 | The following is based on Fallout Bible developer commentary. |
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 | The following is based on Fallout cut content. |
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The Shrine is a cut location in Fallout.
Background[]
In 2097, Jonathan Faust, leading a group of two hundred people, left the overcrowded Vault 15 to brave the horrors of the wasteland. The group made it through the desert, eventually locating a small oasis that emerged around a large, crater-like pit. Shortly after making camp, Faust fell into the pit, after a member of the expedition startled him. After a nearly forty feet (twelve meter) fall, he discovered that the pit was a nest of vipers. They surrounded Faust, who let out one loud scream heard above, then disappeared. None of the three people who followed him inside ever returned, leaving two hundred people without leadership and with supplies on the verge of exhaustion. Worse, over one fourth of the people at the oasis suffered from radiation poisoning. Some of those who had the strength left the camp, while others remained for a week after Faust's disappearance, trying to come up with a plan, discussing reunification with other groups from the Vault or even going back to Vault 15.[Non-game 1]
After that fateful week, as the group was preparing to move away from the oasis, Faust returned. Pale, emaciated, and with a feverish gleam in his eyes, Faust explained what happened in the pit, that he was visited by a god and learned of the True Way. The Way required sacrificing people to the Gods of the Pit in return for wealth and happiness. When the group expressed skepticism, Faust unleashed two giant pit vipers on the group and laughed as they attacked both him and the others. By the next dawn, the pit vipers were dead by Faust's hand, with a hundred people dead, the rest of them on the verge of dying. By the afternoon, just a fifth of the two hundred dwellers remained alive, maddened by the effect of the mutated venom. Faust helped them through the fever and hallucinations, forming the nucleus of the Vipers, in what came to be known as the Great Awakening. The Vipers built a shrine around the Pit, preying on the blasphemous wastelanders who rejected the Winding Way of the Great Snake.[Non-game 2][1][2][3][Non-game 3]
Layout[]
The pit[]
This is the large pit that lies in the center of the Viper's camp. It currently holds four giant pit vipers. Each one is old and very well fed, but they are still very deadly. The pit itself branches off into many tunnels, where the player character can find Faust's old staff, as well as many nests of rats. One of the tunnels opens up into a secret exit near the mountains, so a resourceful player character could use it to escape after being hurled into the pit.
The sanctuary[]
The location where Asp sleeps and attends to the governmental duties of his people.[Non-game 4] His second in command, the High Priestess of the Great Snake, is always close by. They have no children. The meeting room itself is long and lined with torches. The throne Asp sits on was made from the skulls and bones of the two snakes that Faust killed during the "Great Awakening."
The cages[]
This is where the prisoners are kept. Located at the very edge of the Oasis (they cannot taint the snakes with the unbelievers), these pits are dug into the ground. Their entrances are made of iron grates set into the stone ground of the oasis. They are usually guarded by the Crimson Tongue, the special elite warriors. They are heavily guarded as the cages are used to hold the sacrifices to the Children.
Hall of Ascension[]
This is the ceremonial lodge used in the Time of Summoning. This is also used for all religious purposes,[Non-game 5] except the Snake Sacrifice, which is done on a platform set up over the pit.
Appearances[]
The Shrine was intended to appear in Fallout as a major location associated with the Vipers raider tribe but was cut along with most of their content from the final game.
References[]
- ↑ The Vault Dweller: "{1004}{}{Raiders}"
Aradesh: "{256}{Ara_54}{Ummm, um, um. Very bad. There are two bands of raiders that we know of. They call themselves the Vipers and the Khans.}"
(Aradesh's dialogue) - ↑ The Vault Dweller: "{1005}{}{Vipers}"
Aradesh: "{257}{Ara_55}{Be very careful with such as these. Raiders who are fanatically religious can be quite dangerous. No one here knows of their base.}"
(Aradesh's dialogue) - ↑ The Vault Dweller: "{1007}{}{Vipers}"
Killian Darkwater: "{1107}{Kill72}{The Vipers are a crazy bunch from up north. They worship snakes, or something.}"
(Killian Darkwater's dialogue)
Non-game
- ↑ Fallout Bible 6: "64 years ago, a man named Jonathan Faust led his group of about 200 people from the overcrowded Vault into the wastes of the outside. It was there that his small band came to a small oasis in the middle of the desert. In the middle of this oasis was a large pit, almost like a crater. While resting and setting up camp, Faust decided to look into the pit. Darkness greeted him.
When a member of the band called out to him, Faust turned, startled, and slipped into the Pit. He slid down twenty feet and then fell another 20 and broke his leg in the process. As he lay there dazed, a half dozen gigantic Pit Vipers slithered toward him. Not knowing what these things were, Faust was terrified. The group above heard one loud scream and then nothing. Three others went to look for him, but never came out.
The small band, leaderless and stuck in the desert with no food and water, decided to stay at the oasis, at least for a little while. They covered the pit with a tarp and nailed spikes around it to keep whatever horror lived there encased there. They then set up their camp as far from the Pit as possible. Whatever was down in the Pit never bothered them. Days passed. The more influential of the group argued about what they were to do. There was talk of joining up with others from the Vault. There was talk about going back to the Vault." - ↑ Fallout Bible 6: "During these four days, almost ¼ of the group was either dying or already dead. Those who survived the radiation poisoning were too weak to travel, while those who survived either left or stayed and helped defend the little settlement against the desert creatures.
Finally, after a week, the remaining members of the group decided to move on. They started to pack their belongings when an almost spectral figure emerged from the shadows. It was Faust, except this was not the strong leader they remembered. He was wan, pale, and emaciated, and there was a feverish gleam in his eyes. He told them that when he was down in the pit, a god visited him and told him the True Way. They would make sacrifices to the Gods of the Pit, and wealth and happiness would be theirs.
Of course, everyone was skeptical. Some were even violently rebellious, saying that Faust was crazy. After Faust patiently listened to them, he then whistled, and from behind him, came two very large Pit Vipers. Without warning, they struck. They attacked everyone in the group, including Faust, but he just laughed as they bit his flesh.
As the sun rose the next day, the two snakes lay dead by Faust's hands. Half of his people were dead, the other half were on the brink of death as the Pit Venom started to sink into their systems. By that afternoon most would be dead, but the forty or so survivors of the venom were half crazy with the aftereffects of the venom. Faust, himself immune to the venom, helped the remaining few through this time, which has come to be known as the Great Awakening. He whispered things to them, told them how the Great Snake has spared their lives, so that they would fight for His mighty cause.
And thus the Viper clan was born. They decided to make the Pit their Shrine, and to go out into the wastes and take what they needed from those blasphemers that did not follow the Winding Way of the Great Snake." - ↑ Fallout Bible 6: "The second clan, the Vipers, are mysterious followers of an ancient religion (or so they claim). They usually only come out at night to hunt for food or to conduct raids. They are very ruthless when it comes to combat. They prefer stealth to strength. They usually carry bone knives dipped in Pit Viper venom. This poison, when in the blood stream, paralyzes the victim. Most victims captured in this way are taken back to their hideout."
- ↑ Fallout Bible 6: "The leader of the Vipers, Asp, conducts their ceremonies and administers duties. The members of the clan will follow his orders even if it meant death. Asp is usually in the same type of bone armor as the others, save he wears a snake skull as a helmet adorned with feathers and snakeskin as a cape."
- ↑ Fallout Bible 6: "Once a month, the Vipers fall into a deep trance through a dangerous mixture of alcohol and snake venom (anyone who doesn't awake is considered to have been found unworthy by the Great Snake). When the Vipers reach manhood, they are given a special mixture of the Pit Viper venom. Those who die (or are in a coma for more than seven nights) are given as sacrifices to the Children. (The snakes in the Pit are officially called the Children of the Great Snake.) Those who survive the week-long delirium become Warriors of the Snake (also called Chosen Ones). There is also a monthly ritual, where the Venom is taken by the High Priests and Priestesses of the tribe in small quantities, which causes bizarre dreams. This is called the Time of the Summoning, because many claim to see the Great Snake come to them in their dreams. When it is time for a captured prisoner to be sacrificed, he is typically hurled into the Pit at midnight."
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