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When the bombs in theFalloutfranchise fell, so too did the American government. Or so it seemed. When the NCR (or the New California Republic) emerged from Vault 15, some inhabitants set out to recreate a functional government as best they could from their diverse vault population. The NCR’s citizens enjoy healthcare, stability, and relative safety from the dangerous roving bands of the Wasteland.
As a result, the NCR became a powerhouse in the Mojave, believing that uniting the Wasteland under a common banner would be best for the continued survival of the world as they know it, able to conscript from their vast population at will to expand their borders.
The NCR’s Origins
The NCR is the result of Vault-Tec’s Vault 15, an experiment that instructed a group of people with various radical ideologies to be placed within it tocatalog the success or failure of forcing them to work together.
True to life, these people werequick to form factionsonce locked within the Vault, and tensions built, spurred on through the years by a growing overpopulation issue.
The situation came to a head and the Vault was opened,leading to one group dissolving into various raider bands.At the same time, the otherevolved into what would become known as the New California Republic.
The vault dwellers that chose to remain would disappear over time.
Shady Sands
The NCR would start as a loose confederation of survivors, before growing into a federal republic. The early NCR would establishShady Sandsin the year 2142, utilizing theGarden of Eden Creation Kit(or, the G.E.C.K) to create passably fertile land for farms, hemmed by adobe walls.
The G.E.C.K is a technological device that can essentially, for lack of a better word,terraform the surface of the Wasteland.A G.E.C.K is usually locked within a Vault, so the inhabitants can better build upon the Wasteland when their Vault inevitably fails or is opened.
Shady Sands began to build further,becoming a regional power over years of peaceful habitation.
Eventually,they would connect with other cities near them, with the leader,Aradesh, drafting a constitution and becoming the president after helping form the NCR proper. Shady Sands would be its capital.
What Is The NCR?
The NCR is theclosest thing the Wasteland has to a pre-war functioning governmental force.They have legislators, an executive branch, and a slow-moving judicial branch.
The people of the NCR enjoyedsocial freedom, with bans on discrimination based on gender, religious belief, ethnicity, and sexuality, as well asa ban on slavery.
There was also a system of healthcare, a branch dedicated to foreign diplomacy, and an economy. However, their rise to power alsosignified the loss of scavenging as a necessary job, forcing people towork for wagesthe way their ancestors had pre-war.
Many would also see the rise of the NCR as the death of communal spiritand the rise of a capitalistic society.
With this came taxes, which werebroadly unpopular with Wastelanders, and a considerable amount of unapologetic imperialism, with the NCR commandeering settlements to support its population and large military force.
Mutants were also allowed to settle within the NCR, and ghouls were known to have a unit within the army. That being said, this was loosely enforced.
The NCR’s Advancements
With Aradesh’s death, Tandi, his daughter, was elected to his former position. Under her leadership,the NCR would hit its prime, rebuilding her area of the Wasteland’s infrastructureto support the population as it expanded to over 70,000 people.
She formed alliances with nearby settlementsthe way her predecessor had, securing Vault City and New Reno during her tenure as president while taking care of the predatory ranchers (known as Brahmin barons) in the region in the name of egalitarianism.
Vault Cityis a technologically advanced settlement in Nevada.
It would be no stretch to say thatunder her leadership, the NCR was at its most stable, expanding toinclude and support the Shady Sands, Hub, Los Angeles, Maxson, and Dayglow.
Tandi would die at the age of 103, having been reelected every year since her inauguration, save for when she resigned. The president after her would govern for five years before being ousted, andthe population of the NCR would eventually swell to well above 700,000.
The NCR Rangers
The NCR was alsoa military force to be reckoned with, with the Rangers division being one of the most elite powers in the Mojave.
Known for their bravery and deadly efficiency in battle,Rangers shouldered a fearless and professional reputation, though they would frequently be deployed as bounty hunters in lieu of action.
The punishment for deserting the army or showing cowardice in the NCR army is to be executed.
Access To The Hoover Dam
After Tandi’s death, the NCR’s leaders started to walk back some of her laws,turning their attention fully toexpansionism under the threat of famineandresource exhaustion.
The Rangers would be part of the group sent out to the Hoover Dam, which they would discover was in relatively good working order and would subsequently occupy, thereby becoming one of the more technologically advanced factions.
They would also discover that Las Vegas, or “New Vegas” was fairly untouched by the bombs,but would be stopped from mobilizing forces by the Treaty of New Vegas.
Their access to the Hoover Dam gave the NCRelectricity; a scarcity in the wider Wasteland. So, as far as living in the Mojave went, the NCR was a pretty good bet if one wanted to live beyond simply struggling to.
It was during and after this that the NCR wouldengage in multiple conflicts with the Legion, who would become their primary enemy, especially with the Hoover Dam hanging in the balance.
By the timeFallout: New Vegasis in full swing,the NCR is still engaged in frequent military conflictswith not only the Legion but the Brotherhood of Steel, particularlyover control of the western side of the Hoover Dam.
