25th Legion

The Red Legion, also known as the 25th Legion and formerly known as the 1st Legion, is part of the Warp Universe's Army and Evan's personal unit.

Appearance
The 25th Legion, like most other Warp Legions wear the standard for them LD-Armor. Like their brothers and sisters from other Legions, the troops of the 25th Legion customize their armor, with the Red Legion's official color-scheme being dark blue armor with red shoulder plates.

The 25th is more liberal when it comes to armor customization, but the right to customize their armor is most often used by veterans only.

Origins
The 25th Legion has unofficially been founded sometime after Evan and Avice lead the first group of human colonists into the Warp Universe. By recruiting mercenaries, assassins and, in general, skilled murders without any family, Evan had these men and women be retrained into his personal army in secret and then placed them in cryosleep until they were needed.

First Call to Arms
Nearly two thousand years after the first branch of legionnaires has been placed in cryosleep, an unknown to this date alien race has been able to open a dimensional gate to the Warp Universe in a desperate effort to escape their own dying galaxy. These new visitors immediately began invading planets and quickly built themselves a small empire within the Prime Galaxy.

In response to the invaders, Evan activated his secret project, with the 25th being the first Legion to be deployed, therefore earning themselves their original name as the 1st Legion, (which stayed until their eventual renaming five hundred years later). Clad in the most durable armor that the humans were able to forge and armed with the best weapons available, the 1st Legion, lead by Evan himself, took the front stage during the "Reclamation" campaign, destroying all of the invaders' hideouts and basically winning the whole war by themselves.

After this glorious victory, the 1st Legion became known about the colonies in the Prime Galaxy as the Dark God's Legion and for a long time after that operated only under Evan's direct command. While the other Legions were slowly being organized, the 1st Legion was responsible for defending the entire galaxy from outsiders and stomping out rebellions.

Rise of the Warp
About five hundred years after their first deployment, during a reorganization of the Legions, the 1st Legion was changed to the 25th Legion and began to call themselves the "Red Legion". According to old records, from that time period, the reason for this change was symbolical. Since the total number of Legions was 25, the Red Legion was given the last number as a symbol that they are the last line of defense for all the living beings that exist in the Warp Universe.

Also, during these reforms, official command over the 25th was handled to Kiras Socola, who became the first Legion Legate of the Red Legion and, as it would become a tradition for the Red Legion, the first legionnaire officer to become an Imperial Legate.

With this new military organization enforced, Evan turned his attention to other Timelines, Dimensions, and Universes. Wishing to add them to his evergrowing Warp Universe, he lead the Warp Army through multiple campaings against other realms, with the Red Legion always being in the center of the most hard-fought battles.

To the men of the Red Legion, however, this was an honor. To them, this showed how much trust Greyson had in their abilities, and because of that they always did their best. Thanks to their extended use of reconnaissance and scouting, as well as their officers' neverending researches in the direction of perfecting their Legion's military tactics the Red Legion would be remembered as the Legion that never lost a battle.

Despite their skill and their record as the Warp Universe's finest, there is a part of their history that the Legion sees to this day as their greatest tragedy. During the campaign to claim a dimension for the Warp Universe, the Red Legion was fighting in the South Theater and were tasked with the mission of conquering the small planet Komis V - a small dessert world with an impenetrable fortress city that acted both as the main gathering point of the enemy forces and as the headquarters of the commanders in this part of the galaxy.

When the Red Legion's forces first landed, they expected an easy victory. What they got instead was three months in hell. Greeted by the fire of towered turrets sitting behind the fortress energy shield, most of the Red Legion's first wave got demolished in minutes. With the battalion having lost over ninety percent of its manpower, the survivors tried to run behind a mountain range for cover until back-up arrived. Before the next wave could arrive, however, Komis V's army overran and completely annihilated the remaining legionnaires before retreating back into the fortress.

Refusing to accept this as a lost, the Red Legion sent the rest of its forces to capture the planet. All six of the Legion's brigades got dropped on the planet surface, right into a bloody massacre that continued for months. The Red Legion's artillery had limited range, and couldn't fire outside the fortress' own artillery's fire range. The fortress' force field was strong enough to withstand orbital bombardment without flickering. The fact that the city was filled with factories and farms meant that cutting the enemy out of supplies and starving them out wasn't an idea either.

Eventually, either out of desperation or patrimonialism, the Red Legion organized a last-ditch effort to claim the fortress and all of its forces charged forward at once. Countless lives were lost in that attack. Legionnaires were blasted from every direction, but those who survived and managed to step inside the force field blew the fortress' walls with whatever explosives they still had and charged into the city. Corpses littered the city streets as the remains of the Red Legion battled against the outnumbering them enemy forces, all while under the constant fire of the turrets towering above their heads.

The Legion Legate himself and most of the officer staff perished in the streets of this city while battling their way to the energy generators that powered the turrets and the force field, destroying all of them and disabling the city's defenses. By the end of the planet's circle, almost seventy-five percent of the Red Legion had perished but Komis V belonged to the Warp.

After this hard-fought battle, the Red Legion retreated from the campaign, returning back to the Warp to heal its wounds, reflect on the battles it fought and regain the strength that it lost by recruiting new blood into their ranks, the Red Legion left the glory of victory to the Black Legion and the Purple Wolves, who took over the Red Legion's role for the remaining of the campaign.

Despite this tragedy, the Red Legion's reputation remained untainted and their heroic sacrifice in the deserts of Komis V remains respected by every citizen and soldier of the Warp to this day, including all the other Legions.

During Duplex Tribulatio
Red Legion was shown in action for a short time during Hollow Striving, when a Company lead by Captain Leon and Red Leader was fighting against an unknown race of green-skinned creatures inside a forest on an unknown planet.

Equipment
Red Legion's equipment has changed drastically across the time of their service due to the inventions of new technology and weaponry. Currently, the Red Legion uses the LD-Armor, along with the LR-17 and LC-17 rifles as their standard equipment. Along with these, they use a large array of heavy weapons, such as rocket launchers and rayguns.

In addition to this, the Red Legion has a large range of vehicles with many types of tanks, artillery, and airships. Because of the Red Legion's early focus in maneuver warfare, the Red Legion focuses more on light and fast vehicles than others.

Organization
The Red Legion, like every other legion of the Warp Universe, is commanded by a Legion Legate, with the unique in the Red Legion's case being that the Legion Legate also doubles Imperial Legate, which means that when the Red Legion joins with other parts of the Warp Army in an Army Group, the Legion Legate of the Red Legion will - if there is no Field Marshal assigned or if there's no other Imperial Legate present - take full control over the Army Group.

The title of Imperial Legate also places the Legion Legate of the Red Legion as part of the high-command of a Theater. This means that during any serious conflict the Legion Legate of the Red Legion is not only responsible for his own men, but for the lives of at least 19 million other troops as well.

Because of the Red Legion's extended use of reconnaissance, and their focus on studying the enemy before entering battle, the Red Legion has some of the best recon teams and several special forces that specialize in important tasks that standard legionnaire aren't all that well equipped for. Some of the more well-known formations within the Red Legion are:
 * 7th Company - Red Storm: The seventh company of Red Legion lead by Captain Leon consists of the best legionnaires within the Red Legion. The Vanguard of the Red Legion, the Red Storm is always first to arrive on the battlefield. Consisting of a large number of specialists and scouts, the 7th Company is often given the hardest missions and after Red Leader joined the Legion they have often been separated from the rest of the Legion on special assignments.
 * Red Team: Originally a group of specialists that worked alongside the early incarnation of the Red Legion, with time Red Team has been adopted into the Legion itself. Red Team specializes in infiltration tactics and generally, acting deep behind enemy lines.

Combat Doctrine
The Red Legion believes that by studying one's enemy, one can predict their movements before launching any attacks. Trained to execute their orders with ruthless efficiency and believing that the only way to secure victory is through flexible plans and units, the Red Legion is capable of quickly adapting to any situation they are faced with.

Early in their existence, the Red Legion followed a Mobile Warfare Doctrine; focusing on speed and maneuver to cut off and disorganize enemy forces. They utilized the Blitzkrieg method of warfare to the point of perfecting it. Since the early days of their existence, the Red Legion used the rapid dominance tactic, which uses overwhelming power and spectacular displays of force to destroy the enemy's will to fight.

Because of the Red Legion's ruthlessness, minimizing civilian casualties is not only NOT something they care about, but also something that they refuse to do so. Using the fear and terror caused by their surgical and destructive strikes to render the enemy's ability to fight useless short of complete physical destruction.

Sometime after the battle of Komis V, the Red Legion reviewed its tactics and accepted the tactics of Superior Firepower, which dictated that the lives of their men were hard to replace while bullets were easy to produce. In its spirit, they began to utilize heavy armor, artillery, bombardment, and orbital bombardment to level their enemies with the ground from a safe distance, utilizing the tactics of the Mobile Warfare only when Superior Firepower won't do the trick.

Recruitment
Like the rest of the Warp Army, Red Legion's primary source of new recruits lies in Military Academies scattered across the Prime Galaxy. Unlike other Legions, however, who accept the new recruits as members of the Legion upon their arrival, the recruits of the Red Legion stay as such until they pass a secondary training by the Legion itself.

This training is for the most part done on the planet of C-LY-41, which was given to the Legion's as personal headquarters by Evan himself. During the training, the recruits are put under the command of a veteran legionnaire and are give missions such as extracting high-value individuals or destroying strategic points inside an enemy camp built by the Legion beforehand with specially programmed drones acting as their enemies.

Forced to fight on an unknown territory against enemies ten times their numbers, while armed only with basic weaponry, these recruits are pushed to their limits, forced to adapt on their own as often the information they are given before the mission turns out to be fake. It's not unheard of the recruits' training turning into a disaster because they weren't informed that the enemy had tanks.

At the end of this training, only the strongest of the recruits are made legionnaires while the rest (who haven't died or gotten seriously wounded during the training) are sent to other Legions and units.

Trivia

 * The number 25 was chosen for the Legion because it's the author's favorite number.
 * The Legion's appearance, history, and tactics are based on the author's playthroughs of various strategy games.
 * In-universe the Legion is associated with an army they often work alongside with named the Red Army.
 * As if that wasn't obvious after the names Red Legion, Red Team and Red Leader mentioned in the article.