Continuance of the United States

[charwo]

With my time towards starting Fallout New Vegas come closer I need to ask a question that will allow me to frame my game properly.

 

Which of the factions in the Mojave can or is actively trying to restore the United States of America?

 

In Fallout that's a loaded question. I do not mean the Enclave: the Enclave doesn't understand the first thing about the principles of America, only it's power (besides the Remnants being broken). What I mean is which factions want to restore the unity of the United States, it's Constitution, its pre-war boundary (probably without Canada) etc, etc? Obviously NCR is probably closest, but if they specifically disavow being a US Restorationist government, then my Courier might not be so keen to help them. Caesar's Legion obviously doesn't, but as my Courier is female, it's likely violence will come hard and fast. House wants to preserve 'pre-war glory' but whether that glory is in the context of the United States, I don't know. The thing is, my character is telling me that if there is no faction in either vanilla or by mod working to restore the United States she will do the Yes Man Ending and refound the United States herself. So I would like advice on how to structure my game, as I play my games as interactive stories and as such I could care less about spoilers and meta gaming and such.

 

Thank you in advance.

[Quetzlsacatanango]

I think one of the themes of Fallout is that America, or any nation, is more than a government.

It's people, traditions, principles, like you said. Some set of common values.

Claiming to be, or even being, the continuance of some previous government does not make one legitimate in absence of those things.

NCR is *a* republic, but as far as I know has no "manifest destiny" to expand to the Atlantic coast and restore the United States to what it once was. As far as I know there is no faction in the game or even the lore that matches that criteria. Besides, as you mentioned, perhaps the Enclave. I agree that they don't respect what we think of as "American" principles. But in the game lore, the US was a more fascist place, pre-war, than what it has been in our real world. So you could make the case that they are trying to restore the US to what it was pre-war, questionable ethics and all.

I think all other in game factions see the US as something from the past and are leaving it that way.

Edited August 29, 2012 by Quetzlsacatanango

[charwo]

I guess the simpler question of NCR is thinking of the Fallout factions in a Romance of the Three Kingdoms manner. Or the Japanese Shogunate. That is no faction claims to be the country, but they all want to reunite it, and do so under their own terms. As far as I know, no clan ever claimed to be Japan itself, nor were they loyal to anything but the idea of united Japan, but they all realized they were racing for the Crown. It is is possible to see NCR, House, Texas Commonwealth, the MIT Institute and the Midwestern and East Coast variants of the Brotherhood of Steel all think that way, I think. And having played Fallout 1-3 there is a very strong residual American identity except among the supermutants. It's not just Abraham Washington: the Pre-War era is referred to in the past tense, but the United States is not. I mean, just listen to Three Dog and how excited Nathan Vargas is about the Enclave or even James, who was born and raised in the Wasteland. Except maybe with NCR, when people show awareness of America, they seem to be waiting for America to come back. If NCR can plausibly come off as a Romance of the Three Kingdoms possible uniter, then I can play the NCR campaign I want. If they aren't, then I have to look at other options

[charwo]

Why so quiet?

[charwo]

Why so quiet? Is my question ready so obscure?

[Deleted666657User]

It's not about obscurity. Quetz gave you the answer, the closest thing to what you want is NCR, if you care about the "democratic values", but they mostly are heading in the same direction as the pre-war fallout USA. House is supposed to be the remnant of the old world(USA), but he never really gives a crap about the United States; or even in the past any of his actions have really been about them. Any other person that really has ties and wants to "bring back" the USA, have some kind of big flaw, that your character's morals or survival instinct might conflict with, and they are mostly in DLCs. Anything more and I'm going into really spoiler-y territory.

[charwo]

If spoilers are are problem, they are not a problem at all on my end. Please PM me if necessary, as I've had to restart my Fallout 3 game three times due to story hiccups, mostly due to new mods. I would like one play through for New Vegas.

[asdfth12]

One thing that no game has mentioned yet is that the different sides (Western area, and Eastern area) are going to one day meet up.

 

I don't know if the Easern groups are actively attempting to go back to a US way of doing things, but they are in the center and would have a lot of information about the 'Old World" that the West would lack. Having the NCR allied with the BoS in the west would make the flow of information from these seperate area's much easier. (Since the Eastern Brotherhood is playing a much larger role, and despite the idealogical differences, the two groups would be inclined to assist each other.)

[charwo]

In playing New Vegas, NCR has more or less sealed the deal, although to be fair, I haven't gotten to meet House yet.

 

NCR is in every way I've seen it an American Restoration State de facto, if not necessarily de jure (and it could be de jure to boot). I'm sold, my character not quite so much, but it beats the Legion by a damn damn sight. So, with that said, I want to make a mod: replace the NCR flags on the flag poles with intact Commonwealth ones, as well as retexturing the NCR armors to either reflect an American identity or take off the Bear Flag paraphernalia.

 

Does such a retexture mod exist? And if not, are there resources available for me to build one?