Desperate Times - Essay Example

Your first and here The of the here The of the here 17 October, 2008 Fallout and 2 Desperate times calls for desperate measures. And sometimes these desperate measures, these sacrifices fall on the shoulders of an extraordinary individual, a hero, reaching for the impossible for the well-being of the many. You are that hero, and you bear the honor, and the curse, of being the savior of your people, and the one that has to pay the price of salvation. Earth was not always the scorched wasteland that you see, devoured by humanity's anger and desire for power. It was once a thriving land filled with the day-to-day workings of human activity, amongst the steel towers and concrete blocks of civilization. Humanity's lust for ultimate power and his lack of empathy for his fellow man, however, threatened to destroy the lush blue world and the thriving human civilization. It all started in 2052, when the Resource Wars erupted. The ravages of war, spawned by the famines in Africa and India, pollution in Asia, the rise of extremism in the Middle East, and the unquenching thirst for oil threatened to annihilate the world forever. No one knows whether China declared war on America, or vice versa, but the oil-hungry Chinese attack of 2066 on Alaska was the point of no return, when the genesis of a new terrifying, Great war, was on the horizon. Weeks turned into moths and moths turned into years, as the Alaskan trench warfare yielded nothing but blood and an unusable wasteland. America eventually won the war, but the plains of Alaska were never the same. A smoking ruin was all that was left of the Alaskan frontier. What was to follow was something far more horrific than anything man has faced before. The nuclear armageddon began in the morning on October 23 2077, resulting in the destruction of all major cities, polluting the oceans and creating changes that even dr. Moreau wouldn't imagine. Some scientists and artisans, soldiers and men of wealth managed to survive the holocaust by taking refuge in the massive shelters called Vaults, built before the war by a company called Vault-tec. These three-stories underground structures built deep inside the mountains shielded the survivors from the effects of radiation, disease, and other catastrophes. Equipped with G.E.C.K.'s, or the Garden of Eden Creation Kit, devices capable of creating a new life for the inhabitants of the Vault's after they returned to the surface, some of the Vaults managed to survive the earthquakes, attacks by the Raiders, and other disasters. People living in the Vaults survived the immediate destruction, but their descendants would face far greater challenges in a changed and desolate world. In Fallout 1, the events occur some 80 years later, in the year 2161. One of the shelters called Vault 13, located in Southern California, faces a serious difficulty- the Water Chip, a computer chip responsible for the water recycling and pumping machinery has stopped working. The Vault Overseer of Vault 13 has no choice but to assign the protagonist, an inhabitant of Vault 13, to the task of finding a new Water chip, therefore sending our hero into the harsh outside wasteland, armed with nothing but the PIPboy 2000 as a bookkeeping apparatus and bottle caps as currency. Our hero enters into a new world, fractured more by the various organizations and beliefs, than the unspeakable number on nuclear weapons that have scorched Earth's surface. One prominent organization is the Brotherhood of Steel, a quasi-political and religious group, which is strongly dedicated to the preservation of technology. Although the 3 classes within the organization are knights, paladins and scribes, the members are not adhering to the rules of chivalry at all, since they are not concerned with the ones less fortunate than them. The New California Republic is also an important group in the new desolate world. Located in South California with its capital Shady Sands, it is probably the closest thing to states that existed before the war. It has a president elected from the representatives from all the cities within the Republic, and there is strict law code not permitting gambling, prostitution and carrying weapons within the cities within the Republic. With its military and specifically, its Rangers, which sometimes exercise enormous liberty, the Republic is not a power to be trifled with. Slavery is also widespread and a lucrative business in the wastelands. Two such organizations are the Slave Guild and the Caesar's Legion. The Slave Guild controls most of the slave trade in South California, and anyone selling slaves without the permission of the Guild is executed. The distinctive tattoo covering the face makes the easily identifiable for anyone traveling through the wastelands. Caesar's Legion, on the other hand, operates east from the Grand Canyon. Led by the former Follower of the Apocalypse called Caesar, the member called legionaries can be easily identified by the decorated football armor. The organization that spawned the brilliant leader, the Followers of the Apocalypse, however, are oriented towards learning, insuring that humanity does not repeat the mistakes of the past that led to the Great War. Located initially in the main branch of the Los Angeles Public Library, the destruction of their Cathedral forced them to seek their fortunes else ware, becoming a major influential organization in the New California Republic. Dealing with such an array of organizations is hard enough, let alone completing the mission itself. However, retrieving a new Water chip is no challenge for the Vault Dweller compared to the task of defeating the mutant army of the Master. His plans to release a Forced Evolutionary Virus, turning everyone into mutants and thus bringing humanity in the Unity, however, are eventually thwarted by our protagonist. But our hero, to after these incredible feats of heroism and courage, can only look forward to an exile at the end of Fallout 1. The story is continued from Fallout 1, as the Vault Dweller and few faithful companions for a village called Arroyo in Northern California. 80 years later, drought has stricken the small town, and the village elders ask the direct descendant of the protagonist from Fallout 1, to retrieve a GECK. Out protagonist of Fallout 2, referred to as the Chosen One, receives nothing more than what his grandfather received when he began his quest 80 years ago. Reaching the former home of this frandfather, Vault 13, he finds that it is abandoned. Little did he know that the people in Vault 13 were captured by a shadowy organization called the Enclave and its leader, the US president Richardson, who use the people of Vault 13 and the village of Arroyo to test a new form of the Forced Evolutionary Virus- a form that would kill any human that has a mutant DNA, making the world clean. The Enclave was originally the shadow government of the US, which believed that most people would not survive a nuclear war and in order for the human race to progress, certain people should be saved. Located at an oil rig off the coast of California, this organization was behind the salvation of the US government and corporations after the war of 2077. Technologically more advanced by the Brotherhood of Steel or any other group, this organization is the new power that carved up the mainland. Despite their power, however, the Chosen one saves the inhabitants from Vault 13, and together, with its GECK and the people of Arroyo create a new and prosperous future. The places visited by our heroes, both the Vault Dweller and his grandson, are diverse as the many organizations that exist in the desolate land. Boneyard is, in essence, the remains of Los Angeles. The headquarters of Vault-Tec were located in the area and the people that hid in the demonstration Vault emerged in 2092, founding the city. Boneyard is a part of the New California Republic, but it is considered a black sheep amongst the many cities of the Republic because of its lack of law enforcement. Another important member of the New California Republic is the Hub, which represents a trading post and a resting point for caravans traversing between Boneyard and the capital, Shady Sands. This capital of the New California Republic, is everything opposite from the scorched wasteland. Built by Tandi, the first New California Republic president, it has a population of 40 000 and has running water and electricity. Walled and with a police force protecting the populous, suspicious of every traveler that is not a citizen of the NCR, Shady Sands is the most attractive place to reside on the surface of the Earth. It is within such places and such a world that our heroes must find their way in order to assure the good of the many. A shatter world, yet still struggling to survive despite the hardships of life, is what our heroes must face, proving to us that despite the biggest disasters, there can never be a fallout of the human spirit, always yearning to survive, and in some special cases, to pay the price for the safety and good of the many. References: 1. The Fallout Universe Part One: Organizations. WikiaGaming, the Vault. 15 October, 2008, http://pnp.fallout.wikia.com/wiki/The_Fallout_Universe_Part_One:_Organizations 2. Fallout (video game). 5 October 2008. Wikipedia. 15 October, 2008 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fallout_1 3. Fallout 2. 12 October 2008. Wikipedia. 15 October, 2008 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fallout_2 Read More