There is no shortage of things to fear across the wasteland that was once America.
Aggressive, deformed wildlife, savage mutants, and every manner of hostile tribes, clans,
and cults.
But for the citizens of New Vegas, the greatest bastion of civilization that remains in the
Mojave, there is a single force feared above all.
It lies encamped on the eastern shores of the Colorado River, a nation of slaves, driven
endlessly forward at the end of a lash.
This is Caesar's Legion and it shall not rest until it's banners fly across every city and
settlement of the known world.
As its name implies, Caesar's Legion is an autocratic society governed under a totalitarian
dictatorship.
Caeser, a man formerly known as Edward Sallow, rules over this army with absolute authority,
the sole master of its unyielding hierarchy.
This rigid chain of command and clear division of roles is a necessity in maintaining order
among the myriad of tribes that have been forcibly absorbed into the Legion.
As Caesar integrates new peoples and merges them into his forces, they are stripped of
their previous tribal identities until there is no other tribe than the Legion itself.
Those who exist outside of the Legion’s control are branded “Dissolute” or “lacking
in morals” while those that are both separate from the Legion and hostile towards it are
“Profligates”.
Recently caught men and women are known as “Captures” and constitute the lowest tier
in the Legion’s hierarchy.
For these people, their only right is to be tested as a slave.
Those who fail to meet the requirements are immediately disposed of.
Slaves remain only one step above Captures and are expected to adhere to the virtues
of a slave; honesty, industry and prudence.
Slaves are given a new name, forced to wear rags marked with a red X painted across the
chest, and required to follow their master’s orders without question or hesitation.
Newly inducted slaves might be forced to wear slave collars based on their temperament,
but these are typically removed when the individual has either been fully pacified or transported
deeper into Legion territory.
The children of slaves are taken from their parents at birth and placed in the care of
priestesses.
From here, physically fit males might be chosen to serve as a Legionnaire.
First and foremost a slave army, such able bodied males, whether captured, conquered
or born into the legion, are expected to fight and die for the Caesar.
This singular purpose is imprinted during a soldiers upbringing or reconditioning, until
it develops into an inherent unconditional loyalty.
Neither seniority nor experience has any bearing on a soldier’s position within the Legion’s
Hierarchy.
While some may be given better equipment or more critical missions to accomplish, they
remain disposable human tools in the eyes of the Caesar and are discarded the moment
they stop fulfilling their purpose.
Should a new recruit survive the perilous and brutal training necessary to become a
Legionnaire, they are nevertheless subjected to a life of hardship.
The most inexperienced warriors in the Legion are given only crude, improvised melee weapons,
or at best, antiquated firearms.
When faced with a technologically superior opponent, these recruits are expected to zealously
drive forward, without regard for their own survival.
Recruits that survive long enough and perform their duties admirably are granted the right
to be named “Prime Legionnaires”.
Alongside better armor and weaponry, Prime Legionnaires are less commonly used as cannon
fodder and are regarded as more valuable, but still disposable tools.
Those that display a talent for leadership might earn the title of “Legionary Decanus”
and given authority over a small camp or unit of men.
Eventually, a Legionnaire can be named a Centurion, and serve as a field commander during major
operations, or administer major settlements during peacetime.
Various other specialize duties and divisions exist within the Legion, including scouts,
assassins, houndmasters, and the Frumentarii, elite spies chosen by Caesar himself.
All promotions are based on valorous or ingenious acts undertaken on the battlefield and success
is prized above all other considerations.
If victory is achieved, even through the disobeying of orders, the achievement is celebrated and
the insubordination ignored.
While competence and proficiency is rewarded, failure is met with serious injury or death.
No member of the Legion, save perhaps Caesar himself, is above consequences for his failings.
Many Legionaries, when defeated in battle, will often commit suicide rather than suffering
at the hands of the Caesar’s Executioners.
Women perform the role of a support corps, serving as caretakers, midwives and breeders
to support the continuous expansion of the Legion.
Consequently, women are forbidden from serving in combat and a pervasive culture of misogyny
exists within the Legion.
While both male and female slaves are powerless under the authority of the Ceaser, women have
the dubious distinction of being labeled, “sub-human”.
While such sweeping brutality is scorned by other major civilized factions, it cannot
be denied that the tactics employed by the Legion have brought it enormous success.
Caesar might be widely hated, but in the Wasteland, respect for power is often the only factor
that matters, and rival tribes will often voluntarily submit.
The Legion is ruthless, but their territories are among the safest in the wasteland.
Travelers, merchants and settlers here can live almost without fear, knowing that savages,
raiders and hostile wildlife have all been wiped out by hardened legionnaires.
These achievements, at a time when safety and order are rare commodities across the
Wasteland have brought some level of credibility to Caesar's cruel and militaristic ideology.
According to Caesar, the atomic war that brought ruin to mankind was sent by Mars, the God
of War, so that the Legion might be given the opportunity to unite all of mankind under
one society.
The Legion regards alcohol, chemical stimulants and other pointless luxuries with disgust.
In their view, such frivolities are used by the rich and powerful to keep their citizens
addicted to consumerism, draining their wealth and rendering them powerless.
Such people are viewed no better than animals, and should be treated accordingly.
Humanity, the Legion believes, is defined by the ability to override the fear of death,
to face it head on and sacrifice themselves in pursuit of a greater societal and ideological
goal.
Technology too is viewed as a vice that weakened humanity and was ultimately responsible for
the Great War.
As such, most Legionnaires eschew advanced equipment, relying instead on simple, reliable
gear.
Elite military units are the one exception to this rule, equipped with sophisticated
stealth technology, radios and high tech weaponry.
Robots however are granted no such exception, for war is considered a privilege saved for
men and men alone.
This belief might explain the Legion’s reverence and imitation of the Ancient Roman Empire,
viewed by the Caesar as perhaps the closest mankind has come to realizing his vision.
The emulation of Rome is present across every facet of the Legion, in the structure of its
army, the names of its ranks and even in its currency, language and religion.
The Cult of Mars is the only accepted faith within the Legion, and claims that Caesar
is the Son of Mars, destined to conquer the Earth and save it from chaos.
How much of this is wholly believed and embraced by Caesar himself, and how much exists purely
to maintain order is difficult to determine.
With most of the Legion oblivious to their society’s basis in Ancient Roman culture,
the majority are convinced that their customs were indeed dictated to Caesar by Mars himself.
It is with some level of irony then, that Caesar, while still known as Edward Sallow,
was originally a member of a vastly different type of cult.
In 2246, The Followers of the Apocalypse, keepers of ancient knowledge who vowed to
ensure the horrors of the Great War were never repeated, sent Sallow and 8 other members
to the Arizona wasteland.
Here Sallow met with Joshua Graham, a New Canaanite missionary and a specialist in the
dialects used by the local tribes.
The pair was captured soon thereafter by one such tribe, but Edward used the knowledge
he had gained as a Follower of the Apocalypse to help, and later directly lead his former
captors to victory against their rival tribes.
Edward’s expertise in military tactics and strategy was admired so greatly, that he was
named the leader of the tribe that had captured him.
He took the name Caesar, and in this moment, the Legion was born.
He quickly embarked on an aggressive campaign against the neighboring tribes in the region,
using his vastly superior tactics to completely dominate the land and people of each.
Every victory brought them more men and greater resources, until by 2271, eighty-six tribes
had been conquered, and Caesar's Legion had become the most powerful society east of the
Colorado River.
Now at the head of a fanatically loyal army formed from his captives, Caesar expanded
west into the Mojave and eventually made contact with the New California Republic.
For the first time the Legion had encountered a foreign power that equalled and even surpassed
their discipline and fighting doctrine.
A democratic state built on mercantilism, the NCR was hated by the Legion, and in what
would become known as the First Battle of Hoover Dam, the two forces finally met in
open conflict.
Under the command of Joshua Graham, now known as the Malpais Legate, the Legion managed
to score an early victory.
The New California Republic army was forced from the dam and the Legion pursued their
scattered forces as they retreated to Boulder city.
The Legion had grown complacent with their earlier campaigns against primitive tribes
and raiders however, and was oblivious to the trap the NCR had laid out for them.
Hidden explosives devastated the Legion’s forces which were then completely overrun
by the NCR’s counter-attack.
Those who survived, including Malpais Legate, retreated back across the dam, handing it
once more to the NCR.
The defeat enraged Ceaser, who ordered Malpais Legate, his former friend, be covered in pitch
and set alight.
His body was cast into the Grand Canyon and any further mention of his name was forbidden.
Some claim he somehow survived however, and slaves and Legionnaires alike now whisper
in secret of The Burned Man.
By 2281 the Legion had re-established its power in the west and rebuilt much of its
army.
Caesar had not forgotten the defeat he suffered and was determined to crush the New California
Republic in the Mojave before moving on to New Vegas.
The city was seen as an ideal capital, a Rome worthy of Caesar.
The final fate of New Vegas and the greater Mojave remains unknown, but so long as Caesar's
Legion is forced to share the wasteland with the New California Republic there will be
war, and war never changes.
The Templin Institute investigates alternate worlds and realities.
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