The White Legs are a tribe in Zion Canyon in 2281.
Overview
Edit
Formed from the survivors of the Great War from Salt Lake City, the White Legs are a very primitive tribe of scavengers. They lack basic survival skills, including food preservation, tanning, even basic hunting and cooking. They survive by taking what they need away from other inhabitants of the wasteland,[1] especially tribes in regions around the Great Salt Lake near the ruins of Salt Lake City, where their primary camps are normally located.[2] They have been particularly bitter enemies with New Canaan for decades, fighting them for supplies and territory.[3]
They were usually kept at bay thanks to New Canaanites and the Desert Rangers, until the latter were absorbed into the NCR in 2271. By 2277, the Rangers were completely integrated into the NCR Rangers and abandoned frontier outposts. The emboldened White Legs, normally raiding northeast of Caliente, pounced on the I-15 and traffic passing through it northwards. The situation got so bad that the route was entirely abandoned, culminating in the destruction of bridges over Virgin River that sealed that region as White Legs' territory.[4]
The increased territory and numbers presented a problem, as the White Legs found themselves unable to sustain themselves through just raiding. Unable to develop skills that would allow them to settle and unable to take cities with their primitive arsenals and skills, the White Legs were poised to die out within a generation, imploding as a result of their success.[5] That's when the Legion's emissary, Ulysses, arrived. In return for the destruction of New Canaan and the death of all of its inhabitants, the White Legs would be inducted into the Legion. Caesar couldn't care less. New Canaan was just collateral damage, of course. Their real goal was the assassination of Joshua Graham.[6] Under Ulysses, the White Legs learned new combat skills and gained new weapons, recovered from Old World and New Canaan caches. Thus strengthened, the White Legs started raids throughout former Utah and parts of Nevada for the Caesar's Legion, killing all.[4]
Ultimately, they managed to sack New Canaan in 2281. They waited until Graham and the bulk of the city's defenders were away, before attacking under cover of night.[7] Under Ulysses' leadership, the White Legs blitzed the city, before its denizens could mount an effective defense.[8][9] Few managed to flee the city into the surrounding countryside. The White Legs killed all without mercy, including the elderly, ill and children. Anyone who didn't get away fast enough.[10] The city was then set on fire, to prevent anyone from returning. Those trapped in buildings were burned alive, including Bishop Mordecai.[11] The ruins were then salted, to ensure nothing could grow there again.[12]
The White Legs then pursued the refugees into Zion, to finish them off and gain their place at Caesar's side. Little did they suspect that Graham would be a tough nut to crack, as would the Courier, coming into the canyon with a Happy Trails caravan.[7]
SocietyEdit
The White Legs are a raider tribe that revels in destruction. Accordingly, they boast a militaristic lifestyle based off of strength and combat acuity. Everything they have has been acquired either by picking through ruins of the Old World or raiding more capable wastelanders. Their leaders are chosen on the basis of their prowess and savagery. Salt-Upon-Wounds, their chief, was reputed to have slain a hundred men with his power fist, achieving his position. However, this form of leadership is notoriously unreliable and cannot prevent a rout by superior forces.[1]
White Legs are superstitious and dislike pre-War buildings, which they consider to be taboo.[13] Superstitions contribute to their strong tribal identity, together with two additional factors. First, they speak a pidgin language, heavily borrowing from various pre-War languages, isolating them from other tribes. Second, while composed primarily of men and women of Caucasian descent, all White Legs cover their bodies in white chalk and identical war paint on their faces, reinforcing their distinct identity. This was also done to help them camouflage in their native territory of the Great Salt Lake (a barren salt pan).[14] The White Legs attack all who do not have their appearance.[15] The dreadlocks worn by the tribesmen are a tribute to Ulysses. By appropriating the hairstyle of a former Twisted Hairs tribesman, they wished to show respect, thanking him for teaching them how to wage war on New Canaan and providing them with new weapons to do so. They only succeeded in tarnishing their legacy.[16]
CharactersEdit
- White Legs tribal
- White Legs bone-breaker
- White Legs light-bringer
- White Legs pain-maker
- White Legs sapper
- White Legs storm-drummer
- White Legs mongrel
Notable
- Salt-Upon-Wounds (leader)
Examples of words and phrasesEdit
- "Do'an poin aiti ay me!"– Don't point weapons at me!
- "Subai thah, tsahh."– Stop that please.
- "Grenah!"– Grenade!
- "Boomb!"– Bomb!
- "Maiku."– Okay.
- "Ahm naaiyawi wichoo!"– I'm playing with you!
- "Deyai-yoo!"– Die, you!
- "Yoocan no nikumpa me!"– You can't fight me!
- "Bai-thah!"– Look out!
- "Shits!"
- "Yoo murdah my hainji!"– You killed my friend!
- "No! Net yoo!"– No! Not you!
- "Tek thees!"– Take this!
- "Kuna-boomb!"– Fire bomb!
- "Baika-ker!"– Killer!
- "Devil!!"
- "Ahm stih bui-neeking."– I'm still searching...
- "Haganai yoo?"– Where are you?
- "Ahn yoo here stih?"– Are you heres still?
- "Baika-good, fren!"– Good kill, my friend!
- "Ahm sunhai tihda!"– I'm lucky today!
- "Tsaande-job!"– Good work!
- "Ahm nananga yoo."– I am listening for you.
- "Mabe yoo gaihaiwa?"– Maybe you're gone?
- "Nokihn run, yoo!"– No, you can't run!
- "Thah no!"– That's it!
- "Deyai-yoo, maikku!"– You die now!
- "Eno."– Enough.
- "Ah no see gaihinnim."– I don't see anything.
- "Ahm matenka look."– I am done searching.
- "Ahm mane look."– I'm taking a look.
- "Ah heer sumning."– I hear something.
- "Hagai?"– What?
- "Your deyaipe!"– You're dead!
- "Baika-dems!"– Kill them!
- "Nikkumpa!"– Attack!
- "Wes run!"– Let's run!
- "Nikumpa me!"– Fight me!
- "Deyai-yoo, devil!"– Die, devil!
MilitaryEdit
White Legs warbands are composed of four different types of warriors, each specializing in a different aspect of combat. Tactically, White Legs warbands heavily rely on ambushes, to deny their targets the ability to form a defense. Hiding behind cover such as trees, rocks and even bushes, they attack when they believe they have the upper hand. These warbands are split into two basic types: ranged and melee units.
- White Legs storm-drummer: Specializing in Guns, their signature weapon is the White Legs' "storm drum" (.45 Auto submachine gun). They also sometimes carry a random rifle, ranging (based on level) from the varmint rifle to the anti-materiel rifle. They also carry a random melee weapon as a backup weapon.
- White Legs light-bringer: Specializing in Explosives, they typically carry fire bombs or grenades, with a random pistol or submachine gun as a backup weapon.
- White Legs pain-maker: Specializing in Melee Weapons, they carry either a poisoned bladed weapon, or a Shishkebab. They also carry several throwing tomahawks for ranged combat.
- White Legs bone-breaker: Specializing in Unarmed combat, they have slightly more health than other White Legs warriors and are armed with a random unarmed weapon, ranging (depending on level) from brass knuckles to the mantis gauntlet. They also have an innate +3 bonus to DT.
White Legs rarely fight alone, usually in pairs or larger groups. This allows them to attack the Courier cooperatively, using a mix of both melee and long-range attacks to deal a large amount of damage.
Relations with the outsideEdit
Due to their hostility, the White Legs have little to no relations with any of the tribes of Zion and attack anyone who isn't one of their own.[15] Any group that works with and is associated with their enemies (namely, the Sorrows and Dead Horses to the New Canaanites) is also in danger of violence.[3] The defeated are routinely scalped for trophies.[4]
Their only alliance is with the Legion. Ulysses manipulated the White Legs into believing that the Legion will provide for them, but in truth, their only purpose is to kill Joshua Graham and destroy New Canaan. Beyond that, the White legs are too primitive to consider integration and should they survive the events in Zion, they are ruthlessly exterminated by the Legion.[17] The modus operandi is similar with other tribes the Legion targeted. Twisted Hairs were also promised integration on favorable terms, in exchange for their talents, only to be assimilated by force, with defiant tribesmen crucified along the I-40. Of course, the Twisted Hairs were pure scavengers, incapable of sustaining themselves.[18]
TechnologyEdit
The White Legs are scavengers and their gear consists of whatever tools the tribe managed to acquire. Their distinct armor is usually a collection of salvaged armored plates coupled with cloth and leather held together by belts and ropes, with any non-combat gear carried on these makeshift harnesses. Their weapons represent an eclectic mix, ranging from simple melee weapons such as tomahawks, through Shishkebabs stolen from talented wastelanders, to jury-rigged weapons like mantis gauntlets. Ranged weapons include a variety of firearms taken from armories and caches. Their signature weapon is the storm drum, a pre-War .45 Auto submachine gun. The bulk of these weapons was taken from an armory near Spanish Fork.[19] All ranged weapons are in invariably poor condition, as the White Legs do not know how to maintain them. What they don't know how to fix, they discard. As a result, their camps resemble large trash heaps, rather than settlements of civilized folk.[20]
EndingsEdit
| # | Slide | Voice-over narration | In-game condition |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  | With Daniel dead, the White Legs soon overran Zion and drove the Sorrows and Dead Horses from the Valley. The White Legs plundered all of the pre-War buildings the Sorrows had marked off-limits, their squalor an affront to Zion's natural beauty. By year's end, little trace remained that the Sorrows had ever made the valley their home.  | Kill Daniel. |
| 2 | | After the White Legs drove the Sorrows from Zion, they celebrated by destroying all traces of the valley's former inhabitants. They appealed to the Legion for assimilation, but were denied. Their failure to eradicate the New Canaanites in Grand Staircase and farther up the Colorado had not gone unnoticed. The White Legs made a half-hearted effort to find the New Canaanites, but were driven off by Dead Horses trained in the ways of Joshua Graham. The White Legs lost all hope of joining the Legion and disintegrated into a number of petty raiding bands, leaving Zion Valley a polluted cistern. | Help the Sorrows evacuate. |
| 3 | | Demoralized by the Dead Horse and Sorrows attack the Courier and Joshua Graham led against them, the White Legs retreated to Great Salt Lake. Their days were numbered. Word soon reached the 80s tribe that the White Legs' spirit was broken, their war chief a dim shadow of his former self. By year's end, the 80s would overrun the White Legs' camps, scattering the tribe to the winds and claiming the Great Salt Lake for its own. | Help Joshua Graham defend Zion Valley and exterminate the White Legs, then convince Joshua Graham to spare Salt-Upon-Wounds. |
| 4 | | Joshua Graham's chilling execution of Salt-Upon-Wounds seared into their minds, the surviving White Legs retreated to the Great Salt Lake. Unable to shake the memory of their brutal defeat and the Dead Horses' savagery in battle, the White Legs feared further reprisals. They fled north, out of Utah, into Wyoming. The wilderness was harsh, and the first winter claimed over half the tribe. When spring came, the survivors parted ways in small bands. And so the White Legs died a quiet, ignominious death. | Help Joshua Graham crush the White Legs and then allow Joshua Graham to execute Salt-Upon-Wounds. |
| 5 | | Despite their defeat at Three Marys, and the death of their war chief, the White Legs were determined to pursue the other New Canaanites. But when they finally tracked down their prey in Colorado, they discovered the tables had been turned. The White Legs who survived the New Canaanites' ambushes were hunted down by Dead Horses before they could reach the safety of the Great Salt Lake. When word of the White Legs' diminished numbers reached the 80s tribe, war was declared, and by year's end, the White Legs had been wiped out. | Help Joshua Graham crush the White Legs and kill Salt-Upon-Wounds yourself. |
NotesEdit
- Though the White Legs want to be assimilated by Caesar's Legion, many White Leg warriors are women. This indicates that they do not know what they are signing up for, similar to the Great Khans. Caesar was also known to betray his allies: the Twisted Hairs formed an alliance with Caesar to serve as his army's scouts in Arizona. Once the Arizona wastes were pacified, the Legion stripped their tribal identity and forced them into slavery. Those who resisted were crucified along the remains of I-40.
- The White Legs differ from most other tribes in the sense that they want to be assimilated by Caesar's Legion, most tribes are forcibly absorbed into Caesar's Legion or they, along with the rest of their culture, die.
- According to Joshua, the signature weapons of the White Legs are their "storm drums," the .45 Auto submachine gun. As such, they are significantly better armed than the other tribes in Zion. Both the Dead Horses and Sorrows use melee weapons as their signature weapon, favoring war clubs and yao guai gauntlets respectively. Even the New Canaanites are arguably less well armed, as while Daniel uses a submachine gun, the tribe as a whole favors .45 Auto pistols.
- Their dreadlocked hair is actually not a hairstyle, but rather a unique non-player character-only headwear that cannot be accessed by players without console commands.
- They are very silent killers. Traveling along Zion's roads gives the risk of getting ambushed. They usually hide behind trees and sneak along the bushes.
- Completing the Crush the White Legs quest will completely remove the White Legs faction from the game. They will no longer appear in Zion Valley, and cannot even be spawned using console commands.
- A few survivors can be found after the quest Flight from Zion.
AppearancesEdit
The White Legs appear only in the Fallout: New Vegas add-on Honest Hearts. They are mentioned by Ulysses in the Fallout: New Vegas add-on Lonesome Road.
Behind the scenesEdit
DesignEdit
In the first design docs for HH, every tribe was supposed to have members from all of the F3/FNV ethnic groups. However, there was a complicating factor: body art. The various tattoos and body paints we needed to texture the bodies multiplied the number of required textures. They couldn’t simply be layered on (as they can in F4), but were entirely new body textures that dramatically increased the amount of texture memory being used. For that reason, each tribe wound up having only one body texture per sex. This compressed their ethnicities into homogenized blends, with Dead Horses being a darker tan, Sorrows a light tan, and White Legs (under the body paint) fairly pale.
As a minor point, Daniel was specifically supposed to be (and was, in data, for most of development) Asian. I don’t know when, how, or why he was switched to Caucasian, but that’s how he shipped. It’s frustrating, because those changes slot Joshua and Daniel as white guys among (mostly) brown folk when 1) they weren’t supposed to be white guys and 2) the tribes were specifically called out as ethnically and culturally mixed without any real-world analogues.
Regarding the “natives as aesthetic” criticism, the patterns we used for the three tribes’ body art are not based on any current or historical native American body art (AFAIK). There are in-fiction explanations for each tribe’s specific choices. The White Legs initially colored themselves white to blend into the Great Salt Lake (where they are from) and they dread their hair out of reverence for Ulysses. The Sorrows use the river pattern to reflect their suffering and their connection to the Virgin River in Zion. The Dead Horses mark various accomplishments on their skin and decorate their clubs with .45 shells out of their respect for Joshua Graham.”— Joshua Eric Sawyer, Frog Helms Fan ClubEndingsEdit
- Completing Crush the White Legs permanently disables any White Legs in Zion, preventing their appearance. Flight from Zion allows for remnants to appear.
- Their facepaint is similar to the headshot facepaint in Brink, another game by Bethesda Softworks.
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 The Courier: "What do you know of the White Legs?"
Daniel: "They're hateful savages who live only to plunder and destroy. Their leader is a devil called Salt-Upon-Wounds. War is what all he knows. Everything he has, everything that tribe has, was taken by force, raiding and scavenging. It's said there's no man deadlier at close range, that that powerfist of his has smashed a hundred skulls. Maybe that's true, but so what? It's a low form of leadership. A tribe that knows only war has no future. And so he'll lead them to Caesar."
(Daniel's dialogue (Honest Hearts)) - ↑ The Courier: "White Legs? Who are they?"
Follows-Chalk: "Nasty bunch of raiders from up by Great Salt Lake. White Legs killed your friends at the Southern Passage. Not many survive White Leg raids - not even by running. Joshua will want to hear about what happened to you."
The Courier: "Where do they come from?"
Follows-Chalk: "That's the weird part - normally the White Legs keep to the Great Salt Lake. I don't know what brought them down this far south."
(Follows-Chalk's dialogue) - ↑ 3.0 3.1 The Courier: "You said you "used to" help the Sorrows with problems. What do you do now?"
Daniel: "I'm trying to make amends for allowing our problem to become their problem. The New Canaanites, I mean. The White Legs have always fought with us, and with Joshua returning, Caesar has motivated the White Legs to stamp out the New Canaanites entirely. That means the tribes we work with, too. It's already hap- I just want to prevent something terrible from happening to the Sorrows."
(Daniel's dialogue (Honest Hearts)) - ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 The Courier: "What do you know about the White Legs?"
Stella: "Used to be they raided northeast of Caliente, time to time. But then the Desert Rangers fell apart ten years ago, absorbed into the NCR. Soon enough the White Legs were swarming all over that stretch of I-15. Folks learned not to head north if they wanted to keep their scalps. Eventually the White Legs destroyed the bridges across the Virgin River, over in Arizona. End of discussion."
(NVDLC02Stella.txt) - ↑ The Courier: "Joshua's come up with a reasonable alternative. Why not help them fight?"
Daniel: "Joshua doesn't just want to fight the White Legs. He wants to annihilate them. The stakes are too high for their tribe. Hurting them won't dissuade them. If they can't join Caesar's Legion, they'll die out in a generation. They've never learned how to survive. Food preservation, tanning, even basic hunting and cooking seem beyond them. They only survive by scavenging and raiding, but that can't last. They'll only stop if Joshua and the Dead Horses can kill their war chief and their entire war band. That's exactly what he intends to do."
(Daniel's dialogue (Honest Hearts)) - ↑ The Courier: "I came here with the Happy Trails Caravan Company to make contact with the New Canaanites."
Joshua Graham: "Happy Trails. I remember. They were good friends. I have bad news for your employers. New Canaan was destroyed, its citizens scattered. All because of the White Legs. And Caesar, of course. The White Legs want to join the Legion. Caesar's rite of passage is the destruction of the New Canaanites, almost assuredly because of me. The good news is that we can help you find your way back. Daniel, one of the other New Canaanites, has made many maps of the region. The bad news is that we can't help you right now. Not with everything that's going on."
(Joshua Graham's dialogue) - ↑ 7.0 7.1 The Courier: "If you don't acknowledge your past now, it'll come back to you later."
Daniel: "[SUCCEEDED] True enough. We can't escape it no matter how hard we try. Best we can do is own up, trust in the Lord to forgive. Joshua was gone, so were a lot of the other New Canaanites. White Legs must have been watching for a long while, counting who remained. We didn't think the White Legs were a real threat. Maybe it was overconfidence. Maybe sloth. Either way, we didn't see them coming. They attacked at night. They killed without regard to age or infirmity. Armed or unarmed. They beat children to- Beat them to death in their beds while they were sleeping. And now we're all that's left. Maybe thirty of us. Pride goeth before destruction."
(Daniel's dialogue (Honest Hearts)) - ↑ The Courier: "I came here with the Happy Trails Caravan Company to make contact with the New Canaanites."
Joshua Graham: "Happy Trails. I remember. They were good friends. I have bad news for your employers. New Canaan was destroyed, its citizens scattered. All because of the White Legs. And Caesar, of course. The White Legs want to join the Legion. Caesar's rite of passage is the destruction of the New Canaanites, almost assuredly because of me. The good news is that we can help you find your way back. Daniel, one of the other New Canaanites, has made many maps of the region. The bad news is that we can't help you right now. Not with everything that's going on."
(Joshua Graham's dialogue) - ↑ The Courier: "Wait, what? New Canaan was wiped out? How?"
Follows-Chalk: "That's what Joshua said. White Legs came down from Great Salt Lake in force - fell on New Canaan before they could mount a defense. Joshua found some of the survivors led by a man named Daniel. Most of them have fled the valley, but Daniel stayed on with the Sorrows tribe. He and Joshua have been arguing over whether to stand and fight the White Legs or take the Sorrows and the Dead Horses out of the valley."
(Follows-Chalk's dialogue) - ↑ The Courier: "Well, I'm guessing you're pretty mad about something."
Joshua Graham: "The White Legs didn't just force my people out of New Canaan. They butchered everyone who wasn't fast enough to get away. The elderly, the ill, children. Those who stopped to help the wounded. It made no difference to them. They can't be reasoned with, the White Legs. Daniel believes that if we leave, if the Sorrows leave, the White Legs will stop. He doesn't understand what this kind of tribe is like."
(Joshua Graham's dialogue) - ↑ The Courier: "You're the man in charge. If something's troubling you, it could affect all of us."
Daniel: "[SUCCEEDED] I never thought I'd be in charge of anything. Don't know why. Bishop Mordecai was old. He had been sick for years. He couldn't walk anymore. It wasn't a problem for the rest of us. He made it out to be more trouble than it really was. Just his way, I guess. When the White Legs came... he was upstairs. We couldn't get him out in time. The house caught fire at the base and worked its way up. Fast. He didn't die of smoke. I wish he had. Sometimes I wake up and for a minute or two, I think all of it was a dream. But it's not. It wasn't. I wish all of this were some fevered vision of what could have been. Instead of what is, what we let happen."
(Daniel's dialogue (Honest Hearts)) - ↑ Waking Cloud: "When Salt-Upon-Wounds took New Canaan, he ordered the White Legs to salt the earth so nothing could grow again. What kind of monster could do that?"
(Waking Cloud's dialogue) - ↑ The Courier: "Any idea where to start looking for these pre-War supplies Daniel needs?"
Follows-Chalk: "Best place to look for Back When stuff is the taboo places. Sorrows and Dead Horses don't go in there, and even White Legs don't like them much."
(Follows-Chalk's dialogue) - ↑ Josh Sawyer's tumblr "The White Legs initially colored themselves white to blend into the Great Salt Lake "
- ↑ 15.0 15.1 The Courier: "Degenerate tribes?"
Jed Masterson: "That's right. The folks that lived in Zion before the war, they didn't just get a little savage, they're downright feral. Most of them don't even speak English any more - you got to get yourself a New Canaanite translator to talk to them. The ones you really got to watch out for are the White Legs, from the Great Salt Lake. They'll attack just about anyone that ain't one of theirs."
(Jed Masterson's dialogue) - ↑ Ulysses log Y-17.23
- ↑ Honest Hearts endings
- ↑ Ulysses log Y-17.21
- ↑ The Courier: "Nice guns."
Joshua Graham: "In the Great Basin and Colorado Plateau, all tribes are known for a specific weapon. White Legs are known for their big submachine guns, "storm drums." They broke into an armory near Spanish Fork and have been using them for years. Of course, the Dead Horses have their wooden war clubs and even the Sorrows have their Yao Guai gauntlets. This type of .45 Automatic pistol was designed by one of my tribe almost four hundred years ago. Learning its use is a New Canaanite rite of passage."
(Joshua Graham's dialogue) - ↑ Three Marys
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