Let me see your headcanons!

Slaughter Manslaught said:
Reservation exists as a vassaldom/protectorate of Caesar's Legion. It was pretty heavily defended and in radioactive land. Caesar ran the numbers and it simply wasn't worth it to lose thousands of men to conquer radioactive shit land around Los Alamos. It likely makes a living by supplying the Legion with weaponry and tech. Its like Ghoul North Korea over there.
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My headcanon about Reservation is that the tribals surrounding it joined Caesar's Legion voluntarily out of gratitude after Caesar annihilated it and brutally murdered all the ghouls inside.

An additional headcanon is that Caesar distrusts ghouls on account of their unnaturally long lifespans and the feral degeneration.

It was something I thought would be fun to include in a mod or something but never got around to learning the Creation Kit.
 
Well for me the head canon is Fallout 1, 2, and FNV (wish it had been Van Buren), though there are elements from Fallout Tactics and even FOBOS that I like.
It is the Bethesda stuff that I want to ignore in general.

For now I am going to base what I write in this post on what could have been in Van Buren and don't clash with FNV.

1. Like another poster mentioned here, I also think the Reservation exists and is run by Clarke, Green, and other Ghouls.
The Reservation Ghouls are some of the biggest suppliers of weapons and munitions to Caesar's Legion who trade these in return for slaves and supplies.

The Legion never stormed or conquered the settlement or surrounding lands because of the remaining radiation of the bombs (I actually had forgotten about that until someone mentioned it here), instead the Reservations is sort of a protectorate or vassal to the Legion who allow the Ghouls to run their own affairs as long as they behave and keep supplying the Legion with weapons.

Caesar doesn't know about Clarke's plans with Nuclear Nellie and Born Ghouls, dismissing the Children of the Wasteland cult as some mutant delusion about being a superior race, bringing up either the example of what the Legion has accomplished and how big their territory is, or not allowing the subject to be brought up at all.

2. The Nursery exists, the hidden eco vault that preserves seeds and genetic samples of the pre war world and the technology to restore nature to its old self with these.
The place is run by DIANA who safeguards it from most intruders, save those visitors that she feels are trustworthy.
The Legion still has not found the place.

DIANA has lost contact with the Twin Mothers tribe and would be quite horrified if she found out what has happened to her proteges.

3. Ouroboros, Hecate, the Daughters of Hecate, and the Hounds of Hecate exist.
Like as was planned in Van Buren, a survivor of the Twisted Hairs (Ulysses didn't know about her) managed to find her way to the Nursery where she received medical aid from DIANA who later taught her about genetics and selective breeding.

Planning vengeance on the Legion and the tribes allied with her Hecate and her followers are slowly building an army in Colorado with the intention of marching against Caesar one day.

4. Denver exists (it was mentioned in FNV), and it is overrun by wild dogs. The Hangdogs used to get their dogs from here until they were conquered and absorbed into the Legion who continues to use the city as a staging area and to get fresh blood for their dog pool from.
Perhaps prospectors working for the Legion are allowed to go through the city to look for useful items and construction material.
The Box or the General Atomic robotics manufacturing plant is dormant, but if it should be "woken up" it would start producing loads and loads of flying eyebots and security bots to drive out the "rioters".

5. Bloomfield Space Port/Center could exist, the Legion not having found the place or ignoring it as it a place of pre-war technology they have no use for.

6. Subsequently BOMB001 and BOMB002 could exist, BOMB002 of course having fallen out of orbit and having crashed in the Grand Canyon.
BOMB001 is still running on backup power, orbiting the Earth and waiting for orders that will never come.


Edit: added Hecate from Van Buren.
 
The Dutch Ghost said:
The Nursery exists, the hidden eco vault that preserves seeds and genetic samples of the pre war world and the technology to restore nature to its old self with these.
The place is run by DIANA who safeguards it from most intruders, save those visitors that she feels are trustworthy.
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I also believe this.

Similarly I believe that Hecate exists as well, though perhaps her journey to powerful and feared tribal warlord isn't quite where it was supposed to be in Van Buren by the time that the events in Fallout: New Vegas occur.

I've always felt that if someone wanted to try and make a really ambitious and high-quality quest mod she could be turned into a really good antagonist.
 
Dayglow Drifter said:
Similarly I believe that Hecate exists as well, though perhaps her journey to powerful and feared tribal warlord isn't quite where it was supposed to be in Van Buren by the time that the events in Fallout: New Vegas occur.
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Dammit, forgot all about Hecate.
Yes, in my take she also exists, and is leading the Daughters of Hecate in Colorado as she is building up her army of Hounds of Hecate.
 
Dayglow Drifter said:
I've always felt that if someone wanted to try and make a really ambitious and high-quality quest mod she could be turned into a really good antagonist.
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Back when I was thinking way too overambitious, I was thinking of a series of DLC size mods for FNV that would bring in locations that did not make it in FNV such as Tibbet's, Denver, and the Nursery, and the plot of Limit 115.

Tibbet's computer had been rounding up people infected with the New Plague.
The player had been accidentally seen as an escaped prisoner after a prison break, and brought to the prison.
There the Warden/ODYSSEUS would ask for the player's help in restoring its control to the prison and dealing with the prisoners who were still loose.
Or alternatively the player could side with the prisoners and organize another prison break, not knowing that these people are all carriers of Limit 115.

After the player has left the prison, he or she might have become infected themselves.
Whatever the reason, the player would have to find a cure for the disease. This would lead them to Denver, source of the outbreak, and from there the player would learn about the Nursery and that it may contain the means to cure the disease.

I wanted to throw in the plotline that the Warden had activated BOMB001, and a countdown had been initiated to sterilize the region to contain the infection.
But as we already had a plot with nuclear weapons in Lonesome Road that may be too repetitive.
 
The Dutch Ghost said:
Yes, in my take she also exists, and is leading the Daughters of Hecate in Colorado as she is building up her army of Hounds of Hecate.
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My version of her alters that somewhat and has her where she's a little bit closer to the events of New Vegas up in Idaho or maybe western Wyoming. I like the idea of her potentially bumping up against the NCR every once and a while.
 
Dayglow Drifter said:
I also believe this.

Similarly I believe that Hecate exists as well, though perhaps her journey to powerful and feared tribal warlord isn't quite where it was supposed to be in Van Buren by the time that the events in Fallout: New Vegas occur.

I've always felt that if someone wanted to try and make a really ambitious and high-quality quest mod she could be turned into a really good antagonist.
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After scrapping my Texas PnP setting I went back to doing the Four Corners (Where my first campaign took place) and I've been working on adapting Van Buren to be NV friendly (still set in 2253).I was thinking about making a post about my changes/versions at some point.

Currently I have the Nursery as a gigantic seed vault with animal embryos and seeds from as many species as the EPA could get its hands on. On the surface of the Nursery there's a few domes

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They preserve sample ecosystems from across the United States (Everglades, New England, Great Plains) with easily managed wildlife like birds, insects etc. The big "twist" would be that the preservation technology worked perfectly, but that the changed ecosystem and environment of the Wasteland meant that none of these flora or fauna would survive on the outside world, and would perish in the face of the surviving mutant species that are already out there. DIANA has basically been occupying her time running simulations over and over again for each stored plant and animal with the same conclusions that the only place where they can live is here. I think it gives the Nursery a nice oasis/garden of eden vibe without rehashing the Vault 22 "regrowing the Wasteland" potential, because the Nursery is basically a very precious botanical/biological archive.

I have Hecate as the third of three vying groups in the tribal Arizona. Because it's set in 2253 Caesar's Legion has only just left the Grand Canyon and has only recently claimed Flagstaff (Where it has accessed a great bulk of spring water and is now forming the backbone of trade/economic dominance) and Hecate is the Legion's main competitor. I kept the backstory about her being exiled from a tribe (but it was her own, which survived in this version, called "Ouroborous" from the start) and meeting Diana, returning as an occultist messiah. Ouroborous and Hecate reign over about 10 or so tribes in Arizona, rival to the Legion's own conquests. They'd be portrayed as similar in some ways, but different in others. Hecate allows the tribes to retain their own culture and live (mostly) freely, but she brainwashes them with a predatory cult/religion, takes their children to recruit for her own, and harvests resources to waste at her own worship/pleasure, and has done basically nothing but stagnate. The third group would be a vastly outnumbered and outgunned expedition of Desert Rangers trying to set up shop in Arizona, and now must pick between a rock (The Legion) and a hard place (Hecate).
 
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One of my headcanons is that benign mutations are widespread among wastelanders but by no means universal but still common enough to be accepted as normal or unsurprising. This is something that just felt off to me in Fallout because there are lots of mutations in creatures that have changed them visually and physically but humans themselves seem mostly identical to pre-war humans.

In my headcanon there are lots of cases where people are born with 4 fingers on each hand, sometimes even 6 fingers, larger facial features like bulging eyes or large ears, maybe an extra toe or two or even extra or redundant sexual organs such as 3 breasts or even 2 penises or 4 testicles. There is also mutated melanin pigments in people giving unnatural eye and hair colors(nothing neon though so no bright blue, pink, or green anime hair) with eyes having colors like purple with pupils sometimes even being slitted like a cat's or other odd shapes.

Now not all mutations are benign so there's still cases of people who are born like Sloth from the goonies or like a mutant from the movie franchise The Hills Have Eyes.

And then there are some rare few who are born with a mutation that is extremely beneficial such as a resistance to radiation, increased intellect, unnaturally good eyesight and night vision, faster healing/regeneration, or even having some measure of superhuman strength.

Within my headcanon I would fit some people like Lanius as having a rare mutation that puts him above the common man in not only height but strength as well. I mean have you seen Lanius? the man is an absolute monster who stands at least 7 feet tall and runs 80% faster than the player while also having significantly more fatigue points than a normal NPC.

In my headcanon he has at least some measure of superhuman strength but not so much that you're going to see him flipping cars or chucking boulders. Just enough strength that he surpasses normal men by a wide margin but still not strong enough that he could wrestle a super mutant or punch out a deathclaw.
 
Khromko said:
One of my headcanons is that benign mutations are widespread among wastelanders but by no means universal but still common enough to be accepted as normal or unsurprising. This is something that just felt off to me in Fallout because there are lots of mutations in creatures that have changed them visually and physically but humans themselves seem mostly identical to pre-war humans.
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One thing I'm a huge fan of is mutants that are mutated humans but aren't just Supermutants or Ghouls, precisely for this reason. I like the idea that there's lots more diversity in how humans have responded to the apocalypse than what's shown.

Fallout 2 does this pretty well in a few places: Lumpy in Gecko appears human but is his own thing completely immune to radiation and was kicked out of Vault City because of it. Moreover the Slags are pretty cool, these underground people who frighten others in to creating myths about a haunted farm.

To it's credit, Fallout 3 also heavily implies that the Vampires are mutated humans somehow that have an addiction to cannibalism. I have to say I don't like this as much as the Slags in Fallout 2, where the mythology around them is just that, and really they're just another benign group of humans trying to survive, but as far as Fallout 3 goes, I quite like it.

The Trogs and Swampfolk would also be good examples of this, though I have mixed feelings about the latter. On the one hand having a hostile group of rural people so utterly othered by the narratives that they're effectively elder god worshipping maniacs who shoot on sight is very fitting with the Lovecraftian theme, but on the other Bethesda relies too heavily on "Another group of enemies" as a crutch.
Khromko said:
Within my headcanon I would fit some people like Lanius as having a rare mutation that puts him above the common man in not only height but strength as well. I mean have you seen Lanius? the man is an absolute monster who stands at least 7 feet tall and runs 80% faster than the player while also having significantly more fatigue points than a normal NPC.
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I'm not sure how I feel about Lanius specifically being a mutant.

Honestly, I like Lanius because he's so shrouded in mystery. The idea that he is just this bulking monster who could crush you in an instant is far more terrifying then him being a radiation or FEV construct.

I don't really mind semi-legendary characters who have abilities that seem unhuman. Joshua Graham's survival is never explained beyond "God saved him", and I'm happy with that. Legion is filled with this legends of characters doing superhuman things, and I'm happy with that being the way things are, without any attempt to explain it.
 
Jogre said:
Honestly, I like Lanius because he's so shrouded in mystery. The idea that he is just this bulking monster who could crush you in an instant is far more terrifying then him being a radiation or FEV construct.
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I mean, the mutation giving Lanius his superhuman strength isn't the core of his character or even a major aspect of it. It is just something that allowed him to rise above the common masses and catch Caesar's attention as a person to cultivate as a new Legate or possible heir.

Whether Lanius was a ferocious tribal of the Hide Barks who killed his tribesman for cowardice or a slave who became a legionary at age 12 or just some giant of a man that caught Caesar's attention as a person to build a myth around after burning Graham, Lanius being a 6'11-7 foot tall behemoth of a man with inhuman strength would grant him a lot of opportunity to rise in a warrior based society especially one such as the Legion.

If Lanius was born anywhere else he could have just lived as an ordinary civilian or wastelander albeit one who was unusually tall and strong but it was his specific circumstances and his great physical stature and strength that likely caught Caesar's eye(don't tell me Caesar would just use anyone to build a legend around to replace Graham as Legate) and his own cunning mind for tactics which allowed him to rise as Legate after Graham's fall.
 
Jogre said:
Fallout 2 does this pretty well in a few places: Lumpy in Gecko appears human but is his own thing completely immune to radiation and was kicked out of Vault City because of it.
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Just realized, this is probably going to be used for Bethesda apologia in a few months.

Jogre said:
Moreover the Slags are pretty cool, these underground people who frighten others in to creating myths about a haunted farm.
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AGreed. Slags are the kinds of unique wasteland oddities that these games should be filled to the brim with. I feel like more probably could have been done with them in Fo2, a few quests post-resolution of Modoc would've been cool to help them adapt to the world better. Also it would have been cool to see a Slag or two in New Vegas, maybe as a trooper or as a squatter or somehting.

Jogre said:
To it's credit, Fallout 3 also heavily implies that the Vampires are mutated humans somehow that have an addiction to cannibalism. I have to say I don't like this as much as the Slags in Fallout 2, where the mythology around them is just that, and really they're just another benign group of humans trying to survive, but as far as Fallout 3 goes, I quite like it.
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I never got the impression that the Arefu vampires were genuinely physically dependent on blood, they always read to me as a kooky cult/subculture who's depndency on blood was purely psychological. Add to this the fact that our big hook for the quest is a young teenager who seems to have joined the group as a matter of identity, being a teenager and all.

Though I will say, I'm slightly confused by your implication. I don't think that the SLags are really mutants per se. They're just baseline humans, maybe even a little less 'corrupted' then the average wastelander (though obviously not fully since I'm sure the Ghost Farm doesn't have military-grade filters). They're just albinos and sensitive to sunlight due to generations of living underground with substandard lighting and conditioning compared to the Vault.

Which makes me think - do you think the Vaults had tanning beds?

Jogre said:
The Trogs and Swampfolk would also be good examples of this, though I have mixed feelings about the latter. On the one hand having a hostile group of rural people so utterly othered by the narratives that they're effectively elder god worshipping maniacs who shoot on sight is very fitting with the Lovecraftian theme, but on the other Bethesda relies too heavily on "Another group of enemies" as a crutch.
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Swampfolk were definitely underutilized, but the fundamental idea is a good one if not the most original. Trogs on the other hand I feel were very good. I've said it before, but the Pitt and Point Lookout both feel like genuine Fallout adventures to me, or at least the essential frameworks do.

Jogre said:
I'm not sure how I feel about Lanius specifically being a mutant.

Honestly, I like Lanius because he's so shrouded in mystery. The idea that he is just this bulking monster who could crush you in an instant is far more terrifying then him being a radiation or FEV construct.

I don't really mind semi-legendary characters who have abilities that seem unhuman. Joshua Graham's survival is never explained beyond "God saved him", and I'm happy with that. Legion is filled with this legends of characters doing superhuman things, and I'm happy with that being the way things are, without any attempt to explain it.
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Agreed one hundred percent
 
Yeah I like varied mutations among humans (I put a mutation table in my PnP for that reason) and I also head canon that extra toes, patches of bubbled or off colour skin and genetic conditions uncommon in our world are as common as odd blemishes in Fallout. It gives the "Pure Human" concept some meat in that yeah Wastelanders are genetic deviants but it's all truthfully meaningless in the grand scheme.

That being said, I prefer people like Lanius and Graham just being dudes that happen to be extraordinary rather than mutants.
 
Weirdly specific thought but I think Syracuse is the location of New Canaan's desalination /water plant. In the VB docs New Canaan produced water with a plant and we hear in NV they were a trading power that dealt out water - assumedly they've got the same thing going.

The location of New Canaan in Ogden would put it a fair shake from the Salt Lake itself (if we assume the original VB location) and Graham references Syracuse as some kind of fall back point the Canaanites went to, it would make sense they'd regroup at their water plant/outpost since Syracuse is very close to the lake.
 
Hardboiled Android said:
Elaborate
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With the way the story and the setting plays out it doesn't really make much sense for the player to just skip town for a month total (longer if the expected journey went as planned) unless it's early on. Honest Hearts gameplay wise also plays better at lower level.

The way that the Divide is name dropped and explained and the other Courier alluded to segues into Dead Money's elaboration in it's ending slides foreshadowing Lonesome Road far far better than that just getting thrown at you.
 
I've always disliked the Power Armor Frame system especially with each and every power armor sharing the same frame with the only thing being upgraded being the armor pieces. That's like making a tank and just focusing on giving it different armor rather than actually upgrading the engine.

In my headcanon, power armors are much more unique with each model having different frames that differ in mobility, agility, strength, and power source.

The T-45 being the earliest model would also be the most primitive, having the slowest mobility, severely impaired agility, and the only thing good about it being its strength. It's power source would be simple Energy cells which would mean it's operational time would be quite short being either hours or days compared to later models.

The T-51 would be the best pre-war model and it would be greatly overhauled. It's frame would be less bulky than the T-45 while still granting the wearer greater strength and it would also have improved mobility but still impaired agility. It would also be the first to feature an on-board fusion reactor with a power core giving it an operational life of 200 years.

The T-60 would be an up armored T-45 that would have had its power source upgraded to a fusion reactor similar to the T-51. It would share similar armor effectiveness with the T-51 however being on a more primitive frame it would suffer even more in mobility than the T-45 due to carrying even more armor. The reason for the existence of the T-60 would be that production of the T-51 was costly and the need of power armor was greater than it was being produced. It would have been a stop gap measure until more T-51 power armor could be produced to match the demand.

The Advanced Power Armor would have been the absolute pinnacle of power armor being the most advanced suit of armor in the post-war world but it would have only existed in extremely small numbers due to how advanced it was along with how few of the Enclave there were. It would have been made of even more advanced materials than the T-51 granting even greater protection and would have even more strength than previous models too. It's frame would also be the most advanced being the least bulky while granting the wearer an exceptional amount of mobility compared to previous armors and only slightly limiting agility while also having much more advanced sensors inside the suit making it much more responsive. The armor plating would also have much greater protection against energy weapons which the T-51 would struggle to protect against due to only having a thin silver ablative coating which would ablate quickly from laser fire and only provide negligible protection against plasma.
 
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