Alexander’s Legion/Personal Force

Right around the end of book 1, Alexander finally got around to forming his own personal force. Constans worked on recruiting them while Alexander ventured the underdark with the dark elves and, once he got to the city, he decided to put his plans into action.

This force is made up of Basil, who Alexander chose as the leader, Constans, who oversees most of everything, Nikephoros, who trains the legionnaires and is Basil’s second-in-command, Ryld, who leads the dark elves, Theo, the captain of the ship, and all the other men and women who are a part of this force.

LEGION’S EQUIPMENT:

• Legionnaire Leather Armor

  • Enchanted to increase everyone’s coordination by 10%.

  • Enchanted to be self-repairing and self-cleaning.

  • Enchanted to offer greater protection from piercing attacks.

• Cloak that helps hide the revolvers

• Revolver (w/ bullets)

  • Modified to have a Durability Rune.

• Carbine (w/ bullets)

• Grenades

• Pin that keys them into the Concealment Runes on the ship.

LEGION’S CLASSES:

• Default Classes:

  • Gunslinger Class

  • Rifleman Class

    • Virtually everyone in the legion has the Shield Wall skill. 

• Role-Dependent Classes:

  • Healer

    • Scholar Class

    • Medic Class

  • Cook

    • Cook Class

    • Scholar Class

  • Hunter/Butcher

    • Archer Class

    • Dark Elf Stalker Class

  • Scout

    • Rogue Class

    • Guard Class

  • Unit Leaders

    • Warrior Class

    • Principales Class

Alexander also owns a ship (which he salvaged and restored himself) with Durability runes and Water Repelling runes to prevent it from rotting and make it go faster, Concealment runes to make the ship harder to detect, and Shield runes that create a barrier of sorts around the ship itself, protecting the ship and the people on it from danger.

The sailors who operate the ship are likewise equipped with a revolver and a rifle. Unlike the legionnaires, however, their pins have a different design, and they don’t get the same set of benefits (in the way of classes and other equipment) the normal legionnaires do.

Ryld and his dark elf squad have also joined Alexander’s legion.

BOOK 2

Around the beginning of book two, 100 more people joined the Legion, most of them orphans from the Perama Enclave. This brought the number of total legionnaires to around 125. This number was up to a whopping 250 by the time Alexander returned from the Tlihi city. The exact count is unknown, but the legion incurred some losses from the pirate attack and the attack at Carthage.

Ryld and his dark elf squad who’d joined Alexander back in book one were now all equipped with heavy cloaks and sun goggles made from leather bandanas and stained glass to protect their sensitive eyes from the sun.

Many dwarves have signed on as auxiliaries. Some of them have a class called Battle Priest.

There was a kind of large buffalo Alexander found in book 2 that the Legion would eventually tame for their caravans.

Alexander also recruited a handful of goblins into the legion. At first, they could barely understand anything Alexander tried to communicate and weren’t particularly adept at much of anything, but with time they became not only capable of actual, complex communication (in Alexander’s own language) but also skilled enough to help the Legion out in its fights.

The legion also had a full-complement of sailors, each equipped with a revolver and some with rifles. Constants taught everyone the pirate class, so all the sailors have it now.

At the end of the second book, 200 Tlihi soldiers (one hundred dragon lancers and one hundred dragon archers) decided to help the legion temporarily, siding with Alexander to help bring down the pirates. 

Lastly, it’s important to remember that the Legion was gifted a warship to help combat the pirates in Venice.

Book 2 ended with Alexander’s influence spreading from Venice, a city he had, for all intents and purposes, claimed for himself, to Miletus, the mining town that was also his.

He had also built a good relationship with the Dwarves and the Tlihi.

BOOK 3

According to Alexander’s calculations, the legion numbered ‘well over four hundred soldiers and counting’ at the start of book 3.

They had to buy a second compound to house everyone, especially with the addition of so many Tlihi mounts.

We also find out they had worked on getting their caravans underway, having enchanted these with Concealment runes to help hide their passage. These caravans were drawn using the buffalo-like monsters Alexander had found earlier in book 2.

Fifty more goblins joined the legion, bringing the overall count to something like 450 soldiers.

Later, fifteen more goblins joined, these more intelligent and a darker shade of green than the others, bringing the overall count to something like 460, considering some losses were taken.

Basil also recruited some more recruits (and craftspeople) but the number wasn’t mentioned. It’s estimated that the legion numbered some 500 people now.

Then, right before the battle against the barbarian army, their numbers were already hovering above the 900 soldiers. 500 riflemen, 200 Tlihi cavalry, 100 goblins, and 35 cannons, these worked by several people. There were more soldiers back in Venice, more sailors that weren’t accounted for, and more people that didn’t fulfill any sort of combat role associated with the Legion. From Venice alone, 200 new legionnaires, an extra 100 sailors, and 100 more goblins came to the rescue. All things considered, It wouldn’t be a stretch to say that the Legion, by the time they started their fight against the barbarians, numbered 1500. 

Venice itself also had around 3000 guards. While these weren’t Alexander’s men, they were still people who were fighting for him, even if indirectly.

Their fleet was also getting considerably bigger. They had restored and worked on a number of converted Carthage warships, had constructed 10 riverboats already, and were in the process of making dozens more. The technology on these riverboats was incredibly advanced, orichalcum batteries powering sets of paddles hidden under Concealment Runes that were set to self-destruct if anyone ever tried tampering with them.

In his attempt to expand his reach, Alexander had also worked out two different options for the outposts along the frontier.

• Join Alexander and his people.

  • This would give them a reduced tax rate to trade in their cities and protection in the form of guards or legionnaires if they desired. There’d also be a number of emergency beacons that could be used to call on a mobile force they would keep in various places along the Rhine. Alexander would also invest in their outpost, building up infrastructure, roads, and other things of that nature.

  • In return, they’d have to agree to trade exclusively through Alexander’s cities. They’d swear allegiance to Alexander and renounce whatever French king had first funded their expedition, forming a local militia that could be called up in case of emergencies. They’d also have to agree to their laws and be open to immigration for people that might want to try living on the frontier. While the outposts wouldn’t be taxed directly, the amount of trade coming from the outposts would generate revenue, both through taxation and through other cities sending caravans and ships to Alexander’s cities.

• Remain independent within Alexander’s territory.

  • They’d maintain their autonomy while still being able to trade with Alexander’s merchants, caravans, and boats. They’d also be free to trade with others, including overland back to France.

  • However, they wouldn’t be offered protection, though they could always call on the Legion for help if they agreed to swear allegiance first. They’d face higher taxes on goods and would not receive any infrastructure upgrades, which meant no improved roads connecting them and no better docks.

  • These tier two outposts would also be forbidden from having foreign troops stationed in them, and they wouldn’t be able to operate their own boats on the river. They could have militias, but Alexander couldn’t allow a French king to build up armies within his territory or populate the river with his own warships, so this was the one area he couldn’t compromise on.

Alexander introduced the concept of a steel refinery to this world by having Amice work on that, which caused his stock of steel to shoot up and allowed him to pursue some other projects. Another thing he introduced was the cannon, which quickly became a hit among the dwarves (who even developed a unique class for the weapon) and proved to be duly effective in dealing with most monsters.

By the end of Book 3, Alexander had Lakeside, Amissa, River’s End, Venice, and Miletus under his control. He also controlled a great number of outposts next to/in the frontier.

He was on even better terms with the dwarves, kept his prosperous and promising relationship with the Tlihi, and had become so incredibly famous back in Nova Roma that even the Emperor was forced out of his seemingly perennial drunkard stupor in hopes of not getting left behind.

influence spreading from Venice, a city he had, for all intents and purposes, claimed for himself, to Miletus, the mining town that was also his.

He had also built a good relationship with the Dwarves and the Tlihi.