Mordu's Legion

Mordu's Legion is a minor faction in New Eden. It was formed by military mastermind Muryia Mordu after the Waschi Uprising, when he took many of his disenfranchised, former Intaki troops - who had been persecuted on Kamokor IV by nationalists - under his wing. Their first action involved putting down the same uprising. They performed this task quickly and efficiently, establishing a trustworthy reputation that has remained to this very day.

Initial Founding

Towards the end of the first Gallente-Caldari War many Intaki, who sympathized with the Caldari side of the fight, were exiled from the Gallente Federation. They, alongside others who defected, approached the Caldari and stated their willingness to take up arms against the Federation. Many of these men and women were trained soldiers and brought a wealth of expertise with them that the Caldari military forces were keen to exploit. So as not to cause a loss of cohesion among their existing units, aware of potential cultural differences between Caldari and Intaki, they elected to form a single unit with the defectors rather than spreading them out among existing branches of the Caldari military. They placed this unit under the command of Brigadier General Muryia Mordu, known for his tactical acumen. By the end of the war the achievements of the unit, still mostly made up of Intaki troops, were hailed as nothing short of modern military legend.

Following the end of the war, which had lasted almost a century, the Intaki were invited to stay in Caldari society and granted accommodation in Waschi City on Kamokor IV. Over the years that followed a nationalist movement took root on the planet, centered on this city specifically due to the proportionally large presence of the Intaki residents. Many were the subject of victimization and xenophobic attacks, incidents that began to go unchecked by local authorities as well. Eventually a full-blown uprising against the Caldari government began when Caldari authorities attempted to bring the city to order, having descended into almost daily violence.

During this uprising the Intaki who served in the war sought the help of their former commanding officer. Muryia Mordu responded, having recently retired from the navy, and took steps to reform his old fighting force. However, this was complicated by the fact that none of them were officially serving in the military anymore, placing them in a difficult situation in terms of fighting back against the uprising. Mordu formed the fighting force under a mercenary banner, calling themselves Mordu's Legion and assisted the Caldari in dismantling the uprising, which they did with calculated efficiency under Mordu's leadership.

Following the Waschi uprising, the Caldari Navy offered Mordu's Legion an official station within the navy itself. Mordu turned down this offer, and maintained his leadership over his new mercenary force which operates to this day in New Eden as one of the most venerated and effective freelance military contractors.

Caldari Ties

The Legion retains close ties with the Caldari State, and its leadership remains Caldari, though members of all races are welcomed in its ranks, so long as they are not known enemies of the State. The State allows the Legion access to high-end Caldari military gear, and long-serving members of the Legion who are not State citizens are commonly offered Caldari citizenship upon retirement.

The Legion has set up home in Pure Blind and now operates as a professional mercenary outfit. While the loss of their long-standing contract with ORE during the latter's recent hostile takeover by the Serpentis was a blow, Mordu's Legion is still very much a force to be reckoned with. It is a notable feature of their professionalism that the Legion does not perform training tasks itself, expecting new recruits to have prior combat experience.

Mordu's Legion in the Empyrean Age

Since the dawn of what is widely referred to as The Empyrean Age, when capsule technology became available for private individuals spawning a large surge of capsuleer pilots across New Eden, Mordu's Legion has both endured the assaults of the capsuleers and secured stronger ties with major empires. They have changed the face of their activities with the Caldari State and Gallente Federation, acting as peacekeepers both in the Intaki system as well as on Caldari Prime.

The Legion has also gained several new technological advances over recent years, resulting from their new-found partnerships and giving birth to several new ships in their arsenal.

Legion Under Fire

Despite the good standings with the Caldari State, other empires continually find themselves and their operations at odds with Mordu's Legion activities. Being a mercenary organization at their core has not made the Legion many friends. Even within the Caldari State itself their activities are not exclusively beneficial to the State, and the Legion are contracted by minor criminal entities regularly to run interference and protection operations. Frequently, empire agents will contract counter-operations targeted at not only the employers of the Legion, but also Mordu's Legion itself.

With the rise of capsule technology spreading beyond the privilege of the empires, many agents began to utilize the skills and capabilities of capsuleer pilots to disrupt Legion activities. As Mordu's Legion itself lacks any major capsuleer capability at this point, they often come out of such conflicts on the losing end, although their recent entries into the capsuleer-level spaceship race may indicate greater emphasis on luring capsuleers to their cause.

Further to this complication, CONCORD has many blanket-issued bounties on different threat classifications of Mordu's Legion ships for capsuleer pilots to claim at will. As such they have chosen to maintain a smaller static presence in New Eden compared to other outlaw entities and pirate organizations. Instead their bases are temporary, secreted away in dead space pockets, and their command and organizational structure is broken down into regional cells responsible for their own local agendas.

ORE and Serpentis

In YC 106 Orion Mashel, the reclusive CEO of Outer Ring Excavations, was reported to have had a personal and heated meeting with Muryia Mordu. The meeting attracted media attention given Mashel's recluse nature and being known for not accepting visitors at his headquarters .

Several days later, Mordu's Legion was seen mobilizing on a large scale, reportedly under the direct command of Muryia Mordu himself. The taskforce then penetrated deep into Serpentis Corporation space, avoiding all conflict with Serpentis forces as they orbited an installation in the heart of Serpentis territory and utilized an unknown device directed against a chemical storage facility. They then promptly left, no evident damage resulting, and were pursued by Guardian Angel forces responding to the incursion. Several Legion ships were reported destroyed in running skirmishes though Mordu himself and the bulk of his fleet returned to headquarters unharmed.

In an emergency meeting that followed, Mordu organized large scale defensive pickets around ORE facilities to safeguard against further retaliation by Serpentis and their Angel Cartel backed security forces. Many other Legion forces were left marauding in the Fountain region, proving to be a thorn in the side of the Serpentis. A week later the Serpentis and Cartel forces began a campaign to push the Legion forces out of Fountain, which eventually succeeded as Mordu yielded the field.

This clandestine campaign prosecuted by the Legion unsettled many factions including several prominent capsuleer alliances, all of whom publicly demanded answers from the Legion. However, none were forthcoming.

Following this, tensions clearly rose between the Legion and ORE, leading to the opinion that the incursion into Serpentis space was against the wishes of Mashel, or that Mordu himself opposed the campaign and was pressured by ORE. Either way this campaign left a sour note in the relations between the two corporations. Mordu's Legion eventually lost their contract with ORE as the Serpentis took a different approach to the conflict and announced their buyout of large portions of ORE shares. This put the Serpentis Corporation in a position of control over ORE policy, likely contributing to ORE's decision to revoke the Mordu's Legion contract for protection. In exchange this buyout secured ORE assets against further interference from Serpentis activities as well as their allies among the Angel Cartel.

Intaki Prime and Ishukone

During the long-standing Caldari occupation of the Gallente systems, designated as a contested zone under the CONCORD Emergency Militia War Powers Act, in YC 111 the Caldari Providence Directorate held a blind auction for the administration and development rights to the systems under their control. Intaki was the only system awarded to the Ishukone Corporation. In a deal with the Mordu's Legion and the Intaki Assembly, both corporations moved in to provide security and commercial shipping services to the planet's governing authority.

This was revealed to be a mutual business deal between Ishukone, the Legion and the Intaki Assembly, who retained rights under Gallente laws to franchise both services as they saw fit. Traditionally security was franchised to the Federation Navy and commercial shipping to FedMart.

Ishukone commercial ships, backed by Mordu's Legion military forces arrived in orbit over the planet in March YC 112. Despite the auction results having been announced the previous year, until this point no movement had transpired on Ishukone's part. Furthermore, the system control had been retaken by the Federal Defense Union militia a week previous. The FDU were spurred to action over the reports and large conflicts took place over the contested planet. This was followed by a plea from the Intaki Assembly for a cease fire, directed at the FDU, as they declared both corporations to be "present in Intaki at the specific and un-coerced request of the Assembly,". Later that day the Federation Navy attempted to reassert control over the system by sending a fleet under the control of Admiral Gouenette. The fleet was refused entry at the Intaki stargate in Agoze, and the Intaki System Command informed the admiral they were "neither required nor welcomed."

While Ishukone are prohibited from sending any armed military ships to operate in Intaki, the Mordu's Legion are given full authority to police the local space and were given full military access. This is entirely subject to civilian oversight by the Intaki Assembly.

Economic and political analysts across New Eden have speculated on the specifics of the deal between the three entities, mainly centered on Ishukone and their financial capability or willingness to have hired the Legion forces as a system-wide security force. It was well known that the Ishukone corporation's financial situation had taken a noticeable decline under the rule of Tibus Heth and the now dissolved Caldari Providence Directorate, still in power during these events. It is possible that much of the potential expenditure was covered by the securing of shipping and development franchise rights with the Assembly itself, though much was left unanswered. There has also been wild speculation that the Intaki Syndicate and the Mordu's Legion may have come to a back room understanding allowing the Legion to make further inroads with security prospects with the organization.

Caldari Prime Peacekeeping

Following the events of Operation Highlander, a concerted effort by the Gallente Federation to retake Caldari Prime from the Caldari State, the planet was declared a demilitarized zone in a treaty by both sides. Following the destruction on the planet during the conflict, caused mostly by the remains of the Leviathan class Shiigeru titan crashing to the surface, the administration of the planet was divided into two districts, Gallente and Caldari controlled. Soon afterwards, the Mordu's Legion announced their appointment as planetary security.

This deal was, again, brokered by the Ishukone corporation who stepped in to negotiate the terms of the ceasefire and the Caldari Prime Treaty that followed. Having an already established relationship with the Legion due to their mutual role in the Intaki system, the Legion was seen by both sides of the conflict to be an ideal and already proven neutral solution to the question of security for the planet.

Mordu's Legion remains currently in complete control of the planet's security coordination and have worked closely with the Ishukone corporation in the Caldari district, and Material Acquisition in the Gallente district. The Legion also provides regular reports to the Caldari Chief Executive Panel and the Gallente Senate for the sake of transparency.

Since their appointment as security the Legion has received praise from both administrations for their handling of the civilian populous. While complaints against the Legion have been made for some instances of heavy-handedness, overall no major incidents have arisen. Documented cases of the Legion successfully calming or neutralizing outbreaks of violence state they have been both effective, and even-handed in their duties.

Research and Development Activities

In YC 116 the Mordu's Legion reportedly fielded new ship designs in what seemed like shakedown cruises around their home region, as well as their operations in the Intaki system. Shipping reports in Intaki specifically highlighted unknown silhouettes dispersed among the traditional Caldari designed Mordu's Legion patrols engaging in interdiction activities as well as seemingly leading the patrol fleets.

Eventually these new ships were classified under CONCORD records, revealing three new ships to be deployed by the Legion. A frigate class, the Garmur; a cruiser class, the Orthus; and a battleship class, the Barghest. Disclosed statistics for the ships displayed a preference for advanced missile technology and long range warp drive disruption, seemingly derived from both Caldari and Gallente technology. More importantly these new ship classes are entirely designed from the ground up to accommodate capsule command systems, unlike their older Caldari designs which have mostly been traditional bridge crew operated with very few capsuleer pilots among the Legion in general.

This has re-sparked speculation surrounding the nature of the relationship between the Mordu's Legion and their Caldari and Gallente partners. Ishukone, not only known for their introduction of capsule technology granted to them by the Jove Empire, have been major influences in the development of missile technology now prevalent in most Caldari ship designs today. It was later revealed that the Legion had acquired the use of one of Ishukone's think-tanks, Kiiragustektaa, to help design a new ship, fitting to the needs of the Legion in their new role in Intaki. This same think-tank was recently credited with the development of the advanced Target Spectrum Breaker system.

While the Legion has not confirmed any specifics, stating it as a matter of proprietary security, it is thought this may have been a larger part of their deal to secure Intaki space. Ishukone have also refused to comment on this, citing similar reasons of confidentiality.

Wilder speculation as to the origin of the Gallente technology, evident in the systems powering the long range scrambling technology, range from back-room deals made with Gallente corporations following their role on Caldari Prime to the rumored ties with the Intaki Syndicate.

Military experts have stated that the emphasis on long range interdiction technology is aimed at increasing their effectiveness as peacekeepers and paramilitary police in the Caldari-Gallente warzone. This may signal a wider shift towards such roles in the future.

Increased Recruitment Activity

The Legion didn't actually participate in the fighting, but their rapid response and clear willingness to get involved has earned them plenty of additional friends within the Caldari Navy and [Megacorporation]'Megacorporation' security forces. Recruitment activity is at an all time high as the Legion has been actively seen seeking new recruits among the disaffected soldiers in the current warzones. Fuelled by the recent turmoil following the dissolving of the Caldari Providence Directorate and Tibus Heth's regime, many Caldari soldiers have taken to joining the Legion seeking to put their military skills to use in a different field. Likewise, Gallente military personnel who are seeing the Legion operate up close in their role on Caldari Prime are known to have resigned their positions in the Federation Navy in exchange for employment with the Legion.