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Caesar’s Legion is a… controversial faction inFallout. Vaguely modeling themselves off of the legion of old, Caesar’s Legion aims to implement absolute peace through a series of rigid, hierarchical laws enforced by the sheer military might of their legionaries. At the heart of this military force is ‘Caesar’ himself, the charismatic and brutal founder of the legion.
Basing their tactics on Roman concepts like ‘divide and conquer,’ (subjugation by provoking internal clashes within an enemy) and ‘total war,’ (using full force to win by any means), Caesar’s Legion became a force to be reckoned with in the post-apocalypse.
Who Is Caesar In Fallout?
Caesar,formerly Edward Sallow, was a member of the Followers of the Apocalypse, a humanistic sect dedicated to educating the Wasteland.
An unpopular child growing up,Sallow’s temper and unchecked ego made him considerably difficult to get along with, though he was known to be an unmatched student when he cared about the subject.
He happened upon a cache of books detailing Roman history, which he would take a particular interest in.
Originally sentalongside Joshua Graham, a missionary, to help study the tribal dialects around the West,he would become the victim of a kidnappingby the Blackfoot tribe, who were being incessantly attacked by other tribes in the region.
Seeing that they would no doubt be killed or worse, Sallow ensured his survival byteaching the Blackfoot tribe the Roman tactics that he had studied.
This led to the Blackfoot tribesoundly defeating andsubsequently conquering the surrounding tribes.
Instated as a leader soon after,Sallow would stylize himself ‘Caesar,‘later going on toconquer all seven tribes,subsuming those who surrendered into his army and killing all who resisted.
It’s said that he led the emissary of a tribe to a pile of corpses from a tribe who had refused to join him: men, women, and children alike.
Fashioning himself into the ‘real Caesar,’ Caesar began eradicating the cultures of the surrounding tribes to enforce a single one under the sentimentthat unification under one homogeneous culture is the most effective way to rule the Wasteland.
Caesar himself holds to the idea that technological advancement is wrong and thatlife should remain hard to keep people strong.
Ultimately, Caesar thinks he is bettering society, even as he employs inhumane tactics to govern that society.
What Is The Legion?
Caesar’s Legion itselfis a slave army made up of various conquered people.Those who resist are dead, which sets a precedent within the military organization.
Dependent on tributes from the conquered territories,theLegion rules through fear but has relatively no infrastructure.
Still, those who live within the Legion’s territories tend not to fear attacks from raiders, making the Legion a relatively safe place for settlers. They’re allowed to go about their lives as they see fit unless they’re in the Legion proper.
The Legion’s philosophy is ‘survival of the fittest.’ This comes withbanning medical technologies and robots, believing that to rely on either is to risk their army softening.
The point, the Legion believes, is tochurn out experienced fighters, and using chems and robots to assist with combat would hurt their chances of being the dominant military force.
Designed after the Roman Legion, the army’s machine operates entirely under Caesar.Rank is decided by one’s experience, with veterans serving at the top of the army and decorating their armor with mementos of battle.
The Legion raided a nearby college for their football equipment, incorporating the pads into their armor alongside scavenged materials.
This could provide an incentive for conquered people to fight harder while within the Legion, as more power or rights can be guaranteed the more combat one sees.
Combat Tactics Of Caesar’s Legion
The Legion oftenrelies on psychological warfare, as ‘total war’ decrees, committing atrocities within the sight of opposing forces and occasionallyusing children as soldiers.
Legionaries move in waves,putting greener recruits in the front and veterans in the back.
As the people in front fall, they meet with more and more difficult combatants who can take their place. This serves to wear the enemy out andweed out the weak in the Legion.
Upon defeat, the Legion may make ‘captures’ as they see fit, fueling their slave economy. They may alsocrucifythose who disobey,a tactic they use within their own ranksas punishment.
Discrimination Within Caesar’s Legion
The Legion is a deeply hierarchical society, with the brunt of the non-combative work being carried out by the institution of slavery, which the Legion perpetuates across the Wasteland.
Slaves are expected to abide by the laws of’honesty, industry, and prudence,‘and are marked with a red ‘X’ across their chest, or a slave collar.
Women are also highly discriminated againstand prevented from joining combative roles or working alongside men in jobs of esteem. They’re seen as little more than’breeding stock.’
In fact,their ability to bear children is entirely the reason they are unequal, due to Caesar’s, and by extension, the Legion’s belief that the more children that exist, the stronger the Legion will be.There are even mandated child quotasfor his legionaries to meet.
If speaking to Ulysseswhile being a female member of the Legion, he will express surprise that you were allowed to join, stating that a requirement was being a man.
As such, he alsocriminalized homosexuality, making it punishable by death, though it’s unknown how well this rule is followed.
The Legion And The NCR
The Legion and the NCR are the two factions with the most reputation and power in the West.Caesar sees the NCR as corrupt, bureaucratic, and weak, likening them to the Roman Senate.
The Legion also believes the NCR perpetuates foolish ideas of prewar ideology, andbelieves such thought patterns can no longer exist within the Wasteland.
By contrast, the NCR sees the Legion asbrutal and totalitarian, with little interest in anything but imperialism and subjugation.
These ideological conflicts and territorial disputes have led to clashes between the two, such as over control of the Hoover Dam, with the conflict spanning years beyond their initial skirmishes.
The Legion vastly outclasses the training of the NCR, whose recruits are cut off from supplies frequently and put into battle with minimal conditioning. However,the NCR has had years to instate infrastructure and communal living. These traits are appealing to Wastelanders, which is something Caesar’s Legion is heavily lacking in.
