Caesar's Legion is a faction that only appears in Fallout: New Vegas but made a lasting impression on fans for its brutality and unique culture. Despite only being in one game in the series, there is a lot of history and lore to the Legion. The Legion actually was born from a very different organization, the Followers of the Apocalypse.
To know the Legion's history is to the history of Caesar, as he was not always known by that name. Originally, Caesar was a man named Edward Sallow and was a citizen of the NCR before his father died from a raider attack. His mother raised him amongst the Followers of the Apocalypse, and he became a star student but had a bad temper. He did not find the mission of the Followers to be inspiring, and he would grow up to lead one of the most feared factions of the wasteland.
The Birth Of The Legion
As a Follower, Edward Sallow was sent to the Grand Canyon along with a team of people to study tribal languages. During their journey, Sallow found history books on the Roman Empire and the Commentarii by Gaius Julius Caesar and studied them intensely. Not long after, he and his group were captured by the Blackfoot Tribe to be held for ransom. However, Sallow did not act like a victim in this, quite the opposite. Instead, he decided to teach the tribe how to be stronger by showing them how to handle and make weapons.
Sallow helped the Blackfoot tribe fight against another tribe they were enemies with, the Ridgers. When the Ridgers did not surrender, Sallow ordered the Blackfoot tribe to kill everyone, including women and children. They obeyed and kept following Sallow's lead as they attacked all other enemy tribes in the area. These other tribes surrendered, and Sallow decided that the reason all problems were happening was because of individual tribe identities. All would be solved if everyone fell under one banner, so all that surrendered to Sallow would give up their cultural identities to join his own. Thus, Caesar's Legion was born, which was based on Sallow's knowledge of Imperial Rome.
In 2247, Sallow crowned himself as Caesar and let another ex-Follower of the Apocalypse, Joshua Graham, serve as the Legion's first legate. It conquered a ton of tribes and forced them to assimilate to their ways, or die. As it bolstered in numbers and strength, it slowly made its way to conquer the NCR, which was Caesar's ultimate goal. He believed merging the NCR's civilians and infrastructure with the Legion's military would result in a totalitarian, nationalist, and homogenous empire.
On The NCR's Doorstep
As the Legion began to move for the NCR, they had the First Battle of Hoover Dam in 2277. The NCR won the battle by luring the Legion soldiers to Boulder City, which was filled with explosives. The one who lead this attack on behalf of Caesar, Joshua Graham, had to take who survived and retreat. He was punished for leading the greatest failure in Legion history by being set on fire and thrown down the Grand Canyon. Graham's position was replaced by Legate Lanius, who focused on expanding eastwards more before attempting another attack on Hoover Dam.
Lanius became known to be the most brutal member of the Legion, and it is said that he killed all the men of his own tribe after assimilating to Caesar's Legion. Under his command, they assimilated 14 new tribes after the loss of Hoover Dam. This lasted for four years before it became apparent that something was wrong with Caesar himself.
Caesar's Failing Health
While the Legion itself got strong, Caesar got weak. He became more reclusive and had constant headaches. Any questions as to his health were faced with denial. The matter worsened as the leader would blank out during conversations and his left leg had become too stiff to walk as he once did. Caesar believed this was a brain tumor.
The possible tumor did not stop him and his Legion from arriving at Fortification Hill to continue the push to conquer New Vegas. Caesar wanted to make the strip his Rome. At this point, the Legion consisted of 86 assimilated tribes, and it had victories in its push at the Battle of Arizona Spillway and Battle of Willow Beach. Going into Fallout: New Vegas, Caesar has a long to-do list. He wants Mr. House and President Kimball dead, and he wants an alliance with the Great Khans, White Glove Society, and Boomers. He also plans to destroy the Brotherhood of Steel while also dealing with what is possibly a brain tumor.
Fallout: New Vegas is available on PC, PS3, and Xbox 360.
