I used Imperial Rome as a model for my legion precisely because it was so foreign, so alien. I had seen what the NCR’s attempts to emulate the culture of Pre-War America – The infighting, 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 Pax Romana.

Pax Romana means a nationalist, imperialist, totalitarian, homogeneous society 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.

I’ll destroy the NCR because it’s inevitable to be destroyed. It’s Hegelian Dialectics, not personal animosity. How do I put this basically enough? It’s a philosophical theory, the kind you might encounter if you took time to read some books.

The fundamental premise is to envision history as a sequence of “dialectical” conflicts. Every dialectical 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.

The bombs wiped the slate clean. Human civilization descended into a level of ignorance that effectively set our cultural progress back to zero. The NCR has all the problems of the Ancient Roman Republic – extreme bureaucracy, corruption, extensive senatorial infighting. Just as with the ancient Roman 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 shall be eradicated, but the new synthesis will change my Legion as well. From a basically nomadic army to a standing military force that protects its citizens, and the power of its dictator.

Speaking of the NCR, do want to hear my opinion of them as a former citizen, or future conquerer? Actually, my opinion is the same either way. As a young man I was taught to venerate President Tandi of Shady Sands. “The Founding Mother of the New California Republic.” Did you know her presidency lasted 52 years? And that her father, Aradesh, was the Republic’s first president? Does that sound like a democracy to you, or a hereditary dictatorship?

Even if she was voted into office each time, it was only because the council didn’t dare oppose her. She was too popular. She had the people’s love. So things ran smoothly, more or less. And as soon as she was gone, as soon as there really could be a “democracy.” What happened then? Ever since losing their queen, the NCR has been weaker, more diffuse. Democracy has been its weakness, not its strength.

Greed runs rampant. The government is corrupt, accepting bribes from Brahmin barons and landowners, to the detriment of its 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

But of course, they are powerful. The most powerful my legion has faced. Also the first to which I’m ideologically opposed. Until now, every tribe I’ve conquered has been so backwards and stunted, enslavement has been a blessing bestowed upon them. 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 Gual before he crossed the Rubicon, so have I campaigned, and will cross the Colorado.

But on the other hand, the Brotherhood of Steel. They are the worst impulses of mankind, concentrated in one insane, backward tribe. The Brotherhood seems to have formed not long after the great Atomic-War. It’s hard to know – they care little for history. Some of the Brotherhood scribes we captured further East didn’t even know the name of their founder, Roger Maxson.

They like to pretty up their mission with trappings of chivalry, but the truth is they’re hoarders. They hoard technology. It’s been 200 years, and they have the mentality of scavengers. They say they’re preserving these technologies, but for what?

They have no vision. They offer no future. They’re a dead end.

Sure, their hatred for the NCR would seem to qualify them for use of proxies. But then what do you do with them? Each Paladin is quite powerful. I’d have to say present benefits outweigh future costs.