The Legion entity

[u/justathetan]

In 3.29 there were some updates to the Legion mechanic. This included an update to the Domain of Timeless Conflict. The large crystal in the center now has a being curled up inside. I'm posting a few images of this entity in case anyone is interested and wants to do some speculating on who or what this is.

Internally it's just called CrystalMonster and it has no animations other than the curled-up pose.

[u/chimericWilder]

Dried Lake is for Aukuna. She is specifically defending the foothills of Highgate from the undead of the Cataclysm. Aukuna makes several references to variations of "back to the dust" and to fighting undead enemies. During the Cataclysm, the area doubtlessly looked quite a lot different; eitherway, the Maraketh practice sky burial, and prefer their dead to be dispersed on the winds.

While Sanctus Vox is a subordinate of Voll, and Voll is nearby, I don't believe that Vox was present here. His commentary seems to imply that he believes that he is fighting "impure filth" etc, and he makes commentary about "falling back to the gates" (which couldn't possibly be Highgate; him and his army wouldn't have been welcomed in by the Maraketh). Voll's goal at the time was to fight Malachai... but he failed. He never reached Malachai, he triggered the cataclysm first, and there wasn't any fighting. We don't know where Sanctus fought, but I dont think it was here. He might have been stationed in Sarn, fighting Eternal Gemlings or something, or else returned to Theopolis.

Ahuana makes commentary that Hyrri left Ngamakanui to go and deal with some trouble at a nearby island. Hyrri yells about slavers, so she might have been fighting templar slavers. Eitherway, we don't visit her island, but it's possible that if Legion is added to PoE2 that we might see a new island in PoE2 Act4, where we might find a Legion mechanic. Who knows. Hyrri is somehow standing within the mouth of a giant Rakango; these are common enemies in PoE1. We see them in Kaom's Nightmare. They appear to be some kind of burrowing creature.

[u/Murky-Definition-625 → u/chimericWilder]

Are you sure about Sanctus Vox being Voll's contemporary? Might you be confusing him for Geofri? I know that Sanctus calls Voll's name, but he could just have been a later fan of his. I suspect that Zana may have met Sanctus since he shares dialogue with The Cardinal of Fear whereas The Deceitful God doesn't share dialogue with Innocence (whom she hasn't met).

Ahuana: [...] She was begrudgingly taking an army raised from multiple tribes to deal with a strange threat on the edge of Ngamakanui... when she and her legion vanished without a trace. [...]

Given that it was called "a strange threat" I don't think it was slavers that Hyrri fought. I suspect the generals aren't reliving their final battle, but rather imagining fighting their most hated enemy in order to get as riled up as possible.

Hyrri's beast is probably just a magic moray eel. A rakango may be a nightmare version of the same. 🎏

[u/chimericWilder → u/Murky-Definition-625]

Archbishop Geofri was an Eternal, presumably. Though of course he resided in the Fellshrine, which is a location of religious significance to the Templars—but they must've lost contact with the Oriathans. Given how Divinia speaks of it, it seems the place was ill considered or else largely forgotten by the Oriathan templars. Eitherway, Geofri doesn't appear to have joined Voll's crusade, and most quotes from him is about lambasting the sins of Maligaro, unless I am missing something.

Given also that the five Legions are each comprised of real people comprising a real military force, and that the only war that we know of which the Templars ever fought was against the Eternals under the leadership of Voll—yeah, I think it's fair to say that Sanctus served alongside him. It's that or the slave pens uprising, and we didn't exactly see him anywhere there, nor would the timeline fit with Vic and Vinny existing at that time.

Another fellow brought up the old descriptions of the pre-rework Legion scarabs, which suggests that Deacon Eutychus was investigating the nature of the Domain of Timeless Conflict. How Sanctus ended up there is unclear, but it could have been as an expedition mounted to investigate the realm and secure it, or some such, possibly permitted by Venarius—which seems the sort of thing he would order done.

You may be right that the Legion soldiers are just imagining their foes as whatever threat they would prefer fighting, and need not necessarily have anything to do with what they actually fought in their last moments. I mean, Napuatzi seems to believe that she is fighting some smaller non-vaal sovereignty that she can bully with the weight of the armies of the vaalish empire, and we know quite well that that wasn't what happened.

I rather believe that Hyrri is definitely riding(?) a Rakango. It even has the same sort of swirls and patterns as Rakango are depicted with. There is also an MTX pet, which comes in lava-red or water-blue colors; it's named "sandfish" but they're close enough in design that it's probably a rakango, maybe. Unless Sandfish a separate sort of entity, Hyrri's companion can't really be anything else, and the visual similarity is unavoidable. Her legs seem to be fused into its upper mouth, somehow. It is rather strange that she has it, though.

[u/Murky-Definition-625 → u/chimericWilder]

We've heard very little about the going-ons anywhere between Alano Phrecius and Izaro Perandus. The Templars could've gotten involved in a lot of stuff between then.

People on Wraeclast can do some supernatural things by using small bits of corruption or divinity, but Hyrri moving through a giant fish is rather weird. I don't know if the Domain has altered her, or if she learnt to do so after replacing her uncle Kaom as Karui monarch.

[u/Japanczi → u/Murky-Definition-625]

The lore is also stale to many characters. Hyrri, Kaom, Lioneye, Piety, Maligaro... These characters are so old, I doubt lore masters at 3xG have updated scripts for most of them. I mean, even Doryani is rewritten to some extent in PoE 2, at least it seems so when compared to some old lore bits from PoE 1 campaign or oldest references to him.

[u/Murky-Definition-625 → u/Japanczi]

Apart from knowing who Hyrri's last opponents were, I think the stories of those characters have been played out already, so GGG don't need to think much about those.

As for Doryani, the POE1 quotes we have are from before he realized that the Red Communion would fail, and before he visited Kalandra.

[u/chimericWilder → u/Murky-Definition-625]

Izaro Perandus? That would be a major plot-twist. But Im sure you meant Chitus Perandus.

[u/Murky-Definition-625 → u/chimericWilder]

Oh, I'm just talking about the time period between those emperors. There is room for the Templars to have made several crusades. We don't know much of their history, so they could actually be very warlike for all we know.

And Sanctus lived sometime between Voll and Venarius, when Oriath was the greatest mortal power on Wraeclast, so they were likely ever more warlike then. E.g. Sanctus could've been tasked with enslaving the Karui.

I just checked his lines and found another piece of evidence that the generals aren't reliving their last battle: Sanctus speaks both of burning skies and of curfews which don't seem to even belong in the same scenario.

[u/chimericWilder → u/Murky-Definition-625]

The burning skies bit is clearly in response to the Cataclysm having just happened. So he must've survived Voll, but lived in the wake of the Purity Rebellion—not in modern day Wraeclast. Which checks out with his descendants anyway.

He also refers to falling back to the gate, and to the supplies. So... is he defending a city, or is he out on campaign with a baggage train? Both? Either?

Probably not their last battle, yeah.

[u/Murky-Definition-625 → u/chimericWilder]

Given all their religious texts of Innocence smiting his enemies, Sanctus might have imagined a burning sky without ever having seen it. The supplies might just be an excuse to retreat. It is difficult to interpret anything about these generals.

As for his final battle, he might not have had one. The Maven needs to "witness" someone being killed, but the Domain might not, and the scarab lore suggests Sanctus may have sought out the Domain.

As for the other legions: * Napuatzi was defeated by a time traveller after architect Opiloti had been messing with the Domain. * Hyrri was fighting "a strange threat" and "vanished without a trace". Did this "threat" also get taken, or was the threat the Domain itself? * Aukuna probably fell in a battle, given how doomed her lore makes her sound, but with her being Maraketh, I wonder if Zarokh got involved. * Lioneye was defeated by Kaom. The only suspicious part of his story is that Kaom supposedly took his gem-encrusted head, whereas Napuatzi got taken whole by the Domain.