Intelligent Deathclaws

[shinto9]

I have always wondered why they decided in fallout 3 to make deathclaws savage stupid beasts. In the original fallouts they were as intelligent as humans since they used to be humans. they used to be civilized and have there own cities that were not hostile. I wish I could make a mod to restore the to there former glory but my modding skills are very limited. if this makes anybody want to make a to restore the deathclaws intelligence then that would be great. in FO3 you could make the distinction that the deathclaws in the east are savage and stupid, but now that we have come back west they are still savage and hostile. this simply should not be.

[huntsman2310a]

Actually I think they were Reptiles that were experimented on by the American Government and turned into Biological weapons, using the FEV virus if I'm correct.

 

The only Intelligent Deathclaws were in Fallout 2, and Fallout Tactics, they didn't build any citys either, they lived in a tribal family system and the only group shown was in Vault 13

[LtRhapthorn]

Deathclaws were not human. They were lizards. Furthermore, they were never that intelligent.

[bfg10k17]

I'd love to see a village like Jacobstown but with intelligent deathclaws.

[shinto9]

ok I was wrong they were genetically altered lizards, it was the FEV exposure that made them intelligent. but It would still be nice to see at least one group of deathclaws that retain that intelligence.

[buddy8121]

I would like to see the Deathclaws as intelligent as the Velociraptors in Jurassic Park.

[VaultPi]

yes, I loved the FEV Deathclaws from Part II, as well as ma from tactics...

 

ok, that and fire to cure VD were the best bits from tactics

[DuskWulf]

You just had to give me a talking point, didn't you?

 

I'm a strong supporter of intelligent deathclaws because it seems the natural way for their race to progress. I admit, I'm a romantic, and I'd love to see a race in Fallout which could present us with viewpoints which are entirely non-human. If handled by an intelligent writer, these beasties could be something special.

 

I always saw it as a lack of imagination, and to a degree short-sightedness that their full potential was never recognised. There's so much that you can do with them, and they have a fairly storied history, if you work with it.

 

Originally they were heavily mutated lizards, and I'd always imagined that their intelligence would've had a range. So one might have encountered a dense or particularly clever deathclaw in Fallout 1, but none of them had a word to say. In Tactics, we see a different strain of deathclaws, and these ladies and gents are interesting because of their composition. For one, they were hairy.

 

It seems like the genetic make-up of a deathclaw isn't that stable, and you can have odd, random generation mutations such as hair, or intelligence. For that reason, they seem a highly adaptable race. It's said that the hair was to deal with the colder climes where the hairy deathclaws resided, and that hair was a result to the cold tends to prove that they're a step up on the evolutionary ladder over conventional deathclaws.

 

Now, they also had a more primitive form of intellect, similar to early man. Except here's the interesting thing: They developed this form of primitive intellect over a very short period. This tends to say to me that they're evolving quickly, and they'll gain the ability to think and speak sapiently as a natural part of their evolutionary progression. As time goes on and more single generation mutations occur, those hairy deathclaws would likely have become more intelligent.

 

Now we have the deathclaws in Fallout 2, they had a range as well. There were particularly dense deathclaws that could barely string a sentence together, and then you had mad savants with towering intellects like Grunthar and Goris. There was actually an ending that was cut for them, but I'll get to that later. I need to try and keep at least some order to my thoughts. Alright, if we consider that sapience and speech are indeed their evolutionary potential, then it's likely that all the FEV had to do to realise this potential is toggle a particular set of genes on and off to get the desired result.

 

For me, this all comes together in my mind as saying that Deathclaws are naturally intelligent, and all that the FEV did was unlocked something that would've come along eventually with a few generations of mutations, anyway. To my mind, talking deathclaws were inevitable for this reason, it's just that the Enclave made it happen sooner than it would have normally occurred due to exposure to the FEV. Therefore, it's likely that all across the wastes, clutches of eggs could contain that particular sequence of genes, the one that lends them intelligence. And according to Darwinism, this is likely something that would spread. Consider that the intelligent deathclaws lived and mated, whereas less intelligent deathclaws would happily line themselves up in front of a sniper sight, it's most likely that the intelligent ones would shy away from human settlements and breed, even breeding with non-intelligent deathclaws, thus passing the sequence around and creating new strains.

 

And there are other things that should be mentioned, because they're interesting. Now, there's a Restoration Project for Fallout 2 that restores cut content, content that some of the designers had egocentric fits over or simply didn't have the time to implement fully. One such bit of cut content was where you could kill Schreber in Navarro and actually save the talking deathclaws. There was even an ending in the files about this (more on this in a moment), so it was something they'd planned. However, it was cut because one particularly egocentric developer (I won't name names) decided that this shouldn't even be an option, thus going against the nature of Fallout games and choice in RPGs in general, they wanted it to stand to show the atrocity of the Enclave. Now that's fine! But it doesn't make sense for replays. On your first play through, you don't know to kill Schreber, so you have to watch the slaughter of the deathclaws anyway, but on your second? It just doesn't make sense. In fact, I'd even say it was an ignorant and ill-considered, perhaps even an idiotic decision.

 

After all, the whole point of an RPG is to have replay value through offering choices and having different consequences, isn't it? Silly Black Isle. Though the person responsible did tend to have ego fits of the sort, and New Vegas suffered for this as well, but I won't talk too much about this.

 

Right, in the Restoration Project, you can actually save the deathclaws and they plot out a purely peaceful plan of expansion and exploration, Northward bound. And they were fairly successful with doing this and with human relations. But it gets even better. You see, John Deiley (the person responsible for the talking deathclaws, bless 'im) told us that the gene sequence for intelligence could be passed on. It's male dominant, and Gois and Xarn survive even if you're not using the Restoration Project. But if you do use the RP... well...

 

Consider all that I've said thus far, every element. Talking deathclaws expanding North, the ability to pass on intelligence, single generation mutations making deathclaws more intelligent, the alive and healthy hairy deathclaws from the Chicago area... give it a little while and the Americas would be flooded with intelligent deathclaws. It wouldn't take them that long after that to forge a society. This is actually why I shared an idea elsewhere about how I'd love to see that. Acolytes of the New Strain turn up in New Vegas with plans to introduce the deathclaws in the Quarry and at the deathclaw promontory to a particular version of the FEV, one designed to unlock the specific gene sequence that would awaken their minds and grant them sapience.

 

It would be hard to do this with all the factions around, but not impossible. Some would be sympathetic to the idea, and others could be convinced to look the other way or even help out with a large enough bag of caps dropped into their lap.

 

That we've gone back to deathclaws being simply savages is a shame. I'd daresay it's even a bloody crime. There's so much potential there, and as I already said, there's so much that a clever writer could actually do with an alien mind to actually screw with the player. Consider how different a society of deathclaws could be, and the fascinating issues it could bring with it.

 

I had one entertaining thought about how forcing a deathclaw child to undergo a human upbringing could completely break it, and it might even make for a very interesting quest line, given some branches. But it shows just how different things could be.

 

So, I'll share that.

 

We'll start off with a fun conundrum: What if deathclaws had a degree of genetic memory?

 

Now, the deathclaws might choose to leave their young to 'fend for themselves', essentially putting them in a monitored play pen wherein the adults never intervene, tools of learning would be provided there. Many of every clutch will live, some might die, but it's simply the best way for their young to work given the genetic memory angle.

 

So they're provided for: there's food there that they can hunt, and things that would teach them about speech, society, and so on, spurred on by their clutches of genetic memory to do so. However, it might be a little harsh for them, and as I said, some might not survive.

 

Now what if we had a particularly bleeding heart player who wanted to try things a little differently? With the deathclaws and some Followers of the Apocalypse convinced by a particularly nice speech to try something of an experiment, a few children from one clutch could be adopted and raised by humans, trying to give the children a good home and upbringing to see how it fares against the somewhat more 'savage' deathclaw method.

 

Except here's where it gets interesting: It doesn't work. The children actually rail against constantly being watched, and being taught things which conflict with their genetic memory actually drives them slowly insane, they begin to see their parents as thought police, and the lack of total trust in them that a deathclaw parent might show eventually makes them insane. Of course, for each act they commit that exists outside of human children norms, they're punished. And they all go absolutely batshit insane from this, they break in particularly wonderful ways and they have to be put down.

 

One escapes.

 

And that one deathclaw goes on a murderous rampage, using its intellect to stay away from other predators, it starts murdering the parents of children. To the mind of that dathclaw, it's doing something right and just, it's freeing the young from the tormentors and torturers, and letting the young find their own way. The deathclaw sees these humans as trying to force the young into thinking and being a certain way, never allowing them to become whom they wish to be. This is due to the more independent nature of the deathclaw. And each time he'd encounter a parent punishing a child, they'd die horribly.

 

Eventually the deathclaw is caught and he's angry and more than a little confused as to why people are labelling him as a monster. He believed his quest to be righteous and just, and he rants to such an effect. The law enforcement responsible for bringing him in can't see the creature as any different than any other criminal, they're intelligent now so they have to accept responsibility for their own actions. Either that or this is a rabid savage that needs to be put down.

 

At this point, the player might either help the deathclaw escape and return it to its real parents, so that it might find comfort and eventually heal its mental wounds, or they could side with the local constabulary, alienating both the deathclaws and the Followers in the process. In the case of the latter, neither party would ever really trust the player again.

 

But it's just one fun way in which human society might differ from deathclaw society, and how the two might rail against each other to provide for interesting outcomes as the humans learn just how different deathclaws are, and why they shouldn't hold them to human standards, but as an entirely new, but equally intelligent, race of people.

 

You could really have all sorts of fun with this. You could go nuts with it. It's just a shame that Obsidian themselves can't see the potential.

 

But anyway, I like intelligent deathclaws, and I'd love to one day see them reach their potential. But currently I'd settle for an acolyte of the new strain as a chatty companion who'd tell me of his society back home, and the trials and tribulations they'd faced. Even that a clever writer could have a lot of fun with.

 

Right, VASTLY VOLUMINOUS WALL OF WORDS ENDS.

[scyris99]

I would like to see the Deathclaws as intelligent as the Velociraptors in Jurassic Park.

 

Hahaha I remember those, smart little buggers, I think scientist did determine that velociraptors were actually one of the most intelligent dino's

[Quetzlsacatanango]

Kudos DuskWulf for a great post. Very interesting. God I miss my old Fallouts.