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Overview
The Boros Legion was founded by Parun Razia, a militant flaming-sword-wielding Archangel capable of using flame and light magic who fervently and firmly believed in harmonious coexistence on Ravnica, even if lives were lost and blood was shed in achieving this. The Legion functions as the righteous and zealous constabulary and standing army of Ravnica, as the League of Wojek and Boros Army, respectively, and enforces Ravnican laws created by the Azorius Senate. The Boros Legion is known to utilize many fire and light spells in their efforts.
Purpose
Clad in shining armor and fueled by righteous zeal, the soldiers of the Boros Legion take up steel against the corruption and lawlessness that gnaw at the soul of Ravnica. Combining the force of law with the military strength to back it up, the Boros work to forge Ravnica into a just society, a safe and healthy community for all. From garrisons throughout the sprawling city, disciplined, stalwart soldiers are dispatched to stand firm against Gruul raids, Dimir infiltration, Golgari insurrection, Orzhov corruption, the subtle influence of the Guildless movement, as well as threats that include more nefarious or monstrous foes.
Core Values
Wherever criminals exploit others, petty tyrants make grabs for power, or violence erupts and leaves devastation in its wake, Boros soldiers are fighting to make things right.
The Legion is defined by the tension between its goal of establishing order and harmony and the fiery zeal that drives many of its members. The guild stands for peace and justice, which can be established only through the rule of law. Its moral stance is fundamentally good, as it strives to protect the innocent and powerless from oppression and exploitation. At the same time, the members of the Legion are passionate about their pursuit of justice, spurred by their righteous wrath into action against evil and injustice. Ironically, this means that individual members sometimes break the rules they are charged with enforcing, leaning on the spirit of the law when the letter no longer serves justice.
Goals
There is only one reason why every genuine Legionnaire, angelic or not, gets up every morning and dons the red, gold, and white armor: to fight the good fight. They know that the world will never be perfect and that strife will always exist; in fact, the very existence of the Boros Legion is an acceptance of that fact and a pledge to stand in the gap no matter how many times dangers comes to the threshold and no matter what form it takes. It's an exhausting, endless, low paying, and largely thankless marathon, but nothing else matters. This is a large portion of the Boros worldview and there are even official positions for priests and places of worship within garrisons so that soldiers can reflect on the why they fight the good fight, so they can get up and fight some more.
Organisation Structure
Back during the days of Razia's leadership, over seventy-five years ago, the Legion had a complex hierarchy of Powerbands up and down the chain of command. The primary theme to the system was Angels in command with the Boros Army and the League of Wojek following commands. Under the Parun's orders, Angels were not allowed to fraternize with the mortal members of the Legion.
After Aurelia assumed the office of guildmaster, she established several changes to the way the guild was run. While she maintained both the Army and the Wojek, Angels were now encouraged to mingle with the lower ranks and Aurelia enforced practicality over tradition among them.
In addition, Aurelia did away with the Powerband system and split leadership of the bulk of the legion into four "theatres" that mainly deal with threats to the public order:
Theatre of Order: tasked to fight against Gruul incursions and Rakdos clubs.
Theatre of Integrity: tasked to find the sleeper agents and hidden refuges of the House Dimir and root any members of this subversive guild out. A subdivision of this theatre, the Dead Brigade, is tasked to neutralize spirits.
Theatre of Fortification: tasked to increase Boros weapons and battle effectiveness. Its commander is Tajic. One distinct branch of this theatre, called the Warmind Initiative, is a conjoined effort of the Izzet and the Boros to develop new technologies for the Legion to use to keep the peace.
Theatre of Recruitment: having the objective to find and indoctrinate members among the guildless that seem suitable to serve in the Legion.
The most sweeping recent change has been the reorganization of the guild into countless small local forces. Boros forces are now distributed into garrisons, each of which performs all the functions of the theaters in their own district. Each garrison has little knowledge of the activities of the others, and secret plans are not shared. Thus, if one garrison is infiltrated by spies from another guild, the caused damage is limited to that garrison alone. The Warleader Angels coordinate the efforts of the garrisons, with the Battleforce Angels as their liaisons. Firemane Angels walk regularly among the soldiers, rooting out any hint of deception or corruption.
Recruitment
Whether they are scouted or sign up voluntarily, new recruits to the Legion are sent to an academy, usually Horizon Military Academy, for training. All would be members are tempered in the forge of discipline, devotion, and zeal. The training is deliberately harsh to weed out the weak and uncommitted. Those that make it to the end get the chance to put everything they learned to use in the Legion's service. Mentors measure the ability of each recruit as they pass through the academy, placing them on a route that best utilizes their talents. Depending on whether new members focused on martial training, studied magic, or both, their path after the academy could look fairly different.
The next step up the ladder for the martial path is becoming a soldier. The vast majority of the Legion are soldiers and, as such, there are several ranks and hierarchies within the soldier designation. Some are designated as guards, others have patrols, while others still stand on the frontlines against the enemies of justice. A subsection of this portion of the army is the Legion's vanguard unit called the Swiftblades. These elite soldiers specialize in assault and occupation, and squads of Swiftblades are often used as commandos or guerrillas. They can rush ahead of the primary force and pick off enemy archers and spellcasters to soften the front lines before the rest of the Legion marches in.
There are two types of mages in the Legion, Embermages and Medics. The larger of the two by far are the Embermages, who use fire to burn through front line defenses and light to clear the way for combat troops. Medics tend to the well being of their troops, both in and out of the heat of combat, and with a combination of magical and mundane medicine to close wounds and restore strength.
Recruits that excel in both combat and magic can earn the rank of Firefist, tactical thinkers trained to lead battalions, execute large scale combat maneuvers, and devise pre-battle strategies. Firefists command a great deal of respect from the rest of the legion and are usually looked at first for promotion up the chain.
Public Relations
In general, the Boros find some common ground with other guilds that value order and structure, such as the Azorius, Selesnya, and the Orzhov to a lesser extent. The Rakdos, Gruul, and Izzet might share the zeal and energy of the Boros, but they represent the more chaotic aspect of those qualities, which threatens the stability of Ravnica. This guild is dedicated to eradicating crime and injustice and any guild that has a hand in perpetuating those things can expect the Legion on their doorstep. Conversely, any guild can become their allies in their quest for justice so long as their interests remain aligned. The at times hot-headed leadership at the top of the guild means that the other guilds can go from friends to foes and back again in a matter of weeks.
Ravnica's Opinion of the Legion
The opinion that the city at large has of the Legion and its various parts tends to change sharply depending on how they handled the most recent major event in their neighborhood. No matter what, they are favored higher than Azorius troops despite technically following the same laws. While most Boros soldiers are well liked by everyone on the right side of the law, the Legion does have a history of over-zealous and misguided soldiers that act brashly or try to take the law into their hands. These incidents can leave a bad taste in the mouth of certain neighborhoods and people regarding the Legion.
The Legion's Opinion of other Guilds
The Boros are committed to justice and order, and they are convinced that virtually every other guild is just as committed to undermining both. Therefore, the Legion generally rely only on their comrades for support and view everyone else with suspicion or distain.
Azorius: "Legalism. Arrogance. Hot air. The law in their hands is a bludgeon, and they use it to seize more power than they deserve."
Dimir: "Snakes lurking in the shadows. They should be rooted out so they can shrivel in the light."
Golgari: "If they limited themselves to their intended purpose, repulsive as it is, they could be allowed to survive. But they are growing into a dangerous menace, and we need to flush them out of the sewers while we still can."
Gruul: "They are lost in violence and savagery. Only occasionally can their energy be channeled in directions that benefit the greater good."
Izzet: "They don't understand the concept of limits. If they kept their spellcraft under control, they could truly benefit society."
Orzhov: "The Orzhov care only about the Orzhov. If it were up to them, all of Ravnica would follow an orderly process designed to funnel wealth in to their grasping hands."
Rakdos: "They make destruction into a spectacle, but they're more than blood and fire. They're termites gnawing away at the heart and soul of Ravnica."
Selesnya: "I almost envy the naïveté that leads them to retreat into their little communes and pretend they've built a just society."
Simic: "They have stepped out of their place, with all their experiments, their tinkering with the nature of life. They're a waste, a drain on Ravnica, and a danger to the public good."
History
From the Legion's founding ten of thousand years ago, all the way up to seventy years ago, the Boros were lead by their Parun, the Archangel Razia. She was mysterious, aloof, aggressive, and believed that the angelic ranks should be kept separate from the mortal ones. The respect she held with the guild was one of awe and righteous fear. The Legion will forever mourn her loss and remember the day she and many other high ranking angels met their end in the aftermath of the Decamillennial at the hands of House Dimir's Guildmaster, Szadek, whose spirit was being controlled by Augustin IV, the Guildmaster of the Azorius Senate at the time. The power gap was filled by the angel Aurelia who quickly reformatted and decentralized the Legion's organization structure, placing angels in regular contact with mortal races and encouraging camaraderie between the two. Since then, the guild has operated smoothly, especially considering the Guildpact hasn't been functioning for the past three-quarters of a century and tensions in the city at large are on the rise.
Culture
Boros society is upright and kind in their fervent effort to make life better for the people around them. Even guildless family of Legionnaires make great neighbors and love to uplift one another. A vast majority of the culture is religious and reveres justice and those who fight for it, including angels and archons. The spontaneous occasions where wrongs are righted and people are brought to justice is when people of Legion culture celebrate, along with birthdays and accomplishments of course. Members of the group play hard, but they work harder. Good work ethic is a vital personality trait for people in Legion society and is something considered heavily by this culture when choosing a mate or partner. Although the bedrock of this culture is a kind, understanding, and encouraging support system of traditional family values, parents can sometimes expect too much of their children and might be slow to come around after finding out someone they know has broken the law or left the Legion.
Fashion: Most folks in the Legion are hard working, honest, and don't put much stock in looks or fashion, usually wearing their white, silver, gold, or crimson clothes until they break or fray and opting to sew them back together rather than get new ones. However, there is always one outfit of 'nice' clothes that these people keep in good condition, whether it's a sterling suit of armor with crimson trim, an officers uniform complete with badges pinned on the chest, or just a nice set of casual clothes like trousers, a button up shirt, and leather boots, that they keep free from the blood, sweat, and tears of their daily job.
Diversions: When your job is protecting the city from hellkites and axe wielding madmen, you're going to need a way to relax. In the Boros, letting loose and relaxing or having a good time after earning it is expected, whether it's just a drink with the squad, tickets to the next pugilist competition, a night on the town, or even a trip to the dromad races. As long as it's legal and it wears off by the time they're on the clock, the Legion won't care; this is also true for diversions offered by other guilds.
Demographics: The bulk of the Boros Legion consists of soldiers, primarily Humans, Minotaur, Viashino and Goblin, with a large amount of Giants and Angels as well; however, members of nearly every race have been a part of this guild at some point. Historically, dogs, rocs, and griffons have been the Legion's favored pets and transportation methods both on and off the battlefield.
Information Source: https://www.worldanvil.com/w/ravnica-grandarchivist/a/boros-legion-article
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