Legate
a Legate is a 2nd tier commander within the Imperial Legions. A Legate is in charge of 18 Centurions and answers directly to their commanding General.
Requirements
In order to be eligible to be a Legate, the appointee must have at least 3 years of active warfighting experience. This requirement exists to prevent pure patronage appointments from resulting in commanders with no proper experience or military knowledge. In addition, the appointment of the Legate must be approved by a minimum of 10 of the 18 Centurions that they will be commanding, to ensure that the appointee will be able to command the respect of their numerous subordinate commanders. The Emperor themselves can override this vote, but this is extremely rare, and forces the General to be careful with how they choose their appointees.
Duties
The Legate is responsible for commanding their force of 1,800 soldiers in a way that best carries out the strategic intent of their commanding General. A General cannot be everywhere at once, and information only travels so fast, so Legates have a certain degree of tactical freedom; entrusted to make decisions with some independence. In addition, a Legate is entrusted with passing lawful judgement on the soldiers within their force in matters that are non-religious, such as thievery, murder, assault, etc.
Benefits
Legates are paid by the General themselves, and so their compensation varies widely. However, what is commonly adhered to is the tradition of The Bounty also applies to the Legates, and the Legates must in turn ensure that the Bounty is also given sufficiently to their subordinates. Legates will often provide some of the funding of the Bounty out of their own pockets, because the performance of their force is so important to their own future success, and chances to someday become a General themselves.
Accoutrements & Equipment
Legates of the far-past wore wreaths of flowers around the helmets, in honour of a legendary Legate of the 2nd age who slew the Lesser Daemon Medallagmenos, and was gifted a magical flower wreath in exchange from Saint Brigit. Over the last few centuries though, this has been replaced with a colourfully wound silk circlet of at least 2 different colors, differentiating them from the General and the Centurions.
Grounds for Removal/Dismissal
Legates can be dismissed at the behest of the General without warning. This is considered necessary to maintain control of the army in instances of chaos, or Saints forbid disagreement between a Legate and their General. As a result, Legates take their position very seriously. It is not totally uncommon (unfortunately) for particularly ambitions Legates with political ambitions to sabotage another Legate to try and get them dismissed, if they think them a rival for the future generalship.
It is tradition that a Legate have an appointed "Second-in-Command", who can take over command of their force if the Legate is killed. A secondary use of this is so that a young or junior Legate can be mentored by an older and more experienced soldier, usually a Centurion.
Type
Civic, Military, Commissioned
Form of Address
Legate
Alternative Naming
Commander
Source of Authority
A Legate is appointed by a General who commands an Imperial Legion. Legates are often either young or junior nobility looking to gain combat leadership experience, or a highly experienced and promoted @
Length of Term
Indefinite
Reports directly to
Related Organizations
Comments