Roman (and Coryani) Legion breakdown

The notion of combined-arms is a tricky one when it comes to military units. Using ROMAN ideals, priests, archers, equestrians, etc would all form their own units, while a Legion is a purely Infantry formation. For ROMANS, this was due to things like their aversion to archers (not as much as the Greeks, but they still considered archery to be a less honourable and manly way of fighting) or the social classes of the Equestrians (who were above the Infantryman in the heirachy of the military and society).

For the CORYANI, we have noting in canon that would suggest that they share a similar focus on the Infantryman being the ‘proper’ way of fighting a war (hand to hand, as it were), so we cannot make the same assumptions really either way as to how their organized, which for someone who focus’ on such tiny details, is slightly maddening (though entirely understandable as it has never come into a story ).

Some awesome fiction that is loosely based on Roman Legion setup is the “Codex of Alera” by Jim Butcher. He wrote it on a dare after bragging to a college class he was guest lecturing that he could take any two tropes and write a good story. They dared him to write about Pokemon’ and a lost Roman Legion. The outcome looked more like a Lost Roman Legion combined with Pokemon’/Avatar the Last Airbender. All the books spent a great deal of time on the Best Seller List.

I am in the process of re-reading the Codex Arcanis, and I think this book puts much of my assumptions to rest. If we use the Codex Arcanis (pg. 35), Legions are exactly 1,000:

1 Legion is made of 10 Centuries, each with 10 Deciums. The outfitting of these legions depended entirely on the individual or group who sponsored the Legion. For example: If the Legion was founded in Balantica, they may be much heavier in Cavalry, while one raised in Plexus would rely more on Light Infantry. While Enpebyn is the main source of weapons for the Legions, it is probably not the sole source (it isn’t a national factory, simply the biggest arms manufacturer).

By the sounds of it, a Legion is less like the Roman style of a national, professional army, and more akin to the Feudal Levies of the Middle Ages (or Milandir) with Governors, Patricians, Cities, Adventurers, etc founding the Legions in addition to the Emperor himself (and the Imperial Government).

Furthermore, according to the Codex Arcanis, Legions consist of Light Infantry (probably Gladius and lighter Lorica), Heavy Infantry (‘standard’ Roman formations), and Cavalry. Attached to these 1000 troops of these three types were auxillia (Auxilary Centuries and Legions) made up of Archers, Engineers (Sappers), Slingers, Battle-Priests, and Battle-Mages.

It could also be that Battle Mages are assigned to a unit as necessary, and are FUNCTIONALLY part of a Legion even though they are organized as their own unit.

For example, Legion I has a Century of Battle Mages and Priests assigned to it, with 1 Mage and 1 Priest assigned to each Decium (total of 12/unit).