Post by Grogrock on Nov 1, 2016 17:45:45 GMT
PREFACE
Mads told me that when I left town I should write about my adventures to make a book when I came back. Not going to do that. Waste of time, sorry sis. Instead, I'm writing this basically to blather on about the wastes, from my home territory to the NCR, and anywhere else I end up.
SECTION 1: UTAH
Salt Lake City:
Good ol' SLC. Place was a major city in Utah back before the war, until the Unlucky Thirteen turned it into the giant pile of irradiated steel and concrete it is today. Most of us grew up on the outskirts of the city, only sending scavvers in there if we desperately needed the supplies. Place was originally full of ghouls until those religious types from Vault 70 decided to wake up. Word has it they had half a dozen GECKs, which is a total waste if you ask me. Granted, they used em to make a city inside the old ruins, called it New Jerusalem. Mads said that it was named after an old city with religious importance to them, kinda like New Canaan. Thing is, they bailed out of that area before I was born. Pa said that they told stories when he was growing up about how in 2233 their isolationism made all the raiders in the region gang up on em, so they fled North. And where did they go? New Canaan.
(Written in the margins of this section is the word "Father" in all capital letters, pointing to SLC)
New Canaan:
This is where I technically was a resident for a time, and where Mads currently is. They're the descendants of the Vault 70 people and whoever survived that attack in 2233. So, by definition, they are survivors. I was told growing up that they were all religious crazies who prayed to a god to protect them. Now, some are, but the rest are some tough fighters. They've got guns, God, and the gold to back em up. The town is built out of the ruins of another old city, and while the cold season limits crop production, it helps to ward off the southern tribals.
They learned from their mistakes too. Pa said that the New Jerusalem types were xenophobic, but apparently alot of people in town are ex-NCR citizens who moved east during the first war with the Brotherhood. Good on them for opening up the gates, since the population is pretty solid. And just because they have NCR people there doesn't make em pals with the Californians. There's some heavy taxes on the caravans moving into and out of there, but the town is in such a good location for trade that it's almost necessary to pay up. They're keeping their sovereignty, and that's good.
The townsfolk call themselves Mormons, and that's fine by me. Plenty of religious cults in this world, and a god is something that unifies people together in times of hardship. I'm sure their ancestors believed that God provided them with their salvation when they funneled into V70. Their ideals survived nuclear fallout, the collapse of New Jerusalem, and has even held out against pressure from the NCR to be annexed. It's not the walls that hold New Canaan together, it's definitely the people.
(This next part has been added in quite recently, the new page written on the back of a piece of packaging paper)
One of the caravans entering town told me that they haven't even heard from New Canaan in a few weeks, let alone received any word from them. I've heard this story before, and I'm almost certain they were hit hard by a raider group. While I hope Mads made it out, I highly doubt it. She never really was a fantastic fighter. That was my job, to protect her. Not just send caps home. One of two things happened, and both of them are ugly. Either Canaan was hit by the NCR for holding out against annexation or it was hit by Legion to drive a knife into one of the bear's trading arteries. When I'm done here, I'm heading to Zion to get the Father's gear, maybe finally find that rifle of his. After that, Salt Lake City to get some mercs. And then, I'm retaking that town.
Zion:
It was definitely a beautiful place, I will give it that. Dangerous as all hell though, and I have the scar to prove it. I had hunted plenty of big game back in the northern section of Utah, especially on the shores of the Salt Lake, but my god those Yao Guai they have'll tear you to shreds if you aren't careful. As if that wasn't enough of COURSE there just had to be some fucking cazadors there too. I will say those green geckos they have are pretty cool, and the fact that the river water was clean and consumable was a plus.
One of the most notable things about the area was the total absence of raiders, with the only human occupants being the members of The Sorrows tribe. Their English was rudimentary, but understandable and better than your standard tribals. Mads and I stayed in their camps during our time in Zion, and while she learned some of their tribal medicinal techniques, I was picking up on some things their scouts knew.
Like my people back in Canaan, the Sorrows also worship a single God, who they call "Father". I heard the stories of their leaders describing his great charity and warrior spirit, but the way they talked about him made him sound much more human than the God of scripture. They talked about how he had a wife who died giving birth to his heir, and how he had lived among the caves in the Canyon for years. That following morning, they showed me the entrance to one of the Father's alleged caves, and I found evidence of their god.
This cave was a bitch to climb up to, but its contents were telling. I was initially greeted with a few skeletons, who I left resting. I feared that this was that Father of theirs at first, and was concerned that I had to break the news to them that "Hey, your god is dead he didn't just disappear", but the tripwire I almost ran into proved that there had been further occupants here who knew how to work traps. The right path led to some old broken down water still in a flooded section of the cave, probably where he bathed. Left led me to the real treat, the main room. This guy had some good gear in the cave, combat armor, guns, ammunition, but it felt wrong to be honest. I could not take from this site, mostly because I figured it was not only sacred but these were the possessions of somebody else. If not this Father guy, the tribe. On my way out I decided to do a bit of work to protect the place, setting up some landmines myself to protect the cache from nosy prospectors, like I was protecting an ancient tomb.
I spent the next few months hunting for more signs of this Father guy, and I found his caches and records. The guy was ex-military, ex-US military in fact. Took a tour of duty in Canada up north (didn't realize we went to war with them), but apparently he was a born waster, knew how to climb, shoot, and forage. Apparently the Sorrow's weren't wrong, he did lose his wife and child, but they were his second set. His first wife and kid were from SLC, meaning he was too. He was truly human, with all the flaws and emotional problems. I wanted to find him, dead or ghoulified, just to talk to him. I never found him, just his old tools and logs.
(This next section on Zion has text that is more dark and profound than on the previous pages, its paper clearly added in after the initial description.)
I talked with a kid the other day about Vaults. I believe it was the day I met Sansegret, that tribal. The kid told me about Vault 22 out in Vegas, after we had been discussing Vault 21 and how it turned that abandoned city into the star of the Mojave. He said that it was a vault focusing on plant research, but without a GECK. He mentioned that the people in the vault became infected with the spores their plants were giving off, turning them into monsters as the plants took over their bodies. It confirmed my suspicion. The Father mentioned in his terminals a group of people who were having coughing fits as they entered the canyon, clad in identical blue suits. I had heard enough about Vault 70 back in SLC to know these were Vault suits, but I was more concerned about this notion of spores. Apparently that Vault sent out an expedition to Zion for some reason, with its people already infected ("Purge of the sick?" is scrawled in the margin, an arrow pointing to that sentence). I didn't want to write about what happened in fear that Mads would read this and find out but those people were killed by the Father, and for very, VERY, good reason. They were cannibals, must have had this taste for human flesh from the spores. This group of peaceful people who came before the Vault group, "los mexicanos" as the Father called them, had all of their men killed by the Vault. The women and children were eaten.
But I don't care about what they did, I care about the fact the people are still fucking alive. That thing that attacked me when I went to the location that the Father described in his journal, where one of the firefights occurred, I thought it was just some feral ghoul with a ton of moss on it. But I knew that was wrong, I just didn't want to admit it, it made no sense. There were zero ghouls anywhere in the park, the Father killed them all. No radiation anywhere to make new ones either, and there's no way one was old enough to have fucking plants growing on it. That green human-like thing that attacked me and gave me the scar I have on my forehead was one of those Vault 22 people, no doubt about it. Whatever spores were in that Vault, they made it outside.
Section 2: Nevada
New Reno:
The first caravan I took out of New Canaan brought me to that hole, and I'm lucky I left that place with my life. It's an absolute shithole, I wouldn't recommend visiting there. It makes Gomorrah and Outer Vegas look like New Canaan for fucks sakes. I kept having jet pushed on me at every corner I walked past, like I want to sample their "local flavor". I give the NCR alot of shit for their taxation, but New Reno can't even get themselves an official police force. The city is run by a bunch of different families, somewhat like Vegas, just without a figure like House keeping them in line. It's anarchy, and seems like the perfect place for a raider to set up.
Only good thing about that town is the gun dealership. When I was last there, it was one of the only places in town where you weren't funding the crime families when you got a piece, and MAN did they have some nice pieces. I bought this old .357 magnum revolver with a heavily elongated barrel and a rifle stock on it. Good little carbine for the rest of the hike west.
New Vegas:
I would be lying if I didn't say I like opportunities, and there were no lack of those three years ago. I hooked up with the Crimson Caravan in their Vegas branch, finally becoming an official caravan merc. This was right after the First Battle for Hoover Dam, and the NCR boys in the area were riding high on their victory. Rightly so, but it was definitely a good time to make a profit. Most of the caravans I ran were either going down the Long Fifteen deeper into NCR territory, although on a few occasions I had to guide the caravans north to New Reno. That was my fault really, I didn't explain that I went west from New Canaan to San Francisco and then headed south, instead of heading south through Nevada in the first place. Thankfully I didn't have to stay long each time, didn't want to raise suspicions.
I will say that Vegas is just like the legends say. I lost a whole lot of shit in that town, from my gear to my caps and all the dignity in between. Still, it's pretty beautiful. Didn't want to blow all my money on the Strip, at least didn't intend to, so I posted up in Vault 21 for a few weeks. Good people, surprised that those Vault dwellers actually trusted others enough to open up. Granted, eventually the Vault 70 and Vault 15 people did so. Ultra Luxe is pretentious, Gomorrah will give you three different infections by the time you walk out, and the Tops is all "ring a ding ding" and annoying as all fuck. Lucky 38 is a casino too apparently, and is where House operates out of, but it's locked up tight. Too bad, i bet the view is nice.
I didn't really stop in too many places in Vegas besides ones in or near the city, or along the Colorado River. I'll be brief. Freeside is a fucking hole. North Vegas is slightly less of a fucking hole. Westside is also marginally better than Freeside. Only real developed town along the Colorado that was safe to peek into was Nelson, which wasn't really much of a place. There was one further south, but apparently the Legion was still operating around there so it was unsafe to move a caravan.
I should also mention that the area north of Vegas has some decent elevation, but that apparently it is passable and you can access Zion and eventually New Canaan through there with a small caravan. May be a good method to head home if shit goes down in the area.
City of the Red Sands / City of the Dead:
This story screams tall tale, but some of the boys in the squad have been talking about a fabled city of the dead somewhere in or near Nevada. They say that the city is blanketed in this persistent sandstorm of red sands that will kill any who enter, but that the city is full of old pre-war treasure. Might be worth checking out at some point, although people say that nobody who seeks it out comes back.
The squad left without me for the city, on account of my injury. Fucking sand around here is so loose that one misstep can make you fall fifty feet if you aren't careful. At least I was lucky, only a sprained ankle. Still, kind of annoyed they just ditched me. Still, there's seven of them, so they should be fine. Hell, maybe they'll do better without me.
(Scrawled in the margin next to the previous lines are the words "They didn't", underlined several times.)
Section 3: New California Republic
At a Glance:
Big, bloated, and probably the best chance that this side of the country has for an established civilization with a functioning government. To say that what they have done is not impressive would be a bold faced lie. One village out in the wastes established an entire nation, unifying other villages and creating a government. Others have done so, or attempted to do so in the past, but NCR acts like an echo of the old world. However, I would be remiss to say that they are all perfect, even their president must acknowledge that. It's just as corrupt and inefficient as the Old World style of government, with enough taxation and bureaucracy that a small rancher would probably stand to make more money by killing off his cattle instead of maintaining them. Probably special interests whispering into the ear of the politicians, but hey, that's democracy at work. Despite the financial burden, the nation has an adept military force with the technology to boot. I haven't seen manufacturing on this scale anywhere else that I have traveled, and even the quality of the goods they produce are not bad. The Bear is an economic, industrial, and military powerhouse.
That being said, they need to seriously consider not overstepping their boundaries and putting strain on their territories. Vegas was clearly a rough acquisition, as anybody in the Crimson Caravan stationed at the Vegas branch would testify. Growing pains, by definition. My greatest concern for them is what they will do if and when they take down Caesar's Legion and push east. Once they hit the Rockies or the Mid-Waste, will they go further?
Sac-Town:
First NCR town I arrived in, and I must say that it was not exactly friendly. The caravan I hitched up with out of New Reno was returning to a settlement near that town, but the place is tiny and underdeveloped. That caravan company, the name is eluding me, is like the only industry or business they have their. That's on account of the Eighties in the area, which clearly got tired to fighting wars of attrition against the White Legs and stepped up operations there for some easy pickings.
San-Francisco:
Second stop in NCR. Much more pleasant. The city itself was bombed to shit, but the occupants are clinging to life there and doing just fine for themselves. Most notably, you have the Shi. Now, I'm not some grand-old-flag flying guy, but I can see why the US would have been concerned about Chinese infiltrating the US. The Shi are tough buggers, and adept at combat. Isolationism keeps them safe and relatively sovereign from the NCR, which is fine by me. Not to mention that these guys are smart and know their books. One of the traders said that if found him any piece of broken electronics, he could find somebody to fix it for him, even a suit of fucking power armor. Calling bullshit on that. Whatever, decent entrepreneur.
Shi aren't the only kids in town though. There's some absolute kooks in town trying to get to space? Basically idiots. Their numbers are admittedly limited, but they're somewhat organized.
Shady Sands:
Ho-lee-shit. This place is absolutely unbelievable. Back growing up I would wonder about how the NCR was so big, but now I know. There have to be thousands of people living in that place. Figures though, considering its the capital and birthplace of the NCR. Surprisingly, it's not all fun and games. There's a load of brahmin ranchers in the area, along with plenty of agriculture to boot. Have to keep the people fed. One of those New Canaanites said that bread and circus feeds the masses. They understand that. Well.
Boneyard:
Opposite of Shady Sands. Absolute shithole. Only stopped here because of a delivery to the Followers of the Apocalypse in the area, and I quickly found out why it's called the Boneyard. The old books I was raised with talked about Los Angeles as this great big city, but the Boneyard is just the husk of it, like the desiccated corpse of a giant Yao Gaui. NCR began rebuilding some of the old towers, but it's like dressing up a corpse. In fact, there have to be at least hundreds of thousands of skeletons still lying in this city, with the living corpses that are ghouls wading amongst them. It's a damn shame that the city fell upon these times, but hopefully the NCR does something good with it. The raiders in the area are kicking ass and making things worse for the legitimate inhabitants.
Mads told me that when I left town I should write about my adventures to make a book when I came back. Not going to do that. Waste of time, sorry sis. Instead, I'm writing this basically to blather on about the wastes, from my home territory to the NCR, and anywhere else I end up.
SECTION 1: UTAH
Salt Lake City:
Good ol' SLC. Place was a major city in Utah back before the war, until the Unlucky Thirteen turned it into the giant pile of irradiated steel and concrete it is today. Most of us grew up on the outskirts of the city, only sending scavvers in there if we desperately needed the supplies. Place was originally full of ghouls until those religious types from Vault 70 decided to wake up. Word has it they had half a dozen GECKs, which is a total waste if you ask me. Granted, they used em to make a city inside the old ruins, called it New Jerusalem. Mads said that it was named after an old city with religious importance to them, kinda like New Canaan. Thing is, they bailed out of that area before I was born. Pa said that they told stories when he was growing up about how in 2233 their isolationism made all the raiders in the region gang up on em, so they fled North. And where did they go? New Canaan.
(Written in the margins of this section is the word "Father" in all capital letters, pointing to SLC)
New Canaan:
This is where I technically was a resident for a time, and where Mads currently is. They're the descendants of the Vault 70 people and whoever survived that attack in 2233. So, by definition, they are survivors. I was told growing up that they were all religious crazies who prayed to a god to protect them. Now, some are, but the rest are some tough fighters. They've got guns, God, and the gold to back em up. The town is built out of the ruins of another old city, and while the cold season limits crop production, it helps to ward off the southern tribals.
They learned from their mistakes too. Pa said that the New Jerusalem types were xenophobic, but apparently alot of people in town are ex-NCR citizens who moved east during the first war with the Brotherhood. Good on them for opening up the gates, since the population is pretty solid. And just because they have NCR people there doesn't make em pals with the Californians. There's some heavy taxes on the caravans moving into and out of there, but the town is in such a good location for trade that it's almost necessary to pay up. They're keeping their sovereignty, and that's good.
The townsfolk call themselves Mormons, and that's fine by me. Plenty of religious cults in this world, and a god is something that unifies people together in times of hardship. I'm sure their ancestors believed that God provided them with their salvation when they funneled into V70. Their ideals survived nuclear fallout, the collapse of New Jerusalem, and has even held out against pressure from the NCR to be annexed. It's not the walls that hold New Canaan together, it's definitely the people.
(This next part has been added in quite recently, the new page written on the back of a piece of packaging paper)
One of the caravans entering town told me that they haven't even heard from New Canaan in a few weeks, let alone received any word from them. I've heard this story before, and I'm almost certain they were hit hard by a raider group. While I hope Mads made it out, I highly doubt it. She never really was a fantastic fighter. That was my job, to protect her. Not just send caps home. One of two things happened, and both of them are ugly. Either Canaan was hit by the NCR for holding out against annexation or it was hit by Legion to drive a knife into one of the bear's trading arteries. When I'm done here, I'm heading to Zion to get the Father's gear, maybe finally find that rifle of his. After that, Salt Lake City to get some mercs. And then, I'm retaking that town.
Zion:
It was definitely a beautiful place, I will give it that. Dangerous as all hell though, and I have the scar to prove it. I had hunted plenty of big game back in the northern section of Utah, especially on the shores of the Salt Lake, but my god those Yao Guai they have'll tear you to shreds if you aren't careful. As if that wasn't enough of COURSE there just had to be some fucking cazadors there too. I will say those green geckos they have are pretty cool, and the fact that the river water was clean and consumable was a plus.
One of the most notable things about the area was the total absence of raiders, with the only human occupants being the members of The Sorrows tribe. Their English was rudimentary, but understandable and better than your standard tribals. Mads and I stayed in their camps during our time in Zion, and while she learned some of their tribal medicinal techniques, I was picking up on some things their scouts knew.
Like my people back in Canaan, the Sorrows also worship a single God, who they call "Father". I heard the stories of their leaders describing his great charity and warrior spirit, but the way they talked about him made him sound much more human than the God of scripture. They talked about how he had a wife who died giving birth to his heir, and how he had lived among the caves in the Canyon for years. That following morning, they showed me the entrance to one of the Father's alleged caves, and I found evidence of their god.
This cave was a bitch to climb up to, but its contents were telling. I was initially greeted with a few skeletons, who I left resting. I feared that this was that Father of theirs at first, and was concerned that I had to break the news to them that "Hey, your god is dead he didn't just disappear", but the tripwire I almost ran into proved that there had been further occupants here who knew how to work traps. The right path led to some old broken down water still in a flooded section of the cave, probably where he bathed. Left led me to the real treat, the main room. This guy had some good gear in the cave, combat armor, guns, ammunition, but it felt wrong to be honest. I could not take from this site, mostly because I figured it was not only sacred but these were the possessions of somebody else. If not this Father guy, the tribe. On my way out I decided to do a bit of work to protect the place, setting up some landmines myself to protect the cache from nosy prospectors, like I was protecting an ancient tomb.
I spent the next few months hunting for more signs of this Father guy, and I found his caches and records. The guy was ex-military, ex-US military in fact. Took a tour of duty in Canada up north (didn't realize we went to war with them), but apparently he was a born waster, knew how to climb, shoot, and forage. Apparently the Sorrow's weren't wrong, he did lose his wife and child, but they were his second set. His first wife and kid were from SLC, meaning he was too. He was truly human, with all the flaws and emotional problems. I wanted to find him, dead or ghoulified, just to talk to him. I never found him, just his old tools and logs.
(This next section on Zion has text that is more dark and profound than on the previous pages, its paper clearly added in after the initial description.)
I talked with a kid the other day about Vaults. I believe it was the day I met Sansegret, that tribal. The kid told me about Vault 22 out in Vegas, after we had been discussing Vault 21 and how it turned that abandoned city into the star of the Mojave. He said that it was a vault focusing on plant research, but without a GECK. He mentioned that the people in the vault became infected with the spores their plants were giving off, turning them into monsters as the plants took over their bodies. It confirmed my suspicion. The Father mentioned in his terminals a group of people who were having coughing fits as they entered the canyon, clad in identical blue suits. I had heard enough about Vault 70 back in SLC to know these were Vault suits, but I was more concerned about this notion of spores. Apparently that Vault sent out an expedition to Zion for some reason, with its people already infected ("Purge of the sick?" is scrawled in the margin, an arrow pointing to that sentence). I didn't want to write about what happened in fear that Mads would read this and find out but those people were killed by the Father, and for very, VERY, good reason. They were cannibals, must have had this taste for human flesh from the spores. This group of peaceful people who came before the Vault group, "los mexicanos" as the Father called them, had all of their men killed by the Vault. The women and children were eaten.
But I don't care about what they did, I care about the fact the people are still fucking alive. That thing that attacked me when I went to the location that the Father described in his journal, where one of the firefights occurred, I thought it was just some feral ghoul with a ton of moss on it. But I knew that was wrong, I just didn't want to admit it, it made no sense. There were zero ghouls anywhere in the park, the Father killed them all. No radiation anywhere to make new ones either, and there's no way one was old enough to have fucking plants growing on it. That green human-like thing that attacked me and gave me the scar I have on my forehead was one of those Vault 22 people, no doubt about it. Whatever spores were in that Vault, they made it outside.
Section 2: Nevada
New Reno:
The first caravan I took out of New Canaan brought me to that hole, and I'm lucky I left that place with my life. It's an absolute shithole, I wouldn't recommend visiting there. It makes Gomorrah and Outer Vegas look like New Canaan for fucks sakes. I kept having jet pushed on me at every corner I walked past, like I want to sample their "local flavor". I give the NCR alot of shit for their taxation, but New Reno can't even get themselves an official police force. The city is run by a bunch of different families, somewhat like Vegas, just without a figure like House keeping them in line. It's anarchy, and seems like the perfect place for a raider to set up.
Only good thing about that town is the gun dealership. When I was last there, it was one of the only places in town where you weren't funding the crime families when you got a piece, and MAN did they have some nice pieces. I bought this old .357 magnum revolver with a heavily elongated barrel and a rifle stock on it. Good little carbine for the rest of the hike west.
New Vegas:
I would be lying if I didn't say I like opportunities, and there were no lack of those three years ago. I hooked up with the Crimson Caravan in their Vegas branch, finally becoming an official caravan merc. This was right after the First Battle for Hoover Dam, and the NCR boys in the area were riding high on their victory. Rightly so, but it was definitely a good time to make a profit. Most of the caravans I ran were either going down the Long Fifteen deeper into NCR territory, although on a few occasions I had to guide the caravans north to New Reno. That was my fault really, I didn't explain that I went west from New Canaan to San Francisco and then headed south, instead of heading south through Nevada in the first place. Thankfully I didn't have to stay long each time, didn't want to raise suspicions.
I will say that Vegas is just like the legends say. I lost a whole lot of shit in that town, from my gear to my caps and all the dignity in between. Still, it's pretty beautiful. Didn't want to blow all my money on the Strip, at least didn't intend to, so I posted up in Vault 21 for a few weeks. Good people, surprised that those Vault dwellers actually trusted others enough to open up. Granted, eventually the Vault 70 and Vault 15 people did so. Ultra Luxe is pretentious, Gomorrah will give you three different infections by the time you walk out, and the Tops is all "ring a ding ding" and annoying as all fuck. Lucky 38 is a casino too apparently, and is where House operates out of, but it's locked up tight. Too bad, i bet the view is nice.
I didn't really stop in too many places in Vegas besides ones in or near the city, or along the Colorado River. I'll be brief. Freeside is a fucking hole. North Vegas is slightly less of a fucking hole. Westside is also marginally better than Freeside. Only real developed town along the Colorado that was safe to peek into was Nelson, which wasn't really much of a place. There was one further south, but apparently the Legion was still operating around there so it was unsafe to move a caravan.
I should also mention that the area north of Vegas has some decent elevation, but that apparently it is passable and you can access Zion and eventually New Canaan through there with a small caravan. May be a good method to head home if shit goes down in the area.
City of the Red Sands / City of the Dead:
This story screams tall tale, but some of the boys in the squad have been talking about a fabled city of the dead somewhere in or near Nevada. They say that the city is blanketed in this persistent sandstorm of red sands that will kill any who enter, but that the city is full of old pre-war treasure. Might be worth checking out at some point, although people say that nobody who seeks it out comes back.
The squad left without me for the city, on account of my injury. Fucking sand around here is so loose that one misstep can make you fall fifty feet if you aren't careful. At least I was lucky, only a sprained ankle. Still, kind of annoyed they just ditched me. Still, there's seven of them, so they should be fine. Hell, maybe they'll do better without me.
(Scrawled in the margin next to the previous lines are the words "They didn't", underlined several times.)
Section 3: New California Republic
At a Glance:
Big, bloated, and probably the best chance that this side of the country has for an established civilization with a functioning government. To say that what they have done is not impressive would be a bold faced lie. One village out in the wastes established an entire nation, unifying other villages and creating a government. Others have done so, or attempted to do so in the past, but NCR acts like an echo of the old world. However, I would be remiss to say that they are all perfect, even their president must acknowledge that. It's just as corrupt and inefficient as the Old World style of government, with enough taxation and bureaucracy that a small rancher would probably stand to make more money by killing off his cattle instead of maintaining them. Probably special interests whispering into the ear of the politicians, but hey, that's democracy at work. Despite the financial burden, the nation has an adept military force with the technology to boot. I haven't seen manufacturing on this scale anywhere else that I have traveled, and even the quality of the goods they produce are not bad. The Bear is an economic, industrial, and military powerhouse.
That being said, they need to seriously consider not overstepping their boundaries and putting strain on their territories. Vegas was clearly a rough acquisition, as anybody in the Crimson Caravan stationed at the Vegas branch would testify. Growing pains, by definition. My greatest concern for them is what they will do if and when they take down Caesar's Legion and push east. Once they hit the Rockies or the Mid-Waste, will they go further?
Sac-Town:
First NCR town I arrived in, and I must say that it was not exactly friendly. The caravan I hitched up with out of New Reno was returning to a settlement near that town, but the place is tiny and underdeveloped. That caravan company, the name is eluding me, is like the only industry or business they have their. That's on account of the Eighties in the area, which clearly got tired to fighting wars of attrition against the White Legs and stepped up operations there for some easy pickings.
San-Francisco:
Second stop in NCR. Much more pleasant. The city itself was bombed to shit, but the occupants are clinging to life there and doing just fine for themselves. Most notably, you have the Shi. Now, I'm not some grand-old-flag flying guy, but I can see why the US would have been concerned about Chinese infiltrating the US. The Shi are tough buggers, and adept at combat. Isolationism keeps them safe and relatively sovereign from the NCR, which is fine by me. Not to mention that these guys are smart and know their books. One of the traders said that if found him any piece of broken electronics, he could find somebody to fix it for him, even a suit of fucking power armor. Calling bullshit on that. Whatever, decent entrepreneur.
Shi aren't the only kids in town though. There's some absolute kooks in town trying to get to space? Basically idiots. Their numbers are admittedly limited, but they're somewhat organized.
Shady Sands:
Ho-lee-shit. This place is absolutely unbelievable. Back growing up I would wonder about how the NCR was so big, but now I know. There have to be thousands of people living in that place. Figures though, considering its the capital and birthplace of the NCR. Surprisingly, it's not all fun and games. There's a load of brahmin ranchers in the area, along with plenty of agriculture to boot. Have to keep the people fed. One of those New Canaanites said that bread and circus feeds the masses. They understand that. Well.
Boneyard:
Opposite of Shady Sands. Absolute shithole. Only stopped here because of a delivery to the Followers of the Apocalypse in the area, and I quickly found out why it's called the Boneyard. The old books I was raised with talked about Los Angeles as this great big city, but the Boneyard is just the husk of it, like the desiccated corpse of a giant Yao Gaui. NCR began rebuilding some of the old towers, but it's like dressing up a corpse. In fact, there have to be at least hundreds of thousands of skeletons still lying in this city, with the living corpses that are ghouls wading amongst them. It's a damn shame that the city fell upon these times, but hopefully the NCR does something good with it. The raiders in the area are kicking ass and making things worse for the legitimate inhabitants.