#fallout 4 lore

[greatwargospel]

gen3 synths canonically do not need food, sleep, and are resistant to disease (yet can feel hungry and tired?). they are biologically inseparable from human beings saved for a chip that can only be recovered upon death of the synth (purely to be able to program and give commands to synths); everything else is indistinguishable from a biological human. so i look to the skies and ask once again, why the Fuck did the Institute make generation 3 synths?

[not-a-newt]

Part VI of Deacon's Ambient Dialogue Compilation: Special Lore Edition...

"The Slog. Nice place. I used to work the farms for Murphy for awhile. Not a bad boss."

"Finch Farm. Our runners sometimes crash here. They're good people."

"I miss the Capital Wasteland. You can actually drink the water there."

"There was a time I was on a first name basis with chems. It's better to kiss them goodbye, trust me."

+ Bonus, if ANYONE could tell me what triggers this dialogue, I will pay you with my eternal gratitude, because I'm almost certain he's referencing Barabara:

"She would've liked this."

[pain-of-redemption]

I’m back with another Fallout lore rant because something is just bothering me and I need to rant about it.

And there are some spoilers ahead so don’t read this unless you’re ok with spoilers or already played the game

So I’m replaying fallout 4 for the nth time because I can and I make it to the ‘exploring Kellogg’s memories’ sequence. And I’m watching the very last memory, listening to every single part of the dialogue. And something just hits me like a bat to the face.

It’s the part where Kellogg says “...one of the old man’s pet projects...” and I think it’s pretty well discussed that some people think the Kellogg is referring to Dr. Zimmer. And let me be honest I thought that for a while too but when Shaun says “are you taking me back to my father?” It just feels so off to me.

Granted, yes, Shaun most likely had adoptive parents in the institute and was very well taken care of. But there’s so many dialogue interactions in that single scene that just don’t seem to corroborate the whole Dr. Zimmer theory.

Because number one Dr. Amari states that that memory is the most recent one, yeah it could be ten to twelve years after the vault incident. But that doesn’t feel right at all. It really doesn’t. I mean the radio explicitly has Travis’ voice playing on there but Bethesda could’ve been reusing assets to just put some background noise in there. Yeah, ok, fine.

X6-88 shows up in that scene too, granted we have no idea when he was created. The earliest would be 2229 because that’s when the broken mask incident occurred and there is some speculation that the railroad was operating around that time. Again could still prove the Dr. Zimmer theory.

But X6-88 tells Kellogg he has to track down and eliminate Dr. Brian Virgil. Brian Virgil. BRIAN MOTHERFUCKING VIRGIL. Brian Virgil did not work on the FEV experiment 50 years before the events of Fallout 4. He has only been working in the FEV lab for about 10 years as ordered by Father AKA SHAUN. We have no idea when Brian Virgil left the Institute but it was sometime before you left the vault. Considering the fact that Virgil is still sane when you find him in the glowing sea it has to be around 1-2 years. But Bethesda isn’t really explicit on which super mutants are sane and why they are.

Not to forget the fact that Ellie remembers Kellogg living in Diamond City occasionally seen with a kid. Ellie isn’t exactly 60 years old PEOPLE. And again it could be another kid but I highly doubt it.

So yeah the “old man” that Kellogg was taking about has to be Father. I mean Synth Shaun refers to the real one as father whenever he’s brought up. And the creation of Synth Shaun was practically a pet project for Father.

I just- all the facts are there HOW DID I NOT SEE THIS SOONER??!????!!!

[bethanthrax]

Ok so - Gen 3 synths.

There's a lot of discourse that implies they are unable to reproduce (Deacon's affinity speech - if you believe him), and some super vague institute terminal entries. But...has this been confirmed?

Or did Todd just expect us to work this out for ourselves?

Probably the latter...

...either way, would love to discuss this further if anyone has anything to add c:

[s0diepop]

so is no one gonna point out that deacon and zeke are the same person or am I just gonna headcanon them as brothers on my own

[tunnelsnakesfool]

Some facts on Vim!

[atomic-lexa]

Old Longfellow

So, I thoroughly enjoy the fact that Arthur Maxson and his storyline (at least concerning Fallout 4′s events) is based off of King Arthur, and that Paladin Danse originates from the Danse Macabre, so, I figured there are probably quite a few characters and story arcs that are allusions to other stories, characters, and sources. So, what I’ve found is that some of Old Longfellow’s character is an allusion to The Secret of the Sea by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. 

In addition to the fact that he shares a name with the author, the poem itself covers a keen appreciation for the sea, and Old Longfellow lives, well, by the sea. In a shanty harbor town. 

Most of all, the Spanish ballad  Haunts me oft, and tarries long, Of the noble Count Arnaldos  And the sailor's mystic song. 

When Longfellow is idle, he’ll often sing songs to himself, namely things like “Wild Rover” and “Molly Malone”, and though they are of Irish origin, not many other companions share this habit. 

In addition, the author, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow was born in Portland, Maine, when it was still considered to be a part of Massachusetts (where Fallout 4 takes place, of course), and he lived out his senior years, post-retirement in Cambridge, Massachusetts. 

Furthermore, Henry Longfellow’s first wife died after a miscarriage in 1835, drawing parallels to Old Longfellow, who’s wife Hannah had a miscarriage after being brainwashed and indoctrinated by the Children of Atom, and later, also died. And, really, just look. There’s no way Old Longfellow wasn’t based off of Henry W. Longfellow. 

Anyway, enjoy this absolutely useless information, because we like Fallout lore more than actual useful things. 

[pain-of-redemption]

Well since we’re getting into a threshold of the comic I think it’s high time I make a post about all the headcanons I have for Fallout 4 (please note some of these may not be used or altered slightly in the future.) I will also explain my purposes behind these head canons so you can see my reasoning behind them.

So here ya go ladies and gentlemen and everyone inbetween to a bunch of Fallout headcanons.

The wasteland has a lot more plants, it’s not as lush as it is today but not a barren wasteland either, a nice middle ground if you will. The plants and vegetation would obviously adapt to the radiation, they won’t be exactly like their prewar counterparts as the radiation would alter the plants appearances.

Gen 3 Synths can age. It is impossible to ultimately stop a living thing from aging, you can expand its lifespan or slow down the aging but you can’t stop it. Now whether Gen 3s age like normal humans or have a significantly increased lifespan I haven’t really decided, but I’m leaning more towards the normal aging process.

The entirety of Jamaica Plain (and I mean the whole town) is a settlement. It was the BIGGEST let down ever when I found out you get this tiny little corner of land and not the whole gosh darn town. I can understand from a gameplay perspective since Jamaica Plain would be almost as big as Diamond City and it would be difficult to maintain, but I want the whole town to be usable so fight me.

Goodneighbor is a lot bigger, maybe not as big as Diamond City, maybe just as big as Sanctuary Hills or a little bigger. I just feel like Goodneighbor should be bigger to house all of the drifters and be home to a lot more shops. Goodneighbor should really be on par with Diamond City when it comes to people, shops, explorable places, etc.

While staying in the topic of Goodneighbor, the Third Rail is a lot more spacious too. There’s a separate dining area, a few waiters/waitresses, and more than just one singer. Magnolia does sing the most at the Third Rail but I imagine when she wants to take a break to rest her voice another person steps up to sing. That person may not be as well known as Magnolia but the people of Goodneighbor still appreciate their voice.

There is a wider selection of music around the Commonwealth. I love 50s music but I will say it does get a little bit stale over a long period of time. So there will be holotapes scattered around the Commonwealth containing different genres of music ranging from 80s hard rock to even Japanese Vocaloid. They aren’t as popular as 50s music (especially in the wasteland) but they are heard of. I’m mainly doing this because I’m addicted to music and I will put a lot of references to songs in the comic.

Nick Valentine knows a bit of Japanese! Ok I know this is really weird and out there but it just makes sense to me. I have no idea how I came up with the head canon, it might’ve just come up from the NPC dialogue between Takahashi and Nick but it’s stuck with me for so long that I just had to include it. Also Nick may not be fluent in Japanese, or it’s just the “oh I can read and write it but I can’t speak it” situation.

Danse can’t swim and has Thalassophobia (fear of bodies of water). Ok ok another weird one but again it makes sense to me. Danse is almost always in power armor and seeing how you can’t exactly swim in power would make him anxious. Can’t imagine he learned how to swim trudging in power armor all day either.

That’s most of my headcanons for now. Knowing my brain I’ll probably come up with more considering my brain never stops thinking. I hope you guys at least like or agree with some of my headcanons, lemme know your take on them and what you think!