Legionnaire

A Legionnaire is a special class that comes from the Kingdom of Ligos. They are commanding officers that are exceptional leaders of men, both living and dead.

The Kingdom of Ligos trains one Legionnaire for each legion of ten thousand soldiers, following a selection process based on the teaching of Ligos' most renowned philosopher, Egonil. The first step of the process is a lottery in which one thousand of the ten thousand are chosen. While the lottery is supposed to be completely random, sometimes administrators have been known to rig it to favor those they view as particularly worthy, or, more often, those they find to be particularly annoying. This selection corresponds with the first lesson of Egonil:

"No one exists by their own merit. We were all brought into this world by forces beyond ourselves." The first lesson emphasizes humility and appreciation for the random and uncontrollable nature of reality while also casting a subtle nod to the importance of ones family.

Once the one thousand are chosen, they are further divided into ten hundred groups of one hundred. The groups are then cast in a massive well with nigh impossible to scale walls and left there for a minimum of one week. If in any group more than one participant is still alive at this time, then the administrators will wait until each group is down to one survivor before releasing any of them from the wells.This trial relates to the second lesson of Egonil:

"No one can survive on their merit alone. We all depend on forces beyond ourselves to continue our existence." The second lesson is a complement of the first that speaks of the reality that mortals require things beyond themselves to live in the world. All mortals require food and water, but we also require "favorable conditions" that we often do not have direct control over. Because of the extended duration the participants spend in the water, they would surely drown were it not for the fact that they can keep themselves afloat by using the bodies of the dead, which relates to another lesson, "All who live do so on the sacrifice of others," a lesson regarding all living things. Furthermore, the trial itself highlights the principles of inevitability, suffering, and release. It is not uncommon for participants to bond with one another, in the basic training before the selection or even in the chaos of the trial, but only one of them in each group is allowed to survive. If the last few survivors of one group do not drown one another, then those in other groups remain trapped to suffer in their wells as well. Acceptance and sacrifice become the only ways for release.

The day after the survivors are released from the well, the final trial begins. The ten or fewer remaining participants are gathered into an arena for a battle royale and fight until only one remains. This trial corresponds to the final lesson of Egonil:

"It is only through our merit that we can prove ourselves worthy." This lesson may appear at first to be a contradiction to the other lessons, but this is not the case. The first two lessons renounce merit, emphasizing humility and the acceptance of external conditions to being, while this lesson highlights it in regard to worthiness. This is because the first two lessons relate to living itself and speak of the factors that are beyond our control in being alive. Even those who could have been the greatest of men may never have been given the right chances. Life is a fickle thing that comes and goes unexpectedly. There is no honor in the living and there is no dishonor in the dead. There is, however, honor and dishonor in what we do and this is the core of the final lesson. Through performing acts of greatness, we can show that we are great, though greatness itself is also a fickle thing. Through our merit we must prove ourselves and we must continue to prove ourselves so long as we wish to be seen as worthy.

The one who has survived the trials is made the Legionnaire, the commanding officer of their legion, now numbering nine thousand and one. The Legionnaire's spirit is linked to those who have fallen and they visit their graves to pay respects in a day long ceremony every three years. The Legionnaire draws upon the strength of his soldiers, both living and dead, to defeat the enemies of Ligos.

## Variants

Thousandth

A Thousandth is a Legionnaire who has lost their own identity among the thousands of souls bound to them. Their body can warp and shift to the will of whichever spirit is currently taking the lead and for the most part they exist in a state of chaos.