Long ago, before space flight, the Udorians lived on Athra along with the Amarr. They were a proud and mostly nonreligious people inhabiting two continents south of Amarr island. They were traders and masters of the sea. They were eventually reclaimed, although that took time.
During that time, the faithful were persecuted all over the Udorian realms. Still, despite the danger, faith took root and some of their people converted in secret. One of them was Saint Maras. He was the commander of one of the legions of Ves-Udor. After receiving a vision of a Sefrim guiding him to victory during a battle against other heathens, he pledged his heart and soul to the one true God. He rallied his troops and won the battle. As he was a very popular and revered leader, known for his wisdom and justice, soon all six thousand soldiers under his command also converted to our faith.
Things went well for them until one day when they were ordered to attack a village of fellow faithful. The legion refused. They knew very well what this meant: they had openly exposed themselves as practicing the Amarr religion! Because of that, they were ordered to death. They had no hope of escape: the route to the coast, to get to Amarr island, was cut off. They fought bravely, and all died a martyr's death.
The stuff of epic movies, and there have been many about them!
They were buried where they made their last stand. Much later, after all of Athra was reclaimed, their remains were dug up, and became popular and revered relics. At first they were kept in a large monastery on the fields where they were slain, but soon the relics were being lent out, and then bought, or even stolen.
Important Houses started to collect skulls of soldiers from the saintly legion of Ves-Udor, like children collect playing cards. They made special display cabinets, tried to group them by squad. Feuds were fought to obtain prized centurions or officers. The revered skulls were adorned with specially designed relic cloths, each one unique and linked to an individual legionnaire. Their shape imitates the typical crested helmets of the Udorians at the time:
Today, only two hundred eighty-three out of more than six thousand skulls are accounted for in churches and cathedrals, although many more are believed to be in private chapels all over the Empire.
In the safes at the Tetrimon vault, we found no less than one hundred fifty-three additional legionnaires! A collection worthy of a Royal House. We cannot take all of them with us, they are too bulky and must be handled with the necessary caution and reverence. Abandoning all unnecessary equipment, we managed to safely pack twenty-two legionnaires (five officers among them), and will begin our walk back through the biosphere.
May the holy legion protect us!
[[ooc comment: this is based on a true story - during the Roman persecution of the christians, the 'Theban legion' led by saint Maurice refused to attack fellow christians and for that disobedience the whole legion was executed. Their skulls with typical adornment became collector's items in the Middle Ages. The picture shows one of these skulls, and was taken at a temporary exhibition of relics in the archaeology museum of the Basque country, Spain]]
