5 Years later - 2281

[Talwyn224]

I've often thought as to what might have happened in the aftermath of the events of FO3 and the DLC's. We know that the Enclave are smashed, the BoS are the only real power in the Capital Wasteland and boy are they powerful.

 

This is my idea of what has gone on since then.

 

Comments & thought are welcome :)

 

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9MUvYq68KTg

 

"People of the American Wasteland, it is I, Three Dog, your ruler! Hear me, and obey! Oh sorry, that was that other radio station line.

 

All right, children. It's time for Three Dog to be honest with ya. Here it is, plain as day - I used to think we were all well and truly f*cked. The good ole U.S. of A... ahhh, she's still is a mess but she’s getting a whole lot better than she used to be. I had pretty much written us all off. But that was before a certain kid from Vault 101 came on the scene.

 

I've always given it to you straight, have I not? For good or ill, Galaxy News Radio has been the voice of truth on these airwaves. So believe me when I tell you that I was wrong.

Dead wrong.

 

That kid from Vault 101 is still and will always be the Last, Best Hope of humanity. We'll get through this, children. You just gotta believe. For now, listen close, as I look back over the past five years and when everything changed.

 

Things began to turn about right after our Shining Knights in Power Armour, our local chapter of the Brotherhood of Steel, kicked the crap out of those Enclave bastards. The self-appointment President Eden and his goon squad tried to screw us all by taking over Project Purity but thanks to our saviour and hero that didn’t happen. Instead we now have the waters of life gushing freely for all to have. The purifier is still chugging along getting rid of those nasty old rads and giving all cool clear water. And that’s made all the difference folks believe me.

 

And despite the Enclave’s attempt two weeks later at trying again to crush us all under their jackboots like radroaches, we’re still here and those a*sholes aren’t. Ain’t karma a b*itch huh? Talk about payback.

 

Okay, since then things settled down here in the good old Capital Wasteland and we got back to our regularly scheduled program, killing super mutants and those scumbag psycho raiders. Our buddies in the Brotherhood started escorting the water caravans out into the waste lands and because of that, the numbers of raiders began to drop off. That might be due to the laser fire which fried those assholes into little bitty piles of ashes. Plus the super mutant menace that regularly kept things sporty in the ruins of downtown DC faded away now that our guys & gals began to reign death from above down on those monsters with those Vertibirds that the Enclave left laying around.

 

It took about a year or so for things to really settle down plus some major negotiations between Elder Lyons and Protector Casdin which was brokered by none other than the silver tongued devil himself, yep you guessed it the Lone Wanderer. Until the peace summit things were starting to get pretty hairy out there between the Outcasts and the good old guys in the Brotherhood. Regular eruptions of violence with occasional outbreaks of death soured what was a pretty sweet thing so our hero decided to put an end to it all and knock some heads together and get Casdin and Lyons to bury the hatchet. It also helped that Lyon’s guys had a mother lode of nifty tech toys that he was willing to share with Casdin’s crew plus our saviour sweetened the pot by adding in some Alien devices he’d found along the way.

 

Alien devices I hear you ask? Yep folks that right, ALIENS were above us… ready to gather us all up and gang probe us all on the mother ship! Just listen to this!

 

[weird alien style music begins to play in the background as Three-Dog continues to speak]

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6_jhzJEiqcY&feature=related

 

No one really knows what their plans were, maybe it was that they were going to invade or start up some weird-ass sh*it like replace us all with a bunch of scary looking mouth breathing freaks... and I'm not I'm talking about those "special" folks from down old Point LookOut way again... hehehe. Any how, all was going their way until our Courageous Space Crusader showed up & saved the world yet again by kicking their slimy grey asses. He’s been pretty cagey about it but old Three Dog knows it’s all true and that it’s all ok now, so you can take off the tin foil hats guys and unclench those sphincters. Anyway, unable to resist the toys and totally mesmerized by our Valiant Vault Dweller, Casdin agreed to re-join the Brotherhood. With their numbers increased, our power armoured pals began to really pacify the wasteland but more importantly, start to help rebuild things around here.

 

And how I hear you ask faithful listeners?

 

Yep, you guessed it, with the aid of none other than the Shepherd from Vault 101. From the time when he left Vault 101, our hero wandered all over the waste land finding long abandoned places that still had machines of the old world. Now most of them were nothing more than burned out rusted piles of scrap but there were some that were still going strong after all these years. Places like the Robot Repair facility up at Canterbury Commons, the Robco Factory near TenPenny Tower, hell even the old Nuka Cola plant was still in an ok way. With the help of the Brotherhood’s scribes, these places soon began to hum again with life.

 

I'll be right back after this short break...

[Talwyn224]

Other places too helped things along. Vault 112 became the training centre for new recruits signing up for tours of duty in the Brotherhood. Reilly’s Rangers took over Fort Bannister once those Talon Company assholes got what was coming to them. The National Guard Depot & Wheaton Armoury is up and running again, being bases for our stalwart defenders. And of course there’s the home of our hero, Vault 101, which is open and trading with us. The most of other vaults which our champion located have been clean out of anything of use then sealed up. Vault 87 was taken care of by letting off half a dozen mini nukes which sent that irradiated s***hole straight to hell where it belongs. The down side of that though was that all the kids in the Little Lamplight caverns had to be evacuated as the caves became unstable after the nukes went off. Our shining star skilfully persuaded those snot nosed foul mouth runts to move out of their smelly old caves and into the fixed up digs of Vault 106 instead but only after an ungodly amount of Fancy Lad snack cakes were handed over as incentive. And here is a track which sorta fits this little story...

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KSGuBNopzBw

 

Ok I'm back.

 

By 2279 we had a number of growing communities here in the Capital Wasteland. Big Town, Megaton, TenPenny Tower, Rivet City, Arefu and the Temple of the Union in the DC mall had become stable places to live at last. Other spots were re-occupied too, the old settlement of Gray-Ditch was resettled plus Evergreen Mill, Andale and Paradise Falls saw new settlers come in and make use of the places that were once used by sick bastards and cannibal psychos. We were on a roll guys and gals! The heart of the wasteland began to beat again. And how it beat! Green shoots started to appear in the north, stretching out from that mystical place known as Oasis. Trees and grass began to grow again, covering the grey ash and sand with life.

 

Sadly though that year, Elder Owen Lyons passed away. He had reached the ripe age of 77 years old and although his will was strong, his heart just couldn’t keep up. I know he died though a happy man ‘cause before he went into the big beyond we had a long talk. He told me that he could rest now because he’d seen the light. What was the light I asked him? He was quiet for a moment then smiled gently. The light he said was the light of life, the light of civilisation returning to this weary burned out world. He said that since the day the Enclave was defeated once and for all that we now had a chance to really begin to rebuild our broken world. His daughter Sarah was with him when he passed on. She could have become the next Elder but in a surprising move handed power over to Casdin but said she’d blow his f***ing head off if he ever so much as deviated from the path that her father had put them on. I don’t know if Casdin had anything to say at that because our boy from 101 was standing their behind her just looking at Casdin in a way which seemed to me like he was saying, don’t f***ing test me either! Casdin got the message and got with the program and despite him being an uptight a**hole he’s an honourable one and he’s stuck with the program.

 

By now we were in regular contact with Point Look Out and our caravans were making regular runs to The Pitt. That place was still a hell hole but since our idol had made a regime change up that way by ending slavery there, it was starting to get better too. Wernher ran things in an ok sorta way, a dam sight better than the fallen paladin Lord Ashur, but Wernher lost sight of what was important and became yet another Over-Lord a**hole in not too short a time. It took our hero out of retirement to go along with a few Vertibirds full of Brotherhood guys and gals and head garrison of Brotherhood soldiers there to make sure the steel keeps flowing and that no other a**hole gets any big ideas on becoming the next Lord a**hole. Wernher got what he deserved too… a bullet next to his eye.

 

Wooo-weee… phew… that’s a hell of a few years. The last couple have been mercifully uneventful… aside from the occasional outbreak of mayhem from suicidal raiders that try their luck by raiding in the Capital Wasteland. No more super mutants either, well apart from Fawkes and Uncle Leo but those guys are sweet and I hear they hang out up at Oasis. Good luck to ‘em I say. Casdin says that it may be time soon to start looking at making contact beyond our region, get in touch with other communities our there which is why this broadcast is now going out across America.

 

Yep, things sure have changed in the last few years and that’s gotta be a good thing. The good fight always goes on but it looks as though we’re winning it this time folks.

 

And what about our hero you ask? Well rumour has it that he & Sarah Lyons have been seen taking long walks together along the Potomac River. Maybe we’ll hear something more of that soon? Whatever happens, I hope they find happiness.

 

This is ThreeDog signing off for now America...

 

 

 

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mv9PSkNkUfs

[7thsealord]

Good stuff, for the most part.

 

Pretty much how I'd want to see things go - except my LW is female and she eventually offed Wernher (whom she saw as being absolutely no better than Ashur, and very likely worse).

[flashman63]

Awesome, very well done. You should do one for the most evil ending possible.

[Talwyn224]

@flashman63; glad you enjoyed it. Doing a five year projection from the evil POV would be very short. Basically everything is either dead or dying from the release of the FEV, the Enclave are in charge, 3dog is dead, Megaton is a glowing crater in the ground and the BoS are but a memory after the Citadel gets hit with the Orbital Strike. In short it's a really nasty depressing place and to be honest, I'm not that keen to write about it. There is no hope, no point in going on as evil has finally triumphed and the worst people [the enclave] are in charge.

[DavidYokosukaJapan]

I really enjoyed this.. A good read. Truly had a "Three Dog" feel to it as well :)

 

I wonder though, what woud've happened had the lone wanderer sided with Ashur, or if he chose to keep the derelict Mothership Zeta secret, as is implied by no Alien tech showing up in the CW after MSZ is done...

 

The Outcasts and Lyon's BoS getting back together is a sweet Happy Ending. You got to wonder if the Outcasts really ever actually would make peace with Lyons or continue their vendetta against them, or if they'd just "head back west?" Those Outcasts are really zealous about the Brotherhood's true mission -- and also about their feelings on the ignorant, uneducated, low-life wastelanders.

 

I particulary liked how Sarah and the lone wanderer hooked up. Seems fitting.

[Talwyn224]

Thanks David, I'm glad you enjoyed it. :)

 

I've been thinking again about the Outcasts/BoS reconciliation idea and am now in two minds about it.

 

On the one hand, it would take an incredible amount of persuasion on the part of the LW to convince Casdin and his followers to swallow their pride and to also get the BoS to forgive their prodigal brethren. Yet if a LW has a speech score of 100 and maybe the Impartial Mediator perk, then it might be plausible to get the two sides to let bygones be bygones and work together again.

 

Yet on the other hand, the Outcasts are much closer to the West Coast BoS and we know for a fact that they [WCBoS] refused to incorporate in the NCR nor surrender, instead choosing suicide by self destructing their bunkers when they were about to be over run by NCR forces. So when taking the Outcasts fanaticism, strict adherence to dogma and the codex and refusal to change into account, perhaps the Outcasts would never back down nor agree to any compromise no matter what was on offer or how persuasive the arguments were. Thus the only option left to the LW and CWBoS is to wipe them out as they will be a constant pain in the ass as shown after Broken Steel. Outcast patrols always attack BoS water caravans in the wasteland after Broken Steel is completed. So the bitterness runs too deep, the gulf is too wide to bridge. I'm starting to lean towards this outcome rather than the happy ending now.

 

In regards to Sarah Lyons, we get a hint that she might be amiable to a relationship with the LW through some of the dialog she has with the LW. Plus she makes a special effort to save the LW at the end of Broken Steel so she must care at some level for the LW.

 

In regards to siding with Ashur... that's always been one of the hardest endings for me to decide in the entirety of the Fallout games: do you choose to let the status quo continue with Ashur being over lord of a hellish slave economy or do you murder him and his wife and hand over their infant daughter to Werner so he can use the baby as a source of a cure for the Trog disease? The moral ambiguity of The Pitt's final outcome is truly one of the best bits of the Fallout universe IMO. There is no happy ending either way. Both sides have their pro's and cons, both have the big picture to consider when you make your final choice. Even now I still am uncertain as to which is the choice which does the least harm and has best outcome for all. Great isn't it? :thumbsup: They definitely nailed it with The Pitt IMO.

 

As to DLC Mother-ship Zeta, I'm ambivalent towards it now. In my game and as I wrote in the 3-Dog exposition, I think the LW would have shared the tech with at least the BoS at some stage. Having access to super advanced alien weapons is a BoS wet dream come true and they're the only people in the immediate area who would have any chance of understanding how these items work.

 

In all I think though piece its a reasonable guess as to what happened after events conclude in FO3. Life has a chance to begin to return to some sort of stability now that the main threats have been removed from the CW and clean water is now available.

 

One thing is certain though, when FO4 comes out, we'll definitely get more of an idea as to how the designers saw events unfolding after FO3. I'll be curious to see how close or not I am with my predictions?

[DavidYokosukaJapan]

Thank you for continuing the story... great "over pints" kind of discussion :)

 

By "incredible amount of persuasion" I think you're talking Charisma 10, speech 100, Button's wig, and naughty nightwear :sweat: But... if it worked and brought peace... :thumbsup:

 

It would be cool to play the child of Sarah and LW in a future Fallout game. It would seem appropriate :yes:

 

I actually love the way the Fallout 3 writers make everything so grey/gray. There is no "right" way... someone will benefit, and someone will not... and someone may be hurt and die. Phew! Like real life. The Pitt was done very well.

 

You've got a good point that the LW would share with Lyon's group... I just really hated the MSZ story and think it doesn't fit into Fallout.. but that's just one-guy-on-the-planet's opinion ;)

 

Yea I think it's sad that the Outcasts and Lyon's Bos may be bitter enemies until the end. You make a strong point with the example of "suicide before surrender" on the BoS blowing up bunkers so the NCR don't get the tech. That is real spite!

I can see how it would be worse in the case of feeling betrayed by Brothers In Arms. Outcasts seem headed that path if they stay in the CW... but another possibility is that the Outcasts just head back west.

 

Hope the Fallout story writers pay attention to these forums! Speaking of which, do you also post in the Steam forums?

[Talwyn224]

Yep, it's a great "over pints" discussion indeed, I'll have a Kilkenny thanks :thumbsup:

 

Heh... I hadn't thought of the wig and naughty nightware, [chuckles] I can just just picture the scene - Lyons & Casdin glowering at each other and between then, wearing Buttons wig and dressed in fabulous pajamas is none other than the LW :tongue: Perhaps adding to the mix a cocktail of whisky and Mentats just to spice things up as well!

 

I do have a steam account but have never posted on the forums. Too many forums, too little time. Likewise I used to have one on the Bethesda one plus No Mutants Allowed and on The Fallout Wikipedia [well when it was just The Vault wiki] but in truth I've quite forgotten my user names and log-ins :unsure: and can't really be motivated enough to sign up again... well for now anyway.

 

I too sincerely hope that the good folks at Bethesda browse these forums and above all, take note not only of the outstanding work being done by the modders, but also follow some of the in depth discussions that spring up from time to time.

 

I only want Fallout to get better and I firmly believe that more attention needs to be paid to the writing and over all continuity of the plot. I most definitely want to see less reliance on paper tiger antagonists and see more instances of individuals like Ashur, complex nuanced characters who's agenda is not black or white rather..... 50 shades of grey? :tongue: I most assuredly don't want story/plot lines have holes big enough that you could sail an aircraft carrier through or be so absurd and asinine that they'd have more place in a C-Grade sitcom.

[Talwyn224]

An Addendum for David & and anyone who is interested btw :thumbsup: -

 

Below is a cut & paste from 2 posts I made regarding how I would envision the main plot for a future Fallout game if given the opportunity to write it or at least contribute in some way. I posted it a while back in another thread.

 

 

read on...

 

 

The Game starts October 15, 2077, roughly 8 days before WWIII. You are a new recruit in the US Army going through accelerated basic training using the new VR pods developed by General Constintine Chase via his Operation: Anchorage simulation [it's not Op.Anchorage though but a recreation of basic training that any new recruit goes through plus "live fire" exercise etc]. The player is in the army as a volunteer so that his loved one gets a place in a vault. The player goes through basic training in the VR pod for a few days, being shown how to use weapons, learn tactics, power armour etc. On Oct. 21 they are asked if they like to "volunteer" for another program - cryostasis. They have no choice in the matter and are put on ice. Their pod gets loaded onto a truck and is being driven away from the base when the nukes hit. The truck is blown over and crashes into a ravine and buried in debris but the pod remains intact and unopened for 200 years....

 

Cut to 2282 [or any date, it doesn't matter really] - some tribals discover the pod that has become uncovered due to recent heavy rains and manage to open it thus re-awaking the player.

The player discovers that everything they knew is gone and they now have to adapt to surviving in this nightmare post apocalyptic world.

 

So that was my concept and then RAGE came out and I died a little inside as it was my idea basically, in a different setting but never the less, making the concept I had envisaged appear like it's a rip off of RAGE. Now there's no way to for me to prove it as I never published my idea on the net, it was just something I'd written down in a word document which I no longer have.

 

 

I thought it'd be a great place to start as we've only seen the aftermath of the war but never what America was like before the bombs fell. This would be a unique opportunity to show case a modern town or city with all the people walking about, cars rolling by, all the tech on display, adds for Vaults on TV screens etc, plus the shadow of martial law with heavy police and military presence on the streets.

 

The player would be on an Army base but would get at least one day free to wander around the town located near the base with a 24 hour leave pass before being snap frozen. There'd be some small side quests, nothing combative but rather speech and puzzle based ones. Time would also be important as well as player would be under a constraint and can't linger for too long or there will be consequences :devil:

 

I have the opening movie sequence all planned out as well. It'd start with this track playing in the background while the title and credits roll across the screen:

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CK15L55CtGc

 

The camera would pan around an army barracks at night, showing sleeping soldiers, zooming in on a calendar showing the date [ Oct.15 2077 ] and various pin up girls and propaganda posters. The camera would track slowly towards a light in the far corner of the barracks room where the player is sitting at a desk terminal, typing an email to their loved one. We don't see the face of the player initially. Then Ron Pearlman's voice cuts in with his opening narration,

 

"War... war never changes. Since the dawn of time it has always been the burden of the young to fight the wars of the old. The leaders of each society demand obedience from their youth and the youth have to make the sacrifices that their elders demand of them. Nothing has changed and it never will."

 

[then the player is allowed to determine their gender, sexual orientation, avatar look etc.] The music kicks in once more as the camera pans back to show the player busy writing a final letter to their beloved.

 

A picture of the loved one is in a photo frame showing them in a vault suit [ a shot of an person who is the preferred gender of partner for the player ] Then the lights would come on and an army drill sergeant [my dream would be to have R.Lee Ermey doing the voice acting for this role] come barging in yelling at the recruits to get out of bed and start their first day of basic training....

 

So that's the very opening scene.

 

Also in regards finding the loved one, well it is the main quest but it has a twist: they are not dead. A while back I remember reading somewhere [i can't recall where] about a concept for a vault whose purpose was to convince the occupants that they were on a space ship heading towards a planet to start a new earth. This is where the twist comes in. There is indeed such a vault and it's occupants have been alive and well for the past 200 years piloting a space ship. How I hear you ask? The Vault has the living crew which, using alien teleportation technology reversed engineered from the crashed ship at Roswell plus help from Big Mt, move back and forth between the vault that on earth and the colony ship full of colonists who are in Cryostasis. This is where the loved one is, frozen but alive. Of course it takes a lot of game time before the player can get to this stage but its one of the main plot paths of the game and major twists. The player has to find the clues in the 1st half of the game, discovering the nature and purpose of the vault in which their loved one went into as well as other vaults which had a far more sinister role. And yet there are even further twists and revelations regarding this but I'll hold them back for now.

 

I wanted to avoid having a major battle being the deciding factor or denouement of the game. It's been the case for the past 2 games so perhaps something different should be tried here instead. There was to be factions fighting on Earth, in and around where the game takes place and the player can choose to aid any of them as they see fit but that isn't going to be the prime focus of the game.

 

I also wanted to focus on some more of the super natural/horror themes like we saw with the Dunwich Building and in Point Lookout. Definitely wanted to include more monsters from H.P Lovecrafts Cthulhu mythos and perhaps that is one of the major threats facing humanity.

 

I also wanted a huge WTF moment/plot twist that would floor the player and perhaps even a 2nd one which was the result of their actions in the 1st chapter but I'm not saying anything more on that here. :devil: It'd be a special ending if certain things happen at the start, which 1st time players would be unaware of. Of course spoilers would get out eventually but I'd hope most people would avoid reading about them.

 

I will give a tiny hint. The end credits would play to this tune:

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=61QNNSPZ81w

 

edit:

 

I had given some more thoughts in regards to the central story, that the search for the loved one be a large part of the plot but not main quest per se. It'll be one of the main narrative pillars that guides the player but finding the loved one is not the ultimate goal. I think instead the ultimate goal is seeing to the survival of humanity and if that's achieved by starting a "New Earth" then why not? The choice will be up to the player: go with the colonists to a alien world or stay on Earth & rebuild a shattered world. Each would have their consequences as well.

 

;)