Caesar's Legion

Caesar's Legion is an imperialistic, ultra-reactionary totalitarian dictatorship based on large scale slavery. Founded in 2247 by Edward Sallow, its Caesar, and Joshua Graham (also known as the Malpais Legate). The Legion uses trappings of the ancient Roman Empire as part of a unifying identity imposed on its tribes but does not recreate any cultural, social, or political institutions of ancient Rome. The Legion itself is simply a slave army built on ruthlessly utilitarian principles, supported by several tributary populations.J.E. Sawyer (source): "''Edward Sallow created Caesar's Legion as an imitation of the Roman Legion, but without any of the Roman society that supported the Roman Legion. I've written this before, but there are no optimates, no populares, no plebes, no equestrians, no patricians, no senate, no Rome. There's no right to private property (within the Legion itself). There's no civil law. There aren't even the ceremonial trappings of Roman society. Legates don't receive triumphs following a victory. No one in the Legion retires to a villa in Sedona.

''It's essentially a Roman legion with only the very top commander having any connection to the "source" culture, the rest being indoctrinated conscripts from cultures that were honestly less well-developed than anything in Gaul. Gauls are pretty sophisticated compared to the 80+ tribes. Gauls could read the Latin or Greek alphabets (Gallic language, obviously), had extensive permanent settlements, roads, calendars, mines, and a whole load of poo poo that groups like the Blackfoots never had.

''What Caesar gave to those tribes was order, discipline, an end to internecine tribal violence (eventually), common language, and a common culture that was not rooted in any of their parent cultures. The price was extreme brutality, an enormous loss of life and individual culture, the complete dissolution of anything resembling a traditional family, and the indoctrination of fascist values.

''Caesar's Legion isn't the Roman Empire or the Roman Republic. It isn't even the Roman Legion. It's a slave army with trappings of foreign-conscripted Roman legionaries during the late empire. All military, no civilian, and with none of the supporting civilian culture."

Enslaved men are used for combat, and are called legionaries, while enslaved women are forced to bear children and support the war effort. Both are predominately reconditioned tribals, forming a well-organized, culturally insular fighting force that, as of 2281, mainly operates east of the Colorado River and the Grand Canyon, in the former states of Arizona and New Mexico and much of Utah and Colorado. Caesar has made no effort to establish a civilian culture (though “civilized“ communities who submit to Legion rule are generally allowed to keep their freedom to an extent, rather than being absorbed into the army), as his ultimate goal is to conquer the New California Republic and merge its civilian culture and infrastructure with the military strength of the Legion, creating a new totalitarian empire.

The Legion's symbol is a golden bull on a red field, which is derived from Julius Caesar's standard for the Tenth Twin Legion.

Background
In the year 2246, the Followers of the Apocalypse sent a group of nine members to the Arizona wastelands to study the region’s tribal languages. The group included Follower Edward Sallow, who met with the New Canaanite missionary Joshua Graham, a specialist in tribal dialects. Not long into their travels, the group was captured by the Blackfoot tribe and held for ransom.

At the time, the tribe warred against seven other tribes and suffered from a lack of skill in warfare. Against his companions' wishes, Sallow aided the Blackfoots to save him and his companions from their captor’s enemies, giving them knowledge in gun maintenance, small unit tactics, explosive improvisation, and military strategy. The tribals admired Sallow so much that they made him their leader. With that, Sallow took the name Caesar and began reorganizing the tribals he commanded into the Legion.

Caesar established warfare policies in the Legion based on the concepts of "divide and conquer" and "total war." The Legion defeated the region's seven tribes from weakest to strongest and completely dominated each faction's land and people. The people conquered in campaigns were conscripted, enslaved, or killed. Caesar saw the tribes "playing at war," and tribals viewed his tactics as foreign, as their warfare consisted of skirmishes that never escalated into major conflicts.

With the combined leadership of Caesar and Graham, declared the "Malpais Legate," the Legion led campaigns against more tribes, forming a fanatically loyal army with their captives. In total, 86 tribes had been conquered by the year 2271 and the territory Caesar led formed the most powerful society east of the Colorado River.

During his conquests, Caesar would go on to push the Desert Rangers out of Arizona and into Nevada. The Rangers, in exchange for protection, agreed to be assimilated into the NCR in 2271.

The Legion expanded west into the Mojave and established Fortification Hill on the Colorado River in 2277. The advancing forces eventually made contact with the NCR near New Vegas and began a campaign to take the region.

Under the command of the Malpais Legate, Legion forces marched against the New California Republic garrison at Hoover Dam, in an attempt to take the strategic asset and river crossing. In what became known as the First Battle of Hoover Dam, the Malpais Legate initially had the upper hand. The Legate was able to push the NCR defenders back and lead his forces over the dam. Lead elements of the NCR, including members of the 1st Recon Battalion and NCR Rangers, executed a tactical retreat west across the dam and into Boulder City, all the while using their marksmanship prowess to kill the Legion officers (primarily centurions and decani). The Legate, unable to adapt his strategies in combat or see the deception unfolding in front of him, chose to order his legionaries to push the rangers, not knowing the NCR had booby-trapped Boulder City, packing C4 along their line of retreat and within the city itself, drawing the Legion into a trap.

When the Legion forces entered the city, the NCR detonated the explosives and inflicted severe casualties among them, crippling their offensive. The NCR forces then counter-attacked, pushing back and eventually routing the Legion forces who fled east back over the dam. Caesar, angered at the failure of his Legate, made an example of him. The Praetorian guard covered the Legate in pitch, set him on fire and cast him into the depths of the Grand Canyon. Caesar forbade mention of his name and now he is spoken of only in hushed whispers by the lowest legionaries and slaves, who call him the Burned Man.

By 2281, Caesar's Legion has reestablished its power in the west, rebuilt its army and has slowly encroached on the city of New Vegas. They continue to contest NCR in the Mojave region, destroying several NCR bases such as Ranger station Charlie and Camp Searchlight, overrunning the NCR town of Nelson, decimating the town of Nipton and creating unease and terror across the region. Sometime before the Second Battle of Hoover Dam, Caesar's Legion has conquered a new tribe under the command of centurion Gaius Magnus, bringing the number to 87.

Society
The Legion proper is first and foremost a slave army, the sole owner of which is Caesar. As Caesar conquers the peoples of the wasteland, he strips them of their tribal identities and merges them into his forces. There is no other tribe than the Legion itself. Notably, the non-tribal people who live in Legion-controlled territory are not considered legionaries. They are subjects of the Legion, living in the cities and towns under its control, and are generally left free to do whatever they wish, as long as they do not interfere with Legion operations or endanger its position. It seems the Legion does have a limited civil government, as evidenced by the Officio ab Famulatus (Office of Servitude) headed by M. Licinius Crassus, which is responsible for overseeing the ownership of slaves. The title of consul is not a military rank and is not known to be used anywhere else in the Legion.

The brutality of the Legion is a major problem for many, but it also brings benefits. Arizona was once a lawless wasteland where crossing two miles without a clash with raiders was a major feat. The Legion brought peace and quiet to the entire state by exterminating and enslaving the raider tribes.

Ideology
The focus of the Legion's ideology is survival and long term stability at all costs. Caesar disregards democracies as ineffective, fostering corruption and disintegration. Ancient Rome was a militarized autocracy that effectively assimilated the cultures it conquered which he saw as the perfect template for a society that would survive and thrive in the face of the challenges of the post-nuclear world. By dedicating its members to a higher ideal, he seeks to prevent humanity from fracturing and destroying itself again. He believes that the only way to achieve this is through enforcing a nationalist, imperialist, totalitarian, homogeneous culture that obliterates the identity of every group it conquers. The individual has no value beyond his utility to the state, whether as an instrument of war or production.

A natural consequence of this is the emphasis placed on personal sacrifice. Victory cannot be achieved without sacrificing blood and life. To this end, the Legion shuns robots, as they firmly believe that mankind requires warriors and their sacrifice, rather than gadgets that allow for bloodless victories. Naturally, the Legion forbids painkillers and other chems as detrimental to the human condition and Caesar's long-term plans to reshape humanity. Ignorance of medical science among the legionaries also ensures that only the hardiest will survive and go on to become deadly veterans.

Politically, this philosophy is expressed in a general disdain for democracy as a weak and ineffective system that fosters disunity, greed, and self-interest at the expense of the collective and the greater good. Caesar cites the NCR as an example, focusing on government corruption by wealthy brahmin barons and landowners, greed permeating every level of society, all leading to the abandonment of the collective and the greater good. The Legion is intended to be the Republic's opposite, shunning democracy in favor of a strong, centralized rule that would prevent fragmentation and internal weakness. The conquest of NCR will establish a new order, akin to the Roman Empire, complete with the transformation of the Legion from a marauding army into a domestic military force. The Courier: "What do you think of the NCR?" Caesar: "Do you want my opinion as a former citizen, or future conqueror? Actually, my opinion's the same either way. As a young man I was taught to venerate President Tandi of Shady Sands. "The Founding Mother of the New California Republic." Did you know her Presidency lasted 52 years? And that her father, Aradesh, was the Republic's first President? Does that sound like democracy to you, or a hereditary dictatorship?" The Courier: "President Tandi was voted into office each time." Caesar: "Because the council didn't dare oppose her. She was too popular. She had the people's love. So things ran smoothly, more or less. And as soon as she was gone, as soon as there really could be "democracy" - what happened then? Ever since losing its queen, the NCR has been weaker, more diffuse. Democracy has been its weakness, not its strength." The Courier: "How is the NCR weak?" Caesar: "Greed runs rampant. The government is corrupt, accepting bribes from Brahmin barons and landowners, to the detriment of citizens. The NCR is a loose conglomerate of individuals looking out for themselves. It's lost virtue. No one cares about the collective, the greater good. It's not built to last. I'm just hastening the inevitable." The Courier: "Surely, the NCR is a powerful foe?" Caesar: "Of course. The most powerful my Legion has faced. Also the first to which I am ideologically opposed. Until now, every tribe I've conquered has been so backwards and stunted, enslavement has been a gift bestowed upon them. My conquest of the Mojave will be a glorious triumph, marking the transition of the Legion from a basically nomadic tribe to a genuine empire. Just as my namesake campaigned in Gaul before he crossed the Rubicon, so have I campaigned, and will cross the Colorado." (Caesar's dialogue)

This opposition is based on the Hegelian dialectic, where the thesis (NCR) and the antithesis (Caesar's Legion) will inevitably form a synthesis at the resolution of the conflict, eliminating flaws and leaving a new quality, with common elements and ideas. He likens the situation between the NCR and the Legion to the transformation of the ancient Roman Republic into the Roman Empire.

Social structure
The Legion employs a very strict hierarchy and clear division of roles between the sexes. Legionaries are the main fighting force of the Legion, composed of able-bodied men enslaved by the Legion or born into it. They have only one purpose: to fight for Caesar until they fall in battle. This principle is imprinted into each legionary during his reconditioning or upbringing (for those born into slavery), creating fanatically loyal soldiers. Unlike the Roman Empire, experience and veteran status have no bearing on a legionary's position. While they receive better equipment as they advance, this is solely for the purpose of accomplishing more dangerous and complex tasks, with much smaller tolerance for failure. They have no personal freedoms or rights. Their only real choice is where and when they die for Caesar, to whom they are disposable tools, discarded the moment they stop fulfilling their purpose. October 28, 2011: "One token Nazi medal for pure aryan mothers hardly balances the the vast, VAST majority of male-dominated civilizations throughout history that have treated women as sub-human or property. Men in the Legion have power, women don't have any. Why are people so obsessed with the "balance" between the different gendered roles under the Legion? I've never said it's balanced. But there is very clearly a trend among people questioning the Legion to project the concept of military service as a noble endeavor (for which one is rewarded, no less) onto legionnaires when it's never presented in that way. They are slave soldiers. Service is not voluntary, they can't retire, there are no parades and pats on the back for them. They aren't Roman patrician officers who are going to retire to a Tuscan estate when they turn 50. ''The only power that male legionaries have is to serve Caesar well enough to be promoted to a position of more responsibility. Nothing really comes with that additional responsibility other than increased scrutiny and better equipment (to match the increased danger).'' Most of my commentary on this topic has been to highlight the following: ''If you want to weigh the individual horror of rape and forced child-bearing against forced military service for life, knock yourself out. It's two terrible ways to go through life."''
 * Caesar's Legion is subdivided (by Caesar) based on gendered/sexed roles. These subdivisions are sexist (inherently), but they are neither misogynistic nor misandric.
 * Legionaries under Caesar are not like Roman patrician officers. They are not part of a larger society that celebrates and rewards military service with things like conference of honorific titles, triumphs, etc. All legionaries are slave soldiers, period.
 * The opinions of individual legionaries are not the opinions of Caesar. These individuals may make misogynistic comments, but those comments did not originate with Caesar, nor is there any reason to believe that he shares them, given his willingness to employ a female courier.

Women are expressly forbidden from fighting and act as support corps. They are caretakers, healers, midwives, and breeders, fulfilling roles essential to maintaining the Legion's continuous campaign of expansion. Of particular note are the priestesses, who raise children taken from their parents and raise them in keeping with Caesar's doctrine.

While some members of the Legion express condescending or downright misogynistic opinions of women and their non-combat roles, the inherently sexist segregation of genders in the Legion is not based on prejudice, but the principle of minimax. Caesar strictly divides the duties between the sexes in order to fully utilize their potential and optimize the Legion's might. As harsh as it sounds, by forbidding women from combat he increases their output of children (necessary due to the high infant mortality resulting from the low level of medical care), giving him a greater number of slave warriors to use in his military campaigns. Caesar himself is not particularly prejudiced against any sex, or rather, treats them both instrumentally, like pawns on a chessboard.

In order to maximize breeding and eliminate factors that might lower it, Caesar has decreed homosexuality a capital offense and mandated child quotas from all legionaries.

Cannibalism is not frowned upon by the Legion. There is little discussion of this policy, but it seems to be well known as members of the White Glove Society are aware of it.

Subjects
Non-enslaved people living under the Legion are primarily inhabitants of non-tribal communities that existed before the rise of the Legion and have been left free, as subjects. Instead of enslaving skilled people and cutting into their power base, the Legion opts to enslave tribes (in areas they dominate, such as Arizona and New Mexico). In certain cases, within active war zones like the Mojave or NCR-controlled territories, the Legion will make an exception and enslave non-tribal persons.Joshua Sawyer on Formspring May 12, 2012: "Even in ancient Rome's slave-based economy the majority of people weren't slaves. Is that the case with the Legion and is that what you wanted to show with additional Legion locations? The additional Legion locations would have had more traveling non-Legion residents of Legion territories. The Fort and Cottonwood Cove made sense as heavy military outposts where the vast majority of the population consisted of soldiers and slaves. The other locations would have had more "civilians". It's not accurate to think of them as citizens of the Legion (the Legion is purely military), but as non-tribal people who live in areas under Legion control. ''While Caesar intentionally enslaves NCR and Mojave residents in the war zone, most of the enslavement that happens in the east happens to tribals. As Raul indicates, there are non-tribal communities that came under Legion control a long time ago. The additional locations would have shown what life is like for those people.'' ''The general tone would have been what you would expect from life under a stable military dictatorship facing no internal resistance: the majority of people enjoy safe and productive lives (more than they had prior to the Legion's arrival) but have no freedoms, rights, or say in what happens in their communities. Water and power flow consistently, food is adequate, travel is safe, and occasionally someone steps afoul of a legionary and gets his or her head cut off. If the Legion tells someone to do something, they only ask once -- even if that means an entire community has to pick up and move fifty miles away. Corruption within the Legion is rare and Caesar deals with it harshly (even by Legion standards).'' ''In short, residents of Legion territories aren't really citizens and they aren't slaves, but they're also not free. People who keep their mouths shut, go about their business, and nod at the rare requests the Legion makes of them -- they can live very well. Many of them don't care at all that they don't have a say in what happens around them (mostly because they felt they never had a say in it before the Legion came, anyway)."''

Those who escape this fate and become subjects enjoy superior stability and security, thanks to the Legion's governance. People who live in Legion towns enjoy a stable, consistent flow of electricity and water, a steady and ample food supply, and very low crime and corruption levels. They enjoy safe and productive lives with one caveat: never disobey or disturb the Legion. Caesar's men only ask once and the order has to be carried out without question, even if it means resettling fifty miles away at a moment's notice. This generally means that Legion subjects have little if any, political freedom, rights, or say in what happens to their communities. However, if one keeps quiet, goes about their business and fulfills the rare request the Legion has, then Caesar is a peaceful and caring lord. Many people don't consider Legion rule to be a problem, as even before Caesar's rise, they had little say in the chaotic wastes.

Legion territories are also very profitable for traders. Traders can travel on their own without guards in Legion lands, as all bandits were either ruthlessly exterminated or chased off. Coupled with the absence of heavy NCR taxation out in the frontier, many traders stick to Legion lands for regular trading, though some cross the river to trade with the NCR from time to time, and the Legion apparently does not try preventing them from doing so. The Legion holds firm to their ideology against drugs and alcohol, punishing those they capture with the illicit substances severely.

Slaves and outsiders
Anyone outside the Legion ranks or under their rule is considered to be "dissolute" or are called "profligates," referring to those lacking morals. Freshly caught humans are called "captures" and are considered the lowest of the low. Their only right is to be tested as a slave. If they do not meet the requirements, they are killed.

Slaves are one step above captures and consist of captured humans unfit for combat duty as a legionary. They are expected to adhere to the virtues of a slave (honestas, industria, prudentia - honesty, industry, and prudence) and follow their master's orders without question. They are given a new name and wear rags with a bright red X painted over the chest. Some captures and slaves are forced to wear slave collars to ensure their docility.

Language
The vocabulary of Legion members is a mixture of Latin and English. There was no soft ⟨c⟩ in classical Latin, where it was always pronounced as /k/, such as in their pronunciation of Caesar's name as /ˈkaisar/. Individuals outside of the Legion generally use the Modern English pronunciation of /ˈsiːzər/. Legion members are fastidious about classical Latin pronunciations, including the /v/ to (w) phonology, heard in the greeting "ave" (hail) as "ah-wey" or in how Vulpes Inculta introduces himself, pronouncing his first name as "wool-pes." Those outside of the Legion that have come in contact with them may use the pronunciations interchangeably. Legion members are called "legionaries" (as opposed to "legionnaires," which is a modern phrase used by the French Foreign Legion. Those who are liked by the Legion are called "amicus," Latin for comrade/friend.

Currency




Religion
The Legion enforces the Cult of Mars, a pseudo-Roman neopagan-based cult of personality focused on worshiping Caesar as the Son of Mars, as the state religion. It began in 2250 when Caesar declared himself the Son of Mars, ordered by Mars to conquer all of Earth. To facilitate this conquest, Mars cleansed the Earth with fire, bringing humans to their lowest ebb. Caesar's divine duty is to deliver the wasteland from chaos and barbarism. Caesar's divine status allows him, in the minds of the Legion, to demand servitude from everyone. The general rule is that obeying and following him is to follow the will of Mars. By extension, disobedience is synonymous with condemning oneself to death.

The religion is strictly enforced. To prevent dissent, children of slaves are removed from their families and indoctrinated by priestesses of Mars. The appearance of divinity is maintained through enforced ignorance. Legionaries are taught to believe (or made to) that all of the customs enforced by Caesar were dictated to him by Mars himself. While to most this comes with no problems, the education of the average wastelander being what it is, Caesar truly fears the educated men, most importantly the Followers of the Apocalypse. To prevent his grand plagiarism from being discovered, the standing order is to kill Followers on sight or deliver them (and any other learned captures) to Legion interrogators. Those that make the mistake of speaking out about this end up as severed heads on spikes.Fallout: New Vegas Official Game Guide Collector's Edition p.460-461: "True to Caesar" "Many years have passed, and by post-apocalyptic standards, Caesar's accomplishments have been prodigious. But the man's hunger for greatness has never been sated. Having assembled a loose nation of slavers and slaves, having won countless "wars" against inferior peoples, secretly he still feels like an upstart, an amateur-a barbaric King of the Gauls, instead of a lofty emperor of Rome. ''To advance, he needs two things: a Carthage and a Rome. In the NCR he has at last found a great adversary, against which he can wage a military campaign worthy of history books. (Indeed, worth teaching his subordinates how to read and write, so that future generations can read his own Commentarii.) And in Vegas, powered and watered by its great dam, he has found a capital worthy of, well, a Caesar. Contrary to the old saw, Rome will be built in a day. With that out of the way, the next step will be to proclaim his apotheosis. All good Roman emperors became gods, although that was usually done posthumously...'' ''Besides a (highly unlikely) military defeat, Caesar fears one thing only: exposure. The denizens of the wastes are too ignorant to realize that his entire empire is a grand act of plagiarism, but the Followers of the Apocalypse know exactly who he is and what he has done. Should his tribe discover that he cribbed the entire culture from books about ancient Rome, rather than having its customs dictates dictated to him by Mars...well, it's very unlikely that could happen. And he won't let it happen. That is why his forces have a standing order to kill all Followers of the Apocalypse on sight, and to brutalize all "civilized" or learned captives and haul them before Caesar's interrogators. Those who make the mistake of saying, "Hey, you guys, it's like you're emulating the ancient Roman empire," end up as severed heads on poles."'' (Behind the Bright Lights & Big City)

In addition to Caesar, Mars also appears to be worshiped by legionaries, although there is no mention of the other Roman gods.

Military
Caesar has patterned his slave army after the post-Marian reform Roman Imperial Legions. What follows is a breakdown of the organization of the Legion.Fallout: New Vegas Official Game Guide Collector's Edition p.41: "Caesar's Legion This horde of cruel, yet highly disciplined slavers has spread across the southwest like an all-consuming flame. Founded by a fallen member of the Followers of the Apocalypse, Caesar's Legion is effectively an enormous, conscripted slave army. As Caesar conquers the peoples of the wasteland, he strips them of their tribal identities and turns their young men into ruthless legionaries and women into breeding stock. Unlike the rag-tag Raiders back east, Caesar's "Legionaries" neither look nor act like haphazard, irregular troops. They are well organized, moving and attacking in large packs, and deliberately commit atrocities to terrorize those who might dare oppose them. ''True, Caesar is the perfect man. But he is not just a man: he is the Son of Mars, ordained by the god of war to conquer all Earth. To prepare the way, Mars razed the Earth, cleansed it with fire, and brought the weak and the wicked low; and now his son has come to deliver the wasteland from chaos and barbarism. To follow Caesar is to obey the will of Mars; to disobey is to condemn oneself to death. As the Son of Mars, Caesar has the divine right to demand servitude from all he encounters. Not everyone believes that Caesar is the product of a god's loins, of course. The most recently captured slaves tend to be pretty skeptical. But they aren't very vocal in their criticisms, and their children are raised not by skeptical parents but by priestesses appointed to that task by virtue of their knowledge of an adherence to the state religion.'' ''Nearly all physically capable, compliant males are compelled to serve in its armed forces. The primary value of pre-menopausal females is to serve as breeding stock (with Caesar or a legate governing how they are assigned to males), though they, like older females and less physically-capable men, are also used to perform a variety of other tasks. The largest unit of organization in Caesar's Legion is the Cohort, numbering about 480 infantrymen. Cohorts are further divided into Centuriae, which contrary to their name numbers about 80 men, and each Centuriae is divided into ten "tent groups" (Contubernia), making this the squad level of organization. Raiding parties are of this size (about eight men) and will be led by a Decanus (a squad leader, basically).'' ''Caesar desires two things: a Carthage, and a Rome. In the NCR he has at last found a grand adversary, against which he can wage a military campaign worthy of history books. And in Vegas, powered and watered by its great dam, he has found a capital worthy of, well, a Caesar. Contrary to the old saw, Rome will be built in a day. All it takes is plentiful slave labor, and Caesar has that in spades."'' (Fallout: New Vegas Official Game Guide faction profiles)


 * Caesar's Legion: The entire army, led by Caesar (political leader) and a favored legate (military commander).
 * The Legion is divided into cohorts of 480 men, which are divided into:
 * Eight centuriae of 60 men, each led by a centurion, which divide into:
 * Ten contubernia, each led by a decanus. The contubernium is the squad-level unit of organization and the usual size of a task force tasked with skirmishes or harassing larger groups of opponents.

A notable feature of the Legion is that the rank is determined by experience and merit in combat. The least seasoned legionaries (equivalent to pre-Marian hastati or post-Marian auxiliary skirmishers) are typically fielded first during a battle, allowing them to prove their mettle in combat. Those who survive and prove themselves on the battlefield become prime legionaries (equivalent to the pre-Marian principes), eligible for command as a decanus and deployment as second-wave attacks.

The top ranks of the legions are occupied by veterans (equivalent to pre-Marian triarii), who form the third wave and rear guard. These elite troops are deployed once the first two waves fail to achieve their objectives, allowing the Legion to field its most powerful, fresh troops against a weakened, tired enemy.

Veterans who prove themselves as leaders may be eligible for centurion status, becoming the deadliest members of the legion and its most skilled commanders. Each has reached their rank through their battlefield accomplishments and their armor reflects that fact - it is made up of trophies taken from defeated enemies. However, they rarely enter the battlefield, as they are few in number and possess valuable leadership skills, essential to maintaining unit cohesion.

The Legion has special postings and branches in addition to regular military ranks. The vexillarius (standard-bearer) carries the Legion's vexillium (banner or flag) into battle and serves as a rallying point for other legionaries. The frumentarii and speculatores are the Legion's special forces, tasked with infiltration, subterfuge, recon, and other essential tasks, both of which have special training that legionaries who show promise in such matter can participate in.

Finally, the praetorians are an elite unit of bodyguard hand-picked by Caesar to protect him and their legates from loss of life.

Legionaries
The Legion invests plenty of time and effort into hardening their soldiers into the most powerful combatants the wasteland has ever seen. The Legion draws its manpower from the 87 conquered tribes and any male children given birth to in the Legion. The physical conditioning regimen is brutal and extremely demanding, on par with the NCR Rangers. Legionaries are uniformly fast, strong, and extremely dangerous. They can run half again as fast as the best of NCR troops and are capable of closing distances with frightening speed. Developing resistance to pain is also an integral part of the training, usually carried out via brutal hand-to-hand combat and melee weapons exercises.

Even more impressive than their physical traits is their discipline. Rank and file legionaries are trained to not have to think for themselves, to have conflict removed from their minds. The resulting discipline in the field is beyond the ken of their closest competitor, the NCR, as the legionaries will perform any order given by their superiors and won't back down until they are dead or recalled by their commanders. If training fails, fear will motivate legionaries to succeed. Legionaries who fail or disobey orders end up crucified or torn apart in front of Caesar. In extreme cases, the Legate may order decimation, where a tenth of the unit's troops are beaten to death by the other nine-tenths, as an extreme disciplinary action.

These traits make them ferocious close-quarters combatants, where they have few equals. NCR soldiers are generally advised to take down legionaries at long range, before they can engage them in close combat. Of course, while the standard kit is light armor and a melee weapon, the Legion is a pragmatic fighting force. Legionaries also receive training in ranged combat and firearms are not uncommon, though most are in poor condition. Legionaries are authorized to and will scavenge better weapons from fallen enemies and use them in combat. As such, the NCR orders troops to destroy their weapons (eg. by throwing them over the edge of Hoover Dam) if fatally wounded, to avoid bolstering the firepower of the legionaries. Higher ranking legionaries, like veterans and centurions, are commonly provided with high quality, well maintained firearms, like the anti-materiel rifle or 12.7mm submachine gun, which they can use with frightening efficiency.

The end result is a well rounded military force that is capable of fighting on all distances, using all types of weapons and is particularly adept at taking enemy fortifications and bases. Of course, the Legion has weak sides. The extreme discipline and obedience of the lower ranks require a strong chain of command to exist, to guide the soldiers on the field of battle. Without decani and centurions, the legionaries will become a disorganized mass, easy to rout and destroy. This reliance on veterans has been exploited to great effect by Chief Hanlon during the First Battle of Hoover Dam. By eliminating officers, the Legion's forces were easily drawn into a trap at Boulder City and destroyed.

Military doctrine
The Legion employs an organized method of warfare. In larger battles, legionaries are deployed in waves, with recruits upfront, prime soldiers behind them and veterans, the old guard, bringing up the rear. The enemy wears himself out dealing with the first two waves, with the veterans mopping up any remaining resistance when their turn comes. This is not an omnipresent, cardinal rule, however: Caesar can adapt and run any mix of legionaries as skirmishes, whilst retaining order in the ranks.

Smaller Legion raids typically involve suddenly attacking, killing everyone (sometimes taking slaves) and leaving quickly. As Legate Lanius states, their forces are much better suited at taking positions than holding them due to their up-close style of fighting. Furthermore, legionaries will deliberately commit atrocities to terrorize their enemies and break their morale. On occasion, they are known to use children as traps and soldiers, and rape to terrorize civilian populations. The Legion also seeks to demoralize opposing armies before the battle even begins by torturing prisoners in sight of the army's position.

Relations with the outside
The Legion's aim is to dominate the known world and unite it under its banner. In 2281, it is locked in conflict with the New California Republic at the Colorado River. Tribes that weren't pressed into it are also openly hostile to the Legion, fearing that they too will become victims of its campaign of conquest, as even with guarantees of safety and independence, Caesar has gone against his word and assimilated tribes he previously promised he'd leave alone. This causes even ruthless organizations like the Van Graffs to oppose the Legion in addition to organizations like the Desert Rangers. However, while many civilized groups dislike the Legion's ways, they have great success in assimilating tribal groups. Tribals, with their general respect for power over anything else, typically side with the Legion over the NCR. The White Legs are firm allies of the Legion and are used as proxies for the Legion in the war for Zion. In 2281, after suffering an incredibly devastating defeat at Hoover Dam, the Legion has resorted to finding ways to gain the allegiance of local factions so that they can sow the seeds of their enemy's demise closer to home. They have allied with the Great Khans and Omertas and plan to use them to aid their plans in the Mojave before assimilating or exterminating them.

Dale Barton often prefers to trade in Legion territories, saying that he finds it cheaper as he rarely has to hire protection or pay extortionate taxes, due to the effectiveness of Legion suppression of raiders and wasteland creatures. Even Rose of Sharon Cassidy has admitted to admiring Legion-controlled areas, as they attract traders, merchants, and wastelander communities in general to their high level of safety, especially when compared to NCR territories and uncontrolled regions.

According to Ulysses, Caesar has commanded Legion couriers not to kill another courier (even if they appear to not be Legion), as many couriers, in fact, are frumentarii.

The Legion follows a strict policy of frontier justice, wiping out all savage, chem-dependent raider gangs and tribes they deem unfit for absorption into their ranks.

Technology
Overall, it is incorrect to treat the Legion's technology as primitive. Combat gear is built with a focus on reliability and ease of manufacture, standardized across the Legion. Furthermore, the Legion is easily capable of erecting large fortifications (e.g. the Fortification Hill encampment), establish supply chains for the massive army, and, as mentioned above, mass-produce standardized weapons and armor for its footmen. Caesar firmly believes that reliance on technology weakens humans, and was partially responsible for the Great War. The Legion espouses martial prowess and individual fitness to reduce the need for technologically advanced weapons. The technological refinement of an individual legionary's gear is directly tied to his status. Lower ranks typically use either simple firearms (typically revolvers or lever-action rifles), power fists, or melee weapons in the form of machetes and throwing spears, crafted from scavenged materials that mimic the ancient Roman short sword (gladius) and javelin (pilum). Higher ranks, such as prime legionaries, decani, and centurions have access to superior weapons, such as anti-materiel rifles, marksman carbines, and super sledges. The personal guards of Caesar themselves are equipped with high tech ballistic fists to complement their martial prowess.

While no Legion member wields energy weapons, they show interest in purchasing them from the Van Graffs. The Legion is also never shown using power armor, though pieces of what appears to be T-45 power armor are used in centurion armor. Oddly enough, the Legion has a large number of Stealth Boys. These Stealth Boys are never seen used by Legion soldiers in the Mojave but are used by the Legion at Dry Wells and the Legion marked men in the Divide. A high reputation with the Legion will lead to a steady cache of Stealth Boys for the Courier.

All troops wear standardized Legion armor, mimicking the Roman lorica hamata or lorica segmentata, created from pre-War sports gear (mostly if not exclusively American football gear) armored with metal plates, including the helmet. The gear is worn over a tunic. Centurions make their own armor, crafted from elements of body armor scavenged from felled foes.

The only absolute opposition to technology is in robotics. Caesar dislikes the thought of having robots win a war fought by men, as it defeats the need for sacrifice for the greater good. Beyond that, the Legion is opportunistic and will use any kind of technology to further its goals, whether it be using a howitzer to suppress 1st Recon and veteran Ranger snipers or occupying HELIOS One after the Courier wipes the NCR out with Archimedes I. Radios are frequently used, but overall the Legion opts for devices that use no power to increase reliability. The Legion does not need or truly desire power sources like the NCR, but at no point oppose its usage as they do with chems, alcohol and combat robots.

Interactions with the player character

 * Siding with the Legion can make keeping companions very difficult while following the main questline, and most human companions will likely abandon the player character over time. Veronica Santangelo will likely leave when the Brotherhood bunker is destroyed, Craig Boone will leave when one kills several NCR soldiers, and Arcade Gannon will leave when the Courier's reputation with the Legion rises too high. Rose of Sharon Cassidy allows the player character to work with the Legion despite her dislike for them, Raul Tejada is somewhat supportive due to their ability to provide security, and Lily Bowen is too mentally damaged to have any opinion whatsoever. It is possible to maintain all companions through a mix of not speaking to Gannon, not traveling with Boone while killing NCR soldiers, and for Veronica, destroying the bunker when she is not present.
 * Although initially neutral towards the player character, Legion patrols in the Mojave Wasteland are openly hostile towards most travelers, including prospectors and traveling merchants, and will attack them on sight.
 * A female Courier will not be allowed to fight in the arena, regardless of reputation or progress in the game. An exception is made, should the female Courier choose to fight Benny to the death during Render Unto Caesar.
 * Many characters make comments about the Legion's future leadership, in that without Caesar, the Legion will fall to in-fighting without him, including Mr. House, Marcus, and Joshua Graham.

Appearances
Caesar's Legion appears only in Fallout: New Vegas. They were also to appear in Black Isle Studios' canceled Fallout 3. Caesar's Legion was also to play in a minor role in the canceled Fallout: Brotherhood of Steel 2.

Behind the scenes

 * In Ancient Rome, a legion was an army unit typically consisting of 5,000 soldiers, though this value changed throughout history, with a standard Legion sometimes being comprised of 10,000 plus troops.

Development
The Caesar's Legion concept was created by Chris Avellone during pre-production for Black Isle's canceled Fallout 3. J.E. Sawyer then elaborated on the concept:

In the test pen-and-paper campaign run by Chris Avellone, the first fringe unit of Caesar's Legion was planned to appear as a hostile enemy in the Circle Junction train yards. Furthermore, the Daughters of Hecate and Caesar’s Legion was thought as the female and male polar opposites, which was supposed to allow the player, depending on gender, to rule either one and use them to build an army, much like in the movie The Postman.

Sharptooth, a member of Hangdog tribe, was planned to be a spy for Caesar's Legion, reporting to their agents in Denver; however, this was only because Caesar holds Sharptooth's sister as a slave. If this became known, the other Hangdogs would demand to banish him and his family to the wasteland. Bares His Teeth would have no qualms about doing this. Before being merged by designers with the Blackfoot tribe, Hangdog's tribe could be planned to live in northeastern Colorado, near Denver.

The banner bull is taken from Legio X Equestris, Julius Caesar's favored legion.