Fallout Assiniboia: Epilogue
And so Patrick Morrison returned home to Melita with his brother to start a new life. And the Auxiliary entered the annals of the Wasteland: the hero of Assiniboia, the man that fought raiders, deposed tyrants, destroyed gangs, found new friends, and stood up to the biggest threat that Assiniboia ever faced, and destroyed it. The image of the Auxiliary on top of his fearsome, wild sleipnir Demon was permanently seared on the collective consciousness of Assiniboia, a story shared with travelers, traders, young children, and anyone who cared to hear a daring tale of adventure. Soon it became hard to tell what was truth and what was myth. But that's how storytelling goes.
It wasn't the end of the Auxiliary's adventures. The long time he spent away from home had given him the itch to travel, to explore. And so he did. But that's a story for another day.
Brotherhood of Steel - The death of Elder Ezekiel and his second command General Abaddon at Bemidji crippled the Brotherhood. Within days, the morale of the troops that were fighting Assiniboia fractured, as ambitious leaders held in check by the tyranny and terror of Ezekiel sought to lay claim to the leadership of the Brotherhood, and they ignored the war Ezekiel started. But the splinter faction of the splinter faction itself began to fracture instead, and soon the Second Brotherhood-Assiniboian War ground to an end, while the Brotherhood Civil War took its place. It would be decades before the last of the splinter groups would be brought to heel, but even longer after that before it could pose a threat to Assiniboia, which had grown by leaps and bounds since. The Brotherhood wisely stayed out of the Assiniboian's way.
Assiniboia - The Week Long War, as it was also called, ended before it could really start. While Fargo had been nearly destroyed, the collapse of the Brotherhood ended the war as a great victory to Assiniboia. The Government of Prime Minister Hawkson would continue for another nine years, but during that time the demand for reforms, especially in the American districts and territories, and the harsh treatment of those areas, led to the fall of his government, and the election of a new Prime Minister that promised long overdue reforms in everything from government, economics and the military. By the middle of the twenty-third century, Assiniboia was strong, united, and free, and pushing once again in all directions, sending traders, settlers and peacekeeping forces to push the Wasteland back just a bit more.
Melita - With the collapse of the Brotherhood and the opening up of Minot Air Force base, trade in the southwestern corner of Assiniboia began to flourish again. While it had always been a small town since long before the War of 2077, by 2250, under the leadership of Mayor Zach Morrison, it was one of the largest and richest settlements in Western Assiniboia, rivaling Brandon, and stretching for miles into the surrounding prairie. Every year, Melita hosts Auxiliary Days, remembering the local hero that had saved many of the children from the town, and saved the nation of Assiniboia itself.
Waskada – Although the raiders were driven away from the town of Waskada, no attempts to resettle the town were made for years. Finally, in 2245, as Melita grew bigger and needed a bigger food source, Waskada was re-settled as a small farming town, this time with a full time RAMP detachment.
Metigoshe - The coal mining town finally did get its water chip, and pumped clean water once again. However, the coal began to run out in the 2230s, and soon the town, never a great place to live in the first place, eventually died, with Melita taking up its mantle as the capital of the district in 2232.
Turtle Town – The decision by Clarice Fairbank to not allow the peaceful tribals from the International Peace Garden to join their town was, at first, seen as a smart move to ensure the town's survival and, in some of the more extreme residents, 'purity.' However, in the Second Assiniboia-Brotherhood War, bandits sponsored by the Brotherhood of Steel finally managed to destroy the irrigation system and cut the train line around Turtle Town, cutting the town off for months on end. Drought, famine, isolation, and the lack of another resource for trade, sounded the death knell of Turtle Town, even after the rail line was fixed. Most of the residents went east or west, settling in Melita, Metigoshe or Mord-Wink, trying to find somewhere to survive. Clarice spent the rest of her days in her hotel and store with fewer and fewer customers, cursing herself and thinking of what could have been. She is still waiting for one man to come back, though to apologize or to kill him, no one knew. That man never showed up.
Mord-Wink - The revelation of cannibals not only hidden in their midst, but also that they ran the biggest hotel in town and fed the missing persons to their guests horrified and shocked Mord-Wink. The sensationalist trial resulted in Hanny and Don being given the death penalty, one of the first times in decades it had been given, and were executed at Stony Mountain Prison. The town would live with the shame of being a cannibalistic town for a generation afterward, but some in the town would embrace the designation (and the cash from the tourism of the "last cannibals of Assiniboia"), turning the old hotel into a haunted house that continues to scare and delight those brave enough to venture into its halls.
Vault H – With the Overseer deposed after the revelations of his illegal activity, there was a lack of leadership in Vault H for a long time, with Overseers being cycled through power as they were elevated, had their dirty pasts exposed, and forced to resign, before at last Doctor Gladys Johnson took over. Her unbound curiosity in robotics and computer science, aided by Brotherhood scribes and Enclave personal seeking amnesty and a new home, led to a renaissance of technology all over Assiniboia, achieving hi-tech advances that haven't been seen since the Great War. Although overly devoted to testing and what she called "science," which sometimes led to spectacular accidents that became infamous due to the media attention, perhaps the most famous result was "Gladys' Easy Cake Mix," which became a necessity for any party in Assiniboia for generations to come.
Atwood – When a tribal and minister presented themselves to the RAMP detachment in Morris, few knew that this was going to become the biggest scandal to rock the Royal Assiniboian Mounted Police. Julie Herrow's treason trial was a media sensation, at first with the stories of a Christian minister seeking to make Atwood leave the nation and threaten Assiniboian holdings to the south, but as the sordid details of Sergeant Kirk Black's dealings in Atwood and area were revealed (including a star witness for the defense from the Auxiliary), the case against Julie Herrow was thrown out. Sergeant Black was dishonorably discharged and tried, and sentenced to life in prison, where he continues to rot today. Many other RAMP officers would be accused of corruption as well in the months to come, becoming a huge crisis in confidence in the police that was supposed to protect Assiniboia. It also lead to the RAMP Reform Act of 2223 and a more strict and demanding moral code for those that would don the Red Serge. Atwood is still a small town, serving as a way point for trains, boats and caravans, but the RAMP ensure that only the best are assigned there due to previous history
Derek - The tribal who was exiled soon found himself wandering across Assiniboia: doing jobs here and there, helping those that needed it. It was years later, when he was in Melita, that he found out the the Auxiliary person people talked about was PatrickMorrison. He eventually found his old friend, and they went traveling again, exploring as far south as Chicago. However, it was there that Derek's life ended, when a super mutant fired a missile that exploded next to him. PatrickMorrison could only hope that Derek would be forgiven for what he had done in this life when the tribal finally met the Great One face to face.
Great American Caravan Company – Soon after Patrick's arrival with at the GACC, the company completely folded when it's owner Kevin Verman and his robots seemingly disappeared, running from the real or imagined Fist of Steel retaliation. The RAMP was furious that the man who may have been responsible for smuggling so much illegal contraband could get away and not face justice, but in the end the matter would fade from view as more pressing concerns rose up. Five years later, a new caravan company operating in old Montana and Saskatchewan, called the Western Association of Caravaners would rise up, and soon monopolize the region, eventually moving to the north and west. But the company would never try to reach Assiniboia, which left some traders wondering. But it's owner, Klein Vandendorpe, would forbid his traders from going Assiniboia, for reasons no one would ever know.
Camp Shilo – The massive fallout shelter that had been forgotten about for years before being rediscovered by the Auxiliary led to an expedition by the Assiniboian Museum of Man and Nature in 2223 to explore and excavate any technology at the base. While much had been destroyed or fell apart due to age, many pre-War of 2077 artifacts had been uncovered, including many documents and files on the last years of Canada before and after the US Annexation. Most of the giant radgophers that had grown up in the base due to the broken Auto Food Processor died within a few weeks after the machine was shut off. The survivors, which only did mostly due to cannibalism, were easily hunted down by local farmers and an RAMP team, leaving the base free of pests. The Assiniboian military would make use of part of the base to secure their hold on Brandon in the future, and another section would be used as a new, safe home away from Winnipeg, while a memorial to the forgotten Canadian resistance fighters that lived and died in the shelter was erected near the entrance that Patrick found.
Brandon - The death of The Boss at the hands of the Auxiliary lead to The Syndicate quickly falling apart and turning on each other. Only the influence of Deer Wing and the arrival of a "Peacekeeping" force of the Assiniboian Army and RAMP prevented the downtrodden citizens of The Rez from engaging in a huge orgy of destruction and violence. As per the deal that the Auxiliary proposed, a referendum is held in 2221, and the vote is 52% in favor of joining Assiniboia. Deer Wing would represent Brandon for the next fifty-nine years in Winnipeg until she passed away from cancer. While the memories of The Syndicate tarnished the city and its inhabitants for years, eventually Brandon became a major transportation and economic center to the western part of Assiniboia after the UAR was allowed to rebuild and replace much of the track they were unable to use for years, and a base for further Assiniboian expansion into Saskatchewan. Within 25 years of the Auxiliary's actions, Brandon is a rich, prosperous city, with a productive and freedom loving populace.
The Syndicate - Many of the men and women affiliated with The Syndicate fled the destruction of their center of power. Some sought to assimilate into Assiniboia, other's trekked south or west to find new places to control, and more went to Winnipeg. But it wouldn't save them from revenge. A life long campaign by Running Eagle to hunt down, find and bring to justice the remnants of The Syndicate that remained in Assiniboia or within reach of the Dominion was a captivating, emotional and closely followed popular sensation. As news of the work the vigilante was accomplishing reached the people, he would eventually write a book entitled Ensuring Freedom, though his methods of dealing with the Syndicate, often extrajudicial and violent, would raise questions for years to come. One Syndicate member did manage to escape Running Eagle for years, leading to a long, and increasingly desperate hunt all across North America, before it was finally settled near the city of Shady Sands in the New California Republic in 2260, a year before The Chosen One arrives at the capital of the NCR. In a scene out of an old Western holotape, Running Eagle shot the last known member of the Syndicate in a duel outside the city walls at noon. He then holstered his gun, and began the long trek back to Assiniboia, where history then lost track of him.
Minot Air Force Base - After 140 years of isolation, Minot AFB eventually decided to try the whole "work with other people" thing. The engineers and pilots of Minot eventually agreed to work with Assiniboia and the Enclave, and they worked on building Project Pegasus. While the aircraft was successful, it was too expensive to run, and eventually it was scrapped. Instead, Minot became a hub for the development of new airships, ones that, hopefully, could avoid the fate of the more destructible Brotherhood versions. It remains to be seen if the new "Minotships" will be successful or not, as the first trial version exploded near Radiation Alley, and it was impossible to get all the pieces. But research and development continues to this day.
Hardingville - The closed minded and prejudiced people of Hardingville greeted the news of the sudden disappearance of the super mutants from New California with relief, glad that the ugly monsters to the east were gone for good. But almost as soon as the super mutants left to go south, karma seemed to rear its head and strike back at the survivors of Vault 53. Overseer Kildaer, the strong hand that lead the town for years, passed away in her sleep just a few months after Patrick showed up. But she had not named a successor, throwing the town into chaos. Crops then began to fail as animal and raider attacks on the irrigation systems destroyed them, leading to starvation when rations were cut. When desperate expeditions went out to try to trade or ask for help from their only friends in the Brotherhood of Steel, they were shocked to find the Brotherhood was defeated by Assiniboia, and was now fighting itself, and could spare no assistance. The hatred against Assiniboia was so great that even the thought of asking for help was considered treasonous. As if that wasn't enough, the deathclaws and other monsters that the super mutants had kept away from Hardingville soon found the weak, ill equipped humans were easy prey, and descended on the town. By 2229, the last few survivors, about 40 or 50 men, women and children, finally had enough, and fled north. The caravan was caught in a radiation storm blown in from Radiation Alley. While most died, 18 were turned into Ghouls, and had to seek refuge with Minot AFB, a place that just a few years earlier they would rather have erased from the face of the earth. The irony was not lost on anyone.
New California - The super mutants in New California, lead by Samuel, finally gave up on the town built near the crater that was Bismarck. Despite the super mutant's success at growing crops and raising and training sleipnirs, the hostility of the Brotherhood of Steel and Hardingville meant that, despite the best hopes, the super mutants would never find peace. But while many of the mutants wanted to destroy all humanity for the pain and suffering and isolation (and the legacy of the Unity and the Master were still strong), the memories of Patrick and his efforts to bring peace always provided a bright hope spot. While some stories would come to Assiniboia over the years, eventually they were lost to history. Patrick always had an inkling to travel south to find the new town of super mutants, but despite years of asking and searching, he never did find out what happened to them.
Bomber City - Lieutenant-Colonel Rochford was, as predicted, made a hero to Assiniboians for being killed by a the Dakotan Resistance Movement. While the murderer was never caught, the "survivors" of the ambush, which included Patrick, were instrumental in trying to convince the army and the government to be more lenient to the American territories, slowly ending the long standing feud between former Canadians and Americans, and eventually lifting Martial Law in the American districts and territories.
What truly happened that night in Bomber City was only uncovered 25 years after the events. The work by a freelance reporter for the Winnipeg News Network which involved interviews with the men of Rochford's battalion, while doing research on the Rochford's, a member of whom had just been elected Prime Minister. However, the Assiniboian Army, by order of General Carlson, suppressed the report, classifying the document until 2263, long after Carlson and the majority of the men involved that night would be dead. But the efforts of General Carlson had been instrumental in getting reforms passed that took promotion for all but the very highest ranks out of the hand of politicians when the failings of the army in the Second Brotherhood-Assiniboian War were documented. Carlson died in 2254 satisfied that someone like Rochford would never lead a battalion again.
Kildonan - With Assiniboia no longer having to worry about the Brotherhood, soon moves and plans were made to deal with the gangs in Kildonan. However, even as those plans were made, the fighting between the Five Gangs reached a bloody, brutal crescendo. In the end, the Mallers, with their close ties to Assiniboia, would eventually come out on top. After the brutal fighting in the days before the Second Brotherhood-Assiniboian War, the other gangs were in no position to resist. While Kildonan is still under the control of gangsters, at least they were Assiniboian allied gangsters.
The Enclave - The remnants of the Enclave eventually found their way to Assiniboia, with a good chunk deciding to stay in Brahmin Crossing and the rest going to the old Airport in Winnipeg. While Assiniboia was suspicious, even hostile for years thanks to the aftermath of the coup, eventually peace was made with all involved. The Enclave Army, with their power armor and vertibirds, eventually became a major part of the Assiniboian Army, serving as shock troopers as the nation expanded. Under Acting President Elizabeth Morgan, the small number of Enclave Americans began to blend in with Assiniboia: marrying locals, investing in business, entering high society, engaging in politics, and re-releasing technologies long thought lost or impossible. By the time of the 200th anniversary of the War of 2077, the Enclave was little more than a social club of the descendants of those that came from the still heavily irradiated Vault.
Brahmin Crossing - With the influx of Enclave refugees, and the end of the long standing fight between the Brotherhood and Assiniboia Brahmin crossing began to flourish. While it had been a hotbed of discontent for years, the reforms made by Assiniboia soon made those that lived in Assiniboian America, if not happy, then at least more content with their lot in life. Bill Kovak died in 2249, a rich and successful businessman, well respected by Assiniboian and American alike.
Colonel Granger - After everything that Granger did for the Enclave, him turning into a ghoul in the Battle of Vault E ended his career with them. The Enclave just couldn't accept a 'mutant' leading the army, and so Granger was not only stripped of his rank, but eventually discharged, which, truth be told, was better than anything he could have expected. However, he still held his head high, knowing that he had done the right thing. He became a well known public speaker and personality on DBS, speaking on defense issues and American rights, and would later write an autobiography, My Time With the Auxiliary, which became a bestseller in Assiniboia. Granger would eventually be reinstated into the Enclave and given his old rank back, but only in 2290, long after anyone could really remember why he had been kicked out.
Vince - Vince, after a lifetime roaming the Wasteland and collecting stories and fighting at the side of the Auxiliary, finally made his way north to look for the fabled NorthTec research lab, never to be heard from again. The Auxiliary, for five years, tried to find him, searching far to the north, right up to the edge of the glacier. Then, in 2223, he returned home, and never spoke of Vince again. While everyone was puzzled, no one dared to ask what happened, as the Auxiliary would refuse to talk about it, once beating up someone that persisted in the questioning. So the story may never be told.
Patrick - As for Patrick Morrison, the man named the Auxiliary by friend and foe alike, he stepped into the history books of Assiniboia and the Wasteland: the man that went out to find his brother, and saved a nation from tyranny and oppression. While Patrick may have wanted to go back to farm like his ancestors before him, the memories of the destruction of the family home was too much.
So he went off to explore the wastes, and to help the people of the Wasteland where he could, and prevent another terrible conflict like which engulfed Assiniboia and the Brotherhood of Steel from starting again.
For while the actions of one man can change history for the better, there is still violence and suffering in the Wasteland and those that want to dominate it, in both old America and Canada. For every good man wanting to do the right thing, there are many more only out for themselves.
For as long as hatred and the desire for one person to control another exists, there will be war. And as we all know:
War. War never changes.
WRITER'S NOTE:
Thank you everyone that has read this story, and will continue to do so long after I finish typing this. It's been a long journey for me, with several false starts, a major rewrite, university and life getting in the way, and months where nothing was added, culminating in a frenzied two week flood of chapters and this epilogue. I started writing this story in 2013 while I was still attending university, a year or so after I was introduced into the Fallout game series to begin with. I had the rough draft done by the end of 2016, and now, in the middle of 2018, it's finally edited, finished and posted.
That all said, this story has had a lot of changes since I started it, and a few things may have slipped through. Originally the Dominion Broadcasting System (DBS) was called the Assiniboian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC), but that felt too close to the real world. Same with calling the railroad system the Canadian Pacific Railway instead of the Unified Assiniboian Railway. And toward the end may have felt incredibly rushed: part of it was on purpose, of having on crisis compound another and Patrick just being swept along with it, part of it was me reaching a point where I had to end the story so I could move on to working on new projects. As anyone knows, spending five years on one story, on and off, always thinking about it and how it could have been changed or edited or made better is a lot of pressure. Was there more I could added? More I could have clarified? Of course. The final meeting with Elder Ezekiel and the Brotherhood could have drawn out, made longer, became a uber-mecha battle royale fight or with Samurai swords or a rock-paper-scissors battle. I could have had Patrick rescue his brother, then immediately set out on another world changing mission to fill out another 38 chapters. I could have padded the story out, add Agatha Christie mysteries or Lovecraftian horrors or a totally random Monty Python-esque sketch involving the Doctor and Tom Clancy on a trip to the moon. But that would have derailed the story I was telling, and there is nothing worse than screwing the plot of a story just for a "funny bit" that serves no purpose in the long run. It would have been a great addition to a game, but I wasn't working on writing a fully drawn out video game. I wanted to tell the story of a young man in the post-apocalypse who has moved heaven and earth to find his brother, all while exploring a region that rarely, if ever, is touched upon by media in general, much less the Fallout franchise. So, you can take the ending of the story more like a run of a Fallout game that focused mostly on the main quest with minor side quests, hence why you don't see much of the upper leadership of the Brotherhood of Steel until the end, because, if you weren't allying with them, you wouldn't have any reason to meet them before then. And if you think that seems silly, well, you are only required meet Caesar once in Fallout: New Vegas if you are playing for a Mr. House or Independent run, and if you're playing for the NCR, you wouldn't even meet Legate Lanius until the final battle, and you don't have to see Caesar at all. So, there is my cop-out excuse why the story ended so suddenly: New Vegas did it, so why can't I?
That said, I was creating and writing this story with the idea that this would be the basis for creating my own Fallout game, if I had the ability, the rights, the money, and the talented team at Bethesda or Oblivion Studios to actually do it. The problem is that creating a "Bible" for a game is a lot different from telling a story in that world. In video games, Bethesda RPG's especially, you can get the main quest and either follow it right through to the end, or walk to the other side of the map and kill a bunch of raiders, pickpocketing everyone along the way. That wouldn't have made a very interesting story, so there are plenty of "side quests" that came to mind, and settlements I created on my Google Map for Fallout: Assiniboia that I never even had Patrick set foot in, groups he never met, and scenarios that only played out in my head of what I could put him through.
So, I'm currently working on doing just that: writing what I'm calling the "Encyclopedia Assiniboia" that will detail every town, settlement, main or secondary character, main or side quest, companions, factions, groups and creature that the player of such a game could experience. It would basically be reading the Fallout Wiki of a game, on the different ways to complete a quest or characters you can meet. While I've always had the idea of making such a thing, I was particularly inspired by the Fallout: Orleans Bible posted here on , which can be used just for the joy of reading, or as the basis for a tabletop role playing game, an idea that some friends of mine have expressed interest in. I can't promise when it will be done, or how large or thorough it will be, but I will be doing my best to writing it all out, and posting it when it's done.
I also had ideas for what I called the "DLC Stories," stories that fit in with the Fallout: Assiniboia universe, but just not in the story I was telling. I had made a couple of those already: "Fallout Assiniboia: First Year" and "Fallout Assiniboia: Know Your Enemy". I had plans for a few more, but they were shunted to the side mostly because I just didn't have time to write them, along with all the other things I was working on. So if there is some interest in them, I will gladly take a crack at writing a few more of those, and, quite possibly, a "Fallout Assiniboia 2", should the interest be there and I'm not busy with other stuff.
So there we have it. I would like to thank my friends and family for putting up with me as I gushed about this really big writing project that wouldn't make me a single cent because it's based off a video game, and therefore I would get my pants sued off by Bethesda if I did try to publish it. Thank you to Interplay, Bethesda and Oblivion for making these games: I took inspiration from all of them, even if I did focus more on New Vegas. And thank you to everyone that has read the story, left a comment or faved it, hoping for more. That, more than anything, made the work of writing a massive story, nearly a quarter of a million words long in 38 chapters totally worth it.
If you liked my writing, and want to see more, check out tbguy1992 on Twitter for updates on my story projects, or Google me for my blog and Alternate History Wiki page. My biggest dream in life is to be a professional author, and I'm sure Fallout: Assiniboia has gone a long, long way to making those dreams true.
Thank you.