War… war never changes.
Following the victory of the allies in the second world war, an era of cold war arose
between communist and capitalist governments, with tensions initially mounting between the
Soviet Union and United States of America, though eventually a third faction emerged,
led by the Peoples Republic of China.
Throughout the 1950s and 60s, the world’s resources were by divided amongst competing
superpowers, leading to conflict but also investment in alternative energy sources like
nuclear power.
By 1969, the United States of America reorganized into 13 Commonwealth territories, whose authority
were above state government, but below federal, in the hopes of encouraging cooperation and
trade within these regions.
As a result the nation’s flag was redesigned to embrace the new system.
As technology increased throughout the end of the 20th century, so did the human population
of the planet, while resources like fossil fuels steadily dwindled.
Yet for the citizens of the wealthier nations of the world, life continued on in relative
peace as their governments waged proxy wars and used puppet regimes to secure their interests.
With the people of America enamoured with consumer culture, new inventions and forms
of entertainment were constantly developing, and so in 2021, Hubris Comics released the
first issue of Gorgnak the Barbarian.
In 2037, the company General Atomics International released their line of Mister Handy utility
robots, which were often used as servants and low cost employees.
In the year 2040, with the global landscape becoming increasingly hostile, the American
government collaborated with Vault Tec industries, to acquire Tibbets Prison, for the purpose
of conducting experiments on the inmates, in preparation for Project Safehouse, which
strove to build fallout shelters in case of nuclear war.
In 2041, after centuries observing Earth, and occasionally abducting humans for study,
a Zeta Alien Mothership captured Dr. Morrison Rand.
In 2042, Robert House founded Robco Industries.
In 2044, John-Caleb Bradberton created Nuka Cola, which eventually became the most popular
drink in America.
In 2049, the Mass Fusion Company was founded by Karl Oslow.
In 2050, as the Nuka Cola Corporation prepared to launch a theme park, their nearby power
plant suffered a melt down, but used their money and influence to cover it up, allowing
for Nuka World to open as planned.
Featuring Nuka Town USA and Kiddie Kingdom, the park was a great success, selling about
40 000 tickets a day.
In this same year the American military redesigned the Sierra army depot to develop robots and
advanced weapons.
In 2051, the United States increased pressure on the Mexican government, crippling them
with economic sanctions before sending in the army to secure their oil refineries.
Later this year the New Plague swept through America, killing tens of thousands and forcing
them to close their borders and implement a national quarantine.
In 2052, as supplies of fossil fuels dwindled drastically, the nations of the Middle East
raised oil prices, leading the European Commonwealth to invade the region, beginning the resource
wars of the 21st century.
By the end of the year, relations between the governments of the world had grown so
hostile, the United Nation was dissolved.
In 2053, terrorists launch a nuclear strike against Tel Aviv.
In 2054, Vault Tec began Project Safehouse, commissioned to build 122 vaults across America,
under the pretence of providing shelters for the population in the event of nuclear war.
However they also had a secondary motive, as they planned to use many of these vaults
to conduct social, physical and psychological experiments on isolated populations, in order
to study how humans react to certain situations.
This may have been done in conjunction with the covert government agency known as the
Enclave, who sought to secure humanities future, either by rebuilding civilization after a
nuclear apocalypse, or else colonizing another planet, if the earth became uninhabitable.
In 2057, the United Stated started mining the grand canyon for uranium and then in 2059,
they formed the Anchorage Front Line, increasing their military presence in Alaska to protect
their oil interests.
Later this year, the first Artificial Intelligence was created.
By 2060, the world’s energy crisis continued to worsen, forcing many to stop driving cars
due to the expense of fuel, leading to the manufacturing of a limited supply of electric
and fusion cars.
In this same year, the European-Middle East Wars finally came an end, as the oil fields
ran dry, leaving both regions in utter ruin.
Soon after the European commonwealth dissolving, and the remaining nations fought smaller scale
conflicts for the remaining resources.
In 2062, the Mormon church purchases space for their people in Vault 70 located in Utah.
Later this year, the UFO known as Palandine crashed in Maryland.
Accused of working for the Chinese Communists, Wan yang was arrested as a suspect in the
Niagara Sabotage.
By 2063, many of the vaults for project safe house were constructed; however those chosen
to participate soon grew tired of the excessive readiness drills, and began to ignore these
false alarms.
Also this year, Hubris Comics Game Studio released the holotape game Grognak & the Ruby
Ruins.
In 2065, the construction of Vault 76 began, one of 17 known control vaults which were
designed to act as relatively normal fallout shelters, in order to observe them and compare
the results to those who underwent experimentation.
In America, power rationing was implanted in New York, after a near meltdown at a local
nuclear power plant.
Also in this year, the American military began creating suits of armour for their soldiers
to be powered by Fusion Cell technology.
By 2066, even the richest world superpowers suffered significant resources shortages,
resulting in more aggressive actions by their governments.
In America, the National Guard was called to put down food riots in Denver, while in
China they suffered a severe energy crisis.
Desperate to gain access to one of the last remaining sources of fossil fuels in the Alaskan
oil fields, the Chinese government mobilized their military and invaded Alaska, beginning
the Sino-American war.
The United States then sent their own military into the area, and pressured the Canadian
government to allow troops to move through their territory, in order to protect the Alaskan
pipeline.
The following year, the American military completed their work on the T-45d Power Armor,
deploying their new weapons on the front lines of the war.
Although the Chinese had some advantages in this conflict, like their larger population
size and advanced stealth technology, they were years behind in their development of
power armor, tipping the scales of battle in favour of the Americans.
With world super powers now engaged in direct combat, nuclear war became a more realistic
possibility, leading Senator Todd Peterson to work with Posiedon Energy as well as the
Enclave, to build a secret fallout shelter in Colorado.
In 2069, construction was completed on Vault 76.
By 2072, the people of Canada grew increasingly hostile towards the American military presence
in their nation, leading to riots and mass protests across the territory.
After an attempted bombing of the Alaskan oil pipeline, the US government started to
annex their northern neighbour, stripping their lands of natural resources.
In this same year Nuka World opened the Galactic Zone.
In 2073, the American government worked with West Tek defense contractors to launch the
Pan-Immunity virion Project, with the goal of creating a drug that might make their people
resistant to the threat of a biological attack by the Chinese.
By 2074, the use of power Armor led to significant advances for the American military in their
war with the communists, prompting them to invade mainland China.
After years of failed negotiations, America walked out of talks with other international
leaders and declared that they would not be exporting oil outside of their nation.
In 2075, the Pan-Immunity virion Project was renamed into the Forced Evolutionary Virus,
with successful tests increasing the size and resistance of single celled organisms,
flat worms, mice and rabbits.
In this same year, a government AI known as the Predictive Analystic Machine, or PAM,
concluded that a Chinese ghost fleet was stationed near the American border, but her report was
dismissed due to a lack of concrete evidence.
In 2076, FEV was tested on dogs and raccoons, once again increasing size, strength and resistance,
though it did nothing to increase intelligence.
Meanwhile the American Military successfully completed their line of T-51b power armor,
deploying these units in mainland China, leading to many victories and leaving the communist
government on the brink of collapse Back in America, while some celebrated the
tricentennial with events like the official opening of Vault 76, others were outraged
by food and energy shortages, with widespread riots leading to a state of emergency and
the implementation of Martial Law.
As all this occured, the Enclave continued to prepare for humanities future, seizing
control of the Bloomfield Space Center in the hopes of creating space ships capable
of transporting important individuals off-planet in event of global crisis.
In 2077, a Chicago police detective named Nick Valentine lost his finacee in Operation
Winter’s End, after failing to apprehend the criminal Eddie Winter.
After seeking treatment for PTSD, Valentine’s brain was scanned, allowing for his memories
and personality to be transferred into an early model synth, many years later.
As the Chinese grew evermore desperate in their conflict with the US, they resorted
to acts of terrorism like the attempted sabotage of Hoover Dam, but their efforts were not
enough to stop enemy advances, with the Alaskan territory finally reclaimed by the America
government.
With the war all but won, the United States turned their attention to quelling violence
within their own border, using soldiers in power armour to put down riots.
Meanwhile all FEV research was transferred to the Mariposa Military Base, and with the
news of this project finally leaking to the rest of world, many began to fear what the
Americans were planning.
However when research scientists started using soldiers to conduct further experiments with
the drug, Captain Roger Maxson took control of the facility and its personnel, executing
those responsible and officially severing ties with the American government.
In order to prepare for a nuclear or biological attack against the nation, the President of
the United States joined the Enclave in retreating to a Poseidon oil rig off the coast of California,
where they planned for the restoration of the government in the event of catastrophe.
Then finally, on October 23rd, after decades of escalating international conflicts, the
Great War began, and the nations of the world launched their nuclear weapons.
Although it was uncertain who attacked first and why, some have claimed it was started
by the Chinese, as the American military detected a launch of 4 ballistic missiles against them
before the President authorized full nuclear retaliation.
However others believe the US launched first due to an error or intentional sabotage that
made them believe they were under attack.
In anycase, soon all the nations of the world began to launch their nuclear and conventional
weapons, leading to mass devastation across the planet.
In America bombs landed in New York, Pennsylvania, Washington DC, Massechustes, Utah and other
areas.
Although some attempted to make their way into known vaults and fallout shelters, many
others died needlessly, as they ignored the alarms and raid sirens believing it was just
another readiness drill.
Despite many failing to arrive at their Vaults in time, those who managed to make it were
quickly sealed in, with the Overseers and staff moving on to implement whatever plan
was prepared for their specific location.
With human civilization in utter ruin, FEV was released into the atmosphere, black rain
and radiation killed off of mutated various animal and plant species, and an EMP blackout
caused many vehicles and electronics to cease functioning.
Having survived the initial devastation, Roger Maxson led his men to a known government bunker
in the Lost Hills of southern California, where they would later establish the Brotherhood
of Steel, a militaristic faction dedicated to the preservation of technology.
In 2078, the city of Little Lamplight was founded by a group of children who survived
the nuclear apocalypse inside of a cavern system, while in Vault 87, scientists began
experimenting on their people with FEV, creating super mutants of low intelligence but exceptional
size and strength.
In 2083, the city of Necropolis was founded by the survivors of Vault 12, a shelter purposefully
designed to remain unsealed as part of the experiment being conducted in this location.
As a result, some of those within the vault were mutated by the high levels of radiation
and became Ghouls, being who did not age and resembled a rotting corpse.
And while some ghouls turned into ferocious, zombie like beings, those of Vault 12 and
many others maintained their intelligence and became highly resistant to the environment
of the nuclear wasteland.
In 2089, Dr Willem Clark became the leader of a Ghoul Faction who believed they represented
the next stage in human evolution.
In 2090, Vault 29 opened its doors, and the inhabitants left to populate the village of
Twin Mothers.
Although the original plan for the Vault was to prepare its youthful inhabitants to survive
on their own in the wasteland, Diana, a human brain connected to the main computer, made
it her mission to become their caretakers, using robotic servants to prepare Twin Mothers
before they left the vault, to ensuring their safety and prosperity once released.
In 2091, the people of vault 8 begin to re-colonize the wasteland.
Designed as a control vault, it’s people were relatively healthy and well prepared,
using a terraforming device known as the Garden of Eden Creation Kit to prepare fertile soil,
eventually founding Vault City.
In 2093, the Hub was founded as a trade city in Southern California by a man known as Angus.
In 2096, the residents of vault 22 left their shelter due to an outbreak of mutated spores
which slowly drove them mad.
Over 100 of them then attacked the survivors who had taken shelter in Zion Canyon, and
possibly ate their captives, until driven out by Randall Clark and his followers.
In 2097, after years of social experimentation in Vault 15, which purposefully gathered together
people of extremely diverse ideological positions and cultures, the shelter became divided into
competing factions, which eventually led Jonathan Faust and 200 others to escape and start the
Vipers raider gang.
And finally in 2102, Vault 76 opened its door and celebrated Reclamation Day, sending its
residence to begin repopulating the wasteland.
Although this control vault was originally designed to open 20 years after the nuclear
apocalypse, they instead waited 5 more years before at last releasing their population
back into the world.