Legion of Dusk

The Legion of Dusk is a nation from the continent of Torrezon, which is located on the plane of Ixalan. It is led by aristocratic vampires, but also has human members.

Structure and rituals

The Legion of Dusk is an alliance between the powerful Church of Dusk and the iron-fisted monarch Queen Miralda.

Nobles of the Legion have been turned into vampires, in the Rite of Redemption. The Legion's constant drive for conquest ensures that they always have enemy blood to drink. Their expeditions of discovery are led by vampire conquistadors and priests, with human soldiers filling the rank and file and other humans serving support roles as sailors and menial labor.

The vampires of Ixalan regulary undertake the Blood Fast, in which they starve themselves for a period of time. When this is over, they enter a state known as the rapture, in which they revert to an animalistic trance and attack anything in sight.

• Paladins. The vampires who lead the Legion are viewed as holy figures. The undead existence of these dark paladins is full of ritual and taboo. They feed only on the blood of the guilty: enemies of war, rebels of the state, or heretics who defy the church. They pray its power will allow the hopes of the church to be fulfilled and eternal life be available to all without the need to subsist on the blood of the wicked.
  • The Sanctum Seekers. The Paladins of the Sanctum Seeker order were the first of the knightly orders to cross the sea and are still the most zealous.
  • The Bloodstained. Closely linked to the Church of Dusk, the paladins of the Bloodstained order are devout to the point of fanaticism.
• Priests
  • Glorifiers. These cleric specialize in bestowing the blessings of the church to bolster the pious.
  • Condemners. These clerics punish those who do not recognize the righteous authority of the church.
    • Shade-Binders. These Condemners capture and magically bind Shades called Revenants, beings composed of darkness, using blessed braziers that exude inky black smoke. Shades are used to guard ships and are sometimes bound in weapons.
• Venerables. The Venerables of the church are its saints, dead vampires who are held up as paragons of church ideals. Devout vampires often call upon the power of a Venerable through the use of relics.

History

Before the Immortal Sun was brought to the continent of Ixalan, it was originally put into the care of the people who would become the Legion of Dusk. For generations, the Immortal Sun remained under the protection of its holy custodians in a mountaintop monastery. Though the Immortal Sun became an object of religious reverence, its presence gave the local monarch a disproportionate amount of influence in regional matters. The monastery fell under attack by the forces by rival king Pedron the Wicked who stole the Immortal Sun but in turn lost it to an unidentified winged being.

The Apostasine Wars

Eight hundred years ago, the mountainous nation called Torrezon (it later gave its name to the whole continent) split into three parts when its monarch died, with each portion ruled by one of the monarch's children. The two younger brothers, the Apostasine Princes, marshaled their armies against their older sister. The Church of Torrezon condemned them as heretic usurpers and aligned itself with the queen. A long religious war ensued. It raged on for three centuries, before the first vampire, Elenda of Garrano, ended it. After the unification, many of Torrezon's nobles undertook Elenda's transformative ritual, and it became known as the Rite of Redemption by the church.

Conquest of the free cities

Hungry for blood, the Legion of Dusk began a series of wars and eventually took over the whole continent. Kingdom after kingdom fell to the unified Church and Crown. In the final century or so of Torrezon's expansion, a desperate remnant of old city-states still inhabited and ruled by living humans clung to their freedom on the southern shores of the continent. When they were conquered as well, they took to the sea and formed the Brazen Coalition.

The Age of Ever-Flowing Blood

The Legion of Dusk again sought the Immortal Sun, which was brought across the sea to the continent of Ixalan. At the behest of the Queen Miralda, their instructions were to track down the first and greatest of their kind, Saint Elenda, who would help the pilgrims fulfill their righteous purpose.

When the Immortal Sun was stolen off the plane and Elenda had reappeared, she told her followers that they were finally free from their ancient duty. An angry and confused Vona asked her why she had left them and denied them immortality. Elenda answered that immortality was not the purpose of her gift, but protection. Deference to forces greater than themselves and humility would lead them to salvation, not the Immortal Sun. She told that she had found the sun and decided to become its sentinel within the Golden City, while awaiting the arrival of other members of her order. She asked to be brought to Queen Miralda. Vona denied her, but Mavren Fein punished Vona for speaking ill of the living saint. After reprimanding Vona, the three left and the Legion left the continent of Ixalan. An apocryphal story says that Vona never returned to Torrezon but tried to claim Orazca for her own.

The Fleet

The Legion's fleet consists of of massive cathedral-like galleons and smaller caravels.

Miraldanor

Recently the Legion had brought its ships to Ixalan to retrieve the Immortal Sun. Here, they were confronted by the Sun Empire and the River Heralds. The Legion had established a strong presence on a group of islands in the waters of what has become known as Queen's Bay. Their holdings, collectively called Miraldanor after their queen, were protected by a string of forts which are now deserted.

• Adanto, their first and strongest fort.
• Leor, the Edge of Exile.
• Dúrran, the Fort of Faith.
• Conquerer's Foothold, their first settlement on the main land of Ixalan.

Trivia

The Legion of Dusk culture is loosely based on the Spanish Conquistadors.