Casteviedo III Revenant Legion

“From the depths of the river Styx we emerge. The dead living that refuse to submit beneath the yoke of the reapers scythe. We are Casteviedo and we will hold this line until every last enemy of the Empire lays crushed at our feet. We are madness. We are the vicious dogs of the Imperator. We will protect that which we hold dear in our hearts, until they are ripped out of their bloody cages of bone. Tonight, our blood ignites the righteous fury of Ysand. Tonight, we become legend. Brothers. Sisters. Children of the Golden Empire. Tonight we make evil bleed.”   -Unknown Officer, Casteviedo trenches - Winter of 1776

  While no legion is the other alike, the Revenants are unique not only in doctrine but in displacement from their homeland. The Casteviedans have always been known as a hardy and proud folk. Made up from around a dozen tribes, only the three of Ardentolium, Carnis and Somberium remained intact after the Dyskhari onslaught.   During the fall of the Golden Capitol and the annexation of most of the Golden Empire’s territory - the Revenant Legion would fight day in night across trenches, towns and woodlands as their hated enemy destroyed everything in its wake. Murdering anyone they considered worthless while enslaving the rest to labour until they dropped.   The Casteviedans - refusing to succumb, kept fighting to the death. Refusing to even surrender when defeat was certain. Scorching their own farms and homes, destroying rivers by blocking them off to create muddy trenches and traps. All in a hope that Westport, to whom they were a living shield, would eventually ride in with technological superiority to obliterate the invaders from their path.   Westport. Never. Came.   The technocrats of yore had received a large gift in experimental technology ranging from prototype body modifications and illicit chemical compounds by the Dyskhari. Through an open black market, they had lied about their loyalty to the Golden Empire and carelessly watched as Casteviedo bled for them and their children.   Even as grains of ash fell to turn what was once a lush woodland into a dried up desert - the Casteviedans did not give up hope. They only embraced their brutality.   Honor gave in for sabotage. Law gave in to civilians taking no prisoners as they ambushed Dyskhari camps at night. Justice gave in to a blind zeal as priests unleashed packs of starved dogs to tear their invaders limb from limb.   It was only by the aid of the Ysandrine Inquisition, that the Casteviedan people were led to safety within the Palmlands and brought the support they needed to resist the final years of the Dyskhari invasion - until eventually Westport arrived to turn the tide. Not out of a change of heart, but as the Holy Imperator launched a blitz undercover attack - executing the old Technocrat and placing the Camille family in power.   Though as victory dawned - it rang hollow. A fifth of their people lay in the trenches with lifeless eyes. Their land remained, but what was once lush gardens was now only dust and bones. As for what did remain. A hostile rainforest south of their old kingdom. Ripe with both opportunity and threats - with the beastkin now emerging as a new enemy that gleefully pray on their remnants.   Even then Casteviedo stands. Scarred and bleeding beneath a Bleak Sun, yet the Revenant Legion always stands back up. To carry on through the horrors until they reach the Golden Dawn.   The Revenant Legion stands out from the rest of the Auric Legions in a doctrine that casts all notions of honour and face to face combat aside for swift and brutal guerrilla attacks.   This is not a legion that seeks to be wrapped up in long term battles of attrition, especially since they are travelers that move at rapid paces with low amounts of supplies. They play a clever game of cloak and dagger, by splitting their army into smaller centuries and warbands that can swiftly reposition themselves and harass enemy forces from all manner of angles.   Their battles are carefully orchestrated by positioning artillery and supply lines far behind the frontlines. Allowing them to strike much larger enemy forces with vicious precision and then pull back into the woods. Attacking and retreating over and over to minimize their own casualties, while the enemy thinks their advances are victories. Only to realize all too late that the Revenant Legion does not care about winning the fights. They’ll happily lose every one except for the final clash that dictates the outcome of war.   They are also semi-nomadic and accompanied by non-combatant civilian auxiliaries that serve to carry supplies from the various forward bases and to the backlines of the legion. They are also settlers that slowly grow the military base camps, once properly secured, into smaller villages as a way to rapidly expand across the Palmlands. Seeking to conquer it completely, so that they may secure their borders and prepare for their next great conquest. The reclamation of Casteviedo.     The Revenant Legion is a loyal subject of the Golden Empire and has a recent history of serving their interests through missions that take them away from the homeland. Their competence for survival and ability to adapt to any terrain has made them the best force to first send into unknown lands, to scout and settle basecamps before the larger army can arrive.   They maintain excellent relations with both the Golden Capitol, and with the fanatical Ysandrine Inquisition for aiding them in their time of need. However, while they carry a neutral facade towards Westport as a fellow subject beneath the empire - many openly show resentment towards the technocrats and there are no few conspiracies that portray their northern neighbours as monsters, traitors and even devil worshipping vampires. On the rare occasion, Casteviedan forces have even held Westport merchants down for illicit searches. Justifying the actions as making sure that the Technocrats are not making shady deals with the enemy.   As for the Dyskhari Imperium, the Revenant Legion has no patience at all. During frontier operations, the Casteviedans sometimes outright attack Dyskhari trade routes and colonies. Also justifying it as protecting the natives from slavery and ensuring their Midnight Imperium remains too weak and fractured to spark another mass war.   The Beastkin are another important relation for the Revenant Legion. Within their ranks, there exists a schism that puts a burning wrath in the eyes of nearly half the legionaries when the barbarian brutes are mentioned. The other half only feels a deep bitterness in having to fight them. Believing the Beastfolk to be Casteviedans like them - and remembering the tales on how some of these savage yet valiant tribes fought horn and claw to protect a homeland which they shared.   Now with Casteviedo rendered into a broken badlands, some Beastkin blame the Revenant Legion for having destroyed it themselves rather than die an honorable death. Diplomacy is made even more complicated as a set few tribes are hell worshipping fanatics that seek to terraform Casteviedo into a lush blood oasis - caring not from whom’s blood they spill to make their gruesome dreams a reality. Thus, overshadowing the few that would extend a hand in cooperation with a veil of fear and blind duty.