Christmas at Ground Zero

Copyright Sony/BMG

(This post is out of character. WAY out of character.)

A timeless classic and entirely appropriate to the theme.

Making Good on a Promise

Remember how I said I'd kill any slavers I found wandering the Wastes on sight?

I made good on that for the first time today.

Just thought you should know.

Creatures of the Wasteland: Yao Guai

I wish I could say that this particular creature of the wasteland was the result of Man's tinkering with the natural order, but this is one of Mother Nature's gifts to her children following the bombs.

The Yao Guai is a breed of mutated bear. Larger, faster, and a hell of a lot meaner than its "normal" cousins, these are perhaps the most frightening thing you'll encounter in the wasteland, save for the Deathclaw or the super mutant behemoth. They're capable of sprinting at great speeds and their claws make a mockery of most armor. Thankfully, they aren't exactly quiet, so you can usually tell by the sound when one is nearby.

Like the Deathclaws, the Yao Guai rely on their speed and ferocity. If you can cripple their legs (i.e., by laying a mine in their path or using some sort of neurotoxin) then they can be dispatched with relative ease. This is definitely big game hunting though, kids, so don't bring a kitchen knife or a popgun if you plan on collecting a trophy. There's a reason the saying is "loaded for bear."

The name "Yao Guai" is Chinese, and simply means "monster." Apparently a few of the Chinese actually made it to the mainland during the war, and this was one of the first creatures they came across. Too bad for them.

Incidentally, the snapshot you see above is far, far closer than you should ever get to a Yao Guai. I still don't know how I survived.

Outcasts of the Brotherhood

I came across a curious group of people. Outcasts, they call themselves, former members of the Brotherhood of Steel that has formed a splinter group dedicated to what they consider the "real mission:" the acquisition and reverse-engineering of technology.

It seems that not all of the Brotherhood agree with the idea that the local wastelanders are to be protected, and that the super mutants need to be eradicated. All these people are interested in is hoarding tech. They're not taking on new members, either. I'm not sure how I feel about them either way. Mostly, they just want to be left to their work, which is fine with me. Attempting to hide away pre-war technology and prevent people from using it, well, that's another story.

If you're interested in what they have to say, seek them out. They're holed up in a former military base known as Fort Independence, just a few hours' trek southwest of Megaton, just west of the ruins of the D.C. suburb known as Fairfax. They're pretty easy to spot, just look for the guys in black and red power armor. Just don't get in their way.

Creatures of the Wasteland: Deathclaw

Remember what I said about the government tinkering with science in ways that are probably best left alone? This is exactly what I'm talking about. Pray you never run into one of these unprepared. On second thought, even someone who is prepared will face the fight of their life.

The Deathclaw is something of the ultimate killing machine. It is swift, brutal, relentless, and intelligent. The eponymous claws are more than capable of rending steel and even power armor, and when stalking prey they can become shockingly quiet. Most Deathclaws are solitary, which is bad enough, but occasionally packs of Deathclaws can be found. I haven't experienced this myself - hopefully I never will - but I've heard them howling at night, a sound that always makes me barricade the doors a little more firmly.

If you have to take one of these down, use the longest-ranged weaponry you can get your hands on. The Deathclaw will close the distance to you at superhuman speeds. Planting traps, such as the Frag Mine or Bottlecap Mine is also an extremely viable tactic: the Deathclaw will be too focused on you to notice the mine at its feet, and once crippled they make an easy target.

One last note: I understand the Enclave is working on ways to harness the Deathclaws using some form of mind control. If this happens, encountering an Enclave patrol will take on a new meaning of fear.

Creatures of the Wasteland: Centaur

Ironic that these sad creatures are named after a more famous (and altogether more appealing) hybrid of legend.

The centaur is an unholy amalgamation of creatures that have been subjected to the Forced Evolutionary Virus. According to documents that detail the early research into the effects of the virus, the centaurs were first created when scientists threw everything they had into the vats: dogs, cats, dead bodies, and more, just to see what would come out the other end.

The end result, as you can see, is a nightmarish and twisted result. These creatures lack any form of sentience and are little more than highly violent mutated predators. They will attack without mercy, so treat them with none save ending their wretched existence.

Personal note: I realize now that this entry is uncharacteristically short-tempered, but speaking as a man interested in the exploits of science, I am becoming extremely upset as to the cockeyed schemes of our government in the pursuit of weapons of war. I think I'm starting to understand why the bombs fell.

Thoughts on the Super Mutants

Big. Tough. Green. Senile.

Super mutants are a little different than the ghouls. They're not the products of radiation, per se, but rather a science project gone wrong (or right, depending on who you ask) known as the Forced Evolutionary Virus, or FEV. Back before the war all sides were working feverishly to discover something that would give them the edge in the coming conflict. One of the results of this research was the FEV.

Using this FEV, the government of the former United States created the first super mutants. The longer a super mutant lives, the bigger, tougher, and dumber it gets. The end result is the behemoth, a living tank that considers anything smaller than it (which is almost everything) to be food. These mutations are, thankfully, extremely rare.

Most super mutants you'll meet travel in social packs and tend to congregate in areas with convenient holding cells. There they maintain vats and supplies of FEV and form raiding parties in order to capture wastelanders to create more of their ilk. Super mutants are, as a side effect of the transformation, sterile, so this is the only way they have of growing in number.

I don't know what their ultimate objective is, but I doubt it can possibly be good. If I'm ever able to hold a conversation with them, I may update this entry. For now, shoot on sight. They certainly will.

Thoughts on the Ghouls

Pity the ghoul that you meet, for their fate is almost surely worse than yours. Ghouls are humans, just like you and me. Unlike you and me, however, they've been subjected to catastrophic levels of radiation. Not enough to kill them outright, but more than enough to cause some rather drastic mutations. Back when the bombs dropped, not every vault was quite as secure, and some people never made it to safety. These were the first generation of ghouls. I hear some of them are still alive, too. Apparently one of the side effects of the ghoul transformation is an unnaturally long lifespan. To spend centuries in such a state is a chilling thought.

Growing up in the vault, I read comic books about a creature called zombies. If I hadn't had the first ghoul I met ask me if I wanted to order a drink, I might have gotten the wrong impression. For the most part, they're good people, just trying to survive out here like you or me. They have a city, of sorts, known as Underworld.

One more thing. There's two varieties of ghouls that aren't so nice: feral ghouls and glowing ones. The former type are ghouls that have lost all sense and reason. Brutal and violent, they tend to travel in packs and reside in the derelict buildings and caves that dot the wasteland. Glowing ones are those unfortunates who were subjected to such massive doses of radiation that they literally glow in the dark. Put both out of their misery when you can.

Slavery in the Wasteland

I suppose it was inevitable. In the total breakdown of civilization following atomic war, some people would decide that the best way to make a living is off the backs of other people. Literally.

Slavery is very much alive and well in the Capitol Wasteland, and nowhere is it more prominent than in the settlement known as Paradise Falls, home to the so-called Slaver's Guild. It seems that the flesh trade is quite lucrative in the post-war world. Captured slaves are kept in check in two ways: the harshness of the outside world and the explosives-equipped slave collar.

While I recognize that the slavers of Paradise Falls are simply trying to survive in their own way and that the usual rules of what we once considered morality no longer apply, I have to make some exceptions. The unwilling bondage of another human.. especially children.. it's unforgivable.

Some day I'm going to go back and kill them all. Some day soon. For now, I have to worry about finding my father. I pledge here and now, though, that should I meet a slaver wandering the wastes, they will die. No questions asked, no quarter given.

I Walk a Lonely Road

(This post is out of character.)

As a companion slide show/video to Wastelander, I offer Green Day's Boulevard of Broken Dreams. The video tells a story as well as offering something of a preview of the places and creatures of the Capitol Wasteland. I recognize that the video uses modern music rather than the big band/jazz you might expect a video about Fallout to use , but in this case I feel it's highly appropriate to the mood of the game.

(We now return you to your regularly scheduled character...)

Thoughts on the Brotherhood of Steel

One of the main factions you might encounter while wandering around the Capitol Wasteland is the Brotherhood of Steel. As far as I can tell, these people are what remains of the old United States military and their families. Over the years they've taken something of a religious aspect to their organizations, and refer to their members in knightly terms. Membership is largely hereditary; the Brotherhood believes in recruiting the best and the brightest into their ranks, and with the group's access to advanced technology (including laser weapons and power armor) and stores of knowledge, the best and the brightest tend to be those born into the order. The Brotherhood of Steel is at war with the Enclave and the various factions of super mutants. The goal of the Brotherhood seems to be the preservation of knowledge and technology.

Personal Observations: While they're not openly hostile to anyone in the Wasteland, save for super mutants and feral creatures, they're anything but knights in shining armor. Cross them and you can expect to get some new ventilation. If you happen to be traveling in the same direction they are, however, you may be able to convince them to let you tag along, as long as you don't slow them down. If you're interested in joining, you'd better be prepared to take some pretty drastic measures to prove yourself worthy.

Thoughts on the Enclave

The Enclave is something of a special circumstance out here in the Wasteland. This organization claims to be the surviving portion of the United States government following the Great War of 2077. From what I've been able to glean from bits and pieces of data left here and there inside some of their installations, the Enclave is made up mostly of the descendants of those government officials and employees that escaped the nuclear fires and hid offshore and in other locations. According to their records, they have a number of bases throughout what used to be the continental United States, and I can personally vouch that they have access to extremely sophisticated weapons and gear. Their leader is John Henry Eden, the self-proclaimed President of the United States of America. His voice can most often be heard giving one of his "inspirational" speeches on the Enclave Radio Network. They have floating "eyebots" deployed around the wasteland; these fragile floaters seem to be little more than mobile cameras and propaganda transmitters. The Enclave claims to be working to rebuild America, through just what agency I am unsure.

Now for some personal observations. These guys are bad news. The worst news. If you see any of them, my first inclination would be to hide out. Apparently they've decided that just about everyone who survived the war has been mutated by the residual radiation in the Wasteland and is therefore unfit to survive. They shoot on sight, don't ask questions, and tend to get really, really mad when you hack into their comm channels. If you manage to get the drop on one of them, don't hesitate to pull the trigger. The equipment they carry is top-notch stuff and will keep you going. If you have moral qualms about it, just remember this: They think you're an animal, fit only for slavery or death. Don't give them the chance to put you in shackles or in the dirt.

One more thing: These guys really hate the Brotherhood of Steel. If you find yourself in the company of their paladins for whatever reason, consider your back officially covered. I'll be talking about them next time.