Caesar's Legion

Caesar’s Legion is a powerful and merciless slaving organization, led by the charismatic and cunning Caesar. The legionnaires are a well-organized fighting force that mainly operate east of the Grand Canyon and in Arizona. The Legion is comprised mostly of reconditioned tribals and their young offspring. The Legion's standard is a black bull on a red background with the description "Legio X".

Most members of the Legion pronounce its name in the classical Latin way, with a hard C sound (Kai-Zar). Wastelanders and members of NCR, as well as some Legion members use the common English pronunciation with a soft C (Sieze-er).

History
Caesar, along with another companion named Calhoun, was sent east by the Followers of the Apocalypse to study tribal languages - a task he considered a waste of time. He was instructed to meet with a Mormon missionary named Joshua Graham who was a tribal specialist. However, not long after meeting up with the missionary, all three were captured by the Blackfoot tribe for ransom. At the time the tribe was at war with seven other tribes, a war they were inevitably going to lose.

Unwilling to be destroyed along with them, and against the wishes of his companions, Caesar chose to use his knowledge to train the Blackfoot tribe in the art of warfare after witnessing their lack of knowledge first hand. By showing them how to clean and maintain guns, operate with small unit tactics, create their own explosives and to strike at their weakest enemies first; divide et impera - divide and conquer. He quickly impressed them enough to the point where he was made their leader.

He also introduced the concept of total war to the tribes around them. They defeated the weakest of their enemies first, the Ridgers, and enslaved many of the able-bodied male survivors but Caesar had the rest, including women and children, killed. When they confronted the next tribe, the Kaibabs, they brought an emissary back to view the carnage. Caesar knew that though the tribes had always fought each other via occasional skirmishes, he considered them to only be "playing at war". The concept of total war was an entirely new, and terrifying, facet to his strategy that they had never confronted before and would form the core of the Legion's tactics and outlook. Eventually, all seven tribes were either destroyed or incorporated in what became known as the Legion.

Caesar and Joshua Graham (his first Legate) used the power base they estabilished to attack and press more tribes into the Legion. For decades, they fought and absorbed lesser tribes, erasing tribal identities and shaping them into a massive, fanatically loyal army that, in Caesar's eyes, embodies the concept of perfect post-nuclear society. By 2271, the Legion has conquered 86 tribes and is by far the largest and most dangerous organization east of the Colorado. They clashed with the Desert Rangers in Arizona and nearly crushed them before they were integrated in the NCR].

The Republic would have the dubious distinction of being recognized by Caesar as a worthy adversary. Under the command of Legate Joshua Graham, his forces marched against NCR at Hoover Dam, attempting to take it, however, in what became known as the First Battle of Hoover Dam, his Legion was badly defeated in a brilliant tactical operation by 1st Recon and the NCR Rangers. Forced to retreat, Caesar decided that in order to maintain morale and his appearance as a brilliant strategist, he needed a scapegoat. He ordered his closest friend and fellow architect of the Legion, Joshua Graham, covered in pitch, set on fire and cast into the Divide.

By 2281, Caesar's Legion has reestablished its power in the west and is slowly encroaching on the city of New Vegas. They continue to contest NCR over all of the region, destroying several NCR bases such as Ranger Station Charlie and Camp Searchlight, and creating unease and terror in the remaining bases.

Society
Caesar chose to model his Legion after Imperial Rome because he recognized it as a working template for a society equal to the challenges of a post-nuclear world, one that would prevent humanity from fracturing again and estabilish an age of stability, a new Pax Romana. In the words of its founder, the Legion is a nationalist, imperialist, totalitarian, homogenous culture that absorbs everyone into itself, obliterating their previous identity. Often, this means that a primitive tribe, at the expense of their culture, will find itself uplifted and civilized.

In technical terms, the Legion is a militarized theocratic dicatorship, where Caesar is considered both the ultimate leader and god's chosen (in this case Mars, the Roman god of war). He commands the military with help of his Legate (Lanius in 2281), while a female-only cast of priestesses is charged with estabilishing and maintaining his cult among the slaves and members of the Legion.

The culture rejects anything it perceives as weakness, both physical and psychological. It forbids painkillers and is largely ignorant of medical science - if someone is weak, then death due to injury or illness will simply improve the Legion as a whole. Incompetence or cowardness is seen as a weakness too and severly penalized - punishment by death or bodily harm is often the most common option. Of note is that while popular rumour has it that same-sex relationships between legionnaires are uncommon, fact is, Caesar punishes homosexuality with death.

Structure
The Legion society is largely hierarchical. Anyone outside its ranks is considered to be Dissolute, while those that are both outside of it and hostile are called Profligates. 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 Legionnaire. They are expected to adhere to the virtues of a slave (Honestas, Industria, Prudentia - virtuous, industrious and prudent) and follow their master's orders without questions. They are given a new name and wear rags with a red X painted over the chest. Children of slaves are taken from their parents after birth into the care of priestesses, who raise them in keeping with Caesar's doctrine.

Legionnaires are the main fighting force of the Legion and form the bulk of its society. Conformed of able bodied men conscripted into service, they are organized strictly adhering to the Roman ideals. Advancement in ranks is purely merit based - if a Legionnaire proves himself in combat, he will be promoted. If he doesn't, he'll be lucky to escape with his life.

While it appears that all males are supposed to serve in the Legion, with females being regarded only as breeding stock, slightly above slaves, it is unlikely. The Legion has to have a power base, and if Caesar's truly emulating Rome, then there are plenty of non-military tribesmen in the lands west of the Colorado that provide the Legion with food, fresh bodies and equipment, supporting its campaign of conquest.

Military
The entire Legion military arm is led by a Legate, who answers only to Caesar. The largest unit of organization is the Cohort, which is comprised of 480 men. It is further divided into eight Centuriae (80 men) led by Centurions. These consist of Contubernia, tent groups, of about eight men. Each contubernia is led by a Decanus, the equivalent of an officer. A separate branch, the Frumentarii, are tasked with infiltration and subterfuge. The Praetorians are a special outfit, whose sole role is protecting Caesar.

Unlike the NCR Army, Legionnaires are not organised by abstract rank, but by experience. The least of them, recruits, are considered cannon fodder by rest of the Legion. They wear the simplest of garments and are usually marched in the frontline. Those that survive several engagements can expect to be recognized as prime legionaries and as such, be considered for Decanus status or simply be marched in the middle of the ranks, behind the cannon fodder. The most experienced of Legionnaires, veterans, march in last, if recruits and prime legionnaires fail to meet their objectives.

The main commanders, Centurions and the Legate are also the deadliest members of the Legion, unlike their counterparts in the NCR or any other organization. Each has reached their rank through their battlefield accomplishments and their armour reflects that fact - it is made up of trophies taken from defeated enemies. However, they rarely enter the battlefield as they are few and far in between, not to mention that a loss of a centurion would likely result in a morale breakdown.

A special post in the Legion military is the vexillarius. The standard bearers carry the sign of the Legion in battle and act as rally points for Legionnaires.

The discipline of legionnaires is absolute. In combat, they obey every order without question and if needed, will gladly sacrifice their lives. As such, Caesar can run any mix of legionaries as skirmishers and still retain order in the ranks, if the situation calls for it. The reason for it is simple - punishment for failure is severe. Legionnaires that fail will be lucky if they escape with their lives, as typically, those that failed the worst will be crucified or hacked to pieces by Praetorians in front of the Caesar. It is also possible that the Legate will invoke decimation, where every tenth legionnaire will be beaten to death by his comrades as punishment.

Relations with the outside
As a singleminded, monolithic empire, the Legion's aim to dominate the known world causes hostility between itself and most other organizations in the wasteland. It is locked in conflict with the New California Republic at the Colorado River in 2281. Tribes that weren't pressed into it are also openly hostile to the Legion, fearing that they will become another victims of its campaign of conquest, as even with guarantees of safety and independece, Caesar has gone against his word and assimilated tribes he previously promised he'd leave alone.

The Legion openly discriminates against supermutants and ghouls, considering them beasts, however, they will not go out of their way to attack and destroy them, if they do not provoke an attack.

Technology
Caesar firmly believes that reliance on technology weakens humans and has brought the nuclear war upon humanity in the first place. As such, his Legion is mostly a low-tech organisation, relying on numbers, physical fitness and discipline to achieve their objectives. A typical legionnaire will wear an armour mimicking the Roman lorica hamata, usually created from pre-War sports gear armoured with metal plates, including the helmet, worn over a tunic. In combat, they use either simple firearms (typically revolvers or lever action rifles) or melee weapons crafted from scavenged materials.

However, it is incorrect to treat their technology as primitive. As simple as regular combat gear is, the Legion is capable of erecting large fortifications out of scrap (e.g. Fortification Hill encampment) and mass producing standardized weapons for its footmen. They also have skilled craftsmen in various fields, including production of textiles and stonemasonry.

Development
The Caesar's Legion concept was created by Chris Avellone during pre-production for Van Buren. J.E. Sawyer then elaborated on the concept:

"One of the few big things I did on Van Buren was taking an organization Chris invented and changing it (perhaps mangling it in the process) into a neo-Roman slavers' legion with all the weird titles, makeshift costumes, and traditions of that group."

According to Chris Avellone's test pen-and-paper campaign, the first fringe unit of Caesar’s Legion was planned to appear as a hostile enemy in the Circle Junction Train Yards. Furtermore, 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, Postman style.

Sharptooth, a member of Hangdog tribe, was planned to be a spy for Caesar's Legion, reporting to their agents in Denver, 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 Blackfoot tribe Hangdogs tribe could be planned to live in northeastern Colorado, near Denver

According to one of Van Buren screenshots the Prisoner, equipped with Fallout Tactics-like pump-action shotgun and some unknown grenades, together with his five CNPC party, could kill hostile pack consisted of Legion slaver and Legion vexillarius.

Appearances
Caesar's Legion appears in Fallout: New Vegas. They were also to appear in Van Buren, the canceled Fallout 3 project by Black Isle Studios, as well as Black Isle's never-realized Fallout 4. Caesar's Legion was also to play in a minor role in the canceled Fallout: Brotherhood of Steel 2.