Prompt 2: Vanish, Legend of the Lost Legion

Greetings and salutations students of history and seekers of truth, I am professor Tazlin Kenlyl of the Ordo Historica of the High Guild of Magic and you dear reader of this work are the lucky recipient of my collected historical and esoteric lore regarding one of histories more contentious and inscrutable events, Ziberias lost Legion.

Summary

Our tale starts During the waning days of the Old Kingdoms period, the great empires of that age lay in ruins and decay, decadence and corruption have spelled the doom for nations have stood for thousands of years and seemingly only the Ziberian empire remains standing. Yet they are not immune to the erosion of the passage of time. Their once vaunted Democracy has been replaced by an emperor and as lines of emperors come and go corruption takes its toll on the senate and we see empire borders weakening and conquered states fermenting with unrest.
In the year 8923 of the Old Kingdoms Era Ziberia is ruled by Emperor Placus Lucius Scaevola who is desperately trying to hold together a floundering empire he has managed some degree of strength and unity with his lover Canus Pisentius Maximian who holds great favor in the Senate but it is clear to many that Ziberia is verging on succession of many of its imperial states and the glory days of the empire are little more than words in faded history texts.
Emporer Placus and Senator Canus decide that the people need a war and a grand victory. They believe that a grand conquest will reignite the spirit of the empire and launch both of them to the status of legendary leaders. They turn their gazes north on the "barbarian" tribes of the Northern Terigoth called the Rusa and the vast resource rich territories they call home. Thinking an easy victory and vast riches await against scattered tribes of barbarians as they had conquered countless in ages past. The two worked together to sway the senate and build nationalist excitement among the people of the empire.
The Conquest of the Rusa and Taming of the Wild North would spawn countless demagogues to take to the streets spewing nationalist rhetoric and for a campaign of propaganda to sweep the heart of the empire. Less then a year later the tenth Legion was given the great task of taking control of the wild north and conquering the wild tribes who lived there. In the Summer of 8925 they left the capital to fanfare and parade grandeur. General Caius Avitus Caelestius a man of iron discipline and popular with the people for his harsh but fair methods leads the Tenth on the vast overland journey that will take them to the farthest borders of the empire in the Zophor region. In part the sight of the General who is infamous for crushing rebellion's and secessionists leading the full might of the Tenth Legion is an calculated action meant to show the flagging loyalty of many of the Empires States the power that remains in the hands of the Emperor and the Senate.
It is in the Autumn of 8926 that the Tenth Legion leave the borders of the Serrousian Province making their way through the hinterlands of the Zophor region avoiding the horse riding tribesmen who had bested the Empire only a few decades earlier heading north and swinging wide to avoid the steppe dwelling tribesmen (who according to the empire would fall once the Empire surrounded them on all sides).
It is here that history becomes legend. The Tenth Legion travel along the wild western coast making their way to the Kalvarki mountain range to find passage into the region of modern day Molkovo. Soon an early winter falls and communication with the Tenth magical or otherwise starts to become fragmented. What little reports return become less coherent over time and there are reports of Avalanches, freakishly unnatural weather and rumors that the North itself conspires to break the Tenth Legion. When all contact ceases in the winter of 8927 the tenth is considered officially lost. When spring thaw comes attempts are made to discover the legions fate but nothing is found and no magic seems able to discover solid evidence of what occurred in the frigid mountains the Molkovo pass.
The vanishing of the Tenth Legion with out so much as a trace of evidence is a death blow to Ziberias pride. Emporer Placus and Senator Canus blame each other and their relationship becomes adversarial pitting the Senate against the Emperor in an ever increasing cycle of disagreements that many agree is the death knell of the empire. It is said that madness takes Emporer Placus up until his death and he spends many nights wandering his palace moaning "Where oh where is my Tenth Legion General Caius! Where have you lost them!". To this day the mystery of the lost tenth looms large and no historian has been able to do more then theorize on how they seemingly vanished from the face of this world without leaving even a scrap of evidence.