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Caesar, born Edward Sallow, is the ruler and co-founder of Caesar's Legion in 2281. He is revered by legionaries as the self-proclaimed "Son of Mars,"[Non-canon 1] a former member of the Followers of the Apocalypse and a former citizen of the NCR.[1][2]
Since subjugating the desolate region of the Grand Canyon beginning in 2247, he has since forged his legion conquering 87 tribes, assimilated from the former Southwestern United States.[3][4][Non-canon 2] The militaristic might Caesar's Legion achieved completely pacified the lands that the Legion occupied, but safe roads were only the first step to fully realizing a permanent Legion that could continue after his rule. The next great step was to expand westward and acquire a real "Rome" in the form of New Vegas that could be the base of his new empire. But, before they can continue westward, Caesar and his followers must deal with the New California Republic, a formidable military power that Caesar sees as his first worthy opponent.
Contents
Background
Origins
Born around 2226 near the Boneyard as Edward Sallow, Caesar was once a citizen of the New California Republic. Following the death of his father at the hands of raiders in 2228, his mother sought the protection of the Followers of the Apocalypse. While she worked for the Followers, cooking and cleaning in their library, the young Edward learned how to read and started taking courses, provided by the organization free of charge.[5] Taught to "bring the torch of knowledge to the wastes", Sallow was a student of uneven quality.[Non-game 1] Though he was highly intelligent, his success in scientific pursuits was only proportional to his interest in the given subject nor was he particularly popular among his peers, due to his bad temper. For Sallow, the Followers were never an inspiring example, their devotion to scholarship too stifling, and their mission of enlightenment too naive.[Non-game 1][6][Non-game 1]
In the year 2246, the Followers of the Apocalypse sent a group to the Grand Canyon to study the region’s tribal languages.[7][Non-game 2][8] The group included Followers Edward Sallow, Calhoun, a physician, and Mormon missionary Joshua Graham, a specialist in tribal dialects. On the way to the canyon, Sallow and his companions happened upon a cache of historical books, including The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire and the Commentarii by Gaius Julius Caesar. Sallow studied the books rigorously for two weeks, not yet aware of their coming significance.[Non-game 1] Subsequently, the group was captured by the Blackfoot tribe and held for ransom.[9]
Sallow saw the weakness of the tribe , who were currently at war with seven others in the region, outnumbered and bound to lose. Unwilling to sink with them, Sallow decided to take certain steps. Objections from Calhoun went unheard.[10] Sallow taught the tribe how to properly maintain their firearms, properly shoot targets, and reload ammunition, after which he began teaching them how to make explosives and drilling in small unit tactics, all of which was based on old books he had recently read.[10] Once they were ready, Sallow led them against the Ridgers, their weakest enemy.
When the tribe refused to surrender, he ordered every man, woman, and child killed. No exceptions were made. The Blackfoot moved on under Sallow's lead, surrounding the Kaibabs tribe. Upon their refusal to surrender, Sallow took their envoy to the ruins of the Ridgers' village. The piles of corpses were a shocking sight to a tribesman who had only experienced small examples of war, but what Sallow had led was total warfare.[11]
Rise to power
The Kaibabs promptly surrendered rather than suffer the same fate, then the Fredonians, then all the remaining tribes.[12] Sallow was acutely aware that the root cause of all the problems was tribal identities, leading to internecine conflict and preventing any substantial recovery. He knew what had to be done.[Non-game 3] He had to erase all traces of tribal identities and substitute a single, monolithic culture in their place.[Non-game 3]
In 2247,[Non-game 4] when his confederation was large enough, Sallow crowned himself as Caesar, leader of the Great Tribe: the Legion.[13] He deliberately patterned his new society after imperial Rome.[14] He soon began putting his words into practice. Calhoun was sent back west to warn that Caesar should not be interfered with, while Graham stayed with Caesar, becoming the Legion's first legate.[13] In the decades that followed, the Legion conquered minor holdings in Utah and Colorado, while the entirety of Arizona and a sizeable portion of New Mexico were brought under its control.
Tribes were forcibly assimilated into the Legion, while cities and their inhabitants lived on as subjects of the Legion. Each tribe Caesar fought against and assimilated were primitive even by the standards of the post-nuclear world, with nothing even remotely comparable to what existed out west. No towns, no roads, no meaningful industry. One by one, they fell to the superior forces marshaled by Sallow.[Non-game 5][Non-game 6]
Betweeen 2248 and 2274, Caesar conquered and assimilated more tribes, forging a well-organized, culturally insular fighting force that expanded steadily across the region. His Legion conquered tribes of southeastern Utah, southwestern Colorado, the western edge of New Mexico and the northern half of Arizona.[15] By 2250 he had declared himself the Son of Mars. By 2255, he had established a capital amid the ruins of Flagstaff.[Non-game 7][Non-game 8][16] Caesar's 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.[16] Foreign to anyone outside its ranks, the highly militarized autocracy adept at integrating conquered cultures formed the perfect template for a society that could adapt to the challenges of the post-apocalyptic world and thrive, establishing prosperity and peace: a new Pax Romana.[14] The Legion would be a nationalist, imperialist, totalitarian, completely homogenous culture that would focus on long-term stability at all costs.[17]
War with the NCR
The Republic has the distinction of being recognized by Caesar as a worthy adversary and conflict with the NCR was inevitable. He sees himself as Caesar returning from his conquest of Gaul and the NCR as the corrupt Roman Senate.[Non-game 9] A textbook example of Hegelian dialectics, where the thesis and antithesis conflict, creating a synthesis when the conflict is resolved.[18] When the Legion conquers the NCR, it will be transformed from a republic crippled by bureaucracy, corruption, and gridlock into a highly efficient military dictatorship. The Legion will become a standing army protecting all the citizens of the new empire and the absolute power of its dictator.[19][Non-game 10]
The New California Republic was not willing to roll over and surrender. In 2271, the Legion's presence served as a catalyst for the Ranger Unification Treaty. President Kimball recounts during that year, the Desert Rangers of Nevada joined the New California Republic's forces to protect the region against "the tyranny of [Caesar's] regime."[20]
Subsequently, a series of skirmishes and smaller battles (such as the destruction of Fort Aradesh out east) occured, and the Legion forced a confrontation. In 2277, the Legion faced the NCR at Hoover Dam, in what became known as the First Battle of Hoover Dam. Discovered by Ulysses, a frumentarius, the dam was a symbolic Rubicon. At the time, Caesar's forces under the command of the Joshua Graham marched against the NCR garrison at Hoover Dam, in an attempt to take the strategic asset and river crossing. However, Graham's elite troops were drawn into a trap laid by Chief Hanlon of the New California Republic Rangers. As General Lee Oliver's soldiers held the line, Rangers and Army sharpshooters targeted the Legion's commanders (primarily centurions and decanii), sowing chaos among the common legionaries. When the Legate, unable to adapt to new strategies in combat, ordered his elite forces to punch through and pursue Rangers decimating his officers, the Rangers and First Recon sharpshooters executed a tactical retreat into Boulder City. Elements of the Army and Rangers kept the Legion engaged long enough to allow the most experienced legionaries to enter the city. When they did, the Republic's forces pulled out of the city. Once most of them were safe (soldiers and rangers trapped behind Legion lines had to be abandoned), they triggered explosives packed into the buildings in advance.
Chief Hanlon's plan went off without a hitch. The exploding buildings acted as giant fragmentation bombs, killing and maiming most of the legionaries and leaving the rest in a state of shock; effectively crippling their offensive. The Army and Rangers followed the detonation with a counter-attack, pushing back and eventually routing the Legion forces and forcing the Malpais Legate to retreat from the cam back to the east of the Colorado River. Flanking attacks at Camp Golf and other camps in the Mojave were similarly repulsed.[21] The Malpais Legate returned to Caesar in shame. To demonstrate that failure is not tolerated, even at the highest of ranks, Caesar ordered Graham to be burned alive. The former Legate was covered in pitch, lit on fire, and thrown into the Grand Canyon. This was the worst defeat in Legion's history.[22]
Graham was replaced by Legate Lanius, who embarked on a campaign of expansion eastward to subjugate further tribes for the Legion and gather forces for another confrontation with the Republic.[23] Over the next four years, Caesar rebuilt his army with 14 newly assimilated tribes,[24] creating the finest possible blade with which to cleave through the Republic. The Legion's increasing power was accompanied by a noticeable decline in Caesar's health. Once healthy, his face became sunken and sickly, his nature more reclusive. But the worst were the headaches, increasing in strength and frequency, affecting his ability to lead. Although they remained silent, the decline was visible to his officers, but Caesar denied these problems, lashing out at any queries.[25][26][27] The first hints of what might have been the problem appeared only a couple months prior with infrequent headaches. The headaches recurred increasingly along with blanking out mid-conversation. The most recent symptom to occur is Caesar's left leg stiffening and him being only able to drag it.[28] While Caesar is untrained to diagnose himself, he's figured that he's likely suffering from a brain tumor, but defers to a professional's opinion on the diagnosis.[29]
Philosophy
The bedrock of Caesar's philosophy is that service to the state is not just the highest virtue, it is the only virtue. Caesar is critical of NCR society as its leaders care not for the "greater good". This is contrary to Caesar's belief that "an individual has no value beyond his utility to the state, whether as an instrument of war, or production." He views the Great War of 2077 as a chance for humanity to start over and aims to unify humanity under one banner or eliminate them should they refuse. Reading through old world books, Caesar has gained knowledge of the old glory of Imperial Rome and has used the ignorance of his followers to claim that he is Caesar, the son of Mars, the God of War, and not Edward Sallow, former Follower of the Apocalypse.
Aside from total military defeat, Caesar's greatest fear is being exposed as a fraud. Most members of the Legion, excluding some of the most trusted ones, are oblivious to the fact that the Legion's culture is based on books about ancient Rome – they believe that all of the customs enforced by Caesar were dictated to him by Mars himself. Those who claim otherwise are viewed as ultimate blasphemes and are likely to be executed. While some of the newly captured slaves are skeptical, they don't tend to be vocal about it, and their children are taken away from their parents to be raised by Caesar's priestesses.[Non-canon 3] Secretly, Caesar still doesn't feel like a real Emperor of Rome – with his loose nation of savages, he still thinks of himself as merely a barbaric king of the Gauls.[Non-canon 3] Caesar desires two things: a Carthage, and a Rome; by seizing New Vegas, Caesar felt that he would finally be able to elevate his Legion into a legitimate nation by giving it its own "Rome" by destroying the NCR, Caesar's "Carthage" – transforming them from a nomadic army into a true empire; a militaristic, imperialist, autocratic, culturally homogeneous empire whose ruler holds undisputed power - a "Pax Romana" which would prevent humanity from ever fracturing itself again.[30]
Caesar regards the NCR as only an extension of the corruption that existed during the Old World and that it is ultimately doomed to repeat the same mistakes. He sees in it similar attributes associated with the Roman Republic before Julius Caesar seized power; extensive bureaucracy, corruption, senatorial infighting and filled with a people driven solely by greed and personal gain. It exists as the antithesis to the Legion and as a catalyst for change that only a confrontation with it can bring; a clash he sees as an inevitable product of Hegelian dialectics.[31] The conflict is a vital one, not only for the future of his Legion strategically but also philosophically; the NCR is the first of his enemies to which he is truly ideologically opposed and the first that can truly test the strength of his Legion, as well as his philosophy.
In his view, the NCR does not have a long-term solution to the problems of the Wasteland - the bombs had reset humanity's progress and he believed the time had come to rebuild it into something new.[31] He argues that NCR is weakened by its democracy, and that it was at its strongest when under the dominating rule of its second president – Tandi – whose popularity was such she remained leader of the NCR for most of her life until her death as the senate would never dare oppose her. He was taught to venerate her as a child and observes that she was ultimately more of a queen than an elected official and that it is similar centralized power that a new civilization needs.[32] In the eyes of Caesar, the NCR that came after Tandi's presidency has been blighted with greed and widespread corruption because of the oligarchical control of politicians and brahmin barons looking out for only their interests instead of the greater good and its citizens. Caesar is simply quickening what is the inevitable, logical conclusion of the once virtuous NCR.[33]
Caesar also regards self-sacrifice as a necessary part of rebuilding civilization, as evidenced by the fact that he refuses the very notion of using the Securitrons hidden inside the bunker underneath his camp. Caesar rejects allowing his Legion to advance technologically, believing that life must be kept hard and filled with sacrifice in order to strengthen humanity.[34] He has similarly kept his people ignorant of mankind's former knowledge of medical science, allowing his Legion to get by on primitive healing powders while he himself keeps an Auto-Doc in his tent for both his personal use as well as a "gift" to anyone Caesar favors.[35] Similarly, drugs and alcohol are completely forbidden from being used by legionaries,[36] so most legionaries must make do with previously mentioned healing powder, bitter drink or concocting new remedies like Hydra, all with the caveat that the pain remains.
Interactions with the player character
Interactions overview
| Interactions | ||
|---|---|---|
  |
This character starts quests. | |
  |
This character is involved in quests. | |
Quests
- Render Unto Caesar: From here on out, the player character can choose to work for Caesar, and thus, the Legion.
- Et Tumor, Brute?: Caesar has a lethal brain tumor for which he desperately needs a cure.
- Arizona Killer: Caesar will order the Courier to assassinate President Kimball during his visit to Hoover Dam.
- Veni, Vidi, Vici: Caesar will order the Courier to report to Legate Lanius to begin the battle for Hoover Dam.
- The House Always Wins, Wild Card: You and What Army?: When the player character comes to The Fort, Caesar believes he has another pawn to use. He orders the Courier to go to the underground weather monitoring station and destroy the Securitron vault. When Mr. House or Yes Man contacts the Courier from within the bunker and tells the Courier to activate all the Securitrons, the player character can. The resultant shaking of the ground fools Caesar into thinking the player character destroyed whatever was in the vault.
- Return to Sender: If Caesar has been killed, the player character can complete the quest by convincing Chief Hanlon to stop his plot against the NCR, thus allowing both the rangers led by the chief and the troopers led by Lee Oliver to be praised for their victory in Hoover Dam (If the Courier joins the Republic), having Hanlon retire (if the Courier join Yes Man/House), or the remaining rangers being killed to the last by the Legion (if one joins the Legion).
- I Forgot to Remember to Forget: If Caesar is killed, two companion points are gained, which helps gain access to Craig Boone's personal quest.
Effects of player's actions
- If the player character has completed Restoring Hope or I Put a Spell on You (on the NCR side), Caesar will mention how they have been so much trouble for the Legion. This also happens by completing Birds of a Feather, killing Dead Sea (can be done with or without completing Restoring Hope), breaking the alliance with the Khans in Oh My Papa, brokering peace between the Kings and the NCR as part of Kings' Gambit, completing How Little We Know in Cachino's favor, completing the quest Eye for an Eye, or killing Vulpes Inculta.
- If none of the above actions have been taken, Caesar will offer compliments if the player character has completed quests or certain tasks detrimental to the NCR, or completed quests for the Legion before meeting Caesar such as completing Cold, Cold Heart, unlocking Archimedes II for themselves in That Lucky Old Sun, killing or releasing Silus in Silus Treatment, and completing We Are Legion.
- If any crimes against the Legion are committed after meeting Caesar for the first time such as killing Dead Sea at Nelson, completing I Put a Spell on You in the NCR's favor, breaking the alliance with the Khans, or completing How Little We Know in Cachino's favor. Caesar will mention the crime in question and ask if they have committed any other crimes. He will then forgive the Courier this one time and warn that if other crimes are committed he will have them killed. If another crime is committed after Caesar warned them, he will mention this and then order his praetorians to slaughter them.
- Telling Caesar they are done working for him will result in him warning that if they ever disobey him again he will order his praetorians to hack them to death for his entertainment. True to his word, he will turn hostile and send his praetorians to attack if the player character refuses to work for him a second time.
- If the quest Arizona Killer was failed and Caesar asks why they did not attack President Kimball, the Courier responding that they changed their mind will yield the same responses.
Other interactions
- After the Courier notices Caesar's headache, his ailment can be inquired about if the Courier has a Medicine skill of 40. They can talk to him and ask how long he has been limping for. If successful, he will mention that he has been suffering from it for two weeks, after which he will lie down and warn them not to disturb him again or he will have them killed.
- Failing the check will result in him telling the Courier to "fuck off."
- Ignoring his warning and attempting to speak to him again will result in Caesar becoming furious and calling on his praetorians to attack.
- Caesar is one of the characters that the player character must eat in order to earn the Meat of Champions perk.
Killing Caesar
- If the player character manages to kill Caesar, the effects on the game will change, as he will no longer directly participate in the events.
- If the Courier speaks to Caesar before attacking him, they can say "Death to tyrants!" This is a common mistranslation of the Latin phrase "Sic semper tyrannis." The actual translation of this phrase is "Thus always to tyrants," which is the shortened version of "Sic semper evello mortem tyrannis," which in full is rendered as "Thus always I bring death to tyrants," which is the typical reason for the mistranslation. This is believed to have been uttered by the assassins of the real Julius Caesar. The latter is also the name of a challenge to assassinate the NCR's president.
- If the Courier has the Terrifying Presence perk and a negative reputation with the Legion prior to meeting Caesar, he will ask what they were thinking when first meeting him, and the option to tell him "That I'd decorate this tent with your guts." can be used to frighten him before attacking.
- If Caesar dies for any reason other than his illness or using the autodoc to dissect his brain then passing a speech check in Et Tumor, Brute?, Legion reputation will automatically change to Vilified, even if the player character didn't kill him.
- Julie Farkas exclaims "So, the great Caesar is dead ..." and goes on saying that she doubts that it will have much effect on the imminent attack.
- If the player character talks to Mr. House about killing Caesar before he dies, Mr. House will reply that "[He] does not want you to touch one hair on that man's head, assuming you can find one." He says that Caesar provides a good distraction for the NCR.
- If the player character kills Caesar while working with Mr. House on the "The House Always Wins" quests, they can return to Mr. House and tell him that Caesar is dead. Mr. House simply notes that this has a "minimal" impact on the battle for Hoover Dam and offers no reward or punishment for the action.[37]
- If the player character kills Caesar, Mr. New Vegas will say "it is still unknown how the assassin managed to evade security," even if they killed Caesar in a frontal assault on The Fort (i.e., didn't evade security).
- If Caesar is killed with Boone as a companion, Boone will smugly say "Thumbs down, you son of a bitch!" - a reference to the gesture that is commonly thought to have called for the execution of a failed gladiator in ancient Rome, despite the thumb inside the fist meaning "mercy" or "weapons down." He will subsequently have further dialogue options when selecting the "Talk" option. He will also talk about the death of Caesar having little effect on the attack on Hoover Dam, but admits, on prompting from the Courier, that he still enjoyed it immensely. They will also gain two points to use toward Boone's quest I Forgot to Remember to Forget.
- If the player character speaks to Lily, she will remark that Leo thinks there will be more people to chop up and that the player character should be careful.
- There is a dialogue with the Legate at the end of the game, stating "So, Caesar giving orders from beyond the grave?" - an indication that Mr. House is right and Caesar's death was no more than a minimal setback. However, House will also note that Lanius is a poor leader compared to Caesar, and predicts that within a year of his death the Legion will be torn apart by infighting.
- Caleb McCaffery greets the Courier with "All hail the slayer of Caesar!"
- Most NCR troopers will say, "Wish I could have been there to see Caesar die. What an asshole."
- Chairmen at The Tops will state "That's the guy/gal who killed Caesar!"
- Francine Garret states "here's one on the house for taking down Caesar, serves him right for treating women like livestock," and gives you a free bottle of liquor.
- James Garret will also give you a free bottle of liquor, like his sister.
- Some travelers on the Strip will comment, "Now that you've killed that Caesar bastard, the Strip's really going to bloom."
- White Gloves in the Ultra-Luxe will comment, "I hear you killed Caesar, is it true, that he wore a toupee?"
- Sergeant McCredie at Camp Golf will complement the Courier on a great job, and Mags will say "I hear Caesar's dead, and we have you to thank for it... nice work."
- While near the end of Return to Sender, the player character can convince Chief Hanlon to come back to his senses and cease falsifying the reports by reporting Caesar's death to him.
- In Honest Hearts the player character is able to tell Joshua Graham that they saw Caesar die. He will not react much to the news but he will admit that he thought he would die before Caesar. He also remarks that Caesar's death is good news for the Mojave, and states that without Caesar's leadership the Legion will eventually fall apart. However, the Courier cannot do the reverse, as killing Caesar's former righthand man (or even leaving him alive) brings no dialogue options with him.
- If the player character speaks to Ulysses after the end of Lonesome Road they can tell him that they have killed Caesar. He isn't angry despite his former allegiance to the Legion and states that the east may fall apart in time but that it's too soon to tell; he goes on to say that unless they do the same to Lanius, they'll get no thanks from him.
Inventory
| Apparel | Weapon | Other items | On death |
|---|---|---|---|
| Caesar's armor | Displacer glove | Platinum chip (If Benny survives the confrontation at The Tops) |
Legion ear |
Notes
- Members of the Legion pronounce Caesar's name /ˈkaizar/, a post-classical Latin pronunciation, emphasizing the diphthong. Legionaries who knew him early in the Legion's history, as well as most other wastelanders, pronounce it as the Anglicized /ˈsiːzər/.
- Barring his occasional use of Latin and references to accompanying academic concepts and subjects, he speaks in a casual, "modern-day" dialect.
- Caesar holds some level of respect for Aaron Kimball, calling him "a man of potential." He believes that Kimball would have been more powerful and had more control over the NCR if he had seized power, instead of being elected.
- If the player character pickpockets Caesar while detected, he will automatically turn hostile and his inventory doesn't open.
- If Caesar dies, his body will never disappear.
- Punching or shooting Caesar's body after he dies will turn the Legion hostile.
- The Toaster mentions Caesar.[38]
- If Caesar turns hostile, he appears to not have an "attacking expression," and will attack with an expression on his face as if he wasn't angry.
 | The following is based on Fallout: New Vegas cut content. |
|---|
- In Honest Hearts, there remains an unused model, although possibly used for Honest Hearts intro slides, of Caesar named NVDLC02CaesarYounger. The only difference between the model used in Fallout: New Vegas and this model is that the unused model has a comb-over.
| End of information based on Fallout: New Vegas cut content |
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Notable quotes
- "We have cities of our own, but nothing compared to Vegas. Finally, my Legion will have its Rome."
- "Oh yes, raised in that tradition. And the teaching stuck. I was taught it was my responsibility to bring the torch of knowledge to the wastes."
- "As an anthropologist and linguist, my assignment was to learn the dialects of the Grand Canyon tribes. What a fucking waste of time!"
- "I showed them total warfare. Like I said, there's a lot you can learn from old books."
- "Good. In hoc signo taurus vinces. (In the sign of the bull, you will conquer.) Report to Legatus Lanius immediately - he'll brief you on the plan of battle. Come back victorious, or don't come back."
- "Thesis and antithesis. The Colorado River is my Rubicon. The NCR council will be eradicated, but the new synthesis will change the Legion as well... from a basically nomadic army to a standing military force that protects its citizens, and the power of its dictator."
- "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."
- "I've heard it's a bad idea to tempt the wrath of Caesar."
Appearances
Caesar appears in Fallout: New Vegas and is mentioned in its add-ons Honest Hearts, Old World Blues, and Lonesome Road. He was going to appear in Van Buren, the canceled Fallout 3 by Black Isle Studios.[Non-canon 4]
Behind the scenes
- John Gonzalez wrote Caesar and Joshua Sawyer asked for Caesar to present his rationale in the framework of his interpretation of Hegelian dialectics.[Non-canon 5]
- Caesar is based on the real world historical entity of the Julius Caesar, and possesses a number of parallels to his historical counterpart. For example, the historical Caesar actually suffered from a condition similar to the one depicted in-game. He had headaches, blackouts, and sometimes even seizures. In terms of appearance, Caesar is balding and has an Aquiline nose, a sign of nobility in ancient Rome. One thing of note is that Caesar is 55 years old in 2281, and the historical Julius Caesar was assassinated at the age of 56 on March 15, 44 B.C.
- Metzger, the leader of the slavers guild from the Den in Fallout 2, was initially named Caesar.
Developer quotes
Both are men of intelligence and education who traveled from a life of relative comfort, technological wizardry, and "civilization" into a wilderness full of warring people with relatively low education and a relatively "primitive" lifestyle. Both rose to power and were essentially deified for their intelligence, knowledge and leadership capabilities. Both cut off communication with the outside world and lived in their (until now) remote, savage kingdoms, using the most brutal means possible to deal with rare instances of dissent. Both have an "unusual" way of looking at the world due to their cultural isolation.
Unlike Mr. Kurtz, Caesar's reign continues for a long, long time.”— J.E. Sawyer
Gallery
References
|
Non-game
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 Fallout: New Vegas Official Game Guide Collector's Edition p. 459: "Rebirth of the Son of Mars
The adolescence and young adulthood of the man who calls himself Caesar were spent as a scribe of the Followers of the Apocalypse. While this boy had a quick mind, he made for a scribe of uneven ability, for his success in academics was equal to his interest in the subject assigned. Nor was he a favorite among his fellows. Though athletic, handsome, and petulance held him back. He never felt that he belonged among the Followers, and blamed them for it. Their rigorous devotion to scholarship was stifling, their mission to ensure that humanity would never repeat the mistakes of the Great War was ridiculously naive. The boy longed for something more.
When the time came for the boy to leave the Boneyard and trek the wastes as part of a nine-person expedition, wanderlust soon curdled into disappointment. The primitive conditions of the tribes the expedition encountered disgusted him. Inferior people all, wretched in their squalor. Still, he seemed to discern, amid the chaos of their petty struggles and everyday atrocities, the true order of the wastes-and it was one of anonymous, amoral liberty. The wastes called to the boy as a blank slate upon which a man of will could write his own destiny.
During the same period of the time that the boy was coming to these insights, the expedition uncovered a cache of well-preserved historical texts. Among with adventure fiction and comic books, history had always been his favorite subject, and so the task of cataloguing and studying the texts fell to him. Though the boy had long been aware of basic facts concerning many ancient empires, these new texts filled in many previously obscure details. Reading The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire rendered him a veritable hermit for two weeks. But even that could not have prepared him for the Commentarii, the account of the military campaigns of Gaius Julius Caesar, written by the man himself. Reading Commentarii changed the boy's life. Unfortunately, it was destined to change the lives of thousands more, and for the worse.
In Gaius Julius Caesar the boy found a man who seamed to have fulfilled the full measure of potential greatness allotted to him by fate, a man whose career spanned political accomplishment and military achievement in equal measure. Such adventure! And intrigue! And cool uniforms! The boy's frustrations with his lot in life gained sharp focus. In reading about Caesar, he was like an ant scurrying about the feet of a regal statue. He resolved that he would go to any lengths necessary to change the course of his life. The Commentarii would be his blueprint. In an illiterate, benighted world, who would ever know that Caesar was not his original creation?
That night, Caesar offered a different sort of assistance to a tribe his expedition had contacted recently: weapons, medical supplies, and tactical expertise. He led several tribal accomplices back to the expedition's camp and through its defenses, and there oversaw the murder of his eight fellows. Within a week he was leading the tribe on ever more ambitious raids against neighboring bands of raiders and tribals."
(Fallout: New Vegas Official Game Guide/Behind the Bright Lights & Big City) - ↑ Fallout: New Vegas Official Game Guide Collector's Edition p. 461:
"The boy, now a young man, sets out to explore the wastes as part of a nine-person expedition. He unearths a cache of literature about the ancient Roman Empire and encounters the historical figure of Caesar."
(Fallout: New Vegas Official Game Guide/Behind the Bright Lights & Big City) - ↑ 3.0 3.1 Fallout: New Vegas Official Game Guide Collector's Edition p. 461: "Important Dates"
"2247 He declares himself Caesar. Within a week, he is leading the tribe on ever more ambitious raids against neighboring bands of raiders and tribals, growing his forces by taking slaves."
(Fallout: New Vegas Official Game Guide/Behind the Bright Lights & Big City) - ↑ Fallout: New Vegas Official Game Guide Collector's Edition p.461: "Important Dates"
"2247 Inspired by his reading and the freedom offered by the wastes to write his own future, the young man conspires with a tribe to murder the other eight members of the expedition. He declares himself Caesar. Within a week, he is leading the tribe on ever more ambitious raids against neighboring bands of raiders and tribals, growing his forces by taking slaves."
(Fallout: New Vegas Official Game Guide/Behind the Bright Lights & Big City) - ↑ J.E. Sawyer: "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." - ↑ J.E. Sawyer's Formspring:
"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)." - ↑ Fallout: New Vegas Official Game Guide Collector's Edition p. 461:
"Caesar conquers the tribes of southeastern Utah, southwestern Colorado, the western edge of New Mexico, and the northern half of Arizona. By 2250 he has declared himself the Son of Mars. By 2255, he has established a capital of sorts amid the ruins of Flagstaff.."
(Fallout: New Vegas Official Game Guide/Behind the Bright Lights & Big City) - ↑ 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)." - ↑ 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 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..."
(Fallout: New Vegas Official Game Guide/Behind the Bright Lights & Big City)
Non-canon
- ↑ Fallout: New Vegas Official Game Guide Collector's Edition p.461: "Important dates
2248-2274 Caesar conquers the tribes of southeastern Utah, southwestern Colorado, the western edge of New Mexico, and the northern half of Arizona. By 2250 he has declared himself the Son of Mars. By 2255, he has established a capital of sorts amid the ruins of Flagstaff."
Fallout: New Vegas Official Game Guide; Behind the Bright Lights & Big City#True to Caesar|Fallout: New Vegas Official Game Guide/Behind the Bright Lights & Big City|Fallout: New Vegas Official Game Guide; Behind the Bright Lights & Big City - ↑ Fallout: New Vegas Official Game Guide Collector's Edition p. 461: "Important Dates
2247 He declares himself Caesar. Within a week, he is leading the tribe on ever more ambitious raids against neighboring bands of raiders and tribals, growing his forces by taking slaves."
(Fallout: New Vegas Official Game Guide; Behind the Bright Lights & Big City) - ↑ 3.0 3.1 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." - ↑ Denver design documents, page 44
- ↑ so who did the writing for Caesar in New Vegas, and who decided he should give an overview of Hegelian dialectics? Formspring
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