Dwarven Heartstone Question

The results of Overdue were written up in Tukufu’s Letters somewhere near the back of the entries. It’s from one of the special kickstarter tables. The very short version is that we got hired by (imo) shady characters who desired revenge on the Legion of the Black Sun and thought that they were exploring the vast grasslands for loot. Tukufu never bought into that but was curious enough to go look what they were up to. I wrote up almost everything the rest of the party would let me. The adventure took place in the same year that we had the BI set in the First City, and the arrival of Calemnon…so its a few (four?) years past.

Speaking of the Legion of the Black Sun … onto souls and undead!
As many of us know, the magic item write ups in Forged in Magic are a guerrilla history course of Onara for the curious. This is the history section of the Lorica of the Black Sun (under cursed armors):This lorica armor was once worn by the members of the Legion of the Black Sun during the age of the Imperium of Man. Not much is known of this legion other than the fact that they were dedicated to the gods Nier, the lord of flaming destruction and Neroth, whose domain was death. While a few scroll fragments speak of their heroism in certain military engagements, not much else is known and they eventually faded into obscurity.

Millennia later, in the year 769 I.C., a retired legionnaire discovered their lost legion standard and attempted to have the legion reconstituted as part of the legions of the Coryani Empire. Unfortunately, this occurred during the rebellion of the Canceri province, home to most the adherents to Nier and Neroth. In a fit of rage, the emperor refused to reinstate the legion and had the man who found the standard burnt alive. It is said that the gods were angered at this blatant disrespect and commanded the long dead legionnaires of the Black Sun to rise from their graves and take up arms once more; this time against the Coryani Empire. That seems pretty clear to me that people believe these legionaries became undead long after their soul departed. Hence in at least some extra-ordinary circumstances you can become an intelligent undead w/o burning your own soul.

The story of Palic and the Legion was unknown to me, but fits pretty well with what I know of the Legion of the Black Sun. They are an obsessive bunch, though what it is they are obsessive over is still not something we know yet. They don’t think that highly of the living or the current political situation, and mostly keep to themselves. I can tell you that they are based in Canceri and continue to have what a I would call a formal, if prickly, relationship with Hegrish the Dark Apostate. There is someone like an ambassador that serves as liaison between them. If the person who holds it isn’t undead, then that job probably sucks. Henry said that the Legion came to the defense of Canceri when Milandir invaded after the Infants Sleep but haven’t been part of any Cancerese invasions going the other way. Mostly they keep to themselves and occasionally make someone “disappear.”

Last bit of trivia I have about them: many of them are psions.

That seems pretty clear to me that people believe these legionaries became undead long after their soul departed. Hence in at least some extra-ordinary circumstances you can become an intelligent undead w/o burning your own soul.

I can see why one would come to that conclusion, and you may be right. But there are 2 points that don’t add up with the “long dead” rising.
1) …however since that fateful day when Lothurus Metados val’Virdan rose upon his pier and left his execution to lead the Legion of the Black Sun, the standard has changed.
This matches your quote about what happened to the person who found the standard in 769 I.C. So are you saying that the troops are ancient and the General is from 769 I.C? That seems like an odd mix.
2) What happened to Lothurus’s 1000 troops? I recall it being stated that for a Legion reconstituted a person would have to gather 1000 troops under the standard and then present the legion to the Emperor. As we know Lothurus did attempt to present the Legion and was burned for it. So what happened to his troops. I can’t recall the source of that info. But I can search for it, through my records.

I believe that it is more likely, that Lothurus’s Legion of the Black Sun, is made up of the troops from his time, 769 I.C. It makes more sense that the troops he gathered before presenting the legion would follow him, rather than people who died 1000 years before, and don’t even know him. The “long dead” troops would have rather followed their own General from their own time. Either Lothurus’s troops were killed along with him (the Emperor wouldn’t have allowed 1000 Canceri troops to remain gathered and be a threat to him), or they died in the following years and as each troop died they rose into undeath after Lothurus’ went back and continued to lead them.

I’ll give you a hint – something else was at play.

I’ve enjoyed reading your conjectures about this topic and it has gotten my creative juices flowing. Since I moved the Soft Point originally scheduled for ArcanisCon 2020 over to Gen Con, I have an adventure slot to fill. I think maybe it’s time for the Legion of the Black Sun to make an appearance again.

Uh oh. Time to find somewhere to hide.

Thank you Henry for sharing new information about the Legion of the Black Sun.
A new adventure involving the Legion of the Black Sun would be really exciting.

val Holryn you were correct. They were not raised the normal way. Ancient mysteries abound in Arcanis, it always feel good learning the answer to one of them.
If someone mass raise dead a legion around 303 years ago, they must have had a reason.
My first thought runs to a weapon. Undead, even intelligent ones, can be controlled. Perhaps when called they will answer the call of a master, and do as commanded. Perhaps in their approximate 300 of undeath they have already been used already.
Perhaps a player with Blessed by Neroth, Chosen by Neroth, or a val’Mordane with the Bloodline power of being undead will have better chance of learning what they have been up to since being raised.

Makes you wonder how psionics works with undead when the supposed organ that gave them psionics may have long since rotted to dust.

That assumption is incorrect. If the undead val is Awakened, then that organ/gland/whatever-it-is doesn’t decay. That has to do with the essence of what psionics is, which will be explained in the write up about psionics in Codex of the Mind (forthcoming).

Also, can I go ahead and read the CotM? For research purposes, of course.

Sure…if you backed the Arcanis 5E Campaign Setting Kickstarter you’ll get a copy of the PDF. It’s the 8th and final Stretch Goal achieved.

Uh oh. Time to find somewhere to hide.
I don’t know. Even if you were invisible, they’d find you. Uhh … Tukufu can claim to have bomb shelters in different cities. That was an add on for a kickstarter somewhere wasn’t it? Useful item? Since a soul is needed as a catalyst to create intelligent undead and the souls of these legionnaires have presumably gone on to either the Cauldron or the Paradise of the Gods long ago, how did they rise to take up arms against the Empire? Was it the curse of the Gods for the disrespect shown to Them by the Mad Emperor as many say, or was something else at play?

I’ll give you a hint – something else was at play. What? WHATS THAT YOU SAY? The common story retold is not the Gods truth in Arcanis!?! Sir I am shocked. Just shocked you would imply such an impiety. And us all on a public forum…

Well, more seriously that’s a genuinely interesting tidbit. Not sure how that puzzle piece fits into anything. I see a couple of options after ruminating on this but none of them immediately say “THIS” to me:

Option #1: Vault is really right and somehow they were undead all along but only became active after being “insulted.” Solves the “soul mystery”, but doesn’t explain where they are and what they were doing. Or how they (must have) lost their standard. Or how they knew about what was happening in Coryani. I don’t like Option 1 without a lot more data.

Option #2: Something big went down that raised them. In Eldest Sons we have the example of the lost val’Ossan navy that was turned into lacedons by the Kurenthe Curse in Seremas Harbor. The second worst thing to ever happen to Seremas. If so, we’re necessarily talking about something as big as the Kurenthe Curse and you would THINK it would have been noticed. “Hey dude, did see the mountain that blew up last night? No brah, was too busy watching the sky weep green fire.” Also super duper strange that it happens almost *exactly* at the same time that Quron val’Dellenov is insulting them/their standard. I don’t like this option either without a lot more data.

Option #3: Based on prophesy, or forewarning of some kind, or just standard operating procedure the Legion of the Black Sun went into hibernation somewhere in Ufilia either as undead or with the intention to rise as undead. The conditions to reactivate were triggered when their standard got “looted” from their secret “hibernation pod” but they don’t reactivate fast enough to catch the looter and only learn about where the standard is later when everyone talks about what the Mad Emperor did. This is thin but at least it doesn’t need a lot more *something* to fill in giant holes that seem like deal breakers. It does beg the question of why they are hibernating? Are they on some kind of eternal guard duty and only check on things once a decade? (What are they guarding against?) Or did they know in advance they would be needed at some point to confront something. (And what is it?) Either would fit well with a bunch of OCD control freak obsessives… I do like this option. Doesn’t mean its true but i see promise on this line of thought.

Option 4: Something I’m missing or something I don’t have enough pieces yet to see … always possible.