June 19, 2014

Birth of New California Republic

NCR Flag (Fallout 2)
While you all know by now that the New California Republic is a fairly large, democratic federation based in California, I think not many of you know a story of how the NCR got to the point where it is in Fallout: New Vegas.

The New California Republic was born out of the remnants of the survivors of Vault 15, that opened earlier and released its occupants out onto the wasteland. Vault 15 was once occupied by an enormous number of people of very different ideologies and cultures. The overcrowding and the diversification led to the leaving of four different groups, three of them forming each one raiding group - the Khans, the Vipers and the Jackals - and one of them settling down and founding Shady Sands.

Aradesh, the Shady Sands leader (2160), and First
president of NCR (2186). Died in 2196.
After scavenging most of what they could, the former residents of Vault 15 founded the small farming community of Shady Sands, a town midway between Vault 13 and 15. In the 2160's, the community was led by Aradesh. Under the leadership of Aradesh, and with the assistance of the Vault Dweller, who saved Tandi, Aradesh’s daughter and a future president of the NCR (It is possible to "recruit" Tandi, by failing to return her to town after her kidnapping), the community prospered. Trade routes with other settlements allowed cultural exchange, and a movement to form a national entity gradually took root and won popular acceptance.

Tandi, Aradesh's daughter 
In 2186, the town of Shady Sands changed its name to “New California Republic” and formed a trial council government to draft a constitution. Four more settlements joined the council, and in 2189 the NCR was voted into existence as a sprawling federation of five states: Shady Sands, Los Angeles, Maxson, Hub, and Dayglow. In 2196, the first president of the NCR, Aradesh, would die. In response, the council of the NCR would unanimously elect his daughter, Tandi, as the nation's second president. By 2241, the city of Junktown would join the NCR state of Shady Sands. Also around this time, the NCR's vast supply of brahmin would be key in the growing world of economics. This would give them meat for food, leather for clothing and force competition with other growing states such as San Francisco and Vault City.

The town has since been transformed from a small farming town into the largest civilized population center in the Core Region, made prosperous through trading with other towns. Almost nothing of Shady Sands remains, only a few familiar looking buildings. In 2241, the NCR would face problems from the New Khans, run a propaganda campaign against Vault City and aim to annex the squatter town that had taken up residence out of the ruins of their old vault, Vault 15. Hired by Tandi, the Chosen One, would act as an agent of the NCR and wipe out the New Khans, allowing the NCR to annex Vault 15.

While the NCR's holdings in the north would make them aware of the Enclave, initially they would take no action against them. Their then-allies, the Brotherhood of Steel, were not friendly towards the Enclave, and thus the NCR would remain pacifistic towards them for several years. Eventually, in 2246, the NCR would attack with the Brotherhood and eradicate the presence of the Enclave in what became the NCR-Enclave War. The NCR would take little from Navarro other than technology they could not understand and leave the Oil Rig and the main base abandoned. The NCR would continue their war on raiders, nearly eradicating the presence of the Vipers, Jackals and whatever was left of the Khans. The three raiding groups would then flee to the Mojave Wasteland.

Tandi, president of NCR (2196-2248)
Eventually taming Southern California, these achievements would garner such respect for President Tandi that the people would come to adore her, and tribals outside the NCR's borders would refer to her as the "Great Mother". Viewing the NCR's growth and success as a threat to their already stagnating power and influence, the Brotherhood of Steel would launch a military campaign with the goal of pacifying the NCR and reclaiming technology that they felt the NCR was not fully capable of understanding. After narrowly avoiding defeat in the early days of the war, the NCR would ultimately prevail and force the Brotherhood into retreat and hiding. The NCR had pushed back their strongest opponent yet, but at a cost. With the destruction of their gold reserves in the early days of the war, the Republic could not continue to fund their costly war with the Brotherhood for long, unless more revenue was acquired.

In 2248, Tandi dies at the old age of one hundred and three, leaving Joanna Tibbett to take over as the third president of the NCR (2248-2253). The remnants of the Enclave would hide within the NCR and the Brotherhood of Steel, but many would be arrested for war crimes. They would eventually push further out and leave NCR territory for the Mojave Wasteland in 2253. Chasing both the Enclave and the three raider tribes, the NCR would push their scouts towards the Mojave Wasteland.
NCR Troops

Thirty-eight NCR citizens, most likely all scouts, would be massacred by the raiders in the Mojave, further pushing the enmity between the Khans and the NCR. The massacre would result in Joanna Tibbet in being voted out of the office of president and being replaced by Wendell Peterson (2253-2273). The Enclave would largely be forgotten by the NCR whose main focus appeared to be the raiders of the Mojave. In his first year in office, Peterson ordered three battalions of NCR troops into the Mojave Wasteland. He was president of the New California Republic until 2273, when Aaron Kimball replaced him.

Now led by President Aaron Kimball, the NCR's expansion has led it to the Mojave Wasteland, where it would encounter the impressive city of New Vegas, and the even more promising Hoover Dam. However it would also encounter its greatest enemy to date, Caesar's Legion, across the Colorado River. Seeking to annex New Vegas and drooling over the prospects of the money that would flow back towards the Republic in taxes, they sent their army east.

The NCR initially had great success in the Mojave Wasteland, setting up several bases and even an embassy on The Strip. The front line of the new conflict between the NCR and Caesar's Legion moved towards the Colorado River. The Legion attacked the NCR with its full strength during the First Battle of Hoover Dam. The NCR was forced to retreat, but lured the Legion into a trap at Boulder City and was able to retake the Dam. After their defeat, the Legion regularly conducted raids on the west side of the Colorado, even creating permanent bases at Cottonwood Cove and sacking towns like Nipton and Nelson with little response from the NCR.

  

NCR Propaganda posters in New Vegas

NCR in General
The NCR emphasizes and claims to support a myriad of old world values, such as democracy, personal liberty, and the rule of law. It also strives to restore the general order of the wasteland, the improvement and development of infrastructure and economic systems, and a basic common peace between the people. By post-apocalyptic standards, the NCR is a paragon of economic success and good ethical character: political enfranchisement, rule of law, a reasonable degree of physical security, and a standard of living better than mere subsistence are daily realities for its 700,000+ citizens. But after the death of President Tandi, her successors would gradually change the direction of the NCR. Rapidly expanding the Republic's borders in every direction in a more imperialistic fashion, they sacrificed some of the NCR's principles and moral highground in the process. NCR was a great and well-balanced system in theory, but in practice every state tries to assert its independence and work toward furthering its own agenda.

Source: Fallout Wikia

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Fallout 1, 2 Tactics, Fallout 3, Fallout: New Vegas, Fallout 4