Let me see your headcanons!

TheGM

TheGM

The voice of reason
We all got'em. let's whip them out and compare them. I for one have a whole slew of timeline headcanonry I cooked up out of boredom. here are a few.

20th Century.

The 50's
- Korean War ends strongly in united nation's favor with North Korea being smushed into a no man's land that serves as a buffer between China and the Republic of Korea.
- Forced integration of the south by the US government. Opponents are painted as communists assets causing confusing and division in the south. people attempting to revitalize the Klan are crushed by the increasingly growing power of the FBI as a test run on how to eliminate subversive elements.
- Elvis never gets drafted.

The 60's
- US Intervention in Vietnam sees the South absolutely crush then North. China tires to enter near the end with a volunteer army who are slaughtered at the border. war is over by 65.
- Beatniks start calling themselves hippies. cultural oddity that never takes off.

The 70's
- The USSR realizes that trying to keep up the insane amount of defense spending NATO has is already starting the crack the union at the seams, if they stay that current rate of spending they won't make it past the mid 80's. reforms are implemented.
- This cements Sino-Soviet split as China sees this as the Soviet Union turning it's back on International Communism. takes up mantle of the workers world wide by funding communist movements but it is nowhere near as effective as the soviets were.

The 80's
- Cola Wars go all out as Coke and Pepsi grind each other dust through marketing attacks and actual sabotage. In a desperate move Coca-Cola introduces New Coke but it is a complete flop. plans are drawn up to reintroduce coke in its previous format but a fire at their HQ delays that and they go out of business before it can do that. Pepsi is hobbled after whole affair and will linger out in declining business since the whole ordeal as soured the public to both companies.
 
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Pre-War:
  • The European Union (Including the United Kingdom) forms into the European Commonwealth in 2025, this new centralized European state is spearheaded by hawkish politicians within the United Kingdom, France and Germany predominantly.
  • Pan-Arabist political movements of the 50s-70s was actually successful long-term, with multiple fragmented confederations consolidating further and further as decades pass. By the Mid-21st Century the Arab Federation of North Africa and the Middle East forms a powerful pact to rival NATO and Warsaw, including a full nuclear arsenal. Adopting its own brand of socialist policies, it becomes another world bloc opposed to NATO.
  • The EC and the Pan-Arab states experience brewing tensions throughout the early-mid 21st century which result in a fully fledged Cold War. This involves numerous prolonged disputes over the Mediterranean and unofficial EC sponsored guerilla insurgencies, coup attempts to break up the Pan-Arab confederacy and support for opposing forces in proxy conflicts throughout the disputed territories of the southern Sahara. This eventually leads to the outright conflict in the 2050s, and the first opening acts of the Resource War era.
  • The European Commonwealth also strongly supports the formation and centralization of the African Union (containing numerous sub-saharan states) in order to form an early NATO style bloc against the Arabs. In the world of Fallout, South Africa never dissassembles its nuclear weapons, instead opting to expand its arsenal.
  • Germany is heavily millitarized, many Private Millitary Companies that fight in the various 21st century conflicts are German in origin, funding or equipment. The German weapons industry is rivalled only by the United States.
  • The balkanization of the European Commonwealth is largely triggered by the actions of Great Britain. On top of the bubbling of existing post-Middle Eastern war tensions, this sparked due to a major Chernobyle esque nuclear power incident outside of Sheffield, leaving much of northern Britain an exclusionary zone. Great Britain lays the blame for this incident on German project management, of which the Germans staunchly deny. By the time of the Great War, Germany, France, UK, Italy and Finland stand as nuclear powers.
  • During the Resource Wars, China annexes Vietnam and the Phillipines
  • Socialism perseveres in Central and South America after numerous tribulations, largely supported by a conjoined effort of the Chinese and Pan-Arab Federation, forming yet another counter-western power bloc with nuclear armaments. Mexico, strongly nationalist and anti-communist with a USA allied right-wing government, supports the United States in numerous attempts at political destabilization throughout South America, largely waged by paramillitary and mercenary groups (of Mexican, American and German origin) in order to avoid nuclear retaliation, these are collectively dubbed the "Rainforest Wars". This title becomes ironic with the growing deforestation of South America and the eventual ecological collapse by the time of the Great War, a product of decades of savage warfare and misdirected industrialization.
  • Australian resistance to Chinese annexations further and further south result in their nuking during the Great War

Post-War:
  • The 80's Tribe were pushed off of Interstate 80 in the 2250s by a co-effort of NCR mercenaries, Desert Rangers and the New Canaanites. It is this initial clearing that begins trade relations between NCR and New Canaan, facilitated by the Rangers.
  • Area 51 was not spared by House, and is akin to The Glow. A smouldering radioactive pit. This makes travel into the Mojave from the north via Highway 95 problematic if not impossible, further limiting NCR routes into the Mojave Wasteland
  • San Francisco was retributively nuked by Enclave Remnants after the fall of Navarro, this wasn't entirely succesful at wiping out the Shi but the damage it causes permanently cripples Shi aspirations and the subsequent humanitarian crisis justifies NCR annexation.
  • The Big Sur was the location of a particularly brutal minor conflict between NCR forces and local belligerent tribals, akin to Bitter Springs.
 
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MAOR PLS

- July 1st 1997. The United Kingdom reaffirms it's continued presence and control over Hong Kong. China objects to this and sends forces south. Britain sends an entire carrier group. both sides have a stare down.
- August. The USA backs the British position and states that no group of people should be scarified to the maw of communism. American bases in Vietnam, Japan, Korea and Taiwan go on high alert.
- September. The Soviet Union still reeling from the collapse of most the warsaw pact nations in Europe and putting down uprisings in Asia is in no position to back China at this time and declares itself neutral. America sends 9 Aircraft carrier to region. American Atomic Bombers are on stand by 24/7.
- November. Hainan incident. Chinese Naval forces reportedly fire on British ships on their way to Vietnam. in 30 minutes most of the the defensive installations on Hainan are destroyed in response by the combined Anglo-American Air Power. All sides prepare for war.
- December. The Chinese government concludes that with current state of it's Military and Navy that while it may be able to push the British off of Hong Kong it will be unable to hold them and will suffer catastrophic damage as it's current atomic missile capabilities are unable of reaching the Mainland US. Joint US President and UK Prime Minister press conference claims the disease of communism to be contained but only for the moment and more needs to be done for a future conflict. American munition companies make billions selling armaments. NATO sees even more Defense spending. Hardliners in China use this outcome to purge all remaining moderates and liberals from the party and view this as the close of the Century of Humiliation. The new Chairmen proposes a decades long rearmament program for China to be able take the fight to it's enemies and seeks a total overhaul of their atomic missile program. the few who object are taken out back and shot.
 
TheGM said:
MAOR PLS

- July 1st 1997. The United Kingdom reaffirms it's continued presence and control over Hong Kong. China objects to this and sends forces south. Britain sends an entire carrier group. both sides have a stare down.
- August. The USA backs the British position and states that no group of people should be scarified to the maw of communism. American bases in Vietnam, Japan, Korea and Taiwan go on high alert.
- September. The Soviet Union still reeling from the collapse of most the warsaw pact nations in Europe and putting down uprisings in Asia is in no position to back China at this time and declares itself neutral. America sends 9 Aircraft carrier to region. American Atomic Bombers are on stand by 24/7.
- November. Hainan incident. Chinese Naval forces reportedly fire on British ships on their way to Vietnam. in 30 minutes most of the the defensive installations on Hainan are destroyed in response by the combined Anglo-American Air Power. All sides prepare for war.
- December. The Chinese government concludes that with current state of it's Military and Navy that while it may be able to push the British off of Hong Kong it will be unable to hold them and will suffer catastrophic damage as it's current atomic missile capabilities are unable of reaching the Mainland US. Joint US President and UK Prime Minister press conference claims the disease of communism to be contained but only for the moment and more needs to be done for a future conflict. American munition companies make billions selling armaments. NATO sees even more Defense spending. Hardliners in China use this outcome to purge all remaining moderates and liberals from the party and view this as the close of the Century of Humiliation. The new Chairmen proposes a decades long rearmament program for China to be able take the fight to it's enemies and seeks a total overhaul of their atomic missile program. the few who object are taken out back and shot.
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I like this origin story for later Chinese supremacy in the 21st century. Very effective.

Pre-War:
  • In 1998, following the events of the prior year, political pressure in Japan rapidly increases to abolish completely or at the least "revise" Article 9 of its constitution with implicit support of the United States. This occurs to a degree and the Japanese Defence Force recieves a comprehensive re-armament program. There are calls for a nuclear program. They are, for now, ignored.
  • The early 2070s mark massive internal strain on numerous nations worldwide. Ecological collapse in South America, huge economic recession within Europe (combined with "Devehicularization") mass famine in India and Central Asia, and a break down of rural law and order in Australia.
I do wonder what becomes of Israel in my pan-arab scenario, and also of Japan later in the Resource Wars.
 
Damn women interrupting our fanfiction. Be gone wench and let us speculate on the international relations of Fallout in fucking peace
 
These all seem quite plausible. I noticed that neither of you have mentioned Pakistan or India, so I’ll throw in my two cents.

-1971: India does not intervene in the Pakistani Civil War (Bangladesh Liberation War), or rather, Pakistan never preemptively strikes 11 Indian air stations. As a result, East Pakistan remains a part of Pakistan, and the genocide in what would be known as Bangladesh continues.

-2060s: The cold war between Pakistan and India finally gets hot. Pakistan invades Kashmir. The territory goes back and forth for the next two decades, with skirmishing happening elsewhere along the border as well.

-October 23rd 2077 — present: When the bombs were launched, India and Pakistan responded by launching their entire nuclear arsenals at each other, completely obliterating themselves. The region of Kashmir was spared from nukes. Though there was much ecological destruction from the effects of global thermonuclear war, it remained much more hospitable than the lands around it. Ergo, the land of Kashmir continued to be fought over long after the world had ended, though its original religious significance has been long forgotten.
 
Iprovidelittlepianos said:
These all seem quite plausible. I noticed that neither of you have mentioned Pakistan or India, so I’ll throw in my two cents.

-1971: India does not intervene in the Pakistani Civil War (Bangladesh Liberation War), or rather, Pakistan never preemptively strikes 11 Indian air stations. As a result, East Pakistan remains a part of Pakistan, and the genocide in what would be known as Bangladesh continues.

-2060s: The cold war between Pakistan and India finally gets hot. Pakistan invades Kashmir. The territory goes back and forth for the next two decades, with skirmishing happening elsewhere along the border as well.

-October 23rd 2077 — present: When the bombs were launched, India and Pakistan responded by launching their entire nuclear arsenals at each other, completely obliterating themselves. The region of Kashmir was spared from nukes. Though there was much ecological destruction from the effects of global thermonuclear war, it remained much more hospitable than the lands around it. Ergo, the land of Kashmir continued to be fought over long after the world had ended, though its original religious significance has been long forgotten.
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I had considered the idea of India as a somewhat independent power.

I imagine Central Asia would not fair amazingly with the resource scarcity issues of the 2070s
 
The entire village of Arroyo including the Chosen One being descended from Vault 13 is a complete lie. The Vault Dweller and his small group did indeed found Arroyo, but with the help of a preestablished local tribe. They didn't happen to just find the best secluded post-war frontier. After settling the land with the help of vault knowledge and what tech they had, the tribal leaders killed the vault dwellers and spoon-fed the tribe a bullshit lie about the Vault Dweller leaving or "being taken by spirits" or whatever. The memoirs are manipulated (history is written by the victor and all that), and the Temple of Trials were made simply to find out which dumb tribal had the most knowledge from the Vault people to lead the tribe, the "Holy" Vault Jumpsuit as a sort of finish line reflecting this. Basically the people of Arroyo are a bunch of LARPers that by the time of Fallout 2 believe and even indulge in the great sham that they are ancestors of Vault 13. It's not until after Fallout 2 that the village or city I suppose genuinely becomes intertwined with Vault 13 citizens for good.
 
JunjiItosGio said:
The entire village of Arroyo including the Chosen One being descended from Vault 13 is a complete lie. The Vault Dweller and his small group did indeed found Arroyo, but with the help of a preestablished local tribe. They didn't happen to just find the best secluded post-war frontier. After settling the land with the help of vault knowledge and what tech they had, the tribal leaders killed the vault dwellers and spoon-fed the tribe a bullshit lie about the Vault Dweller leaving or "being taken by spirits" or whatever. The memoirs are manipulated (history is written by the victor and all that), and the Temple of Trials were made simply to find out which dumb tribal had the most knowledge from the Vault people to lead the tribe, the "Holy" Vault Jumpsuit as a sort of finish line reflecting this. Basically the people of Arroyo are a bunch of LARPers that by the time of Fallout 2 believe and even indulge in the great sham that they are ancestors of Vault 13. It's not until after Fallout 2 that the village or city I suppose genuinely becomes intertwined with Vault 13 citizens for good.
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That's a spicy one, though not sure if I entirely agree. I always thought the idea of the Vault Dweller going full anarcho-primitivist after the experiences of the first game wherein the potential evils of technology are thoroughly explored and seen firsthand made sense from a personal and thematic standpoint, but obviously Arroyo still has a couple of problems in presentation and I entirely agree that the Vault Dweller(s) needed to merge with existing tribals rather than immediately strip off their space-age spandex and rub mud on their face.
 
Atomic Postman said:
the Vault Dweller(s) needed to merge with existing tribals rather than immediately strip off their space-age spandex and rub mud on their face.
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This is mostly what my headcanon spawned from, trying to work around the vault dwellers going ape mode within two direct generations (I don’t think I’ll ever be convinced that Hakunin is even closely related to a vault dweller). That, and I’m not sure how much I buy the “Vault Dweller just said fuck it and left or was taken by sky spirits one day”. That’s my main driving force behind my thought being that he was killed. It seems really suspicious to me that he’d just up and abandon the village and people he helped create, including his own daughter, especially after seeing how loyal he was to Vault 13 even post-exile. The rest is just me having fun. Spicy indeed lmfao :flameon:
 
JunjiItosGio said:
This is mostly what my headcanon spawned from, trying to work around the vault dwellers going ape mode within two direct generations (I don’t think I’ll ever be convinced that Hakunin is even closely related to a vault dweller). That, and I’m not sure how much I buy the “Vault Dweller just said fuck it and left or was taken by sky spirits one day”. That’s my main driving force behind my thought being that he was killed. It seems really suspicious to me that he’d just up and abandon the village and people he helped create, including his own daughter, especially after seeing how loyal he was to Vault 13 even post-exile. The rest is just me having fun. Spicy indeed lmfao :flameon:
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I always thought of it like this. After seeing the results of the Great War, the Glow, the FEV logs, Mariposa logs, The Master, The Boneyard, The Ghouls at Necropolis, you'd get quite a poor view of mankind's technological history. If reliance on technology and the advanced sciences led to this, what good were they? (A message that is explored with a different and more positive conclusion in Old World Blues) Conversely, arguably the only truly good place the Vault Dweller comes across in his travels is Shady Sands. A simplistic agrarian community of survivalists that's basically one big family and totally removed from the Old World. After the absolutely shitty things the Dweller went through and his exile from his home, I think forming a community like that would be quite a strong driving aspiration. Similarly, selling a bunch of Vault 13 exiles who chose a nuclear wasteland over the safety of the Vault for the sake of some higher calling on the idea of being Rousseau style "noble savages" seems like it actually wouldn't be that hard. Those who aren't on board can go elsewhere of course.

I think then all it would take would be intermingling with an already existing nomadic tribal group and settling down together, led by a Vault Dweller who wants to ensure the next generation only learn what is neccessary to prosper in the wild and not bother with science. If you're born in early Arroyo, your mother is a tribal, your father is a vault exile who doesn't talk about their past, and all you grow up knowing is life in the canyon and tribalistic practices, I can easily see Arroyo forming into its completely tribal state in 80 years time.

Do keep in mind that it's mainly Hakunin (who is a drugged out weirdo shaman) and the Elder that talk like complete mystics, the other NPCs in Arroyo despite being tribals speak pretty much normally. They're hardly the White Legs. More like Shady Sands with the tech level dropped down one notch.

As for the Vault Dweller leaving, I always pictured my vault dweller as being very elderly when writing his memoirs. Hacking, coughing. I take his decision to be very similar to that of Randall Clark's.
 
My Chosen one lives in a house off screen at Arryo and isn't to pleased it took a week for everybody to act like a stick worshiping moon howlers. Even Uncle Bill has painted his face up and thinks he is a shaman now. Mee-Maw get a pass because she is alike 90. also laundry day and have nothing clean to wear.

Temple of Trials my ass. we all know that is the set from Legends of the Hidden Temple.
 
TheGM said:
My Chosen one lives in a house off screen at Arryo and isn't to pleased it took a week for everybody to act like a stick worshiping moon howlers. Even Uncle Bill has painted his face up and thinks he is a shaman now. Mee-Maw get a pass because she is alike 90. also laundry day and have nothing clean to wear.

Temple of Trials my ass. we all know that is the set from Legends of the Hidden Temple.
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Whilst the Temple of Trials is a weirdly erroneous thing, I think another thing is that the Arroyo tribals live in tents and not sandcrete/adobe/pueblo style houses. I get they don't really have wood for houses but IRL native americans in the American west didn't live in tents unless they were nomadic, which Arroyo isn't.

I guess that's some headcanon from me. The Arroyo canyon was quite large, and the tribe changed location within the canyon by season.
 
This is sort of a merge of head-canon and canon-speculation, but I have opinions on where I believe the locations of the Sierra Madre and Big Empty.
Sierra Madre:
Location: Somewhere on or near the Hualapai Indian Reservation in Arizona near the Grand Canyon, likely moreso to the south.
grinder.png

Reasoning: We know one thing for certain about the Sierra Madre: It is three days walk away from the Abandoned BoS Bunker (Whether this is Dog taking the Courier or the Courier walking back). I believe it's in Arizona because a three day walk by game logic in any direction other than East from there (i.e across the Colorado out of the map) is not going to bring you very far out of the Mojave, if it even does that at all.

Additionally, the intro slides to Dead Money depict very much Grand Canyon style scenery and we're told that Sierra Madre was very rural and very difficult if not impossible to reach via car (as in, slotted in desert canyons perhaps?).

We also know that Ulysses knows of its location before that of the Divide and Big MT, and well enough to direct Elijah, him being an Arizona tribal tracker lines up with this.

The Big Empty:

Location: Dome Mountain on the Nevada Test Site, near Highway 95 north of the Mojave. I believe that the Big Empty was the Fallout world's version of Area 51, a private super-science facility instead of government ran. Outside of a random encounter of dubious canonicity we hear no reference to Area 51 - which seems odd considering it's relevance and also proximity to all three games, no?

Death-Valley.png

Reason: My Area 51 reasoning above, but also Joshua Graham's description of The Big Empty, Death Valley and The Divide basically forming a wall that made Long 15 the only real route into Mojave. If you mark these locations together, it forms a wall. I had always wondered why NCR didn't come in via Highway 95 from the north- but now I know why. Similarly the Big Empty being a barren nothingness with some nuke craters in the centre describes Nevada north of the Mojave better than it does southern California (where many others suggest the Big Empty sits). It also explains why the Big Empty has relatively little traffic, and requires dedicated explorers.
 
TheGM said:
Isn't Big MT near Hopeville?
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IIRC they're in proximity enough (along with Death Valley) to form a "Wall" blocking any route from NCR that isn't the Long 15 and we are told that Ulysses tracked the Big MT by following the patterns of the wind/storms in the region (since there was some connection with the Big MT and the storms of the Divide). They're in the same ballpark but I can't imagine they were directly adjacent.
 
The size of the Legion is probably vastly over-estimated . usually on maps, you see it as a big blob encompassing everything south of the Colorado all the way to Mexico. In reality, the Legion is probably limited to the Salt, GIla, and Rio Grande, and their immediate tributaries, with a few scattered outposts and waning levels of control beyond. Its too vcast and moreover too inhospitable place for the Legion to be exercising any kind of uniform control across it. The core territories of the Legion are safe, but there are still vast swathes pretty close to those core regions that are unconquered and dominated by tribals.
 
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