Plautus
Angry Preacher
I've spent a great deal of time on Fallout: New Vegas, and the more I play and analyze the game, the more I realize that the NCR is the game's principal faction and the Legion is nothing more than a group of ugly, poorly dressed, obviously evil people against whom people who don't pay attention and dislike moral ambiguity rally. I, as both a lover of history and a lover of good writing, dislike this sort of faction in a game, and I've been thinking about how Caesar and his Legion could be completely redone to make them more beliveable, more powerful, and more morally ambiguous, all while attempting to stay within the limits of lore and reason.
1. Background All of Caesar's Legion's society is based off of three Latin textbooks which Caesar himself found in a ruined library, "Year One Latin Grammar", "Year Two Latin Grammar" and "De Bello Gallico: Julius Caesar's Commentaries with additional English translation." These texbooks include some brief lessons about Roman history and culture, and Caesar has taken these books to be holy tomes on which to base his society. Of course, since Fallout is retro-futuristic, these books are 1950's style, and therefore the diagrams of Soldiers included look like the soldiers on old Biblical films (e.g. Ben Hur) and themes taboo in American society -like homosexuality- are NOT discussed. In this way, Caesar's Legion society is based on a limited understanding of an inaccurate, 50's view of the Roman Empire.
2. Government Caesar is a tyrant, a dictator, or an Emperor, depending on your choice of semantics. He holds complete power over everybody in his territory; however, he cannot assume all administrative duties by himself. Therefore, he has a Senate, comprised of his oldest Centurions. The Senate regulates the army, the economy, and handles all legal matters within Caesar's territory.
3. Societal Structure Caesar's society is divided into four main groups: the Legionarii, the Equites, the Pontifices, and the Servi, or Legionaries, landowners, priests, and slaves. Legionarii are self explanatory. Equites are specialized men who are too valuable to Caesar's economy to be forced into military service. These men, like Dale Barton, are merchants, or own "fabricae", workshops staffed by skilled or semi-skilled slaves. Pontifices (singular = pontifex) are priests and servi are slaves. Those two speak for themselves.
4.Gender Roles Unlike in the main game, women are not all slaves. Rather, the wives of soldiers, landownders, and priests are free women who serve the Legion by caring for the family while their husbands work. These women must instill "virtus" or virtue on their children, teaching the male children to obey Caesar and the Gods and serve the state, and teaching the female children how to be mothers themselves. Women are not allowed to serve in the army or own land. Some religious positions are open to them.
5. Religion Caesar's Legion worships four pagan gods: Jupiter, Mars, Venus, and "Divus Julius" AKA Julius Caesar. The reason these four are the only ones worshiped is because they are the latter three are the only ones mentioned in Caesar's Commentaries, and the in-game Caesar wishes the historical Caesar to be worshiped as a god.
6. Army Organization Mostly this is unchanged: a contubernium is 10 men, a century is 100 men, a cohort is 480 men. Contubernia are commanded by Decani, Centuries are commanded by Centurions, and Cohorts are commanded by Legates. Contubernia function like modern day squadrons, in that they are commanded by one ranking official and have roles split among them. Because guns are scarce in Caesar's territory, only four of the ten men in a Contubernium have guns, and only the Decanus (one of those four) has a decent gun. The rest use swords and spears.
7. Army Equipment Each legionary wears under his armor a tunic, which is completely in tact (these tunics are made by slaves in the Fabricae). Recruit legionaries wear Roman-style armor made out of Brahmin leather, much like in biblical films; their uniforms look like this. I figure that such armor would be easy to make, especially with all the brahmin leather armor made in the game. If I recall correctly, the leather armor in Fallout 1 was about as complex. They also use forged gladii and pila, rather than makeshift machetes. Again, the Fabricae provide these things to them. Higher ranked officials generally have nicer armor than lower ranked soldiers. A Centurion might ditch his standard leather armor in favor of some pieces of Power Armor he found. Likewise, Legates or the most elite Centurions might wear custom forged metal armor. At any rate, guns are still scarce, so Caesar's troops fight mostly with melee weapons; however, these are less makeshift and more professionally made, since slave labor can do wonders for industry....
8. Medicine: Caesar read about the marvels of Roman medicine in the textbooks he found. Unfortunately, he lacks the know how to replicate such medicine. That said, special "pontifices" called "medici" (singular = medicus) are able to perform basic surgeries, like fixing limbs and are also able to craft basic medical supplies for the troops. Now, these supplies are nowhere near as good as the NCR's stimpacks, but they can easily keep Legionaries healthy.
9. The Fort No longer so ramshackle, slaves can be seen laboring to build more permanent walls and buildings within the fort. While the soldiers still live in tents, Caesar's Fort has begun to develop some self sustaining manufacturers. In the Fort is now a Medicus' temple, a Fabrica for making Legion equipment the Barton Household (in which you can converse with Dale Barton's wife, a Femina Legionis who discusses the pros AND cons of being a woman in Caesar's service), and Caesar's personal blacksmith.
The blacksmith forges armor for Legates and for Caesar himself, and additionally will make the player character a suit of Recreated Roman Armor., which is strongly similar to that of a Roman general. That said, the armor is insanely tough to get, as the player must negotiate with the Followers to get armor schematics and fight their way through deathclaw infested mines to acquire the necessary resources.
NB: If these changes were to be made, the NCR would have to be officially strengthened as well.
So, there is my re imagining of Caesar's Legion, covering just the background. I have other ideas about Legion companions and quests, but I've spent quite some time writing this and do not wish to bore my audience further. I appreciate you reading this post and would as always greatly appreciate any constructive criticism.
Again, thank you for spending time on this humble set of suggestions.
1. Background All of Caesar's Legion's society is based off of three Latin textbooks which Caesar himself found in a ruined library, "Year One Latin Grammar", "Year Two Latin Grammar" and "De Bello Gallico: Julius Caesar's Commentaries with additional English translation." These texbooks include some brief lessons about Roman history and culture, and Caesar has taken these books to be holy tomes on which to base his society. Of course, since Fallout is retro-futuristic, these books are 1950's style, and therefore the diagrams of Soldiers included look like the soldiers on old Biblical films (e.g. Ben Hur) and themes taboo in American society -like homosexuality- are NOT discussed. In this way, Caesar's Legion society is based on a limited understanding of an inaccurate, 50's view of the Roman Empire.
2. Government Caesar is a tyrant, a dictator, or an Emperor, depending on your choice of semantics. He holds complete power over everybody in his territory; however, he cannot assume all administrative duties by himself. Therefore, he has a Senate, comprised of his oldest Centurions. The Senate regulates the army, the economy, and handles all legal matters within Caesar's territory.
3. Societal Structure Caesar's society is divided into four main groups: the Legionarii, the Equites, the Pontifices, and the Servi, or Legionaries, landowners, priests, and slaves. Legionarii are self explanatory. Equites are specialized men who are too valuable to Caesar's economy to be forced into military service. These men, like Dale Barton, are merchants, or own "fabricae", workshops staffed by skilled or semi-skilled slaves. Pontifices (singular = pontifex) are priests and servi are slaves. Those two speak for themselves.
4.Gender Roles Unlike in the main game, women are not all slaves. Rather, the wives of soldiers, landownders, and priests are free women who serve the Legion by caring for the family while their husbands work. These women must instill "virtus" or virtue on their children, teaching the male children to obey Caesar and the Gods and serve the state, and teaching the female children how to be mothers themselves. Women are not allowed to serve in the army or own land. Some religious positions are open to them.
5. Religion Caesar's Legion worships four pagan gods: Jupiter, Mars, Venus, and "Divus Julius" AKA Julius Caesar. The reason these four are the only ones worshiped is because they are the latter three are the only ones mentioned in Caesar's Commentaries, and the in-game Caesar wishes the historical Caesar to be worshiped as a god.
6. Army Organization Mostly this is unchanged: a contubernium is 10 men, a century is 100 men, a cohort is 480 men. Contubernia are commanded by Decani, Centuries are commanded by Centurions, and Cohorts are commanded by Legates. Contubernia function like modern day squadrons, in that they are commanded by one ranking official and have roles split among them. Because guns are scarce in Caesar's territory, only four of the ten men in a Contubernium have guns, and only the Decanus (one of those four) has a decent gun. The rest use swords and spears.
7. Army Equipment Each legionary wears under his armor a tunic, which is completely in tact (these tunics are made by slaves in the Fabricae). Recruit legionaries wear Roman-style armor made out of Brahmin leather, much like in biblical films; their uniforms look like this. I figure that such armor would be easy to make, especially with all the brahmin leather armor made in the game. If I recall correctly, the leather armor in Fallout 1 was about as complex. They also use forged gladii and pila, rather than makeshift machetes. Again, the Fabricae provide these things to them. Higher ranked officials generally have nicer armor than lower ranked soldiers. A Centurion might ditch his standard leather armor in favor of some pieces of Power Armor he found. Likewise, Legates or the most elite Centurions might wear custom forged metal armor. At any rate, guns are still scarce, so Caesar's troops fight mostly with melee weapons; however, these are less makeshift and more professionally made, since slave labor can do wonders for industry....
8. Medicine: Caesar read about the marvels of Roman medicine in the textbooks he found. Unfortunately, he lacks the know how to replicate such medicine. That said, special "pontifices" called "medici" (singular = medicus) are able to perform basic surgeries, like fixing limbs and are also able to craft basic medical supplies for the troops. Now, these supplies are nowhere near as good as the NCR's stimpacks, but they can easily keep Legionaries healthy.
9. The Fort No longer so ramshackle, slaves can be seen laboring to build more permanent walls and buildings within the fort. While the soldiers still live in tents, Caesar's Fort has begun to develop some self sustaining manufacturers. In the Fort is now a Medicus' temple, a Fabrica for making Legion equipment the Barton Household (in which you can converse with Dale Barton's wife, a Femina Legionis who discusses the pros AND cons of being a woman in Caesar's service), and Caesar's personal blacksmith.
The blacksmith forges armor for Legates and for Caesar himself, and additionally will make the player character a suit of Recreated Roman Armor., which is strongly similar to that of a Roman general. That said, the armor is insanely tough to get, as the player must negotiate with the Followers to get armor schematics and fight their way through deathclaw infested mines to acquire the necessary resources.
NB: If these changes were to be made, the NCR would have to be officially strengthened as well.
So, there is my re imagining of Caesar's Legion, covering just the background. I have other ideas about Legion companions and quests, but I've spent quite some time writing this and do not wish to bore my audience further. I appreciate you reading this post and would as always greatly appreciate any constructive criticism.
Again, thank you for spending time on this humble set of suggestions.
