1st Shin Legion

Shin Legion logo.png
Shin Legion
Formed abt. 3030[1]
Disbanded 3071[2]
Previous Designation(s) First Shin Legion
Affiliation Capellan Confederation (bef. 3036, aft. 3061);
Draconis Combine (3036-3061)[1][3][4]
Parent Command Shin Legion
Capellan Brigade

The First Shin Legion was the lead regiment of the Shin Legion Brigade. Despite showing unswerving loyalty to their new home, the Legion was considered a foreign brigade by the DCMS high command, with continual poor treatment leading them to accept Chancellor Sun-Tzu Liao's offer to return home without reprisals in 3061.[3][4] The renamed Shin Legion, the final regiment of the Brigade, was destroyed on Necromo during the Jihad.[2]

History[edit]

Formation[edit]

Originally a Capellan Confederation brigade drafted into service for the CCAF at the end of the Fourth Succession War, the members of the Shin Legion brigade publicly questioned the mental stability of Chancellor Maximilian Liao during the last years of his reign.[1][3]

The Legion was forced to depart Capellan space quickly upon the ascension of Romano Liao to the Capellan throne: a unit commander died under suspicious circumstances, Chancellor Romano Liao's definition of "loyalty" was ill-defined, and large swathes of the Confederation were affected by her purges. Though the commander's death was in fact an accident, the members had agreed that their safety was not guaranteed, and the regiments agreed that fleeing the purges required the Shin Legion regiments to join the Draconis Combine. This became a self-fulfilling prophecy when Chancellor Romano ordered the unit destroyed. Two of the three regiments that had grouped together made it out of the Confederation after the Maskirovka learned of their plans. The Third regiment was lost to the traitors in their midst as the First and Third were betrayed to port authorities. The First only survived the exodus because their aerospace wing sacrificed themselves to delay the Holdfast Guard and Maskirovka-hired mercenaries that were attacking them.[1][3][5]

In Service of Draconis Combine[edit]

Seen as a foreign unit in the Draconis Combine, the First Legion worked hard for its new home. They frequently demonstrated a near-suicidal determination to complete their orders.[1]

Ronin War[edit]

During the Ronin War, the Kanrei sent the First Shin Legion to Kandis, which was under attack by mercenary units in the employ of the Duke of Tamar. There, the First Shin Legion faced off against the Dragonslayers and Meriadoc's Malcontents. Within four hours, the Dragonslayers had surrendered. The Malcontents refused to surrender, and the First and Second Shin Legion destroyed them. After that, the Shin Legions relocated to Skandia until the Draconis Combine recalled them.[6]

Clan Invasion[edit]

In late 3051 during the Clan Invasion, the unit had received Star League-era BattleMechs. This signaled to the commanding officer Tai-sa Yanyouan, that they were being called to the front lines to face the Clans. The unit was sent to Cyrenaica, where they met forces from Clan Nova Cat in February of 3052. The battle was lost at the start of the engagement with the Nova Cat forces. The Nova Cats did not provide a batchall or follow zellbrigen, which confused the Shin Legion commanders. Tai-sa Yanyouan ordered his troops to engage in a fighting withdrawal. In their fighting retreat from the planet, the Legion's infantry was able to destroy a Trinary's worth of Nova Cat OmniMechs. They left the world when the Combine assigned two armored regiments to the planet.[7]

Rebuilding[edit]

The Draconis Combine High Command called the unit to Luthien, where they discovered that their sister unit, the Second Shin Legion, had been destroyed in the battle for the planet. The Legion absorbed the few survivors from the unit.[8]

The unit drafted new personnel to the unit throughout its rebuilding period. Many of these replacements came from warriors who graduated from the proving ground system and were from poorer families. The unit's new commander, Tai-sa Nguyen, ordered the screening of new candidates for the Legion in an effort to preserve the unit's cultural integrity. The warriors of the Legion were held in contempt by the Ghost Regiments as the yakuza considered them traitors. Conversely, the Legionnaires considered the Ghosts nothing more than thuggish criminals. As a result, the Draconis High Command kept the two units far away from each other.[1]

By 3057, Coordinator Theodore Kurita gifted the unit with two companies of the Combine's latest OmniMechs and other advanced equipment. This left the unit indebted to its host nation, but not yet feeling like it had found a home.[8]

During Operation Bulldog, the First Shin Legion faced the Clans on Cyrenaica and Caripare in the first wave. They spent the rest of the offensive as Cyrenaica's garrison.[9] However, over the years, despite their dedication, the unit had not been granted permission by the Coordinator to allow them to add the emblem of Draconis Combine on their units. This request was sent regularly up to 3061.

Tai-sa Nguyen then received an invitation from Chancellor Sun-Tzu Liao for the Legion to return to the Confederation. With a chance to return from exile, Nguyen accepted with the endorsement of the rest of the Legion. Prior to returning to the Confederation, the unit gifted the old Second Shin Legion's DropShips to the Combine as payment of its debt to the Combine for its reconstruction.[4]

Returning to the Capellan Confederation[edit]

Upon accepting an invitation from Sun-Tzu Liao, the First returned to Capellan service in 3061, renaming themselves simply as the Shin Legion. When it arrived in the Confederation, the unit traded a lance of its Kuritan-made OmniMechs for a lance of Men Shen medium OmniMechs.[4]

Xin Sheng Campaign[edit]

The Twenty-fourth Luthien Light Wing did not accompany the Legion to the Confederation. Kong-sao-shao of the Red Sun Flight, a distant relative of a member of the First Shin Legion who defected to the Combine, requested that his unit be assigned as the Shin Legion's new aerospace support. This request to join the Legion caused the CCAF to downgrade the Red Sun Flight's loyalty rating to Questionable.[4] By 3067, the unit had gained a second flight of aerospace fighters and a mixed battalion of battle armor attached to its parent command.[10]

Necromo[edit]

The Legion was recovering from the aftereffects of the fighting against House Davion's Operation SOVEREIGN JUSTICE on Necromo. In August 3071, the Shin Legion and a regiment of the local Home Guard were utterly wiped out by the Word of Blake's Forty-eighth Shadow Division days before Blakist sent asteroids to pummel the planet into a barren wasteland.[2] Following the bombardment, the release of the Necromic Plague bioweapon Magic Bullet ensured the world's immediate collapse.[11]

Officers[edit]

Rank Name Command
Commanding Officers of the First Shin Legion (House Liao)
Commanding Officers of the First Shin Legion (House Kurita)
Tai-sa Chou Yanyouan 3050 - 3054[12][13][8]
Tai-sa Huang Nguyen 3059[8]
Commanding Officers of the First Shin Legion (House Liao)
Sang-shao Huang Nguyen 3063 - 3067[4][14]

Other Officers[edit]

Tactics[edit]

The unit is noted for its ability to adapt quickly to fluid situations on the Battlefield. Its members are trained to handle all terrains but specialize in engagements on open terrain. It has been noted from learning from their enemy's actions against them.[8]

After fighting the Nova Cats on Cyrenaica, the Shin Legion adopted new tactics based on those that the Nova Cats used against the legion. The Legion uses its heavy 'Mechs to engage the enemy's main line, using a lighter force to harass the enemy's flanks, while using its aerospace assets to strafe the enemy's rear.[8][4]

Composition History[edit]

3040[edit]

First Shin Legion (Regiment/Veteran/Reliable)[15]

Note: At this point in time the command was stationed on Ancha.[15]

3050[edit]

First Shin Legion (heavy 'Mech Regiment/Veteran/[1]Reliable)[12]

  • CO: Tai-sa Chou Yanyuan[12]
Note: At this point in time the unit was stationed on Ancha.[12]

3054[edit]

First Shin Legion (Regiment/Veteran/Reliable)[13]

  • CO: Tai-sa Chou Yanyuan

3059[edit]

First Shin Legion (Regiment/Veteran/Reliable)[8]

Twenty-fourth Luthien Light Aerospace Wing (2 Companies/Regular/Reliable)[8]

3063[edit]

Shin Legion (Regiment)[4]

  • CO/First Battalion: Sang-shao Huang Nguyen
  • Second Battalion: Zhong-shao Naomi Yang-ming
  • Third Battalion: Zhong-shao Hachidu Toroda

3067[edit]

Shin Legion (Regiment/Veteran/Questionable)[14]

  • CO: Sang-shao Huang Nguyen

Capellan Navy Red Sun (2 Flights/Regular/Questionable)[14]

  • CO: Kong-sao-shao Sul Wen Tym

Shin Mechanized Infantry (Green/Questionable)[14]

  • CO : Zhong-shao Noh Ka Du

Color Scheme and Unit Insignia[edit]

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The unit's colors were dark green with yellow highlights as a Capellan unit, both before and after their stint in the Draconis Combine. Upon their desertion to the Combine, they employed a flat, dark green with black highlights, and a patch left unpainted- a spot for the Kurita dragon crest the Legion was not allowed to display, despite their yearly request. The Shin Legion insignia, a black Buddha on a golden disk, was painted on the unit's BattleMech's upper right legs.[17][18]

In 3061, the Shin Legion adopted a new insignia of a Buddha on a red disk, replacing the golden disk of its original insignia, to avoid the implication that the unit had the Chancellor's favor. The new Capellan Brigade shared a divisional crest, a red snake head striking out from an eclipsed flaring sun.[4][19][20]

Notes[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ↑ a b c d e f g h Combat Manual: Kurita, p. 57: "Shin Legion"
  2. ↑ a b c Jihad Secrets: The Blake Documents, p. 106: "48th Shadow Division profile" - Shin Legion named as victim of the Division raid on Necromo before the planet is wiped out
  3. ↑ a b c d Field Manual: Draconis Combine, p. 110: "Shin Legion"
  4. ↑ a b c d e f g h i j Field Manual: Capellan Confederation, p. 101: "First Shin Legion"
  5. ↑ a b Technical Readout: 3039, p. 206: "F-90 Stingray - Notable Pilots"
  6. ↑ Historical: Brush Wars, p. 113
  7. ↑ Invading Clans, p. 121
  8. ↑ a b c d e f g h Field Manual: Draconis Combine, p. 111: "First Shin Legion unit profile"
  9. ↑ The Dragon Roars, p. 10
  10. ↑ Field Manual: Updates, p. 28: "Shin Legion" - unit update in 3067
  11. ↑ Necromo Nightmare, p. 18: "Gamemaster's Sourcebook"
  12. ↑ a b c d 20 Year Update, p. 40
  13. ↑ a b Objective Raids, p. 28
  14. ↑ a b c d Field Manual: Updates, p. 33: "CCAF Deployment Table - 3067"
  15. ↑ a b Historical: War of 3039, p. 139
  16. ↑ Combat Manual: Kurita, p. 57: "Emma Wu"
  17. ↑ Field Manual: Draconis Combine, p. 110: "First Shin Legion: Colors and Insignia"
  18. ↑ "1st Shin Legion". CamoSpecs Online. Retrieved 2025-04-13. Per FM: Draconis Combine, page 110.
  19. ↑ Field Manual: Capellan Confederation, p. 97: "Capellan Brigade"
  20. ↑ "Shin Legion". CamoSpecs Online. Retrieved 2025-04-13. Per FM:Capellan Confederation, pages 97 and 101.

Bibliography[edit]

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