Human: Vault Dweller
When the bombs were falling, you or your predecessors were lucky enough to be safely secured in
one of the one hundred and twenty-two Vault-Tec
facilities, deep underground protected by thick blast
doors and layers of rock and concrete. Your family
either had enough money to buy their space or were
randomly selected to enter the vault to be saved from
the nuclear devastation above—perhaps only to be
condemned to immoral experiments run by Vault-Tec
on unwitting participants.
You are free from mutation and disease. The VaultTec program has afforded you a safe home for some
time, but not without some cost. The vault you came
from used you as a human test subject, manipulating
your understanding of the world and your behavior
in order to study you. That’s left you with a profound
psychological change, compared to the survivors on
the surface you now know, and affects how you make
your way through the wasteland.
Whether through design or poor planning, many of
the vaults were not well stocked or prepared for the
long wait until nuclear fallout had reached safe
levels outside, and many fell into disrepair or out
of supplies. Due to these shortcomings, many
vault dwellers sought help from the surface, and
many vaults opened in order to allow supplies
to reach them. By opening their vault doors,
the isolated societies inside opened themselves up to mixing with the survivors above,
and established a permanent connection with
the surface—the most notable example being
the residents of Vault 15, who split up and went on
to establish the settlement Shady Sands, as well as the
raiding gangs of the Jackals, Vipers, and Khans when
their vault opened.
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