wastelandnaturalist

[wastelandnaturalist]

I hate caves and vaults in fallout fnv not because they are bad. No I love them, they are so cool. It’s because my sense of direction is completely gone and I get so lost. Caves my worst enemy, Vault 21 lost completely even if I have the local map open. It’s easier in Fallout 76 cause I can see in the dark easier. I am sad I lost my tiny map of the area cause I still get more lost then anyone else I know.

[wastelandnaturalist]

are the dogs in fallout suppose to parallel the protag or??? in fo3 you find dogmeat lost and fighting for his life with his owner gone/dead, like lw with their dad, rex in fo;nv is pulled apart and put back together, like the courier. in fo4 sole finds dogmeat, purebred, waiting for you. ????? did todd do this on purpose or am i just losing it

this is the best fallout meta i’ve read thus far holy shit

[wastelandnaturalist]

Deathclaws are reptiles, so yes! Although, they do not molt like snakes do (all at once), but shedding off pieces of dead skin. So you wouldn't find a perfectly deathclaw-shaped sack of dead skin, but random pieces of skin everywhere.

Also, they probably are capable of autotomy, which is the thing that lizards do when they get spooked where they just. Drop their tails and run away.

do deathclaws molt

[wastelandnaturalist]

Thinking once again about how wasted of a character concept Strong is.

Like what if instead of him being so solely fixated on “the milk of human kindness”, he took an interest in all of Shakespeare’s stories. And the player, who probably played fo3, thinks this is going to be a Fawkes-like character. But Shakespeare isn’t hoity-toity, and it turns out that Strong likes his stories because they’re all super gruesome. Or at least all of the ones he paid attention to.

He could have combat lines like “I’ll hold your skull in my hand!!” or “I’ll turn you into meat pie!!” or “Thus! Thus! Thus! Thus! Thus!”. And if you want him to have some funny misconception about the stories, maybe he thinks they’re all real historical accounts or something like that. Or maybe he’s convinced Shakespeare is actually some great warrior and he wants to best him in combat. (Why else would they call him Shake Spear!!)

Idk, I haven’t thought it too far out, but Shakespeare is kind of my thing. I just can’t stop laughing at the idea of this super mutant complaining about how underwhelming it was that Lady Montague died offstage of grief, or boasting that super mutants are the best because they could all kill Macbeth.

[wastelandnaturalist]

Wasteland Naturalism: How to Survive in a Post-Apocalyptic Fallout

Chapter 1: The Creatures You Will Find

1.1 - Bighorners and Brahmins: Beautiful Bovines (pages missing)

1.2 - Cats: They're Alive! (pages missing)

1.3 - Fog Crawlers: Far Harbor's Deadliest Crab (pages missing)

1.4 - Geckos: Not Just a Garden of Eden (pages missing)

1.5 - Horses In The Wasteland (pages missing)

1.5 - Lakelurks: Curse of the Swamp Creature (pages missing)

1.6 - Nightstalkers: Venomous Dogs (pages missing)

1.7 - Radnimals: Radrats, Radchickens, Radstags, Radrabbits, Radgulls and Radtoads (pages missing)

1.8 - Yao Guai: Wasteland Demons (pages missing)

Chapter 2: Creepy Crawlies and the Like

2.1 - Bloatflies: Surprisingly Edible (pages missing)

2.2 - Bloodbugs and Bloodworms: the Commonwealth's Hematophagy Problem (pages missing)

2.3 - Cazador: the Deadliest Venom in the Wasteland

2.4 - Mirelurks: The Several Species of Crustaceans Cobbled Together Into One Single "Species" Even Though It Doesn't Make Any Sense (pages missing)

2.5 - Radscorpions and Radroaches: How the Suffix Rad- Does Not Just Apply to Vertebrates (pages missing)

2.6 - Stingwings: Oof Ouch (pages missing)

Chapter 3: Abominations of the Wastes

3.1 - Centaurs: God's Mistake (pages missing)

3.2 - Deathclaws: the Terror of the Wastes (pages missing)

3.3 - Floaters: Not Fun Balloons (pages missing)

3.4 - Ghouls: Friends and Foes (And How To Differentiate Them) (pages missing)

3.5 - Mutant Hounds: Throw Your Dog Into a Vat of FEV (pages missing)

3.6 - Spore Carriers And Their Plant Buddies (pages missing)

3.7 - Super Mutants: Anatomy, Physiology, and the Differences Between "Species" (pages missing)

3.8 - Tunnelers: What the Fuck is That (pages missing)

[wastelandnaturalist]

Cazador: the Deadliest Venom in the Wasteland

Cazadores are giant insects present in the Mojave Wasteland, Zion and Bit MT. Its venom is, by far, the most effective venom in the New Vegas region, with a damage of 8HP per second, during 30 seconds (a total of 240 HP per inoculation). 

Cazadores, as the lore explains, are a mutated variation of the Tarantula Hawk wasp (Pepsinae subfamily), and they do present the aposematic coloring present in these wasps; mainly, the bright orange wings and blue-black body. There is an issue, however, with this classification: tarantula hawk stings, while excruciatingly painful, are surprisingly harmless.

We could explain this away by using the whole “created in a lab by a madman in Big MT” thing, but that's a boring answer. Instead, in this essay I will suggest the insect whose DNA could be combined to truly create the perfect Cazador, and, if that insect is used, how Cazador venom would act in the body. 

PS: this paper is dedicated to fanfiction authors. Use this as you please for all your whump needs.

Tarantula Hawk Wasps and their silly little trick

The tarantula hawk venom is known for being incredibly painful; Justin O. Schmidt, the absolute madlad that created the Schmidt Sting Pain Index by subjecting himself to several stings to see “which one hurts more”, said that his advice if stung by a tarantula hawk is to “lay down and scream”. This excruciating pain lasts for 4 minutes, but after that… nothing happens. No adverse effects, unlike the very potent and deadly Cazador venom that has killed many a wastelander wandering the Mojave.

Now, a venom that does not kill can sound rather strange, but it performs its function perfectly! Tarantula hawk wasps do not use their venom to kill prey, but as a defense mechanism exclusively. In this case, an extremely painful but otherwise harmless venom is even better than a deadly one, and that is because of how poisons and venoms in general work as a defense mechanism.

You see, cause and effect is not a foreign thing to animals. No matter how “simple” the animal may be, they're capable of recognizing cause and effect. Eat food = hunger stops. Drink water = thirst stops. And, the most important one in our case, Touch thing = Pain, and Pain = Avoid.

What I'm trying to say is, animals learn from their experiences, and sometimes can learn from the experiences of others. That's how aposematism works: aposematism is the presence of bright, eye-catching coloration on an animal. It serves as a warning, a sign to potential predators that if you eat this guy, you’ll have a bad time. If animals couldn’t learn from their experiences and through the experiences of others, aposematism wouldn’t work. 

The tarantula hawk’s incredibly painful venom also serves the same purpose as aposematism, and it’s even more effective because the predator is kept alive. After a few minutes of excruciating pain, that particular individual will avoid all tarantula hawk wasps at all costs and possibly teach that to their offspring. Add the fact that, unlike bees, wasps do not lose their stinger (and the rest of their bowels) after an attack, and this non-lethal “taser-to-the-balls” attack is an incredible defense mechanism.

It’s not deadly, though. And Cazadores are lethal. 

Enter, Bombus morio, the Terror of the South (America)

Bombus morio, known sometimes as the “Amazonian Bumblebee” is one of the few species of bumblebee native (and present) in South America, mostly in the forests of Brazil (where it is referred to as Mamangava). It is a very aggressive solitary bee, makes burrows in the ground, and it can grow up to 3 centimeters in length. For all you Americans, that’s a bit over an inch. 

Look at that guy!

So, these bees are big and chunky and black, like a Cazador. Looks wise, they’ll only need the orange wings and we’d be good to go.

It’s not just the appearance, though. It’s their venom. Oh, their venom.

You see, mamangavas are known around here for their horrible sting. Not because it’s horribly painful or anything, but… because of the after-effects.

Two hours after being stung (somewhat painfully) by a mamangava, you’ll start sweating. Profusely. Chills, nausea, and, of course, vomiting. Nonstop. For 5 hours. 5 hours straight of vomiting. After the 5th or 6th chucking, your barf will start to turn brown and bitter. Still sweating, you’ll now feel extremely cold, shaky, your limbs will feel weak, you’ll feel drowsy and sleepy, and your poop will also turn black.

While there aren’t any recorded deaths by a mamangava sting, I’d like to remind you that they are NOT very well studied (there is like one study about their sting) and they also live in the middle of South American forests. I can tell you, though, that it is popular knowledge in the region that mamangava stings can kill you if you’re not treated, and I feel it is safe to assume so; vomiting for 5 hours straight will leave you extremely dehydrated. Also, brown and bitter vomit usually means you’re chucking up blood, and the same thing happens with “black” poop. While it hasn’t been proven yet, there’s a high likelihood that B. morio venom makes you bleed internally. Which is. Not good.

So, with that in mind, picture yourself this: A madman scientist that lives in Big MT, who wants to create a fun new critter. He gathers some mamangava DNA, and some tarantula hawk wasp DNA, and a beautiful baby girl is born named Cazador. 

In my humble opinion, Cazadores are an aberration of nature. They’re also part tarantula hawk, part mamangava. They’d be considered wasps, in my opinion, since they’re capable of stinging multiple times without ripping their guts off, which bees tend to do. They also seem to form colonies, which (funnily enough) neither tarantula hawks nor mamangavas do, but I guess we can’t win ALL the time. 

With that in mind…

Cazador Venom: a Speculative List of Symptoms and Treatment

0-5 minutes after sting:

Immediately after the sting, will come excruciating, blinding pain. As described by Schmidt in his Pain Index, it is “blinding, fierce, and shockingly electric”, or like “A running hair dryer has just been dropped into your bubble bath”. This pain will taper off after 5 long, horrible minutes or so. The stung area will swell severely, and yellow-and-red splotches will show in the affected area (destruction of white blood cells and red blood cells in the area). You could, theoretically, pass out from this pain. 

5-30 minutes after sting:

After the pain subsides, you’ll notice (finally) that you feel cold, clammy and feverish. You’ll also feel dizzy, and nauseous. The nausea will intensify gradually.

30 minutes - 5 hours after sting:

30 minutes after the sting, you’ll start your mandated 5 hours of vomiting. In the meantime, your organs (mainly the ones in your digestive system, such as the stomach and the intestines) will start to bleed, so after vomiting your lunch, then all of the bile in your stomach, you’ll start to vomit blood, too. If you happen to evacuate your bowels, you’ll also shit blood.

Also also, you’re sweating profusely the entire time. If not treated, you WILL die of dehydration and internal hemorrhaging.

5-24 hours after sting:

After 5 whole hours of vomiting and bleeding, if you’re (somehow) still alive, you’ll feel the nausea subside slightly. Your organs are still bleeding, which isn’t good, but at least you’re not vomiting still. The “worst” part is over. 

You’ll feel completely drained of energy. The dehydration paired with the sensation of weakness and dizziness will make you completely vulnerable to any attack, and unable to move. In this part, you also might die of dehydration, or exhaustion, or the whole bleeding thing. The venom has already passed through your system, but your body has been incredibly damaged by it; if you can’t get treatment in 24 hours, it’s safe to assume that you’ll die.

Treatment:

Antivenom would be more efficient the sooner it could be introduced. Injected into the wound would be the best option, but orally could also work. This is only applicable to the first five hours after the sting. If consumed, you’ll still feel clammy and nauseous, maybe even vomit a few times, but there won’t be any internal bleeding. After some stimpaks and some purified water bottles, you’ll be good to go (with shaky legs, but alive).

If you don’t have any antivenom, the treatment would require:

1- someone to help you, preferably a doctor; you won’t be able to move much, so someone will have to take care of you.

2- An IV drip. If not accessible, purified water enemas are a way of keeping someone hydrated if they’re incapable of keeping anything down.

3- lots of stimpaks/super stimpaks: this will counteract the hemorrhagic properties of the venom, but might have to be applied several times.

4- blood bags: you’ll vomit a lot of blood. You need that. Blood transfusion would give you back the blood you need.

5- Purified water. To drink, after the 5 hours of vomiting, or for the aforementioned enemas. 

After about a week, you’ll recover your strength fully.

Bonus:

Hallucinations probably would not occur, since there are no psychoactive compounds in Cazador venom. However, high fever CAN cause hallucinations, so you can make your guy get all loopy all you want.

When I say the first 5 minutes of pain are excruciating, I mean it. Several reports of people getting stung talk about how all they were able to do was drop to the floor and scream/cry. I’m talking about immediate incapacitation. The adrenaline of the fight might keep you up for a few moments more, though. 

References:

Picaduras venenosas en el mundo tropical: accidente por mordeduras y picaduras de un enjambre de abejorros en una selva lluviosa venezolana

Venom and the Good Life in Tarantula Hawks (Hymenoptera: Pompilidae): How to Eat, Not be Eaten, and Live Long

[wastelandnaturalist]

i love the theory that fallout didn't just stagnate in the 1950s, it returned to it. not just out of nostalgia, but desperation.

as the world fell apart, oil drying up, war time anxiety piling on and trust eroding, the government needed something familiar to sell.

and what better tool for control than the most sanitized, era of “american values” they could find?

aesthetics of nationalism, conformity, mccarthyist paranoia, all dressed up in chrome and smiles. it wasn't a freeze in culture, it was a calculated reversion.

the mythologization of a golden past becomes the scaffolding for fascist ideology. not because that past was ever real, but because it can be weaponized

myth, dressed up as memory.

in fallout's case, that myth is the 1950s. not the messy, violent, contradictory 50s that actually existed, but a state-manufactured fantasy of chrome smiles, and "american values." a world where conformity is virtue, fear is patriotism, and war is just another product.

because when people are scared, you don't give them answers:

you give them slogans. mascots. marching tunes.

you roll out project brainstorm, an actual pre-war initiative, and start pushing "covert and overt messages of extreme patriotism" into every corner of pop culture. comics. toys. music. sports.

whatever it takes to wrap the war machine in a smile.

prewar's retrofuturism isn't just for the vibes. it's state-sanctioned denial. it was a tight wrap around a dying empire, and the more things fell apart, the more they clung to that futile image.

like if they smiled big enough and said “apple pie” enough times, the oil crisis and global collapse would just blink away while the world burns behind it.

it's the same old rot, lacquered in vintage.

a country that chose the past over the future, and got exactly what it asked for.

not progress. not reform. just reruns of a dream that never existed.

and then it ended, the only way it could end:

with a country so in love with its own mythos it pressed the button waving a flag in one hand and a nuka-cola in the other.

[wastelandnaturalist]

[wastelandnaturalist]

let's struggle to dine with mama

[wastelandnaturalist]

[wastelandnaturalist]

As you can imagine, I have Many Thoughts about Fallout nature.

First of all, atomic gardening is wild. Wasteland farmers would, absolutely, use radioactive soil to mutate their crops for their benefit (bigger, more filling, etc etc). Plants would probably still have tumors - but plant tumors can't spread like they do in animal tissue, and plants are very good at just ignoring the malfunctioning cells and going around them (i like to think that the weird bulbous thingies in mutfruits are tumors).

In general, though, radiation does have harmful effects to plants, just not enough to create the dead, desolate wasteland you see in Fo4. They'll grow slower and a lot less; They'll die quicker. But as long as they survive long enough to produce spores and seeds, there will be plants.

For carnivorous plants: man. You will regret this.

Most people, when they talk about carnivorous plants, they are majorly thinking of venus flytraps - I don't blame them, Dionaea muscipula is a fascinating little plant. However, there are over 750 species of carnivorous plants, and they all deserve some love.

Like the waterwheel plant, an aquatic flytrap that has the shape of a wheel.

Or the rainbow plants from the Byblidaceae, whose sticky, deadly muscilage shines in the sunlight in a rainbow of colors.

Or the Cobra Lily, adapted to nutrient-poor bogs by creating an upside-down pitfall trap, with their translucent leaves confusing their prey.

Or the sundews, who are PERFECT for an apocalyptic, dangerous plant! They secrete sticky muscilage on stalks on their leaves, and when a poor sop (bug, or maybe a wastelander) trips and falls into the sticky stalks, the long leaves will slowly curl shut, trapping their prey even further while they get digested alive.

Sun pitchers, tropical pitcher plants, trumpet pitchers, Australian pitchers, all perfect for more wet, miserably humid environments such as swamps, bogs and marshes. Housing sweet-smelling digestive acid inside their pitchers, waiting for someone to fall inside, just for the opening to slam shut.

I love carnivorous plants so much

Very interesting that bethesda decided to mutate the FUCK outta most animals but only like, some of the plants. Like, they got to the grass and trees and went uhhhhhh brown. And dead. Dead and brown. They are Very dead and Very brown, hope this helps.

Although I'm assuming most of the trees in fo4 are actually alive and are just deciduous cause those leaf piles found all over the map sure as hell aren't 200 year old leftovers. So technically those mods that put the leaves back on at least some of the trees are completely lore friendly.

[wastelandnaturalist]

My favorite part of Honest Hearts is when all the characters strip and put their items and clothes in a footlocker for the courier.

[wastelandnaturalist]

I feel like I should just catalog all the fucked up shit that happens to me in fallout. Also please tell me the fucked up shit that happened to you in fallout as well.

Like the time I was in the middle of honest hearts, got attacked by some cazadores that suddenly, got shot down by lazers. I turn, only to come face to face with ED-E, who had somehow made his way to Zion and wasn't even an active companion? Like, I had to recruit him and then send him back to the Lucky 38, bc I was afraid that he'd just get stuck in Zion forever if I didn't

Or like the time that i was playing fallout 4, only for a car to glitch into the ground, shoot up into the sky, and then seconds later I die from the fucking car dropping on top of me

[wastelandnaturalist]

guys reblog this with your favourite cakes im the baker for the cafe I work at and im trying to think of new things to bake. bonus points if you can give me a recipe too

[wastelandnaturalist]

You ever think about how the writers for New Vegas shelled out money for two sensitivity consultants for Mormons but never once in the entire history of the franchise hired a Native American sensitivity consultant?

[wastelandnaturalist]

the lone wanderer walking into the super duper mart

[wastelandnaturalist]

everything looks like a nail when you've got a hammer and every song is actually about the character when they're on your mind 24/7