I used imperial rome as the model for my legion precisely because it was so foreign so alien. I had seen what had become of the NCRs attempt to emulate the culture of pre war america - the in-fighting, the corruption. Rome was a highly militarised autocracy that effectively integrated the foreign cultures it conquered.It dedicated it’s 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 would prevent mankind from fracturing and destroying itself in this new world, by establishing a new Pax Romana. Pax Romana means a nationalist, imperialist, totalitarian, homogeneous culture that obliterates the identity of every group it conquerors. 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. I’ll destroy the NCR because it’s inevitable that it be destroyed. It’s Hegelian Dialectics, not personal animosity. How do i explain Hegelian Dialectics basically enough? It’s a philosophical theory, the kind you might encounter if you took the time to read some books. The fundamental premise is to envision history as a sequence of “dialectical” conflicts. Each dialectic begins with a proposition, a thesis… 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. What's dialectic between the NCR and us? 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 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.

I own a musket for home defense, since that's what the founding fathers intended. Four ruffians break into my house. "What the devil?" As I grab my powdered wig and Kentucky rifle. Blow a golf ball sized hole through the first man, he's dead on the spot. Draw my pistol on the second man, miss him entirely because it's smoothbore and nails the neighbors dog. I have to resort to the cannon mounted at the top of the stairs loaded with grape shot, "Tally ho lads" the grape shot shreds two men in the blast, the sound and extra shrapnel set off car alarms. Fix bayonet and charge the last terrified rapscallion. He Bleeds out waiting on the police to arrive since triangular bayonet wounds are impossible to stitch up. Just as the founding fathers intended.