New York City, also called New York, NYC or the Big Apple,[1] was a pre-War city in the former American state of New York. It is mentioned multiple times in the Fallout series.
Background[]
Pre-War[]
Inhabited by Native Americans for thousands of years before being settled by European colonists in the 17th century, New York City became one of the largest cities on the North American continent and in the nation of the United States of America, serving as a prominent port of entry for immigrants and a national icon after the erection of the Statue of Liberty.[2] After World War II and the formation of the United Nations, the city was selected as the home of its headquarters. It remained as such for over a hundred years, until the United Nations disbanded on July 26, 2052, after it failed to prevent the eruption of the Euro-Middle Eastern War. This marked the symbolic beginning of the Resource Wars.[3]
By that time, the city overwhelmingly relied on nuclear power to meet its energy requirements. In 2065, the city's population had reached 17 million, and in June energy demands on a reactor powering the city almost caused it to go critical. The near-meltdown resulted in the introduction of power rationing, with the incident becoming known as the "Hot Summer."[Non-game 1]
New York City remained a major center of American as well as global culture and commerce even into the country's final years. Dean Domino boasts of having performed in New York,[4] while Johnny Weston pursued a failed acting career there.[5] Wall Street was a prominent center of stock trading, often synonymous with American capitalism.[6] On a local level, the city's baseball team had a long-running rivalry with Boston's Swatting Sultans.[7]
The Great War[]
As a world-renowned symbol of the nation, New York was also a major target for America's enemies, resulting in it reportedly being hit by multiple nuclear weapons on October 23, 2077;[8] the destruction wrought was apparently severe enough to break even hardened military servicemen.[9]
In the immediate aftermath of the nuclear apocalypse, surviving military commanders deemed the city lost[10] and other survivors spread word of New York City being a place to avoid, hearing that it was, at the very least, much worse off than Boston in Massachusetts.[11]
Post-War status[]
Currently, New York City's post-War status is not fully known. The Assaultron Adelaide, who attempted to find Broadway in Central Manhattan sometime between the Great War and 2105,[12] reported the Big Apple had become a "big crater" (or at least the areas surrounding Broadway).[1]
Around the late 2280s, the Brotherhood of Steel passed over numerous cities along the East Coast during the expedition from the Capital Wasteland to the Commonwealth aboard their airship the Prydwen, with eyewitness accounts telling of derelict skyscrapers taken over by mutants.[13]
Notable locations[]
- Broadway - A major center for performing arts,[12] claimed to be destroyed together with the city.[1]
- The Federal Reserve Bank of New York - Noted for its strong biometric security systems that were linked to criminal databases to lock known felons out, as Johnny Weston learned.[14]
- Flatbush - A neighborhood that was the site of an abduction by the Zetans.[15]
- Headquarters of the United Nations - The building that served as the headquarters for the United Nations from its inception to its disbanding in the 2050s. The President gave a speech commemorating the occasion. The building was then subject to a bidding war for its prime real-estate, and there were considerations to turn it into a mall.
- SoHo - An artistic neighborhood renowned for its galleries.[16]
- Wall Street - A major street in the Financial District of New York, and the home of the largest stock exchange in the United States. Communists commonly identified the "Wall Street gang" (financiers and bankers, i.e. capitalists) as the true masters of the American empire, blaming the eruption of the Sino-American War on their war mongering.[6]
- Women's Lunatic Asylum on Blackwell's Island - The site of a landmark investigation by Nellie Bly into the treatment of patients at mental hospitals in New York.[17]
Appearances[]
New York City is mentioned in Fallout 3 and its add-on Mothership Zeta, the Fallout: New Vegas add-on Dead Money, Fallout 4 and its add-on Far Harbor, and Fallout 76 and its updates. It is also mentioned in Fallout Bible 0.
Behind the scenes[]
- New York City is based on the real-world city of the same name, statistically the most populous in the United States.
- A Fallout Tactics pre-War company, Manhattan Projects, shares its name with the U.S. nuclear weapons program, the Manhattan Project, itself derived from Manhattan, a borough of New York City where its first administrative office was located.
- During the early planning of Fallout 4, New York was discussed as a possible location for the game, and a design document was produced by Emil Pagliarulo with this idea in mind. The developers instead chose Boston as the location for the final game but have kept the design document on file.[Non-game 2]
Gallery[]
References[]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Adelaide: "Let me start this again. As the table says, I am Adelaide. And as you may have guessed from my alluring charm, I am a performer. A Showgirl! A shining star shooting across the night sky from Atlantic City to Broadway. Or wherever new Broadway is since the Big Apple is a big crater. I was going to sell autograph for funds as I travel, but that'll be difficult without a place to work out of. Would you do me the pleasure of letting me stay here while I sort this out?"
(Adelaide's dialogue) - ↑ The Statue of Liberty can be seen in the Fallout 4 holotape game Atomic Command.
- ↑ Capitol Post terminal entries; Capital Post Top Stories -- July 27, 2052, United Nations Disbanded!
- ↑ The Courier: "What about Christine?"
Dean Domino: "Christine, that her name? Nice name. I mean, you can't see it on posters, but... never mind. I don't know. She might need to hold some place where speaking isn't important. Like stage tech? Lighting? Got me. And me? I've had prime billing in Europe, New York... and this gig doesn't feel like that. Don't get me wrong, I can hold an audience, conduct a score from the rooftops, but I'm guessing I'm the odd man out in this whole heist."
(Dean Domino's dialogue) - ↑ A Vault Dweller: "Where are you from originally?"
Johnny Weston: "I don't like talking about it, but I know you'll keep it secret. My dad was military. I saw army bases all over the country as a kid. When the bombs dropped, I was a bum. A failed actor, living on the streets in New York City. My parents never approved of acting for all the reasons you'd expect from a family with strong military tradition. Anyway, that's the story I'm telling you. You can decide for yourself if it's true."
(Johnny Weston's dialogue) - ↑ 6.0 6.1 People's Republic of America Radio: "Greetings to the oppressed masses from the peace-loving peoples of China!"
"All peace-loving peoples must join together to stop the war of aggression being waged by the Wall Street gang!"
"Why do you continue to send your boys to die for your capitalist masters?"
"Your boys are dying on the Alaska front, and all for nothing. Bring them home, before it is too late."
"The gang of Wall Street fat cats, and their Washington war-monger puppets, have plunged the world into war to line their own..."
"Do you think your leaders will keep you safe if the bombs fall? You will die while the Wall Street gang and their hangers-on live like kings in..." - ↑ Police Precinct 8 terminal entries; Precinct 8 evidence terminal, CASE 046-IR: Julians "Inciting a Riot" Logs
- ↑ Civil Alert System Broadcast: "This morning, Saturday, October 23rd, authorities detected that a nuclear attack had commenced against the United States. The following cities affected include, but are not limited to: Washington, DC; New York; Philadelphia; and Boston."
- ↑ War games
- ↑ The Nucleus terminal entries; Captain Wabash's terminal, SUBJ: Where are you
- ↑ Nathan Broadhurst's autobiogrophy
- ↑ 12.0 12.1 A Vault Dweller: "What's Atlantic City like?"
Adelaide: "It's beautiful, and right at the center, radiating a good percent of the beauty was lil' ol' me. The Casino was like a crown, and I was its jewel, mesmerizing any that could see it. I loved the dazzling lights near the boardwalk, but eventually I wanted to find the truly blinding lights. Went north to Broadway, but it seems the 'bright lights' I heard about came 20 something years earlier, and were accompanied with mushroom clouds."
(Adelaide's dialogue) - ↑ Maxson was right
- ↑ A Vault Dweller: "What happened to the plan? Let's keep it moving."
Johnny Weston: "Funny thing. A long time ago, I broke into a similar system up at the Federal Reserve in New York. This here biometric scanner must run off some sort of central database. Seems it can detect a known felon, and it's completely locked me out. We need it in order to get in."
A Vault Dweller: "I thought there wasn't a system you couldn't beat?"
Johnny Weston: "Hey, that was the only one. I was young and stupid back then, and I only got caught because my crew bailed on me. I've learned a lot since then. I'll get this one."
(Johnny Weston's dialogue) - ↑ Alien captive recorded log 2
- ↑ Pirate Radio/Advertisements
- ↑ Herald editorial on Allegheny Asylum
Non-game
- ↑ Fallout Bible 0: "June 2065 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."
- ↑ The History of Bethesda Game Studios, Noclip, 1:09:08: Emil Pagliarulo: "The- the first thing is for us is figure out where the hell is this game set. Like, and, it wasn't Boston originally. And, it was r- I grew up in Boston and I thought it would be great but I- but I didn't want to be that guy, I didn't want to push for it, so I'm like, uh... so we, it- it was set somewhere else, and I still have the design doc in my desk, uh... an original design doc. Um, and in that design doc, it- the one thing that the one holdover is... uh... the character of Nick Valentine was- was conceived even way back then. He was like the first character they came up with."
Danny O'Dwyer: "Emil's design doc focusing on a New York-based Fallout was one idea that the leads were floating around. They could place this game anywhere, in fact at one stage they had asked Obsidian to remove a line in New Vegas about San Francisco being totally wiped off the map. They wanted the Bay Area to at least be an option for future games."