The Dark Legion is comprised of many aliens, artificial constructs and reanimated beings in the service of the entities known as the Dark Apostles, and their servants, the Nepharites. While the most powerful and the first of these Dark Apostles is Ilian, the Apostle of War is Algeroth, and he leaves the greatest mark upon the hordes of creatures that comprise the ranks of the Dark Legion.

There are certain creatures that may be considered "common" beings of the Dark Legion, found in the service of all of the Dark Apostles, though their forms may change slightly due to the whims of one Apostle or another. Algeroth produces most of the weapons of necrotechnology used by the armed forces of the other Apostles, though he still reserves a certain select few creatures for his own glory.

What follows is an overview of some of these "generic" servants of the Dark Legion that may be found in the service of various Dark Apostles and their emissaries, though most of these are generally associated with Algeroth.

Weaponry

The "standard" weapon of the Dark Legion is an assault rifle that the Imperials have taken to calling the "Whirlwind Blaster". The alien word for this weapon is the "Kratach". The Kratach takes varied forms. The "standard" form -- the weapon manufactured in the factories of the Citadels -- is an assault rifle with a stock and a curved clip that looks fairly mundane, save that it is typically painted bright red. However, the term also refers to various assault rifles of human design that are modified with organic-looking growths, and warped by the Dark Symmetry to sport spikes sticking out in odd directions. Although these latter variants are unique, no two alike, they seem to be functionally equivalent to the "standard" Kratach.

This general principle applies to many of the other weapons employed by the Dark Legion: There are certain weapon designs that are manufactured in the factories of the Citadels that have a more-or-less uniform appearance, such that they can be identified upon sight by those with experience in such things. However, the Dark Legion also takes weaponry and machinery captured from humans and modifies it by supernatural means, giving each such item a unique and warped appearance, sometimes to such a degree that the original weapon cannot be identified -- Often, this weapon is permanently fused with a particular creature. For instance, a Capitol trooper who was carrying an M-50 assault rifle at the time of his death might be "reincarnated" as an Undead Legionnaire, the remnants of his M-50 fused into the stump that was left of his arm.

Many Dark Legion weapons have sharp spikes on them that make them very difficult to hold without pricking oneself, and the Brotherhood holds that using any sort of Dark Legion weapon will lead to corruption of the soul. Some of the more organic-looking weapons may actually exhibit a rudimentary intelligence.

Vehicles

Vehicles in the service of Algeroth -- and, by extension, the Horde of the Dark Legion -- typically look like wrecked vehicles of humanity brought back to "life", warped in shape by the Dark Symmetry, and combined with organic elements.

For instance, the typical aircraft of the Dark Legion is the Revenant, typically piloted by a Necromutant or Centurion. This looks like some sort of ghost of one of the many aircraft of humankind, typically obsolete and downed years ago, but patched together with organic components, and capable of supernatural agility in flight, even though it looks like nothing should be able to get it to stay up in the air. In fact, Revenants can hover in place and even fly backward, seemingly defying gravity.

Tanks are similarly altered, built around the hulls of destroyed corporate war vehicles, and then covered with pulpy necrotechnological growths and mounted with Dark Legion weaponry. Some, however, look completely alien -- For instance, a vehicle that has been dubbed the "Black Widow" is a seemingly alien creation, vaguely resembling a spider-like body with three legs that terminate in treads, and a thorax with wheels in the rear, the central body/head capable of swiveling about like a turret, with gatling guns protruding from what appear to be "eyes".

Undead Legionnaires

These are the most numerous of the troops of the Dark Legion, used not only by Algeroth, but by the other Dark Apostles as well. Undead Legionnaires are corpses that have been reanimated by the powers of the Dark Symmetry, sometimes armed and equipped only with what they were carrying at the time of animation. When the armies of the Dark Legion march against humanity, the Undead Legionnaires are typically armed with a patchwork of scavenged pieces of armor, sometimes twisted and warped by the Dark Symmetry, decorated with odd spikes and such that serve no real purpose other than to add to the menacing quality of their appearance. Sometimes, Undead Legionnaires will have "cybernetic" enhancements, such as mechanical implements to replace lost limbs, or mechanical parts plugged in for no discernable functional purpose other than to make them look even more bizarre.

Although the appearance of Legionnaires varies greatly, an important thing to note is that they don't look simply like corpses that have been animated and are now walking about. They usually look significantly altered -- with green, leathery skin and milky and pupil-less eyes, or perhaps a sooty-grey or sickly yellow pallor with organic-looking tubes protruding from one part of the body and running to another.

The threat is very real that dead tissue can be reanimated by the Darkness, but you don't generally worry about being in a morgue and suddenly the bodies pop up and try to strangle you. Bodies that are reanimated by the Darkness look significantly warped, covered with lesions and with strange alterations in color and texture.

Furthermore, Undead Legionnaires can be killed. If you blow off an arm, it won't crawl across the ground and try to claw at you. (Well, with the Darkness, there are bound to be weird exceptions, but generalities are being discussed here.) If you blow its head off, the zombie will stop. If you riddle it with enough holes, it will start leaking fluids, and actually "bleed to death". And, it has proven possible in the past to actually gas Legionnaires. Although they are reanimated, they are, at least in a sense, alive, and they still need their biological processes to survive.

Another feature of Undead Legionnaires is that they haven't much in the way of cognitive ability. It appears that they can only function when they are led by another creature of the Darkness. Legionnaires are often found in squads led by a Necromutant or a Centurion. If the squad leader is slain, the Legionnaires typically just stand there or collapse like puppets whose strings have been cut. Another creature of the Darkness may be able to come and take control of them again, by means not fully understood. Legionnaires found inside of a Citadel, however, appear to have more "independence", perhaps controlled by the head Nepharite himself, or some sort of power of the Citadel.

It should be noted that when an Undead Legionnaire is slain, the body rapidly decomposes (though the exact rate varies greatly) and often the weapons and equipment carried by the Legionnaire melt into uselessness as well. Capitol has actually taken advantage of this fact, as it was inadvertently discovered that there is a way to cause Legionnaires to start melting upon contact with a chemical compound known as Agent Red. Agent Red was originally concocted as an experimental defoliant. However, its use in the Venusian jungles had an unanticipated side effect -- it causes Undead Legionnaires in contact with the substance to begin melting, and it has been observed to have some effect on necrotechnological constructs as well. Since then, most creations of the Dark Legion appear to be immune to this effect, but most Undead Legionnaires are still subject to this phenomenon. Capitol manufactures "Slime Grenades" (set to release clouds of Agent Red) for this very purpose. These grenades are harmful to plant life and very harmful to Undead Legionnaires, but scientific studies are inconclusive as to whether they have any adverse effect on human life.

Undead Legionnaires are typically very stupid, and are quite fearless. They are often used as "shock troops", sent marching across minefields to clear them out with their own bodies, so that troops more valuable to the Dark Legion can follow behind.

The creation of an Undead Legionnaire apparently requires that the body to be reanimated have its brain and most of the vital organs more or less intact.

Still, there have been instances of body parts being reanimated (at least temporarily) and other gruesome incidences in graveyards. Hence, it is now customary to cremate bodies rather than to bury them. There are no more "graveyards", per se, in the human worlds -- just parks set aside where various memorials are built to the dead, but without any actual remains.

The "generic" Undead Legionnaire would be exemplified by those in the service of Algeroth. However, those serving other Apostles may have certain distinguishing features, other than the fact that they will tend to wear the emblem of their Apostle somewhere on their person -- typically on a shoulder-pad, in a mockery of the methods of the humans.

Necromutants

A fate worse than death awaits those who are captured by the forces of the Dark Legion. They are exposed to the corrupting powers of the Dark Symmetry and transformed into brutish monsters known as Necromutants. It is believed that these creatures possess some faint memories of their former lives and a glimmer of their intelligence, but they are wholly turned over to the Darkness. The Brotherhood holds that the soul of an individual turned into a Necromutant has been consumed by the Darkness, and that only the darkest parts of the mind are left to serve the Legion.

Although some variation is possible, the stereotypical Necromutant is a muscular humanoid with dirty yellowish skin, with head hair that has grown long and ragged and typically grey or white, but with a bald spot on the crown. The face has been strangely altered, without lips, showing bare gums and teeth, but the reddish gums seem to blend in smoothly with the rest of the face. Necromutants usually have a metal plate that has been bolted to the forehead, and tubes running from parts of the body to metal boxes of unknown purpose, possibly having something to do with feeding nutrients to the body.

Necromutants are most often armed with a standardized weapon that looks like a variation on the "standard" Kratach, with a large bayonet mounted under the barrel that the Imperials have dubbed the "Sectioner". Some are armed with a flame-thrower unit dubbed the "Tormentor". The alien name for the assault rifle used by the Necromutants is the "Belzarach".

Necromutants, like Undead Legionnaires, melt when they are slain, and their weapons dissolve with them. They are sometimes found leading squads of Undead Legionnaires, or in squads led by Centurions, but there are occasionally Necromutants with enough autonomy to be found as solo agents acting on the battlefield or even in urban areas (typically as suicide commandos sent in to perform terrorist acts) -- For whatever reason, Algeroth's plan does not seem to be to give his creations a high profile in human society. While they may face human forces on the battlefield, it is not often that a Necromutant shows its ugly face in urban areas -- Algeroth's servants in human-dominated areas tend to look more human. Perhaps the Dark Legion benefits from the uncertainty of the human race as to whether the Dark Legion truly exists, or whether it's all some grand conspiracy by the corporations and the Brotherhood to keep the general populace in line.

Although Necromutants are almost bestial in demeanor, and are generally considered "undead", they have at times displayed fear, and have sometimes been observed brawling with each other.

Centurions

Centurions are possessed with greater, more malignant intelligence than Necromutants. In appearance, they could pass for human, except that their skin is typically sooty with a greenish pallor, and their eyes often glow faintly. They typically wear a fairly distinctive "uniform" of armor, and are armed with a heavy pistol known as the Voriche and a twisted sword known as the Skalak (or, to the Imperials, the "Skullsplitter"). Centurions are actually capable of speaking in a voice that could pass for human with some effort, and they are sometimes used as commandos for operations in human territories. Like Necromutants and Legionnaires, they dissolve when slain, due to "mortuary enzymes" running through their bodies, and can voluntarily trigger this process if captured.

It is believed that Centurions are created from captured soldiers, but that the requirements of creating a Centurion are more stringent -- that the subject be, in some sense, more willing than that used to create a Necromutant, and perhaps already possessing a corrupt soul.

Though Centurions are sometimes seen with other weaponry than the Voriche pistol, they are always seen armed with the Skalak. It appears that this weapon has some ceremonial significance to Centurions.

Razides

There is some disagreement about the origin of these red giants, standing approximately 9 feet tall each. There is no evidence that these creatures are of any sort of human origin, and the Brotherhood believes that these are actually aliens brought in from another universe with the Dark Legion, and modified with Necrotechnology to serve the will of the Nepharites. They look like fleshy masses of muscle and bone, with no visible neck, possessing small heads that sport two glowing eyes set in dark sockets, and instead of any nose or mouth, a mass of fleshy lumps that appear to act as "gills" of some sort. Although Razides appear to possess some sort of filters to make them immune to most gases, they do seem to require oxygen to function.

Razides are extremely strong, and often carry heavy fire support weapons that would normally be vehicle mounted, and make such weapons as the Charger or Nimrod Autocannon pale by comparison. A punch from a Razide is purportedly strong enough to flatten a man into a fleshy pancake.

Little is known of the intellect of Razides. They do not appear to have any capability to communicate, and are only seen in the service of the Nepharites, or guarding Citadels.

Sightings have been reported of Razides on Dark Eden, though, for reasons unknown, these creatures are blue instead of red. These creatures have been dubbed Nasca Razides.

The huge heavy machine guns carried by Razides are called "Nazgaroths" by the aliens, and are capable of knocking aircraft out of the air. They also sometimes carry the "Ashnagaroth" gatling HMG -- dubbed the "Screamer" by the Imperials, due to the shrieking sound it makes when the barrels spin.

Pretorian Stalkers

Pretorian Stalkers are believed to be a mockery of the Doomtroopers. These creatures are massive in size, standing perhaps eight to nine feet tall each, with mechanical bodies, though their creators saw fit to stretch an organic skin over their metal skulls. The head of a Pretorian Stalker has a skull-like appearance, covered with warty, leathery blue-green skin, with a pair of tusks running alongside each jaw. The massive mechanical armor/body gives the creature a hunch-backed appearance, and is made of a dark metal inscribed with runes and sigils. Pretorian Stalkers act in teams of two, seemingly possessed of some sort of telepathy that allows them to coordinate perfectly without the ability to speak (though they sometimes roar when angered or wounded).

These creatures are found almost exclusively in the jungles of Venus, and are equipped with large heavy machine guns that are a virtual Bauhaus Army Knife of weapons -- For some reason, this weapon is known as the "Scythe of Semai", consisting of a heavy machine gun with an enormous bayonet (the "Scythe") mounted on the front, and with an integral flame-thrower and grenade launcher (the "Carcass Launcher"). Each "Scythe of Semai" looks slightly different, and Pretorian Stalkers have variations in their construction as well.

While some Stalkers may be in service to the other Apostles, most of them are associated with Algeroth's offensive on Venus.

Bio-Giants

These huge monsters have a vaguely humanoid appearance, having been built and stitched together by Algeroth's Tekrons into something like looks like it belongs in a fairy tale of old ... save for the cybernetically attached weapons sometimes replacing one or more appendages. It's not known exactly how they procure the parts for these creatures at such an exaggerated size, but they're large enough that they sometimes will carry platforms or baskets on their shoulders, from which several Necromutants take up gunnery positions and fire from the back of the creature as a mobile weapons platform. Bio-Giants are lumbering and stupid, though it doesn't take great intelligence for them to sight targets and then blast away with their built-in weaponry. Each Bio-Giant is a little different, often with pieces of machinery and armor (often identifiable as having come from a vehicle) grafted into their bodies.