#yes this is my excuse for zori having the temperment of a clingy house cat

[axe-trio-commanders]

~Magic Cats~

Ssso this has been sitting in drafts for too long, time to post it regardless because I want to talk about the different legions and magic because other people have been talking about cat lore and i have Many Thoughts and also no one on this site is capable of stopping me now.

A read more here because oh boy a suggestion of conversation topic somehow turned into an entire essay because I have absolutely no self-control whatsoever. (Might also be a Yahuk appreciation post at this point. Also, just a... general warning for a society failing its people and causing all sorts of insecurities and general mental un-health, mostly involving failure to conform to expectations. Also mention of death.)

Flame

So! First, Flame Legion. Clearly, they have a bit of an advantage at the moment because they never really lost magic? Even after the whole truce thing, they're still clearly using it, and best boi Efram seems intent on letting everyone learn it. It doesn't seem to be exclusively magic they're using, not quite- there's a half-decent bit of engineering in some of their weaponry, and they still compliment their smoke magic with knives. Granted, it's... definitely primarily fire magic. I'm not sure if that's jut more natural, or if, say, more water-based elementalists or mesmers just aren't allowed as much status (or encouragement) as those that can use fire.

Iron

Iron legion, as a very stark contrast, seems... very, very opposed to magic. I don't recall ever seeing an iron charr use magic. Create things to contain magic, yes- primarily ghosts- but use it? There's plenty of engineers, for... maybe obvious reasons, but I couldn't give you a clear example of an iron legion elementalist. (Feel absolutely free to prove me wrong by posting many pictures of iron legion elementalists, though.) Heck, it's Efram that suggests it, but adding a 'flame legion kick' to Iron's weapons being an entirely new idea seems a little... telling. Heck, it's not hard to imagine using magic to improve your weapons is seen as 'cheating', at best.

Drawing off the 'Iron Fist of the Legion' personal story, it's pretty clear that Iron legion is incredibly strict. Samona (my precious, precious child whom I hold dear to my heart after re-reading two lines of dialogue from her) is quite literally banned from inventing for letting an Ash Legion charr into their super-secret-weapon base (that Ash already knew about because they're Ash), despite the fact that she only did so to stop Flame (who also knew about it) from sabotaging the entire thing. Good intentions don't matter- strictly following orders does. Her centurion describes the legion as a 'siege engine'- everything has to be predictable, and in working order- and, well... magic, as far as the legions are concerned, is anything but predictable.

Blood

Blood legion, while probably still biased against them, seems... less strict. I could, in fact, name a blood legion elementalist- Yahuk Fellstrike. I'm probably going to be going off a lot of his dialogue here, but you can get a lot from what he says after you rescue him from Flame in the ash legion story mission. The fact that you can specifically ask 'how was being an elementalist in blood legion' is... pretty telling in and of itself, and he admits that some officers got upset about it, but neither Rytlock (good on you, bud) nor his warband really cared. So it's definitely discouraged, still, but not outright banned. Then, in the next question, you ask about him joining your warband in Ash, and he says the officers were rather upset about it- heck, Rytlock only agrees to it because he likes you. (I fought one ghost with you sir I do not understand-) It's also worth noting that it seems like Rytlock called the mission in the first place- though, granted, he might have personal reasons for liking this particular warband. (Eyes Crecia) Still, Yahuk evidently gained enough respect that charr other than Rytlock and his warband didn't want him to leave.

There's also probably plenty more examples of magic-use in Blood legion, the obvious one being Crecia (though between her clear experience with subterfuge and poisons and and offhand comment about Rytlock around grothmar involving 'keeping it in the legions' I had to verify that she'd never somehow gotten Ash training somewhere, especially considering the 'why can't we just set them on fire instead of this sneaky sneak nonsense' that Yahuk's journal makes pretty clear, and honestly she miiiiight be a bit of an outlier bc Bangar seems to be kinda Like That sometimes). It's harder to be in blood legion and use magic, but if you can clearly destroy your enemies without mercy you'll probably be more-or-less fine. (Besides the inherent mental damage that having to work significantly harder than everyone else to prove yourself in a society that very much values aggression and violence causes, but like. They won't actively prevent you from ever using it or ban you from the legion. Just a bit more trauma, you’ll be fiiiiiiine.)

Ash

And then... and then there's Ash legion. I'm going to talk a lot about it because it's where my Commander's from and I have a lot of Feelings about it, but there's gonna be a lot of subjective stuff because we don't really know a lot about them? We don't know their homeland, don't know much about their imperator, don't have a lot of Big-Name-Characters in the story from that legion besides their imperator- heck, even being in the legion as part of your personal story doesn't give you much. But, from that and how other charr talk about them, we can gather that... well, no one else knows anything about them either, and... Iron and Blood don't seem to like them very much? I don't consider anything in Bangar's speech when he’s praising them to mean anything on this point because it's... Bangar, but there's a good few instances of other legions' charr clearly vocalizing distrust and a general distaste. (Yes I'm looking at you, Ryland. Stop teaching Braham these things. Rude child.) Generally, the theme is that they're untrustworthy and cowards in combat- which... well, no, you don't send Ash to the front lines, you send them behind the lines. (Them and Crecia, apparently. This isn't to hate on Crecia, she's wonderful, this is me being very very suspicious of every single one of Bangar's motives- actually I could probably make a whole other post comparing her and Yahuk at this point, but this is long enough already;;;). But you know what else most Blood and Iron charr generally find to be indicative of untrustworthiness and cowardice, to the point of being shunned entirely or having to overcompensate for existing?

Magic.

I don't have any other solid evidence for it, but... it's Ash legion, there's no solid evidence for anything so I do what I want. And it makes... sense. In Ash, who makes a better spy than a mesmer? Who can spy on Flame better than an elementalist? Sure, charr find magic users more shifty in every legion, but you're in Ash, you're shifty by association already. Judging by the interaction between Rytlock and Torga (in the previously mentioned Ash personal story), it seems that Ash doesn't like other legions involved in their business. (They just want to be involved in everyone else's business.) They do what they want, how they want to do it, just so long as it gets done. It's a bit hard to judge, but they don't seem to have the rigid order the other legions do- and, diving just... right into speculation territory, I'd like to think this allows their fahrar's cubs to develop a little more... naturally? The lack of emphasis on being a fighter or some sort of engineer means that warbands of all sorts of skills and specializations could result, making the legion more versatile- something incredibly useful for a legion focused on sabotage. Sure, the easy way in is having a bunch of thieves, but if you can have an axe-and-torch-wielding ranger in your warband and still get the job done? Yeah, sure, you'll just get different missions. Have a lot of engineers? Great, you can spy on Iron. A lot of fire elementalists? Cool, go dismantle Flame from the inside and incite rebellions. Have a lot of mesmers? Imagine the possibilities. Just, y'know, know that we have seven other, better mesmers watching, and if you betray your legion you die. Different combinations, letting cubs grow up into their own skills, only means you can very likely have at least one available warband specifically tailored towards any mission you could ever want- any charr could be Ash, because an Ash legion charr is allowed to be anything.

...Except liked by the other legions.

Going back to Yahuk's case, beyond simply being good enough to gain the respect of his legion, it's very possible that joining Ash is seen as a... downgrade, an option for charr who aren't quite good enough for their own legion- a sort of catch-all. Yahuk seems to join you because a) his warband's dead (and finding a new one as an elementalist probably won't be easy), b) you saved his life, and c) helping him murder a whole bunch of the charr who murdered his warband probably gives you a whole lot of respect points. The 'officials' don't want him joining Ash, even when his whole warband is dead, and again- Rytlock only agrees because he respects you personally.

And then, going back to Samona... her own agreement to join your warband is quick and happy enough, which might be a mix of her own personality and various other reasons- but talking to her centurion is probably the most telling. Despite the harsh punishment, he doesn't really seem to dislike Samona. He says most of those she'd worked with would still be her friends, doesn't refute her being sweet and clever- but he does believe she'll do better in Ash, rather explicitly so, lamenting that he couldn't give her the flexibility she needed to work well while she was still in Iron- but an Ash legion warband could give her that. Despite how little the other legions know about Ash, what they do know is that they allow that sort of flexibility, that they have use for Charr that just don't fit in other legions; their 'Square cogs'. Even Samona, who... likely doesn't have an ounce of subtlety.

Now, Samona doesn't seem to care much, because... she's Samona, and neither would any charr raised Ash, but for any other charr, proud of their legion? Having to join Ash is signifying of a failure to be who you were raised and molded to be. Plenty might rather become gladium. Even for magic-users, it's the easy way out- and, clearly, neither Blood nor Iron have any respect for 'easy'.

And... boy, for Yahuk...? He might have joined out of respect for you, but then... you left. For someone who'd likely tried so hard to gain the respect of his own legion... what does that say about him? He knows why he joined, who he is, but that's not clear to anyone else, and Ash doesn't value the same things Blood does. The respect he's managed to gain means nothing to them. His ferocity means nothing to them. The leader he respected is gone, and evidently, isn't coming back- what does he have left?

...

...So, uh.

Anyways, tldr, magic in flame is normal (when it's fire, at least), magic in iron is outright heresy, magic in blood is only okay if you're really good at murder, and magic in ash is actually just fine but no one else likes them so it doesn't really solve anything.

...And Yahuk needs therapy. Like a lot of therapy. Please let him have therapy.

Thaaat being said, this is the impression I got playing through as an Ash legion charr, and I’ve probably missed a few things. Feel absolutely free to critique!