Dark Egg Legion


 * For the branches of the Dark Egg Legion see Dark Egg Legion (disambiguation).

The Dark Egg Legion is an army of cyborgs under the Eggman Empire. They serve as regional enforcers and soldiers across Mobius, either fighting for the land they've taken or trying to conquer new regions. All members of the Dark Egg Legion are subjected to the legionization process and are controlled by at least one Grandmaster. Usually the chapters are of a specific species, but can also be of mixed races.

Formation & Title
The Dark Egg Legion started out as merely a recruitment of soldiers willing to serve the Eggman Empire who were then given cybernetic upgrades. The chapters made were the Downunda Dark Egg Legion consisting of platypuses under the command of Duck "Bill" Platypus, the Southern Continent Dark Egg Legion made up of cats and wolves under Razorklaw and Drago Wolf, the Northern Tundra Dark Egg Legion consisting of orcas under Akhlut and the Great Desert Dark Egg Legion composed of various species and controlled by Beauregard Rabbot. The name of the Dark Egg Legion came when the Dark Legion joined forces with Dr. Eggman to undergo the legionization process after being reverted to completely organic Mobians again. They were then made the New Megaopolis Dark Egg Legion. (StH: #184, #213, #217, SU: #11)

Iron Dominion Rulership
The Eggman Empire was briefly usurped by the Iron Dominion when Dr. Eggman briefly suffered a psychological break down and was rendered completely insane. Dimitri, then-Grandmaster of the New Megaopolis Dark Egg Legion, played a hand in this so the echidnas of the Dark Legion could go free as bombs had been placed inside their new cybernetics. But the Iron Queen told him she could not remove the explosives and could only jam the detonation signal with micro chips. Dimitri took the chips with suspicion and then the Dark Egg Legion was used to fend off the invading Sonic the Hedgehog and Monkey Khan with assistance from the Yagyu Clan and the Iron King. Dimitri later learned that while they would jam the signal, they would also give the Iron Queen complete control of the echidnas through her powers of Magitek. (StH: #192, #200, #201, #202)

Abroad, the Downunda Dark Egg Legion began an alliance with Dr. Finitevus to bring Angel Island back to Mobius's surface using his Warp Ring technology. Their plans were later met with interference from the Downunda Freedom Fighters and the Chaotix, but were soo captured. This branch's Grandmaster revealed to the two groups that he was in fact undercover to gain some kind of hold on his people since they wanted power. Knuckles the Echidna fought against Finitevus while the other Freedom Fighters dealt with the Dark Egg Legion and their plans were foiled. (SU: #11, #12)

Back at New Megaopolis, the local Dark Egg Legion and the Iron Dominion's forces were called to fight off a rampant Eggman who had escaped his cell and gained control of his Egg-Tortoise. When he went passed New Megaopolis's boundaries, the Dark Egg Legion and the Yagyu went after him under the supervision of the Iron Monarchs and met with trouble in the form of Sonic the Hedgehog. With just Sonic they struggled, but then more of the Knothole Freedom Fighters appeared and gave them a brutal beating before making a retreat into New Mobotropolis and they were unable to reclaim Eggman. Later that day, Lien-Da secretly did away with Dimitri and was promoted to the New Megaopolis Dark Egg Legion's Grandmaster by the Iron Queen. The Dark Egg Legion and the Yagyu then participated in the takeover of New Mobotropolis after the Iron Queen used her powers of Magitek to control NICOLE. Sonic, Tails, Princess Sally and Monkey Khan escaped in the middle of the invasion, however, and later went to seek out help in the Dragon Kingdom. During their absence, the Dark Egg Legion and Yagyu Clan helped to maintain control over the city and started rounding up civilians to force them into the legionization process. Resistance was encountered by some of the reamining Freedom Fighters in the city, however, and both groups had to deal with their attempts at driving off the Iron Dominion. The Dark Egg Legion and Yagyu were then stationed at New Mobotropolis's coliseum while the captured citizens were legionized in public and some legionnaires were even on hand to help with the process itself. The first Mobian up for legionization was Rotor Walrus, who resisted and pummelled two armed legionnaires before his back gave out. Then the resisting members of the Freedom Fighters appeared and the Dark Egg Legionnaires and Yagyu ninjas went on the attack with the Iron King. Then reinforcements arrived in the form of Sonic, Taills, Sally and Monkey Khan, back from the Dragon Kingdom with advantages in tow. They revealed to the Yagyu Clan that they were no longer tied to the Iron Dominion and used the mystical Fan of Fen Xing to blow the Iron King out of New Mobotropolis. Lien-Da decided this would be the perfect opportunity to usurp the Eggman Empire herself since she'd installed one of the chips with its Magitek enhancement function removed. The Iron Queen then detonated the bomb inside her using her powers and the New Megaopolis Dark Egg Legion turned to Snively, who ran for it as they seemed doomed. The Dark Egg Legionnaires then retreated to the Eggdome and later changed sides back to Eggman, who was now sane again. (StH: #205, #206, #208, #209, #210, #211, #212)

Global War
With Eggman back in power, operations abroad returned to normal. The first of the Eggman Empire's strikes was the Southern Continent Dark Egg Legion's theft of the Ancient Onyx to divide the Mysterious Cat Country and the Wolf Pack Nation. For a while, the plan went smoothly, but a timely interruption from Sonic, Sally and Big the Cat foiled their plans and revealed to the two nations that their own kind had turned against them. (StH: #213, #214)

The next strike was to take control of the Walrus Herd again through use of mind control technology. The Arctic Freedom Fighters issued a distress signal for Sonic's help, however, and got additional reinforcements in the form of Rotor Walrus in a mechanical suit and Silver the Hedgehog, who managed to put an end to the Eggman Empire's attemts at controlling the walruses once and for all and also severely damaged the Northern Tundra Dark Egg Legion. (StH: #215, #216)

Equipment

 * *Egg Mobiles: Mainly utilized by the New Megaopolis branch of the Dark Egg Legion, they are a single person craft capable  of flight. They are mainly used for patrols and strategic overview, but can attach to larger crafts.


 * Laser Rifles: Standard equipment for legionnaires of every branch, the laser rifles a potent energy weapon capable of taking down even the strongest of Mobians in sufficient numbers, but they don't appear to be lethal.
 * Wing Dingoes: These machines appear to be exclusive to the Downunda Dark Egg Legion. They appear to be a new design of the original Wing Dingoes and are used as attack drones, but haven't proven much of a problem for the Downunda Freedom Fighters or the Chaotix.
 * Implants: All members of the Dark Egg Legion have parts of their bodies replaced with mechanical implants, increasing their strength and giving them new abilities. The extent of individual legionnaire cybernetics is currently unknown, but seems to vary between individuals.
 * Writer Ian Flynn suggested on his forum that about 30% of the New Megaopolis' branch's bodies have been replaced as of joining the Eggman Empire.

Background Information

 * Despite being called an army of cyborgs, the cybernetic implants of the legionnaires are hardly ever seen and are usually just mentioned.
 * At first, the Dark Egg Legion was believed to just be the renmants of the Dark Legion renamed with the "Egg" motif when they became Dr. Eggman's standing army in New Megaopolis. According to Drago Wolf, the Dark Egg Legion didn't get it's name until the "dreadheads" joined, as revealed in #214.
 * There are many more chapters of the Dark Egg Legion present on Mobius other than those revealed. As hinted by Bill in SU #12, this would indicate the Legion did not actually start in Downunda, but just expanded to include a chapter local to that continent. Dialogue in SU #11 suggested that the platypus branch came before the echidna one however, likely some time while Sonic was still in outer space, and as Bill put it: We were "upgraded" with cybernetics and made a chapter of his growing "Dark Egg Legion." This indicated more branches, and dialogue in StH #210 revealed that some citizens of New Mobotropolis had been subjected to Legionization and sent to global legion chapters, further evidence of which was given by Espio the Chameleon in #212, where he revealed that Mighty the Armadillo's sister was currently a member of one.
 * A third chapter's membership was confirmed as of #213, differing from the previous two chapters in that it was made up of two Mobian races-Wolves and Cats-neither of which were monotremes. A fourth chapter made of orcas was later confirmed in #216, which differs from the other chapters seen in that it's members are non-anthropomorphic. The fifth chapter stands out in that it composed of a variety of desert animals instead of one or two main species, and that they joined the Eggman Empire as their only means of survival from the Freedom Fighters oppressing them in a harsh environment.
 * Some Grandmasters wear uniforms similar to the outfit worn by Eggman.