The Iron Legion was the powerful army of an ancient Empire, Old Xylvania to be precise.
Old Xylvania was a horrible desert of dust, ashes and lava. This land was ruled by a megalomaniac Emperor, Lord Ferrok, ancestor of Kaiser Vlad. Old Xylvania looks a lot like Mordor from 'The Lord of the Rings'. The warriors of the Legion appear to be green-skinned, orc- and later zombie-like creatures.
History
The origins of the Legion are unknown, however, the appearance of the Legionnaires suggest they were mutated or even created by dark alchemy or something to that extent. They have green skin, sharp teeth and long claws. They seem to live like slaves, doing nothing during their entire life but fighting for their Lord or gathering resources.
The Iron Legion has a huge arsenal of steam-powered weaponry at its disposal, and many weapons of the BW-universe are inspired by the steam prototypes invented in Old Xlvania.
Iron Legion Veteran Infantry eweapons and armor
The Iron Legion managed to overrun most of the world, destroying entire cities and nations. Only the Solar Empire was strong enough for durable resistance. But it was still no match for the power of these monstrous hordes of evil. In order to save the world, the Solar Empire invented a satellite weapon which would use the energy of the sun to destroy any territory on the surface of the planet it was used against. When Lord Ferrok held a speech to his army on his great Iron tower, the Satellite was used to destroy the area, leaving Old Xylvania without leadership or a viable army. Thus, the dark empire was defeated.
However, the Solar Weapon didn't pulverize the army, but transformed them into stone instead. The surviving Xylvanians build a great monument in the centre of the destroyed land. It is later revealed that this monument is really some unknown machine which is able to bring the legion back to life. For this, a special key is needed, disguised as a sword- the sword of the Xylvanian Kaiser.
In order to use the Iron Legion against the allies, Countess Ingrid steals the sword from Kaiser Vlad (who was against using the Legion since he knew that unlike his ancestor Ferrok he would be unable to control it). Ingrid eventually loses her mind and is controlled (or at least thinks to be controlled) by the "Overmind" of the Iron Legion. Back to life, the Legion seeks to bring an end to all living things, including their descendants in new Xylvania.
However, the allies manage to destroy the Monument, bringing an end to the Legion once for all, saving Xylvania and the world from complete destruction.
Old Xylvanian landscape
Non-Humanity
Much like its successor Xylvania, the people of the Iron Legion do not appear fully Human, in fact, to a much greater extent than the Xylvanians. Although this might be due to the fact that they live in a polluted country, and they mine all the time (See unit dossier).