The NCR being a radically egalitarian yet xenophobic society that hates ghouls and supermutants on a starship troopers level would have made the legion more morally ambiguous and less comically evil than they are now. The legion would still be misogynistic slavers but if they were genuinely the only faction that treated nonhumans as people it would have made picking what faction to side with harder. Mr House would have been the shitty compromise between the two, he may have female sex slave robots and alienate poor people from the strip both human, ghoul, and supermutant alike, but he is more than willing to take everybody’s money. Meanwhile the yesman ending would have been a burn everything down without thinking about the consequences ending like it still is and turning New Vegas into a post apocalyptic Syria. Is the legion still bad even if they are the only faction that is cool with ghouls and supermutants. Yes, they own slaves, but it would also make the NCR bad if they are trying to commit a genocide against ghouls and supermutants. And the NCR needed to look bad in New Vegas, if there was more development time they absolutely would have added more content painting the NCR as not the good guys.
Also if the legion was an ever expanding military force that defeated and assimilated 87 tribes, did the ghouls and supermutants not have tribes? The word tribe is loaded with all kinds of real world colonialist terms but there was ghoul and supermutant tribes and settlements all throughout the fallout games. And the legion being based off rome did assimilate some of the people it did conquer, I’m not saying the romans didn’t treat conquered people like shit, but they had assimilated some of those people into their military force and government. I just see not having ghoul and supermutant legion troops as a missed opportunity, imagine if Lanius was a supermutant, Ceaser’s right hand man, imagine if Caesar called himself the successor of Master, if non-humans were intergrated into the legion in new vegas in the highest and lowest positions of their society it would have made destroying the legion a much tougher moral decision, because not siding with the legion would have been the worst possible outcome for anyone who wasn’t human.
Also there’s some stuff about supermutants being genderless so that would have been very interesting to see how the legion rationalize treating them as people but women not. I don’t think the legion is morally good, I wouldn’t want to change it too much because if they were too sympathetic it would be much like fallout 4 where the moral dilemma was, is slavery bad? But the legion are good villains, and if they had this one good character trait with them, I think it would have added a lot more nuance to the game. Because the choice wouldn’t be slavery or genocide, it would be these factions are evil, picking the third or fourth option somehow makes things worse. Also the only good things you hear about the legion are from Danny Trejo’s character so I just wish they went down the Legion being pro-ghoul route.
a theme with the legion is what seems like a respect for/cultivation of strength is a totalizing oppression. The Khans, if sided with a victorious legion are made slaves despite the contribution and lies the legion rep told them.
so i don't think the Legion could be 'Pro-' mutant, they might tolerate some as slaves but the notion of plurality is against the principles of the organization
Yes the majority of mutants in the legion would be slaves/low level foot soldiers, but if supermutants and ghouls made up a noticeable portion of Caesar’s inner circle and the legion had a few moments of going out of its way “help” mutants, even if for a cynical purpose, I think it would give the ncr moral ambiguity they needed to not be the good guys. The legion does respect strength, they are willing to work with a female courier, the legion is still misogynist, I would like a legion retcon that makes them view humans and mutants as equal, both equal as slaves, it’s not like the legion would be a good thing, if their one redeeming quality was “ghouls aren’t discriminated against” instead of “they made the trade routes safer”, that would be a better reason to side with them. I would want an ncr playthrough have the player go out of their way to protect mutants, while a legion playthrough would basically stipulate that mutants are under the legion’s protection. As for why a misogynist military organization would tolerate mutants, might makes right. If Caesar said “mutants are cool” who would question him? If he modeled his empire off rome then I could see him assimilating mutants into his empire and making it very clear he will crucify anyone who has a problem with that.
if the player comes away with the impression the NCR are good guys i think they just failed to do the reading and this is needless complication to a straightforward metaphor. the NCR & Legion are two sides of the same coin. Bear and Bull is the stock market, Caesar represents the fascist lie of revolutionary rejuvenation of a capitalist order, NCR is mask-on capitalism that's exploitative, imperialist, and corrupt if you peer beneath the professed ideals. the Legion has it's moments of "helping" oppressed groups, the Khans, Fiends, and Powder Gangers represent constituencies that are justifiably angry at & hunted by NCR authorities and the pay off is that they're all worse off for throwing in with Caesar.