Would You Become a Ghoul to Cheat Death?

[Fkemman11]

When I think about it I would certainly consider it as a way to live much longer. I'm not sure how long a Ghoul typically lives or how much of their mind stays intact, but it sure beats death. Doesn't it? You may have to sacrifice some things like your hair and your looks and maybe sex ( never seen or heard of Ghouls doin it). But isnt that a small price to pay to live several centuries? Would you also Ghoulify your family and friends as well?

Also living a long time might make some of the smartest beings ever known on the planet. With three or four hundred yrs to accumulate knowledge the possibilities for Science and Industry is immense. This begs the question of what these Ghouls have been doing all this time? And what would you and family and friends do with a vastly extended lifespan? Be a Raider? Live quietly on the coast?

What if there were risks involved in the process such as the possibility of death or perhaps becoming Feral? Would you still do it? Also lets say that you cannot even consider this if you are already old or sickly. So your decision needs to made when you are still fairly young and in decent health. Would you take the risk and encourage those you care about to do the same?

So to summarize; Would you consider ghoulification for yourself and others if you knew there were deadly (or worse) risks? And if the process was successful what would you do in very long life-time? :geek:

[TKayFire]

I think only one out of ten or maybe even less becomes a "human" ghoul. Most become feral Ghouls. Don't know if that's what I would want.

[DoctorKaizeld]

 

I'm not sure how long a Ghoul typically lives

over 200 years as the oldest are from before the bombs fell, yes that means several of those feral ones are just as old if not older then the PC in FO4.

 

 

how much of their mind stays intact

many factors are involved such as age, radiation levels, human contact, starting intelligence (dumber people will go feral a lot faster), level of sanity. i know in lore some scientist have theories that ghouls can live indefinitely as long as nothing kills them first and the true problem is that they are all destined to be killed or go feral.

 

 

but it sure beats death

hell no it isnt. ghouls are hated by a large portion of the wasteland (both the Bro-hood and the In-Caves shooting them on sight and they hold the majority in firepower and power armor in N. America. also isnt the Legion anti-ghoul?

 

 

You may have to sacrifice some things like your hair and your looks and maybe sex ( never seen or heard of Ghouls doin it).

they have sex they just cant reproduce, a good example is Beatrix Russell from NV who can be convinced to become a prostitute. oh also you lose out on a social life in many places, you constantly have to be weary of people shooting you for various reasons (fun, you scared them, racists, thought you were a feral, other accidents).

 

 

But isnt that a small price to pay to live several centuries?

i would rather die then live in the misery of watching my body degrade around me as i wait to go feral.

 

 

Would you also Ghoulify your family and friends as well?

considering it only happens through radiation and doesnt work on everybody no i wouldnt.

 

 

Also living a long time might make some of the smartest beings ever known on the planet. With three or four hundred yrs to accumulate knowledge the possibilities for Science and Industry is immense.

you realize your brains quality goes down hill right? yeah sure you may be able to retain info but you will struggle to learn complicated sciences and will have to fight to keep your brain from degrading to far (the cause of feral ghouls)

 

 

This begs the question of what these Ghouls have been doing all this time?

trying to survive. there is a city of them in the NCR.

 

 

And what would you and family and friends do with a vastly extended lifespan? Be a Raider? Live quietly on the coast?

probably try to find a way to reverse it then go feral when i find it isnt possible.

 

 

What if there were risks involved in the process such as the possibility of death or perhaps becoming Feral? Would you still do it?

...

 

 

Also lets say that you cannot even consider this if you are already old or sickly. So your decision needs to made when you are still fairly young and in decent health.

yeah it is no. as i said above age is a strong factor.

 

 

Would you take the risk and encourage those you care about to do the same?

never

 

 

So to summarize; Would you consider ghoulification for yourself and others if you knew there were deadly (or worse) risks? And if the process was successful what would you do in very long life-time?

no i would never do it.

[Fkemman11]

http://fallout.gamepedia.com/Ghoul

 

Well there are many examples of ghouls that have never gone feral or had their mind degrade that much. In fact many non-feral ghouls show very few signs of mental degradation at all. By far the worst problems they have to deal with are a deteriorated body and extreme prejudice.

While the process for becoming a ghoul is an extreme risk and probably very painful to say the least- some people have willingly done so with the hope that they might somehow "beat" death. So it is an acceptable risk for them.

The degree to which a human might degrade is dependent on many factors at their time of exposure. I do not think that a persons mental capacity is one of them. Rather it would be much more about the condition of their body and their genetics and such.

So a person in relatively good health using controlled methods of exposure might help increase their chances of success. There might also be a way to gain the benefits of the mutations that radiation produces while curbing the negative physical and mental effects.

These are just some ideas to help counter the "bad" aspects of being a ghoul. Its too bad you don't get better insight into this within the Fallout Universe.

[bmt12]

Regarding the ghoul sex, which is probably a topic worth it's own thread...there were ghoul prostitutes in the games but if I remember correctly they were all female, the question is then if their reproductive organs still function and/or if they get any pleasure from the act, when regarding male ghouls you must consider if the requisite parts have rotted and fallen off or not.

 

As far as the dilemma aspect of it, and assuming that you would have to give that up I suppose I would have to wait until I get older and the sex drive starts becoming less and less of a motivation for me. As a younger person I couldn't make that call now.

 

 

 

Back to the overall topic though I do have to ask if reconstructive surgery is apparently readily accessible in the wasteland in the basements of old baseball stadiums could not a ghoul just undergo such a procedure to restore much of their outward appearance?

Edited March 30, 2017 by bmt12

[Fatalmasterpiece]

Considering parts made of cartilage and flesh fall off ghouls, nose, ears, lips... it's safe to say bye bye to anything downstairs :/

 

I'll take a natural death over living hundreds of years watching my body literally rot away as my mind decays toward insanity.

[montky]

@fkemman11

that is an interesting hypothetical

again, with an awesome and complex question.

 

 

 

may I say thanks; it is awesome to see Fallout fans talk lore and what-ifs and hypotheticals.

being an FORPG/GURPS player from way back,

I enjoy playing in the Fallout universe.

I've played as a ghoul character in some FORPG saga arcs,

though not as much in the games outright.

I do take the ghoul perk in FO4, moreso for min/max purposes.

 

that aside,

to the hypothetical.

"become a ghoul, to cheat death etc".

 

I think, you'd have to weigh the pros and cons.

What is the ghoul quality of life?

what are the odds of turning feral involuntarily?

did I get a choice in becoming a ghoul?

 

let's look at the pros -

no longer need to eat, well, food anyways.

can clean rads from locals and things (to a point); sorta like beliefs claiming to remove 'taint' from a locale etc.

osmotically take up rads, and then can emit rads.

can use rad powers

can help folks

have a chance at transcending beyond a glowing one etc to a pure rad/energy being etc.

(the ghouls at Novac, the messengers of Atom's Glow, etc)

 

negatives:

ostracized or prone to attack on sight,

can harm non-ghoul loved ones who might not become ghouls or could turn feral.

could lose mind, could turn feral or evaporate etc...

difficulty with using technology and other things due to Rad-interference.

 

-----

so,

Necropolis, Novac REPCONN facility NORAM 2 (where some ghouls leave on their quest),

parts of the underboston, the museum of natural history and the smithsonian etc...

the slog casino and resort.

they're all ghoul-haunts (pun unintentional, duly noted as lame hehe).

 

They are ghouls who have used their powers for good, and not evil.

the BoS I think, would allow sentient beings and mutants to join and partake in the BoS (especially so, if Founder Maxxon survived and was a ghoul)

Where they do not do any harm, they're allowed to do what they like.

Ghouls have saved other folks in the past, usually they have to wear a disguise,

a non-removable radiation suit etc. This is to protect non-ghoul people from both a fright, and, potentially lethal rads.

Ironically, the ghouls have to 'suit-up" to go near non-ghouls, yet can take less equipment into high-rad areas.

they'd travel faster in high rad zones, because they don't need as much protective gear...

 

When you're in power armor, the only way to tell from the outside what is inside, is looking at the fusion core -

ghoul members are the ones who might not need a fusion core...

they're all the same in a suit of T60 or X01

 

So, yeah, I'd risk the downsides, to become a ghoul if I had to.

If it means preventing suffering to innocent beings, it's worth the risks.

I wouldn't actively seek to become a ghoul though, unlike Harold, Sly Eddie, and Hancock.

If a ghoul doesn't mean me any harm, and does no harm,

they're alright by me. not that that matters any way hehe.

 

I think the BoS would very much find ghoul members extremely useful in many functions -

non-corporeal glowing ones/transcended rad beings might be White-Hack or interpreters for the Zax or AI's they find - perhaps, they can also use telepathy to communicate, or phase through solid matter etc. all exceedingly handy qualities.

glowing ones could be power sources, or able to tame beasts etc, or even quell rad-storms etc (a rad-lightning rod)

regular ghouls could remove rads osmotically from stuff,

and could go places hazardous to other BoS members.

Pre-War ghouls would make excellent sources of living-knowledge of the pre-war world, and would be a vital part of "Books" of the Air;

a peripatetic school of the wasteland, wandering minstrels etc.

 

I also think, once a BoS, always a BoS.

if you met with some adversity in the Wasteland, you can still serve the BoS.

there's no way known, I would throw out the Xmen or mutants or sentient beings who aren't harming anyone,

and who want to volunteer to help and can help out there.

They have abilities and can do things, I couldn't even begin to understand,

and its awesome they choose to use their powers for good, not evil.

I understand if they had to retreat, but... no BoS left behind.

if they can reconvene and regroup, they can fall in at the nearest BoS outpost for assignment.

The BoS, is not, the Central BoS or the Enclave.

 

There'll always be BoS Outcasts, or Central BoS, or McNamaras...

distorting the BoS and persecuting for no real reason.

they're not truly the BoS though.

 

 

 

[Gruffydd]

The implication in Hancock's dialogue is that he is still functional. He's surprised you're interested, but once he gets past that, he's just as good in the sack as all of the other companions (or at least gives you the same bonus).

[PoorlyAged]

I once espoused the thought that I would like to play as a ghoul. Having lived before, during and after the bombs would make an interesting character.

 

The problem of course would be the degradation of faculties and facilities associated with the extensive exposure to radiation. Radiation heals ghouls, but prolonged exposure can lead to the mental degradation that produces ferals.

 

 

Something tidbits from

 

 

http://img3.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb39/fallout/images/8/89/Wiki-wordmark.png

 

http://fallout.wikia.com/wiki/Ghoul

 

 

"... all ghouls are completely sterile. "

"Ghouls, at least the non-feral ones, are generally as intelligent as normal humans".

 

“Ghouls, both "normal" and Feral, are not only immune to radiation...they are healed by it.”

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[Moraelin]

Well, I guess it's not the worst that could happen. Then again, you could just rescue Lorenzo and live for ever without any of those risks or inconveniences.