Legion

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The Legion are a special type of living weapon designed by humanity and used by the Neuron task force in response to the chimera threat attacking the Ark. The Legion are tethered to a human controller, and work effectively in co-operation with said controller.^[1] In ASTRAL CHAIN, there are five types of Legion that the player has access to during gameplay - Sword, Arrow, Arm, Beast, and Axe. Each Legion has its own unique appearance, fighting style and abilities.

History

The Legion were originally chimeras, who were captured by humans and have been put under control and turned into living weapons. They have armor attached to them and are tethered to their wielder by a chain that creates the mental link between the two. As the Legion and its user understand each other more, they can function as a single entity and fight more effectively in co-operation.^[2]

Appearance

Sword Legion

The Sword Legion is a humanoid Legion with highly ridged and textured blue skin, and covered in an armor-like plating on its lower arms and legs, chest, back, shoulders, and head. It has four large loops on its figure (one on each shoulder, one on the forehead, and one on the back of its neck), that appear to serve no functional purpose. The armor pieces on the Legion are a matte white, and are branded with "POLICE" on the chestpiece, back of the neck, right arm, and left leg, "NEURON" on the upper right chest, left arm, and right leg, and "SV-05" on the chest, inside of the knee, upper arm, left shoulder, and neck. The armor is highlighted with glowing green accents, and red and dark grey markings as if it has been painted. The arms of the Legion are elongated and sword-like, and are used as weapons. These appendages appear to be retractable, as it sometimes appears with normal arms. In the center of its chest is a triangular cavity with a bright blue glowing core, the same color as the collar around its neck and the chains that bind it to its user. While its face is mostly obscured, its eyes appear from under the brow as either a glowing blue, or red.

Arrow Legion

The Arrow Legion is a floating, humanoid Legion similar in appearance to the Sword Legion with highly textured blue skin and a green-accented, white-and-grey armor-like plating covering its head, shoulders, lower arms, and entire bottom half. While it shares the loops on the forehead and shoulders, it does not have one on the back of its neck, unlike the Sword Legion. The Legion lacks legs, and instead has six extensions from its hip that surround a central spike like an armored skirt. It is capable of materializing a large, spiked bow at will, which it can use to shoot energy projectiles. Its armor has "NEURON" on the upper left and right hip extension, as well as the bow, "POLICE" on the lower left and right hip extension, and "SV-04" on the arms and chestpiece. As with the other Legions, it has a triangular cavity on its chest containing a glowing core, a collar, and eyes that appear as glowing red or blue.

Arm Legion

The Arm Legion is a large, stocky Legion, resembling the upper torso of a person. It shares the same design elements as the rest in its blue skin, armor-like plating, triangular core, collar, and coloration, although it has a wider, more square-shaped face to the other Legions, and more geometric and layered armor, giving it a stronger, less organic appearance. Its torso ends with two pointed extensions on the left and right, but no legs, and Like several other Legion types, it has four rings on its upper body, with one on each shoulder, one on the back of the neck, and one on the forehead. The most notable feature of the Arm Legion is its arms, which appear as large lower arms and hands that are detached from the main body, and suspended in front of it. Its hands are blue on the upper side and black on the lower side, giving the appearance of thick gloves, and the arms are heavily armored. It is branded with "NEURON" on the extensions from its hip, "POLICE" on the floating arms and the area on the main body where they would normally connect, and "SV-02" on the chest.

Beast Legion

The Beast Legion is a quadrupedal, canine Legion. While notably different in appearance from the others, it still sports the same blue skin and green, grey, and white armor, as well as glowing blue or red eyes, a triangular core, and a collar. The Beast Legion bears resemblance to Dobermann dogs, with a pointed face and tall, upright ears. It has a long tail, and three-toed paws ending in stylized red and blue claw-like points. Like the Sword Legion, it has four loops on its person, one on each shoulder, one at the back of the neck, and one on the forehead. The Legion's armor is branded "POLICE" on the tail and lower front legs, "NEURON" on the back thighs and upper front legs, and "SV-03" on the lower back legs.

Axe Legion

The Axe Legion is a humanoid Legion wielding an extremely large Axe. It shares all the same design elements as the other Legions, however the armor on its body is more streamlined and has less protrusions than the other types, giving it a more human appearance. It is the only Legion to not have rings on its upper shoulders or neck, with only one on the forehead. It also has a blue plate on its forehead, which is also unique to the Axe Legion. While it does have legs, it also has three extensions from its hip, resembling skirt armor. "POLICE" is written on the skirt-like extensions and the upper part of its axe, "NEURON" on its left shoulder, and "SV-01" on the lower part of the axe, the handle of the axe, its lower arms, legs, and chestpiece.

Abilities

The Legion is capable of cleaning up Red Matter, destroying gates to the Astral Plane and also grants a very high tolerance to Red Matter to the user. Additionally, being in control of a Legion allows the user to be able to see Red Matter, Legions, and chimeras, which ordinary people cannot. This capacity to interact with the Astral Plane and those that come from it is likely due to the Legion's nature as a captured chimera.^[3]

Gameplay

The Legion can be summoned by pressing [ZL], and will stay summoned for 100 seconds, after which it will be unsummonable until the gauge has recharged. The Legion will attack on its own, but can be moved around by holding [ZL] and moving the right stick, which can allow some control over who the Legion is attacking. This can also be used to maneuver the Legion for collecting Red Matter, or solving puzzles. The Legions can be switched between by pressing (Y).^[3]

While summoned, the Legion can be used both in battle, and for puzzle-solving or investigative purposes. By moving the right stick to move the Legion in a circle around a target, the chain binding the player and the Legion will wrap around the target to restrain them in place for a few seconds (Chain Bind), and moving the chain to be in front of a charging enemy will disrupt the attack, sending them flying backwards (Chain Counter). Performing a Chain Bind on a gate to the Astral Plane will destroy the gate. The player can also pull themself towards the Legion using the chain, to reach areas across long gaps which only the Legion can clear.^[3]

As the Legion is invisible to regular humans, it can be used to eavesdrop on conversations, in order to gain information from those who may not willingly share it.^[4]

Further information on the gameplay of each individual Legion type can be found on their pages:

• Sword Legion
• Arrow Legion
• Beast Legion
• Arm Legion
• Axe Legion

Development

From the beginning of development, different forms for the Legion partners to take were considered, and different actions and movements that would suit each form. Several ideas were proposed that didn't make it into the final game, such as the eight in the image to the right, in order: Humanoid, Winged, Djinn, Ghost, Tiny, ethereal "Special Effect", Gorilla, Beast, Snake, and Slime Legions. While none of these ideas ended up being used as Legions, several of them were repurposed as enemy chimeras, such as the winged and snake concepts.

Animator Marumi Nakajo stated how having two characters under the control of one player is one of the more unique features of ASTRAL CHAIN, so presented challenges to the animation of the game. However, this also opened opportunities for unique poses and movements for each Legion type, especially with the Sync Attacks, being attacks where the Legion and player attack together. The summoning of the Legion was described as being remniscent of "Sentai" shows.^[5]

The original Legion design was made by manga artist Masakazu Katsura, and was then adapted into a 3D model by sculptor Yoshikaze Matsushita, with help from the art director of ASTRAL CHAIN, Hajime Kimura, to properly capture the essence of the original drawing in the model. The original Legion sketch was made in ZBrush, and the model was cleaned up and finalized in Maya. Parts requiring special attention included the legs and feet, as the Legion needed to look natural in both a standing and floating position, and the faceplate, since it is a key feature of the design. The POLICE decals were added later in development, as someone pointed out that the Legion were not just alien creatures, but also official police equipment.

In order to cope with the dramatic animations and poses that would be required for the game, the Legion's movements involve the armor stretching and reshaping itself around the legs and wrists as it bends, so as to not intersect with itself and cause clipping.^[6]

Gallery

Trivia

• The Legion are most likely named after either the biblical name for a group of demons, or the military unit Legion.
• At the end of the trailer, a Legion with red accents similar to the aliens and surrounded by a purple aura is shown breaking free of chains that were binding its arms and legs.
• When the Legion is summoned onto the battlefield, the protagonist's hair changes color to a bright blue and glowing blue veins appear up their neck and face.
• The Beast Legion bears resemblance to a Dobermann, which is a breed of dog commonly used by police.

References