These days, it was not often that representatives from multiple Legions met in a single place. The Supreme Commander of the West had been missing long before the Legions were reorganized, and even now the Lauryllian Legions (IV-X) had no particular central authority. They mostly operated independently, having split up the province piecemeal, sections watched over by individual Legions. Little collaboration beyond what was necessary to keep supply lines running, each Legion its own fiefdom in essence.
That had changed.
The Ninth was gone. Fair portions of the Eighth and Tenth with them. And in spite of knowing that this was desertion, treason of the highest order, the others had done nothing to stop them. For the feelings that had led the Ninth down this path were near ubiquitous - understood between comrades in arms. And in the aftermath of the catastrophes of the Succession Crisis and the Xetan Invasion, shedding the blood of one's countrymen was even less palatable.
So the traitors had been let go. And in the aftermath, the remaining Legions did what they always did. Tighten their belts, lift up their bootstraps, and continue to hold the line.
IV - The Fightin' Fourth
V - Old Reliables
VI - The Iron Legion
VII - The Alpha Guard
Having had
minimal desertion towards the force headed out east, these were now the bulk of Legion forces remaining in Lauryl. Between them, they needed to determine how to fill the void left behind by those who had left. First to consider, of course, was a single territory.
IX - The Legion Unyielding
It was understood that the Ninth had almost all but uprooted, with only a handful of loyal legionnaires still left holding the territories. The vast bulk of manpower would need to go towards these lands. However, reinforcements were also needed elsewhere.
VIII - War Hounds
X - The Imperium's Fist
A fair number of legionnaires from these Legions had congregated with the Ninth, and left the province. While the situation was not as bad, they were nevertheless undermanned.
The borders were vulnerable, even if the core of Lauryl remained mostly intact. However, they would be spread even more thin, as manpower would be diverted. The Sixth could no longer simply staff the border with Moonstone. The Seventh could no longer watch over Melodia. Manpower would be shifted. For all that it seemed to forget them, the Imperium nevertheless would be protected by the Lauryllian Legions.
They would hold this ground.
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