Fictional AltHistory #6: Fallout, Part Four

... Why haven't I done something with New Vegas yet?

Fallout New Vegas is still my favorite Fallout game, with a myriad of reasons: great story, interesting characters, a believable, lived in world, a clash of ideology and civilization...

What? There isn't even a Blue Moon here. 1/10 IGN.

Maybe that's part of the reason I haven't done New Vegas yet, because there were so many options and possible outcomes in game that I, as a person who likes to throw out random ideas and make hypotheticals for video games and history, was undercut. When you have at least four major endings (12 if you factor in Karma, and then dozens of variables based on every single thing you did in game, then, yeah...)

But then I thought: who's the most important character in the game?

He did save your life, but no.

Dawwwnope, snarky no, snarky no, super mutant no, snarky no, beep beep (translation: no), snarky no, and snarky no. 

No. Watch out for knives.

Nope. And EMOTION DAMNIT!

Uh-uh. But thank you, thank you very much.

Yes Man! No, wait... no. Not him.

HOLY CRAP, GET ME MY MINI NUKE LAUNCHER! WHAT?!?! HE JUST STOOD THERE AND TOOK A NUKE TO THE FACE?!?!

*Sighs* YES. HIM. GOD.

Almost the entire plot revolves around Mr. Robert House, the pre-war billionaire who was founder and owner of RobCo, the company that made robots, Pipboys and a lot of the other bits of tech in the Fallout universe. After building and putting himself in cryostasis before the bombs dropped, with a massive army of securitrons and lasers to shoot down the nukes targets on his hometown of Las Vegas, he was prepared to ride out the nuclear storm to follow. While he was able to stop most of the destruction of Vegas, the software wasn't quite up to the task (that's where the Platinum Chip the Courier is shot in the head over at the start of the game comes in), and he went into a coma. After a hundred some years, he finally comes to, gets three tribes nearby to clean up their act, take over old casinos and modernize them, activates securitrons, builds a wall around New Vegas, then waits for the NCR to come from the West. The NCR begins to fight with Caesar's Legion over Hoover Dam, which NCR controls and has to give power to Vegas in return, while Mr. House continues to plot to keep the Legion on the other side of the Colorado, kick NCR out of the Mojave, and turn New Vegas into a major power.

So, what happens if Mr. House somehow did not survive the Great War?

Point of Divergence

On October 23, 2077, as the bombs fall around the world, Mr. House activates his laser defense on top of the Lucky 38 casino to try to shoot down the 87 missiles targeted on Vegas. Unfortunately, he wasn't able to stop all the bombs, and one of them lands right on top of the Lucky 38 as his lasers where destroying the other bombs. The blast destroyed the hotel, collapsed the building on the bunker Mr. House had built, severely compromising the longevity device he built. The EMP blast from the explosion also destroyed huge parts of the computer mainframe, wiping the digital storage on the miles of magnetic tapes he had. The shock from the system overload, collapsing building and failure of the software network resulted in a massive stroke and heart attack, and Mr. House died a couple of hours after the last bombs fell. Only a few securitrons survived, but without orders and degrading circuitry, they eventually became just like any other robot in the wasteland: directionless, dangerous and unstable.

Uhhh, you okay there buddy?

The few bombs that did go off in the Vegas and Mojave area was enough to result in massive depopulation, and the few survivors fled the arid desert to find safer locations to get food. Water, thanks to the intact Hoover Dam and Lake Mead, wasn't the issue, but without much arable land, all the water in the world would be little use. It would be decades after the nuclear winter and early years of death and destruction before people would return, forming tribes on the outskirts of the city that over the years would try to get in closer to the center of the city, to the ruins of the casinos on Freemont Street and the Strip despite the lingering radiation from the bomb that destroyed the Lucky 38.

Those tribes, ranging from opportunistic raiders to cannibals to small farming groups would fight amongst each other for decades, with none able to get a leg up on the other. Small trading towns would be created though as settlers trying to flee the oppressive burden of taxes and civilization out west tried to find more open spaces to settle. When the survivors of Vault 34 took over Nellis Air Force Base, very little changed as their xenophobic Vault Dwellers had little incentive to ally with any of the tribes around Vegas, and jealously guarded their independence. Another group that would make their way to the Mojave was the Great Khans, broken by the New California Republic after Bitter Springs and other battles. Reduced in numbers, they left California to Nevada, hoping to find a new place to live. They began to make ties with the other tribes in the region, fighting wars, signing peace, trading and scavenging like any other tribe in the area. When the Brotherhood-NCR war ended in the later's favour, the Brotherhood also encamped to the Mojave, forming another isolated, but powerful, group that became more closed minded and brutal in their goal of tech hoarding.

The Brotherhood of Steel: Keeping advanced tech out of dirty wastelander hands and sometimes helping the good guys since 2077.

However, to the East and West, new threats to the quiet Mojave were encroaching: the NCR to the west, and the Casear's Legion from the East. The NCR first moved into the area with their army and hundreds of settlers around 2265 or so. The first group in the Mojave to realize the threat the NCR posed was the Great Khans. They arranged a ceasefire with the other tribes, trying to convince them that the NCR meant nothing but death and slaughter. But if they were to work together, they might not only be able to blunt the NCR, but force them out. While some tribes were hesitant to work with the Great Khans, the stories of NCR atrocities, and then as the Casear's Legion showed the horrors what Caesar and his Legions in Arizona had done (some embellished by the Great Khans) gradually convinced them that maybe the Khans were the lesser of three evils. The New Vegas Alliance, formed in 2270, became a major power in the region, one that could, theoretically at least, resist the NCR and stand up to the Legion. Caesar, however, tried to win the tribes to his side, and he believed the best way to do that was a dual pronged campaign of force and diplomacy: try to convince them to break apart and join his Legions, and attacking NCR outposts to show that they could drive back the Californians.

The NCR, having colonized different towns along the southern end of the NCR like Goodsprings, Nipton and Searchlight Airport, realized that Caesar's Legion was the bigger threat, especially as the Legion kept attacking them. Furious at the high death tolls, and wanting both the area of New Vegas and the Hoover Dam, the NCR began to mobilize, while also trying to bring the New Vegas Alliance to at least support them for now. But the NVA would not be swayed, and instead sat on the sidelines. It was more to ensure the unity of the alliance, where different people and different tribes were thinking of joining one side or the other. The best thing to do was to do nothing, so the thought was.

So... basically like the US Congress?

In 2276, after years of low-level warfare, Caesar's Legion at last attacked the NCR at Nipton. The NCR, using their tech advantage, was able to hold the line and even push north toward Hoover Dam. The cost, however, was high: hundreds of NCR soldiers died in the brutal fighting, Legion assaults and commando-style attacks. The NCR Rangers and Desert Rangers of Nevada unified around the same time, seeing the Legion as the biggest threat as well, not to mention the Ranger's mutual hatred of slavery, which was about the only thing the Legion ran on.

The 2278 Battle of Hoover Dam saw the Legion, suffering from shortage of manpower as brutal mass wave attacks that worked so well against smaller tribes in Arizona and New Mexico failed against the superior firepower of the NCR soldiers with assault rifles, machine guns, artillery, Mini Nukes and men wearing scavenged suits of power armour that they got from the Brotherhood and Enclave. The Legate Malpais was punished for his failures: covered in pitch, set on fire, and thrown down the Grand Canyon. But the rumors of the Burned Man continued to filter out...

But the Legion was desperate. To prevent the NCR from crossing the Colorado River, Caesar gave the order to demolish Hoover Dam. Explosives placed throughout the dam were set off when a large portion of the NCR Army was on the structure, resulting in thousands of casualties as the concrete crumbled, the water flooded turbine rooms and offices, and made the entire structure collapse. Lake Mead was no more, a tidal wave destroyed dozens of communities and homesteads down the river, and thousands more died.

Still wouldn't be as bad as Hurricane Katrina...

But the NCR had been stopped. President Aaron Kimball, the biggest promoter of the Mojave expedition, is impeached from office. The NCR retreated back West. But the Legion was battered after two long years of war, bloodied, but triumphant. The death of Caesar from a brain tumour in 2281 as he was trying to rebuild the Legion was the death kneel of the Army of the East. Within ten years, Caesar's Legion collapsed, with Legate Lanius, only know brutality and violence to solve any issue, was unable to hold the Legion together, and soon it splinted back into the ancient tribes that the Legion had been formed from. The only winners of the NCR-Legion war was those that didn't fight, the New Vegas Alliance. Although they no longer had access to the clean water of Lake Mead or the power from Hoover Dam, the New Vegas Alliance no longer had to deal with either the NCR or the Legion. While fighting with words between the members of the alliance would continue, they continued to remain allies, welcoming the NCR settlers that didn't return back to California and the runaway slaves from the Legion. The New Vegas Alliance, while not a unified government or even all that peaceful, still provide some protection and safety to those that live and travel in the Mojave.

Oh, and Mojave Express is eventually taken over by a man that most people only knew as the Courier, who eventually would become a major leader in the New Vegas Alliance as well.

Conclusion

So this is perhaps the least depressing Fallout alternate history I've written! 

Mr. House, if you agree with him or not, was one of the most important parts of the mythos and in-game story of New Vegas, so removing him from the equation is tantamount to completely rewriting the entire game. The NCR and the Legion would still be threats, and they both would clash in the Mojave. In the long run, the NCR would win, with or without Mr. House in charge of Vegas. The resources, the manpower, the technology and the strategic situation favours them. However, it's a democracy, and as democratic societies have shown: when the bodies pile up and the war is on the verge of being lost, either perceived or for real, then the people will demand an end to it. That's what would happen in the Mojave to the NCR. The locals, allied together to at least keep outsiders out if not to work together within, would be enough of a hassle and trouble for the NCR or Legion, if they regroup, to knock them out.

But what do you think? What would would have happened had Mr. House had a very rough Kick In The Head? Or if you have a topic or idea you would like me to talk about, please leave comments below, email me at tbguy1992@gmail.com, or tell me on Twitter @tbguy1992.

Fictional AltHistory #4: Five Fallout Things That May be AltHistory

I can't keep my mind off of Fallout right now. I have no idea why.

Okay, maybe I do. Because I'm playing Fallout 4 still, and still working on my Fallout fanfic. So, yeah, that makes sense.

I was going to do something about Star Wars again, like what if it was never made, but, well, it will need more research before I feel comfortable trying to write that. So, Fallout it is!

This time, instead of a scenario based on the games, I want to try to pick a few things in the backstory that I think are different, even if it's not implied in the Fallout Bibles, the games, or any other material. Just a quick run down of a few points that I feel would make sense in regard to the games and the lore. Basically, none of these points are canon, and more just "head canon," things that make more sense to me.

Please remember to take your blue and yellow vault suit and please proceed to the orientation session in the atrium

And after this I'll stop talking about Fallout. Maybe. If you want a refresher, and don't have hundreds of hours to play the games through, check out the wiki!

1: The USSR and China Switch Places: This is a fairly simple point, and I think a few things in the game would back this up. In our timeline, the USSR utterly and totally collapsed in 1991 after Premier Gorbachov's reforms failed, but the People's Republic of China managed to allow a more capitalist and market oriented economy without sacrificing the Communist Party after Mao died and his hardliner supporters were eased out of power. Or shot. However, I think in Fallout, the reverse happened: the USSR managed to reform into a more capitalist economy and eased tensions with the USA to the point where they became unofficial allies, but China remained the hardliner, command driven market right up until the bombs fell in 2077.

Go forth and destroy the capitalist pigdogs! Giant Mao will protect you as long as you have a lot of red flags!

In Fallout 1, one of the pre-made characters you can select is Natalia Dubrovhsky, the descendent of a Soviet diplomat that served in a consulate in Los Angeles. Even in the OTL Cold War, the Soviets never had consulates in major cities, just the Embassy in Washington, D.C., so I'd think that relations between the US and the Soviet Union would have to get a lot better before that takes place. I wouldn't even know where to place the POD where the USSR becomes more moderate and the Chinese more hardline. At the very earliest, after the first Sino-Soviet War in the late 1960s, but even right up until the 2020s or later is a possibility.

2: Canada and The US Fought a Major War: I always had one major sticking point with the Fallout timeline, and it involves my home and native land, the True North strong and free. In the timeline, the first mention of the Annexation is 2066, when it's said that increasing tensions as Americans march and fly to reinforce Alaska from the Chinese threat sets the stage for the Annexation in 2076. Okay... but then in 2069, more and more resources are being demanded, and Canada resents that, especially "the vast timberlands." What is the US doing with all the Canadian trees? Biofuel? Construction boom? Just spite? And also this line: "Many Americans refer to Canada as Little America, and Canadian protests are unheard." So... is the annexation already begun by now, or is it just Manifest Destiny rearing it's head?

And unfortunately it couldn't be resolved with a Hockey game. 

But finally in 2072, sabotage of the Alaska Pipeline gives the US the excuse it needs to invade and annex Canada. So, was Canada being quietly taken over before this, or is this the start date? But finally in 2076, it's said that the Canadian annexation is complete, but that protests and riots still occur, and the military shoots on sight, and the atrocities make their way back home. You see it in the intro to the first game, as soldiers in power armor shoot someone to "keep the peace" in Canada. So what happened between 2072 and 2076? There is no real confirmation about it, but my guess is that the Canadians fought back against the US, despite their lack of power armor, the destruction of the government, etc. etc. Mostly likely the bloody occupation and repression of a resistance/freedom fighter/terrorist movement is still going on as the bombs fall. So, I say there was the "Canadian Resistance" taking place between 2072 and 2076, and possibly longer.

3: Jet Was a Pre War Drug, Just Rediscovered: There is a lot of controversy over this point, especially considering that within some of the games it's kind of all over the place. It's said that Byron, a child prodigy and possible companion in FO2 found Jet when you take vats of... uh... Brahmin dung and cook it. But then Mrs. Bishop, also in Fallout 2, says her husband got her high on it years before. And in FO3, New Vegas, and 4, it can be found in places that were closed when the bombs fells, such as Vaults (Vault 95 especially). It could be handwaved away as a game thing, but no, I'm not buying it this time.

Plothole? Nah, just a minor bump in the road. Nothing a lot of BS can't fix!

What's so hard to say that maybe a limited run of Jet was made before the war? If anything, if the effects are similar to the old world drug, it would give the name to the post-apoc version. After all, Jet is named after flying and that... and they don't have much in the way of aircraft after 2077, except for airships and that. So why would they name it after something that had already been gone for over 100 years, and most likely only a few ghouls ever knew what it was like to fly?

4: The Pip-Boys are Glorified, Bulky Apple Watches: Okay, okay, nitpicking here. But, here's the thing: the Pip-Boy 2000 and 3000 models that have been seen in all the Fallout games are, really, just wrist mounted computers. They should not be able to allow you to focus your attacks like in FO3, NV and 4 (with the Vault-Tec Assisted Targeting System, or VATS), and it shouldn't be able to accuratly monitor your body to determine what limbs are crippled and that, and unless your player character is not only a world class hoarder, but also a diligent record keeper, it really shouldn't be able to keep track of every Fat Man, 10mm pistol, 5.56 round, tin can and Wonderglue you pick up in the wasteland.

Then again, you shouldn't be able to carry nearly 400 pounds of stuff on your person, including possibly THOUSANDS of bullets and a dozen different guns...

Your not playing a Bethesda RPG right when you aren't overloaded after you pick up a flower.

Yeah, I'm really nitpicking. All of this stuff is in for gameplay reasons, and not story lore. But, you know, at least keep it in mind that not everything you see in a game, such as VATS, or a level 100 door that is half broken and falling off the hinges, or a door that is just like any door, but you absolutely need the key to continue on because you can't just lock pick it... it's really just gameplay.

But I wish we had a chance to just shoot the locks off. Would save a lot of time.

5: Vault-Tec Started the Great War: This really is not as crazy as it may sound, as when Interplay, the original producers of Fallout, were considering making a movie, this was the plot. But that movie was never made, and all we got is the film treatment.

The scenario I have in mind is basically that, after Anchorage is reclaimed in 2076, the US invasion of China bogs down, and the war basically turned into a stalemate as oil and uranium resources fully dried up, civil unrest is reaching all time highs in the US (and theoretically China as well), this basically means that the Resource Wars that have been fought for over two decades is now over. With fission powered cars and robots finally starting to be mass produced, millions of lives lost in war, disease and civil unrest, maybe the US and China have decided to end the war.

When Vault-Tec, with their contacts in the Enclave, hear of this, they are outraged. They just spent decades, trillions of dollars, innumerable work hours and resources to build 122 Vaults, most with a specialized social experiment to test the human condition. And now... for possibly nothing. If the war ends, that means the government bonds would dry up, the Vaults would loose their reported function of keeping segments of the American people alive, and the experiments would fall apart, not to mention the possibility of the true purpose being revealed. That is perhaps the scariest thought in the minds of the head of Vault-Tec: if the true purpose is revealed, they would all face the wrath of the American people, and the Enclave wouldn't be able to help them.

Behind their smiling, thumbs up mascot lies a deranged, Machiavellian, insane mastermind... 

So, with the help of the Enclave, Vault-Tec get's their hands on a nuclear weapon or two and fire them on the US and China, the biggest powers. With tensions still high even as the peace process is beginning, both superpowers take the bait, and soon the bombs are flying, and the Great War begins.

Vault-Tec, however, is prepared. Hours before the stolen nukes are launched, they warn the overseers and support staff of the Vaults, and tell them to report to their stations and be ready for those selected for their vaults. This is why in FO4, the Overseer and science staff are already there to welcome you to Vault 111, even as the bombs and missiles rain down on Boston. It's even implied on the terminals in 111 and in 81 that the Overseer and most of the security and science staff was notified hours before the sirens went off.

So, Vault-Tec got the war, the Vaults were sealed, the experiments could begin. But maybe it worked too well. It's implied that the instructions for Vault 111, for instance, was that Vault-Tec HQ would give the all clear six months after the bombs fell, and the staff could come and go at their pleasure. But that signal never comes. Maybe the nuclear war was so destructive that it actually resulted in Vault-Tec loosing contact with most of their vaults and experiments, so to them, it still failed. After all, what good is science if it can't be monitored?


So there are the five possible AH things just in the lore of Fallout. There could be other ones, of course, but these are the five big things that I've been thinking about a lot, especially as I'm writing a Fallout fanfic that requires a lot of research, and in some cases the info just isn't there. So, I do the next best thing: I make it up.

Anyway, that's enough Fallout for now. Maybe I'll come back later, when I get the fanfic done. But for now... back to Fallout 4!

GODDAMNIT PRESTON, ANOTHER SETTLEMENT NEEDS MY HELP??!?!?

But what do you think? Is anything I just said go against your head-canon with Fallout? Or if you have a topic or idea you would like me to talk about, please leave comments below, email me at tbguy1992@gmail.com, or tell me on Twitter @tbguy1992.

Fictional AltHistory Scenario #3: Fallout, Part Three

Fallout 4 is finally here! Hence why there wasn't a post on Tuesday. And... it is awesome. Sorry, I meant, it's....

Only the unicorn is actually a Deathclaw, and the rainbows is really irradiated goop.

Base building, loads of crafting options, new and revamped enemies, a massive world to explore and so much more... Fallout 4 has a little bit of everything for everyone.

Anyway, to continue with the series I started a few weeks ago in the lead up to Fallout 4, lets look at another alternate scenario within the franchise, this time in Bethesda's first foray into the series, Fallout 3.

Point of Divergence

I'll be honest: Fallout 3 had the weakest story of the entire franchise, and I've been thinking about what exactly I can take from it and twist around, as I am wont to do. I don't want to talk about "What if the Enclave succeeds in occupying Project Purity," because, well, I already did and Enclave thing. And if you need a refresher there, check out that article. Basically the same thing happens, just a bit more confined to Washington, D.C. and surrounding areas.

And that means the internet. ALL OF IT!

So, instead let's look at the other big faction in the game, the Brotherhood of Steel. The power armored troops you see at the Citadel/Pentagon is just a group from the Brotherhood that was originally established on the West Coast, sent to the old American capital to find technology. However, their leader, Elder Lyons, decided to do his best to help the people of the Wasteland, leading to several people defecting to the Outcasts and the West Coast chapter disavowing those in Washington. So, what if Elder Lyons croaks before he arrives in the Capital Wasteland (say when the Brotherhood wipes out the mutants and raiders out of The Pitt), and the Brotherhood soldiers there full fill their primary goal: recover any advanced technology to preserve it for future generations.

Consequences

The BoS expedition to the Capital Wasteland was, for the most part, a success. A massive robot was found underneath the Pentagon, Liberty Prime. Although it was still in a non-working state, it was carefully removed from it's location under the Pentagon and sent back west on a massive airship. Other technologies, such as power armor, energy weapons, documents from various Vault-Tec Vaults throughout the Capital Wasteland, and anything else considered of value, while also tracking down the source of a different bread of Super Mutants like they fought on the West Coast when the Master tried to take over the world. After months of searching, the did find the source of the Super Mutants, Vault 87, and did their best to block off the entrance to prevent any more from coming out.

But almost as soon as these well armed, steel clad soldiers showed up in the Wasteland, they disappeared. Eventually it would be assumed it was just a myth they were ever there, and life proceeds back to normal. Three Dog tries to get Galaxy News Radio working again, but that lasts only as long before the first supermutant attacks and destroys the building, killing Three Dog in the process. Project Purity also never really gets off the ground without help from the angry, cannibalistic green monsters with Chinese Assault Rifles, miniguns and fire-hydrant battering rams.

Just fought a pack of deathclaws, a horde of feral ghoul reavers, a literal army of  raiders... and then you see this.
Might as well just restart the game.

At least, until the Enclave, recently defeated out west, suddenly pops up in Washington, D.C. But with heavily armed soldiers, a folksy President on the radio, and lots of resources and technology that is much more advanced than pre-Great War stuff. With a good PR campaign, and the grudging acceptance of the Capital Wasteland's inhabitants, the Encalve begins to rebuild their power. When the Enclave got word of the aborted Project Purity, President Eden asks to meet with the project's leaders, Dr. Li and James. When the President offered his support (on the condition of using the modified FEV to kill the "mutants" of the Wasteland,) they instead are able to work with Colonel Autumn, not infect Project Purity, and effectively reduce the ZAX supercomputer to irrelevance. The Enclave begins to rebuild, but after several years of ruling the Capital Wasteland, their ideology begins to soften (they still believe they are pure, superior humans, but they eventually give up on killing all the "mutants," just the ghouls and Super Mutants) and they begin to seek to expand peacefully.

On the West Coast, the Brotherhood is revitalized with the arrival of the Capital Expedition, and they are particularly pleased with the arrival of Liberty Prime. After years of work, and when Scribes Rothchild and Elijah manage to finally sort out the power issues, Liberty Prime is ready. With the relations between the NCR and Brotherhood at a low time low after a previous war that nearly destabilized the NCR but virtually destroyed the Brotherhood and forced them into hiding in the Mojave, the Brotherhood took a gamble, and started the war again when the NCR tried to expand east.

This... just going east this time.

Liberty Prime proved to be the major decider in the war, destroying any attempts by the NCR to invade and occupy the Mojave, and quickly making huge strides deep into NCR territory, overwhelming the NCR and forcing the President to surrender. The Brotherhood quickly turned themselves into the most powerful faction in the west, easily crushing the Legion's armies of slaves with the power of Liberty Prime and the highly trained, well armed soldiers of the Brotherhood.

The BoS quickly became a fundamentalist, techno-theocracy, expanding over the Wasteland with Liberty Prime leading the charge, suppressing all technology that wasn't "safe." However it lead to problems, namely in the lack of reinforcements due to their closed, "pure" bloodlines and the massive stretches of territory they controlled with too few troops, and the lack of irrigation to increase the amount of food produced and the ability to produce medical supplies, due to the BoS's goal of preserving military technology over everything else. But it would only be when Liberty Prime was destroyed in an attack by rebels would the Brotherhood's "nation" fall apart. The NCR and the Legion would eventually reform themselves, but it would be decades before anything resembling the stability of the old NCR and even the dictatorship of the Brotherhood would be recreated.

Because it sure is easy to terrify everyone if you are totally incased in steel and sound like a pillow is over your face.

Conclusion

So, I always felt the Brotherhood of Steel was a rather morally grey organization, devoted to technology above anything else. And when the Capital Wasteland Brotherhood faction tried to just help out the people, it saw members mutinying and them being kicked out all together. Even then, it seems like no one trusted them. Then again, they didn't trust anyone either.

Anyway, sorry this is... like a week late. All well, will try to get back on schedule right away!


But what do you think? What would the Brotherhood have been like if they went a bit power hungry? Or if you have a topic or idea you would like me to talk about, please leave comments below, email me at tbguy1992@gmail.com, or tell me on Twitter @tbguy1992.

Fictional AltHistory Scenario #2: Fallout, Part Two

It's only four days till Fallout 4 finally comes out.

*muffles really loud screaming of excitement and fanboyism in a pillow until I nearly pass out*

Okay, now that that's out of my system, why not try another Fallout alternate history? If you haven't looked at it, here's Part One, what if the Master from Fallout 1 succeeded?

Anyway, I'm going to look at the second game in the franchise today. Fallout 2 is one of the best RPG's ever made, having fixed up a few issues with the first game (such as the really, really obtuse companion management system and the lack of a "take all" button) and added a lot of new things that became icon's of the legendary series: The New California Republic (NCR), an explanation of the actual purpose behind the Vaults, and, of course, the Enclave.

Don't tell me you didn't freak out the first time you saw the Enclave power armor! Wait... it was just me? Damnit.

WARNING!!!: this AH will involve a lot of spoilers to a nearly 20 year old game. If you don't want the spoilers, you might as well read another article. Like, say, what if England was a Republic? Also, if you don't know where I'm going, here is the plot of Fallout 2, provided by the Fallout Wikia. Otherwise, grab your power armor and open up a Nuka-Cola, because here we go!

Point of Divergence

The Enclave in Fallout 2 is the primary villains of the story, trying to find a way to wipe out all "mutants" on North American so they, the "pure" humans, could come in and reclaim 'MURICA! However, the "Chosen One," the descendant of the Vault Dweller of Fallout 1, puts on the Vault 13 jumpsuit and defeats the Enclave. But what if the Chosen One failed, and the Enclave succeeded?

Maybe let's say that the Chosen One is killed... really, not a hard thing to say, considering how many times I died actually playing the game. But let's say he got really close, like up to the Enclave Oil Rig, before he is finally cut down, just a short distance away from finding his tribe.

YES RON PERLMAN, I GET IT! I LOST! YOU CAN STOP RUBBING IT IN NOW! GOD!

Consequences

After dealing with the Chosen One, the Enclave prepares for their goal: unleashing a modified Forced Evolutionary Virus onto the world through the jet streams. Modified by Dr. Charles Curling from a mutagen that turns people into huge, muscular, green screen, nearly immortal idiots (or super geniuses, but that was much rarer) into a deadly aerosol that would kill every human, mutated or not, on direct contact. Only the Enclave would survive, having been inoculated against the virus. Only the plants and animals of the wasteland would survive, cleansing the world of all mutants.

So, basically this means every super mutant, ghoul, and human (even those that came from Vaults, as the modified FEV still killed the Vault 13 residents chosen as test subjects) in the Wasteland would be killed by the virus, within an hour or two of being infected. And it's not pretty: "massive hemorrhaging and inflammations, leading to a complete failure of the victim's organs within sixty minutes." Ouch.

So, the Enclave dumps this into the Jet stream, and everyone dies. NCR, New Reno, Vault City, The Boneyard, New Vegas, Chicago, Texas, the Capital Wasteland, the Pitt, etc... until everyone in the world except for a few hundred people on the oil rig. Basically everyone dies a short, immensely painful death without really knowing what happened. Only animals like Brahmin, radscorpions, Mirelirks and Deathclaws would survive, or those, like the Brotherhood of Steel, that had power armor that could filter out the deadly virus. But even then, only the highest ranking Paladins and Knights would survive, as not everyone has power armor in that group. The few survivors of the Brotherhood, in a last ditch attempt, try to make contact with the Enclave, but, being "mutants" in the eyes of the Enclave, these survivors are exterminated.

Basically the Enclave are like the Daleks. Just a question of who is more insane, really.

With everyone on the mainland dead, President Dick Richardson puts the next part of the project into action, namely the resettling of North America. The first colonies on the mainland, some built right on top of the settlements that places like the NCR had built (as soon as all the dead bodies are disposed of), other's in areas that pre-war maps identified as having good resources. Robots are immensely useful in rebuilding the world in the Enclave's image, and with the aid of advanced AI technology the settlements grow and florish. Since there wasn't a lot of creatures, deathclaws included, that the military couldn't deal with, everything is looking hunky-dory.

But now the problems start cropping up. First, robots, while useful, have some limitations, mostly in being hard to replace or repair due to a lack of raw materials to manufacture parts with. And since most of the Enclave was politicians, soldiers, scientists and business executives, it's not like any of them want to get their hands dirty doing stuff. Without even a slave force they could take advantage of, the growth of the colonies are stilted due to the lack of manual laborers. I call this the "Rapture Effect."

Ann Rand, eat your heart out. Seriously, because no one will want to work for you.

But that's just a small problem. The other one, and one already identified on the Enclave oil rig, was the problem of inbreeding. Eventually, after enough time, the genes that cause the deformities, the emotional and physical stunting, and a dozen other medical, intellectual, and social problems rise up. Doctor Curling, shocked by the devastation caused by his work, and several autopsy's that revealed that many of the "mutants" on the mainland had almost no difference in DNA from the Enclave, lead him to commit suicide. His death, portrayed by the Enclave propaganda as from over work, is eventually leaked to the community, raising doubts in a few members, wondering if releasing the FEV was the right thing, especially thanks to the increasing labor shortage to sustain the colonies (and, indirectly, their comfortable living like when they were on the Oil Rig, which had been destroyed in the years since by an earthquake).

There was a solution found: cloning. The technology existed on the East Coast, so a team was sent to find it, and recover the technology, which happened easily enough (remember: everyone is still dead). However, the cloning technology of Vault 108 has one very, major, serious flaw that the Enclave never found out: the fact that the clones were hostile to everyone but other clones. So, in their desperation to make a workforce (I'm guessing the Enclave just started growing dozens, if not hundreds of clones, at once), once they all reach maturity, they just start hunting down and killing everyone that isn't a clone. The Enclave military manages to suppress the clones, but by this point, the best scientists, engineers, and technicians have been savagely torn apart and killed.

Clones: basically never a good idea ever in fiction.

Soon, the Enclave begins to collapse from the strain. Colonies on resources and factories that were desperately needed but now didn't have enough workers. Drug use, especially of the mainland's favorite Jet, skyrockets. Suicide attempts and the number of insane increases. Desertions rise, folks just packing up and walking into the Wasteland with little more than they could carry. The last functioning Vertibird is grounded when fuel finally runs out. The ammo for the energy weapons having long since run out, leaving the Enclave military to use scavenged weapons that just a few years before they would have destroyed for being useless.

After thirty years, only a handful are left, including President Richardson. The group having been savaged by the Wasteland as the military struggled to hold back the threats from the wasteland. The population continued to drop as robots that were needed to maintain farms and factories failed and couldn't be repaired, or began to experience malfunctions, and eventually picked off a few more of the survivors. The President, the now very old Dick Richardson, is put on trial for his failures of leadership. But up until the moment he was found guilty, he stood beside every action he took. He proudly walked into the wasteland, heading east, arms outstretched as he welcomed the world he had helped create, the one for pure humans (no matter the fact the last survivors just kicked him out).

Or he just didn't want to have to listen to yet another god-damned congressman try to repeal Richardsoncare...

Fifty years after the FEV virus was put into the atmosphere, killing the final human's who survived the Great War in 2077, the last member of the Enclave, a young soldier who was one of the first born in North America takes his laser pistol, with one shot left, points it at his head and pulls the trigger. The last human in the Enclave, and in the world, is dead. The work started in 2077 is finally finished, with all of humanity extinguished.

Conclusion

Yes, this was a very, very bleak portryal of what would happen. But, let's face it: The Enclave were not going to be able to pull this off. Miniguns, plasma guns and Vertibirds will only get you so far. And killing hundreds of thousands, millions of people that could, at the very least, be used as slaves or brought into the Enclave (and refresh the gene pool) was like a sick man cutting off his legs, his right arm, and all but two fingers on his left hand. The Enclave program was doomed from the start.

So, let's be glad that the fictional world of Fallout hasn't happened (yet), or a unhinged group that controls the last remnants of the United States hasn't tried to kill everyone (yet).

Anyway! FALLOUT FOUR!!!!!!

If anything is going to ruin my chances at wining NaNoWriMo this year, it will be this game. And I might not even be mad.

But what do you think? How would the Enclave act if they took over the world? Or if you have a topic or idea you would like me to talk about, please leave comments below, email me at tbguy1992@gmail.com, or tell me on Twitter @tbguy1992.

Fictional AltHistory Scenario #1: Fallout, Part One

If you have been reading this blog at all, you would most likely know that I'm a huge fan of Fallout. No, not the radioactive substance or one of the bajillion bands with the name. Though I'm sure some of them might be good, and, well, it did get the name from the former... But anyway, I'm taking Fallout: The Post Nuclear Role Playing Game, first released from Interplay in 1997, with the next instalment coming out on November 10.

So, in a slight change of pace from what I have been doing here, instead of doing an alternate history on a real historical event, I want to take a stab at writing an alternate history of a fictional universe. And better yet, since there are multiple canon games (Fallout, Fallout 2, Fallout 3, and Fallout: New Vegas), I can make at least four separate scenarios. Yay for another multi-part series!

Yeah... not even going to bother getting into the alternate history where these games were made...

Now, these scenarios will be a bit more limited than some of my other, globe spanning alternate history scenario, instead mostly focusing on the remains of post-apocalyptic America, as that is the setting and place where Fallout takes place. And what better place to start than with the first game, and ask "What if the Master's Plan succeeded?"

WARNING: Spoilers for a nearly 20 year old game are coming! So if you haven't played Fallout, but you want to, you might as well go close this. Maybe read my scenario for what happens if the USSR never get's the atomic bomb?

Either way, this song will fit. Of course.

Point of Divergence

For those of you who haven't played the original, turn based classic RPG yet, a brief summary of the plot of Fallout. You, a simple survivor of the nuclear war of 2077, are sent on a dangerous mission in 2161. The water chip that controls the machines to make clean water in your home, Vault 13, has malfunctioned, and the Overseer has chosen you to go find another one. However, a small problem cropped up when you start meeting big, massive, green skinned, super strong, minigun and plasma rifle wielding super-mutants, the result of a toxic, painful and unpredictable experiment from before the Nuclear war called the Forced Evolutionary Virus. Searching for the source of the super mutants, you find an even more evil plot to kill or enslave all of humanity, turning the best (i.e. non-irradiated, so mostly Vault dwellers) into more super mutants to take over the world. And all of this is lead by a horribly mutated creature known as "The Master," and his vision of "Unity," to end suffering and war... by causing suffering and war. Sure, he might be pretty smart, but I don't think he thought that through.

Ummm... that's The Master from Doctor Who, as played by John Simms. Not the right guy here...

Anyway, in order to win the game, you need to defeat both the Master, in his secret vault in the middle of the Boneyard, the ruins of Los Angeles, and bury the facility with the FEV that's commanded the Lieutenant, one of the smartest super mutants to come out of being "dipped." Do those things, and a winner is you!

However, Fallout is a notoriously brutal game, and it's not uncommon for your character to die, forcing you to replay a COUPLE HOURS OF THE GAME BECAUSE YOU FORGOT TO SAVE AND THIS IS WAS THE TIME BEFORE AUTO SAVE SO YOU HAVE TO GO BACK AND FIGHT THE GOD-DAMNED DEATHCLAWS AGAIN AND AHHHHHHHH!!!!!

Peek a boo!

So, that could easily be a POD: your character dies in the Wasteland, the Master wins, and that's that. But that's too easy for me. Instead, let's take door number two. Because while Fallout can be tough, it's designed not only for multiple playthroughs, but multiple styles of play: a sneaky thief character, a blunt, fist and heavy guns guy, or a smooth taking diplomat that only kills when his words fail. And right at the very end, it even offers you a choice: either kill the Master, or join him. So why don't we say the Vault Dweller joins the Master on his quest of Wasteland unification?

Immediate Consequences

Following the events as outlined in the cutscene at the end of Fallout that has Ron Pearlman narrate the ending as you left the Wasteland, things look pretty bleak. The ghoul city of Necropolis has been wiped out; the Followers of the Apocalypse and the entire Boneyard is destroyed and enslaved; Shady Sands, the future capital of the New California Republic, is razed; Junktown, another settlement, also destroyed; The Hub, a major trading post, is abandoned in the face of the mutants... and Vault 13 has been taken over, it's inhabitants taken to the Mariposa Military base and converted into super mutants.

Basically this. Everywhere.

This is achieved through the super mutant's healing ability, their tough skin, and competent leaders (as well as an aggressive, seemingly angry and hostile manner), which means that it would take more than a few mercenaries in a town, or a group of farmers with rusty guns or knifes, to take down a 10 foot tall, 800 pound, over muscled behemoth of a man, usually carrying a minigun, flamethrower, plasma or laser rifle.

In a cut mission, there is a traitor in the reclusive, technology obsessed Brotherhood of Steel that betrays the BoS to the Master. Since it wasn't part of the game, instead I'm going to say that the Brotherhood is about the only human faction that survives against the Super mutant hordes with their access to pre-war technology, including power armor, advanced weapons, and other tech, but eventually they would be overwhelmed and destroyed, though it would cost both sides dearly.

The Core Region wasteland (California, Nevada and the rest of the South-western US) is almost entirely occupied by the Master's army by 2180. The few humans to survive his wrath are no longer allowed to reproduce, meaning that this would be the last generation of human's in this part of the world. With his capital in the Cathedral in the middle of the Boneyard, the Master begins plotting his next moves; expansion, to bring Unity to the entire wasteland, moving east over the Rocky Mountains, sweeping everything before them. It seem's that the Master's plan is in full force.

Well, no, that's The Master, a 2012 movie I haven't seen...

Later Consequences

However, two major problems arise, which lead to the downfall of the Master's Empire. The first was another human faction that no one knows about, the Enclave. The remnants of the US government and Army after the Great War, they retreated to one of the last oil rigs, deep in the Pacific Ocean. For decades the Enclave slowly gathered strength, investing in new technologies including better weapons and power armor. Using the pre-war designed VOTL aircraft known as "Vertibirds," The Enclave begins scouting the wasteland, and the scouts are horrified at what they find.

With the super mutants now a huge threat (and with the first couple of teams sent to kill them in turn being killed or captured and dipped), and unable to access the FEV virus so they could reverse-engineer it, the Enclave instead retreats back to the rig. But they have learned a secret, one that in the end will allow the Enclave to emerge victorious.

And that secret can be found in the main game, and can even be used in the final confrontation with The Master, ending the battle in a peaceful manner.

The super mutants are infertile.

And he has such a good chance to going out with the high school prom queen...

The FEV virus does a lot of weird things to the human body, and it can be almost different between one person and another. While one person may get super strength, another may be killed. While some, like the Master and the Lieutenant had their intelligence increased, in most it reduces it. Some people are turned into terrifying centaurs, made up of Human and Canine limbs in some demented Kindergarten project. And some times, as in the case of Harold, it might not even turn people into Super Mutants, but completely unique mutations.

However, in all cases, it turns the resultant mutant is sterile. No matter the romantic candlelight or soft music, it just ain't happening.

I'd think The Master would learn this sooner or later. And that will be a huge blow to the Master. Sure, his creations could live in harsher conditions than humans, as well as live many times longer than the starving, de-hydrated, irradiated human inhabitants of the Wasteland, which, as part of the Master's plan, were all being sterilized as well. Basically the Master was not only relying on a flawed solider, but was actively destroying the only way to naturally reproduce humans to turn into super mutants. Basically... oops.

Uhhh... That's Master Chief from Halo. Even if he wanted to, we'll never see him making that face you get when you realize everything you had ever done was wrong. Stupid helmets.

Now, with The Master being a smart guy, I'd think he'd try to find a way around it. But by 2200, with limited facilities and few willing test subjects, he might see the plan as not only flawed but also impossible to rectify, as he does in the main game if you present him with the evidence of the Super Mutant sterility. Of course, in that time frame, he kills himself by blowing himself up with a nuclear weapon under the Cathedral, kinda a last resort option. Would he do that? Maybe in utter despair he would, especially as it's hard to stop a horde of angry, well armed giants that would be by now either at the Mississippi or over it and advancing even further east, spreading the Unity even further.

So, there are two possible scenarios: the Master kills himself, and throws his entire army into chaos, or presides over a doomed Empire that is constantly growing larger and larger. Since the game has his killing himself when he realizes the plan is flawed, I think he would cash out that way.

...I'm not really even trying anymore, am I?

So, the Master kills himself, the super mutant armies, mostly composed of un-intelligent soldiers with a few leaders that kept their smarts after being dipped, it's safe to say that the entire thing falls apart. Different factions come up, with some just wanting to stop fighting and others who want to continue the Master's plan and conquer the whole world, and everything in between. Civil War destroys the Unity. When it's super mutant fighting super mutant, it's fair to say that no one wins. The numbers of the super mutants plummet, turning them from a fierce and proud warrior race to a shadow of their former selves. However they still cause massive amounts of damage, possibly destroying what few human outposts survive in the East, such as the Capital Wasteland, the Pitt, and Point Lookout. The Commonwealth, briefly mentioned in Fallout 3 and where Fallout 4 will be taking place, might be in a good position to hold them off, with androids, robots, new weapons and a seemingly more organized civilization. Of course, I can't say much for certain until I play Fallout 4....

Time for the obligatory "OMG, CAN'T WAIT TO PLAY FALLOUT 4 COMMENT!" I always do in these articles...

And now the Enclave steps in. With humanity, mutant and non-mutant alike, on the West Coast nearly extinguished and wide open spaces open, the Enclave begins to resettle the Wasteland. Unfortuantly, another problem emerges, the fact that inbreeding is a major problem in a community that had been isolated for so long. You start to see the effects even when Fallout 2 happens, and it's fair to say that since there isn't many groups to "renew" the blood line, the Enclave might turn into something approaching a backwoods Louisiana hillbilly family. Basically humanity isn't going to be in good shape, at least as far as America is concerned. Maybe the rest of the world might get it's act together and start trying to unify the world. Or not. After all... War. War never changes.

At least on the bright side... there is no Caesar's Legion.

Because just screw these guys. Mr. House all the way!

Conclusion

Usually when I do Alternate History, I try not to go into the whole "Because this happened, therefore everything was better/worse!" that you usually see in certain alternate history stories. I feel that, while maybe some scenarios would leave the world in a worse place than what really happened, there are always a few trade offs. Heck, if Hitler won World War Two, at least their would be autobahns everywhere.

However, in a nuclear or post-apocalyptic scenario, no one wins. The vast majority of the world is dead, the few people left might as well be, and only a very few lucky people will get the chance to live out the nuclear winter in a fallout shelter that won't subject them to cruel and unusual social and environmental experiments. Radiation, ruins, the loss of technology and a few thousand years of cultural advancement gone in one big mushroom cloud. The only group that would win would be the cockroaches.

So, sometimes it's nice to look back, and see that, well, things may be bad but they can be a lot, lot worse. And in my opinion, the best place to do that would be in a video game. It's both real and isn't: a simulation of a world that could be ours, providing a bit of escapism, maybe some feel good moments along with cathartic pleasure, relaxation, and if you are downright cruel bastard, a place for you to toy with computer beings as a malevolent god.

And everyone that has played The Sims is a cruel, fickle god. That's just science.

However, there is always the part of my mind that enjoys a thought experiment like this. An alternate history of an alternate history. Maybe not quite a novel within a novel as you've seen some writers accomplish, but at the same time, it's fun, entertaining, and can help to answer those questions that game developers either didn't have the time, money, or desire to show case.

And now, if you excuse me, I got a Fallout fanfic to finish before the next game comes out.

Okay, finally! That's the Mas.... OH MY GOD, I FORGOT HOW TERRIFYING HE IS. KILLITKILLITKILLIT!

THANK YOU.