The Legionate is the principal govering body of the nation of Voran, and is typically comprised of anywhere between 3 to 9 members in a given era. Each Legate possesses one or more Aspects of the Elder Dragon — extraordinary arcanic powers which have been passed down across draconic lineages for over 2,000 years. For a mortal, to bear an Aspect of The Elder Dragon is a considerable undertaking. Each grants its wielder an ability or trait far beyond mortal capability. Mortal dragonkin chosen for this honour must possess a great deal of mental, physical, and spiritual fortitude to wield their charge effectively, lest it drive them to madness. The possession of an Aspect also bestows the wielder with an honorific which references the Aspect in their possession and their status as a Legate of Voran.
Derisively called Wingclip or Singewing by those with a deathwish, Maeka is a veteran of The Joining and second-to-eldest of the twelve. She is chiefly responsible for recruitment and training, being famously one of the last dragonkin capable of natural flight, before the Dreadmage Crassius Bray managed to strike her out of the sky with a thunderbolt, during the Fall of Anclevan. Her wings never healed, and she has been in a deep depression ever since. She took revenge after the defeat of the Voltari by rounding up scores of those humans blessed with even a trace of arcanic prowess across the Irreghani Westerlands, and executing them. Though she has lost the ability to fly, she remains a fearsome fighter and a brash-but-cunning tactician.
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"The rebel is the hare, and the people are the glade. If you cannot catch the hare, you must burn the glade."
The eldest of the twelve, Bal'don resides in the Gorrano capital of Ehr'Clans, and uses his terrifying presence to intimidate the Consortium and ensure legislative capitulation on their part. Blinded in a duel with the Dreadmage Crassius Bray during the Fall of Anclevan, Bal'Don relies on other senses, as well as the power granted to him by the Voracic Compact, to compensate for his lack of sight. When given the choice of selecting a new Legate during the Legionate's expansion to six members, Bal'Don chose his eldest son, Varimathras, granting him The Wrath of the Elder Dragon.
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'The sighted world is rife with the lies of the flesh. Masks, and husks... decaying constructs- built to shelter the souls of the wicked, and occlude the truth of them. I see more than the meat of this world. Pity, instead, the kin who is blind to that which lurks in the depths of his cohort... my enemies are, in The Gaze, laid bare.'
As the chief architect of several key reforms in Voranite social structure, and the foremost advocate for the Voranite Caste system’s second, much more meritocratic iteration, Ebonia Sootscale's contribution to the Voran Empire's prosperity cannot be understated. The most notable difference between the Caste system introduced under her authority, and its contemporary counterpart, being the absence of the incredibly contentious Patrician Caste.
Assassinated while serving as the Primarch of Aeros Majeir just prior to the Anclevan Revolution, The Legionate has since concluded that some extraplanar phenomenon was responsible. However, Anclevan High Command claims that she was killed by revolutionary forces using undisclosed methods to bypass The Will, and render her vulnerable to conventional weaponry. Neither claim surrounding the circumstances of her death has been justified, and since her body has yet to be recovered, will remain contested for the time being.
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"True wisdom is knowing how ignorant you are."
Natural son of Ebonia Sootscale and twin brother of Amixia, Daegon is a fearsome warrior known for his short temper, and near-total disregard for the conventional 'rules' of warfare (or military leadership). Called 'Unscathed' by his rivals, for his reputation for preferring 'outmatched' opponents in both warfare, and duelling. He inherited The Will after the death of his mother, and has sworn brutal vengeance against Anclevan and the revolution's leadership, whom he holds responsible.
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"Which is more moral then? The honourable stalemate, lasting years, costing countless lives, or the dirty, damnable dagger in the dark plunged into a single commander's throat?"
Said to fellow conspirators prior the failed assassination of Commander Reiner Kallo at the Battle of Harrow Ridge.
*formerly Wrath of the Elder Dragon
Varimathras, in an unprecedented act of dissension, defected to the Free Destrean Commonwealth shortly before the Fall of Voltsparr, just prior to the Anclevan Revolution, and Aegis' Wake. In the years since his defection, he has risen to the rank of Supreme Commander of the Commonwealth Defense Corps. Using his insights into not only Voranite military strategy, but the vulnerabilities of the Legates themselves, he has become a formidable adversary for the Legionate.
Natural daughter of Ebonia Sootscale and twin sister of Daegon, Amixia possesses her mother's keen intellect and compassion for common folk. Supposedly called 'The Unseen' for her power of invisibility, sources suggest that is is used derisively to refer to her purported lack of significant military accomplishment in her time as a Legate.
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"I believe in the dream of Voran: one nation, of many, given the power to flourish and elevate themselves, while enabling the same for their cohort and county. The cessation of the distinction between individual and collective prosperity: the post-state."
Excerpt from her dissertation 'The Dragon's Shadow", recited at the Collegia of Voran.
Arguably the most powerful of the twelve, Hydraxis possess incredible strength and supernatural stamina. Their conduct in wartime belies a ruthless pragmatism that many argue other their fellow Legates lack.
"And why should they be spared? They give shelter to the enemy."
"A ship burns as well at sea as it does in harbour, Commander."
"Destroy it all."
ordering their Legionaries to put the town of Barrowmore to the torch during the Lowland Riots.
Before her ascension to the Legionate, Toria began as a promising Anduskha (Interrogator) of The Anduskhari, which is the Legion's intelligence & arcanic reconnaissance division.
"Torture will only conjure what you would like to hear. Close-kept secrets must be given, not taken. Evoked... not extracted."
Before his ascension to the Legionate, Javik Razeclaw was a brigand who harried the Anclevian/Gorran caravan routes during The Joining, disrupting supply lines and destroying vital infrastructure using a small, highly mobile guerrilla force called The Dark Strangers. The unit was composed of renowned sellswords from the Caravan Delta, some of whom were members of The Bakta Syndicate. Javik also preferred to recruit fighters from client races of the Empire, offering caste promotions to those who'd been historically denied them– hobgoblins, bugbears, kobolds, and the like.
"If enemy gotta choose vith eat or make kill, he ka take eat. You take food, he got think about eat."