Spore carriers are creatures encountered in the Mojave Wasteland, Zion Canyon, and Big MT in Fallout: New Vegas and its add-ons Honest Hearts and Old World Blues.
Background[]
The Green Vault[]
The only vault constructed in the broader Mojave region not assigned to house a civilian population, Vault 22 was instead inhabited by scientists working under the auspice of experimentation with staple crops to combat global hunger prior to the Great War. An entrance sign posted close to the exterior blast door describes the projects underway within, claiming to involve research ranging from advanced fertilizers to improving crop production and increasing these crops' resistance to insects, drought, and disease.[1]
Following the nuclear apocalypse, the scientists within the Vault continued agricultural-based initiatives, with the goal of sustaining the Vault's researcher population with plants grown within its confines. Designed as a "green" Vault, those selected to reside in it were dedicated to such goals and some of their most successful experiments were donated by pre-War defense contractors.[Non-game 1]
One such donation, however, would eventually become the Vault's undoing. Beauveria mordicana was originally an entomopathogenic fungus designed for pest control: when a pest is exposed to the fungal spores, the fungus infests it and begins to colonize the host body. The host eventually dies due to failure of body functions while the fungal colony continues to expand through its body. Eventually, the host body's motor functions are fully controlled by the fungal colony, allowing it to move around and infect more pests by spraying new spores around the host body. Researchers noted that, while effective in the long term, it still takes between 10 to 20 days to kill its prey and the fungal spread has limited effectiveness when dealing with unsocial pests.[2] The donated samples of the fungus were originally developed at the X-22 botanical garden at Big MT before later being shared with Vault-Tec to enable advanced botanical experiments by the scientists of Vault 22.[3]
Fall of 22[]
As with many technologies produced by Big MT, the fungus turned out to be an organic "Pandora's box" with which the Vault's scientists effectively signed their death warrant. While ostensibly designed to provide effective means of long-term pest control, it was learned at Big MT that the fungus was perfectly capable of infecting human bodies as well.[4] As experiments with the fungus progressed in Vault 22, its spores gradually spread throughout the Vault, slowly infecting the population unbeknownst to them. The first confirmed infection was Dr. Harrison Peters, who also provided insight into the development of the infection: beginning with bouts of pneumonia as the fungus invaded the lungs, it eventually transformed into chills, a fever, and a terrible racking cough. The fungal colony caused the body to actively reject anti-fungal treatments, culminating in death due to organ failure. As with its intended targets of smaller pests, the fungal colony continued to grow and develop inside the host. Eventually, it spread far enough to establish control over the deceased person's body, becoming a highly aggressive creature dubbed a spore carrier, whose sole purpose is spreading the spores and infesting more would-be hosts. The untreatable infection baffled the scientists and spread through the Vault like wildfire.[5][6][7][8][9][10]
The widespread infection led to an eventual collapse of social order in the Vault. Infected humans were turned into more spore carriers, with the airborne fungal spores threatening the remaining living residents. Scientists attempted to eradicate them by igniting gas deliberately released in the lower levels of the Vault.[11] However, it's speculated that the gas release triggered an aggressive reaction from the carriers, which attacked the scientists and decimated their numbers, preventing their plan from being carried out.[12]
By 2096, the Vault was fully abandoned by the living, with the dead eventually becoming spore carriers or stationary colonies of the fungus.[13][14][15]
Fleeing to Zion[]
A party of 118 survivors left the Vault and traveled north into Utah, eventually ending up in Zion Canyon, where they encountered another group of refugees from Mexico. With greater numbers, strong discipline, tactics, and firepower, the Vault dwellers had every advantage over the Mexicans. They hit the Mexicans' camp on February 11, killing all the men and shooting down women and children that resisted. The remainder were taken to the group's main camp and penned in like livestock.[16][17]
Randall Clark, a former US soldier and survivalist residing in the canyon, witnessed the massacre and was desperate to help the Mexican survivors. Over the next two days, he surveyed the area, noting that the Vault 22 dwellers were organized well, with patrols and sentries set up along all approaches into the camp, except for the stream. The coughing induced by the fungal infection puzzled Clark (which he mistook as tuberculosis), but he ignored it as he prepared to save the surviving Mexicans. He went into the camp on February 14th,[16][17] and what he saw snapped something inside him: the Vault 22 dwellers had killed and eaten everyone they took from the Mexican survivors' camp. Clark retaliated, waging a brutal war of attrition against them. With his rifle and any explosives he could loot, he ambushed the dwellers where he could, booby-trapping the bodies and taking weapons he could use.[16][17]
By the end of February, he had killed 24 of the original 118 dwellers in a cold, merciless campaign of vengeance, suffering only one wound: a 10mm steel-jacketed round through the thigh, which missed the femoral artery. Though he remained unseen by his quarry for the duration of his campaign, he was forced to move camp once on March 2nd when a small patrol entered his cave shelter and one was caught in a deadfall trap. Panic fire from the others almost hit Clark. After he disposed of the intruders, he moved camp to Cueva Guarache.[18][19]
Ten months later, after losing more than eighty members of the group to the unknown killer and their sickness, the remaining dwellers gave up and fled the canyon, after eating their own dead for nourishment.[20] The fate of the remaining Vault 22 dwellers after their departure is unknown, although, occasionally, damaged Pip-Boys and Vault jumpsuits from the Vault would find their way into the hands of prospectors traveling in and around Zion.[21] The Sorrows tribe also knew of the Vault 22 dwellers, likely through stories told to their ancestors by Clark as the "Father in the Caves" and passed down to their descendants, with some of their cliffside murals in 2281 depicting the "Father's" weapon casting lightning upon skull-headed figures and the number "22."
OSI's interest[]
The Vault itself fell into disrepair over the years after the fungal infestation, becoming overrun by the plants and wildlife that thrived in the conditions within. The occasional scavenger that entered the Vault quickly fell prey to the creatures dwelling within or the fungus, creating more spore carriers and fungal pockets. It wasn't until roughly 2281 when scientific interest in the Vault's experiments was renewed, specifically from Thomas Hildern, director of the Office of Science and Industry branch in the Mojave. He hired multiple mercenaries to retrieve the data stored within the Vault, hoping to find a way to enhance the agricultural output of the NCR and stave off the nation's projected period of famine, though he did not mind that it was likely to also result in a major promotion for him. Hildern's reliance on paid mercenaries eventually pushed one of his colleagues, Keely to go to the Vault herself to investigate, though she still had not returned by October of 2281.
Gameplay attributes[]
When faced in combat, spore carriers are quick and agile, scampering directly toward their target where they swipe with claws and lunge into melee attacks. If they are severely injured but not killed quickly enough, the spore carrier will explode in a burst of spores, dealing large amounts of damage, crippling limbs and inflicting moderate rads.
Outside of combat, spore carriers typically reside in patches of thick vegetation, rendering them difficult to spot at a distance. Furthermore they will not appear on the HUD compass, nor can one target them in V.A.T.S. until they move from their torpor. That said, their HP meter will become visible if they are injured by an area-of-effect weapon, like a flamer or grenade, immediately revealing their presence. During the short animation of rising up out of their slumbering position, they are still vulnerable to sneak attack criticals, allowing a sufficiently high-damage sneak attack to take them out quickly.
Variants[]
Spore carrier[]
The most commonly encountered variant of spore carrier.
| Name (Form ID) | Statistics | Behavior | Abilities | Items | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Spore carrier 000E5860 |
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Spore carrier brute[]
A stronger variant of spore carrier with higher HP.
| Name (Form ID) | Statistics | Behavior | Abilities | Items | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Spore carrier brute 000E5861 |
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Spore carrier runt[]
Runts are the smallest and weakest of the spore carrier variants, typically created from the infected corpses of children.[22]
| Name (Form ID) | Statistics | Behavior | Abilities | Items | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Spore carrier runt 000E585F |
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Spore carrier savage[]
The strongest variant of spore carrier in the base game, rarely encountered at lower to mid-level and dealing high damage per attack.
| Name (Form ID) | Statistics | Behavior | Abilities | Items | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Spore carrier savage 000FE034 |
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Spore carrier beast 
[]
An even stronger variant of spore carrier exclusively residing within Zion Canyon, having the highest HP and damage of all variants.
| Name (Form ID) | Statistics | Behavior | Abilities | Items | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Spore carrier beast  xx00DD6D xx00F87F |
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Spore carrier scavenger []
A slightly weaker variant of the spore carrier beast, exclusively residing in Big MT around the X-22 botanical garden.
| Name (Form ID) | Statistics | Behavior | Abilities | Items | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Spore carrier scavenger  xx012A22 |
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Notable spore carriers[]
- Patient Zero
- Dr. Bailey (named "spore carrier" in-game)
- Elizabeth Bailey (named "spore carrier" in-game)
- Marsha Bailey (named "spore carrier" in-game)
- Dr. Harrison Peters
Notes[]
- The animation skeleton for the spore carriers as well as the tunnelers from the Lonesome Road add-on are reused from the trogs in the Fallout 3 add-on The Pitt.[Non-game 2]
- It's possible to sneak up next to a dormant spore carrier and interact with them, which only prompts the UI message "Spore carrier is unconscious."
- For the purposes of combat functionality, a spore carrier's "head" limb as shown in V.A.T.S. is only their skullcap which is their weak point. It gibs when damaged enough, exposing the cranial cavity. The same is true of behemoths, in the games in which they appear.
- Spore carriers make the same sound as feral ghouls upon death.
- The spore carriers encountered in Zion Canyon and Big MT will sometimes drop spore carrier sap; the ones inhabiting Vault 22 will not even if both add-ons are installed.
- The unique overgrown called the Sporemaster encountered in Fallout 76, introduced in the Expeditions: Atlantic City update is similar to the spore carriers in being a humanoid plant-based mutant so-named for its ability to spread fungal spores when attacked and/or killed.
Appearances[]
Spore carriers appear in Fallout: New Vegas and its add-ons Honest Hearts and Old World Blues.
Sounds[]
- Hissing spore carrier
- Conscious spore carrier
Gallery[]
See also[]
References[]
- ↑ Pre-War sign near the entrance of Vault 22: "Under the heart of the Mojave desert, Vault 22 provides a fertile laboratory for experimentation on staple crops to maximize their potential. Within the Vault, scientists and horticulturalists continue to innovate our understanding of agricultural possibilities in the fight against the global hunger crisis. The scientists who developed a miracle fertilizer within have made a profound impact on your ordinary life. So take a second to reflect on the hard work of Vault-Tec scientists in improving crop production in arid biomes like the Mojave, and for increasing crops' resistance to insects, drought, and disease."
- ↑ Vault 22 terminal entries; terminal, species 3
- ↑ Old World Blues endings: "The Biological Research Station, obsessed with seeding everything in sight, requested a transfer to the X-22 Botanical Garden... so that it might, in its own words, "sensually fertilize the garden's smooooth contours." The Garden sent back a polite refusal, saying it had prior commitments with a Vault it had helped infect before the war."
Note: This ending requires installing the Biological Research Station's artificial personality and discovering the X-22 Botanical Garden. - ↑ Patient Zero's name and appearance infer that they were the first human to become a spore carrier.
- ↑ Vault 22 terminal entries; terminal, case 162
- ↑ Vault 22 terminal entries; terminal, case 164 (group)
- ↑ Vault 22 terminal entries; terminal, case 162 update
- ↑ Vault 22 terminal entries; terminal, case 173 (group)
- ↑ Vault 22 terminal entries; terminal, case 162 update
- ↑ Vault 22 terminal entries; terminal, case 162 update
- ↑ The Courier: "How did you get this whole gas thing set up so quickly?"
Keely: "That's a very good question! Actually, I didn't come up with it. The systems were already set up to pump the gas when I first arrived here. I believe the scientists were in the process of attempting to ignite the gas just as we're about to do. And by we, I mean you, of course."
(Keely's dialogue) - ↑ The Courier: "What happened to the scientists, then?"
Keely: "Something prevented them from igniting the gas, obviously. I suppose it's possible that the gas triggered some kind of defensive reaction. Hordes of previously slumbering creatures may have awoken and entered a killing frenzy, ripping the hapless scientists into quivering, bloody chunks. You'll have to let me know when you get back from going downstairs."
(Keely's dialogue) - ↑ Vault 22 terminal entries; terminal, Vault 22 expedition, entry 6
- ↑ Vault 22 terminal entries; terminal, Vault 22 expedition, entry 8
- ↑ Vault 22 terminal entries; terminal, Vault 22 expedition, entry 9
- ↑ 16.0 16.1 16.2 Stone Bones cave terminal entries; terminal, Year 2096 I.
- ↑ 17.0 17.1 17.2 Year: 2096
- ↑ Stone Bones cave terminal entries; terminal, Year 2096 II.
- ↑ Year: 2096 (II)
- ↑ BEWARE - A VENGEFUL SPIRIT STALKS THESE CANYONS
- ↑ The Courier: "Where'd you get the Vault suit?"
Ricky: "Where the fuck you think? Vault two-two! That's where I grew up!"
The Courier: "You're lying. I've been to Vault 22. No one's lived there in 150 years."
Ricky: "You been to Vault two-two, huh? I may have been exaggerating a little. Truth is, I got this suit and the Pit-Boy off a dead prospector who came out from Zion. Guy was dead when I found him, okay? Had a ton of shit on him. That's how I know there's good loot in Zion, see?"
(Ricky's dialogue) - ↑ The Vault 22 commons area includes Doctor Bailey's family unit room, inhabited by two normal-sized carriers and a runt.
Non-game
- ↑ Fallout: New Vegas Official Game Guide Collectors Edition pp. 292-294: "[1.09] Vault 22
Vault 22 was a "green" vault, filled with scientists dedicated to their experiment: keeping the entire population of the vault alive with plants grown with its confines. The experiment could be said to have exceeded all expectations, but with horrific side-effects. Many have attempted to locate the data the scientists left behind, but so far nobody has returned alive. The vault is open, but warning signs surround it from people lucky enough to survive their initial encounter with the vault's inhabitable. Don't forget to check the Hollowed-Out Rock on the right side of the gully, across from the "Keep Out!" sign."
(Fallout: New Vegas Official Game Guide Collector's Edition Tour of the Mojave Wasteland) - ↑ Josh Sawyer on Twitter
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