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Caesar

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Caesar
(Edward Sallow)
Biography
race, Caucasian
affiliation (formerly)
(formerly)
roleLeader and founder of
rankCaesar
location
Gameplay
appearances
quests




Statistics
karmaNeutral
6 , 5 , 6 , 4 , 4 , 5 , 5
: 80
: 210
: 5%
: 5
: 220
: 3
: 25%
: 10%
: 12
: 5.5
tag skills: 100
: 100
: 100
level30
Technical
actor
designer (concept)
(dialogue)
00121fef
00121ff0
 

Thesis and antithesis. The Colorado River is my . The NCR council will be 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, and the power of its dictator.

— Caesar

Caesar, born Edward Sallow, is the charismatic leader and founder of . He is the self-proclaimed "Son of Mars", a former member of the and citizen of the . He serves as the central antagonist for three endings in .

Contents

[] Background

[] Origins

Edward Sallow was born in . His family once lived near the until his father was killed by raiders when he was two years old, forcing him and his mother to flee. He eventually found sanctuary with the in . He received a free education from the Followers and eventually became a scribe, specializing in anthropology and linguistics. Though he was intelligent and charismatic, he was never very popular amongst his peers, due to his narcissism and petulance. He did not feel like he belonged among the Followers and, in hindsight, considered their goals to be utterly naive.

In , at the age of 20, Sallow and , a fellow Follower, and seven others were sent to the east to study tribal dialects. He was instructed to meet with , a missionary from , who was a tribal specialist. They embarked on a journey to the region known formerly as as part of a nine-person expedition. Disgusted by the primitive conditions in which the tribals lived, he looked down upon them as inferior and immoral. During this expedition, they also discovered a cache of books about ancient . While he had known some basic facts about ancient history, these books shed new light on some of the details. Reading first and then 's own , personal accounts of his military conquests, changed his life and was the starting point of his grand plan.

[] Rise to Power

At some point in , Sallow, Graham, Calhoun and the others became hostages of the - while Sallow believed the tribe did this for ransom, Graham would later attribute the change in the tribe's relationship with the party to a mistranslation. At the time, the tribe was at war with seven other tribes; they were heavily outnumbered and Sallow recognized their defeat and subsequent demise was only a matter of time. Unwilling to be destroyed along with them, Sallow chose (against the wishes of his companions) to use his knowledge to train the Blackfoot tribe in the art of warfare after witnessing their lack of knowledge first hand. He showed them how to clean and maintain guns, operate with small unit tactics, manufacture explosives and to strike at their weakest enemies first; divide et impera (divide and conquer). He quickly impressed them enough to the point where he was made their leader, taking upon himself the name Caesar. This would be classified as grandiose delusions, which also attributed to his belief that he is the same as the original Caesar.

Caesar introduced the tribe to the concept of total war against the tribes around them. Sallow knew that, even though the tribes had always fought each other via occasional skirmishes, he considered them to only be "playing at war," having never seen warfare at its most destructive and barbaric state. They defeated the weakest of their enemies first and enslaved many of the able-bodied survivors; but Sallow had the rest, including women and children, killed to the last, leaving their remains piled high. When Sallow surrounded the next of the Blackfoot tribe's foes, they refused to surrender. Sallow brought an emissary of the tribe back to witness the fate of the first tribe. The tribe surrendered, rather than suffer the same fate. The concept of total war was an entirely new and terrifying type of conflict that the tribes had never encountered before. Such brutality would form the core of the Legion's tactics and philosophy.

Surprisingly, Joshua Graham decided to join Sallow as his right-hand man, in time becoming known as the . While Calhoun was sent back to the Followers to inform them of what he was doing, the other six members of the expedition were murdered on the self-proclaimed Emperor's orders. The newly-christened Caesar formed his Legion out of the tribes that had either been conquered or had chosen to capitulate to avoid total destruction. He used the Commentarii as a blueprint―after all, which illiterate tribal would know that he was not the original Caesar, and his "Rome" was merely a copy of a civilization long gone? Caesar chose the concept of the as a model for the Legion because of its parallels to what he considered the "status-quo" of the post-apocalyptic world; he believed the concept of individualism to have no place facing the challenges of the wasteland. Ideologically, the Roman Empire also appealed to him for its ability to assimilate those it conquered; the destruction of "tribal" identities was a key part of the Legion's long-term strategy for unification. He intended to erase their individual identities and replace them all with a single, monolithic culture, The Legion, where individuals have no value outside of what they offer the greater whole.

By , Caesar had declared himself the son of , Roman god of war, and five years later he established his first capital in the ruins of . By , he had conquered most of the tribes of northern Arizona, southwestern , western and eastern , and became known as the "Conqueror of the 86 Tribes", whose Legion had never met any serious defeat until their confrontation with the at the .

[] War with the NCR

The Republic has the dubious distinction of being recognized by Caesar as a worthy adversary. He views his campaign against as similar to that of his namesake Julius Caesar who eventually seized power for himself after crossing the river and capturing Rome; going on to take control of the Republic after years of campaigning against the tribes of more than two thousand years earlier. Likewise, the new Caesar has campaigned against the myriad tribes of the East and will now cross the and begin his unstoppable conquest of the West and the NCR.

After succeeding in destroying one of their major fortifications, , Legion forces under the command of the marched against the NCR garrison at Hoover Dam, in an attempt to take the strategic asset and river crossing. In what became known as the , the Malpais Legate initially had the upper hand, able to push the NCR defenders back and lead his forces over the dam. Lead elements of the NCR, including members of the Battalion and , executed a tactical retreat west across the dam and into , all the while using their prowess in marksmanship to kill the Legion officers ( and ).

The Legate, unable to adapt to new strategies in combat, chose to order his Legionaries to push the rangers, not knowing the NCR had booby-trapped Boulder City, laying explosives along their line of retreat, drawing the Legion into a trap. When the Legion forces entered the city, the NCR detonated the explosives and inflicted severe casualties among the Legion forces, crippling their offensive. The NCR forces then counter-attacked, pushing back and eventually routing the Legion forces who fled back east over the Dam. Caesar, angered at the failure of his Legate, made an example of him to show that failure will not be tolerated even at the highest rank. The covered the Malpais Legate in pitch, set him on fire, and cast him into the .

[] Recent years

Over the next four years, Caesar rebuilt his army, creating the finest possible blade with which to cleave through the Republic. The Legion's return to and rise beyond its former glory 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. Caesar denied these problems, lashing out at any queries. Although they remained silent, the decline was visible to his officers, leading some to question their leader.

Now in 2281, Caesar makes his camp at , poised to take the Dam and subsequently as his new capital. Caesar is playing his cards more cautiously this time, and will not give the order for to attack the Dam until he can unearth the contents of the sealed beneath his base in the Mojave. Caesar also needs to neutralize House, attempt to forge an alliance with the and the , destroy the , deal with and attempt to assassinate .

[] Philosophy

A case can be made that Caesar should have an evil (or very evil) alignment, but he also exists in a bubble that insulates him from what he's doing. Caesar does what he does because he feels that it is contributing to a better society

on Caesar's alignment

Aside from military defeat, Caesar's greatest fear is being exposed as a fraud. Most members of the Legion, excluding some of the most trusted ones, are oblivious to the fact that the Legion's culture is based on books about ancient Rome - they believe that all of the customs enforced by Caesar were dictated to him by Mars himself. Those who claim otherwise are viewed as ultimate blasphemes. While some of the newly captured slaves are skeptical, they don't tend to be vocal about it, and their children are taken away from their parents to be raised by Caesar's priestesses. Secretly, Caesar still doesn't feel like a real Emperor of Rome - with his loose nation of savages, he still thinks of himself as merely a barbaric king of the Gauls. By seizing , Caesar felt that he would finally be able to elevate his Legion into a legitimate nation by giving it its own "Rome" - transforming them from a nomadic army into a true empire; a militaristic, patriarchal, imperialist, autocratic, culturally homogeneous empire whose ruler holds undisputed power - a "Pax Romana" which would prevent humanity from ever fracturing itself again. And in the NCR he found his .

He regards the NCR as only an extension of the corruption that existed during the Old World and that it is ultimately doomed to repeat the same mistakes. He sees in it similar attributes associated with the before Julius Caesar seized power; extensive bureaucracy, corruption, senatorial infighting and filled with a people driven solely by greed and personal gain. It exists as the antithesis to the Legion and as a catalyst for change that only a confrontation with it can bring; a clash he sees as an inevitable product of . The conflict is a vital one, not only for the future of his Legion strategically, but also philosophically; the NCR is the first of his enemies to which he is truly ideologically opposed and the first that can truly test the Strength of his Legion, as well as his philosophy.

In his view, the NCR does not have a long-term solution to the problems of the Wasteland - the bombs had reset humanity's progress and he believed the time had come to rebuild it into something new. He argues that NCR is weakened by its democracy, and that it was at its strongest when under the dominating rule of its second president - - whose popularity was such she remained leader of the NCR for most of her lifetime as the senate would never dare oppose her. He was taught to venerate her as a child and observes that she was ultimately more of a Queen than an elected official and that it is similar centralized power that a new civilization needs.

[] Interactions with the player character

[] Interactions overview

General Services Quests
: No
: No
Plays : No
Merchant: No
Repairman: No
Doctor: No
Rents bed/room: No
Starts quests: Yes
Involved in quests: Yes

[] Quests

[] Other interactions

  • Caesar's ailment can be inquired about if your is high enough, but sometimes the pain will bother him enough that he will cut the conversation and lie down. You can talk to him, mentioning that you believe something is wrong, after which he will lie back down and warn you not to speak to him again until the following day.

[] Effects of the player's actions

  • If the player has completed or (on the NCR side), Caesar will mention how you have been so much trouble for the Legion. This also happens by completing , killing Dead Sea (can be done with or without completing ), breaking the alliance with the Khans in , brokering peace between the Kings and the NCR as part of , completing in Cachino's favor, or killing .
  • If none of the above actions have been taken, Ceasar will offer compliments if the player has done quests or done certain tasks detrimental to the NCR, or completed quests for the Legion before meeting Caesar such as completing , unlocking for yourself in , killing or releasing in , and completing .
  • After Caesar has gone to lie down and told the player to leave him alone, If the player ignores him and speaks to him again, he will call on his and they will attack you.
  • Caesar will turn hostile and send his Praetorian guards to attack if the player refuses to work for him twice.

[] Killing Caesar

If the player manages to kill Caesar the effects on the game are fairly minor, (although the Legion ending is massively changed), due to the fact that Caesar, as the leader of the Legion, no longer directly participates in combat.

  • exclaims "So, the great Caesar is dead ..." and goes on saying that she doubts that it will have much effect on the imminent attack.
  • If you talk to Mr. House about killing Caesar before he dies, Mr. House will reply that "[He] does not want you to touch one hair on that man's head, assuming you can find one." He says that Caesar provides a good distraction for the NCR.
  • If you kill Caesar while working with Mr. House on the various "The House Always Wins" quests, you can return to Mr. House and tell him that Caesar is dead. Mr. House simply notes that this has a "minimal" impact on the , and offers no reward or punishment for the action.
  • If you kill Caesar, will say "it is still unknown how the assassin managed to evade security", even if you killed Caesar in a frontal assault on The Fort (i.e., didn't evade security).
  • If Caesar is killed with as a companion, Boone will smugly say "Thumbs down, you son of a bitch!", a reference to the that is commonly thought to have called for the execution of a failed gladiator in ancient Rome, interestingly though, thumb inside the fist actually meant "mercy" or "weapons down". He will subsequently have further dialogue options when selecting the "Talk" option. He will also talk about the death of Caesar having little effect on the attack on Hoover Dam, but admits, on prompting from the Courier, that he still enjoyed it immensely. You will also gain two points to use toward 's quest .
  • There is a speech dialogue, if speaking with the Legate at the end of the game, stating "So, Caesar giving orders from beyond the grave?" - an indication that Mr. House is right, and Caesar's death was no more than a minimal setback. However, House will also note that Lanius is a poor leader compared to Caesar, and predicts that within a year of his death the Legion will be torn apart by infighting.
  • greets you with "All hail the slayer of Caesar!"
  • remarks that the Legion follow Caesar, not Caesar's ideals, and that when Caesar dies the Legion will fall apart—though perhaps not immediately.
  • Most NCR troopers will say: "Wish I could have been there to see Caesar die. What an asshole."
  • at will state "That's the guy/gal who killed Caesar!"
  • states "here's one on the house for taking down Caesar, serves him right for treating women like livestock," and gives you a free bottle of liquor.
  • will also give you a free bottle of liquor, like his sister.
  • Some travelers on the Strip will comment, "Now that you've killed that Caesar bastard, the Strip's really going to bloom."
  • in the will coment, "I hear you killed Caesar, is it true, that he wore a toupee?
  • If Caesar is killed, at will compliment the on a great job, and will say "I hear Caesar's dead, and we have you to thank for it...nice work."
  • In you are able to tell that you saw Caesar die. He will not react much to the news but he will admit that he thought he would die before Caesar. He also remarks that Caesar's death is good news for the Mojave, and states that without Caesar's leadership the Legion will eventually fall apart. However, you cannot do the reverse, as killing the Legion's former No. 2 man (or even leaving him alive) brings no dialogue options with Caesar.(He will still mention Caesar in the final battle against the White Legs)
  • If the player speaks to , she will remark that Leo thinks there will be more people to chop up and that the player should be careful.
  • At the end of if you speak to after the epilogue you can tell him that you have killed Caesar, he isn't angry despite his former allegiance to the Legion, he states that the east may fall apart in time but that it's to soon to tell what will happen, but he states that unless you do the same to he won't thank you.

[] Inventory

Apparel Weapon Other item On death
(If survives the confrontation at the )

[] Notes

  • Members of the Legion pronounce Caesar's name /ˈkaizar/, the classical Latin way, emphasizing the . Legionaries who knew him before the Legion, as well as most other wastelanders, pronounce it as the Anglicized /ˈsiːzər/.
  • Caesar is one of the characters that the player must eat in order to earn the perk.
  • It is possible to complete Legion quests even if you are Vilified by them upon entering . But this is a one time offer where you are granted the .
  • Surprisingly, Caesar has a level of respect for , calling him "a man of potential". He believes that Kimball would have been more powerful and had more control over the if he had have seized power, instead of being elected.
  • Caesar claims to be a son of Mars. The historical Julius Caesar claimed to be descended from Venus.
  • If you pickpocket Caesar while he sees you, he will automatically go hostile (his inventory doesn't open).
The following is based on and has not been confirmed by sources.
  • In , there remains an unused model for Caesar named NVDLC02CaesarYounger. The only difference between the model used in Fallout: New Vegas and this model is that the unused model has a comb-over.
End of information based on .

[] Notable quotes

  • "Yet we are at the throat of the Great Bear. Victory is at hand."
  • "I was taught it was my responsibility to bring the torch of knowledge to the wastes. I may have taken the torch part more literally than they intended."
  • "As an anthropologist and linguist, my assignment was to learn the dialects of the Grand Canyon tribes. What a fucking waste of time!"
  • "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."
  • "I showed them total warfare. Like I said, there's a lot you can learn from old books."
  • "So that's what I did, once my confederation of tribes was large enough. I crowned myself Caesar and created a single Great Tribe - my legion."
  • "We have cities of our own, but nothing compared to Vegas. Finally, my legion will have its Rome."
  • "Thesis and antithesis. The Colorado River is my . The NCR council will be 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, and the power of its dictator."
  • "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."

[] Appearances

Caesar appears only in and is mentioned in the and , and was going to appear in 's canceled Fallout 3 .

[] Behind the scenes

  • wrote Caesar and asked for Caesar to present his rationale in the framework of his interpretation of Hegelian dialectics.
  • , the leader of the Slavers Guild from the , was initially named Caesar.
  • Although Caesar claims to be the son of Mars, Julius Caesar claimed to be a descendant from the goddess Venus.
  • Caesar, unsurprisingly, possesses a number of parallels to his historical counterpart. For example, the historical Caesar actually suffered from a similar to the one depicted in-game. He had headaches, blackouts, and sometimes even seizures. In terms of appearance, Caesar is balding and has an , a sign of nobility in ancient Rome. One thing of note is that Caesar is 55 years old in 2281, and the historical Julius Caesar died at the age of 56 on March 15, 44 B.C.

[] Developer quotes

Can you explain the similarities between Mr. Kurtz, and Caesar?

Both are men of intelligence and education who 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. Both rose to power and were essentially deified for their intelligence, knowledge and leadership capabilities. Both cut off communication with the outside world and lived in their (until now) remote, savage kingdoms, using the most brutal means possible to deal with rare instances of dissent. Both have an "unusual" way of looking at the world due to their cultural isolation.

Unlike Mr. Kurtz, Caesar's reign continues for a long, long time.

On a related note, at least one source of real-world inspiration for Caesar was Charles Taylor of Liberia. Charles Taylor is a real dude. For real. Go read some of the trial transcripts where his war crimes are detailed. The shit that went down in Liberia (and Sierra Leone) on his command makes F:NV's Caesar's Legion look moderately cruel.

[] Gallery

[] References

  1. Dialogue with in
  2. , collector's edition
  3. 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."
  4. 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."
Antagonists