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The people that live on the Hangar Deck are the great unwashed masses. I read that somewhere. Do you like it? Anyway, they need true leaders, like myself.

Bannon is the owner of Potomac Attire, a clothing store in the Rivet City marketplace, and a member of the Rivet City Council representing civilian interests in Fallout 3.[1]

Background[]

Bannon is Rivet City's fashionista and most ruthless merchant. After immigrating to the city in 2265, at the young age of 18, his trade in clothes of all kinds led to a meteoric rise in the power structure of the city and its marketplace. By the age of thirty, he is the civilian representative on the Rivet City Council, and convinced himself that the City's position as the strongest settlement in the wasteland is entirely due to his leadership and sponsoring its development. In fact, he claims that he organized and heads the city council, and considers the "equality" of citizens in Rivet City as a smokescreen to conceal its oligarch, Bannon of the Potomac Attire.[2]

Bannon is perfectly aware that his version of history is warped and inaccurate, but keeps telling it because few at Rivet City know the real version of the events or care enough to confront him.[3] Belle Bonny is among the only people capable of contradicting Bannon's version of events,[4] but Bannon doesn't care about her or the original founders: What matters is the story that will live on, and he intends to be its author, rewriting it to ensure that people like him stand out in it, rather than those who founded the science station and the council[5] a decade before Bannon was born, and three before he arrived in the city.[6]

Although Bannon would like to be the City's sole ruler, he's actually one of three, representing the civilians - primarily market traders. The other representatives are Madison Li (science) and Harkness (security). Bannon is the most predatory member of the council, consistently advocating for measures that would increase the flow of caps into the treasury at the expense of the outside. This, in turn, would greatly increase Bannon's fortunes, as he can tap into the city's funds as a council member - to the point he's accused of treating them as a personal bank account.[7] For example, as Rivet City is one of the only suppliers of clean vegetables and fruit in the Capital Wasteland, Bannon proposes to jack up the prices of exported fruit by 50% and imposing a bridge tax on non-residents. Both proposals failed due to Li and Harkness voting against them, leading to continued good relations with traders. Bannon also unsuccessfully proposed closing off the lower deck fore,[8] likely to interfere with Belle Bonny, whom he detests as an old hag (and one of the few people old enough to realize the lie in his story), and together with Harkness voted down Li's proposal to recruit scientists from the Underworld and Tenpenny Tower.[9]

Despite Bannon's posturing and ego,[10] he continues to hold his seat of the council with the tacit tolerance of Doctor Li, often taken for ignoring his character flaws or even obliviousness.[Non-game 1] In reality, Li is focused primarily on keeping the science lab running and refuses to get involved with political plays by Bannon's rivals, no matter how well intentioned they are. She may be very well aware that Bannon doesn't have the best interests of the city at heart,[11] but since he has not done anything truly harmful to the city, his personality issues remain immaterial.[12] The fact that Bannon doesn't actually hold much power in the council is also a factor: Harkness takes care of security and Li handles most of everything else, so Bannon only represents the merchants.[13] Even then, it's only kind of representing, since Bannon advocates exclusively for his own business, ignoring the needs and priorities of everyone else.[7]

Relationships[]

Bannon's greed has earned him the sworn enmity of Seagrave Holmes, a working class trader who's worked on the Rivet City carrier all his life. Holmes is fed up with Bannon's disinterest in representing the merchants,[7] and is looking for any opportunity to remove him. Seagrave believes that a council member should have the interests of the City at heart, not just their own profits, for which he'd sell his own children.[11]

Aware that Seagrave does actually stand a chance of displacing him on the council, Bannon is willing to play dirty to preserve his position and getting dirt on Holmes.[14] His suspicions aren't entirely unwarranted: While Holmes is honest and has the trust of other merchants in the marketplace, he was a slaver in the past, selling people to Eulogy Jones.[15] He came to his senses eventually, and hasn't worked with the slavers for years, much to Eulogy's frustration.[16] However, Bannon is playing a risky game: He has few friends on the security force, and Lana Danvers in particular would like to see him replaced by Seagrave.[17] In fact, she's perfectly willing to inform the merchants that Bannon was blackmailing Seagrave, without investigating the blackmail itself, on the word of the Lone Wanderer.[18]

On the personal side, Bannon is childless (it is unclear if he actually did as Seagrave says),[11] but popular with the ladies: He leads an active sex life, and has contracted syphilis and is treated by Doctor Preston with penicilin.[19] Cindy Cantelli has a crush on him.[Non-game 1] Finally, he's a regular patron at Gary's Galley, where he usually eats brahmin steak with scotch for breakfast at Gary's Galley.[20]

Interactions with the player character[]

Interactions overview[]

Interactions
Icon quest starter
This character starts quests.
FO76 ui icon quest
This character is involved in quests.
FO76 ui trading team
This character is a merchant. Bottle cap 160-390
Sells: clothing
2d20 Jury Rigger
This character can repair items. Max Repair condition: 49
Icon severed ear color
This character drops an ear upon death (Contract Killer).

Quests[]

Merchant[]

  • Bannon has two shop inventories. One is his normal full inventory which includes his wares on display in the Rivet City market. The other is a more limited inventory which is only available from 7:00 AM while he is en-route to the marketplace.

Inventory[]

Notable quotes[]

Appearances[]

Bannon appears only in Fallout 3.

Gallery[]

References[]

  1. Bannon: "Welcome to Potomac Attire. I am Bannon, proprietor and City Council member."
  2. Lone Wanderer: "Do you know anything about Rivet City's history?"
    Bannon: "Why, I practically set this whole place up. When I got here twelve years ago, it was just a handful of dead-enders squatting in a rusted-out rowboat. Now I'm on the council, and with my leadership, we're the strongest settlement in the Wastes! Of course, a few of those dead-enders still stick around, but who'd want to leave?"
    Lone Wanderer: "That makes sense. And it explains why you're on the Council."
    Bannon: "Precisely! After sponsoring the settlement and organizing the city council, I took my rightful place at its head. Oh, of course we're all "equals" there. People would complain if we didn't at least say that. But you and I know better, don't we?"
  3. Lone Wanderer: "Hasn't Rivet City been around for longer than twelve years?"
    Bannon: "Well, yes, but it was hardly anyplace of importance until I arrived on the scene. That's all ancient history now. No one would ever care about it. If you insist on wasting your time on that, you could try that bartending old crone down below, Belle Bonny."
  4. Lone Wanderer: "Really? Because Bannon said he organized the entire place himself."
    Belle Bonny: "Why, that lying son of a bitch! He wasn't even born when I got here! Wanna know this tub's history? Only person who really knows it is Pinkerton. And he's dead, so you're outta luck. Probably some old notes in his shed down in the other half of the ship. You want to grab them, have a blast."
  5. Lone Wanderer: "You lied to me about Rivet City's history! Pinkerton told me the truth!"
    Bannon: "So? Who cares about that old coot, or his pathetic story? It's people like me that have turned his little "science station" into someplace great."
  6. Rivet City Council Minutes
  7. 7.0 7.1 7.2 Lone Wanderer: "Bannon tells me you're trying to steal his Council seat."
    Seagrave Holmes: "Steal it? Hardly. He runs the council like it's his own personal bank account. He's supposed to represent all the market businesses, not just himself. It's about time he was replaced.
  8. Tammy Hargrave: "The Muddy Rudder. Belle waters down the liquor, but it's cheap. It's on the lower deck."
  9. Rivet City terminal entries, Council minutes
  10. Lone Wanderer: "So you're on the City Council."
    Bannon: "Doctor Li, Chief Harkness and I are all on the council. We meet every Monday morning. I can be very influential, if you know what I mean."
  11. 11.0 11.1 11.2 Rivet City terminal entries, Bannon
  12. Rivet City terminal entries, RE: Bannon
  13. Lone Wanderer: "Who's in charge around here?"
    Harkness: "It doesn't work like that. I'm in charge of security. Doctor Li runs most of everything else. Bannon kind of represents the merchants. He also owns Potomac Attire."
  14. Bannon's request
  15. Seagrave's incriminating letter
  16. Lone Wanderer: "You've been doing business with Slavers, and I have a letter that proves it."
    Seagrave Holmes: "If you had read that letter you'd know I'm no slaver and you know I'm not dealing with them. But if that letter gets out, they won't trust me. I'll never get a seat on the council and Bannon will make me pay for trying to replace him. If you care about Rivet City half as much as I do, tell Danvers that Bannon is blackmailing me, but don't show her the letter"
  17. Lone Wanderer: "I found this letter in Seagrave's room. I thought you should see it."
    Lana Danvers: "This is bad. Seagrave Holmes was angling for a seat on the council. He can forget about that now. Once the market vendors get wind of his past, they'll never trust him. Too bad."
  18. Lone Wanderer: "Bannon is trying to blackmail Seagraves Holmes."
    Lana Danvers: "That's pretty underhanded, even for Bannon. Once word gets out, I bet the market vendors won't want him to represent them anymore. Thank you for your help, citizen."
  19. Rivet City terminal entries, Patient files
  20. Idle conversation at the Galley.

Non-game

  1. 1.0 1.1 1.2 Fallout 3 Official Game Guide Game of the Year Edition p.61
    "Bannon:
    Bannon, 30, is a snappy dresser and a shrewd businessman. His wares are high priced, because he's got no competition. His motto is "If you don't like the pants, go find them yourself." Cindy Cantelli has a crush on him and sits with him in church. She also leaves when he does. Bannon is one of three city council members, along with Doctor Li and Harkness. They meet on Monday mornings for a few hours to discuss city-wide issues. He has quite the ego but was chosen by Doctor Li to sit on the city council. She seems oblivious to his flaws."
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