Legion of the Iron Wall
The Legion of the Iron Wall is an Entitlement that protects freeholds around the world.
Background
| “ | I am the line between safety and death, between the monsters and the hearth. If our enemies want to advance, they will do so only over my cooling corpse. | ” |
Given the fact that freeholds are often relatively small, and few within it will be skilled in military tactics, previously-peaceful freeholds can easily be caught off-guard and destroyed by an outside threat. This order is dedicated to ensuring that such threats are dealt with, sometimes before they even manifest. Members of the Legion will enter a city, visiting Courts and training the local Lost before moving on to the next. If the entitlement receives intelligence on a nearby threat, its Warmasters will lead the charge in stopping it.
Organization
Since there is no advantage to having two Legionnaires in a freehold, Warmasters tend to work alone, staying in a place for only a year or two before leaving again. However, members of the order do keep in constant communication, so as to know when and where problems arise.
Joining and Membership
Prerequisites: Any of (Brawl, Firearms, or Weaponry) 4, Persuasion 3, Wyrd 4
Title: Legionnaire, Warmaster (informal)
Joining the Legion requires that an aspirant follow a Warmaster under the oath of the Freehold’s Defender for a full year and a day. Should the aspirant show dedication, discipline, and skill, the commanding officer may recommend that he join. In rare cases of great danger, a Legionnaire may induct a number of skilled recruits without the waiting period, in the case of his own death.
Legionnaires, to a man, come from martial backgrounds; unsurprisingly, then, they are most commonly Summer courtiers. Physical Traits are strongly favoured by Warmasters, followed by Traits that improve leadership and tactical capability.
Mien
Even at low Wyrd, a Legionnaire seems dangerous. Their smooth edges seem blunt, and their lines seem sharp enough to cut. Faint scars and signs of their many battles dot their skin and clothing, and their weapons look used, but still intact, ready to inflict violence at a moment’s notice. As Wyrd climbs, dried blood appears on their body and clothes.
Privileges
- Freehold’s Defender Pledge: The Knight swears this Pledge on his Title, allowing others to use him as a fulcrum for their own oaths to the freehold. For the Knight, the Freehold’s Defender Oath has the following traits, which cannot be altered or expanded upon:
Type: Corporal Oath, upon the Knight’s weapon, a Title Emblem / Nemesis Pledge: While the Warmaster must swear this oath upon his Title, those he swears it with do so by requiring him to punish them for forsaking their duties. The exact Contract penalty depends on the Warmaster.
Tasks: Endeavor, Medial (–2): The Knight and his new soldiers must serve as a soldier in defense of the freehold.
Boon: Adroitness: Persuasion (+1), Vow Focus (+1) / Adroitness: Brawl, Firearms, or Weaponry (+1), Blessing, Lesser: Fast Reflexes (+1): In addition to gaining a bonus die on all Persuasion rolls, the character gains the ability to become the second party in any number of Freehold’s Defender oaths. His soldiers gain instant familiarity with weapons and ability to react quickly to danger. Note that they gain this dot of Fast Reflexes even if they fail to meet the prerequisites or have the Merit at its maximum usual rating.
Sanction: Banishment (–3): Those who betray the freehold must leave it, never to return.
Duration: Year and a day (+3)
Invocation: One Willpower point each; the Warmaster invests a Willpower dot as per the Vassalage oath, and recovers it at the end of his time as Freehold’s Defender.
- Master of Combat: After a week of training, followers of a Warmaster may purchase any one of the following traits, even if they do not have the experience for it: Strength, Dexterity, Stamina, Brawl, Firearms, Weaponry, or any Fighting Style. The Warmaster must have the trait at a higher rating than the person learning it. The person who learns the trait, once they gain the needed experience, must spend it, and can’t buy anything else until they do. A given character may benefit from Master of Combat only once per year, even if they train under multiple Legionnaires.
Gallery
Warmaster
References
- CTL: Swords at Dawn, p. 146-149