-DESCRIPTION:

This mod is a complete replacer for the Imperial Legion, that means the Penitus Oculatus and General Tullius armors as well, and for the Solitude Guards in Skyrim.

The idea came in my mind when i saw the movie "Kingdom of Heaven" on tv, i always liked Templars and Crusaders soldiers since i was a child, and i always liked Middle Age, a lot less the vanilla Imperial armors in Skyrim instead (they could have put a little more effort in making ancient roman legion style armors, especially the light and studded ones), so i always tried Imperial replacers here on Nexus (i always sided with Imperials since 2011, for the Emperor!).
Till now, being also a lover of Oblivion (that was my first Elder Scrolls game), i used the Authentic Legion mod made by my friend NordwarUA, that in my opinion is one of the best Imperial Legion replacer out here, but i wanted to try something more historical after having seen that movie...

I yet made a similar replacer mod, "Rigmor of Cyrodiil Counties Armors Replacer", so i thought why don't add this theme also to the Legion? 

It could be also a bit lore-friendly, after all, or at least i see it like this: the Thalmor, with the White Gold Concordat, wanted the Legion purposely not well equipped (like in Oblivion) in order to not being able to become a real threat for them and their soldiers, allowing the Legionnaires to be equipped at the same level of the Counties Guards, a little bit more for the heavy armors, and being the Legion also a vaste army, Crusader like cuirasses could be also a good compromise to have legionnaires decently equipped (chainmail is still better than that vanilla leather jacket) while maintaining the costs of the imperial army relatively slow...
This affects also the generals and the Penitus Oculatus armors as well, even if they are quite good in look and protection compared to the Legion armors.
As for Solitude, due to its ties with the Empire, and being the capital city of Skyrim, i find only logic that its guards use a complete imperial equipment, since yet in the vanilla game they use imperial heavy bracers and boots, making the Solitude Guards slightly more well equipped than the other Holds Guards.

You will see of course that light and studded cuirasses will be the same, as well as light and heavy helmet, this is made by purpose, to give more uniformity to the soldiers, and to reflect my vision of the Legion in this mod. I so loved the tabards in the movie "Kingdom of Heaven", they were of great inspiration for the Legion armors, and i tried to make a similar look on them, despite my very noob knowledge of making and editing textures.
What i improved in my mod were the swords: i made them more powerful, not too much, lighter, and i added to them the silver sword enchantment, so that like in Oblivion, the legionnaires can face every kind of enemy, undead included.

I 'm not able to make Tullius give you modded rewards for advancing in the Legion ranks when promoting you, but in Castle Dour i added a strongbox (in the little room behind the tactical room where Tullius and Rikke talk, behind Legate Adventus) with a general armor and helmet, some Penitus Oculatus armors, for who wants to join the Emperor protectors, and some imperial armors for your followers, together with a little more powerful unique (only the player can use them) imperial sword and bow.


STANDALONE VERSION:

I made also a standalone craftable version of the mod, that allows you to craft the armors and weapons at any forge, while using your favorite other imperial replacer, Steel smithing is required in order to forge them, i had to change the names of the armors, so the Imperial armors are named Imperial Knights, the Penitus Oculatus are named Imperial Paladins and you'll have a standalone version of General Tullius armor named Imperial General Armor, while the Solitude Guards Armor is named Solitude Hero Cuirass.

If you like it, don't forget to endorse!


-COMPATIBILITY:

It should be compatible with everything, of course the mod is incompatible with other Imperial and/or Solitude guards replacers, in that case simply put the one you like below the other or, in the Optional Files, there is a Standalone craftable version of the mod.
It's compatible with every male or female body you use in game, it has also beast race support, so you can use the armors also playing as a Khajiit or an Argonian character.


-REQUIREMENTS:

The original copy of the game, i tested it on AE, it should work also on SE, since it doesn't use CC contents. I don't use LE anymore, so there's not a LE version of the mod, sorry.


-INSTALLATION:

Use your mod manager to install it (i don't use Mod Organizer 2 or Vortex so i can't provide support for them, i use NMM Community Edition on Github) or, if you know what you're doing (i will take no responsibility for this), download it manually, open the file with an unzip program like 7zip, and manually drag the mod's Data content in your Skyrim Data folder and active the esp.

In order to apply all the changes to the npcs, it would be best to start a new game.

I didn't find bugs in my tests in game, and i'm playing with this mod since two weeks while tweaking it, but if you encounter a bug, please post it in the bugs section and i will try to take care of it.


-CREDITS:

And now, i want to thank and credit who made this mod possible:

NordwarUA, for allowing me to use the assets from his mods,
DanielUA, for using the assets from his mod "Guards Armor Replacer" https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/22671 ,
Moraelin, for using the sword from his mod "Arming Swords Skyrim HD 1_15A" https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/958 ,
CD Projekt Red and EinBlonderTraum, for using the shield from his mod "Witcher 2 Shield Pack (Enhanced Port)" https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/59932 ,
Zzjay, for helping with issues in the making of the mod and the textures: my dear friend,  thanks for your help, this mod wouldn't exist without your technical help and advices!
Bethesda, for making Skyrim and the Creation Kit.