Tip:
Highlight text to annotate it
X
You've experienced the FALLOUT series in your own way, but want to learn more about its
story. Well- to get to the heart of the story- you have to go back to the beginning...
Tired of life in the New California Republic? Want to enjoy a weekend with no pesky laws
or nosey government looking over your shoulder? Come to New Reno and experience the wasteland
as it was meant to be experienced!
Stock up on your favorite chems like Psycho, Buffout and that New Reno sensation - Jet!
Enjoy a visit to one of our many brothels, or even become the star of your own adult
holotape!
No money? No problem! Our merchants accept pre-war magazines, lumps of ore, and used
jet nozzles as payment!
Itís a new world, with new rules, and New Reno is the biggest little town in the wasteland!
Humility is a virtue in the wasteland. One will not find dignity when scavenging in a
pile of rubble. Those who are lucky enough to be born into prosperity should know that
their way of life can vanish in a moment, likewise those who come from humble beginnings
must believe that they have the potential to build empires, lead armies, or heal the
world around them. Each generation has seen would-be conquerors who seek to forge their
own utopia from the ashes of the old world, but the most successful attempt at rebuilding
has come from the most humble of origins.
ìShady SandsîÖ sounds like the sort of thing youíd read on a pre-war postcard. A
tropical getaway for bored families in the old worldÖ But Shady Sands was actually a
little village in California, made up of the people who came out of one of the Vaults.
Lucky for them, their vault, number 15, wasnít so bad. At least when compared to some of
the other ones.
It was designed to open fifty years after the Great War, and its inhabitants were well-supplied,
even though they were deliberately made up of people who Vault-Tec knew wouldnít get
along. They managed to keep from killing each other until the doors opened, then most of
Vault 15ís inhabitants tore through the wasteland forming some of the worst raider gangs the
Wasteland would ever see. Even the Great Kahns today can trace their heritage back to the
hooligans who came out of Vault 15.
Not all of them were troublemakers like the Khans, though. Quite a few decided to settle
down and build a farming town. They had some gadgetry from the Vault that made Shady Sands
a prosperous little place, but that prosperity also made them a target. Raiders attacked
Shady Sands without mercy, even going so far as to kidnap the Mayorís daughter.
Superstitious folk will say it was destiny that brought the Vault Dweller to Shady Sands
at their time of need. Or maybe it was just because Vault 13 happened to be located nearby
and people are always in need. For whatever reason Shady Sands was the first place that
tested the now famous Vault Dweller ñ this was before that kid from Vault 13 became the
hero of the wasteland.
The example set by the heroics of the Vault Dweller stuck with the people who lived in
Shady Sands. Folk like Aradesh, Tandi and Seth, names that will go in the history books
ñ once someone starts writing down history again.
Junktown, The Hub, and other places that the Vault Dweller passed through all felt the
same call to be a part of something greater. The mayor of Shady Sands, Aradesh, guided
the most influential communities of the twenty second century formed an alliance - each one
had played some small role in saving the wasteland, and this brought them together.
In those early years of this New California Republic, even the Brotherhood of Steel was
an ally, their original headquarters being right in the heart of the NCR. That alliance
lasted about as long as youíd expect, but it shows that the Brotherhood and the NCR
could get along.
Aradesh was made president for life of the NCR. He lived a good long life but like many
old men he wanted to head out on a few final adventures before death came calling. He disappeared
out in the wasteland one day, probably looking for his old friend the Vault Dweller. Weíre
not sure exactly how it ended for Aradesh, when they write those NCR history books they'll
probably make up something suitably noble and heroic for his last adventure.
With Aradesh gone, the natural successor was his daughter Tandi. The official records donít
like to dwell on the way that President Tandi once had to be rescued from the Kahns by the
Vault Dweller. Getting kidnapped wouldnít seem very ìPresidentialî, but that sort
of humbling experience helped mold her into an ambitious leader who was wise enough to
know the dangers of the Wasteland around her. She led the NCR until she was nearly a hundred
years old. A ripe old age for someone who never mutated, and she spent the whole time
trying to unify the towns north of the NCR.
While places like the Hub and Boneyard were glad to join the NCR, up north things were
a bit trickier. The Republic had access to some pre-war tech from vaults 15 and 13, but
that was nothing compared the wonders of Vault City. Vault City was the community that surrounded
Vault 8, and it was the embodiment of everything that Vault-Tec had promised people before
the war. It was one of the few Vaults that opened right on schedule, just a few years
after the war, and the happy people inside emerged to build their own private Garden
of Eden (With a little help from Vault Tec's Garden of Eden Creation Kit).
The folks that ran Vault City had a stranglehold on their territory. They had the finest medical
equipment available, and a security force to defend it, plus plenty of outsiders who
were willing to become servants in exchange for a safe place to live. They didnít need
to be a part of this New California Republic, and neither did nearby towns like New Reno,
Redding and Broken Hills.
Even the NCRís mother vault, Vault 15, had fallen into disrepair by the time that Tandi
was nearing the end of her presidency. And Vault 13Ö well the original inhabitants had
been ìrelocatedî by the Enclave and a new group of occupants had taken up residency.
Good conversationalists by all accounts, but not the sort that most people would want as
neighbors.
The NCR was so keen on expanding their territory that they even resorted to playing dirty tricks
on Vault City to get them to join and share their medical supplies with the rest of the
Republic. For all its good intentions, the NCR was heading down a road to the cut-throat
politics of the old days.
The Wasteland isnít prone to unity. Many would-be rulers discovered that the hard way,
and it was a lesson the NCR was all too familiar with.
In the years since, the NCR has had a series of presidents, none of which managed to rule
with the insight of Aradesh or Tandi. The new leadership has still added some territory
to the Republic though - parts of Nevada, Arizona, Oregon and Mexico too.
With the Pacific Ocean to the West, that only leaves the East for further conquest, and
the current leadership of the New California Republic has been steadily spreading their
influence through Nevada and Arizona for years. Other factions had long since held territory
there too, like the Brotherhood of Steel.
An alliance between the NCR and Brotherhood might have held up if there hadnít been such
an abundance of amazing technology at stake. Just a little ways over the border in Nevada
the Brotherhood had discovered a solar power station called Helios One. It not only had
the potential to provide energy for half the wasteland, but it also controlled an orbiting
satellite that could focus sunlight into a deadly beam. The Brotherhood always loved
their death rays, and they could never let anyone else get their hands on something like
that.
It was an unprecedented struggle between the Brotherhood and the NCR for control of the
facility. To the Brotherhood it meant keeping a devastating weapon in safe hands, and to
the NCR it meant providing electricity to all of their citizens. Good intentions all
around, but everyone was still certain that their side deserved Helios more than the other
side.
The Brotherhood Paladins have terrifying weapons in their metal-clad hands, but the NCR has
soldiers gathered from all over the republic. A vast army of Patriots who are willing to
die for the idea of building a nation, state by state. Although numbers aren't the only
thing that the NCR has; they have the Rangers...
Even before the Great War, the West had need of soldiers and lawmen. For centuries some
of the finest of them adopted the title of Ranger, and today's NCR Rangers are made up
of the best men and women that the Republic has to offer. They fight to bring law and
order to this new West; and thatís a powerful motivation for those who can temper their
optimism with resolve.
The Rangers aren't feared because of the power of their weapons or the sophistication of
their armor. The Rangers are feared because of their skill and relentless loyalty to the
Republic. They aren't born and bred for this elite position like in the Brotherhood or
the Enclave. The Rangers are but humble soldiers who volunteer for the privilege of serving
their fellow man.
With such loyalty in their multitudes of soldiers, it shouldn't be a surprise that the NCR seized
Helios One. With it they just might have enough power to light up everything West of the Colorado
River. That is if they can ever get the thing running properly.
But Helios is only one of their plans to restore civilization to the world. Right in the middle
of the desert thereís a great river, and a huge pre-war dam that once pulled electricity
right out of the flowing water. A feat of engineering, this great wall was
named after one of the old presidents of a dead Empire - The Hoover Dam, they called
it.
The NCR wanted that dam, but they discovered they werenít alone. The Colorado River had
kept the Republic separated from another army, a veritable legion of bloodthirsty killers.
But that- is a story for another dayÖ