Fallout

This is a /v/ related article, which we tolerate because it's relevant and/or popular on /tg/... or we just can't be bothered to delete it.

Fallout is a post-apocalyptic game series that takes place in America about a century or two in the future where America had been bombed so much that it has been left as a rotting, smelly and depressing wasteland that happens to have high as fuck raiders come up to you and attempt to have anal with a chainsaw or a laser weapon.

Despite the setting, most of the games are fairly noblebright, with a darkly humorous streak and a series-long theme of rebuilding.

Plot and Setting

Basically, post-apocalyptic America was filled with what seems to be... 50's art style and pop culture humor.

Long story short, America as a culture never went past the 50's in terms of mindset, so for 120 years, Americans still bitched about red commies. Much of the technology is on par with 50's sci-fi in both style and design, so while they had nuclear powered cars, they still used vacuum tubes in their computers.

However the US government became obsessed with 50's nostalgia. Uncle Sam became more and more oppressive, in an attempt to keep what was believed to be the greatest of American time.

All of the countries, being greedy little shits and all, decided that they just happened to be more important than one another and should have all the resources for themselves. Since none of them were taught to share at a young age, when oil started to run low in the 2050's, wars over it flamed up, the EU fractured in civil war, and China invaded Alaska for its oil. But the US had power armor and mini nukes up the ass, but China has those fancy stealth suits that was TROLOLOLOLing American forces, Warp Spider Style. But due to plot, America kind of kicked China out of Alaska. Then they just got bored and decided to take over Canada. Couldn't get cozy with anyone. Then the nukes started to fly.

No one really knows who fired the first one, it might have been China in a desperate attempt to save themselves, or it could have been aliens, or maybe a bored AI. Anyone but America, because suggesting otherwise is commie-pinko traitor talk. (plus the whole "they were winning").

But the fact is everyone nuked each other. China nuked America, America nuked Britain, Congo nuked Zimbabwe...

We don't know much about what happened to the rest of the world, but in America, most of the survivors hid in massive underground shelter-cities called Vaults. Being paranoid, pumped full of propaganda and having all of the earth's resources at your disposal, wouldn't you build something similar? As it turns out, the Vaults were a giant experiment. Most were built in order to see how well the real shelter (a space trip to Mars) would fare, while others were just made to dick with the people living there.

A few years later, tribes started popping up from leftover humans and mutants like Ghouls and Super Mutants, and many years later, tribes began coalating into states and nations, some rivalling the power of Old World ones. 70 years later, a Vault opens in the Western USA, and a Vault Dweller takes his/her few first steps into the wasteland - And that's where you come in.

Factions

• New California Republic: The self-styled successor to the United States of America, the New California Republic started as an alliance of small settlements in northern California that now flies the flag of the two-headed bear. Through diplomacy and vigorous expansion, NCR controls most of old California and is currently (as of 2281) expanding into Nevada, intent on acquiring Hoover Dam to provide electricity to its citizens. NCR believes in liberty and justice for all, but staggers under its own bureaucracy, the corruption that comes with it, and high taxes. It is, by all means, the nicest of the larger nations, providing support to their citizens in return for relatively heavy taxes and following strict laws. The NCR grew out of an alliance of settlements, including Shady Sands (which later became the capital city), Vault City, the Hub, Redding, and Klamath. Because of them, the West is largely a safe place to live, but many individual towns aren't too happy about their desire to take everything for themselves. Their military is based on the Pre-War US military, but with a more tribal feel; normal troops are volunteers and conscripts from around the west, while the Rangers are the Special Ops unit, taking on any tasks too delicate, tough, or convoluted to be resolved with raw power (they also wear the bad ass Ranger Combat Armour from the front of the Fallout: NV box). The Nevada branch also took to using Heavy Troopers with big guns and salvaged power armour from their war with the Brotherhood, which, while cool, isn't as protective as the real deal, and loads heavier, too.

• The Brotherhood of Steel: Originally a group of US Army personnel who announced their desertion days before the bombs fell, the Brotherhood of Steel has evolved (or devolved) into a neo-chivalric order devoted to acquiring and maintaining the technology of the old world. The Brotherhood is divided into three major orders: the Scribes analyze and manufacture technology, and the Paladins and Knights form the core of the Brotherhood's military strength (the equivalent of officers and enlistees). Although they have the second-highest technology level of any faction in North America, the Brotherhood is slowly dying thanks to a combination of attrition, an unwillingness to recruit from the outside world, and generally being assholes to outsiders.
  • The only order that actually is capable of surviving is the Midwest Brotherhood of Steel and the East Coast (D.C.) Capital Wasteland detachment. Not only did the Midwest guys opened up towards taking in new recruits from humans, but also include ghouls, deathclaws, super mutants, and the only robot that is not trying to murder people all the time, thus making them less asshole than the rest of the Brotherhood. These guys offer protections to people in return for fresh recruits and supplies. They rule like feudal lords over the Midwest, but they keep the place safe and humans and mutants actually like them. In the East coast, the Capital Wasteland detachment has fortified the ruined Pentagon, making it their base of operations, and are actively protecting the surrounding settlements in the area by engaging super mutants and helping to distribute clean water to the people.
  • Most chapters (all but the Midwest, really) also really hate mutants. This was fine when all super mutants were under command of the Master, but they also like killing ghouls (who are some of the nicest people in the series) and post-Master (read: civil and peaceful, although a bit mad if a Nightkin) super mutants. A notable exception was Jacob, a Paladin who befriended a super mutant named Marcus after getting into a fight with him. Marcus renamed the Mount Charleston ski lodge Jacobstown in his honor.

• Caesar's Legion: Caesar, the self-styled son of Mars, the God of War, has united eighty-six tribes under his banner (the bull) in Arizona, with undisputed territorial claims stretching as far west as the Colorado River. The Legion does not engage in diplomacy beyond "Join us or die." The Legion completely assimilates the people it conquers, destroying their old ways of life. To become citizens of the Legion means to throw away your heritage and traditions for security, prosperity, and continued existence. The Legion's army is a slave army composed solely of able-bodied men, owned entirely by Caesar. Women are confined to domestic roles. The discovery of Hoover Dam brought the Legion into direct conflict with the NCR, which drives the story of New Vegas.

• Followers of the Apocalypse: Despite the ominous name, the Followers are the most chill faction in the wasteland. They are devoted to understanding the mistakes of the past, helping people survive the harsh present, and building toward a noblebright future. While the Followers were instrumental in the formation of the New California Republic, they split over disagreements about the state's future and NCR poached many of the Followers' top people to staff their new Office of Science and Industry. Without NCR's backing, the Followers are chronically under-funded and over-worked, but hold on to their ideals in the face of harsh realities.

• The Enclave: The Enclave's leadership is comprised of the descendants of US government officials from the Great War. They are the most technologically-advanced faction in the wasteland and take pride in being the only uncontaminated, mutation-free strain of humanity left outside the Vault experiments. Like the Brotherhood of Steel, the Enclave arms its soldiers with energy weapons and advanced armor systems and are generally jerks to the world at large. Unlike the Brotherhood, the Enclave are willing to innovate and work with outsiders. Unfortunately for those outsiders, "work with" generally means "enslave and work to death." They got properly curbstomped in Fallout 2 and 3, and are as of 2188 almost eradicated from the wasteland, save a few stubborn survivors.

• New Vegas: Thanks to billionaire industrialist Robert House, Las Vegas had a missile defense grid so it and the surrounding area survived the Great War mostly unscathed. Drawing power from the Hoover Dam and fresh water from Lake Mead, New Vegas is a small but successful community built primarily on providing entertainment to NCR citizens. As of 2281, House is still in control of Vegas. He maintains his iron grip on the three "rehabilitated" tribes that run the three major casinos with his Securitron robots. The people of New Vegas are secure from outside threats, but House demands absolute obedience and does not seem to care about the state of Freeside, the crime-ridden neighborhood built up outside the Strip.
  • The Chairmen: Real cool gigs, baby, real cool. Rules the Tops Casino, they are the most cool and suave motherfuckers in Vegas. They mostly just play the rules and foster leaders who want to take over Vegas, all cool. They ain't no finks, dig?
  • The Omertas: The leaders of the Gommorah Casino and Brothel, they ain't no damn low time criminals, see? They respect only their family and them Securitron of Houses', 'cause you don't wanna mess with the coppers. Sleazy bastards who are civilized only in appearance.
  • The White Glove Society: The gentlemen and ladies of the Ultra-Luxe, they give only the most luxurious performance in whatever they do, be it their dresses (creepy porcelain-masks and pompous suits) or their cuisine, which definitely isn't human meat and never has been.

• Shi: The Shi are focused around San Francisco. The Shi are led by the Emperor, though his chief adviser is the de facto head of the organization. The Emperor is actually the computer mainframe of the Chinese submarine Shi huang ti, which washed up on shore after the Great War. Although the Shi prefer to remain apart from wasteland politics, they come into conflict with the Hubologists of San Francisco. They probably got conquered by the NCR.

• Hubologists: Scientologists with armor, guns, a spaceship, and porn stars instead of Tom Cruise. WHAT THE HELL HAVE YOU BEEN THINKING INTERPLAY!?!?

• Tribals: Small independent tribes still persist in the wasteland. Some are peaceful, while others take to raiding and pillaging to survive or simply for lulz.
  • Assorted Towns: Take some less-than-usually-ruined buildings, a bunch of people looking for a peaceful place to carve out a living, and a few guns, and you've got a city. Most towns have everything from ten to hundreds of citizens, and each one is often ruled by an unofficial leader of sorts (people rarely live long enough that it makes sense to elect some idiot). Notable cities are Megaton in Washington DC (a town build around an atom bomb that hasn't detonated yet), Shady Sands, Rivet City, Primm, Novac, and many others.
  • New Caananites: Centered around the city of New Caanan in Utah, these bible-reading badasses kept Christianity alive with Tommy guns and pure stubbornness until the White Legs razed the city to the ground and salted the earth. Now destroyed, their only surviving members are two guys of very different beliefs arguing over whether to save or to save a bunch of underdeveloped tribes in Zion. That is not a typo.
  • Zion Tribes: The Dead Horses and the Sorrows are a bunch of real tribals who had reverted to something resembling Native American tribes. They are the tribes the aforementioned Caananites are arguing over.
  • White Legs: A tribe based near Salt Lake City, the White Legs are trying to join Caesar's Legion. The price for joining the Legion is the destruction of New Canaan and all of its inhabitants. They succeeded at the first task, but two escaped their genocide and they followed them to Zion Canyon to finish the job. What they don't know is that Caesar will simply annihilate their culture and he's just using them to kill Joshua Graham. Dealing with them is the main plot of the New Vegas DLC campaign Honest Hearts.
  • The Great Khans: Formed by a cool guy named Papa Khan after the Chosen One murdered the New Khans (who were dicks), the Great Khans are one of the oldest raider groups in Fallout still active, about the same age as NCR as they both came from the same Vault. Unlike most raiders in the game, they're fairly friendly and figure it's better to just sell drugs and run protection rackets to villages than raiding. When they followed the old ways, the New Khans were led by the paranoid 90-year-old son of the leader of the Khans, who were the original group who came out of the Vault. They were also dicks who got stomped by the Vault Dweller. Their new leader Papa Khan was cool enough to stop all that dickery and replace it with drugs (although the Fiends, who get high on Khan drugs, make up for the lack of violence tenfold). The NCR still hates them, though, and the feeling is mutual due to a massacre at a Great Khan settlement that nobody wants to talk about.

Timeline

• 1945: Someone forgot to make the transistor and ultimately screwed it up for everyone
• 2077: Humanity screwed up this year
• 2161: The plot of Fallout 1, back when there was only about 3 deathclaws and lasers actually CUT
• 2241: The Plot of Fallout 2, mega badassery and improvement off Fallout 1
• 2277: The Plot of Fallout 3, the beginning of full 3D FPS, slow as fuck plasma weaponry and mega debuff power armor, also tried to turn up the Grimdark but failed
• 2281: The plot of Fallout New Vegas, what Fallout 3 should have been.

Technology

Now, the weapons tech used in this can be explained in many, many ways, but the easiest way is to think of all the WH40K tech, but more convenient with the added bonus of not blowing up in your face once in a while but with the downside of guns jamming every 3 seconds and guns that rot before your eyes. Still, the weapons tech can be badass in an alternate universe (if you accept the 37,933 year difference between the universes) so the fallout tech is still considered cool. The fallout universe also incorporates REAL LIFE GUNS into the series (and a whole bunch of them) such as the skorpion, MP5, MG60, M9, etc. This then changes in the later games (and in the 1st, but that was the 1st) to 'Hunting Rifles', '10mm Sub-machine Guns' and 'Miniguns'. Oh well. Its easier to just say the tech in fallout swings between Madmax weapons, to real weapons to 50's ray guns, to crazy shit like shotgun fist and a weapons that fire eight mini nukes (a shotgun of nukes if you will). Also one of the deadliest weapons in the 2D games was a BB gun. No, really. Aim for the eyes.

As for armor, well...
The majority of the wasteland has rags as 'armor' and a baseball glove as a 'pauldron', although some people have done better (and some creatures too). Let's go over the basics:

• NCR has your mass produced, easily recognizable uniform that has a desert color (no, not dessert, but I wish it did. That is, if the dessert wasn't so IRRADIATED!). The most technologically advanced armor they have is the other 'mass-produced-but-not-produced-as-much' NCR veteran combat amour, which is basically riot armour with a trench coat over the top and a riot helmet with glowy eyes, though they also have T-45d power amour with the tech ripped out of it so untrained users can wear it without killing themselves, leaving an empty and sad metal shell behind. Though they do put an AC in it.
• BoS has power amour (don't get your hopes up, this is Fallout power armour we're talking about).
• Legion has football gear since its the closest thing to roman armor they can find. Higher ups do have better armor, mostly just scrap-metal plates but a few like the Legate have sweet forged armor.
• Raiders have stuff stolen from: women they've raped, people they've slaughtered, houses they've raided, prospectors they've held up then slaughtered etc.
  • Khans you get biker gear you bought with the drug money you make.
• The Enclave have power armor far superior to that of the brotherhood (still Fallout power armor)

See Also

Brother Vinni for not-Fallout miniatures.