Fallout Wiki
Advertisement
Fallout Wiki

 
Gametitle-FB
Gametitle-FB

Fallout Bible 0 is part of the Fallout Bible, a collection of documents containing background material for the first Fallout games compiled and written by Chris Avellone. This installment was released on March 8, 2002.

Fallout Bible 0 is a revised compilation of all information from Fallout Bible 1, Fallout Bible 2 and Fallout Bible 3.

Document start icon The following is the original document or a transcript thereof.

Intro: Black Isle Studios message boards[]

Fallout Bible: Section Zero
Vault Boy
Jan 15th - Feb 25th 2002

This Fallout Bible "update" is actually a compilation of three other previous updates that were posted on Fallout fan sites before the Feb. 25th one, contained in the archives, below. We're not trying to confuse you, we're just playing catch up here. This is "Update 0," if you will. If you've already seen the other updates on the net, this document doesn't contain anything new except there's a PDF version of it now.

This may be the first Fallout Bible update you've seen on the Black Isle Studios site, but hopefully not the last. For those of you who haven't seen these before, the Fallout Bible is just a collection of all the background material and hi-jinks from Fallout 1 and Fallout 2 compiled into one document so the fans can take a look at it. Some of it's a little rough, so if you see anything wrong or if you think of anything you'd like to see, drop me a line at Cavellone@blackisle.com and I'll see what I can do. I can't promise I'll answer your emails immediately, but I will get around to it, usually when the weekend hits.

In any event, these updates will now be appearing hopefully twice a month (on every other Monday) on the Black Isle Studios website, but you can usually find it not long after at any of the Fallout fan sites across the web. The next update should be Monday, March 11th, pending some major catastrophe.

Thanks for supporting Fallout,

Chris Avellone @ Black Isle

Disclaimers[]

  1. The information presented here is a rough draft and will need some heavy revision, but on some level, I wanted you guys to see the core information we had lying around so you can see some of the ideas that were being batted around.

    Ideally, the information contained in these updates will be revised in the future based on your comments and possible evidence gathered from within the game - some of the people that put this documentation together (me and others) don't have nearly as much knowledge of facts within the game as some of you fans out there. Mistakes and inconsistencies are bound to crop up. When they do, we'll do our best to correct them.

  2. I have gotten all the emails on the Bible, I have read them all, and even if I don't have time to respond to each one (special apologies to Jason Mical - I still have to read the PNP game fully), please keep additional questions coming. I want to know everything you want to know.
  3. Some of this information you'll see in the Bible is going to be incomplete. The reason for this is because if we ever do a future Fallout product, I don't want to write Black Isle into a corner - we want to leave some holes to fill in ourselves... or holes to escape out of. So forgive the sins of omission when they crop up. Just consider them extra fuel for fan fiction plotlines.
  4. The information contained within this documentation could ruin many of the surprises in Fallout 1 and 2, so readers should be aware that there are plenty of spoilers contained within the information below.
  5. Also, I just wanted to say if you guys ever have any movie or book suggestions that you think have interesting material relating to the Fallout genre, don't hesitate to email me. Again, my contact information is:

    Cavellone@blackisle.com

    I may not be able to respond to every email you send, but I guarantee I will read them all and try to give you a response when I can.

  6. To the above, I would also add any music suggestions for fifties-style tunes... we're running a Fallout Pen and Paper game at work, and I need theme music pretty badly.
  7. Suggestions for material to include in the Bible, questions about Fallout events, and suggestions for good source material are welcome, but I cannot give hints or walkthroughs for the game, provide technical support, answer questions outside of Fallout 1 or 2, or read fan fiction or fan-created material for Fallout.
  8. All of these updates will be collected into a huge honking document at some point - the doc you're reading now is just one of the many rough drafts you're likely to see.
  9. And if you ever need to satisfy your Fallout cravings, and you have a few friends with the same craving and some dice, I strongly recommend you check out Jason Mical's pen-and-paper Fallout role-playing game at:

    http://www.iamapsycho.com/fallout/index.htm

    Don't let the web address fool you, Jason's a nice guy.

  10. All the PIP Boy pictures in this document are courtesy of BIS artist Brian Menze, who did work on Fallout 1, Fallout 2, Torment, TORN, Icewind Dale, Heart of Winter, and now Icewind Dale 2.
  11. Translators be warned: the information below may undergo revisions based on feedback, so you might want to wait until the next update to make sure the information below stays solid.

Thanks for supporting Fallout,

Chris Avellone down here at Black Isle Studios

Answer me these questions three[]

Here are three huge questions courtesy of Sean McGrorey:

1. Why was it that so many ghouls left necropolis between Fallout 1 and 2 to settle in Broken Hills and Gecko?  Is necropolis empty now?  Also, why was it that Harold joined the ghouls?  I remember him talking as if he weren't a ghoul; When you type in "ghouls" in the question box in the first Fallout he refers to the ghouls as "them".

Answer:

  • Ghouls still have the human need to expand and move on - and in the 80+ years between Fallout 1 and 2, the ghouls spread out from Necropolis in all directions... and some had even left before the events in Fallout 1.
  • Necropolis is not empty now; ghouls are still said to reside there, though Set is no longer their leader. It is not clear whether he is alive or dead.
  • Harold joined the ghouls in Fallout 2 because Harold is a kindly sort who likes to help people - when he sees a group of people trying to make their way in the wasteland, he tries to step in and give them a leg up, especially when it can benefit life for everyone.

    Wherever a key event in Fallout has occurred, Harold always seems to be right there in the middle of things, helping to push the world along and make it a better place. His wit is a little dry and raspy, but he's got a good heart.

  • Harold is not a ghoul, but he is a mutant. What happened to him inside the military base during his assault with Francine, Mark, and Richard Grey is unknown, but it is likely he was exposed to the FEV virus and changed. His last known memory after the attack was passing out then waking back up in the wasteland... changed.

2. Does FEV really cause sterility?  In Fallout 1 it seemed like the answer was a resounding yes, and a number of reasons for this were given by Zax and Vree.  But then in Fallout 2 after you take Marcus to the Cat's Paw he says "I hope she doesn't get pregnant" and says that the FEV doesn't make mutants go sterile, it just makes it take a few years "to get the juices flowing again".  Moreoever, the deathclaws in Vault 13 were infected with FEV and yet they are able to reproduce.  So, does the FEV cause sterility or not?

Answer:

  • FEV causes sterility in some creatures. FEV does cause sterility in super mutants and ghouls - Marcus' comment in New Reno was a joke only (and it was an inappropriate one, for which I apologize for). For other creatures, however, the FEV does not cause sterility - in fact, it may actually speed up their reproductive cycles (in tandem with potential drawbacks). Known species that can reproduce after being mutated with the FEV include most species of rats, the mantises (who are known to have bred so fast they cover the Salt Lake City area like blankets), the radscorpions, and the deathclaws. This is only a partial list.
  • The deathclaws in V13 are a special case; as part of the Enclave experiments, they were bred as fighting packs for the government. They were not supposed to be able to reproduce, but they were attempting to do so at the time of Fallout 2. It is extremely likely that the Enclave scientists would not have wanted the deathclaws to breed on their own for fear of losing control of them, but that doesn't mean they would have made mistakes in engineering limiters or sterility in them.
  • The wannamingos are a result of FEV virus experiments, but they are now becoming sterile. They are not aliens, but word is they were designed as FEV-tailored weapons for waging war on other countries... and they got loose. They do live a long time, but they were dying out at the time of Fallout 2. They have only been sighted in the F2 area and nowhere else in the wastelands.

    The eggs you see in Fallout 2 are the last generation of Wannamingoes to exist in the wasteland; the young Wannamingoes seen in F2 will perish in five years, and their parents a few years before that - an internal genetic clock will simply stop ticking, and they'll fall over dead. The Wannamingoes are a vicious mutant breed that had their moment in the sun, and now their sun has set.

    To put the tombstone on their extinction, the largest known nest of Wannamingoes were wiped out when the Great Wannamingo mine was reclaimed by Redding with the help of a traveling tribal. The mother was killed, and the last remaining eggs were hunted down, stepped on, and then the remains were examined by local scientists and doctors who came to the extinction conclusions mentioned above.

    Again, Wannamingoes are not aliens – they are a curious mutant or genetically-designed fighting machine that has only been able to find a home in the cold, dark places of the wastes.

    It is possible that the wannamingoes were old Enclave experiments (or even experiments from before the Great War), and if this is true, then it's likely their genetic/biological deadman's switch was purposely engineered to keep them from breeding past a certain generation.

    As a final note, this is strictly a personal decision on my part. If you want them to live for fan fiction, pen-and-paper role-playing campaign purposes, or for your own peace of mind, feel free to have some of them survive the stopping of their genetic clock – in the Black Isle universe, however, the little buggers are already dead and their irradiated shells are scattered along the floor of abandoned mines throughout northern California where they make nice crunching noises when you step on them.

3. Are the radscorpions a product of the FEV virus?  When you talk to the doctor, Razlo, in Shady Sands, he tells you that they were once American Emperor Scorpions but that he has no idea how they mutated because radiation alone couldn't have done it.  For that matter, what about all of the other creatures of the wasteland?  Which ones have been mutated by FEV and which ones haven't?  Maybe in the bestiary each creature could have a stat that shows it's level of FEV infection.

Answer:

  • The radscorpions are a result of a combination of radiation and the FEV virus, and Razlo in Shady Sands is correct - they were originally Emperor Scorpions that have grown... big.
  • FEV-Infected Critters in the wasteland include almost all the ones you've seen in F1 and F2:
    Mantises.
    Most species of rats.
    Gecko lizards.
    Brahmin
    Scorpions
    Ants
    Various varieties of plants, including the Venus Flytrap.
    Rumor has it some dogs were affected, but no one's seen any, so for now that's just rumor. Of course, the centaur are a mash of human, dog, and various other parts... but hey, who knows how that mutation came about. Grey was probably messing around in one of his labs.
  • Creatures not mutated by FEV probably did not survive the aftermath of the Great War, with the possible exception of (cockroaches... and perhaps normal ants, though there are FEV-infected versions of these species.
  • No one knows where those bird noises in Vault City came from.
  • I'll try to include a chart of FEV-infected creatures in future additions as well as other critters that you may not have seen in F1 and F2. Most likely a great majority of insects were affected (they tend to breed much faster, and their mutations tend to become evident pretty quickly as the generations advance), possibly beetles, some spiders, cockroaches, and other creatures.

More questions, questions[]

This submission we answer a question from Michael Ward:

I read the start thing of the bible thats on the net. One thing I don't agree with in the fallout universe is that the vaults were just a bunch of "social experiments". I mean why. Even though the enclave were a bunch of assholes, why would they want to purposely see their own country men die when the vaults were societys last chance at a good survivial. I like to think that lots of people died because the vaults just didn't work. Like in FOT there is a terminal that says that money had been diverted from much needed common sense things to an underground game hunting facility or whatever it was. experiments was a bit over the top, but corruption is far more believable. thats what i think anyhow. and Fallout 3, is it a possibility or not?

Michael

Answer: The vault experiments were an idea created by Tim Cain, and I don't really know the reason behind them, but I can offer some speculation.

First off, thematically, it's pretty creepy, and we all know that developers will pull all sorts of crazy shit to try and mess with players' heads. It's possible that Tim had just finished watching an X-Files episode and had conspiracy theories swimming around in his subconscious. As to your comment about the experiments being a bit over the top, well, yeah. We're guilty as charged.

Secondly, as proven time and again in Fallout 2, the Enclave isn't a particularly rational bunch of fellows. Thematically, they embrace a paranoid view of the world and a heightened sense of superiority over everyone else in Fallout.

Third, the federal government (or whatever branch of federal government was responsible - it was not necessarily the Enclave) may not have ever considered the Vaults as society's best chance for survival - the government may have considered themselves the best candidates for rebuilding the world and already had their asses covered in the event of a nuclear or biological war by relocating to other remote installations across the nation (and elsewhere) that weren't necessarily vaults. The Enclave certainly didn't seem to be devoting much effort to digging up any other vaults and trying to use the human stock there to rebuild civilization.

Fourth, a lot of people did die because the vaults didn't work. Some suffered worse fates.

Nonetheless, even members of the Enclave probably could not answer the question of who created the Vault experiments and their reasons, as many of the people responsible for the creation of the Vaults died long ago, and many records were lost in the great static of 2077. President Richardson was familiar with the purpose of the Vaults, but he never saw them as more than little test tubes of preserved humans he could mess with.

Glossary[]

Vault-Tec is used two different ways in Fallout 1 and Fallout 2. The correct version is "Vault-Tec."

Behind the scenes[]

In case you guys were ever curious, the man behind the spoken (voice-acted) dialogue in Fallout 1 and Fallout 2 was Mark O' Green, the former head of Interplay's Dragonplay division (our old D&D division before it became Black Isle). He's got a good way with words.

Vault system[]

It was intended that while the player was reading the Vault 8 records in Fallout 2, he could discover a classified file (opened with a successful Science skill roll) which explained that Vault 8 was a "control Vault," designed to hold 1000 people and to open on time. This file was intended to foreshadow the discovery of the true and sinister purpose of the Vaults.

The player was also intended to apply his Science skill to the central computer in Vault 13 to obtain a history of Vault 13, the Overseer's involvement in the Vault Dweller's expulsion, and even worse, the true purposes of the Vaults. The Overseer was conscious of the true purpose of the Vaults as social experiments on a grand scale, and he drove out the Vault Dweller because he was afraid that he would ruin the experiment... or uncover it. Of course, the Overseer himself caused problems not long after this, according to Martin Frobisher, the leader of Vault 13 in Fallout 2:

"There used to be an overseer, many years ago, but he did a bad thing and many of our people left the Vault. Only to die in the Wastes, I'm sure. He was tried and sentenced to death for his crime. We haven't used the title since."

Martin did not see the Overseer executed, however... his information comes from the Vault 13 records passed down by his ancestors.

Basically, the Vaults were never intended to save the population of the United States. With a population of almost 400 million by 2077, the U.S. would need nearly 400,000 Vaults the size of Vault 13, and Vault-Tec was commissioned to build only 122 such Vaults. The real reason for these Vaults was to study pre-selected segments of the population to see how they react to the stresses of isolationism and how successfully they re-colonize after the Vault opens. Some of the experiments include:

Vault 8 A control Vault, intended to open and re-colonize the surface after 10 years. Vault City is the result. Unfortunately.
Vault 12 In order the study the effects of radiation on the selected population, the Vault Door was designed not to close. This is the Necropolis Vault... and the ghouls were the result.
Vault 13 Intended to stay closed for 200 years as a study of prolonged isolation, the broken water chip forced the Overseer to improvise and use the Vault Dweller as a pawn. Later study of the Vault 13 records by the Enclave led them to their current plan to end the war.
Vault 15 Intended to stay closed for 50 years and include people of radically diverse ideologies. Gathered from what you hear from Aradesh in Fallout 1, he has quite a bit of multi-cultural flavoring to his speech.
Vault 27 This Vault would be overcrowded deliberately. 2000 people would be assigned to enter, double the total sustainable amount. The location of this Vault is unknown.
Vault 29 No one in this Vault was over the age of 15 when they entered. Parents were redirected to other Vaults on purpose. Harold is believed to have come from this Vault.
Vault 34 The armory was overstocked with weapons and ammo and not provided with a lock.
Vault 36 The food extruders were designed to produce only a thin, watery gruel.
Vault 42 No light bulbs of more than 40 watts were provided.
Vault 53 Most of the equipment was designed to break down every few months. While repairable, the breakdowns were intended to stress the inhabitants unduly.
Vault 55 All entertainment tapes were removed.
Vault 56 All entertainment tapes were removed except those of one particularly bad comic actor. Sociologists predicted failure before Vault 55.
Vault 68 Of the one thousand people who entered, there was only one woman.
Vault 69 Of the one thousand people who entered, there was only one man.
Vault 70 All jumpsuit extruders fail after 6 months.
Vault 106 Psychoactive drugs were released into the air filtration system 10 days after the Door was sealed.

Rumor has it there were 122 different vault experiments. For Fan Fiction purposes, a lot of these vault experiments have been left open for you to play around with.

Questions, questions[]

And here's a few more questions, the first one from Albert:

1. Here's a question that everyone would like to have answered.  Why is Lynette such a bitch?  Is she a jet baby?  Was she abused as a youngster?  Did she have a series of sordid love affairs that all went horribly wrong and warped her into a domineering cynic?  Or she just acting like a typical Vault City citizen? - Albert.

Answer: Yes, Lynette is a bitch if you're not a Citizen. As the figurehead for Vault City, she was supposed to embody the worst arrogance and condescension that Vault City has to offer (traits that are not present in all the citizens, as McClure and others prove). Furthermore, I suspect that she was made a black character to add an additional edge to her hypocrisy over slavery, but I guess you'd have to ask the original designers about that - Mark O'Green and I wrote Lynette's dialogue, but we were working off of an older design that (I think) Jason Anderson had written.

As for why Lynette's a bitch... well, Lynette does have an extreme managerial, economic, and efficient soul, and she's used to getting her way. She wasn't abused, tortured, or twisted in any way when she was young, she just got a certain privileged and superiority complex hardwired into her head around five or six years old, and she's never been the same. She's always known that she was destined to lead the Vault 8 Citizens, and that power has gone to her head.

She's been the leader of Vault City for many, many years, and she's seen the worst that the wasteland has to offer - but rather than taking sympathy on the poor souls that have come to Vault City for protection, she has instead taken the view that these "outlanders" were simply not strong or smart enough to achieve what Vault City has, and thus, are inferior. She tends to work too much and too hard, and she sees all her time as precious, so she has little patience for socializing without a purpose (i.e., if it doesn't involve politicking, she's going to be working late at the office instead) or for people dropping in and wasting her time.

As expected, Lynette has had no positive romantic relationships up until her potential relationship with Westin from NCR in the endgame of Fallout 2. She's had little time for anything other than her job, and that's her focus - if anyone throws her job or decisions into question, buckle up, because she takes it as the worst sort of personal attack.

Lynette uses any negative situation involving outlanders to reinforce her beliefs and disregards or ignores any positive aspects - she's single-minded and set in her ways. The fact that she (and Vault City) had an "environmental welcome mat" stretched out for them (with the GECK) when they emerged from Vault 8 meant they suffered little hardship in comparison to other struggling communities, but this simply doesn't factor into her thinking. She believes that Vault City and the Vault citizens have survived and thrived because they are a superior breed of human - smarter, better, and more capable than the human trash that prowls the wasteland.

Anyway, there you go.

And three questions from Deadlus:

2. Is military base part of enclave or something? (sorry i'am not good at english :) but I think that you know what i wanted to say) - Deadlus

Unknown. The Mariposa Military Base was constructed for the purposes of FEV experimentation on human beings, and considering the nature of the "volunteers" (military prisoners who didn't have their brains scooped for use in brain bots) and the lack of any shred of ethics in the experimentation procedures, it is possible the Enclave had something to do with the experiments at Mariposa. In Mariposa records, however, the Military Base is never mentioned as under the direction of any organization called the "Enclave," and Colonel Spindel, head of the military squad stationed at the base, never indicated any Enclave allegiance... nor did Chief Scientist Anderson in the last few minutes before Maxson put a bullet through his skull.

Still, the existence of the Mariposa Military Base was listed in Enclave records, and this enabled the Enclave to find the base and begin their excavations, so it is possible that some elements of the Pre-War Enclave had their fingers in the horrors taking place at Mariposa. They held the site for many years, but abandoned it after obtaining the FEV samples... and noting the high incidence of mutation among the worker slaves and some of their soldiers, including Frank Horrigan.

3. The boss (richard grey or someone) in f1 was in the vault, which vault is it? - Deadlus

The Vault "Grey" (originally Moreau) started out in before his mutation into the Master was Vault 8 and the Vault you find him in in Fallout 1 was a test/demonstration Vault constructed by Vault-Tec and has no number (according to Chris Taylor - thanks to Nick Garrott for letting me know about Vault 13's stash on this stuff). Relevant quote:

Saint_Proverbius: Which vault number was the Master's base?
Chris Taylor: The Master was in the Vault-Tec private vault. This was the demonstration model built for the federal government, it was also very close to the Vault-Tec headquarters

4. So richard grey was the first vault dweller not the main character in FO1, and why did he left his vault??? - Deadlus

According to Lynette in Fallout 2, Richard was exiled from Vault 8 for murder. The details of the murder are unknown and judging from the hypocrisy filling Vault City, the entire incident is questionable.

One question is from Peeyack, sent via Kreegle of Duck and Cover fame:

5. Why in the final scene in Fallout 1 and 2 nothing is said about players friendly NPCs ? I'd love to know what happened to Marcus, Tycho, Ian, Cassidy or Vic afterwards. - Kreegle

Fallout 1: I don't know why. Tim and the Troika crew apparently ended up doing this for the NPCs in Arcanum, though.

Well, according to the manual in Fallout 2 (written by Chris Taylor), Ian bit the bullet in Necropolis, and Dogmeat died in the Mariposa Military Base. Tycho and Katja are not mentioned, so it's assumed they didn't join the Vault Dweller. Still, even though it's mentioned in the manual, I'd substitute your own experiences with them and let that be the true history... even though Dogmeat's pretty likely to bite it in the Military Base because of those damn force fields and because you can't tell him to park his doggie ass in a safe place (without locking him in a force field cage).

In any event, I'll try to include alternate endings for these characters depending on what you did in the game. Your actions should make a difference.

As for Fallout 2, Matt Norton and I wrote end text for all of the ones in Fallout 2 using the narrator's perspective (and occasionally the appropriate voice actors), so here's the sections I was able to dig up (and it's not all the NPC allies, but the talking heads of everyone). They just didn't make it into the game, and as I understand it, Ron Perlman already had 5 billion lines to do in 2 hours. It's possible we decided not to do them because we ran out of time... or because Ron Perlman is an extremely muscle-bound fellow who looks like he can crush bricks in his hands.

In any event, here you go - note that some are personalized for the actor, others are not:

Lynette
The Vault City that I helped establish was to outlast me and continue on for many more years. In the elections that occurred after the destruction of the remnants of the United States government, Senior Council Member McClure was appointed First Citizen and I retired to honorary council member status.

With my new free time, I traveled south to NCR and met the NCR President.

I was responsible for much of the legislation that followed in the years between NCR and our City.

Marcus
Inspired by the example set by the Chosen One, Marcus eventually traveled across the great mountains to the east, searching for other refugees from the Master's army. You never heard from him again.
President Richardson
The destruction of the Enclave erased all trace of President Richardson from history. Now the title of "President" is used simply a bogeyman used to frighten children.
Harold
You still hear mention of Harold from time to time. Apparently, the tree growing from his head has gotten larger, and if rumors are to be believed, fruit is growing from it. The seeds are said to remarkably tough, and several of them have taken root even in the most barren stretches of the wasteland.
The Elder
The Arroyo elder lived for many years after the destruction of the Enclave. She seemed pleased that the ancient separation between Vault 13 and the Vault Dweller had been reconciled, and many were the times she told you she wished the Vault Dweller were alive to have seen the reconciliation take place.

Certain that the safety of the new village had been secured and the new community was flourishing, the Elder passed away a few months later in her sleep. Many of the older Arroyo residents believe that she now lives in the vault of the sky, telling the Vault Dweller of your brave deeds.

The Elder, 2

[Matt Norton's comments] The end movie is just finishing – the tanker sailing toward the view at full speed. In the distance is a massive explosion of the Enclave oil platform. The tanker draws closer as the screen fades to black. The Elder, the player character, and all the tribesmen are escaping on the tanker, though we do not see them. The Elder speaks in voiceover. She is pleased, even a little mischievous.

Oh, did you see that? That was a good explosion!

Chosen One, you are worthy of your name. I am alive, the tribe is saved, and the evil ones are dead. By the Vault Dweller, you are a hero indeed!

All the village will honor you when we get home – even your Aunt Morliss. We will roast a gecko and feast. There will be a shrine to you in the temple. Children will be taught your name. With you to protect us, we will certainly grow and prosper.

(Fade)

That was a good explosion, wasn't it? I think I would like to see more explosions...

I may include an MP3 of Ron Perlman personally wishing me dead for the end narration sequences in Fallout 2 - it is both funny and frightening at the same time.

And the last two questions are from Richard Grey from Vault 13 via his neurolink to the Cathedral computers:

6. According to Chris A., the ghouls in V12 were exposed to radiation and FEV. I know Harold said the Vault door opened early or something, so the radiation bit makes sense. My question is, how were the ghouls of Vault 12 exposed to FEV? Harold was a special case, since he went to the Vats with... er... someone, whose shall remain nameless... and got dipped. How do you account for the others? - Richard Grey

When the West Tek research facility was hit, it shattered the FEV storage tanks on levels four and five and released the FEV into the atmosphere. Through some means, perhaps propelled by the explosion, the virus was able to reach the ghouls quickly and the mutation process began even as the radiation was rotting away their bodies. How the virus was able to survive the blast without being sterilized is unknown... it would depend on what type of warhead cracked the West Tek facility like an egg.

Actually, Harold never said he got dipped (although it's possible). He was exposed, however - being in close proximity to FEV is enough to cause mutations, as the Enclave slaves mining Mariposa discovered. I imagine the shield between the vats and the control room in Mariposa was meant to keep the virus contained.

7. What the heck was Frank Horrigan? A supermutant in powered armor? A cybernetically enhanced human? A robot? A cybernetically enhanced robotic super mutant in powered armor? Also, if he was mutated, why did the Enclave put up with him? Did they make a distinction between FEV induced mutation and radiation induced mutation? - Richard Grey

Frank Horrigan is a munchkin's worse nightmare: as far as I can find in the documentation, he's a mutant in Power Armor (whether he's technically a super mutant is debatable, since the scientists operated on him so much and tweaked his DNA and physiology it's hard to tell what the final result would have been if he had been left to change on his own).

As for being a mutant, here's an excerpt from the last update:

"It's important to note that Horrigan has never considered himself a mutant; only the scientists at the Enclave would consider him one, but they mostly referred to him as an "experiment," and even then, not to his face. Most soldiers considered Horrigan a walking nuke, something the tech boys built, and they were not generally aware of his mutant status. Most did consider him a freak, however, and there were few soldiers who wanted to accompany him on missions."

They didn't make a distinction as much as an exception. Not many people were aware of his mutant status or could recognize him as a mutant... and those people saw him as more of an altered human experiment than a mutant. It's all semantics. And selective bigotry.

For fan fiction purposes, it's also possible he was just a genetically engineered monster whipped up by the Enclave... and that's what Segeant Granite assumes about him:

"He's some genetically engineered freak is what he is. Used to be the President's bodyguard. Secret Service Agent Frank Horrigan. Now he's more than half machine."

Question for you guys[]

This is a question since BIS is going to keep making RPGs, but some questions I've always been curious about for any of you who still play pen-and-paper games when you have access to computer ones - why? Are there any special qualities about pen-and-paper that make you keep playing them over a computer game or a massively online multiplayer game?

Just curious - we have a dedicated pen-and-paper (and boardgame) base at Black Isle, and we have our opinions, but I'd like to hear yours. If you've got some thoughts on it, feel free to email me at:

Cavellone@blackisle.com

Thanks.

Fun links[]

If you guys ever need some war posters to throw some spice into a Fallout campaign or just for some window dressing, here's two good links for old war posters, courtesy of JE Sawyer:

http://digital.lib.umn.edu/warposters/browse.html

http://www.library.northwestern.edu/govpub/collections/wwii-posters/

The first site says updates are on the way, so I still check it every once in a while to see what they've got up this week.

If you guys know any other cool Fallout-related links, let me know.

Fallout 1 archeology[]

I'm going to try and start including all the key words you can ask the talking heads in Fallout 1 with the "Tell Me Abouts." This may not be a complete list, but these are all the ones listed in the design documentation. There is no documentation I can find for the non-talking heads, but if you happen to know any or find any other talking head key words I miss, let me know.

Let's start with the Overseer:

Chip/Water Chip/Water Purifier/Controller Chip
Vault
War
Outside
Overseer/Library

(I think these last two give new responses, but it could be a generic "I don't know" response).

And because the Overseer is boring, let's move on to Aradesh who's got a little more spice:

Aradesh
Dharma
Tandi
Razlo
Seth
Raiders
Vipers
Khans
Junktown
Spear
Guard Tower
Guard Station

Psykers[]

FB3 Psyker

For Fallout fan-fiction purposes, you are welcome to make use of the psykers and their potential from Fallout 1, but I'd be careful - the psykers in Fallout 1 show some pretty over-the-top mutations that could take the world to Childhood's End faster than you can say "uh, his eyes are glowing?"

In any event, of the four psykers in the Master's lair, Wiggum was electrokinetic-dominant, Lucy was telekinetic-dominant and a minor photokinetic, Moorewas pyrokinetic-dominant, and Gideon was a receiving-telepathic-dominant (without the ability to control his telepathy, requiring the psychic nullifier to block incoming thoughts) with minor photokinetic abilities.

In the Fallout Bible, all psykers were officially wiped from the genre when the Cathedral was vaporized in nuclear fire. It is most likely the Master was able to somehow bring forth psychic abilities in certain humans after they were injected with FEV, but most of the experiments were failures (resulting in insanity) or used to line the corridor of revulsion.

Brotherhood of Steel disk[]

I'm trying to finalize information on the Brotherhood of Steel, and annoyingly enough, I can't seem to find the following excerpt from the .msg files anywhere in Fallout 1. If anyone can tell me how to get it, or, as a bonus, give me a screenshot of the contents, I'd appreciate it. It's quickly becoming a source of frustration.

# *** Brotherhood of Steel Honor Code ***
# *** Maxson's History ***
{7000}{}{My father was a security guard at a secret military base}
{7001}{}{in the desert of southern California. A typical MP, I}
{7002}{}{remember mostly his strength. When it came time for}
{7003}{}{the revolution, I respected his convictions. He stayed}
{7004}{}{behind, to help those who were disabled and wounded,}
{7005}{}{even the scis. He put the well being of myself and my}
{7006}{}{mother into the hands of his best friend, and ordered}
{7007}{}{us into the desert with the other rebels.}
{7008}{}{**END-PAR**}
# -
{7009}{}{We, very few, marched into the wastes. The only thought}
{7010}{}{on my mind was that I would never see my father again.}
{7011}{}{He knew that to stay behind was death. And still, he}
{7012}{}{stayed. He respected the flag, the CIC and the badge}
{7013}{}{that he wore.}
{7014}{}{**END-PAR**}
# -
{7015}{}{What an idiot.}
{7016}{}{**END-PAR**}
# -
{7017}{}{He died for the sins of others. That will never happen}
{7018}{}{again to us. We will become self-sufficient. We will}
{7019}{}{become keepers of knowledge and lore. We will survive}
{7020}{}{the end of civilization. We will take responsibility}
{7021}{}{for our actions, and we will hold accountable the}
{7022}{}{actions of others.}
{7023}{}{**END-PAR**}
# -
{7024}{}{This I pledge to you, Maxson, my son. The Brotherhood}
{7025}{}{of Steel is justly named. We are a Brotherhood. Unlike}
{7026}{}{my father, we will stand back to back with those that}
{7027}{}{share our convictions and beliefs. We are Steel. We are}
{7028}{}{hard. We have been sharpened to and edge.}
{7029}{}{**END-PAR**}
# -
{7030}{}{Always remember the fires that we were forged in.}
{7031}{}{Never forget. }
{7032}{}{The motto from a previous time, and our motto now.}
{7033}{}{**END-DISK**}

Timeline repair: Second strike[]

Here's a second draft of a Fallout timeline based on your feedback to the first drafts that went up on the net last month (thanks again to everyone who sent msg files and screenshots - all of it was extremely helpful). There are heavy revisions to when the Enclave discovered the Military Base, when Melchior was captured, the true Exodus of the BOS and the events surrounding the FEV research at the West Tek Research Facility and Mariposa.

Again, this is not a final draft, since I imagine I will find more problems in it later on and as I get feedback from you guys. Thanks again for looking it over.

BTW, even though information is included on the Vault Dweller's journey in Fallout 1 below, you don't have to use it - it was included in the F2 manual, and it does tell you what happened to Ian and Dogmeat. (Granted, the Dogmeat in the F2 special encounter technically was "Dogmeat," but it was a special encounter, so he shouldn't be considered as the real Dogmeat from Fallout 1, if that makes any sense.)

YR MONTH # EVENT
2051 Seeking to protect business interests and their oil supply, the United States begins to exert increasing pressure on Mexico, citing the political instability and pollution stemming from Mexico as a threat to the United States. Various economic sanctions serve to destabilize Mexico, and the United States military enters Mexico to keep the oil refineries running and making sure oil and fuel continue to make their way north across the border... at Mexico's expense.
2052 A television documentary into the withered husk of the Texas oil fields brings the oil shortage into the American households, and reveals how deep the energy crisis runs.
2052 April The Resource Wars begin. Many smaller nations go bankrupt, and Europe, dependent on oil imports from the Middle East, responds to the Middle East's rising oil prices with military action. The long drawn-out war between the European Commonwealth and the Middle East begins.
2052 May-July The United Nations, already suffering, begins to collapse. In a series of heated debates, many nations withdraw from the organization as the UN tries to keep the peace. At the end of July, the United Nations is disbanded.
2053 The socially transmitted "New Plague" arises, killing tens of thousands. The United States closes its borders and the first-ever national quarantine is declared. The source of the plague is unknown, but rumors persist that it is a genetically engineered weapon.
2053 Dec Like an exclamation mark on the end of a very bad year, a terrorist nuclear weapon destroys Tel Aviv.
2054 January Limited nuclear exchange in the Middle East raises fears throughout the world.
2054 In light of the Euro-Middle-Eastern conflict and the plague scare, the United States sets Project Safehouse in motion. The project, financed by junk bonds, is designed to create shelters, called Vaults, for the populace in the event of a nuclear war or deadly plague. Construction begins late in 2054 and proceeds rapidly due to advances in construction technology.
2054 ZAX 1.0 goes on-line, developed by Vault-Tec. Initially a prototype of some of the systems designed to govern the vaults, it is given to the government to help the Department of Energy collect resource data. Within a year, it is taken by the military for plague and tactical research; one version, ZAX 1.2 is constructed for West Tek (below).
2055 The West Tek Research Facility starts working on a new virus to kill the New Plague. Their viral research and close ties to the federal government eventually lead to them being chosen for the Pan-Immunity Virion Project twenty years later as well as Power Infantry Armor and laser research.
2055 ZAX 1.2 is brought in to regulate conditions in West Tek. It is not part of the Vault-Tec preservation software, so it does not have any orders to protect humanity after the bombs fall. In the meantime, it calmly calculates data and plays chess with the scientists. Many scientists claim that ZAX is a big ol' cheater and draws the game out too much for a computer of his considerable abilities.
2059 The Anchorage Front Line is established, as the United States increases its military presence in Alaska to protect its oil interests. The Anchorage Front Line causes tensions in the United States and Canada, as the United States attempts to pressure Canada into allowing American military units to guard the Alaskan pipeline.
2059 The first artificial intelligence is born. Limited by memory constraints, its expansion is rapidly halted. The discovery paves the way for future AI research in laboratories throughout the United States.
2060 Traffic on the streets of the world stops moving. Fuel becomes too precious to waste on automobiles, so alternatives are explored - electric and fusion cars begin to be manufactured, but factories can only make limited amounts. Pressure on fusion research increases.
2060 The Euro-Middle Eastern War ends as the oil fields in the Middle East run dry... there is no longer a goal in the conflict, and both sides are reduced almost to ruin.
2062 Despite quarantine measures, the New Plague continues to spread, fueling national paranoia.
2063 August The construction of most Vaults completed, except for Vault 13, whose construction finally gets off the ground... heralding a development cycle that seems plagued with problems. Drills begin in the other cities with completed Vaults, but the increasing frequency of the drills has a "cry wolf" effect, and the turnouts for drills trickle off as the years go on.
2065 June Due to enormous demands for electricity in the summer of 2065, a nuclear reactor in New York City almost goes critical. The near meltdown brings into effect power rationing, and the term "Hot Summer" is used to refer to the New York incident.
2065 August Increasing need for mobility in the United States mechanized cavalry leads the military to focus the efforts on creating a man-based tank - essentially, a two-legged walking armored unit: Power Armor.
2065-2067 Power Armor research grows and several prototypes are developed, many of which prove to be unworkable in the field. These prototypes pave the way for future advances in military, construction, and fusion technology.
2066 Spring As the oil resources dry up across the globe, China's fossil fuel dependency causes an energy crisis in the nation. China, bordering on collapse, becomes more aggressive in its trade talks with the United States. Unwilling to export oil to China, talks between the United States and China break down.
2066 Summer Adding further insult to the Chinese-American relations, the first crude fusion cell is unveiled, one of the results of the Power Armor project. Devices designed for the fusion cell begin to be manufactured. Incorporating fusion power into the general US infrastructure begins, but the process is too slow to supply power to the regions that need it. Nearly thirteen years later, few sections of the United States were supplied with fusion power.
2066 Winter In the winter of 2066, China invades Alaska. The Anchorage Front Line becomes a true battleground.
2066 Winter As a sign of increasing tension between the two countries, Canada proves reluctant to allow American troops on Canadian soil or allow American planes to fly over Canadian airspace. The United States and Canadian tensions rise, but Canada eventually backs down, and US troops pass through Canada. This sets the stage for the Canadian annexation in 2076.
2067 The first suit of Power Armor is deployed in Alaska. While lacking the full mobility of future versions, this Power Armor is incredibly effective against Chinese tanks and infantry. Its ability to carry heavy ordinance becomes key in various localized conflicts, and it has the power to destroy entire towns without endangering the wearer. China rushes to create its own versions, but they are many years behind the United States.
2069 Canada begins to feel the pressure from the United States military as the US draws upon Canadian resources for the war effort. Vast stretches of timberland are destroyed, and other resources in Canada are stretched to the breaking point. Many Americans refer to Canada as Little America, and Canadian protests are unheard.
2069 March Vault 13 is finally completed - it is the last of the Vaults, and drills begin. Due to its late completion, the "cry wolf" effect that hurt the other Vaults is not as pronounced.
2070 The first of the Chryslus motors fusion-driven cars are developed. Reassuringly big and American, the limited models carry a hefty price tag but are sold out within days. Many Chryslus plants have long since been converted into making military ordinance.
2072 The United States' increasing demand for Canadian resources causes protests and riots in several Canadian cities. An attempted sabotage attempt of the Alaskan pipeline is all the military needs as an excuse to begin its annexation of Canada... which in fact, had already begun in 2067.
2073 Sept 15 As China becomes increasingly aggressive with their use of biological weapons, the United States government felt that a countermeasure was needed. The Pan-Immunity Virion Project (PVP) is officially formed and plans are made to begin experiments at the West Tek research facility in Southern California.
2074 Contrary to their claims of seeking only to retake Alaska from the Reds, American Power Armor units, infantry, and mechanized divisions are deployed to China, but they become bogged down on the mainland, putting a further drain on American resources and supply lines.
2075 March 21 PVP experiments continue at West Tek with batch 10-011, in the wake of successful tests of the virus on single-celled organisms. Experiments on plant cells are postponed. The pan-immunity virion is renamed FEV - the Forced Evolutionary Virus.
2075 May 9 FEV experiments continue at Mariposa with batch 10-011, in the wake of successful tests on flatworms, the flatworms exhibit increase size and heightened resistance to viral contagions. Experiments with insects have less success, and further experimentation on insects is postponed by Major Barnett.
2075 June 30 FEV experiments continue at Mariposa with batch 10-011, with white mice as subjects. Increased size, muscle density, and intelligence are noted.
2075 Nov 9 FEV experimentation (batch 10-011) on rabbits is concluded. Increased size, intelligence, and (this time) aggressiveness is noted. Apparently, it was hard to determine whether the flatworms in the previous experiments were angrier and more violent than normal. Frankly, the researchers cannot be blamed for this.
2076 January 3 A military team under the command of Colonel Spindel is sent to the West Tek research facility to monitor the experiments in the interest of national security. Captain Roger Maxson (the grandfather of John Maxson, the High Elder of the Brotherhood of Steel in F1) is among the team personnel.
2076 January 12 Splicing in several new gene sequences into their test virus, dogs are injected with batch 11-101a at Mariposa. Although increased strength was noted, increased intelligence was not.
2076 January The United States annexation of Canada is complete. Canadian protestors and rioters are shot on sight, and the Alaskan Pipeline swarms with American military units. Pictures of atrocities make their way to the United States, causing further unrest and protests.
2076 January 26 Using batch 11-011, experiments are conducted on raccoons. Same results are noted, but the attempted escape of several infected raccoons causes Major Barnett to terminate the escape... and the test subjects. Two pairs of raccoons, however, are unaccounted for.

Note: Scott Campbell and Chris Taylor intended these escaped raccoons to form an intelligent animal community NW of the Glow called the "Burrows." This location was never implemented.

2076 April 15 Once all secondary tests and studies are done on the test subjects, all dogs from the batch 11-101a FEV tests at Mariposa are terminated... from a safe distance.
2076 June Power Armor prototype completed, resulting in the Power Armor players find in Fallout 1. This is the pinnacle of Power Armor technology before the Great War. Many of these units are sent to China, and they begin to carve a swath through the Chinese forces. The Chinese resources are strained to the breaking point, and the supply lines from the nations China has annexed begin to break down.
2076 August Food and energy riots begin in major cities throughout the United States. Military units begin to be deployed in cities within the United States to contain rioters, and many temporary jails are constructed. A state of emergency is declared, and martial law soon follows.
2076 October 4 At West Tek, fifteen chimpanzees are infected with batch 11-111. The most successful test to date, growth and immunities in the chimpanzees surpass all other subjects to date. The military practically drools over the results. Plans are made in secret to begin testing in small quarantine towns in North America, and the Mariposa Military Base construction is sped up in anticipation of moving the West Tek project to a location under military supervision.
2077 January 7 Major Barnett orders transfer of all FEV research to the newly-constructed Mariposa Military Base, despite objections by the research team.
2077 January 10 Alaska is reclaimed, and the Anchorage Front Line is again held by the Americans.
2077 January 22 The first domestic use of Power Armor within the United States for crowd and quarantine control. Units originally serving in China and the Anchorage Front Line find themselves fighting Americans at home. Food riots increase, and many civilians are killed. Several soldiers defect from the military both in Canada and the United States. They are captured, and are sent to military prisons.
2077 February FEV Research is leaked to the world through an unknown source. Protests in many major cities and governments around the world, as well as accusations that the US was responsible for the New Plague. FEV is seen as the threat it is, and serves only to fuel tensions.
2077 March Prepared for a nuclear or biological attack from China, the president and the Enclave retreats to remote sections around the globe and make contingency plans for continuing the war.
2077 October Captain Roger Maxson and his men discover that the scientists at Mariposa have been using "military volunteers" (military prisoners who didn't have their brains scooped for use in Brain Bots) as test subjects in their experiments. Morale in the base breaks down, and Maxson executes Anderson, the chief scientist. Not long after this (and in light of the breakdown of the mental breakdown of Colonel Spindel stationed at the base), Maxson's men turn to him for leadership. He shrugs and says "we should quit."
2077 October 20 Captain Roger Maxson, now in control of Mariposa, declares himself to be in full desertion from the army (via radio)... and nothing happens. Worried, Maxson orders all families stationed outside the base moved inside the Mariposa facility.
2077 October 23 Great War: Bombs are launched; who struck first is unknown... and it is not even known if the bombs came from China or America. Air raid sirens sound, but very few people go into vaults, thinking it is a false alarm. The Vaults are sealed.
2077 October 23 Necropolis Vault [Vault 12] never closes. Once it becomes known that the other vaults have sealed, people within Bakersfield attempt to force their way into Vault 12 to protect themselves and their families.
2077 October 23 The West Tek research facility is hit by warheads, breaking open the FEV tanks on levels four and five and releasing it into the atmosphere. Once exposed to radiation, it begins to mutate and infect humans and critters in the wasteland and dooming the player character in F1 and F2 to endure hordes of random encounters.
2077 October 23 The Mariposa Military Base survives, the soldiers and scientists within protected from the radiation and FEV flooding the wasteland.
2077 October 25 Two days later at Mariposa, a scout in Power Armor (Platner) is sent out to get specific readings on the atmosphere. He reports no significant radiation in the area surrounding the facility.
2077 October 27 After burying the scientists in the wastes outside of Mariposa, the soldiers seal the military base, then head out into the desert, taking supplies and weapon schematics with them. Captain Maxson leads his men and families to the government bunker at Lost Hills. (This event was called the "Exodus," and the surviving soldiers went on to eventually form the Brotherhood of Steel.)

Note: Although Maxson's points in his holodisk indicated that civilian personnel (presumably families of the scientists or other civilians not associated with the military) were to remain at the base, whether they did or not is unknown.

2077 Nov Captain Maxson, his men, and their families, arrive at the Lost Hills bunker a few weeks later, suffering many casualties along the way, including Maxson's wife (but not his teenage son). The Lost Hills bunker becomes the HQ of the Brotherhood of Steel the Vault Dweller finds in Fallout 1.
2080 The first effects of the virus are seen in the survivors. Widespread mutations occur with animals and humans alike. Those that survive the effects of the mutations are permanently changed by the virus. New species are created almost overnight.
2083 Summer The city of Necropolis founded by the ghoul survivors of Vault 12 (and the US citizens that fled to Bakersfield when the bombs fell).
2084 Spring Set takes control of Necropolis, wresting control from the original Overseer. The Vault 12 Overseer, not willing to take a dirtnap, is driven north and history loses sight of him.
2090 Vault 29 opens. Harold (now human) sets out to make his fortune as a trader, making the circuit around the survivalist communities in the wasteland.
2091 Vault 8 opens, and they use their GECK to create fertile ground for their city. This eventually becomes Vault City.
2092 LA Vault opens, the Boneyard is founded and attracts survivors.
2092 Dr. Richard Moreau is exiled from Vault City for murder. The circumstances surrounding the murder are unknown, but he changes his last name to Grey and heads south.
2093 The Hub is founded by a man named Angus, who sets up camp around a filthy oasis in the desert, and he proceeds to begin trading with other settlements.
2096 Harold rises to the level of a caravan boss in the Hub. His caravans suffer occasional attacks in the wastes, but Harold's caravan outfit survives and prospers... until the mutant attacks begin to pick up a few years later.
2097 John Maxson, the future High Elder of the BOS in Fallout 1, is born.
2102 May 22 Increasing mutant attacks on Harold's caravans cause Harold to get so pissed he finances one of the first adventuring parties of Fallout to try and find out where these dagnab mutants are coming from. Consulting with a scientist and doctor at the Hub, a man by the name of Grey, the two of them decide to join forces.
2102 June 23 Richard Grey's Expedition [including Harold] finds the Mariposa Military Base and the Expedition is scattered and defeated by mutants at the base. Grey is knocked into one of the vats of FEV by a robotic arm, and Harold is knocked unconscious, only to awaken later out in the wasteland.
2102 June 27 Harold, already mutating, is found by traders and taken back to the Hub. His former caravan partners and employees, horrified by his condition, abandon him and he is soon left without even two bottlecaps to rub together.
2102 July Richard Grey, now horribly mutated by the virus, crawls from the Vats covered with FEV and in terrible pain. Barely able to think or perceive his surroundings, he crawls into the Vat control room and begins his audio log. He fades in and out of consciousness, sometimes for days or weeks at a time.
2102 July-Nov Richard Grey begins to acclimate to his condition, and begins his first tests of animals by exposing them to FEV. These experiments and his growing awareness lay the foundation for his plans for the Unity and the master race. He takes the name, "the Master."
2102 Nov The first human victim wanders into Mariposa, and Grey consumes him.
2102 Dec Grey continues his experiments on wanderers that enter Mariposa... with no success. The creations are flawed (due to the radiation counts in their bodies), making them big but incredibly stupid, and Grey consumes them rather than letting them live.
2103 January The Master discovers the problem with the influence of radiation on his mutations, and he begins to choose his subjects more carefully. The first classic super mutants are born, butt-scratching animations and all. He begins his plans to build an army.
2103-2130 Throughout this period, the Master begins slowly gathering test subjects, willing or unwilling, from local human stock. The Great Winter of 2130 and the scarcity of human subjects make building his army difficult.
2120 Angus rules over growing Hub and establishes himself as governor.
2125 Winter Angus is murdered. Hub is thrown into chaos.
2126 A band of merchants seizes the water tower in the Hub. They demand anyone wanting water must pay a toll. The Great Merchant Wars begin.
2126-2128 The Great Merchant Wars are fought, the Water Merchants seal up the town, but are outnumbered. A man named Roy Greene (Justin Greene's grandfather) makes the peace and negotiates a settlement. The Hub's Central Council is formed, composed of two representatives from each of the Hub caravan companies. A long period of indecisiveness and meetings maintain the status quo in the Hub.
2130 The Great Winter occurs.
2131-2135 The Master begins ordering his super mutants to gather human stock from caravans. For many years, the caravan disappearances are blamed on monsters in the desert, and even when the abductions begin to occur on Hub caravans, the deathclaws are blamed. The super mutant army grows.
2134 A faction within the Brotherhood of Steel led by Sergeant Dennis Allen gains strength, and they urge the Elders to let them explore the southeast Glow for artifacts. The Elders refuse, so Allen and his divisionist group splits away from the Brotherhood of Steel, taking some technology and weapons with them.
2134 Led by Sergeant Dennis Allen, a small team of the Brotherhood of Steel head to the West Tek research facility in search of technological artifacts. They arrive there twenty days later, and are promptly chewed apart by the West Tek's unforgiving automated defense systems. Wounded, Allen begins to suffer radiation poisoning from a leak in his suit. Before he dies, he logs what happened to the expedition into a holodisk then goes to join the Brotherhood in the sky.
2135 Elder Roger Maxson dies of cancer, and his son, already an accomplished soldier, takes up the role of "General" (Elder) within the Brotherhood of Steel. John Maxson becomes a member of the Paladins, showing tremendous promise as a soldier.
2137 Master's begins to mass-produce super mutants. Only about one in six or one in five attempts are successful, and of these successes, only half seem to last to go on to be part of his growing army, called the Unity.
2140 Decker forms Underground in the Hub and starts pulling strings.
2141 Spring Vault 15 opened.
2141 Vault Dweller born. [This will vary according to your player character's age in Fallout 1.]
2141 Winter Raiders begin to form in the region as food supplies run low. The Khans and the Vipers begin terrorizing local settlements.
2142 Spring Shady Sands founded, wall erected against the raiders.
2145 Cute lil' Tandi is born, unaware that by the time F2 rolls around she will turn into a wizened old crone that is hard on the eyes.
2152 As their influence slowly spreads throughout the wastes, the Master finds humans, doomsday cultists, and rather than dip them in the vats, he demands their obedience as spies - their leader is a man named Morpheus, and he pledges his followers to the Master. Morpheus and his cultists form the future core of the Children of the Cathedral.
2155 John Maxson's father dies in a raid by the Vipers. Expecting the raiders to break and run, Maxson doesn't take into account the religious ferocity of the Vipers (or their poisoned weapons), and when a single arrow nicks him with his helmet off, he dies within hours. John Maxson takes up the role of Elder, and Rhombus becomes the new head of the Paladins.
2155-2156 After capturing a caravan of strange-garbed travelers (vault dwellers), Master learns the location of the Boneyard Vault, the future site of the Cathedral. He conquers the inhabitants and sets up operations there, and the human cultists begin to use the Vault as their powerbase. Within the Vault, the Master learns of other Vaults, and realizing their human occupants are ripe for transformation, begins to send out patrols to Vault locations in search of these other Vaults.
2156 The Master sees advantages in establishing a benevolent "religion," the Children of the Cathedral, and using them as spies in settlements throughout the wastes. Missionaries from the Children of the Cathedral spread slowly across the wasteland, acting as eyes and ears for Morpheus and the Master.
2157 The Master learns the location of the Bakersfield Vault, Vault 12, and sends a detachment of super mutants there to seize the vault. Many ghouls are snapped like twigs in the attack, and Set finally parleys with the super mutants, telling them that the ghouls are the Vault survivors the super mutants are looking for. The super mutants, angered at failing to find an intact Vault, set up a small garrison at the watershed to watch the inhabitants and insure Set's... cooperation in the war to come.
2161 October A Brotherhood of Steel patrol comes across a dead super mutant in the badlands. They take the corpse back to the Scribes, and Head Scribe Vree begins her examinations of the super mutant.
2161 Dec 5 Fallout 1 Begins: Vault Dweller is kicked out of Vault 13 to find a replacement water chip.
2161 Dec 15 Vault Dweller discovers Shady Sands. Meets Tandi, and Ian, who joins the Vault Dweller in searching for the water chip.
2161 Dec 30 Vault Dweller recruits Dogmeat in Junktown.
2162 January 17 Vault Dweller reaches the Hub and negotiates with the Water Merchants to deliver water to Vault 13, buying the Vault some time.
2162 February 13 Vault Dweller recovers the water chip in Necropolis. Ian is killed by a super mutant and reduced to a cinder, ending his tendency to shoot the Vault Dweller in the back with SMG bursts.
2162 March 3 Vault Dweller kicks the Master's ass.
2162 April 20 Vault Dweller destroys the Military Base. Dogmeat dies defending his master.
2162 May 10 Fallout 1 Ends: Vault Dweller returns to Vault 13, only to be told "you're a hero, and you have to leave." Some members of the Vault (led by Lydia, the head of the "return to the surface" faction, and including her supporters, Theresa and Lyle) follow soon afterwards.
2165 May 12 Vault Dweller removes the Vault suit and from this day forward, never wears it again.
2165 July 10 Vault Dweller heads North with a small group of Vault-dwellers and wastelanders and founds the small village of Arroyo.
2167 August 18 Construction of Arroyo completed.
2185 Summer At high noon, Marcus and Brotherhood of Steel Paladin Jacob cross paths many, many miles southwest of Broken Hills and punch and shoot each other for a few days. Eventually, they give up, unable to get an advantage over the other. The two start traveling together, arguing over Master and BOS doctrine and whether or not the Master could truly neurolink his biology into the Cathedral computer network.
2185 Fall Marcus and Jacob, along with the trail of ghouls, humans, and super mutants, found the community of Broken Hills.
2186 Spring Jacob moves on, says goodbye to Marcus, then moves on for parts unknown.
2186 New California Republic formed, and a central council is created as a governing body.
2188 October 2 Vault Dweller has a daughter (who becomes the Elder in Fallout 2).
2196 Tandi unanimously elected President of NCR by the NCR council. As expected, she proceeds to do a kick-ass job.
2198 Enclave works on various new technologies, including Power Armor variations. None of these are much of an improvement over the conventional old school Power Armor, and some are actually worse.
2208 January 16 After writing the F2 manual memoirs, Vault Dweller vanishes from Arroyo and is presumed dead. The Vault Dweller leaves the Vault Suit behind, folded on the bed. Some say the Vault Dweller was taken by the sky spirits, others say that the Vault Dweller felt it was time to move on and leave the Elders to guide Arroyo to its destiny.
2208 February 2 The One-Moon (Month) Cycle of mourning for the Vault Dweller ends, and activity in Arroyo begins to return to normal.
2208 February 2 Final training of the Vault Dweller's daughter for the role of village elder begins. She undergoes a great deal of physical training and tutoring in various sciences, mathematics, and, of course, weapon skills.
2210 January 31 Vault Dweller's daughter takes her mystic test, a key ingredient of which is several pots worth of hallucinogenic plants from Hakuinn's garden. She runs the gauntlet in the Temple of Trials, using her charm to pass most of the tests after her handgun jams (and is ruined) on the first level. She offers numerous criticisms of the test, resulting in many revisions.

Note: The broken handgun is the one you see on her table in the opening movie of Fallout 2.

2210 February 2 Vault Dweller's daughter ascends to role of Village Elder. She rules with a steady hand, and her wisdom is greatly respected.
2211 Frank Horrigan is born... unfortunately.
2215 August 1 Congressman Richardson rises to power within the Enclave, aided by pressure from his father, President Richardson.
2215 Under Presidential Order, Enclave scientists begin to work on an upgraded version of Power Armor. Many prototypes are developed and tested.
2220 March 5 Congressman Richardson is elected president for the first term of five, through aid and political pressure by his father (President Richardson).
2220 October Enclave scientists develop a reliable version of the Mark II Power Armor. The prototype results (and accidents... and explosions... and deaths) are classified by order of the President Richardson for the sake of morale.
2221 March 23 The "Chosen One" is born. The Chosen One's father is not recorded in the tribal records. The reason for this is unknown, but the Elder may have simply been embarrassed.
2231 Melchior's son is born.
2235 The Enclave experiments on deathclaws, attempting to create special fighting units for waging war in hostile environments.
2235 While there had already been a small number of ghouls in Gecko at this time, more come to the area, and the town of Gecko is formed. The new influx of ghouls bring scavenged technology and know-how, and the power plant in Gecko becomes operational later that year. Vault City looks upon their new neighbors with growing concern.
2236 July 20 Enclave scouts discover the remains of the Mariposa Military Base and find it partially destroyed.
2236 July-August Enclave scientists and chemical corps scour the remains of Mariposa, while assault squads comb the desert for slaves they can use to mine the military base and get to the Vats. One of the squads includes soldier Frank Horrigan, 25 at the time, recently removed from duty on the President's secret service to take some RNR time in the wastes after some undocumented psychotic blunder or another.
2236 August Melchior is captured by an Enclave patrol and becomes part of the slave mining force at the Military Base.
2236 Sept Enclave construction crews and super mutant slaves begin excavations. They uncover the FEV virus, and mutations begin to occur in the human workers. Frank Horrigan comes into contact with the FEV and is sent to the Enclave labs for study.
2236 October Melchior begins to mutate... but keeps his intelligence and cunning in the wake of the transformation, making him pretty smart for a super mutant. Realizing that the Enclave will kill the super mutants after they get the FEV data, he begins to use his magician talents to secret away weapons for the mutants to defend themselves when the Enclave decides to dispense with them.
2237 January Enclave, having obtained the FEV data, abandons the Military Base site after more mutations occur, causing 2nd Generation Super Mutants to arise - the Enclave leaves a single squad behind to wipe out the super mutants, but the mutants, using armaments they have cached in the base during excavation, reduce the squad to ashes after suffering heavy casualties. The remaining 1st and 2nd Generation super mutant slaves decide to remain in the Base, and the group forms a new community.
2236-2238 Horrigan gradually mutates from exposure to FEV, gaining the physique and slow, stupid, single-mindedness of a super mutant. He is kept heavily sedated, operated on, and studied. He is conscious for only brief periods at a time, then quickly sedated after the bloodshed is over.
2238 Harold arrives in Gecko, and (with a lot of shaking of his head) he does his best to help the ghouls with the running of the Nuclear Power Plant.
2239 January 23 Tests begin to run dry on Frank Horrigan. It is suggested that he be used as a field operative and be used in tests in the wasteland against local populations.
2239 March 27 Frank Horrigan is manufactured for his new role. A new version of Power Armor is built to accommodate his mass, and he is sealed inside. After a few horrifically successful field tests, Horrigan becomes the Enclave's solution to numerous sticky problems.
2241 The worst dry season in many years causes a drought in the Northern California area, hurting crops and brahmin in both Arroyo and Modoc.
2241 January The first samples of Jet begin to arrive in Redding, courtesy of the Mordino family.
2241 February Vault City rejects offers of an alliance with both the Bishop family of New Reno and NCR.
2241 March Raider attacks on caravans to Vault City begin.
2241 July 25 Fallout 2 Begins: Chosen One begins his mystic test, descending into the Temple of Trials.
2241 July 27 Chosen One leaves Arroyo in search of the GECK.
2242 May 15 Enclave sends a coded sequence to Vault 13, activating its central computer and declaring that is time to leave the Vault. Martin Frobisher gathers the Vault dwellers together for tutorial movie.
2242 May 16 Less than a day later, Vault 13 is opened, only to be greeted by two Enclave verti-assault squads. The squads kill three of the citizens who were "resisting capture," and storm the Vault, kidnapping all the inhabitants.
2242 May 17 Enclave animal handlers drop a Deathclaw unit into Vault 13 from a safe distance to kill anyone investigating the Vault and cloak the Enclave's presence. Other Deathclaws are sent into the desert surrounding Vault 13 to check for any escapees or witnesses.
2242 Fall Fallout 2 Ends: The Chosen One enters the Enclave using the damaged tanker and destroys the Poseidon oil platform, killing the President of the United States and ending the Enclave's plans for world domination.

Horrigan update[]

Just to clarify...

Horrigan is a mutant, but Horrigan was a monster before his exposure to FEV in the military base (he had many psychological problems which may be included in a Horrigan psychological profile in the future).

It's important to note that Horrigan has never considered himself a mutant; only the scientists at the Enclave would consider him one, but they mostly referred to him as an "experiment," and even then, not to his face. Most soldiers considered Horrigan a walking nuke, something the tech boys built, and they were not generally aware of his mutant status. Most did consider him a freak, however, and there were few soldiers who wanted to accompany him on missions.

Horrigan has always been loyal to the Presidency, to the Enclave, and the armed forces - this loyalty was present before his exposure to FEV, and it was reinforced by Presidential Directive through various conditioning and testing programs developed by the Enclave. Horrigan's low Intelligence (which was further damaged by the FEV exposure) made these conditioning programs take root easily.

Last words[]

That's it - this should bring you up to date with the Feb. 25th update. Look for the next update on March 11th.

Thanks for reading,

Chris Avellone @ BIS

Advertisement