An Abridged Summary of the New California Republic
Thanks to the success of its new TV show on Amazon Prime, the Fallout series has become more popular than ever. More people are getting into the games and watching the many lore and analysis videos about the series on YouTube than ever. While the show does an excellent job of introducing newcomers and pleasing veteran fans, one or two factions got the short end meta-wise and in-universe. One of those factions was the most prominent form of government in the series: the New California Republic, or the NCR.
I’m RJ Writing Ink for The Game of Nerds, and this is an abridged history of the New California Republic, one of humanity’s great hopes in such a dark time.
Humble Beginnings, Shady Sands, and the Vault Dweller
Vault-Tec claimed its Vaults were meant to preserve the people of America in the event of nuclear war. In reality, most of them were used for social and scientific experiments. Such was the case for SoCal Vault 15, which was filled with people of various religious/ethnic backgrounds to see if they could get along. They managed to do so until the time came for them to leave Vault 15. After that, the majority of them formed into Raider groups.
The portion of them who didn’t become bandits used a terraforming device Vault-Tec gave them to found a small village, Shady Sands. It was a hard life, though, and it was made more challenging by the mutated animals and bandit groups. Things only got worse when Tandi, the daughter of the Shady Sands leader, was kidnapped by one of those bandits in 2161. Soon afterward, a mysterious stranger in a Vault-Tec jumpsuit came into town.
Known as the Vault Dweller, they had left their Vault to find a replacement chip for their water purifier. Despite this, the Vault Dweller stayed in Shady Sands long enough to deal with both threats and rescue Tandi. With the village safe, the Vault Dwellers left to continue their mission, one that would see them perform heroic acts that would help stabilize SoCal, sewing the seeds for a new nation.
The New California Republic is Born
With the threats to Shady Sands gone, the small settlement could grow in relative safety and become the most successful in the region. More importantly, the Vault Dweller’s actions impacted Tandi and her father, Aradesh. Inspired by them, they devoted their lives to bringing civilization back to the Wasteland. In 2189, their efforts paid off when they convinced the other towns in the area to unite as part of a single group. Armed with the ideals of old America and under the banner of the two-headed bear, the New California Republic was born.
Aradesh led the NCR as its first President for a few years, but in 2196, he disappeared looking for the Vault Dweller’s old home, Vault 13. After being declared dead, Tandi was voted into office and stayed there for the rest of her life. Under her leadership, the New California Republic began to expand and prosper. People could stop worrying 24/7 about surviving and focus on living life for the first time in decades. By the time Tandi died at 103 in 2248, the NCR started to make up all of California and the surrounding lands.
Tandi couldn’t take full credit, though. When NoCal and Oregon went through a famine in 2241, the grandchild of the Vault Dweller came to Shady Sands. Like their grandparent, they were looking for something to help save their village, formed by those who followed the Vault Dweller to the surface. And like the Vault Dweller, they brought peace to their part of the Wasteland.
The Bear Grows Sick
Things started to go downhill for the New California Republic after Tandi died. No one could match her accomplishments or maintain the high ideals she and Aradesh founded the NCR on. In a few decades, the NCR shifted its focus to expansionism and imperialism as it pushed eastward. Things came to a head in 2277 when NCR scouts in the Mojave Wasteland made a significant discovery. Not only was the Hoover Dam still working, but it was being used to power a still-intact Las Vegas, now dubbed New Vegas.
Seeing the potential to power their entire country, the NCR tried to annex the Mojave, only to contend with the forces of New Vegas and a hostile army to the east that wanted the same thing. They established control of the Dam but had to share its power with New Vegas begrudgingly. Then, in 2281, another battle for the Hoover Dam ensued, and while it’s unknown who ultimately won, in the end, it didn’t matter for the NCR.
According to Todd Howard, Vault-Tec destroyed Shady Sands not long after the second battle of Hoover Dam. The Fallout series implies the NCR had moved its capital elsewhere, but it remains to be seen whether the nation continues in any fashion.
The New California Republic is Proof that Vault-Tec Was Wrong
In the Fallout show, the leaders of Vault 33 claimed the surface was still too toxic for anyone to survive. They claimed they were the last vestiges of civilization, and when the time came, they would emerge to rebuild the surface. As both the show and the games demonstrate, that was a big, fat lie. Civilization, as crude and violent as it could be, had already returned to the surface, with the New California Republic being the best example. They had a complex economy, a written form of government, a standing army, and a population numbering in the hundreds of thousands. They did it all without almost no help from Vault-Tec, which was something they couldn’t stand.
With a second season of Fallout on the horizon, the probability of learning more about the NCR’s fate remains high. If they still exist in some fashion, then the actions of the cast will likely decide if the New California Republic will remain or if something else will take its place. Fingers crossed, it’s not Vault-Tec.
If you want to learn more about the New California Republic, it’s recommended that you play the Fallout games for yourself. Specifically, play Fallout, Fallout 2, and Fallout: New Vegas to maximize your experience.
