How many legions are left and what is the status of them?

[Kiurai]

I'm assuming we're going to be seeing alot of Garlemald come 6.0 if 5.4s ending is any indication, so I wanted to find out from more lore knowledgeable folk: How many of the legions are left/active and do we know there MO?

[MrThinker]

I'm assuming we're going to be seeing alot of Garlemald come 6.0 if 5.4s ending is any indication, so I wanted to find out from more lore knowledgeable folk: How many of the legions are left/active and do we know there MO?

1st Legion - Status Unknown (was engaged with 3rd legion over succession of imperial throne during 5.1-5.3)
2nd Legion - Status Unknown (presumed still active, has not been referenced)
3rd Legion - Status Unknown (Lead by Nerva yae Galvus, engaged with 1st legion over succession of imperial throne during 5.1-5.3, presumably still active somewhat due to ties to House Brutus (and thus Fandaniel))
4th Legion - AWOL (Lead by Noah van Gabranth, who has declared the formation of a new nation centered around Dalmasca)
5th Legion - Status Unknown (presumed still active, has not been referenced)
6th Legion - Status Unknown (Previously lead by Regula van Hydrus, after his death during the Warring Triad story, they have remained stranded on Azys Lla with their flagship The Gration)
7th Legion - Active (Reformed under the leadership of Valens van Varro, currently operating out of the region of Werlyt)
8th Legion - Status Unknown (presumed still active, has not been referenced)
9th Legion - Status Unknown (presumed still active, has not been referenced)
10th Legion - Status Unknown (presumed still active, has not been referenced)
11th Legion - Status Unknown (presumed still active, has not been referenced)
12th Legion - Defeated (Previously lead by Zenos yae Galvus, the majority of it's fighting force was defeated in the liberation of Ala Mhigo, though some members managed to escape and be absorbed into other legions)
13th Legion - Status Unknown (presumed still active, has not been referenced)
14th Legion - Defeated (Previously lead by Gaius van Baelsar, it was defeated in Operation Archon. Due to Gaius' actions being seen as treason, all members of the legion were branded as criminals by the Empire. After their defeat, the few imperial troops that remained in the castrums were cut off from supplies and deemed 'not a threat' by the Eorzean Alliance, thus left alone for the most part.)

So basically we have 11 Legions left, and by the end of 5.x we will probably have the number whittled down to 9, or lower depending on story events. Keep in mind 9 Legions is still a lot of people.

[SnowVix]

So basically we have 11 Legions left, and by the end of 5.x we will probably have the number whittled down to 9, or lower depending on story events. Keep in mind 9 Legions is still a lot of people.

by "a lot", Roman legions consisted of 4 to 6 thousand soldiers, including support staff. so 9 legions is ~45 thousand.

[VargasVermillion]

The 14th legion must have more going on at this point since they were likely involved in housing the emerald weapon in castrum marinum and also backed up Eline Roaille when she was an active spy for varis. At the very least their exile isn't as cut and dry as being completely unaccounted for by their 'former' masters.

[ErikTheRedXIII]

On the 6th legion, they are still marooned on Azys Lla. I will have to relocate the source, but I believe they are still working on the construction of a “Castrum Solus” in the zone.

[ObsidianFire]

Lore Book 2 goes somewhat into the XIVth Legions' situation. Which is both isn't and is as bad as you think it is. Castrum Meridianum outputs enough refined ceruleum that the entire Legion wasn't dependent on Garlemald for ceruleum when Gaius split them off from the Empire. So they can pretty much operate as much magitek as they want and who knows what else (they've got an entire shard of Dalamud to research, so... who knows what they could find down there). As late as 2.5 (when the Keeper of the Lake dungeon launched), the XIVth Legion was still cut off from Garlemald. The reason they were in the Agrius in the first place was because they were so starved of materials, they were striping parts from the 15-year-old wreck.

As far as Eline Roaille goes... she was getting desperate and wanted out of Eorzea. And we know she wasn't thinking as cleverly as usual because she was making a lot of mistakes which clued us into who exactly she was. The XIVth Legion meanwhile, was still cut off from Garlemald. Getting one of the Emperors top spies would probably have given them some much needed info on what Garlemald itself was planning on doing.

For Emerald Weapon, we learn that Rex called ahead and told everyone in Castrum Marinum that if they left before he got there, he wouldn't go after them. And those are... basically his dad's subordinates and Rex himself used to be in the XIVth Legion. There's no way the XIVth Legion in Castrum Marinum didn't know who Rex was... and Rex was planning on turning over the castrum to Gaius anyway once he won. The situation is less the XIVth Legion wanting to work with the Empire and more them knowing that no matter how it ended, they'd probably get their castrum back anyway. If Rex won, Gaius would get it, if Rex lost... Eorzea has been leaving the castrums alone for a reason; they don't have enough people to both fight a way against Garlemald in Gyr Abania and kick the XIVth Legion out. And as far as we know, the XIVth Legion hasn't been bothering anyone in Eorzea since... the 2.x patches as long as no one bothers their castrums... which is... more or less where they live.

It's also worth mentioning that the XIVth Legion has only been Gaius' legion. He's the one who started it and has always been the Legatus of it, and presumably it was being run closer to his own philosophies than other legatai's (Wyrlet quests seem to confirm this anyway). It's... probably not the worst legion to find yourself in compared to... a lot of the other legions we see. I can see the people in the XIVth Legion deciding, all things considered, they have a pretty sweet deal being stuck in Eorzea given they've managed to sit out two whole civil wars and the Gyr Abania conflict and haven't doing anything really... questionable... ever since 2.x. Seriously, they had the perfect opportunity to show they were loyal to the Empire in Stormblood as they are in Eorzea's backyard while all the Grand Companies were away in Gyr Abania and the XIVth Legion did... absolutely nothing. And they're still doing nothing except not causing Rex, Gaius and the WoL problems when Rex chooses to make Castrum Marinum the place for the showdown. Which... would have been another good opportunity for the XIVth Legion so show that they're loyal to the Empire and not... whatever (or whoever) they are actually loyal to.

At the very least, the XIVth Legion aren't being stupid about getting on the bad side of the people who are running the countries they are... essentially in exile in. There's native Eorzean groups that are causing more active problems than the XIVth Legion is, so... props to them for at least staying out of the way?

The VIth Legion is in a similar state, but we do know they are loyal to the Empire still and are sending information about Azys Lla back to it. They are just... stuck there though... They haven't gone AWOL like Gaius did with the XIVth Legion.

[Shirolumi]

How much do we know about Nerva anyway?

I'm secretly hoping for him to not be manipulated by Fandaniel after all and find a way to one-up both Zenos and him... since no-one seems to think much of him at all. Kind of how I thought Varis had something up his sleeve... until he was simply killed.

[Rosenstrauch]

We know that he exists, and might be a very young man—a particular side story mentions that Titus has no ready heir circa Kaien's rebellion. Nerva is Titus's son and thus Zenos's uncle, which makes this hard but not impossible to reconcile with him being the Legatus of the IIIrd Legion.

We also know that he is supposedly being backed for the throne by House Brutus. Finally, we know that Lyon, one of the top men of the IVth Legion, believes him to be "weak and a coward", and supports Gabranth's decision to abandon Garlemald instead of following Nerva's demand that they return to the capitol.

[Enkidoh]

Besides the main force marooned in Azys Lla due to Ysayle-as-Shiva freezing the Gration's engines and disabling the airship permenantly, a smaller unit of the VIth legion remains also stuck in the Sea of Clouds where they've established a rudimentary encampment right in the heart of Vanu territory (presumedly they were the accompanying force Varis and Regula sent to attack the Vanu and which were accidentally left behind when Regula and Varis had to do a hasty retreat back to the Gration when Lucia showed up in her magitek armour with guns blazing. Now they're constantly being hassled by the Vanu (there's a FATE there which shows them battling the beastmen).

As for the VIIth, the original legion under Eulla-as-Nael van Darnus were mostly wiped out during the Battle of Cartenau (as they were basically zealots completely and fanatically obssessed with carrying out the will of their late Legatus so they basically fought to the death. Any survivors that managed to avoid being killed or incinerated by Bahamut ended up being absorbed into the XIVth as I understand it, so the legion was rendered completely extinct, until now of course.

[RyuDragnier]

We know that he exists, and might be a very young man—a particular side story mentions that Titus has no ready heir circa Kaien's rebellion. Nerva is Titus's son and thus Zenos's uncle, which makes this hard but not impossible to reconcile with him being the Legatus of the IIIrd Legion.

We also know that he is supposedly being backed for the throne by House Brutus. Finally, we know that Lyon, one of the top men of the IVth Legion, believes him to be "weak and a coward", and supports Gabranth's decision to abandon Garlemald instead of following Nerva's demand that they return to the capitol.

I'm kind of hoping this leads to Nerva turning out to be a more political type, or a tactician. Somebody who doesn't fight himself, but knows how to set the field to his advantage. It would explain why Lyon calls him weak and cowardly since Lyon lives for the fight. Nerva being more of a tactical mind type would work for giving Garlemald a leader who could possibly bring the country back from the brink. Think of the Solidor family from FF12 as an example. If he and Garlemald are going to be antagonists, he'll be the equivalent of Vayne Solidor. If the country is going to lean towards trying to become allies, he'll be more like Larsa Solidor.