History of Caesar's Legion

Caesar's Legion is an imperialist organization, founded and led by the powerful Caesar. The legionaries are a well-organized army of slaves, serving as the fighting force that mainly operates east of the Grand Canyon and in the former state of Arizona. 
==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.The Courier: "How did you rise to power?"Caesar: "Ironically, I was born a Profligate myself, a citizen of the NCR. My family lived not far from the great Boneyard. After Raiders killed my father, my mother sought the Followers' protection. I was two years old. She found work at their Library, cooking and cleaning. I learned how to read and soon I was taking courses, free of charge."(Caesar's dialogue) Taught to "bring the torch of knowledge to the wastes", Sallow was a student of uneven quality. 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.The Courier: "You were a Follower of the Apocalypse?"Caesar: "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. "(Caesar's dialogue)
In the year 2246, the Followers of the Apocalypse sent a group to the Grand Canyon to study the region’s tribal languages.The Courier: "Were you always with the New Canaanites?"Joshua Graham: "I was born in Ogden, what people came to call New Canaan. Things were more peaceful when I was growing up. When I was a young man, I went out into the world to do missionary work as all New Canaanites do. I traveled along the Long 15 and followed 89 south into Arizona. Along the way, I met two men from a group called the Followers of the Apocalypse. Edward Sallow and Bill Calhoun. They came to teach the tribes. Calhoun was a good man. Edward was the one who got us into trouble down the road."(Joshua Graham's dialogue)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)The Courier: "What changed you from a Follower to dictator?"Caesar: "When I was 20, the Followers sent me East to Grand Canyon. It was my first expedition, just me and a physician named Calhoun. "(Caesar's dialogue) 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.Fallout: New Vegas Official Game Guide Collector's Edition p. 459: "Rebirth of the Son of MarsThe 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) Subsequently, the group was captured by the Blackfoot tribe and held for ransom.The Courier: "Why would learning dialects be a waste of time?"Caesar: "If you think it's worthwhile to make smart people learn how to talk like backward savages, you're a Follower of the Apocalypse... or an idiot. Anyway, we met up with a Mormon missionary who already knew a bunch of dialects - Joshua Graham. He was supposed to teach me. But before that went too far, the Blackfoot tribe captured us, to hold us for ransom. They were a backward bunch. But the real problem was, they didn't know how to fight."(Caesar's dialogue)
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.The Courier: "What was wrong with the Blackfoot?"Caesar: "The Blackfoot were at war with seven other tribes, each just as pissant as they were. But outnumbered like that, they weren't going to last long. It's one thing to be taken hostage, another to be lashed to a sinking ship. So over Calhoun's objections, I decided to take certain steps."The Courier: "What steps did you take?"Caesar: "I taught them how to use the guns they already had - how to strip and clean them, how to breathe when pulling a trigger, how to reload ammunition. They looked at me like I was some kind of a sorcerer. So I taught them how to make explosives, and started drilling them on small unit tactics. "(Caesar's dialogue) 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. 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.The Courier: "What happened after you trained the Blackfoot?"Caesar: " - divide and conquer. I led the Blackfoot against the Ridgers, their weakest enemy. When they refused to surrender, I ordered every man, woman, and child killed. When next we surrounded the Kaibabs and they likewise refused... I took one of their envoys to the Ridgers' village and showed him the corpse piles. This was new for the tribes, you see. They played at war, raiding each other, a little rape and pillage here, a little ransoming there. I showed them total warfare. Like I said, there's a lot you can learn from old books."(Caesar's dialogue)
==Rise to power==
The Kaibabs promptly surrendered rather than suffer the same fate, then the Fredonians, then all the remaining tribes.The Courier: "What happened to the tribes?"Caesar: "The Kaibabs joined me, and the Fredonians after that - all the pissant tribes, with names that should be forgotten. I knew from the start I'd need to eradicate this plague of tribal identities, replacing them with a monolithic culture, a uniform identity. So that's what I did, once my confederation of tribes was large enough. I crowned myself and created a single Great Tribe - my Legion. I sent Calhoun, the Follower captured with me, back West with a message that I should not be interfered with. Joshua Graham, the Mormon interpreter, stayed with me and served as my first ."(Caesar's dialogue) 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. He had to erase all traces of tribal identities and substitute a single, monolithic culture in their place.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) 
In 2247,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) when his confederation was large enough, Sallow crowned himself as Caesar, leader of the Great Tribe: the Legion.The Courier: "What happened to the tribes?"Caesar: "The Kaibabs joined me, and the Fredonians after that - all the pissant tribes, with names that should be forgotten. I knew from the start I'd need to eradicate this plague of tribal identities, replacing them with a monolithic culture, a uniform identity. So that's what I did, once my confederation of tribes was large enough. I crowned myself and created a single Great Tribe - my Legion. I sent Calhoun, the Follower captured with me, back West with a message that I should not be interfered with. Joshua Graham, the Mormon interpreter, stayed with me and served as my first ."(Caesar's dialogue) He deliberately patterned his new society after imperial Rome. 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. 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.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)."
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.The Courier:"I haven't been through Utah recently - what's the situation like?"Jed Masterson: "Well, it ain't good, I'll tell you that. It's not like the Mojave or the NCR - hell, even Arizona under Caesar is safer. You got raiders all over the damn place, tribes of degenerates that'll eat you as soon as look at you, regional warlords... the works. Not too many decent places to stop and trade. New Canaan's one of the only ones left I know about."(Jed Masterson's dialogue) By 2250 he had declared himself the Son of Mars. By 2255, he had established a capital amid the ruins of Flagstaff.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)." 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.The Courier: "And since forming the Legion, all you've done is conquer other tribes?"Caesar: "That's right. Decades of warfare, absorbing lesser tribes, gathering power. Forging the dross into a vast, razor-sharp scythe. My Legion's expansion has never ceased. Much of the Utah and Colorado, and all of Arizona and New Mexico, are mine. We have cities of our own, but nothing compared to Vegas. Finally, my Legion will have its Rome."(Caesar's dialogue) 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.The Courier: "Why is Caesar's Legion so... strange?"Caesar: "I used imperial Rome as the model for my Legion precisely because it was so foreign, so . I'd seen what had become of the NCR's attempts to emulate the culture of Pre-War America - the in-fighting, the corruption. Rome was a highly militarized autocracy that effectively integrated the foreign cultures it conquered. It dedicated its citizens to something higher than themselves - to the idea of Rome itself. In Rome I found a template for a society equal to the challenges of the post-apocalyptic world - a society that could and would survive. A society that could prevent mankind from fracturing and destroying itself in this new world, by establishing a new ."(Caesar's dialogue) The Legion would be a nationalist, imperialist, totalitarian, completely homogenous culture that would focus on long-term stability at all costs.The Courier: "What does "Pax Romana" mean?"Caesar: "It means a culture that obliterates the identity of every group it conquers. Long-term stability at all costs. The individual has no value beyond his utility to the state, whether as an instrument of war, or production."(Caesar's dialogue)
==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.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." A textbook example of Hegelian dialectics, where the thesis and antithesis conflict, creating a synthesis when the conflict is resolved.The Courier: "So you'll destroy the NCR because you hate its inefficiencies?"Caesar: "No, I'll destroy it because it's inevitable that it be destroyed. It's Dialectics, not personal animosity."The Courier: "Hegelian Dialectics? What are those?"Caesar: " The fundamental premise is to envision history as a sequence of "dialectical" conflicts. Each dialectic begins with a proposition, a ... ...which inherently contains, or creates, its opposite - an antithesis. Thesis and antithesis. The conflict is inevitable. But the resolution of the conflict yields something new - a synthesis - eliminating the flaws in each, leaving behind common elements and ideas."(Caesar's dialogue) 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.The Courier: "So what's "dialectic" about you and the NCR?"Caesar: "The NCR has all of the problems of the ancient Roman Republic - extreme bureaucracy, corruption, extensive senatorial infighting. Just as with the ancient Republic, it is natural that a military force should conquer and transform the NCR into a military dictatorship. Thesis and antithesis. The Colorado River is my Rubicon. The NCR council will be , but the new synthesis will change the Legion as well... ...from a basically nomadic army to a standing military force that protects its citizens, ."(Caesar's dialogue)Fallout: New Vegas Official Game Guide Collector's Edition p.460-461: "True to CaesarMany 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 . 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)
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."Aaron Kimball: "Ten years ago, Chief Elise met with representatives of the Desert Rangers to discuss terms of what would become the Ranger Unification Treaty. The treaty was more than a resolution to welcome the Desert Rangers into the republic. It was a covenant to protect southern Nevada against Caesar's Legion and the tyranny of his regime."(Kimball's speech)
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.See First Battle of Hoover Dam for details and sources 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.The Courier: "What happened to Graham after Hoover Dam?"Hanlon: "Losing the dam was the worst defeat the Legion ever suffered. Graham had been with Caesar since the beginning, but he had to set an example. The praetorians covered Graham in pitch, lit him on fire, and down into the Grand Canyon he went."(Hanlon's dialogue) 
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.The Courier: "Are you the Legion's second-in-command?"Lucius: ""(Lucius' dialogue) Over the next four years, Caesar rebuilt his army with 14 newly assimilated tribes,The Courier: "Who is this Legatus you mention?"Vulpes Inculta: " prides himself on selecting the right tool to overcome each new obstacle. In Lanius, he found his hammer. He's never been defeated in battle. 14 tribes have laid down arms at his boots. Another five, rendered extinct. His latest campaign in the wilds of the Utah has concluded, and he is en route. When he arrives, your doom arrives with him."(Vulpes Inculta's dialogue) 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.The Courier: "Are you all right?"Caesar: ""(Caesar's dialogue)The Courier: "I'll be the judge of that. Let's hear what you've got to say."Silus: "Something is wrong with Caesar. Something he is attempting to hide from his men. But it was obvious before we set out on this last mission. For three days, we awaited his order to dispatch us. Three days. But he hid in his tent, refusing to give orders. Complaining of headaches. He looks different now than he used to. His face is sunken, sickly. But any questioning of his health enrages him."(Silus' dialogue)The Courier: "And if you can't go through with it, you look even weaker."Silus: "[SUCCEEDED] You think I'm going to slit my throat for some megalomaniacal self-appointed dictator? I didn't work my way up to have it all be taken from me out of some irrational paranoia. Caesar's losing it. I believe that. He's been shutting himself in his tent. Privately, he complains of headaches. Whatever it is, it's affecting his ability to lead."(Silus' dialogue) 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.Caesar: "All right, let's state the obvious. There's something wrong with me. The headaches started a couple months ago. They weren't too bad at first... but now they come frequently and they're... . For the past two weeks, my left leg has been dragging. It's stiffer, hard to move. And you've seen me blank out. Lucius says I stare into space, blink a few times, then keep talking like nothing happened. So what's the diagnosis?"(Caesar's dialogue) 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.The Courier: "I'm afraid your symptoms are consistent with a brain lesion, most likely a tumor."Caesar: "[SUCCEEDED] Congratulations, you just became my personal physician. Do you have what you need to treat my condition?"(Caesar's dialogue)
By 2281, Caesar returned to Fortification Hill, poised to take the dam with what remained of the 86 reformed tribes that his Legion had conquered and claim New Vegas as his Rome.Courier: "What'll happen at the Fort?"Cursor Lucullus: "You'll be meeting face-to-face with the mighty Caesar himself, founder of the Legion, conquerer of 86 tribes."(Cursor Lucullus) He is emboldened by Legion victories at the Battle of Willow Beach and the Battle of Arizona Spillway, but is playing his cards more cautiously this time, and will not give the order for Lanius to attack the dam until he can unearth the contents of the vault sealed beneath his base in the Mojave.Fallout: New Vegas Official Game Guide pp. 372-376:"Recently, the Legion pushed the NCR off of the east side of the river at the Battle of Willow Beach (which destroyed an NCR military camp) and the Battle of Arizona Spillway. Day to day military operations at the dam are under the command of Colonel Moore. While troopers are active here, there are also a large number of civilian contractors who are trying to keep the dam running. They are of a secondary concern to Moore, who is preparing for an impending attack by Caesar and a visit by President Kimball."(Fallout: New Vegas Official Game Guide Collector's Edition Tour of the Mojave Wasteland) Caesar also needs to neutralize the ruler of New Vegas, Robert House, assassinate NCR President Kimball, attempt to forge an alliance with the Boomers, Great Khans, and White Glove Society, destroy the Brotherhood of Steel, and, perhaps most importantly, deal with his brain tumor.
==References==
Non-game
Category:Caesar's Legion
es:Historia de la Legión de César
de:Geschichte von Caesar's Legion
zh:凯撒军团史