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“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.”

Caesar, born Edward Sallow, is the ruler and co-founder of Caesar's Legion in Fallout: New Vegas.

Background

Edward Sallow was born in 2226.[Pub 1] His family originated from near the Boneyard in the New California Republic.[1] After his father was killed by raiders, his mother sought protection from the Followers of the Apocalypse when Sallow was two years old.[1] She worked at the Boneyard Library as a cook and cleaner, where he learned how to read and took free courses.[1]

Sallow became an anthropologist and linguist, and was sent east to the Grand Canyon on his first expedition when he was 20 years old.[2] Joined by a physician named Bill Calhoun, he was assigned to learn the dialects of local tribes.[2] They met up with Joshua Graham, a Mormon missionary who already knew several dialects and planned to teach Sallow.[3] Before Graham had the opportunity to do so, the group was captured by the Blackfoot tribe, who intended to hold them for ransom.[3]

Sallow learned that the Blackfoots were at war with seven other tribes, and were outnumbered.[4] Against Calhoun's objections, Sallow taught the Blackfoot new ways to wage war, which he had learned from old books.[4] With Sallow's help, the Blackfoots defeated or assimilated the opposing tribes, and once the group of tribes was large enough, Sallow removed their tribal identities, replaced them with "a monolithic culture, a uniform identity."[5][6] Sallow crowned himself Caesar and created "a single Great Tribe," known as the Legion.[6] He sent Calhoun back west with the message that he should not be interfered with, and Graham remained, serving as his first Legatus.[7]

Mojave

After having seen the corruption and in fighting within the NCR, Caesar based the new Legion off of Imperial Rome in the hopes that he would be able to emulate it's success, where all citizens work towards the betterment of the greater whole.[8] He believes in his new Pax Romana, where the individual has no value beyond their utility to the state, and that the NCR will fail due to an inability to work towards the "greater good."[9][10]

Members of the Legion believe Caesar possesses the divine right to rule by being the son of the Mars, and children of those conquered by the Legion are indoctrinated in this manner.[Pub 2] Caesar teaches that women are inferior to men, and has decreed that homosexuality be punishable by death.[11][12] Caesar has likewise outlawed chems and alcohol.[13][14]

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."[15] The Legion expanded west into the Mojave and established a base of operations on Fortification Hill overlooking Lake Mead and the Colorado River in 2277.[16]

The Legion controls the former states of New Mexico, and Arizona, and parts of Colorado and Utah, having conquered or assimilated 87 tribes.[17][16][18][Pub 3] Caesar mentions that his territory has cities, but nothing compared to Vegas and that in conquering it, "Finally, my Legion will have its Rome."[17] In doing so, he will have accomplished his plan to transform the Legion from a nomadic army to a more stable standing military, with the ability to better protect its citizens and his own power.[19]

What stands in the way of this goal are the New California Republic and forces of Mr. House at the Hoover Dam. The Legion's attempt to take the location at the Battle of Hoover Dam was unsuccessful, resulting in Caesar attempting to kill Graham by lighting him on fire and casting him into the Grand Canyon due to the failure.[20] Caesar traveled to the Fort to execute the next attempt himself.

Interactions overview

Interactions
Icon quest starter.png
This character starts quests.
  • Render Unto Caesar: He can be spoken to, in order for the Courier to join the Legion.
  • Et Tumor, Brute?: Caesar currently suffers from a brain tumor, something he himself suspects.[21] He cannot use his Auto-Doc to perform the necessary surgery to remove the tumor as it lacks a functioning diagnostic scanning module, and seeks assistance in curing his illness.[22]
FO76 ui icon quest.png
This character is involved in quests.

Other

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

  • His name is pronounced /ˈkaizar/ by members of the Legion, while most other wastelanders pronounce it /ˈsiːzər/.
  • He is one of the characters that the Courier must cannibalize in order to earn the Meat of Champions perk.
  • If he dies for any reason other than his illness or using the Auto-Doc to dissect his brain and then passing a Speech check in Et Tumor, Brute?, Legion reputation will automatically change to Vilified, even if the player character did not kill him. His body also never disappears.
  • He is mentioned by the Toaster in Old World Blues.[27]
  • Unused Content An unused model of Caesar named "NVDLC02CaesarYounger" exists in the game files for Honest Hearts.

NPC comments

Quotes

Appearances

Caesar appears in Fallout: New Vegas and is mentioned in its add-ons Honest Hearts, Old World Blues, and Lonesome Road.

Behind the scenes

  • The character was written by John Gonzalez, with Joshua Sawyer asking "for Caesar to present his rationale in the framework of Hegelian dialectics."[Dev 1]
  • When asked about similarities between Kurtz and Caesar, Joshua Sawyer stated that both are educated "men of intelligence" that "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."[Dev 2]
  • According to Joshua Sawyer, the character was also partially inspired by Charles Taylor of Liberia, whose war crimes make Caesar's cruelty look "moderate" in comparison.[Dev 3] Other inspirations were taken from brutal warlords of the past, such as Timur and Simon de Montfort.[Dev 4]
  • Sawyer also stated that Caesar's Karma is neutral due to his "unmoored morality," and that "whatever moral framework he had as Edward Sallow" just vanished over time.[Dev 5]
  • Metzger, the leader of the slavers guild from the Den in Fallout 2, was initially named Caesar during development.

Gallery

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 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)
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 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. As an anthropologist and linguist, my assignment was to learn the dialects of the Grand Canyon tribes. What a fucking waste of time!"
    (Caesar's dialogue)
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 Caesar: "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."
    (Caesar's dialogue)
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 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."
    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. If there's anything I learned as a Follower of the Apocalypse, it's that there's a lot of good information in old books."
    (Caesar's dialogue)
  5. ↑ Caesar: "Divide et impera - 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."
    (Caesar's dialogue)
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 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 {KAI-zar} Caesar and created a single Great Tribe - my Legion."
    (Caesar's dialogue)
  7. ↑ Caesar: "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 {leh-GAH-tus} Legatus."
    (Caesar's dialogue)
  8. ↑ Caesar: "I used imperial Rome as the model for my Legion precisely because it was so foreign, so {beat} alien. 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 {packs Ro-MAH-na} Pax Romana."
    (Caesar's dialogue)
  9. ↑ Courier: "What does "Pax Romana" mean?"
    Caesar: "It means a {taking time with each term} nationalist, imperialist, totalitarian, homogenous 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)
  10. ↑ Courier: "How is the NCR weak?"
    Caesar: "Greed runs rampant. The government is corrupt, accepting bribes from Brahmin barons and landowners, to the detriment of citizens. The NCR is a loose conglomerate of individuals looking out for themselves. It's lost virtue. No one cares about the collective, the greater good. It's not built to last. I'm just hastening the inevitable."
    (Caesar's dialogue)
  11. ↑ Otho: "Women are beneath notice, as Caesar has taught us. I'm only allowing you to speak to me because you are Caesar's guest."
    (Otho)
  12. ↑ Courier: "I hear you were a slave of Caesar's Legion."
    Fallout New Vegas|Jimmy: "What Marco said is true. The Legion attacked my village when I was 16. My parents were killed as examples. The rest of us, chained and dragged to some kind of camp. A Centurion there chose me as his tent servant. He was handsome, and gentle, most of the time. Said it was our secret, and he'd protect me. Gave me little gifts, stupid things. But Caesar punishes homosexuality with death, and we nearly got caught, and there were suspicions. So when he took me out into the desert... Well, I knew he was going to get rid of me. So I kicked him where it counts and I ran. And then swam. And ran some more. Wound up here."
    (Jimmy)
  13. ↑ Courier: "Is it dangerous to trade with the Legion?"
    Dale Barton: "Not at all - they're my best customers. As long as you don't try to sell 'em chems or alcohol, they treat you fair. Hell, I don't even need to travel with guards most of the time in Legion territory. All the bandits are dead or run off."
    (Dale Barton's dialogue)
  14. ↑ Courier: "What is that machine in your tent?"
    Caesar: "It's called an Auto-Doc. As the name suggests, it's an automated physician - more or less. It can treat broken bones, cuts, punctures, scrapes. Sometimes I bestow its use upon someone I favor. Makes for a powerful gift, in a culture that forbids painkillers and is largely ignorant of medical science. "
    (Caesar's dialogue)
  15. ↑ 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)
  16. ↑ 16.0 16.1 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)
  17. ↑ 17.0 17.1 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)
  18. ↑ Armor of the 87th Tribe
  19. ↑ Caesar: "The bombs wiped the slate clean. Human civilization descended to a level of ignorance that effectively set our cultural progress back to zero. 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 {beat} 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, {finality} and the power of its dictator."
    (Caesar's dialogue)
  20. ↑ Jed Masterson: "Well at Hoover Dam, the Malpais Legate finally met his match. Hanlon and Oliver kicked his New Canaanite butt right back over the river. Caesar had to make an example for the others, to show them that even at the highest level, failure wouldn't be tolerated. He had Graham covered in pitch, lit on fire, and thrown into the Grand Canyon. People say he didn't even scream on the way down. Not long after, some of the slaves and tribals started to talk. Said Graham wasn't dead. Shouldn't have been any surprise."
    (Honest Hearts intro)
  21. ↑ Courier"I'm afraid your symptoms are consistent with a brain lesion, most likely a tumor."
    Caesar: " I figured as much. Congratulations, you just became my personal physician. Do you have what you need to treat my condition?"
    (Caesar's dialogue)
  22. ↑ Courier"What about the Auto-Doc in your tent?"
    Caesar: "It's never had a functional diagnostic scanning module. Without that, it's useless for surgery."
    (Caesar's dialogue)
  23. ↑ Caesar: "You're the courier who's caused so much trouble for my Legion, and yet you dare come before me."
    (Caesar's dialogue)
  24. ↑ Caesar: "So I finally get to meet the courier who's caused so much trouble for the New California Republic."
    (Caesar's dialogue)
  25. ↑ Caesar: "Allow me to make this clear. Because you've been of service to me, I will forgive your crimes against my Legion this one time. In the future, if I become aware that you've committed other crimes, I'll have my Praetorians butcher you before my eyes."
    (Caesar's dialogue)
  26. ↑ Caesar: "I warned you about this. Praetorians, slaughter this degenerate!"
    (Caesar's dialogue)
  27. ↑ Toaster: "While you were away, my plans have marched steadily forward. Beware, Caesar! Beware, NCR! Soon will dawn the Age of the Toaster!"
    (Toaster's dialogue)
  28. ↑ Julie Farkas: "So the great Caesar is dead. Happy news, but I don't know that it'll make things safer. The rest of his goons may be even worse once they take power."
    (Julie Farkas' dialogue)
  29. ↑ Courier: "You want me to kill Caesar?"
    Mr. House: "Absolutely not! Caesar is of great use to me. I don't want you harming a hair on that man's head - assuming you can find one."
    (Mr. House/Dialogue#344|Mr. House's dialogue)
  30. ↑ Courier: "You do know Caesar is dead, don't you?"
    Mr. House: "By my calculations, his death will affect the shape of the battle for Hoover Dam minimally, if at all. The Legion's aggression will outlive Caesar. Indeed, they'll try to take the dam as a tribute to his memory. Given a year, they'd have him deified - but by then the Legion will be breaking down, riven by internal conflicts, a monster consuming itself. It's irrelevant. In the short term, the Legion is still monster enough that defeating it will make me look powerful indeed."
    (Mr. House/Dialogue#410|Mr. House's dialogue)
  31. ↑ Mr. New Vegas: "We have unconfirmed reports that Caesar has died in his base camp after a failed surgery, performed by an unknown and possibly unqualified surgeon."
    (Mr. New Vegas' dialogue)
  32. ↑ Mr. New Vegas: "We're hearing rumors that Caesar may have been assassinated by an unknown party. It is currently unknown how the assassin was able to evade security."
    (Mr. New Vegas' dialogue)
  33. ↑ Craig Boone: "Thumbs down, you son of a bitch."
    (Craig Boone's dialogue)
  34. ↑ Lily Bowen: "Leo thinks there will be lots more chopping to do now that Caesar is dead. I do hope you'll be careful, pumpkin."
    (Lily Bowen's dialogue)
  35. ↑ Chairman: "That's the guy/gal who killed Caesar!"
    (Chairman's dialogue)
  36. ↑ White Glove: "There's a rumor going around that you killed Caesar! I'm dying to know... is it true? That he used a hairpiece, I mean?"
    (White Glove's dialogue)
  37. ↑ White Glove: "Caesar may be dead, but I think the toga is here to stay. You simply can't buy better thigh accentuation."
    (White Glove's dialogue)
  38. ↑ NCR Trooper: "Wish I could've been there to see Caesar die. What an asshole."
    (NCR Trooper's dialogue)
  39. ↑ Francine Garret: "Here's one on the house for taking down Caesar. Serves him right for treating women like livestock."
    (Francine Garret's dialogue)
  40. ↑ Sergeant McCredie: "Nice work dealing with Caesar. That'll make holding the Mojave a lot easier."
    (Sergeant McCredie's dialogue)
  41. ↑ Mags: "I hear Caesar's dead, and we've got you to thank for it. Nice work."
    (Mags' dialogue)
  42. ↑ Courier: "Caesar is dead. I saw to it personally. I thought you should know."
    Joshua Graham: "I have to admit, it's hard to believe. That even after all he did to me, all he tried to do to find and erase me from this world, he went first. No doubt this will be good for the Mojave. I can only hope Arizona and the tribes don't suffer as the Legion falls apart around them."
    (Joshua Graham's dialogue)
  43. ↑ Courier: "Caesar is dead, I killed him."
    Ulysses: "Name's died twice to history. If the West thanks you... the East won't, in time. Fall apart, back to the tribes, maybe. Too soon to tell what will happen, let history weigh what you've done, if it gets that far. Unless you do the same for the Legate that comes, you'll get no thanks from me. When that Monster arrives, he's not going to have a leash. Caesar could command him. Not now. The Bear's going to burn, and burn slow."
    (Ulysses/Dialogue)
Publications
  1. ↑ Behind the Bright Lights & Big City; True to Caesar: "2226 - The boy who would become Caesar is born."
  2. ↑ 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/Faction profiles)
  3. ↑ 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)
Developer Statements
  1. ↑ Fallout: New Vegas developer statements; Joshua Sawyer: Caesar and Hegelian dialectics, 2010 October 30
  2. ↑ Fallout: New Vegas developer statements; Joshua Sawyer Formspring posts, 30 December 2011
  3. ↑ Fallout: New Vegas developer statements; Joshua Sawyer: Caesar being inspired by Charles Taylor of Liberia, 2012 June 14
  4. ↑ Fallout: New Vegas developer statements; Joshua Sawyer: Caesar's atrocities and their inspirations, 2013 November 16
  5. ↑ Fallout: New Vegas developer statements; Joshua Sawyer: The Legion and misogyny, 2016 December 26
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