The XIIth Legion

[Hinoto-no-Ryuji]

What exactly do we know of the XIIth Legion's history? I'm working on some character backstory revisions, and I'm curious how long the Legion would have been the ones in charge of the Doma/Yanxia region.

Would they have been present before the War of Succession?

[Anonymoose]

Not much, unfortunately.

The Far Easterners describe Zenos's arrival during the Doman Rebellion during the war of succession as if it was meeting something wholly unfamiliar. He arrived in the midst of the chaos wielding unorthodox strategies and utterly destroyed them, and nothing has been the same since. I think it's a fair assumption that Zenos was in a lower position before Varis went to war with his uncle and his position was elevated as a result of their victory over him. If you can't count on your son in a family war, you can't count on anyone.

If you look only at Gaius and Zenos, it looks as if it's normal for a legion to retain control of an area that it conquered. However, we can also see this in flux. Gaius also conquered four other cities and doesn't seem to have spent much time with them in the end. Nael was deployed to the eastern theatre before Meteor gave good reason for reassignment. There's also the case of the VIth, which was originally charged with dominion over Ilsabard's southern coasts but had their legatus executed for corruption and replaced with Regula, who took the VIth on to win glory in the war of succession and currently serve in Azys Lla (at least; I wonder if they're still in the relatively-uneventful southern Ilsabard as well).

I'm curious if perhaps Yanxia's original legion was loyal to the uncle and purged, replaced by the XIIth afterwards. Hell, for all we know, the XIIth was among the legions loyal to the uncle and Zenos was placed in control of it because he was a monster capable of keeping them in line.

[Hinoto-no-Ryuji]

Thanks Moose!

As a follow-up question: how likely is that the XIIth also held other regions in Othard, such as the more inland portions among the Fanged Crescent and the southern reaches below the Skatay Range?

[Anonymoose]

I wish it was more than a roll of the dice, lol. If one legion could hold so much territory, would they need fourteen of them? What about now that...

VIIth: Leaderless, five years on from being completely wiped out.
XIVth: Leaderless, rogue, depleted.
VIth: Leaderless, at least partially depleted.
XIIth: Leaderless, depleted, survivors in Eorzean Alliance custody.

What if they were shuffled around and different numbers held different areas at the points in time you're looking at? Unless the world lore team sends ambassadors or sneaks new flavor in over time, we might have to wait for the eventual Lore Book 2, and it might be years before you can guarantee a book of similar content and quality.

[Hinoto-no-Ryuji]

I think I may need to do just that, or at least have character be operating outside of his Legion's usual range for Reasons, OR revise the key locations entirely. Thanks again; this has got the cogs turning, at least!

[Ramesses]

Great question Hinoto, and likewise I've been very interested in trying to learn the leaders, battle formations and histories surrounding the other legions. Starting with Nael's VIIth, I used to ponder about how the Garleans used their Magitek technology in the art of war. Nael's boys did put up a good fight at the end of 1.0...



Or if the Garleans possessed yet another huge Dreadnaught class airship apart from the Gration and the Argius...



I particularly got even more interested late last year when I found out from the Eorzean Encyclopaedia that the youngest of all the Garlean legions was Gaius XIVth! That was a bit of information I found highly interesting. That's also what triggered me into wondering about who exactly lead the other legions counting backwards... the XIIIth? The XIIth? (who we now know to have been Zenos) and so on.

Plus, it certainly won't do for any of the other legion to have a leader that functioned along the lines of this chap...