LEGION DEMO ANNOUNCEMENT

Sorry about the radio silence lately; we've been very busy getting some important work done. That said, lets discuss what that work has been. The past week Rachel, and Taylor have been working tirelessly to get the card frames done, symbols, and graphics of the game done. On tuesday we gave you your first look at the Domain symbols. Now we have an even cooler announcement:

Friday, July 29th, at 7:30 we will be hosting a demo event for Legion at Dragon's Keep in Provo, UT (260 N University Avenue, Provo, UT, 84601). What is a demo event? Well the gist of it is that we will be providing you with all the materials you need to actually get a first hand look at Legion. The reason for holding an event like this is that we want to begin raising awareness for the product, and what better way to do that than by letting people get actual hands-on experience with it?

We'll be filling you in on the details this coming week, but for now here's a brief rundown of what the Demo event will look like. First and foremost, we will have 18 decks available for you to try out. These decks are actually six unique ones that we have printed 3 times, and each one is tied to a specific domain. We will have team members present to walk you through the game as well as answer any questions. In addition to the decks we will be handing out free swag (in limited quantities so be sure to show up quickly or else be left empty handed).

Thanks so much for the continued support of the project, I hope to see a good turnout for the event!

From Concept to Card: Domain Symbols

Hello Legionnaires! Taylor again, talking about symbols. One fascination that Legion's Daddy and our Head of Development Matt Barker has always had with card games is the way they function as a communicative format. It's an acute design challenge to tell an informative story and create a complex game with nothing but a series of 2.5 by 3.5 inch rectangles. And across the board, card game developers have relied heavily on one of humanity's oldest design tricks to do it: symbology. By efficiently conveying complicated information, symbols save space and make cards more visually engaging, creating a visual shorthand that describes how we can play games and operate in the world. In card games like Magic, Pokemon, Yu-Gi-Oh, and our little Legion, they describe cost, actions, strategies, and ideals. So let's talk about the symbols for Legions' six domains designed by Rachel Everett and Yours Truly.

INFERNAL

As discussed in Matt's earlier post about them, each of Legion's six domains shares a dichotomous relationship with another. In many ways, these domains are both opposites and parallels of each other, and this pattern can be seen both in their gameplay and in many of Legion's design elements. The moon is arguably the most important motif of the infernal faction; representing madness and sharing a dichotomous relationship with the symbol of the Divine domain, the sun. The importance of this symbol is emphasized by Lo'Nial's epithet: Lunar Witch. Likewise, the Infernal domain is represented by dusk in opposition to the Divine Dawn. The infernal symbol, an upturned purple crescent, conveys the ideas of both of these motifs, while also looking like a threatening pair of blades or demon's horns. It was one of the first symbols we designed for the game.

DIVINE

Designed to parallel and contrast the Infernal symbol, the Divine symbol is a rising sun. The body of the sun is a crescent similar in shape to that of the Infernal moon, but it is inverted to communicate the idea of dawn as opposed to the dusk of the Infernal domain. Bright rays emanate from the rising sun, symbolic of the radiant leadership of the domain's witch, Kolos. The Dawnlight Witch lights the center of her domain with hope and with her legions of angels.

ATOMIC

There aren't a lot of symbols for the relatively new concept of atomic energy. One noteworthy symbol is the ringed atom, but we didn't feel this appropriately conveyed what the Atomic domain was about. Instead, we deferred our attention to the internationally recognized bio-hazard symbol. The bio-hazard symbol has immediate associations with mutation, decay, and fallout, and is frequently depicted in popular culture marking irradiated or toxic sites. Its unique design communicated the weirdness and danger we wanted to imbue the Atomic faction with. However, we didn't want to use that exact symbol, as we felt it was too Earth-specific to be a symbol for Eternum. Our final design, in brilliant pink, essentially represents the negative space of a bio-hazard symbol. The result is unique but immediately recognizable.

MYSTIC

A collaborative effort between Rachel and I and one of the last to be finished, the Mystic symbol is an eye in the palm of a hand. Not only does this bizarre symbol evoke the appropriate esoteric response to this mysterious domain, but also represents the value that the domain places on held knowledge. The hand and eye are also the symbol of Catlan University, a hold-out from the Mystic reality presided over by Anahita, the Arcane Witch.

TECH

The Tech Symbol is considerably more abstract than any of the other domain symbols. My early designs included gears and abstract metal shapes; Rachel's included trees made of circuits. We eventually came together on something that married the best of our ideas, an abstract triptych of circuitry and metal. The center of the symbol also represents an eye. But unlike the Mystic domain's, this eye is inorganic and set into a machine. It represents Helia's cold accumulation of knowledge. The 'blooming' circuits also reflect an unnatural growth that parallel's the Tech domain's Natural counterpart.

NATURE

The first domain symbol designed and finalized for Legion, the Nature symbol is entirely Rachel's creation. The three green leaves immediately denote a natural connection to flora and the earth. The circular vortex and varying size of the leaves communicate natural growth and the cycle of birth, life, and death essential to the Nature domain. Made entirely of curved lines, it's in strong contrast with the sharp angles of the Tech domain.

Pick and choose your domains to build your personal legion and defend your hub. Keep up with us here for more news and anticipate our Kickstarter in September, 2016.

Hope On Wings: Sam's Golden Eagle

Introducing Sam Stoddard

Art Director Taylor Jones here with another Wednesday highlight. As an Art Director, I have the privilege of working with a team of illustrators probably much more talented than myself, and it's thrilling to see the work they do. One such artist is Sam Stoddard, who lends his soft and beautifully whimsical style to the Legion Team. Like the books about fairy tales your mother might have read to you when you were a kid, Sam's style inspires a certain innocent wonder; hinting at a world full of vast, beckoning adventure. His work recalls a time when it was okay that the world was hard to understand, because it meant you'd see something strange and new every day.

We're debuting Sam here with his first piece for Legion, Golden Eagle. Golden Eagle's ability will allow you to revive perished Grunts, resurrecting warriors from your graveyard. Sam's artwork tells Golden Eagle's story and gives us one of our first looks at the Holy City of Jericho, an important hub for the Divine Domain. Let Golden Eagle spread its shielding wings over your fallen comrades in Legion this September, and keep up with Sam at www.samstoddardart.com

Team Feature: Landen Blume

 Landen Blume, Director of Marketing, Resident Motorcycle Badass

So. . . Will I be using first-person or third-person to write an article about myself? Good question. I guess we'll find out.

Ever since I was younger, I have been fascinated with business and the in's and out's of life. My older brother instilled an instinct to take things apart in me since I was a little kid, and I haven't outgrown that instinct. I love seeing how things work. I love knowing what makes things tick. That's led me to a profound appreciation for gaming, and particularly the business side of it.

But business and gaming aren't the only things I am passionate about. Don't make the mistake of asking me about cars, or motorcycles, or Formula One teams, or classic jazz musicians, or rock bands. You'll get your ear talked off. I love working with cars and motorcycles, playing my drumset or the saxophone, and jamming out to some Def Leppard. 

When I'm not cruising on my bullet bike, or working on Legion, I'm working for a big Las Vegas/Arizona law firm, working around lawyers all day long. It's awesome. Really helps satisfy my desire to learn about the way everything works.

I spent two years serving people in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, where I learned Spanish, and I'm completely enamored with the culture of Latin America. 

With Legion, I've been friends with Matt, Taylor, Rachel and the gang since we were in high school. It's been a friendship that I cherish, and when they asked me to come work on Legion with them, I couldn't say no. I've loved trading card games ever since my first Yugioh booster pack when I got a Blue-Eyes White Dragon(aww yiss).

I manage the social media, marketing plans, and give the group an endless supply of stupid puns and tidbits of useless knowledge. I've been a writer and lover of fantasy, science fiction, and many other genres, and often If you care to follow what's going on in my life, follow me on Instagram @landenblume.

Behind the Curtain: Which Witch? This Witch. Part II

In the first ever Behind the Curtain article, I wrote about the design and art of the six witches. In today's sequel, I would like to expand on them and begin explaining their personalities and roles in the story of Legion. As with all things, design informs lore and lore informs design, so we have worked hard to make sure that as many aspects of their personality come across both in the text of their cards and their place in the larger framework of Legion's lore. So, without further delay, let's jump right in.

-KOLOS-

Kolos is the witch associated with the Divine domain. In line with her domain's ideology, she is a very benevolent and protective soul. She is attentive to the needs of her followers, as well as others, however this does not mean that she is a doormat. Rather, much like the other aspect of Divine, Kolos is authoritative. Interfering with her tasks, or the tasks of those she has deemed under her protection, will draw the full force of her wrath. Like many other Divine characters, Kolos is very outspoken and defensive of her beliefs/ideals; however, unlike some Divine characters,  she does use her outspoken and strong convictions be used to forcefully align people to her viewpoint. The last personality aspect that I want to discuss is that she is literally a creator. With all six witches there are parallels that can be drawn between those of opposing ideologies (Divine/Infernal; Nature/Tech; and Mystic/Atomic). We've already introduced you to the art of Mirror Devil, and in that article we discussed how Devils are spawned from the blood of Lo'Nial. Like Lo'Nial, Kolos also spawns beings directly from herself: Angels.

In the larger framework of the story, Kolos acts a neutral party. She does not possess the traits of either a protagonist, or an antagonist. However she does play a prominent role in the story of the first set (more on this in the coming weeks).

-LO'NIAL-

Since I mentioned parallels in the earlier segment, I believe it is only fitting we tackle these in pairs. So, with that said, Lo'Nial is the witch associated with the Infernal domain. Much like Kolos, she is attentive, and authoritative. However, keeping in line with the ideology of the Infernal domain, she is only attentive to the needs of herself and her task. Where Kolos plays a prominent role in society, Lo'Nial is more aloof and passive. This isn't to say she is selfish, rather, she sticks to herself because she doesn't want to have anything disrupt her tasks. As discussed prior, Lo'Nial is also a creator in literal terms. Where Kolos creates Angels from pure light, Lo'Nial's trails of blood spawn Devils (think the creation myth of Pegasus in Greco-Roman mythology). Perculiarly, while insanity is a theme that repeatedly appears in the Infernal domain Lo'Nial is decidedly calm and sane. 

Her role in the story of Legion is as a neutral party (neither antagonist nor protagonist), however functionally she acts as a warden to the demonic prison of Kurthia (more on that next week).

-YULTIANA-

Yultiana is the witch associated with the Nature domain. Personality wise, she is a very maternal and benevolent figure. She acts as the protector and mentor of all the denizens of the Nature societies. To align herself with Nature's ideologies, she is very in-tune with the group as well as the natural cycles of the world. She is content though not opposed to change which she perceives as natural. Unlike the other witches, Yultiana is the most conflict adverse. She does not see the need for conflict when peaceful mediation can lead to an outcome that benefits as many people as possible. Whether this is a character flaw or not is up for debate, but it does mean she is a bit naive in her trust of others to do what is best for everyone. This also means that she does not explicitly gives orders to her followers, rather she simply acts as a confidant and mediator. 

Yultiana's role in the story is, once again, as a neither antagonist nor protagonist. In more specific terms: If you were to apply her to the Heroes Journey, she would be the role of the mentor.

-HELIA-

Helia is the witch associated with the Tech domain. Everything about Helia's personality is geared (pun intended), towards playing up the ideology of the Tech domain. She is a constantly in control of the situation, has no shortage of hubris, she is domineering, and sadistic. She is everything that can go wrong with the ideology of Tech rolled into one package. Like Kolos and Lo'Nial, Helia is incredibly authoritative; however, unlike those two witches, she uses her authoritative bent to assume a totalitarian role. She is brutally efficient, and efficient in her brutality. Uniquely, she is the most narcissistic of the witches; in blunt terms she has a serious god-complex, seeking to be in control of everything and everyone. She is thirsty for knowledge and secrets and will do anything to get them. 

Helia's role in the plot of Legion is antagonistic, and without spoiling too much, don't be surprised to she her hands in many different pies.

-ANAHITA-

Anahita is the witch associated with the Mystic domain. As with all things Mystic, she is incredibly knowledgable and learned. She is hard to be around from an existential point of view due to her timeless nature. Paradoxically, her agelessness and seemingly bottomless well of knowledge act as a lure to anyone seeking answers. Like Kolos and Yultiana, she is incredibly benevolent; like the rest of the Mystic orientated groups, she wishes to see everyone elevated to positions of power. She is intimidating but charismatic. She is both hypnotic and a calming presence, and merely being around her has a tendency to change the way one acts.

Where Helia acts as an antagonist, Anahita acts a protagonist. Serving as a catalyst for the larger narrative of Legion.

-Iradia-

The last of the six witches, Iradia, is probably the most straightforward. Being the witch associated with the Atomic domain, she is a free-spirit, creative, incredibly impulsive, and has no desire to live in an organized society. Where Anahita lives in a world of strict order, Iradia lives in a world of chaos. While she is aloof, she is not stupid. In fact, Iradia is deceptively wise. She is a fatalistic, recognizing that all things will eventually decay. Because of this, she is very spur of the moment in her behavior and choices; one moment she will be content with spending time among people who have carved out a permanent society among the harshness of the atomic wastes, and the next she will be leading the charge to raze it to the ground. If there is any consistency in her personality it is her bent towards acting as a revolutionary/reactionary figure. 

In the lore of Legion, Iradia is neutral in the truest sense of the word. She makes no allegiances, because she doesn't understand, or dislikes, the concept of loyalty. She is neither a protagonist nor an antagonist, because she is above those binaries.

As I have stated previously, a majority of people will inevitably be playing Legion for its innovative and fun gameplay, but there will exist a portion of people who are playing because they find the lore rich and engaging. For those people (as well as the people who fit into both categories), I hope the witches provide a great entry point into the lore of Legion.

Tune in next week when I talk about the locations that will be acting as the backdrop for the first two sets of Legion.

A Mechanical Monstrosity: Helia, Techno Witch

Hey there, Legionnaires- Dragon King, er- Art Director Taylor Jones here giving you an inside look at the character and design of one of Eternum's most sinister denizens: Helia, the witch who embodies the tech domain.

Technological Terror

An unnatural landscape sprawls over miles of earth- vines and roots replaced with a conflux of wires, cords, and tubes of segmented metal. The bed of serpentine steel writhes menacingly underfoot, and rivers of light flow towards a mountain of metal. There's not a natural shape on the horizon, and even the sky seems to be watching you out of a foggy miasma. Welcome to Helia's workshop.

The Techno witch, like her sisters, is the embodiment of her domain. She represents the quintessence of the tech faction, and personifies its characteristics. She's a force of unchecked progress, reckless creation, relentless control, and centralized information.

"All for One, All are One" could be the motto of the tech domain, and Helia is the One. Helia has no subordinates; Helia has only herself. She collects and processes all that she encounters into a massive collective consciousness, downloading the knowledge of her victims and deleting their memories. The drained bodies of whatever hapless people she collects are then re-purposed into drones; half-living extensions of Helia's will and mind... and if Helia had her way, hers would be the only conscious mind on Eternum.

Aside from the life she hijacks and re-purposes, Helia is also generatively creative. She strips the land to produce Legions of Mechs, Automatons and Bots to serve her ambitious goals. She peers out of thousands of eyes, and what she sees she knows immediately. What she'll do to spread her metal mind across Eternum can only wait to be seen...

Helia in Design

Matt and the design team have given us artists a rich base of concept to play with, and creating Helia was no exception. As the personification of the Tech domain and its ideals, I wanted to give the impression that Helia herself was a work in progress; an ever-evolving, self-improving super computer. Her body is composed of mechanical parts of various age. Older, rusted looking chassis is layered with new clean steel. 

Tubes of glowing energy feed data into Helia's central mind and connect her to her vast, networked body. The data that flows into Helia's core body is analogous to the life-force she absorbs from Eternum like a giant metal weed: a motif that puts her in contrast with her Natural counterpart, Yultiana. And let me tell you- this weed poses the threat of dangerous, dangerous growth.

Behind the Curtain: Do-Main-Ri

Last week I discussed the various card types you will get to play with in Legion. This week I'd like to go over the six Domains that make up the wider framework of Legion. Each of the six domains adheres to a specific ideology, as well as specific styles of play that make them unique and distinguish them from their other domains. As you explore each one, I hope you find one that sounds interesting to you both in terms of how it plays, and how it resonates with you as a person. Like with most things that present a variable choice, people tend to gravitate towards what resonates with them personally. For example, I challenge someone to find another person who hasn't at one point discussed what Harry Potter house fits them best; in Legion I suspect, hope, and am excited, to see people playing the domain that not only fits their play-style the best, but also connects with them on a wider level. So without further delay, let's jump into it.

-DIVINE-

Ideologically the hallmarks of the Divine domain are its helpful nature, its group focus, and its adherence to strict principals and dogma. On the one hand this means that many Divine orientated groups are tight-knit (being driven by a one-for-all-all-for-one mentality), with a special importance placed on creating, following, and maintaining a rigid hierarchy and power structure. Due to Divine orientated groups following strict principles and dogma, this sometimes means they can approach situations with short-sighted zeal and aren't flexible in the way they perceive the other domains. Despite this short coming, Divine characters and groups are generally helpful and amicable; seeking to bring justice to those who would wrong others.

From a gameplay perspective, Divine has its focus set squarely on a grunt heavy strategy that also makes heavy use of buffs to keep their forces strong enough to deal with any threat. Combat tricks are not uncommon during games that feature the Divine domain. Lesser Divine gameplay styles include aggressive and blindingly quick strategies designed to overwhelm your opponent and slower, methodical, non-traditional control strategies designed to stop your opponent dead in their tracks. Perhaps Divine's uniquest gameplay aspect is the amount of shattering it utilizes; it is not enough that an enemy foe is destroyed, rather they must be removed from the game entirely.

-NATURE-

Nature's ideology is rooted firmly (no pun intended) in the natural (pun intended) traditions and truths. What this means is that Nature groups are focused on, and concerned with, the life/death cycle of the natural world as well as concepts such as tradition, fatalism, and family. Because of their devotion to each other as tribe, their societies can often be complex and hard to perceive from an outsider's perspective, and unfortunately this complexity can be exploited to cause rifts in these societies. As with all things natural, the societies and characters from the Nature domain do not resist the changes they view as natural. Putting them at direct odds with the ever changing Tech domain. While the benefits of Nature's group focused and following of the natural order often outweigh the negatives, Nature societies tend to be insular, xenophobic, and naive of the wider world.

Playing the Nature domain means utilizing cards and effects that ramp all your resources, as well as playing a heavily grunt orientated strategy. More often than not Nature's gameplay comes down to going as big as you can or going home. Nature doesn't deal in half-measures. Either you commit or you're left behind. For some this can be difficult to pull off, but for the daring and committed this kind of dependence on a focused strategy will lead to large, decisive, and memorable victories. Unique to Nature is the amount of drones (grunts that you do not cast, and that cannot exist anywhere but the battlefield) it utilizes to overwhelm, and defend from, its opponents.

-MYSTIC-

The ideology of the Mystic domain can be summed up as: utilizing knowledge to progress and better society. It is the domain of scholars, creators, and those who wish to learn more about the mysteries of the world. One of the highest concerns to Mystic societies and individuals is a well defined sense of self; for the most part, a Mystic individual will know their limits as well as what it is they are the best at. They are confident, but not overly cocky (with rare exception), and they are constantly seeking to learn more and gain more power. Mystic societies build their foundation on a relentless, and responsible, pursuit of knowledge, power, and the answers to the world's biggest mysteries. Sometimes this can come at the price of alienating those around them, or becoming so overwhelmed by the power they are tapping into that they become irresponsible with it. Beyond an emphasis on learning and creation, Mystic individuals and societies are adept at manipulating the intangible. When it comes down to it concepts such as time and space are just more tools to use on their journey. Above all, Mystic societies and individuals are orderly and methodical.

The concept of manipulating the intangible carries over to Mystic's gameplay almost perfectly. For almost all decks that utilize Mystic cards will be employing a strategy that is heavy on either preventing your opponent's from playing spells, drawing a lot of cards, or even resetting the battlefield. For player's who choose to play with, and against, Mystic cards be prepared to use more specials than grunts or other card types. Controlling the flow of battle is important to Mystic decks, but it is not all they can do. Many Mystic cards have effects that directly deal damage to your opponent's hub, however caution is advised as the art of directly damaging an opponent is not as effective the more player's you have to deal with.

-INFERNAL-

True to its name, the Infernal domain is--well, infernal. Much like the Mystic domain, the Infernal domain seeks power. However, where Mystic uses it responsibly, Infernal abuses its power to oppress its enemies. This places is at direct odds with Divine (who use its power to help everyone). Infernal societies and individuals are greedy, cunning, and hedonistic. If there is something they want, they will get it through any means necessary. The self and satisfying its desires is one of the top concerns of Infernal, but where some domains may be impulsive, Infernal is calculating. Often times if an individual wants something, they will evaluate the risk-reward of achieving that goal; if it proves too reckless to pursue they will likely let go of that particular goal. At first glance Infernal societies and individuals may seem inherently evil, but there are some times where they will work to benefit others--although from an entirely self-interested perspective. 

Infernal gameplay is based around using other resources such as your life, your grunts on the battlefield, and the cards in your hand to help advance the goal of victory over your enemy. A large portion of Infernal strategies are based around using your graveyard as a second library of sorts--recasting and replaying cards from it to make sure you're never truly at a disadvantage. There is a lot of give-and-take in the gameplay of the Infernal domain. Sure you may get to remove a particularly powerful grunt, but often at the cost of a chunk of your life or the cards in your hand. It is not for the feint of heart, but those who are tenacious and cunning can pilot Infernal strategies to crushing victories. 

-ATOMIC-

Where Infernal is pragmatic, Atomic is entirely impulsive. Atomic societies do not exist in the traditional sense, rather they are subject to the whims of everyone involved in them. Often this means that if enough people want to see it disbarred, then the society is disbarred. Atomic places a huge importance on the individual. However, in contrast to other domains, Atomic individuals will often be short sighted and relentless in their pursuit. Usually an Atomic individual and society will not plan ahead, instead choosing to live in the moment; because of this, Atomic individuals do not make the best of allies as their ever changing whims can derail your own plans. Beyond its impulsive nature, one of the doctrines of the Atomic domain is being the change you want to see; if you are tired of the status-quo, you should be the catalyst for change. Other hallmarks of the Atomic domain are its emphasis on chaos over order, and its aggressive nature. If you can't keep up with the ever changing tide, then you deserve to be left behind.

Aggression translates into Atomic's gameplay perfectly. Atomic deals with, and plays, threats at a blindingly quick speed. Nine out of Ten times, victory will have been achieved before the opponent even knows what hit them. Atomic gameplay is focused around accelerating your presence on the board, as well as directly damaging your opponents in order to wrap the battle up as quickly as possible. Atomic does not want to see the long game, and if it gets its way, it won't ever see the long game. Atomic is the perfect domain for any player who likes to play aggressively and, on occasion, recklessly.

-TECH-

The Tech Domain is built entirely on an ideology of manipulation, relentless progression, collecting knowledge, and adapting to (even outright stealing) any strategy it might encounter. Tech individuals are constantly striving to improve their creations, as well as experimenting with bold new theories. Whether they pan out or not, it is the process and what you learned that matter. On a societal level, a majority of them are hyper-focused on the concept of perfection. If you are not perfect, or seeking to become perfect, then you are inferior to those that are. Idleness is not allowed, welcome, or even understood; everyone is constantly planning ahead and working on seeing those plans come to fruition. Rather sinisterly, one of the ways perfection can manifest in Tech societies is through the assembly of a collective conciseness. Where some societies might place importance on the individual (whether as a sole entity or a piece of a larger puzzle), the most depraved of Tech societies might adopt a mantra along the lines of no-one-only-one. There is no you, or me, there is only us. 

Because it is always wanting to improve and perfect itself, the Tech domain's gameplay is focused heavily on gaining as much information as possible. Whether its your hand, or an opponent's library, very few things are off-limits. Once it has the information it needs a deck running Tech might choose to sabotage your plans, or, if they're feeling extra-clever, outright steal your plans and make them their own. Tech gameplay seeks to be as efficient and smooth as possible. Getting from Point A to Point B should be as easy and effortless as breathing. One of its unique aspects is its ability to splice specials onto each other, changing the very nature of that special.