Even in a world as magic-rich as Eberron, the central focus of war remains on the mundane. Soldiers in armor, clashing sword against shield, stand at the core of any battlefield. The weapons might be enchanted, the mounts magebred, the armies guided by divinations and supported by fireballs, but the archers of Breland and the knights of Thrane are still individuals of natural ability.
Not so the mercenary order known as the Manifest Legion. Dating back to the days before the Last War, the Legion truly came into its own during that conflict, and it remains, to this day, the largest independent arcane military force in the Five Nations.
In the Beginning
The Manifest Legion was the brainchild of the Aundairian wizard Gwinnath Turrien. In 888, Turrien was the favored apprentice of Uri Charvel, liaison between the Arcane Congress and the royals of Aundair. (This is a position held in the modern day by Minister Adal; see ECS 138.) While Charvel was heavily focused in the research of magic, his apprentice was far more interested in its application. When the Arcane Congress learned that Turrien and a few colleagues had provided services to Aundair’s military without approval, they were expelled from the organization.
This dishonor turned out to be the start of something far larger. Along with her fellow “rejects,” Gwinnath Turrien formed a new cabal of wizards. Its initial purpose was to provide arcane services of all types, but the requests and contracts it received were largely for military applications—a trend that increased further with the start of the Last War.
In 896, Turrien and her cohorts engaged in their first true battle. The wizard was horrified at the carnage, and she vowed that the services she and her order provided in the future would reduce bloodshed as much as possible. This was the start of the group’s focus on the conjuration magic that eventually inspired its name: the Manifest Legion.
The Final Days
For roughly the first half of the Last War, the Manifest Legion remained an obscure mercenary unit, hired occasionally by Aundairian or Brelish interests, but only moderately successful. It was Turrien’s successor, a Brelish wizard called Long Uthar (LN male gnome conjurer 6), who managed to bring the Legion to international attention. In 950, Brelish troops moved to drive Thrane invaders from Starilaskur. At the start of the first great battle, a veritable horde of elementals and fiendish creatures slammed into the Thrane flank, weakening the line and distracting it from the Brelish assault. This unexpected participation in a major battle captured the attention not only of Breland and Thrane, but of the other nations as well. Although the Manifest Legion still lacked the reputation of other mercenary orders, such as the Red Gauntlet Regiment (Player’s Guide to Eberron 94), every military leader swiftly realized the potential in summoned creatures that could be placed at will and ordered to take any action without question. From 950 through the end of the war, every nation employed the services of the Legion at one time or another, though Thrane—still angry over the organization’s “demonstration” and uncomfortable with its use of fiendish minions—did so less than the others.
The Manifest Legion Today
Many mercenary companies witnessed a drop in contracts after the Last War, but the Manifest Legion remains as busy today as ever. Because summoned creatures cannot be captured, interrogated, or traced to a particular government, the Legion is a favored tool of those nations that wish to harass a neighbor or rival without reprisals or political repercussions. Now an old gnome, Long Uthar is growing somewhat more conservative in his views, refusing to take on jobs above a certain level of violence. He worries about igniting a larger conflict, or turning an entire government against the Manifest Legion. He has yet to throw his support behind a particular successor, since none of the other powerful wizards of the Legion share his viewpoint. When Uthar dies—all but a certainty within the next decade—the Legion could become much more successful and much more dangerous, only to find itself wiped out by a nation it pushed too far.