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The Mane’s Legion

    • 4 posts
    November 7, 2019 4:54 PM EST
    Hello everyone. In a book in ESO, “The Eagle and the Cat,” the Speaker of the Mane mentions the Manes Legion. He states how he organized the remnants to maintain order and spread information on remedies during the knahaten Flu in the second era. I’ve searched the internet and all that I can playing ESO but unfortunately there is no information on this Manes Legion. I’ve made some head cannon for them and wanted to see what everyone thinks and hear people’s opinions on what they think the Manes Legion could be. I have them as a small but elite army of the Mane and Lunar Clergy that is made up of warrior adepts. They serve the Mane as soldiers of the Ja-Kha'jay and the Lunar Clergy. Being responsible for fighting against the darkness of Namira and anything else that could threaten the Ja-Kha’jay or the Khajiit. As well as guarding holy sites and the temples of the Lunar Clergy. I look forward to what everyone thinks
    • 1467 posts
    November 8, 2019 7:28 PM EST

    That's a pretty interesting interpretation, and I think a response I would have depends on the concept. Because, if I were to sort of take it as creating a new faction I think I'd seperate the three roles, have a 'Legion' dedicated to protecting the Mane, another protecting Holy Sites and then a third, more offensive sect that focuses on fighting against Namira. But if we're just talking about the concept you've got? Absolutely solid, think it's something that makes the most sense given what we now know about Khajiit culture. 

    • 1595 posts
    November 9, 2019 6:42 AM EST

    Interesting topic! PGE 1st Ed gives us something that might be helpful:

    Torval is the city-state of Elsweyr's spiritual and temporal ruler, the Mane. He and his tribe live here in stately and exotic palaces built from massive timbers of Valenwood oak, whose territorial borders are only a few hundred miles away. Symmetrical sugarcane gardens surround these palaces, where the Mane is often seen in day-long meditations atop his palanquin, held up by his inexhaustible cathay-raht servants. As has been said, the moon-sugar of Elsweyr is the holiest of substances to the khajiit. They speak of sugar as we might speak of the soul or the lifeforce. Therefore, humans have been traditionally forbidden to trespass on these estates, and the Warrior Guard enforce this measure as strictly as they do around the Tenmar Forest. An Imperial diplomat was not long ago chased from the premises, even though he had been promised an audience with the khajiit ruler. The panther-like Warrior Guard hissed at his approach, bared their fangs, and threatened him to leave quickly, lest they "leak his sugar" into the sand. Our Glorious Emperor, Tiber Septim, has yet to seek redress from the lawless catmen.

    So this tells us holy sites and moon-sugar plantations have Warrior Guard sentinels, and depending on how you read the bolded sentence, so does the Mane - something that is backed up as that term crops up when we look into Khajiit fur-stocks and physiology:

    Mane: The Mane is a unique form of Khajiit born when a 3rd moon appears in the sky. Only one Mane exists at any one time, and Khajiiti believe that the Mane is one soul incarnating into different bodies. Traditionally, all Khajiit would shave their hair and braid it into the Mane's mane, but the large population of modern Elsweyr has made this tradition impractical. Manes may still wear the braids of their tribe and his warrior guard. Due to the weight of all this hair, the Mane cannot move and must be carried on a palaquin by his Cathay-raht servants.

    We see a similar term appear again in relation to the honorific, "do":

    "Do" in a Khajiti name means warrior. "Do" is rarely used by modern Khajiit, except for the Mane's guards. And masters of Goutfang, Whispering Claw, and Rawlith Khaj, of course.

    I'm going out on a limb and say I think this Warrior Guard protecting the Mane is the Mane's Legion, an Imperialised term to describe the Mane's personal force. So everything you're going for totally works as it makes perfect sense that the spiritual leader of the Khajiit be guarded by Adepts of the various martial and spiritual traditions.

    Edit: I remember in Elsweyr that we recruit an Adept of the Desert Wind named Zamarak. He was once a Claw of the King, so there is a definite precedent set for the sort of thing in your head-canon:

    "You asked Zamarak about his exile and why he returned. This one supposes he needs to tell someone, so it might as well be you, walker.
    Zamarak was once more than just a humble adept. He was plucked from his studies and forged into a King's Claw."

    A great opportunity to get creative. The Claws of the Mane, maybe? :)


    This post was edited by Paws at November 9, 2019 6:53 AM EST
    • 4 posts
    November 10, 2019 3:56 PM EST
    RE: Dragonborn,
    As a whole I was thinking the Legion would have different divisions (prides for a more lore friendly term) that would specialize in certain duties. It is established in the lore that the Mane has their Warrior Guard which acts as the Mane’s royal guard and protectors of the Mane’s holdings. Whether the Warrior Guard would be part of the Legion as an elite subgroup or their own group in entirely I’m not sure because I’m not too familiar with how royal guards are structured. I’m only familiar with the fact that royal guards don’t do anything except guard their patron and nothing else. As far as protecting the Temples and having an offensive minded group could it be similar to how the Ordinators are structured? Having a group who’s duty is Temple and Clergy protection and another who’s duty is more military?
    • 4 posts
    November 10, 2019 4:01 PM EST
    RE: Paws,
    That’s an interesting concept I haven’t thought of. The Mane’s Warrior Guard being called the Mane’s Legion by outsiders to make it more relatable. I’ve always been under the impression that the Warrior Guard would be a small unit of Royal Guards who’s duties would only entitle protecting the Mane and their holdings. This concept though is only based on real life royal guards and their lack of doing much outside of being body guards. I guess it could be possible that the Mane’s Warrior Guard could be a larger military order like force that can divided up into different groups for different duties. The soldiers who’s duty is to protect the Mane, the ones who’s duty is to protect holy sites and Temples, and the soldiers who’s duty is to be the military arm of the Mane and fight against Namira and her agents
    • 1595 posts
    November 11, 2019 1:05 AM EST

    TheBigHosk said: RE: Paws, That’s an interesting concept I haven’t thought of. The Mane’s Warrior Guard being called the Mane’s Legion by outsiders to make it more relatable. I’ve always been under the impression that the Warrior Guard would be a small unit of Royal Guards who’s duties would only entitle protecting the Mane and their holdings. This concept though is only based on real life royal guards and their lack of doing much outside of being body guards. I guess it could be possible that the Mane’s Warrior Guard could be a larger military order like force that can divided up into different groups for different duties. The soldiers who’s duty is to protect the Mane, the ones who’s duty is to protect holy sites and Temples, and the soldiers who’s duty is to be the military arm of the Mane and fight against Namira and her agents

    I'm sort of thinking along the lines of "Warrior Guard" or "Mane's Legion" being a catch-all term to describe the force under the Mane's direct command, while the actual structure and makeup of that force can be whatever you wish it. True that irl royal guards don't do much fieldwork, but TES tends to make the rulers and their forces a bit more dynamic.

    Using examples from other cultures, we can maybe find a few parallels. Most famously, The Dragonguard anon Blades served as the Emperor's bodyguard, and to the layperson in the Empire, that's what they did. We know they were so much more than that, though, serving as agents in a large spy network as well as an order dedicated to preserving age-old secrets.

    The Lion Guard of the Daggerfall Covenant are like the king's own personal knightly order, and they serve as both his protectors as well as a force deployed all across Covenant lands.

    Queen Ayrenn has her Eyes of the Queen, and while not quite the same idea in that they're not a fighting force like her Marines, they still have parallels found in other cultures as a force that's always by her side as well as sent on far afield.

    The Hidden Armigers of King Jorunn are his spy-network but, like the Eyes, members are never too far from his side.

    Vivec has his Buoyant Armigers, a knightly order roaming the land fighting evil and composing poetry, and also acting as his own personal guard who stand right outside his temple.

    Almalexia has her Hands, ostensibly her personal guard yet a bit more dynamic and implied to be more like Vivec's Armigers in terms of freedom, recalled to her side only when she's feeling particularly vulnerable. Of course, both Vivec and Almalexia command the Ordinators who, as you spoke with DB about, have a very rich and detailed structure within the catch-all term of "Ordinator."

    So when it comes to TES, royal guards have a tradition of being a lot more than guards. Zamarak seems to imply that, as a King's Claw, his role was a bit more dynamic than that of guard duty. Wherever you go with with the Mane's Legion or how you break it up in terms of structure, I think you can't go too far wrong no matter how you do it.

    • 4 posts
    November 11, 2019 6:55 PM EST
    Thank you Paws for that reply, it was a great explanation. Zamarak is actually one of my favorite characters now in ESO after having played the Elsweyr expansion. As you mentioned earlier the idea of a Mane’s Claw would be fun to play with. I may of been over thinking too much what could be entitled in the idea of the Mane’s Legion. There’s just so little on Khajiit lore than sometimes I tend to overthink what is there instead of using the lack of lore as creative freedom. Thank you both for your input