Disclaimer
All characters are mine except for the glowing ghoul, he belongs to the creators of Fallout. Part of the preface is from the intro of Fallout and belongs to Interplay (or whomever they are now).
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Preface
War…
War never changes.
The Romans waged war to gather slaves and wealth. Spain built an empire from its lust for gold and territory. Hitler shaped a battered Germany into an economic superpower.
But war never changes.
In the 21st century, war was still waged over the resources that could be acquired. Only this time the spoils of war were also its weapons: Petroleum and Uranium. For these resources, China would invade Alaska, the US would annex Canada, and the European Commonwealth would dissolve into quarreling, bickering nation-states bent on controlling the last remaining resources on Earth.
In 2077, the storm of world war had come again. In two brief hours most of the planet was reduced to cinders. And from the ashes of nuclear devastation a new civilization would struggle to arise.
A few were able to reach the relative safety of large underground Vaults – the world's only seeds of hope. Deep below the surface these underground cities were populated by people chosen as survivors to be the future should the worst scenario occur. In the year 2077 it did.
Fourty years have passed since the first hero of our altered planet emerged: the Vault Dweller of Vault 13. He was chosen of all his people to explore the unknown surface in search of a vital component without which his entire vault would be forced to empty. His bravery would save them all. Unbeknownst to the secure climate-controlled vault citizens there was a country of small cities struggling but alive outside their five-foot thick vault door and it was unknowingly on the verge of peril. The Vault Dweller would save them as well. After defeating the Master and his army of Super Mutants the Vault Dweller returned home to Vault 13 bearing the component they so desperately needed along with news of a world no one expected would exist. But our hero was received with fearful disdain and turned from his vault – an outcast.
This world, your world is where our story begins…