#fallout lore

[nukadaddy]

Hancock ❤️‍🔥

[cowboybabeop]

Vault-Tec Vaults; Game Origin & Location

Hi I'm going to back to my "Fallout Blog" roots. Here is a summary of all of the vaults and experiments (starting with a timeline) because I'm insane ^_^ I had to add a weird break bc I literally hit the tumblr character limit, but I used it to section off the major spoilers for the TV series :)

Timeline

The Great War: October 23rd, 2077

Fallout Bible: Compendium of added lore by the creators.

Fallout 76: 2102

Fallout 1: 2161 

Fallout Tactics: 2197

Fallout: Brotherhood of Steel: 2208

Fallout 2: 2241

Fallout 3: 2277

Fallout: New Vegas: 2281

Fallout 4: 2287

Fallout TV Series: 2296

Corporate Vault - Fallout: Brotherhood of Steel - Texas 

A control group vault meant for Vault-Tec employees to continue research, primarily on FEV (Forced Evolutionary Virus) during the war.

Vault 0 - Fallout Tactics - Colorado 

A control group vault with geniuses kept in cryogenic stasis, with their minds interlinked into an entity called The Calculator.

Vault 3 - Fallout: New Vegas - Nevada 

A control vault. Residents ended up opening the vault doors when the lower levels flooded. Eventually the vault was overrun by Fiends.

Vault 4 - Fallout TV series - California 

A test vault that was filled with residents prior to the bombs dropping. Experimentation on human subjects led to most of the original residents being killed in a revolt. In 2296 the vault is still thriving, while kidnapping surface survivors and continuing to experiment on them. The vault offered refuge for many inhabitants of Shady Sands.

Vault 8 (Vault City) - Fallout 2 - Nevada 

A control group vault that remained closed until 2241. Instead of receiving two G.E.C.K. (Garden of Eden Creation Kit) devices, Vault 8 received just one and a replacement water chip that was supposed to go to Vault 13.

Vault 11 - Fallout: New Vegas - Nevada 

Every year the residents were told to sacrifice a fellow resident, with the threat of everyone's death if they did not. In reality, the system would praise them for NOT sacrificing an individual and the vault door would be unlocked. This message finally played after only five residents remained.

Vault 12 - Fallout 1 - California 

A seemingly normal, safe vault with an ulterior motive to study the effects of radiation on the inhabitants. The door never fully sealed, and in 2083 the ghoul residents left to found Necropolis.

Vault 13 - Fallout 1 & Fallout 2- California 

Your home vault as the Vault Dweller. A rather normal vault, however due to a shipping mishap Vault 13 received an additional G.E.C.K. device (that was supposed to go to Vault 8) instead of a replacement water chip. Thus, leaving the Vault Dweller to leave the vault in search for a replacement when their only water chip breaks.

Vault 15 - Fallout 1 & Fallout 2 - California 

A vault that experimented with incredibly diverse ideologies and backgrounds. The vault became severely overpopulated in 2097 and the dwellers decided to open the door. Shady Sands was created using Vault 15's G.E.C.K. and the local raider gangs all have origins from this vault.

Vault 17 - Fallout: New Vegas - Mention Only 

Inhabitants were kidnapped and transformed into Super Mutants. Lily originates from this vault.

Vault 19 - Fallout: New Vegas - Somewhere in CA/NV/AZ/UT 

Paranoia was induced by noises, lights, and segregation. The vault was divided into two sections, Red and Blue, with a separate overseer for each sector.

Vault 21 - Fallout: New Vegas - Nevada 

An almost normal vault, with the exception of a culture and society built around gambling. All major decisions were made through gambling, with the decision to open the doors and become part of New Vegas being "won" in a game of Blackjack.

Vault 22 - Fallout: New Vegas - Somewhere in CA/NV/AZ/UT 

A vault dedicated to studying agriculture. A fungus designed to kill pests on plants became capable of infected human hosts. Vault 22 is curiously green on the outside by the time The Courier arrives at the location.

Vault 24 - Fallout: New Vegas - Mention Only 

Remnants of a Vault 24 jumpsuit are found in the FNV game files.

Vault 27 - Fallout Bible - Mention Only 

A vault designed to be deliberately overcrowded with not enough means to sustain the inhabitants.

Vault 29 - Fallout 76 - Mention Only 

Only children younger than 15 were allowed in this vault, with their parents being sent to other vaults. Harold is believed to originate from this vault.

//TV SHOW SPOILERS//

Vault 31 - Fallout TV Series - California 

Part of 3 interconnected vaults, serving as cryogenic home for the managers and higher ups of Vault-Tec.

Vault 32 - Fallout TV Series - California 

Part of 3 interconnected vaults, serving as a healthy breeding pool for Vault 31 and 33. Somewhere around 2294, Vault 32 failed and the residents resorted to murder, cannibalism, or suicide.

Vault 33 - Fallout TV Series - California 

Lucy MacLean's home vault. Part of 3 interconnected vaults, serving as a healthy breeding pool for Vault 31 and 32.

//END OF TV SHOW SPOILERS//

Vault 36 - Fallout Bible - Mention Only 

The only food in this vault consisted of thin, watery gruel.

Vault 34 - Fallout: New Vegas - Somewhere in CA/NV/AZ/UT 

The vault was purposefully overstocked with guns with the overseer being able to give/deny access to residents. This inevitably led to it's downfall, and those who revolted and raided the armory relocated above as The Boomers in 2231.

Vault 42 - Fallout Bible - Mention Only 

No lightbulbs over 40W were provided.

Vault 43 - Fallout Bible - Mention Only 

A vault containing 20 men, 10 women, and one panther.

Vault 51 - Fallout 76 - West Virginia 

A vault with a supercomputer as the overseer. Interference from the computer led to most of the residents being murdered by other residents.

Vault 53 - Fallout Bible - Mention Only  

Most equipment was designed to break down every few months in order to stress out inhabitants.

Vault 55 - Fallout Bible - Mention Only 

No entertainment tapes were provided.

Vault 56 - Fallout Bible - Mention Only 

The only entertainment tapes provided were of one terrible comedian.

Vault 63 - Fallout 76 - West Virginia 

The inside of the vault remains sealed, with the outside door being all that is accessible to the player character. Other parts of the vault are revealed through cut content.

Vault 65 - Fallout 76 - Mention Only 

Remnants of the vault remain in Fallout 76 cut content.

Vault 68 - Fallout Bible - Mention Only 

The vault contained 999 men and 1 woman.

Vault 69 - Fallout Bible - Mention Only 

The vault contained 999 women and 1 man.

Vault 75 - Fallout 4 - Massachusetts 

A secret experimenting in refining human genetics through selective breeding, genetic modification, and hormonal treatments. The vault's concept was made by Stanislaus Braun.

Vault 76 - Fallout 76 - West Virginia 

The home vault of the player character in 76. It was a control vault, set to open after 25 years. This is when the player character leaves the vault.

Vault 77 - Fallout 3 - Mention Only 

Mentioned by slavers in Paradise Falls, this vault was rumored to only contain one man and a box of puppets.

Vault 79 - Fallout 76 - West Virginia 

A vault dedicated to hoarding the country's gold reserves.

Vault 81 - Fallout 4 - Massachusetts 

Designed to develop a cure for every possible sickness or ailment. Residents were unknowingly sprayed with diseases by nozzles hidden in their rooms. The first vault overseer had thought this to be cruel, cut off the scientists from the rest of the vault and cut the nozzles from spraying residents before the experiments could begin.

Vault 87 - Fallout 3 - Somewhere in VA/PA/MD 

The original vault experiment for 87 was scrapped, and it became a research center for FEV, leaving the vault wildly radioactive and inhabited only by super mutants by the time you access it as the Lone Wanderer.

Vault 88 - Fallout 4 - Massachusetts 

An unfinished vault inhabited by ghouls.

Vault 92 - Fallout 3 - Somewhere in VA/PA/MD 

The best musicians were sent to this vault to "preserve musical talent", but truthfully residents were subjected to subliminal messages mixed into white noise. Eventually some of the musicians went into random, murderous, psychotic rages that led to the end of the experiment.

 Vault 94 - Fallout 76 - West Virginia 

A vault with non-violent faith-centric inhabitants. The vault opened one year later to search for survivors. The vault became overrun by wastelanders and raiders that destroyed their G.E.C.K. and their nuclear reactor. The vault was swarmed with radiation and is now overrun by mirelurks.

Vault 95 - Fallout 4 - Massachusetts 

A vault designed to get people clean and sober. After a successful 5 years, a Vault-Tec agent brought out a hidden stash of drugs for other residents to find.

Vault 96 - Fallout 76 - West Virginia 

A vault with a focus on agriculture, animals, genetics, and mutations. The original residents were killed in a failed escape attempt, and the vault was then used by West-Tek scientist Edgar Blackburn to continue research on FEV.

Vault 100 - Fallout 3 - Mention Only 

Remnants of Vault 100 can be found in game files and cut content.

Vault 101 - Fallout 3 - Somewhere in VA/PA/MD 

The home vault for the Lone Wanderer. This vault was meant to never open and Vault 101 did not receive a G.E.C.K. However, the overseer of the vault pretty quickly broke this rule and occasional survey teams were sent to the surface. Several residents of Megaton are the result of these survey teams. Daddy James found the vault after the birth of the Lone Wanderer and negotiated his doctoral services in exchange for shelter.

Vault 106 - Fallout 3 - Somewhere in VA/PA/MD 

Psychoactive drugs slowly released into the air of Vault 106, causing the vault to be filled with psychotic survivors by the time the Lone Wanderer visits.

Vault 108 - Fallout 3 - Somewhere in VA/PA/MD 

A slew of experiments occurred in this vault. The elected overseer was dying of cancer, the primary power supply of the vault was scheduled to fail after 20 years, the backup power supply would not be enough to power ALL of the vault, the vault was given three times the normal amount of weapons, and the vault was not given entertainment. With a majority of scientists, one of the inner experiments involved repeatedly cloning the same man... Gary.

Vault 111 - Fallout 4 - Massachusetts 

Your home vault as the Sole Survivor. All residents were meant to unknowingly stay in cryostasis, with scientists overlooking them. However, conflicts arose among those unfrozen, leading to the vault door eventually being opened.

Vault 112 - Fallout 3 - Somewhere in VA/PA/MD 

Residents lived in a virtual reality simulation to create their "perfect life" with their overseer, Stanislaus Braun, a scientist who proceeded to use the residents as playthings. Braun continuously murdered residents, then wiped their memories and reset the simulation.

Vault 114 - Fallout 4 - Massachusetts

 An unfinished vault meant for only the wealthy. Vault-Tec exaggerated the luxury of the vault, gave residents very small rooms, communal bathing and dining areas, and a homeless drug-addicted overseer named Soup Can Harry.

Vault 118 - Fallout 4 - Maine 

An Unfinished Vault meant to house both a handful of ultra-rich and hundreds of working class individuals to observe how they would interact within the same space.

Vault 120 - Fallout 4 & Fallout 76 - Mention Only 

The vault itself was meant to mimic the underwater atmosphere of Bioshock. The game was cut from Fallout 4, but remnants can be found in Fallout 76 game files.

[stoat-party]

How Much Territory Are the Fallout Player Characters Actually Micromanaging: An Analysis

I did some amateur research to figure out which of the Fallout protagonists (specifically 3, NV, and 4) have a reasonable area of land to constantly traverse. I used Apple Maps to find the straightest possible walking path from a point on either end of the game map, then multiplied the north-south and east-west figures to get an approximate square mileage. Since none of the walking paths were completely straight, these numbers will all be a little higher than actual. BUT the game maps also don’t completely correlate to the real-life locations, so consider these numbers to be estimates.

The Commonwealth: Around 600 square miles. This is honestly pretty manageable, especially if you’re teleporting or helicoptering all over the place. It would be exhausting, but you could theoretically get across the map in a day with time to spare for questing.

The Capital Wasteland: Around 800 square miles. Fairfax is the halfway point; very few locations on the western half of the map actually correspond to anything in real life. The exception is the cavern Little Lamplight is based on, which would make the game map 100 miles long. The map definitely doesn’t extend that far into Virginia.

New Vegas: Kind of hard to calculate at this scale, but we’re looking at a little under 3000 square miles! Through. the Mojave. Desert. The Courier is really going to have to commit to a course of action before traveling, because they won’t be coming back for about a week.

If you’re a fanfic writer, remember that you don’t owe realism to anyone. BUT, if realism is something you care about for your writing, keep these distances in mind!

(Sequel: distance from game maps to DLCs)

[artbyblastweave]

A Fallout lore youtube video with 314 views just informed me of Shalebridge, a location in Fallout 3 with an unmarked quest to defend a colony of small, friendly ants from an invading colony of the typical murderous ants found throughout the rest of the game. You can also use a further science/medicine check to boost the growth of the friendly ant colony to ensure their future success; in exchange, the ants will allow you to harvest a respawning bounty of ant nectar for the remainder of the game. Also noteworthy is that the friendly ant colony is denoted by extensive fungal growth around the entrance, in what I suspect is a nod to ant-fungus mutualism.

Anyway I can't help but interpret this as the eventual creation myth of a sentient FEV-induced mutant-ant civilization that, a hundred or so years down the line, will be telling stories about a benevolent giant who strode forth to smite their enemies in their hour of greatest need, before delivering unto them the mana of the old gods, Prometheus style. In this way and in many others Bethesda Fallout is consistently best at the margins

[breckstonevailskier]

Frederick Sinclair's true colors were shown during the TV series

Among the other named business oligarchs we see in attendance at the Vault-Tec meeting in the final episode of season 1, besides Robert House, is Frederick Sinclair. He's representing Big Mountain.

Those who played the Dead Money DLC for Fallout: New Vegas will recognize Sinclair, as he's the guy who constructed the Sierra Madre Resort & Casino at which the DLC's events take place.

However, some fans have felt that there's a discrepancy between how Sinclair is depicted here vs. the image of him we are given from reading terminal entries and looking at murals around the Sierra Madre.

For instance, Dead Money and Old World Blues have it stated that Sinclair is just a client of Big MT, whereas the TV series has him serving as Big MT's representative at this meeting.

Another point of contention is how Sinclair's physical appearance and personality in the TV show is very different from how it is depicted in Dead Money. In Dead Money, Sinclair is portrayed as a suave man of average weight with brown hair and a mustache (albeit only on pre-War murals), and has a much more youthful and regretful personality. But the TV series makes him older, portly, and very crass.

We have remarks made by Dead Money's project director Chris Avellone where he felt that Sinclair's physical appearance on-screen "didn't really mesh with his appearance in the Sierra Madre."

However, I'd argue that we're not seeing any retcons at all, and nothing about Sinclair's presence at the meeting contradicts what we learn about him from Dead Money. In fact, if anything, his presence in the show informs a lot of the backstory we learned in Dead Money.

Sinclair's foreknowledge:

One thing that is clearly noted from reading terminal entries and a few journal entries, is that Sinclair clearly believed that a nuclear war was imminent:

Now that we know he was at this meeting to collaborate with Vault-Tec, we understand why he felt this way: much like Mr. House, he had foreknowledge. That's why he built the Casino like a fortress. That's why he invested in technology like the Vending Machines, the holograms, and the Auto Docs.

Sinclair and the Cloud:

Sinclair almost went broke in the process of procuring the Vending Machines and the holograms for the Sierra Madre. To compensate, he permitted Big MT to conduct some experiments in the Villa. One of the experiments that Big MT did at the Villa was put an airborne toxin in the Villa's shoddy ventilation system, and then pump it out to see what would happen. This put several construction workers out of commission due to the effects it had on them, and is ultimately the source of the Cloud. To deal with the problem, Sinclair negotiated with Big MT to procure hazmat suits for the workers to go in and try and find where the Cloud had originated from. Unbeknownst to Sinclair, the hazmat suits were intentionally designed poorly, such that the users were exposed to the Cloud and also found themselves getting trapped in the suits (and could only be freed by having someone else cut them out with a Cosmic knife). These two experiments combined are what led to the construction crew becoming the Ghost People who inhabit the Villa.

While terminal entries in Old World Blues suggest that Sinclair didn't know about the Cloud being a Big MT experiment, the TV show makes me think that actually, he DID know. When the executives begin tossing out ideas for vault experiments, listen to the second idea that Sinclair pitches: he proposes a vault where psychotropic drugs are pumped into the air supply (which was ultimately implemented in Vault 106 out in the Capital Wasteland). That's an experiment that's very similar to the Cloud experiment, which involved an airborne toxin being pumped out of a ventilation system. Perhaps Sinclair knew exactly what the Cloud was, and its true origins, and this discovery was still fresh in his mind at the time of the meeting with Vault-Tec.

Sinclair's relationship with Vera Keyes:

Sinclair's depiction as an old and crass businessman does change the nature of his relationship to Vera Keyes. If the Sierra Madre murals of Sinclair are taken at face value...

...he comes off like a middle aged man in love with someone close to him in age, who was very heartbroken by finding out she was an unwitting accomplice to Dean Domino's plans to rob from him.

But with his depiction in the show, his relationship with Vera looks a lot different. Instead of being this middle aged man pining for a woman close to him in age, he's an old man who's obsessed with a young starlet at least 40 years his junior (information on Vera suggests she was in her late 20s when the Gala Event took place, and Sinclair looks to be in his late 60s/early 70s).

Him being an old man also makes a lot of sense when one considers his relationship to Dean Domino. Dean Domino was probably in his early to mid-60s in 2077 (going off Barry Dennen's age at the time that Dead Money was being developed), so close in age to Sinclair. It makes it more believable that Sinclair would've readily trusted Dean regarding Vera and the Villa construction, and thus be blinded to the truth that Vera was Dean's accomplice in the scheme to rob the vault, and also not be aware that Dean was profiting from Mr. Yesterday's scheme to cheat Sinclair by intentionally constructing the Villa with subpar building materials.

There's also these lines from Dean's dialogue regarding Sinclair and Vera that make a lot more sense when you know Sinclair is an old man:

"Ghost in name and image. Still a looker, though. Got to hand it to Sinclair, sure can pick 'em. Well, or get picked. Whichever."

"Vera was a big star, back before the Bomb. Not the best actress, but… well, she had other talents. Nice voice, nice legs. For some reason, Sinclair... he built this place... she caught his eye. Once he was hooked, that was it, had to have her. So made the introductions, and guess what? He builds this place for her, like some kind of Cleopatra obsession. Wasn't always a deathtrap."

And:

Courier: "Why did you need [Vera]?"

Dean: "Because she could get closer to Sinclair than I ever could. Sinclair was already puppy-eyed, so all I had to do was the introductions. She smiled, fluttered her eyes, showed a little leg ...and he built this whole place for her. Made her the key to his vault, like a joke, cause of her name. Her fake Hollywood name. Except Sinclair didn't know I'd been there first. I could twist her whatever direction I wanted."

With that age gap in mind, coupled with his foreknowledge of Vault-Tec's plans, it also makes a lot of sense why Sinclair would build the Casino like a fortress, as he came to value Vera more than anything else in his life. He probably viewed her as the one thing he didn't want to lose when the Great War broke out. It's also understandable why he'd be so devastated to learn about Vera's betrayal and turn the vault into a death trap for her and Dean, though eventually came to regret this (and ultimately died trying to undo the trap).

Additional thoughts:

Regarding the discrepancy in Sinclair's involvement with Big Mountain, I think it's safe to say that he might've actually invested a lot of money into buying a controlling stake in Big MT in order to get them to install the Vending Machines, the holograms, the Auto Docs, and all the other technologies that went into the Sierra Madre. That's my explanation at least for why he'd be the person sent to represent Big MT when Vault-Tec reached out seeking to collaborate with them on the vault experiments.

My opinion as to why the murals depict Sinclair as a young man is because he's rather vain. He was pretty suave way back when, but whereas House has largely retained his good looks up until 2077, Sinclair is now old, balding and fat.

It's worth noting that Cooper Howard has an indirect connection to Sinclair and Dean Domino, as he once starred in a movie with Vera.

...and considering a number of Season 2 set leaks have established that we'll be seeing flashbacks of Las Vegas before the Great War, I think there's a strong chance we'll get to see Cooper interact with Vera and Dean. Dean was very much present in Las Vegas at the time, as evidenced by some of his dialogue and the pre-War posters of him that can be found on loading screens and at a few locations on the Strip in the main game. So maybe Cooper will get to interact with the two of them as they were before Vera died and Dean became a ghoul.

And if they canonize Dean surviving Dead Money (which happens if you didn't bruise his ego while recruiting him), maybe Lucy and Cooper will get to interact with him when they get to New Vegas as his ending slides suggest that that's where he goes after he leaves the Sierra Madre.

I think that Vault-Tec invited Big MT to the table because they also wanted access to the same technologies Sinclair was installing in the Sierra Madre. The Vending Machines and the Auto Docs are pieces of technology that would definitely be useful to have in a Vault, especially when the Vaults are supposed to be self-sustaining.

[fallouthomestaedau]

fallout and the "tribal" problem

I've been working on this for a while and I finally feel content enough with my thoughts to talk about it, now for reference I'm mixed first nations and Ukrainian and believe that i am at least somewhat qualified to to talk on the topic

Firstly I will break down what I'm talking about through different paragraphs, primarily based on which game the tribe originates from, and secondly, I'm not an anthropologist or historian, but simply a fan disgruntled with representation of peoples in media

I also wont be speaking on Fallout 76 as I know precious little about it, and due to its shift in gameplay and narrative elements from the rest of the games

one thing of importance though, what is a tribal, and what constitutes a tribe?

now for reference, this will be in the context of the fallout universe, as within most tribes or tribals are too broad or vague to categorize within proper definition

within the games, tribals are mentioned many times, often denoting someone who isn't from or doesn't practice the (often) majority culture of the speaker, usually these people are part of or practice a culture or tradition specific to themselves and their community, that being said, the word tribal or its plural tribals, is often used as a stand-in for "savage" or "primitive", often used insultingly, that being said this broad definition really relies on assumption and stereotypes, as there are many groups who would otherwise be classed as a tribe, such as the new Vegas brotherhood of steel, yet due to being "advanced they are classed as more than a tribe

with that in mind, the definition of tribe is quite loosely defined, a tribe could be a raider gang, a small eccentric community, a religious order or an actual unique culture. this can lead to some reinforcement of stereotypes and harmful depictions however

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fallout 1

despite its age, Fallout has precious little in the way of harmful representation of tribes, there is some discourse on whether the people of shady sand would count as a tribe, or as "tribals", mostly due to Fallout's broad categorization of what counts as a tribe. otherwise, there's not much in the game, if anything in regards to tribals or tribes, at this point the Khans are still just a raider group, though they do take notions and snippets of historic Mongolian culture and tradition in their daily life.

fallout 2

its in 2 we begin to finally see tribes and tribals, with the protagonist specifically being from one of these tribes, the arroyo tribe, specifically descended from vault dwellers, they seem to have lost a great deal of modern ideals and information, though this does make some sense, they had to focus on survival in a harsh environment, you'll teach your children how to hunt and grow crops before small motor repair in a society without motors, that being said certain tropes can be somewhat outdated, such as the tribe building the whole temple section in regards to seemingly being an entirely sedentary culture who are also tent dwelling, which ties in with how seemingly primitive the tribe is as a whole, while some knowledge being lost makes sense, what would take generations of isolation and ack of any unique discovery to really achieve, along with some of the more mystical elements, the second part however can be somewhat forgiven as psychers and other "mystical" people do exist in canon, the mysticism plays heavily into the "indigenous people have magic" type trope. even Moreso they specifically chose to give up their culture in the end to join the ncr instead

there is also mentions of the unnamed "primitive tribe", a coastal tribe with many beliefs in regards to death and spirits throughout the world, while much of their story is cut you still meet one named tribe member and several random tribals, they are however not great examples of an actual culture, having a very cartoonish depiction and belief system, along with speaking broken English but no proper explanation of a tribe specific first language, there is however some redeeming facts as they are still looked at as people, poorly represented people

least unoffensive example however are the cave dwelling cannibal tribals, the name alone is already a mash of offensive stereotypes and depictions of indigenous people, which other tribes within the game are specifically designed to resemble, they are very unintelligent, lacking proper speech, yet are also quite strong and fast, they are every depiction of which "enemy natives" have been depicted as, making the arroyo come across as the "noble savages" in place

second to last we have the vipers, referred to as raiders, a tribe and a cult, within this iteration they worshiped mutant cave dwelling snakes, sacrificing passers by to them and welcoming in the survivors, they however did develop unique traditions and a culture surrounding the snakes before being chased from new california. its heavily unclear what a proper definition of what they are would be

lastly that brings us to the new khans, while not yet a tribe, they have changed much, keeping little in regards to khan tradition with a single leader, along with his personal guard and dog, leading to less loyalty and cohesion. at this time however the khans were fractured into many raiding bands, its actually the death of Darion that unites them once again

within 2 we also begin seeing other groups such as the shi and the yakuza, who represent real world cultures but more specifically the descendants of those cultures, which i am not knowledgeable enough to talk on

fallout 3

in 3, we don't see nearly any tribals in the base game, the treeminders are often referred to as a tribe yet they are in my opinion closer to a religious order with cultural elements, the specific titles and worship of bob and Harold are two of their defining traits at a glance, and are more reminiscent to religion in place of culture, they devote their lives to a "living god" responsible for regrowing nature in a secluded oasis, in truth the group is a cult (a mostly harmless one) and not really a tribe

another halfway example is the unnamed tribe in which the merchant crow was born to, they are specifically referred to as a tribe and have unique cultural beliefs, such as revering eyebots as wind spirits and that is all we know of them. there is literally nothing else to really say about them

finally we get to the point lookout tribals, a "tribe" of people who are sent out to find a seed pod that produces a hallucinogenic gas, to which the initiate is taken back to the tribe to be lobotomized, and in said state may be left unable to care for themselves properly, or worse, dead and those who aren't left vegetative are under the control and influence of a brain in a jar feuding with a ghoul while attempting global domination via telekinesis, as they believe he has ascended his material form and is guiding them to do so as well

not even counting the swampfolk who are somewhere between local cultists to a mutated subspecies of human, there is precious little in the way of positive tribal peoples, with an actual culture, instead getting vague and sometimes offensive examples

fallout 4

plain and simple there aren't any tribes or tribals, a fact which would ordinarily leave this section mostly blank, but i have a nitpick on that fact. my ancestors were originally from the region, the Abenaki, who were allied to other local tribes, and putting modern day tribal identity issues aside, the region had many native peoples, and there could have been an attempt at a positive depiction of a tribe, yet there's nothing, nothing throughout the base game, and all the DLC's, not even an attempt. and that frustrates me somewhat, as they could've shown indigenous people surviving and keeping their culture despite everything but instead did away with anything tribal related

fallout new Vegas

the tribes in new Vegas have such a wide array of representation, from good allegory to horrible caricatures, for instance, the tribe with the longest history in the series, the great khans, who were once the new khans, who originated from the khans. they have finally developed into a unique culture with a focus on personal freedom and and individual strength and yet also a people who believe in unity and cooperation, and they have even been given compelling motives, they are a raiding culture, people who take what they cannot find or make, similar to many real world cultures, they have a history of ethnobotany, something that was enough for the followers of the apocalypse to take notice, they had tradition and honours, and their plight is somewhat reflective of the real world, their non combatants and innocents, gunned down, and the survivors left to pick up the pieces, trying to handle their trauma from the experience, and turning to the substances they sell in order to numb the pain. the great khans aren't necessarily good people, but they are displayed as a genuine people, suffering from the actions of a colonizing power, and that is some of the best representation of native history in recent history.

the boomers are a tribe dedicated to personal security, taking the belief of right to bear arms as a cultural motto, thy originate from an armory vault, and completely shun the outside world. they refer to themselves as a tribe and have unique customs that have formed from their unique lifestyle, all things considered they make a good bit of logical sense in universe and in their formation. there isn't however much more to say on their existence as a tribe.

we even meet several new California raider tribes, the remnants of the vipers, pushed into the Mojave by ncr expansion, they've lost much of their culture, turning to chems and raiding, along with the jackals, they have been reduced to cannibalistic chem addicts, and in all honesty canon fodder, which does bother me slightly less, as theyre not the sole "tribes" within the game, i personally believe there couldve been some more done to show some of their history but they do fit the niche they were designed for

Honest hearts tribes are, rough to say the least, one descended of indigenous people with a unique culture and traditions, and another descended of children who may have been going to a residential school type institution (the lore is vague) who are origionally from a country who has been under the thumb of imperious countries for centuries, such as spain and the us, and yet what little culture they get is a mixture of hodgepodge words from several languages and just oddly spoken English (something historically done to mock native languages), the tribes don't have any real leadership outside of two Mormon missionaries, the two people, who could give us an example of the culture and values are devout followers of these Mormons, one who is being shown to be following in the footsteps of his hated enemy, this being Joshua graham, who is clearly a parallel to Caesar, making a peaceful people into his warriors, to deal a blow to the man who betrayed him, or Moreso a tribe who wish to follow Caesar, not for the safety and peace of the canyon system these people inhabit, but from vengeful hatred, using religion as an excuse to commit bloody war and Daniel, who spends his days infantilizing a culture and treating them as uninformed children, going as far as to hide the death of certain tribes members who had been evacuated from the area from their families and claiming a group of adults, who survive and thrive, being incapable of making their own decisions, as well as all that nonsense, the "good endings" involve fleeing their native lands and worshiping a Mormon missionary as a god, all that being said, the tribes are far from a good depiction. the khans are a much better example of native people than the tribes implied to be actual native peoples

the sorrows, a fitting name for the tribe, originating from a group of stranded children, they are a culture of pacifists who also hunt the largest mammalian carnivores in the region and are deemed "too innocent". the main member we meet near idolizes Daniel, the resident missionary, though this is somewhat understandable as he saved her life while in labour. this presents as a moral dilemma however as we are tasked with withholding the information of her murdered husband and her traumatized children from her, for the benefit of Daniel himself. the other major tribe member we meet is the shaman, who speaks next to nothing, sends us on a "vision quest" via hallucinogens where we fight a great evil being, and receive a marker of tribal status, the tribes primary defining symbol, a Yao guai gauntlet. the whole quest has bad vibes of white saviorism's, especially as if you rush through, you may not learn any actual meanings behind it. you may not even learn that the sorrows have domesticated gecko's. there is the basis for such a unique culture but everything is left so barebones, the tribe doesn't even have actual homes, the entire tribes clothing looks identical, and they have no clear leader, social hierarchy or even defined equality or individualism. there's no sense that they are anything more than a dozen people existing in the same place while ignoring one another. and the endings they get are either to leave, to stay and maybe learn mercy or become aggressive and warlike, all based on the actions of one person, who in their "naive" "innocent"z minds taught them their first act of violence, making them crave more

the dead horses irk me, they are implied to be descended of the Navajo, but aside from language hold no real ties. failed chances to represent native people as surviving cultures theres many things that irk me, they are named for the area in which they live, but hold precious little in regards to horses as a whole, an animal that had become important in their ancestors day to day, they are hunters and foragers, keeping an eye on local environments and the animals within, but have no cultural inclination to herding, something that was their ancestors lifeline, they have a language based on Navajo but next to no cultural identifiers, instead they are shown to tattoo themselves to mark special occasions and important moments in ones life, they have coming of age ceremonies and traditional weapons, personal and cultural taboo's and that's it, its not clear what their homes are like, what their day to day is, if they're agrarian or semi nomadic, they are designed to be the "brave warriors" to the sorrows "peaceful savage" trope, and the main warriors against the "evil tribe", its all face value

the white legs, the evil tribe who don't know how to craft, to farm, to build, a tribe whose sole survival supposedly hinges on the availability of raiding and killing, who are presented as too dimwitted and are offering themselves up to Caesar on a platter, they are the stereotypical enemy tribe, they are canon fodder for the courier to valiantly kill, and either doom them to death right away, or leave them to the mercy of another tribe, either way ending in death. their whole point was to be a culture wiped from the face of the earth

the 80's are a territorial tribe who we know nothing of, outside of their location near the salt flats of salt lake city, their whole existence was to destroy the last of the white legs. there is nothing else to them

in new vegas, we hear the names of many dead tribes, the hang dogs, the twisted hairs, the twin mothers, cultures wiped out and assimilated by the legion, as well as tribes pushed to extinction via people like prospectors, and land owners, killed for the local resources. these two examples are both instances id like to talk about in greater detail in their own post

new vegas tribes, the 4 tribes of new vegas themselves, the three families of the strip, and the kings, each group shedding tribal identity to relive old world "glory", the kings, worshipping a misunderstood depiction of elvis, and living by the rules of an impersonation school, which they turned into a "gang" identity, keeping order of the rabble and the unwanted. the white glove society, the omertas and the chairmen, all under the thumb of mr house, coerced or convinced to become the three families. we know very little of their original cultures, aside from a few names, they have wholly embraced a new identity, disposing of those who would otherwise choose the old ways

there are also cultural groups, such as the new Canaanites who aren't technically a tribe but still a different culture group to the majority culture

afterthoughts:

all in all, I find fallout has so far, had such few positive examples purposefully creating a tribal group or Indigenous allegory, the sole example is the Khans and much of the historical symbolism is lost to so many under the guise of moral vs immoral and general lack of knowledge

it is disheartening, in a world so chock full of symbolism and satire and synchronicity, that there's so little reference to how truly multicultural the world really is, of the hundreds of pre-war tribes and isolated settlements with unique traditions, there's so little within the games to acknowledge any of it

the majority of the tribes we meet are or can be canon fodder for the sole fact of padding enemy numbers, instead of deepening the narrative of old-world concepts returning to harm the present

[amazinglyegg]

Due to not being able to find a decent reference for Danse's room, I used this video to sketch out a floor plan!!

Along with references for what all the furniture looks like:

Details and rambling below the cut!

General notes:

The only time we see his room is after Blind Betrayal. I wonder if he brought anything from his room with him, despite leaving the duffle bag near the door?

He has a ton of storage space. Like, a lot. He doesn't even have a footlocker at the end of his bed it's just an entire metal box.

Despite that, he has nowhere to sit. Not even his desk has a chair.

Also he has a rug between his bed and his big drawer! Cute!

Pet food bowl near his door with fresh bloatfly meat in it. Not only does he manually open the door for Emmett to enter and leave (no cat door), but Emmett visits often enough that he goes out of his way to give him a bowl of fresh food! Does Quinlan even feed him!?

Has a lot of random cardboard boxes filled with papers and stuff on his floor. Given that the filing cabinet is for files, I wonder if these are books or journals?

Has a plain old bed with no pillows or blankets. Like most beds, this is probably done for game reasons (like animations or clipping) instead of canon reasons. At least I HOPE he sleeps with a blanket!!

On top of his safe is three dog food cans, maybe supposed to represent cat food. Also has a can of cram on his big drawer. I wonder if he stores more food in there!

The flag is actually a smaller one, but I couldn't find the exact model on the wiki. I find it interesting that he has a pole flag instead of a regular wall one. It just looks so sad :(

Has a lot of small blue and wood boxes around his room that I didn't include in the floor plan, they're empty I'm pretty sure

I didn't realize people outside of middle school used lockers, especially SIX of them. What do you even store in lockers?? Can't be clothes since they have multiple segments, hung clothes wouldn't fit and folded clothes would probably fall out.

No real personal stuff like holotapes or journal entries. I would have expected something unique! He also has no decorations other than that one sad droopy flag, but I guess it'd be hard to hang up paintings when the walls are made of metal. Can't just hammer a nail into that!

As a note, I think items within storage containers are randomized, so I didn't bother looking at them while making this.

Desk and filing cabinet:

Whisky and vodka bottles, no shot glass in sight. He is chugging those straight from the bottle. Not as many bottles as Maxson, at least!

Also an entire carton of cigarettes and an ashtray. He canonically smokes and doesn't even bother going outside to do it, his room must reek of cigarettes.

A food tray and mug, which is... interesting? Does he often eat alone in his room?

Filing cabinet for files, probably does paperwork at this desk as well.

Drawers:

Has like, three wrenches, as well as a tool box. This must be his workshop!

A lunch pail and a nuka cola. This table is right next to his desk so it makes sense he has food and drinks here. Surprised there's no water!

Speaking of the table... it's an institute table. Probably just done for aesthetic purposes, but I found that interesting

Let me know if you have any opinions, headcanons, or things I missed!

[queer-spiro]

Fallout and accents

Okay so I realize having non-American accents in the games is a creative choice by Bethesda to make the voice acting more interesting but…I’m a lore and worldbuilding nerd and having characters like Moriarty with an Irish accent of the brothers in Dimond City with Russian accents offers an interesting thought exercise. Where are these oversea accents coming from?

Obviously, it’s been over 200 years that the US has been isolated and on top of that each region we see in each installment of the game is extremely isolated due to dangerous conditions and difficulty of on foot travel. We also have no contact with other countries.

So accents. I’d expect heavy, region specific accents. Like in the commonwealth—the Boston accent would just get heavier. DC would have probably developed its own accent too.

As for foreign accents like the mentioned Irish and Russian? I have two thoughts:

1. Isolated family units where familial accents are passed down like the brothers with the Russian accents

2. Old holotapes and “stealing” an accent for fun. No one is around to say if it’s authentic or not so why not adopt an Irish accent. Think The Kings taking on the Elvis persona.

Also Synths can be programmed with an accent & pre-war ghouls could keep old accents.

Anyone else have thoughts?

[kamurawaffles5684]

weird as shit shower thoughts I’ve had about Fallout in regards to biological and medical shit

Are wasteland AFABs able to have hormonal weeks? Because radiation is proven to affect that cycle. So how would one have/carry a child to term? Are they so genetically removed from the pre-war humans that they’ve built a tolerance like the children of atom have?

On that note. What about vault dwellers? If they aren’t exposed to radiation how would their body work? Like sure there’s light energy that the vaults use but like outside of that there’s virtually zero vitamin content they’re getting from what the sun gives off naturally. Do they have supplements that they can take? What if the vault has a bad harvest year? Would they have decent rations or would that be the point of the vault going into disaster like when the Water Chip broke? What if the dwellers left said vault? They aren’t exposed to the same viral infections that wastelanders are. Could they even survive rad sickness? What about medical supplies in general? Sure, they make substitutes with things like Fertilizer n whatnot but what about keeping things sterile? Do wastelanders contract the same illnesses and diseases that people who share needles or have unclean supplies would? How do they purify the radiation out of the water? Do they have immunities to certain levels of radiation?

Also what about the Unity members? What about their bodies? Do they have immunities or are they completely sterile like the Mutants are?

someone pls tell me what they think because holy shit I can’t rn

[butch-de-101]

By the way don’t let the wording confused you. What I mean by, is what kind of background or starting point would you prefer or want to see in fallout 5? The protagonist could be a blank slate and their past could be mentioned here and there or they could have a starting route and some lore in them? Like maybe they grew up in a vault and are a pure human like the Sole Survivor or Vault Dweller from 1 and 76? or maybe like Fallout NV/3 they are actually from the wasteland?

And if you can pick ghoul the dialogue can be different in the way characters interact with you can vary from nice to hostile.

For reference image if it was like Cyberpunk 2077. In where you can choose three different starter paths such as Nomad, Copo and Street kid. Here you could choose Pure Human (Which can start in a vault or Enclave bunker) Waste Native (Where you’ll start in a small settlement or city outside of main map) and Ghoul/Mutant (You can be a Pre-War with memory loss or normal ghoul or even a other kind of humanoid mutant) just imagine the possibilities and role-play options you can do?

[nukadaddy]

crying my eyes out thx

[beccaintheclouds2]

Can you give me random facts/lore about the Fallout universe? I really like learning about fictional history.

[intoxicatingxminds]

The fact people still argue against this fan theory bothers me. Look at iiiiit. The vault boy is bomb checking.

[halfelf42]

Idk why some people make a big deal about cats in fallout. Oh no the two people that said cats went extinct were wrong. Who would have thought that the ultra libertarian was wrong about something. Also the woman in 2 that tells you cats went extinct says in the same dialogue that she owned one