, which did make a few of the soldiers silent, remembering their fallen comrades.   Having heard her warning and remained quiet for the majority of the conversation afterwards, Felix Aurelius would walk in front of the Lady and say that while he could not speak for his men, he himself was not willing to live with the shame he would feel having retreated from a battle, as he spoke to the Lady more and more soldiers around him seemed to come to the same conclusion. By the end of his speech, the Lady and Felix were surrounded by cheering soldiers.   The legion would go on to be decimated during the battle, but they kept their honour and gained even more afterwards.  

Trivia

  • The legion would go on to earn their nickname "Wall breakers" when they captured Pashire after having broken the city walls after a week of near constant bombardment, with the fall of the city, the Unification wars came to an end.
  • The legion was one of the last legions raised during the unification wars.
  • It has a friendly rivalry with the 6th Legion , where they compete in all sorts of things as the two legions often march and fight together.

Structure

Legatus Legionis:

The overall Legionary commander  

Tribunus Laticlavius:

Generally young and with little experience, the person would typically be second in command.  

Praefectus Castrorum:

When the legion made camp, this one would be in command of the overall camp and the third in command of the legion.  

Tribuni Angusticlavii:

There would be five with this rank in the legion, and these would typically be career officers who would take care of the administrative tasks in the legion when not engaged with the enemy.  

Primus Pilus:

The commanding officer of the first cohort and senior centurion of the entire legion, service in this rank would allow entry into the lower noble class.

Steadfast and loyal.

Founding Date
782
Type
Military, Army
Alternative Names
Wall breakers
Formation Type
Training Level
Professional
Veterancy Level
Veteran
Related Ethnicities


Cover image: by ChrisO

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