I do not own Fallout. If I did, this is how I'd do it.


Fallout: Orleans


The Final Roundup


This is the end, and the answer to the questions that were asked (and a few that were not).

Here they are, grouped by theme or faction.


Mechanics and Lore Questions


-Did the three main factions take over any/all the independent radio stations in the region, to leave the Bayou with its current selection?

Yes and no. Before the war, private citizens owned some of the radio stations in the Bayou. When the Enclave invaded, they took over a number of radio towers as part of their invasion plan, which now form the backbone of the Enclave network. During their time, the Blue Waters have also seized some towers (sometimes on behalf of the factions). But the Orleans Republic had never reactivated all the potential radio stations in the Bayou, so many/most of the Blue Water radio towers have been repaired and reactivated by the Blue Waters themselves, and were not functional before their arrival.

-Why can't you expand the radio coverage of the other main factions like you do the Blue Waters radio?

Three reasons: the immersion of limited radio range, the role of the Projector as a signalling device, and arbitrary question design.

Radio range limitations is one of those immersion-enabling devices that helps distinguish various regions of the game- a crude but effective way to signal to the player that they are leaving different areas of influence. In FO3, the fact that Three Dog wasn't always audible until you did the quest for him was both a way to emphasize the significance of radio, and to indicate to the player when they were getting closer or further from D.C. Sometimes denying the player options is what is needed to make them appreciate the availability of something.

In Orleans, the fact that the factional radios are limited helps reflect their spheres of influence: the Enclave can't be heard and doesn't have as much influence in Orleans territory without the Projector, the Blue Water presence in the Bayou spreads the more the radio stations do, and so on. The fact that Orleans (or the Enclave) suffers limited radio while the owner of the Projector can be heard everywhere is one of the big cues about which faction has the upper hand in the ongoing war as you reach the late game: you could look at events on the ground, or tell by what you can hear and where. In addition, restoring radio stations would obviously be a significant (and easier) way to get a number of Stock, it meshes with the theme of building influence with the Blue Waters to get them to stay in a Blue Waters path.

Finally, because spreading Blue Water radio coverage was what the quest was. Unlike a news source, the Blue Water is pretty trivial as a music program: not having it isn't that much of an impact, but spreading it was a way for players to mark their progress across the Bayou to more and more areas. Spreading Enclave/Orleans radio doesn't add anything unique to that, while it would contest the idea of the previous points.

-What currencies do minor factions like the Brotherhood of Steel use?

Minor factions primarily trade in caps, though they accept factional currencies as well. The lack of a proper currency is one of the indicators that factions like the Brotherhood are more tribes than civilizations in their own right. The Hidden Village has exceptional amounts of factional currency, though, which they use to help their infiltration missions.

-Can the player have companions equip costumes?

Yes. Costumes are equipment like any other armor, so companions will equip it if it's the best thing in their inventory. While I never planned any out, there could even be costumes for the non-human companions, similar to the tacky dog costumes you see every once in a while.


Enclave Questions


-If the Navigator helps the Enclave win Orleans, will they be remembered as a Hero to the Enclave?

Yes, though moreso in a Hans route than if you deposed him. If Hans lives, assuming you live as well, Hans will make the Navigator a public hero, proof to the Pure Enclave that wastelanders can be vital allies, and a role model (of sorts) for the local populace that good service will be recognized and rewarded.

If you deposed Hans, the Enclave military sees you more as a useful tool, but they were going to award you as well... it just so happens that your award ceremony is when Belle suicide nukes you.

-Was Atlantis a failed paradise under the ocean?

No, though to the collapsing pre-nuke USA it may have seemed one. Atlantis was a secret research base and construction dock for the Enclave's space colonization program. High tech, well supplied, but not a permanent settlement.

-Was the Arc a destroyed spaceship?

It would be better to think of it as a damaged and incomplete prototype. The Arc was the proof-of-concept model for future colonization ships that were intended to be both space and sea capable in case the colonization planet didn't have good enough land. The Arc itself was not the colonization ship intended for space colonization, but it would have accompanied the colonization fleet of however many ships were complete. The Arc was nearly finished, but was damaged in the attack on Atlantis. Now it is effectively a fancy submarine.


Orleans Questions


-At what point in Napoleon's plan for future expansion does technology become a priority?

Never. Orleans is a low tech culture and society which believes that technology is a tool, not a goal. The Orleans culture views problems being solved by people, not technology, and so the priority of Orleans under Napoleon is always going to be to build a society of people, not a society for research and development. Technology isn't despised, but it isn't a priority, and making it into one would run into the fact that Orleans and the Bayou are pretty poor in high-technology resources.

-Does Napoleon have a plan for reducing addictions without people losing their patriotism to the state?

Not really. The growing drug problem in Orleans is in a cultural blindspot of sorts, a reflection of the Orleans expectation of short lifespans, meager standards of living, and a value of personal choice. Taking addictive chems is viewed as a choice, and not even a stigmatized one, so even if chem clubs and addicts aren't admired the choice to be a recreational chem user is viewed as a personal choice. Since everyone expects to die in their thirties or forties at best anyway, the fact that some people choose to get high and die isn't as controversial as it might be in a developed society. It won't be until chem addiction and desperation branches into crime and extreme harm to the society that it will be recognized as a major issue.

-Could you give Napoleon the Currency Crown for a Reputation bonus?

Yes, actually. As an analog to the quest to help Governor Hans find a running mate from the locals, there was a quest concept in that the Navigator would be tasked to find a royal crown befitting of Napoleon- multiple options existed, each with their own theme/significance and an epilogue slide about how the crown in question gave Napoleon a perspective on ruling. Various crowns included the originally commissioned crown that was lost in the initial Enclave invasion (associated with pride and reclamation), a costume-jewelry replica (associated with the importance of appearances over content), one of the FNV halo-circlets from the Big Empty (associated with benevolent technology), and some other options related to allies, military strength, and so on. The Currency Crown would have been an option tied to wealth and commerce- but it also would have meant permanently losing the associated stock plates.


Blue Waters Questions


-Can you start your own business as a member of the Blue Waters?

In a sense, the Navigator already is their own business (being, well, a Navigator). Backstory establishes that you've paid the Blue Water boating fees in the past, Captain Supermutant waives some mundane restrictions as part of his bid to get your help, and the player obviously does a lot of business in quests. As for formalizing your business and becoming a registered member? I hadn't planned it, but it could certainly be done. It could even be a way to get a personal property as a home base: your 'shop' is a more accessible version of the Lucky 7 suite, your non-employed companions could stay there, and you could even set up a store front in which a companion left behind could try to sell designated items over time. Say that any items you put in the 'sale' chest could be sold, with each in-game hour allowing 100 caps of items to be sold off and removed.

I didn't plan it, but it could work. Balance it with some sub-optimum exchange rates, so that it's better to sell things yourself, and you could expand it with expansions and modifications as appropriate.

-Would collecting all the Stocks in the game make the Navigator a Pirate Lord to the Blue Waters?

Not in-game, though it could be an Epilogue Slide. In game, about the only person who really cares about your number of stocks is Captain Supermutant, and possibly a few others elite Blue Waters. Most people only care about what you have done (or can do) for them.

-Can you bring Daniel Littlehorn to justice?

Yes, though not as finally as might be desired. Littlehorn and Associated and the Regulators have dueling philosophies, ethics, and quests, and a late Regulator quest would be to take Littlehorn out. Or you could just shoot him in the face, or tell him you're about to kill him before you do.

Thing is, Littlehorn ties into the pseudo-supernatural aspect of the Wasteland, and his imagery and symbolism is a not-so-subtle insinuation that he's a devil. If you talk to him about killing him before you do, he'd talk about how his good works at corrupting people is an ideal that can't be stopped with him. He'd make a claim that you could never really kill him, that shooting the man would just see the ideal pop up in another... and if you did kill him, the player would later get a letter from a courier from... the new owner of Littlehorn and Assoicate. Thanking the Courier for removing the 'old form' and allowing them to take over. Littlehorn and Associates is a 'growth industry', they vow, and your murder of Littlehorn will bring 'new blood' to 'revitilize' the mission. Signed... Danial Littlehorn. The same man? New man taking the old name? Unclear, and never addressed by anyone else in the setting.

Littlehorn is the idea of corruptive evil, and evil always finds a way.


Questions of the Author


-Have you (the writer) considered selling this idea to Bethesda?

No. Besides that I couldn't sell Bethesda their own property (ie, Fallout), it would be very rude and presumptuous. Ideas are cheap and easy. Everyone has ideas. Execution, actually making games, is hard work, and can't be done for everything. If I were a game maker and some stranger came up with what they thought was an awesome idea, I would fully expect to say 'fuck your ideas!', and I would expect the same from them. I wouldn't even be offended.

So I'll just leave this here, and if one day some Fallout employee leaves a review that they liked it... well, I'd be tickled. But they needn't even bother asking to take whatever elements of it they want.

-Can I (the reader) use this setting or format for a fanfic of my own?

Certainly. I'd appreciate if anyone using this as a fanfic base (or even a tabeltop RPG session) drops a review and lets me know how it turns out, but no one needs any other permission from me.

-Will you (the writer) ever make another concept like this?

Depends on what you mean 'like this.' Another Fallout project? Probably not. A Bethesda-style open world RPG setting? Yes- I actually have an entirely separate one half-made, but it's an entirely original concept and project so it would never be posted on FFN. That one is a bit more personal as well. World-building projects in general, though? I both enjoy and am better at scenario and world design than writing dialogue and characterization, so future projects will be more of this 'meta-heavy design narrative' style than actual stories and plots.

-What will be your (the writer's) next project?

Dunno- probably not anything for awhile. I'm busy with work and have other priorities for my free time, including just enjoying games I can play rather than writing about games I never will play.

Aside from finishing up and finalizing some old personal projects (which unfortunately are all original setting, and so wouldn't be on FFN), most of my ideas are related to Mass Effect. Crossovers, actually, including some more setting-building or game-design ones. There's 'Masshammer 4K,' the game that blends both so insidiously that it was deemed an Outrage in one setting and Heresy in the other. There's a long-standing idea for a Mass Effect - Civilization cross, a post-Destroy Civ scenario and mechanics that would make a cool mod of sorts. There's always the effort to finish Renegade Reinterpretations (or, rather, explain why it can't be finished in the same format as the rest). There's 'Mass-Com', a conceptual crossover of Mass Effect and the original X-COM games which puts the ME trilogy in the format of an X-COM series, starting with the Collector abductions of Earth from Mars and moving to a completely different version of the hunt for Saren and the Reaper War. Plus a bunch of other teaser crossovers- the Mass Effect setting is exceptionally ripe for crossovers. Of course, I could just re-write the backstory (again): a non-unified Humanity that ends up shaking galactic politics? Paragon Parables?

That's if some of the other ideas in my head don't jump onto paper, of course. There's the epic re-imagination of Fire Emblem: Awakening that I never could write, the character creation project for practice in making OCs, and so many other good anime and games out there...

Point is, who knows? I have lots of ideas, but they don't always work out well.


Author Notes:

And... that's it!

Thanks go to everyone who's helped this world-building exercise come to completion. The friends who helped me brainstorm, the patient listeners who let me reason it all out aloud, the people at google maps who made such a useful program to spend empty nights exploring Louisiana to find so many unique and fanciful locations, and of course all the developers of the Fallout series, especially Fallout: New Vegas. You all created a masterpiece and an inspiration, and I hope it is known that this imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.

While all the other chapters were already written before the first chapter was updated, I also want to thank everyone who reviewed and shared their thoughts. Things they liked, things they had reservations on, and everything else they gave a chance. This work may not be a perfect video game design, or a tabletop RPG design, but I hoped it would feel authentic to the series and thank everyone who said that it did.

Thanks to all, and with that a final secret!


Secret of the Bayou:

I have never been to New Orleans myself.

(I wonder what trope that would fall under if this work ever ends up on TVTropes. Renegade Reinterpretations did- and wasn't that a hoot to read for the first time?)