For the Good of the Vault

Since man first came into this world he had soaked it with the blood of countless lives. Wither be in the battle of survival or glory and riches the legacy of mankind has been callously written on the bones of the fallen. In the year 2077 mans capacity for destruction would overtake him. The world who bore humankind was torn asunder and made a new in the cleansing light of nuclear fire and radiation. One would think that's where our story ends, but the stubbornness of man knows no bounds and he rose from the ashes to resume his struggle, for man had nearly succeeded destroying himself but war, war never changes.

In the early days many were spared the horrors of the fallout by taking refuge in enormous underground shelters, we call them vaults. Vault 13 is where you have lived all your life. Life is good here, better than the hellish landscape outside the vaults great metal doors. You have a roof of steel protecting you from the horrors of the waste; you have unirradiated food water, a luxury few now know. Vault 13 is your world and your world is about to end.

The Water Chip, this single device regulates the water purifier for an entire vault. A Vault is like an oasis in a barren land, what sets it apart is its ability to provide an abundance of life giving water so when the Water Chip in Vault 13 broke the leader of the vault, we call him the Overseer, choose to come to you.

150 days, he tells you. 150 days and life in the vault would be over. The broken Water Chip is too complex to repair and the only way this sanctuary is going to survive is if one of their own leaves and searches for a replacement chip. The Overseer has on recorded there is a neighboring vault that has been equip with a spare Water Chip. Saving the Vault will mean sending someone to collect the device. Armed with your trusty Pip-Boy and meager supplies you dare venture beyond the confines of safety. For better or for worse you stumble into the unknown to brave the wasteland and you do it for the good of the Vault.

The Wasteland, its name implies a vast nothingness, if only that were true. It feels like everyone out here in the real world or at least what's left of it is living on borrowed time. In your quest to find the chip you see horrors that would break lesser men, out here its kill or be killed. After fighting your way through the waste you beat all odds, and return to Vault 13 battered and bruised. The Overseer takes the Water Chip from your trembling hands and balance is restored, or so The Overseer thinks. You see while you were out in the waste fighting for the survival of your vault you did the worst thing you could do in a world full of desperate people, you attracted attention to yourself. In your efforts to bring water back to the vault you revealed the existence of Vault 13, blissful isolation can no longer be assured. In your reports to The Overseer you also tell him of a new threat facing the vault. A group of mutants are working together and their numbers are growing at a most dangerous rate. Within 400 days the Super mutants will overrun the vault with overwhelming odds. The super mutant population is growing much faster than possible. This means that someone somewhere is creating them. Once again you volunteer to setup out into the unforgiving world and you do it for the good of the vault.

The Overseer was right, someone has to be creating super mutants you slay one of these abominations only to have two more take its place. What you didn't realize was the sheer scale of the threat. After months of searching and scouring the wasteland you uncover a conspiracy that transcends the petty problems of a single vault. You find yourself standing face to face with the leader of the super mutant army and he isn't what you expected. You wouldn't have believed it had you not seen it with your own eyes. It calls itself the master, the horribly mutated brain behind the mutant army. Its followers worship it as the new god but in your eyes it's just another twisted evil you encountered out here in the waste.

This abomination is the mastermind behind not only the mutants threatening your vault but also the creation of new super mutants through the process called the Unity. The Unity seeks to force humans to take a virus called FEV, consequently turning people into the same monsters you've been fighting since you left the vault a year ago. Then you realize your mission is no longer for the safety of a single vault but for the continued survival of mankind. Without a second thought you draw a pulse grenade determined to put an end to this threat to humanity once and for all. That was until the master chooses to speak to you.

"The Unity will bring about the master race, one able to survive or even thrive in the wasteland. As long as there are differences we will tear ourselves apart fighting each other. We need one race, one goal, one people to move forward to our destiny. This will be the age of mutants."

His words, they actually meant something to you. In a world of only super mutants there would be unity. You could say the masters rational actually made sense? No! No there was no future for the super mutants. You knew this even in a post apocalyptic world such as this you carry a holodisk that carries proof that the FEV virus destroys the reproductive organs of those it transforms into super mutants. You tell the master that this plan is doomed to fail on an infertile race that will die but after one generation.

"I must digest this information. One moment... But that cannot be. All my work... has been for nothing. Everything that I have tried to... FAILUER!!! It Can't Be! I... I don't think that I can continue... to have done the things I have done in the name of progress and healing. It was madness... I can see that now. Madness... Madness! There is no hope. Leave now, leave while you still have... hope."

Those were the last words the master spoke as he initiated the self destruct sequence for his whole mutant operation. You run to safety and watch as his cathedral falls down around him. The death of the Master was like cutting off the head of the snake or better yet a bullet to the brain. Without their leader the super mutant army lacked direction and soon they fled to the east. Beyond the no man's land.

You make the long trek back home, back to the Vault. As you approach Vault 13 the Overseer steps outside to greet you. He thanks you for everything you have done for the vault and recognizes that if it weren't for you Vault 13 would have fallen to the Wasteland long ago however as you go to step inside he stops you. Although you saved everyone the Wasteland has taken its toll on you. With heavy heart the Overseer tells you that if you are allowed back into the vault people will see you as a hero and the children will want to emulate you and leave the vault for themselves one day. He will not let that happen. With a voice full of remorse the Overseer tells you to leave Vault 13 and never return. He tells you to leave, for the good of the vault.

As the Overseer turns to leave something stirs inside of you. The bloodied body of the Overseer is breathing his last and slowly you realize that what he has said was true. When you left the vault all those years ago part of yourself died out there in the Wasteland and although the Wasteland changed you war never changes.