Legion of X

Origin

Nightcrawler was concerned with the flippant attitude his fellow mutants were developing when it came to death. He was determined to create a mutant religion to protect the sanctity of life and stop mutants from abusing Krakoa's resurrection protocols. Legion saw this concern in Nightcrawler and believed he found an ally in his own fight against an unseen threat. Onslaught had snuck on to the island thanks to Orchis. Together, Legion and Nightcrawler put together a team that could stop Onslaught, and the duo sought to keep the team together.

Creation

Although the idea was born from the events of X-Men: Onslaught Revelation, the team made their first official appearance in Legion of X #1

Team Evolution

The team was founded by Nightcrawler and Legion to be part police/part priests. They would be tasked not with enforcing the law or punishing misbehavior but with protecting what unites them, ensuring "The Spark." The Spark is a spiritual philosophy but not a religion, tailor-made for an immortal life on Krakoa. They would be based out of The Altar, an astral plane subspace in Legion's own psyche accessible through a Krakoan gate that allows for physical matter to exist. The kind of crimes they typically investigated were those of a spiritual nature.

Major Story Arcs

Skinjacker

After reports of possession, Nightcrawler assigned Pixie and Lost to look into the latest victim, Spike. He was afraid of retaliation if he talked, but Lost was able to gently convince him to let Dr. Nemesis probe his mind. This way, they are able to identify the “skinjacker” as a former Hellion, Switch. Unfortunately, it seemed Krakoa’s security could not pick up on his comings and goings while he was possessing someone. They only got a breakthrough when they encountered Banshee while he was possessed. His accent kept slipping, which tipped them off.

When they attempted to apprehend Banshee, Switch jumped into Juggernaut, thinking he would be unstoppable. Lost is capable of negating Cain’s ability by lifting him into the air, but Pixie’s souldagger failed to negate his psychic because he had upgraded his powers with sorcery. So, the Legion fakes a visit by Doctor Strange to draw Switch out. When he tries to possess Strange, he finds himself stuck in a reliquary bottle shrouded be an illusion.

Trickster God

Accepting an invitation from Storm to meet with a member of the Great Ring of Arakko, Ora Serrata, Nigtcrawler learns of Arakko’s god problem. Ora’s predecessor, Uqesh, as the “Chair of Law” had the mutant ability to summon gods and tried using them as counsel, however, they were failures, simply leeching Arakko’s faith and giving nothing useful in return. Ora now forces Uqesh to summon them for trial with their worshippers and to be vanquished by the mutants of Arakko. Unfortunately, a trickster god had fled his trial to Krakoa, and Ora wants the Legion to assist Arakki warrior, Weaponless Zsen, in hunting the god down.

With Blindfold as an escort, Kurt and Zsen travel the astral plane looking for the god’s signature. They end up in a dream of Pixie’s that had fallen into chaos. Recognizing it as the god’s handiwork, they investigate more closely, and Kurt hypothesizes that Switch is the disciple of the god, granting him his new magic abilities. Upon returning to the Altar, they find Switch, jumping body to body causing chaos and damage. Kurt offers himself up to Switch, so that he could confront the god from Switch's body. It revealed itself to be a chimera of trickster gods calling itself Tumult.

He admitted to fleeing his first worshipper, Ora, who was trying to take advantage of him. With this new information, Kurt confronts Ora as she enters The Altar for a report of her fugitive god. Ora attacks them over the accusation but is challenged by Kurt's forces. Legion releases his personalities to overcome her, while she is challenged as a worshipper in the god trials by Zsen. The Legion's confrontation of Ora inspires Tumult to abandon both Switch and Ora.

Although, Ora was willing to work with Storm and the Legion to keep her relationship to Tumult a secret, Switch was more difficult. Pixie used a spell to use Switch's ability against him, locking him Tumult's body and vice versa. Switch as Tumult was put on trial and vanquished by the Arakki mutants, while Tumult gets to live on in Switch's body.

Mythomancy

Reports of mutants undergoing strange monstrous mutations started when Nightcrawler grew horns and claws. Not even killing and resurrecting Kurt could reverse the monstrousness. He puts his Legion on the case with the help of Jackie Chopra, the new part-time Black Knight. Pixie determines that a powerful sorcerer has cast a mythomancy spell, a powerful reality-warping incantation that causes myths, rumors, and lies to turn real. This particular rumor was that mutants were monsters and was piggybacking on Jackie's recently revealed mutant ability to temporarily turn humans into mutants.

Their investigation led them to Margali Szardos, Nightcrawler's adopted mother, who had been hired by Orchis in their quest to defeat mutantkind. In his near feral state, Nightcrawler was easier to manipulate. Margali first had him turn on his allies before forcing him to embrace his inner darkness to take on the Orchis task force. Once victorious, Margali commends her ashamed son for his creation of The Spark. She recognizes that he has successfully used it to fill the hole in his soul left by a previous soulsword. From it, she pulls a new weapon, The Hopesword, and leaves them for Orchis to take into custody.

Orchis takes this opportunity to attack The Altar while not fully staffed. Nimrod was able to access the telefloronic network briefly but was ultimately forced back. Orchis was still able to sever the connection between Warlock and Cypher, taking Warlock with them. Nimrod also managed to kill Forget-Me-Not. Sadly, no one remembered him in order to resurrect him.

Orchis Rescue Mission

After trying many simulations against Nimrod, Legion realized he was not powerful enough to stop the future sentinel. So, he went to Mother Righteous and reluctantly asked for help saving his teammates. While Mother Righteous overpowered Nimrod with her magic, Legion as able to free the others. He was ambushed though by Margali, but she was no match to Mother Righteous either.

Back on Krakoa, Mother Righteous was able to reverse the mythomancy spell, something she had learned to do in an alternate future that only she remembers. Reversing the spell did not reverse the mutations though. She killed Doctor Nemesis, who was able to be resurrected without his monstrousness. This meant the Legionnaires could kill the other monsters and resurrect them without their added mutations.

Mother Righteous ultimately tried to betray them when she tried to keep the Hopesword and enslave Legion. Thankfully, Legion was ready for her. He was able to disarm her and get the sword back to Kurt. With his hope restored, he was able to fight Righteous, but Legion and The Altar had disappeared from her senses. Angry, she released energy that burned the rest of the Legionnaires. They were resurrected, but the memories of what happened were not backed up. No one knew what happened to Legion or The Altar. Legion of X was, for now, done.