Sunday, September 17, 2017

Campaign/Organization Idea-The Nameless Legion

In pop culture there's a trope called The Legion of Lost Souls, with notable examples of the French Foreign Legion and The Night Watch from The Song of Fire and Ice. It's  military unit where people to go to start a new life fresh without burden of their past, they hope.     You don't join a unit like this out of honor,  patriotism or glory;  you join to escape a prison, the stain of dishonor, or to forget the pain.   Here is my take on them.   

The Nameless Legion.
The Affiliation of Independent Systems  spans over a hundred stars.   Ever expanding,  the Frontier grows larger each year.  Warp ships exist, making the trip between systems a matter of weeks and the frontier a matter of month. Carrying communications between systems

While not a true central government, the Affiliation requires its members to standardize their currency, weaponry and normalize trade.  The affiliation does maintain a space fleet and an army. and the systems each have their own militia. After a disastrous operation in 3582 it became clear that something need to fill in the gap in the middle between the Affiliation military and the militias,  an asymmetric force to solve asymmetric problems. Tthese problems are the mission of the Nameless Legion.

The Legion is small compared to the fleet, underfunded compared to the planetary militia, and have a 95% casualty rate. So why do they join? For a chance of new start, the affiliation will seal all records for anyone who enlists. Bank records, criminal files in business deals, it doesn't matter. You get a new name and a new life. If a Legionnaire survives long enough they will get a discharge.