“I was a guard for the merchants of the Hub. However, I was shot during a raid by bandits. I've been staying here, since the people have helped me recover. Still, my knowledge of the outside world and my experience make me useful here.”
A short, stocky man fit for caravan guard duty, since becoming a resident, Ian has adopted Shady Sands as his new home. Sometime prior to 2161, he was employed by the Crimson Caravan Company as a guard during a routine caravan route to the small settlement. However, routine did not mean safe, as a sudden attack led to Ian being shot by raiders, staying behind in Shady Sands to recuperate.[1][2] Touched by the kindness of the Shady Sands townsfolk who helped him recover, Ian ultimately decided to retire from the CCC and stay with them. His experience and skills helped him contribute as a defender under Seth's command, as very few of the townsfolk ever left its safe walls to begin with and thus had no experience handling the dangers of the wasteland beyond. His role is only part-time and Ian occasionally makes a run to Junktown and the Hub to do trading for the settlement.[3]
These traits endeared the Vault Dweller to him when the man from Vault 13 first came to Shady Sands in 2161, forming a companionship as Ian helped the Vault Dweller on his search for a water chip to help his fellow dwellers. Together, they scouted Vault 15 but were unable to recover its water chip and were forced to look elsewhere.[Non-game 3] Following a long trek through the wastelands, the two finally reached the ghoul city of Necropolis. When they attempted to engage the super mutants at the Watershed in battle, Ian lost his life to the plume of a flamer unleashed by one of the super mutants, burning him to death. The smell of Ian's scorched flesh would haunt the Vault Dweller for years to come, though he eventually managed to recover the water chip from the Vault in Necropolis to return to Vault 13.[Non-game 4]
Recruit Ian: Ian can be recruited as a companion for 100 caps, or for free if the Vault Dweller has an Intelligence of 6+.
Companion[]
Ian is the first companion NPC available in Fallout. As a companion, he is skilled with small guns and his animation frames allow him to use pistols, large handguns (i.e. the 10mm SMG, 14mm pistol, and .223 pistol), knives and unarmed weapons (e.g. power fists), greatly increasing the player's ability to fight wasteland threats. The best handgun he can wield being the .223 pistol.
He is effective with a 10mm SMG early on but becomes a liability with it when more companions join, due to friendly fire from the burst firing mode on the gun and his 1-in-4 chance to use it. He is very capable with the .223 pistol and 14mm pistol.
Ian was commonly considered by fans to be as much of a threat to the Vault Dweller as to their enemies. The most likely reason is that players collect the 10mm SMG from Vault 15 and give it to Ian. The AI will opt for bursts, and does not check for the presence of friendlies in the cone of fire, leading to frequent incidents. If given semi-automatic weapons exclusively, Ian is much safer to be around, and a lot deadlier.
Despite having the Big Guns skill tagged, Ian cannot use large weaponry like miniguns due to a lack of animation frames.
His sprite is shared with raiders that can be encountered while wandering the wasteland and the Skulz leader Vinnie, making distinguishing him from an enemy difficult without looking closely.
Because of his experience from being a former caravan guard, Ian can mark Junktown and the Hub on the worldmap, and has a lot to say about the places visited - especially at the Hub.
Ian will turn hostile if the people in Shady Sands are attacked when he is not in the party.
Comments[]
He has unique float dialogue for locations around the northern wasteland;
The Hub is the biggest trading center in the New West. It's run primarily by a group called the Water Merchants, but there are some other traders there, too. It's a booming town, but there's a lot of political fighting between the traders.
There are several different groups of raiders out there. The most organized group is called the Khans; they seem to think they can conquer the world or something.
Ian can be acquired at the shop by any player character that has Charisma. Prior to starting a fight with him as the active companion, the player character can exhaust him in order to lower the enemy's level by one, to a minimum of 1. However, he also damages the player character in the process, dealing two points of friendly fire.
When the player performs the camp action, he will become unexhausted. However, if the player character does not have Luck at this time, he must be discarded.
Jesse Heinig, a designer on Fallout, mentions that he pushed for a few things during the game's design, including the ability to have companions, such as Ian.[Non-game 5] He was a test case character designed to see if the engine could handle non-player-controlled followers who would move from map to map with the player's character. Though the initial implementation required some troubleshooting, it functioned well enough for the team to decide to implement followers.[Non-game 6]
Ian is also based on Ian Dunteman, one of Jesse Heining's best friends at the time.[Non-game 7][Non-game 6]
Ian's line when asked to tell me about "Apocalypse" is a reference to a quote by Albert Einstein: "I do not know with what weapons World War III will be fought, but World War IV will be fought with sticks and stones."
Fallout 2[]
In Fallout 2, a Chosen One with an Intelligence below 4 can say to Angela Bishop that they traveled with someone named "Iam," who kept burst-shooting them from behind. This is a reference to Ian's reputation of accidentally causing fire with SMGs.
At one point in the planning for Fallout 2, Ian was going to be revealed as having survived and living in Vault City under the name of Old Joe. According to his dialogue, Ian would mistake the Chosen One for the Vault Dweller and would reminisce about the events from Fallout before realizing the mistaken identity. Commenting on the prejudiced nature of Vault City's citizens, he would give the Chosen One a gun, apparently, his old Colt 6520 10mm pistol before sending them away, encouraging the Chosen One to make the Vault Dweller proud.[4] This would have contradicted the Vault Dweller's memoirs in the Fallout 2 manual, which stated that Ian died at Necropolis in 2161. At the Café of Broken Dreams, Tandi mentions that she believes Ian is at the Abbey, a cut area.
Despite his in-game sprite in Fallout (not unique to Ian but shared with other characters) seemingly having long hair, illustrations in Fallout: New California and Magic: The Gathering portray him with short hair and a beard.
Ian's abilities in both New California and Magic reference his reputation for hitting the Vault Dweller with friendly fire.
↑The Vault Dweller: "{137}{}{Can you give me directions to the Hub and Junktown?}" Ian: "{1106}{}{Most caravans come from the Hub. They travel all over the place. I worked for a group called the Crimson Caravan before my untimely injury.}" (Ian's dialogue)
↑The Vault Dweller: "{129}{}{Tell me about the rest of the world.}" Katrina: "{136}{}{I know very little of the outside world. I escaped from a Vault when it was attacked. Unfortunately, I was very hurt and do not remember much of what happened. But Dharma was watching over me, and I was found by the people of Shady Sands. I live here now. Have you spoken with Ian, yet? He is a merchant guard who was hurt. He is recovering in the guardhouse over there. [She points to the east] He is more widely travelled than I.}" (Katrina's dialogue)
↑The Vault Dweller: "{109}{}{What do you do here?}" Ian: "{112}{}{I was a guard for the merchants of the Hub. However, I was shot during a raid by bandits. I've been staying here, since the people have helped me recover. Still, my knowledge of the outside world and my experience make me useful here. Shady Sands is my home now. Occasionally, I even get to visit Junktown or the Hub to do some trading, since I'm the only person here who has ever really left town.}" (Ian's dialogue)
↑ The Chosen One: "{124}{}{What's going on here?}" Old Joe: "{125}{}{Well, the Vault Citizens think very highly of their bloodline and don't care much for people like me and you. You take this gun. It'll protect you if things get a little out of control. You probably shouldn't be seen talking with this crazy old man. Best get on your way.}" (Old Joe's dialogue)
Non-game
↑Fallout Bible 0: "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."
↑Fallout 2 manual: "With their knowledge, and the help of a man called Ian, I continued on my way to Vault 15. The ruins of Vault 15, to be more specific. Ravaged by the elements, scavengers, and time itself, Vault 15 was no help for my people. The control room that contained their water-chip was buried under tons of fallen rock, and I had to move on."
↑Fallout 2 manual: "The Hub was a larger city than both Junktown and Shady Sands combined. You could drop the Vault in there, and you probably would not notice. But the people of the Hub had no life, and it was a desolate place just the same. It eased my mind, however, to hire some merchants to bring water to the Vault. Looking back, it was probably a mistake to do so, but I was still innocent of the evils that lurked through the ruins of civilization. A small clue led me to the city of the ghouls, the place they called Necropolis. It was there that I encountered large mutants, armed with weapons of an unknown origin. It is with heavy sadness that I say that Ian lost his life in the city of the dead. A super mutant burned him to death with a flamethrower. The passage of time is no proof against the memory of burning flesh. His sacrifice was not in vain, as I did find the water-chip buried beneath the city. It was with easier steps that I returned to Vault 13."
↑Jesse Heinig: "I also lobbied hard for a couple of things that did make it into the game ...... companions who could join the Vault Dweller (since they were in the initial design doc but got cut, but I figured out a way to 'fake' Ian into the game and the programmers decided to make it stick)" (NMA Fallout Developers Profile - Jesse Heinig)
↑Fallout: The RPG - Winter of Atom: Behind-the-Scenes Creator Chat (1:21:21): Jesse Heinig: "For me, it's, uh, Ian from Fallout 1, because at the time that I put him in the game, he was based on one of my best friends from that era." Chelsea "Dot" Steverson: "Oh, cool!" Jesse Heinig: "The actual Ian is still alive and doing well, and has never shot me in the back with a submachine gun."
↑Fallout Bible 6: "In FO2, the random encounter Café of Broken Dreams Tandi says Ian is some ware in FO2 is this true and if so, where?"
↑Fallout Bible 8: "Ian was actually slated for the Abbey and the Den that I know of, but something that Ausir (I think) pointed out, he was actually in Vault City before he was cut from the game."
named Killian. It's just a few days southwest of Shady Sands.
The Chosen One: "{124}{}{What's going on here?}"
