White Legs

 

The White Legs are a tribe in Zion Canyon in 2281.

OverviewEdit

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

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. Play sound HHending WhiteLegs 1.ogg	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. Play sound HHending WhiteLegs 2.ogg	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. Play sound HHending WhiteLegs 3.ogg	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. Play sound HHending WhiteLegs 4.ogg	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. Play sound HHending WhiteLegs 5.ogg	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

EndingsEdit

• 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

v·d·e Factions in Fallout: New Vegas Major factions Caesar's Legion · Mr. House · New California Republic · Yes Man Prospective factions Boomers · Enclave remnants · Followers of the Apocalypse · Great Khans · Mojave Brotherhood of Steel Secondary factions 1st Reconnaissance Battalion · Bright Brotherhood · Cassidy Caravans · Chairmen · Crimson Caravan · Davison's nightkin · Fiends · Greasers · Gun Runners  · Jackals · Kings · Maud's Muggers · Mojave Express · New California Republic Army · New California Republic Rangers · Office of Science and Industry · Omertas · Powder Gangers · Rad Pack · Scorpions · State of Utobitha · The Misfits · Three Families · Van Graffs · Vipers · Westside Militia · White Glove Society Add-on factions Dead Horses  · Happy Trails Caravan Company  · Marked men Sorrows  · Think Tank  · White Legs