Arcane Legions

Since the rise of the undead legions the mundane armies of the world have dreaded facing them in combat. The Roman legionary is uneasy against enemies already once killed, such as those he often faces in the sands of Egypt. Han infantrymen march next to (and sometimes fight) many of the horrors of the ancient world. Many of these undead creations cannot be killed. Some do not stay dead.

Terracotta spearmen form a large component of the Grand Army of the Crusade. Fashioned over the centuries and imbued with tenant souls and new life by the sorceries of the spirit Nüwa, they are excellent soldiers. The souls retain the lifetime of military experience they gathered during life, and the terracotta bodies (though fragile) do not suffer pain, fatigue or disease.

In large blocks, the terracotta spearmen resemble autonomous fixed defenses. Long pike walls are common, backed by rank upon rank of stone warriors, each ready to step into the fore when one of the first rank crumbles or is broken. For the Grand Army’s enemies, destroying the bodies is enough—the newly freed souls are bound to return to Nüwa or one of her magical artificers, to be joined to a new or newly repaired terracotta body and returned to the lines to fight again. The souls of the soldiers trapped in these bodies find the arrangement satisfactory, pleased to be spending body after body in the emperor’s service.