Quote:The former members of the Royal Navy group Legion des Damnes successfully escaped the clutches of the GRN, but suffered heavy losses in doing so. A once proud hundred thousand men and women was whittled down to two thousand in a single day.
Struggling to escape with what they had left, the Legionnaires regrouped deep inside the Nievre asteroid field, with brave pilots fighting swarms of GRN ships, to buy the time needed for the Grande Guillotine, to escape.
With few options, and the GRN closing in on them quickly, due to damage caused to the Guillotines engines, the Legionnaires set a course for Montbard base, their only salvation. Intending to assault and capture the base, despite the impossibility of the task with their weakened forces.
However, the Legionnaires did not send in an all out reckless assault. Tactics and skill were in their blood, and because of that, there remained a slim hope that they would survive the coming battle.
In the end, unforeseen circumstances intervened. Certain Brigand elements aboard the base, who were assisting in the co-ordination of the defence, enacted a plan that would, if successful, allow both sides to survive against the GRN fleet coming in to wipe out the remains of the legion forces.
The plan was successful. Depending on your view of successful. Montbard still stands, despite heavy damage. The Legionnaires survived, despite heavy losses. And the Royalist fleet was tricked into turning back, preventing the complete destruction of either sides forces.
However, there were unexpected effects of these facts. The Legion changed. It still stands strong, but now, the surviving Legionnaires fly more for themselves than for a common goal. They still understand teamwork, and the bonds they forged together so long on the battlefield.
But now they have turned to a life of crime. Won over by the destruction of their lives, and their time on Epernay with the Brigands instead of fighting for the crown, they steal for themselves. Instead of boasting about their skills as pilots and warriors, they instead brag about their latest spoils.
They themselves have become Brigands. United, as other small gangs of Brigands are, by their lifetime of working together, they steal and smuggle as one, fighting for the best spoils from a lonely tradesman, or fighting for dominance over each other.
But they have survived.
They are the Legion des Damnes.
this is just about the most perfect intro i've ever read. short, sweet, and a million times better than previous efforts. the rest is tl;dr, but this is very good.