Few things are law in the Mojave. Anything that is, is an unwritten law; they are the ones that go without saying, and everyone practices them whether they realize it or not. First rule, if someone takes your shit-you go and get it back, or you hire someone else to do it. Second, if someone wrongs you-maybe she killed your wife, or he raped your son or daughter or both, or sold them into slavery- you kill them, or you hire someone else to do it. Third, nothing after death is yours. Not your home, not your belongings, not even your body. If you have family, it is theirs-and hopefully they'll respect you enough to burn you or bury you. If you have none, it is your friends, and hopefully they'll do the same. And if you have no one, it belongs to whoever finds you-and you'll be lucky if they don't violate your corpse.
These, at least, were the rules most in the Mojave lived by. And these were the rules the Mojave would have continued to live by, if it hadn't been for that one fateful day on the Hoover Dam. A young man, face covered in dirt, brush gun on his back and knives in his hands, stormed the Dam and ousted both the NCR and the Legion. He lead an army of Securitrons like angels into the gates of hell and wiped out Legionaries, then promptly turned around and served one General Lee Oliver a Get The Fuck Out of Here card. It was a slap to the face of the NCR-not that they did just pack up, no; after negotiations, Vegas remained independent and NCR remained put, but the insult was plain as day and they could do nothing about it. The young Courier brought with him a seemingly endless supply of robots to back himself up, and they worked well.
Law came to the Mojave after that, but it wasn't NCR or Caesar's-it was Courier Six's, a young man named Ken who crawled out of the grave and into annals of history. Arcade remembered him well because, well-how the fuck could you forget someone like that? He came in like a maelstrom with a silver tongue as sharp as knives and a plan that was fool proof. Hell, Arcade fought alongside Ken, following him into the Fort, and he still didn't know Ken's full plan up until the end. Arcade would be lying, though, if he said that he'd have done it for anyone. He wouldn't have, but there was something about Ken, something chaotically beautiful, that would make him walk to the ends of the Earth if he had to-and he'd do it with a smile on his face.
Of course, what Arcade wanted to do and what Ken wanted to do were two completely different things, and Arcade hadn't settled on his Walks With Crazy Sumbitch ideals until after Ken had up and vanished one morning without so much as a sayonara, asshole. Arcade didn't blame him. Ken wasn't satisfied with defeating the Legion at the Dam, he wanted to pursue the fuckers all the way through their empire. But even with his reputation as high as it was the NCR wouldn't join him, and Ken didn't feel okay marching a large army of Securitrons into the eastern wasteland. He wanted Arcade to go with him, but Arcade was terrified. After all, just because the Legion had been defeated at the Dam that didn't mean they wouldn't come back striking, and they hated the eager young courier for what he'd done. It was a suicide mission not even Boone would undertake, and he hated the Legion more than Ken did.
It was because of those reasons that Ken and Arcade fought, and it was because of that fight that Ken woke up early, left their bed, grabbed some bare essentials and left. He left no note, no goodbye message, and not even with Yes Man. Just like that, Courier Six was gone from Arcade's life the same way that he had come in-betrayed, alone and determined.
Everyone assumed Ken was gone for good, and they would have packed up and headed off themselves if Yes Man hadn't reminded them that they had place of their own to run. Cass, Boone, Veronica and Arcade had been left in charge of the strip and all it's surrounding areas. The Mojave was under their jurisdiction and the five of them, Yes Man included, became the ruling bodies. Arcade wasn't entirely satisfied with how things panned out, but he was happier than he would have been under Mr. House or NCR, and he would never regret the day he, Ken and Rex took on the Legion. Independent Vegas wasn't perfect, but it was better than all the alternatives, and being in a position of such power gave him influence with many important people from Freeside to the NCR all the way down to little shanties like Sloan.
The influence also came with a bigger bonus: Arcade and the Remnants no longer had to hide their Enclave history. The NCR couldn't touch them for it, Yes Man and the others didn't care and Arcade was fairly certain that Ken hadn't informed the Legion. It was almost like a gift, Arcade was safe and he had Ken to thank for that. The only problem was that Arcade no longer had any way to thank him for what he did.
It wasn't to remain that way, though. Three years of peace and no news from the East meant big trouble. To anyone else anywhere else, peace might have been good. To the leaders of the Vegas strip and their allies across the Mojave, it was always an omen. Peace in the Mojave wasn't ever actually peace. It was breathing room at best, a grace period-and for better or for worse, the Mojave's grace period was almost up.