The Shadow Legion

"What god, what god I tell you gives more power, more strength to their followers than Shraenire, he is the ultimate god, the ultimate ruler. By giving ourselves to him we are giving the world a gift, we are allowing this horrid place of weak terrible gods to be cleansed and replaced with people who have power, people who know how to rule the world. He is the absolute, accept him as your god or see what happens to you when this world is remade anew."
-Deceased previous leader of the shadow legion, █████████

The shadow legion is a cult of many hundreds upon hundreds of people who worship the shadow deity/god, Shraenire, who caused the event known as The Solstice of Shadows and split the world into pieces. Well really this event was caused by the shadow legion who sacrificed thousands of souls to him before the events of the solstice. They killed for years unleashing monsters, a plague destroying the greatest city in the world Casrea, a giant tarrasque, all to allow Shraenire to be freed from the nine hells and brought to the prime material plane. After the solstice they were nearly wiped out but 100 years later Shraenire started to amass followers once more. The legion still is out there, seeking to disrupt governments, sacrifice souls, and kill the innocent all for the sake of their god. They reside by his blade which was plunged into the earth in a massive castle known as The Black Fortress. Most people still believe that the legion is gone from the face of Laeriss but they are quite wrong and do not know that the evil legion which screwed up the world is back, and they want to screw it up again. The worshippers of Shraenire are also given incredible powers unlike the powers gifted to any normal cleric or paladin. The followers are promised that if they do a good job Shraenire will grant them immortality in the next world that he creates and they will eternally in the "inevitable" future of Laeriss.

Structure

The legion is run in a way similar to an army. The leader, Arckran, heads everything and the commanders underneath him. Every eight "battalions" are run by one commander. The commanders command the captains. Captainss give orders to the eight squads in each "battalion". Lastly one group leader leads every squad of eight people.

Public Agenda

The shadow legion want to:
-1. Revive Shraenire. (aka bring him out of The singularity)
-2. Force all the people on Laeriss to worship Shraenire and follow his commands.
-3. For all the governments and organizations of the world to be dictated off the will of Shraenire.

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Elaborating further on #1 the legion aims to use a type of immensely powerful magic called "epic magic" to pull The Black Fortress which seals Shraenire from the ground. In order to do this spell which is equivalent to an 11th level spell, they need over a million gold, the blood of a roc, a kraken, and an ancient dragon, dust from the bones of a tarrasque, over 100 powerful spellcasters, and catalyst stones from 12 different planes.

Assets

The shadow legion has managed to obtain many assets through their large network of undercover agents. They have gold, silver, platinum, gems, buildings, hundreds of troops, tons of weapons and equipment, a giant fortress, a huge airship, and many many other valuables.

History

Rise of Shraenire/ the shadow legion
Here's the timeline but incase you don't want to read it, here is the synopsis. Shraenire was a construct who was transformed into a demon, to get out of hell he contacted disciples to make sacrifices to him, they made enough sacrifices for him to escape hell and split the world to pieces, he was then sealed away but 100 years later more disciples started coming back to once more bring Shraenire out of where he was trapped, The singularity.

Mythology & Lore

Shraenire teaches that while he technically was not there at the creation of the universe his spirit was present in a way and that with the other gods Shraenire also contributed to the creation of the world.

Divine Origins

The legion originated from people who were reached out to by Shraenire, who promised them eternal life in an incredible utopia better than any afterlife. Whether the first disciple and the ones soon to come were mind-controlled by Shraenire or did it of their own will is to be debated.

Cosmological Views

According to the teachings of Shraenire it is simply inevitable given the nature of forever that one day he will be free and destroy the world, creating a new one where his followers rule as immortal gods at a level of luxury unimaginable to most people. Shraenire teaches that while he wasn't technically their his spirit and essence was present in the creation of the universe by the gods and that his essence is infused in the very fabric of the current universe they think that soon he will be the ultimate creator of everything when everybody is moved on to the next, except of course those who don't chose to obey him.

Tenets of Faith

The legion teaches that faithfulness, trustworthiness, and obedience are the most important things above all else. They are taught that no matter the moral implications, no matter how you feel about the matter, the will of Shraenire is important above all else and fail to comply with any orders is a failure to show faith and trust to the legion itself. To the legion showing that you can be trusted is more important than anything else and if they think that they can not trust you they will not hesitate to kill you then and there. There is no consequence for killing somebody for suspecting them of being untrustworthy or unfaithful to Shraenire even if they are innocent or actually are trustworthy.

Ethics

It is also believed that sacrifices have to be made and disciples of Shraenire must sacrifice anything and everything that they can for Shraenire to give him power and free him from The singularity. Worshipping any other god, deity, or patron is a great sin and doing so is probable cause for somebodies execution. Attempting to hinder the legion or a follower of Shraenire from serving Shraenire in any way shape or form is also a sin punishable by execution.

Worship

The main way to worship Shraenire in the legion is, surprise, sacrifices. Each worshipper of Shraenire is told to make as many sacrifices as possible. They mostly kill animals but can draw power from killing nature and plants as well, and of course, they kill people too since they make the best sacrifices. Members of the legion will also preform rituals (sometimes with sacrifices), to give more power to Shraenire or to gain power themselves so that they may commit more sacrifices and rituals. They also try to hide and implant lots of little messages about Shraenire as a way of worship and creating more future disciples. Of course they also all pray to Shraenire regularly, multiple times a day they will pray to Shraenire and try to give him some of their spiritual and magical power.

Priesthood

The leaders of the legion are the ones who have stronger powers granted to them by Shraenire than the rest and show more faith to the will of Shraenire and/or are willing to do whatever it takes to show that they are the ones worthy of the position. The stronger powers you have the better, to become a commander you are required to have a shadow familiar and to become a captain you need some powers. Only one transition has happened between the leadership of the legion between the old leader, Unele and the new leader, Arckran, when Arckran murdered Unele in cold blood to take the position of leader of the legion.

Granted Divine Powers

Shraenire gives different levels of powers to different people depending on their faith and spiritual strength. For his weakest followers the get no powers, more dedicated ones get some powers being able to control shadows, inflict harm, and do magic. The very dedicated and most loyal of his followers get command over a power called a shadow familiar, a great beast taking the shape of an animal which can inflict harm and depending on the person and their familiar, have a variety of special powers unlike any other familiar. The stronger your faith and soul is the stronger your familiar will be, the strongest familiar is, of course, the familiar of the leader of the legion, Arckran, who commands a giant spider with life-leeching abilities.

Political Influence & Intrigue

As with any group the best way to accomplish a goal is to gain power over a government or political system. The shadow legion has slowly over the years, gotten more and more people into the political systems of the world. They have only just barely swayed things so far, trying not to be discovered, but soon they plan to put their full plans into effect once they are ready. Of course the pre-split shadow legion constantly interfered with the government to the point where people could not trust the government at all. They denied people food, water, or supplies to fight the forces of the legion and they actively voted to do nothing about the threat of the shadow legion, since they were the shadow legion. After the solstice, slowly but surely, every supporter of Shraenire would be hunted down and killed, until the next group of disciples appeared 100 years later. Now the legion goes by many names in different places, in Kemler it's "The shadow gang," at Panda mountain it's "The Ga clan," in Frostlance it's "The cloaks."

Sects

The factions of the legion are split into five groups:
1. The chosen leader: The chosen leader has the most powerful powers of anybody in the legion, they are considered to be the chosen disciple and greatest leader chosen by Shraenire
2. The shadow-wielders: The shadow-wielders are people who are granted the power of shadow familiars by Shraenire, they are very faithful and devoted.
3. The moderate power controllers: The moderate power controllers are people who have a medium amount of power granted to them by Shraenire, they are usually faithful and devoted but don't possess the power or true devotion for a familiar.
4. The weak power controllers: They are followers of Shraenire that, while they have some faith, don't have enough faith or spiritual power to gain stronger powers.
5. The powerless ones: The powerless ones are the greater population of the legion, they are just pawns to Shraenire and are far too weak to have any powers from Shraenire, their only job is to do his bidding.

Worship Shraenire or be consumed by him

Founding Date

5529

Type

Illicit, Terrorist group

Alternative Names

The order of Shraenire

Demonym

Legionnaires

Leader

Arckran

Deities

• Shraenire

Divines

• Shraenire

Location

The Black Fortress

Controlled Territories

• Blade of Shraenire
• Casrea

Manufactured Items

• The Onyxprism

Related Items

• The Onyxprism

Notable Members

• Arckran
• Gleneam

Related Myths

• The Solstice of Shadows