History of the Fallout World (Lore)
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| History of the Fallout World (Lore)- whatifhub.com |
As technology developed, the conflicts grew larger; more devastating. But with all its violent tendencies, humanity never could destroy itself.
Well, 70 years ago. World War 2 brought on the ultimate deterrent. The Nuke. For the first time in history, humanity harnessed the power to annihilate itself in its own atomic Armageddon.
In our timeline, the 1950s was an era of American exceptionalism and cheerful optimism. The suburban family with their white-picket-fence, jukebox diners and classic post-war nostalgia are looked back on as a different time.
It passed. The cold war finished and the red scare along with it -- but what if that era... that mindset... Never went away? What if technology improved -- But the cold war, fear of communism and the culture of the '50s continued into the 21st century and beyond?
Welcome to the world of Fallout™. The game series "Fallout™" has deep lore based on alternate history In a timeline that differentiates from our own.
The world went down a much darker path, and in the result, the nuclear holocaust came. In Fallout™ the nuclear war was just the end of a chapter in mankind's history -- And in the rubble, brought on another.
Because even though society itself was destroyed, and the land radiated beyond reason -- New factions still arose, And humanity found new ideas to kill each other in a world populated by ghouls and mutants.
That is why in the Fallout™ universe the saying stays true-- War. War never changes. This article is to give you a summary of the world of Fallout™ and to catch you up on the lore of this universe before the big kahuna itself comes out.
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The Fallout™ games take place in an alternate timeline that diverts from our own in the mid 20th century. Sometime later World War II in the 1950s and '60s --
The United States drastically changed itself to stop political strife and better organize its own government.
The U.S. divided the states among 13 different Commonwealths, The Commonwealth would be one step higher than the State but below the Federal Government -- and consist of multiple states.
However, the Commonwealths began competing against one another and only weakened the country as a whole. As in our timeline, the "Red Scare" was in full effect throughout the post-war era.
In this alternate timeline, the Soviets grow weaker -- China comes in to take its position. The U.S. has a new enemy on the global rule, And at the turn of the 21st century, it was still U.S. foreign policy to do everything to crush the communists.
As the decades went on the global oil supply began to run thin -- Leading to higher oil prices and competition. The United States went deeper and deeper into hostilities with former allies and friends.
The already broken country began to lash out once the resources ran thin. In 2051 the United States attacked its southern neighbor, Mexico, of destabilizing the border.
The U.S. placed sanctions on the country causing it to collapse into political instability. To protect oil interests, the U.S. penetrated Mexico to maintain a constant supply between the two nations.
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This brash international policy reflected the dying nature of oil in the middle of the 21st century. Texas -- once booming in the early 21st century -- now is covered in empty wells.
This was seen throughout the globe. As prices increased, the middle east countries held on to their oil. To fight the high oil prices, the European Commonwealth (basically an evolved EU) sent troops into the middle east.
The Resource Wars had begun. The middle east nations and Europe would fight a drawn out, bloody conflict over the oil wells of the region-- Until they ran dry just eight years later.
Nukes were used on middle east centers -- Causing the Americans to fear the possibility of a nuclear war at some point. Project Safehouse was born. Its official objective was to provide shelters in a supposed atomic exchange.
The Vaults were born. Meanwhile, across the ocean, Europeans were left with nothing after the fighting-- And the Commonwealth fell into civil war by 2060. As oil wells dried up across the globe, Alaska's wells remained-- Soon becoming the last place on earth for cheap oil-- Making it a target to The People's Republic of China in the east.
The Americans saw that Alaska was in danger and set up a defense force to deter the Chinese, but the inevitable happened, and China sent an invasion force into Alaska in 2066, sparking the Sino-American War.
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This was the war that would define the Fallout™ series. Over the next ten years of fighting, the United States and Chinese would dedicate their greatest minds to creating new and powerful weaponry to one-up the other.
The U.S. designed robots for war-- and Power Armor to devastate the enemy forces. However, even with the advancement in the U.S. military, the battle would rage for a decade. Canada would be stuck with allowing U.S. forces on to their land-- Which made tensions sour between the traditionally allied nations.
As the war against China grew the Americans wanted an easier route to fight the communists, and so in 2076, Canada was officially annexed by the United States.
In a proposal to direct Chinese forces away from Alaska, the U.S. invaded mainland China with soldiers wearing Power Armor.
The objective was to cause enough damage at home that the Chinese would need to take troops off of the Alaskan Front. And it worked. The soldiers in China were trapped in Asia, but after nearly a decade of combat The Americans fought off the Chinese and reclaimed Alaska by 2077.
With Alaska reclaimed the battle appeared over-- At least on the American front. Countless lives were lost in the fighting-- But it ended in an American victory-- So, to the people, the peace seemed to be won. But -- it was only a pause. On October 23rd, 2077 -- the Great War began-- And lasted only 2 hours. This nuclear exchange destroyed cities across the world.
So many bombs were fired that it completely transformed the earth surface. Water became irradiated. The environment itself was cancerous.
Barely any organisms survived at all Thus the story of the Pre-War nations ended in a blaze of nuclear fire. However, people did survive.
Either out in a new Wasteland or inside of large fallout shelters scattered across the old United States. Officially, 122 "Vaults" (as they were called) were composed by Vault-Tec during Project Safehouse.
The vaults official goal was to provide safe harbor inside the shelters in case of nuclear war. They were capable of holding enough supplies and equipment that dwellers could survive inside the vault for long periods.
Each vault was given two Garden of Eden Creation Kits-- or "G.E.C.K.'s" So that the dwellers could recolonize once radiation levels went to reasonable limits.
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That was the supposed story. The United States and Vault-Tec in this alternate timeline had darker plans. Inside the government (and significant economic titans) there was a faction who believed themselves superior over the ordinary American-- And accepted that not many would survive the coming apocalypse.
They made plans to preserve their existence-- These people formed what is now known as The Enclave. The American government funded the creation of the Vaults-- In which particular American citizens could find safe harbor.
However, this was just a ruse. The real purpose of the vaults was to conduct physical, psychological and social experiments on unsuspecting subjects.
The vaults weren't meant to save the U.S. population. It was merely to use vault dwellers as human guinea pigs. The Enclave's exact plan was not just to repopulate the Earth, but to build themselves a spaceship to recolonize another planet.
Using live human subjects would help the Enclave know how people react in a long period of isolated confinement. Each vault had a specific experiment.
For one example, people from Vault 11 were told via intercom they had to sacrifice one of their own, or they would all be slaughtered. The angry people chose to forgo the overseer, the leader of the vault.
And so every year the position of overseer was a position of being sacrificed until one year the dwellers had sufficient and chose not to. A message played praising them for being good people and not killing anymore.
Before the nuclear exchange, the Enclave who consisted of the most powerful and influential in America fled the secret bunkers throughout the globe. The owners of Robco Vault-Tec Poseidon Oil used their resources to defend themselves.
The Enclave remained on an oil rig, harnessing the technology from their wealthy connections and creating new weapons to reclaim the land they believed they'd lost eventually.
In two centuries after the Great War, new factions rose and now fight over the atomic wasteland. Most of the history that we acknowledge of takes place in the West.
Around after a century after the war, the region of New California was split among isolated villages. Raiders and mutants terrorized innocent civilians.
In some cases, vault dwellers left their shelters and set out to reclaim the wasteland, banding into small tribes and villages. Vault 15 survivors founded the community of Shady Sands.
After a century, the developing settlement ambitiously renamed itself the New California Republic. It absorbed other small cities under its flag, and soon more towns followed suit to join its ranks.
The NCR is not only a faction -- It is the closest thing, in the post-war era, that resembles a nation. With over 700,000 citizens, the NCR has modeled itself off of values from before The Great War.
Even organizing its government in to three branches -- The NCR boasts the largest military in the known world-- But consists of mostly rifle infantrymen While the NCR has provided order within their lands-- Even going so far as to collect tax-- By the events of Fallout™ New Vegas© the NCR has grown to become imperialist in nature.
Sometimes forcing villages under its banner and bullying its neighbors into submission. The NCR has fought significant wars against other factions Including their most recent rival-- Caesar's Legion in the east.
Caesar's Legion is pretty much the exact opposite of the democracy-valued NCR. Controlling the area east of the Colorado River, Caesar's Legion is a dictatorial slave-state.
Which earned its power by absorbing the tribes of the Mojave. Caesar himself is a man named Edward Sallow. He impressed the native tribes with his knowledge of primary military strategy.
They declared Sallow their leader-- And in response, he announced himself the name, Caesar. Caesar's new faction had a goal: To bring everyone, and everything, under their rule.
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The would go on a campaign of total war against the surrounding tribes-- Slaughtering and decimating the population-- Enslaving the survivors and indoctrinating them into the ideology of The Legion-- Using the men of each tribe as disposable slaves to wage battle.
However, even though Caesar ruled as a murderous dictator, his people worshipped him-- Fanatical in their devotion to serving him Caesar is the leader of his religion. The Cult of Mars. Which teaches that The Great War was the punishment from the God of war himself.
The Legion's growth brought them in to contact with the NCR, where conflict raged between the two. With The Legion losing to the NCR in the first Fight of Hoover Dam.
But while The Legion and NCR are the largest in the west-- That does not mean they have the most fighting power. Of course, I'm speaking about The Brotherhood of Steel. The Brotherhood is an elite organization of highly trained, devout and honorable soldiers. With origins dating back to the old U.S. Military.
The Brotherhood prides itself on its protection and investment in technology. To them, their weapons and armor are the most valuable things above all else.
American Army Captain Roger Maxon founded the Brotherhood in the days before The Great War-- After he and his men went AWOL upon learning of U.S. sponsored experiments on prisoners.
The experiments had prisoners injected with the Forced Evolutionary Virus. The F.E.V. was researched by the government to build soldiers capable of being stronger and more resistant-- Instead, it made them into Super Mutants.
There was never a response from the U.S. at Maxon's desertion-- As The Great War came just days after. After the war, the group seized the futuristic technology from the facility-- Guns and Power Armor.
Glossing over a lot of history-- The Brotherhood fought numerous campaigns against raiders, the Super Mutants, and the NCR. In their search for more technology, The Brotherhood has increased throughout the old United States.
However, due to the massive distance among them, ideologies are different between each group. The Western Brotherhoods numbers are small, practically never allowing outsiders into their ranks-- But because of their collection of pre-war weaponry and highly-trained soldiers-- The Brotherhood is capable of putting up a valiant effort against their enemies.
The Western Brotherhood thinks Wastelanders cannot handle, or be trusted with, the powerful arsenal-- And so they keep their technology Top Secret. The Western Brotherhood is the real Brotherhood-- as the group has origins in California.
That search for technology sparked members to send missions on airships across the continent-- One of which crashed in the ruins of Chicago, forming the Mid-West Brotherhood.
The Brotherhood eventually reached the Capital Wasteland-- The old ruins of Washington D.C. Here the Super Mutants were more extensive and more violent than in the west-- And so the Capital Brotherhood adopted an ideology of protecting the Wastelanders over protecting technology.
Even recruiting natives into their ranks. This created a split among the Eastern Brotherhood-- The soldiers devoted to finding technology deserted and formed The Brotherhood of Steel Outcasts.
The Western Brotherhood learned of the Easts ideology-- A clear violation of the factions code-- and so The Capital Brotherhood was cast out. Other members of The Brotherhood dot the U.S. such as in Texas and The Commonwealth-- Neither of which we acknowledge much about so far.
The Brotherhood isn't the only pre-war faction that's yet around-- Remember The Enclave?
The Enclaves' descendants remained on the rig, harnessing the best technology their connections could buy-- Being out of the blast range, they believed that they were the last remaining humans untouched by atomic radiation-- Making them, in their mindset, True Humans.
The Brotherhood and Wastelanders are practically mutants in their eyes-- And so their mindset turned genocidal-- To kill the populace of the Wasteland and to start anew.
The Enclave saw themselves as the continual government of the United States-- And the rightful population to sustain it. Using their technology and flying Vertibirds, they can challenge even The Brotherhood in power.
However, they are practically gone in the West and remain considerable in the Eastern United States-- Yet, even though there are significant factions that control areas of the West and the East--- Much of the old United States is still left unclaimed-- And even in areas under faction control, tribes and villages are the primary organization for Wastelanders.
If I wanted to go into extreme detail with the entire history of each faction, that article would take hours-- And it's fun to discover the more profound lore by playing the games. This was a way to introduce new people to the world of Fallout™ And to excite returning fans.
* This article was originally published here
