Chapter 1: An Epilogue to begin the Prologue
Author's Note
Hello dear readers, this is a summary of the endings chosen by my Courier (the courier of this story) and will be giving the setting this story will take place. These choices will impact how the story will go on and how events will unfold. Not necessarily needed to read, but recommended to understand the particular setting. Enjoy.
Chapter 1: An Epilogue to begin the Prologue
Author's Note:
Hello dear readers, this is a summary of the endings chosen by my Courier (the courier of this story) and will be giving the setting this story will take place. These choices will impact how the story will go on and how events will unfold. Not necessarily needed to read, but recommended to understand the particular setting. Enjoy.
Zion
And so it was that the conflict between the New Canaanites and the White Legs was finally resolved. The Courier's involvement had tipped the scale, shifting the fragile balance of power.
Despite their defeat at Three Marys, and the death of their war chief, the White Legs were determined to pursue the other New Canaanites. But when they finally tracked down their prey in Colorado, they discovered the tables had been turned. The White Legs who survived the New Canaanites' ambushes were hunted down by Dead Horses before they could reach the safety of the Great Salt Lake. When word of the White Legs' diminished numbers reached the 80s tribe, war was declared, and by year's end, the White Legs had been wiped out.
The Sorrows fought beside Joshua Graham and the Dead Horses, eradicating the threat the White Legs posed to Zion. When the Courier and Joshua Graham felled Salt-Upon-Wounds, their victory was celebrated with a great feast. The Sorrows' transformation from a peaceful, timid tribe into a proud and warlike people broke Daniel's heart. He tried to take solace in the knowledge that they would remain in Zion, but it was a small comfort. The Sorrows' innocence was lost.
The defeat of the White Legs in Zion marked a turning point in the fortunes of the Happy Trails Caravan Company. Every two months, the caravan met with the New Canaanites in Zion Valley to trade. Happy Trails soon returned to prosperity. The vigilance of the Sorrows and Dead Horses in defending southwestern Utah, initially startling to Happy Trails caravans, soon proved a blessing. The tribes united against the 80s, driving them back from Highway 50, and thus opening yet another trading route for Happy Trails caravans.
Follows-Chalk took the Courier's words to heart and decided that he would behold the sights and sounds of distant lands with his own eyes and ears. After returning to Dead Horse Point, he quarreled with his family and other tribe members about his ambitions. One morning, they awoke to discover that Follows-Chalk had set off alone, westward, into the wilderness. He was never seen again.
Waking Cloud was distraught when she learned of her husband's death, but took comfort from her tribe, and the compassion of the New Canaanites. She forgave Daniel for having concealed her husband's fate from her, and learned to accept his fate. When her grief faded, she took a husband from the Dead Horse tribe. At her bidding, he stayed close to home.
Though the Courier had stopped Joshua Graham from executing Salt-Upon-Wounds, the war chief still fell in battle. The White Legs defeated at Three Marys, Joshua led the Sorrows and Dead Horses in tending to their comrades and burning the corpses of their foes. He continued to advocate militant opposition to the enemies of New Canaan and showed little quarter to those he fought. And yet he was changed. He no longer revealed in the brutality and cruelty for which he had been known in his former life. His inner demons, if not extinguished, were at the least... appeased.
For years after the defeat of the White Legs, Daniel did his best to minister to the Sorrows' spiritual needs. Try as he might, he could not hold back the tribe's increasing militancy and reverence of Joshua Graham. Demoralized, he returned to his family at Dead Horse Point. His failures haunted him for the rest of his days.
And with that, the Courier walked out of the history of the tribes of Zion and back to the gathering storm of the Mojave Wasteland.
The Sierra Madre
The survivors of the Sierra Madre thought about gathering at the Fountain and waiting for the Courier. In the end, the collars' silence made them uneasy, and the fear of turning on each other made them hesitate, and leave the goodbyes - unspoken. The radio message at the fountain was enough for them, and there was no need to add another farewell on top of all they had suffered.
Dog forgot himself, as did the voice that raged within him. After their passing, a new voice spoke within the mutant's shell. It was difficult for the voice to remember the two it once was... there was the beast, Dog consumed by hunger... ...and the other in reverse... the one consumed by control. Both were driven by need for the other. The Courier brought them together, somehow, joined the two into one. All that happened at the Sierra Madre, was a faint memory of the new personality... like a flickering light in the clouds of the mind. The new voice did not think of the Courier again until the battle at the Divide reached his ears. The battle between the two couriers, beneath the torn skies and the Old World flag... each bearing a message for the other. And the mutant prayed the Courier that had saved him... had been saved in return.
Dean Domino, entertainer, singer... thief... had his last show on the Sierra Madre stage. The heist he spent over two hundred years planning fell apart, just as the first, by underestimating his partner's strength. Not long after the Courier left the Villa, the lights in the theater shut off, one by one. Only Dean's Hologram remained on stage, singing silently to an empty room. Still... as consumed as he had been with its riches and ruin, the Sierra Madre had held him captive long ago.
Christine, her mission complete, found a new purpose as the Sierra Madre's warden. She watched over it silently - by choice. Over time, the ghost people came to see her as one of the Holograms. They would watch, silently, as she walked among them. At times, Christine thought of the Courier, who had kept Elijah's hand from her throat. The Courier reminded her of the other courier she had met in the Big Empty, and wondered if the two had found each other at last. She did not think of them again until she heard the legends of the Divide. The Divide, where the two messengers, the two couriers, fought beneath an ancient flag, at the edge of the world.
The Big Empty
As it had been in the years before the Great War, Big MT... the Big Empty... became home to one of the brightest minds of the 23rd century. The Courier watched over the Big Empty for years to come, caring for it, and keeping its discoveries safe until they were needed to help others. Which had always been Big MT's purpose. Past the laboratories and Science, it had always been intended as a place to build the future of all mankind.
The Sink Central Intelligence Unit was impressed by the amount of exploration the Courier had undertaken. Facilities believed lost, destroyed, or ones that had simply gotten up and walked to new locations had been re-discovered by its intrepid new master. Internally, the artificial personality debated as to whether it preferred the old management to the new... and concluded that the Courier's thorough approach to research and investigation was admirable and worthy of its respect.
Dr. Mobius continued his research undisturbed in the Forbidden Zone. As much as he had attempted to create better scorpions, he tried the same with humanity, with considerably less success. These failures didn't bother him too much. Once the rush of Mentats wore off, he forgot he had failed in any event. After all, the bright young mind who had come to visit him in the Forbidden Zone had already exceeded his expectations.
The Sink atop the Dome bustled with the voices of a small town, constantly chirping, arguing, and snarling at each other. Still, this all happened productively in the interests of its new owner. The Sink Central Intelligence Unit discovered, despite its inversion code, it was comforted by the sense of community the other personalities gave it.
The Biological Research Station, obsessed with seeding everything in sight, requested a transfer to the X-22 Botanical Garden... so that it might, in its own words, "sensually fertilize the garden's sic contours." The Garden sent back a polite refusal, saying it had prior commitments with a Vault it had helped infect before the war.
The Book Chute continued to devour all seditious materials until it nearly choked on a paper clip. It adamantly maintained it was a Chinese paper clip, and the whole thing had been an elaborately orchestrated assassination attempt. Whatever the reason, it slowed down for a while, carefully appraising each document and clipboard that came to it.
The light switches continued to bicker and flicker.This persisted until the day someone dropped a flashlight in the Sink, and the two of them united in their hatred of the "showboat." One of them eventually transferred to the Lightwave Dynamics Plant - and began a long, unrequited affair with one of the holograms.
Once it learned of the Innovative Toxins Plant, however, it gained a new purpose. It sought to develop anti-toxins to flush into its drains and counteract the poisons bleeding into the soil.
The Toaster continued its psychotic spree, reducing all appliances in range to scrap electronics and spare parts. After one of its more psychotic episodes, however, the other Sink personalities decided enough was enough, and dumped the Toaster in a bathtub. Sparking and hissing, the Toaster swore its enemies would rue the day when they had bread - and no way to toast it.
Muggy did his best to collect coffee cups, although in his quest, he accidentally trapped himself in Higgs Village. It might have been the end for poor Muggy. Except... he found it peaceful there, tidying up the kitchens of the Think Tank Professors back when they had been flesh and bone. Well, except for Dr. O, who was an asshole for having created Muggy in the first place. Muggy left O's house deliberately dirty, punishing the dishes and cups that lived there in blind revenge for serving Dr. O.
Blind Diode Jefferson, with sounds the Courier brought him, created a symphonic counter-frequency that saved Big MT from sonic invasion in 2910. If you didn't hear about it - good. It was rumored by the other personalities that he had a brief fling with the light switches. Although he forgot their names once too often and was soon left in the dark as punishment.
Auto-Doc, always gentle and methodical, kept sewing up the Courier in all the right places when the skin split open from repeated wear and tear. The Auto-Doc was just glad to have purpose again. It heard it's simpler brothers and sisters who got shipped to the Sierra Madre were bored out of their skulls in that toxic, dead city. In time, the Auto-Doc found a way to deactivate the Y-17 Trauma Harnesses, releasing the corpses they had held prisoner for almost 200 years.
As the Courier ran through the X-8 facility multiple times, the computers analyzed the test subject's movements. Rather than performing a superficial observation, they realized the subject barely knew what Communism was - or even what a high school was. This confused them for a time, until the facility finally realized that its research had... succeeded. So it let its cyberdogs out into the wastes to help protect small communities from physical aggression rather than communist propaganda.
The infiltration program in X-13 felt spent, having repeatedly upgraded the Stealth Suit until it could upgrade it no more. It felt warm, fulfilled, and a bit sluggish. It realized not long after, the Stealth Suit had left it without so much as a note on the nightstand. So the infiltration program sent out robobrains into the wastes looking for its wayward technology. It eventually found REPCONN HQ, and set up a new research center, testing and murdering Fiends who kept breaking into the facility.
There, she ran across Rex, who had been following the Courier, just as she had. They barked for a while, and realized they had a lot in common. The two of them constructed a litter of cyber pups, a small army of Boston terriers that gnawed and devoured anything in their path.
The Courier, organs intact, continued onwards, a little less heavy of step, but with all the organs in the right places. As they should be. After all, brains can develop a life of their own when left to their own thoughts, and the Courier's brain was more clever than most.
Dr. Klein and the Think Tank remained alive, unaware of the world outside. They looped through their daily routine, none the wiser about the world beyond... although perhaps "wiser" was the wrong word. The world outside belonged to the Courier, and if anyone would shape it... well, the Courier had already called dibs.
There is an expression in the Wasteland: "Old World Blues." It refers to those so obsessed with the past they can't see the present, much less the future, for what it is. They stare into the what-was, eyes like pilot lights, guttering and spent, as the realities of their world continue on around them. Science is a long, steady progression into the future. What may seem a sudden event often isn't felt for years, even centuries, to come.
In the times following the Second Battle of Hoover Dam, however, Old World Blues took on a new meaning. Where once it was viewed as a form of sadness, nostalgia, it became an expression describing the potential for the future. It can be easy to see Science as evil, technology unchecked as the source of all ills, all misfortunes. With the Courier at the helm, Science became a beacon for the future. There was Old World Blues, and New World Hope. And hope ruled the day at Big MT.
We could say more, but the stories in the Big Empty speak for themselves. Now armed with the Transportalponder, the Courier could return to the Dome at any time and crack open the secrets of the Big Empty, one by one. The Sink sat vigilant, waiting for its master to return, shoes covered in Mojave dust. Only one road yet remained, and it was one the Courier had to walk alone.
The Divide
When ED-E's circuits burned in the fires of the Divide, there was one small part that held on until the end. It was the fragment that held the Old World memories and the words of his creator in his last moments.
As his last gesture, he sent one last signal to his counterpart in the Mojave, passing along what the Courier had taught him in the Divide. There was the chance.. always, that ED-E's journey would continue, perhaps carried by another eyebot in the Mojave.....the one from which the ED-E from the Divide had been shaped. For now, the Courier knew ED-E's history and could carry it, even if the eyebot had forgotten.
Hopeville burned lightless in the night, invisible fires of radiation scorching it from within and without. It is said a man still walked its streets, with a tattered jacket, an Old World flag etched on the back… He remained there, perhaps as punishment for the scars he left on the wastes - or a reminder of a history he could not forget. For Ulysses... his journey was over. The Courier had been at the end of his road.
As for the Courier... he turned his back on his home for the second time and made his way back, navigating the treachery of the Divide. Tunnelers and the Marked Men... avoided the lone figure, as if recognizing the Courier's right to passage... or out of fear.
The Courier walked until he stood again upon the edge of the Divide, the last road he/she would walk before the second battle for Hoover Dam. There, beside his feet, was a final package, from one Courier to another, a footlocker, bearing a gift, and a message. But that message - it is something for Couriers to carry, and for them alone. The lights flickered across the Divide, reminders that the Old World histories persist, and find meaning in the present.
It's said war, war never changes. Men do, through the roads they walk. And this road has reached its end.
Mojave
And so the Courier, who had cheated death in the cemetery outside Goodsprings, cheated death once again, and the Mojave Wasteland was forever changed.
The Courier, with the aid of Yes Man, drove both the Legion and the NCR from Hoover Dam, securing New Vegas' independence from both factions. With Mr. House out of the picture, part of the Securitron army was diverted to The Strip to keep order. Any chaos on the streets ended, quickly. Chaos became uncertainty, then acceptance, with minimal loss of life. New Vegas assumed its position as an independent power in the Mojave.
Supporting the ideals of independence, the Courier was recognized as the man responsible for a truly free New Vegas. He ensured Mr. House's tyranny was broken and neither Caesar's Legion nor would NCR ever gain control over New Vegas
Convinced that his time as a gunslinger was past, Raul made peace with the idea of growing old. After traveling with the Courier for a time, he retired and settled down in Outer Vegas, where he would spend his days fixing ancient machinery.
Though the Wasteland became anarchic after Hoover Dam, the Boomers' display of power dissuaded fortune seekers from attempting to penetrate Nellis. The Courier swayed them into an alliance, working under his banner.
Due to their temporary truce, the Brotherhood allowed the NCR to retreat from the Mojave Wasteland without incident. In the relative peace that followed, Brotherhood patrols appeared along major roads, harassing travelers over any bits of technology they had.
The peace with NCR served to ease Veronica's worries about the Brotherhood's immediate future. Still, a distance had arisen between her and her fellow members that would never be bridged. She began secluding herself in crumbling libraries of the Old World, learning of promising technologies she knew the Brotherhood would never adopt.
In the ruins that bordered New Vegas, the Fiends lay dead. Their leaders destroyed by the Courier, the Fiends scattered aimlessly throughout the wasteland. Without the organization of Motor-Runner, Cook-Cook, Violet, and Driver Nephi, they were easy prey.
After the Courier ensured New Vegas remained free, the Followers found that Independent New Vegas was even more unstable and violent than before. Old Mormon Fort became excessively burdened by the influx of patients, struggling to provide even with the support of the Courier.
Arcade was proud to have been one of the defenders who helped repeal the Legion from Hoover Dam. He was prouder still to see the area freed from the shackles of the NCR and Mr. House. Though independence for New Vegas was not all he hoped it could be, Arcade used his Enclave knowledge and technology to keep order wherever he could.
With New Vegas' independence formally declared, Goodsprings thrived. More travelers stopped by Goodsprings on their way to and from the Strip, and the locals grew prosperous from the traffic.
In the years following the destruction of Cassidy Caravans, NCR used evidence of the plot to blackmail the Crimson Caravan and the Van Graffs. NCR enacted strict trade laws with little resistance, strengthening their supply lines and their position in the Mojave. Cass lived to see the Courier bring down three armies and by her count, that was three more than she'd expected. She'd kept quiet about that, though.
During the Battle of Hoover Dam, the Great Khans quickly evacuated Red Rock Canyon and headed north and east into the plains of Wyoming. There, they reconnected with the Followers of the Apocalypse and rebuilt their strength. Bolstered by ancient knowledge of governance, economics, and transportation, they carved a mighty empire out of the ruins of the Northwest.
Thanks to the Courier, a cure for the Nightkin's schizophrenia was found shortly after Doctor Henry's experiment concluded. Nightkin and other super mutants in the wasteland flocked to Jacobstown, and the town became known as a haven where a mutant could find peace. Lily continued to take her medicine at half-doses, and although she remembered her grandchildren, her mind remained muddled and confused. Eventually, she parted ways with the Courier and traveled west, seeking the remnants of her past.
The Kings retained their control of Freeside, and while they continued to favor the needs of locals, they tolerated the citizens of the defeated NCR. After Rey's brain was transplanted into Rex's cybernetic body, it took Rex some time to adjust to the old scrapyard dog's memories. Eventually, Rex's mind settled peacefully, melding his own memories with that of long travels with Old Lady Gibson.
Shaped up by the Courier's advice, The Misfits distinguished themselves during the Legion's attack on Camp Golf. Mags was finally promoted to Sergeant, and the rest of The Misfits received an official commendation. They continued to serve with distinction for many years.
Though Novac was a low-priority target for the Legion, many of Novac's citizens died in its defense. In the weeks that followed, several Bright Followers returned to Novac to help restore its defenses, allowing it to remain independent of the NCR.
Though NCR was withdrawing from the region, Boone remained in New Vegas, finding work as a security guard and caravan scout along the highways. While he might've preferred rejoining his old unit, Boone couldn't bring himself to abandon the city where he'd met his wife.
The leaderless Powder Gangers at the Correctional Facility vanished into the wastes, leaving the prison empty. The Correctional Facility became another abandoned ruin in the wasteland, its carcass occasionally picked over by enterprising prospectors. And with Cooke dead, the Powder Gangers at Vault 19 fell apart. Those who weren't destroyed by the Courier fled into the hills or attempted to work their way back through the Mojave Wasteland. Few survived.
Despite NCR's pledge to support Primm, they abandon the town after their loss to the Courier. Independent again, Primm operates much as it had before the Powder Gangs arrived, full of ups and downs.
With its logs cleared and its systems upgraded ED-E remained a vigilant and constant companion to the Courier. The Followers of the Apocalypse used the information recovered from ED-E on Poseidon Energy, to develop new methods to harness the energy of the sun.
Due to the Courier's intervention, Chief Hanlon abandoned his plan to sabotage the defense of Hoover Dam. The rangers assisted the troopers admirably during the Legion's ill-fated attack. Though the Courier snatched victory from NCR, only General Oliver was blamed for the loss of Hoover Dam. Hanlon, exhausted after a lifetime of service to the NCR, stepped down from his position in the rangers and retired to his ranch in Redding.
After their bold arrival at Hoover Dam, the Remnants disappeared as quickly as they came. Legends of their power spread throughout the southwest, a reminder of why people once feared the sight of vertibirds in the sky.
And so the Courier's road came to an end... for now. In the new world of the Mojave Wasteland, fighting continued, blood was spilled, and many lived and died, just as they had in the Old World. Because war... war never changes.
