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Origins and Perks: A Fallout Wasteland Guide
There are many things to consider when setting up your faction, from how you want your SPECIAL to look to what kinds of weapons you need to use. When you've got all that set up, there's one more thing to consider - your Origin, and your Perks.
Origins
In simple terms, Origins define your starting tech and your starting equipment. Origins broad-category perks that, in a generalized manner, sum up your backstory and your current starting position in the wasteland. Every faction has an origin, whether they're a group of wastelanders just out of the dark ages, a band of raiders looking for easy money, or the Brotherhood of Steel. Your origin defines your faction and what it looks like when you start, everything from what body armor you have to what weapons you are carrying.
IMPORTANT: Origins are meant to be very general and encompass a multitude of different backstories. If you feel that your backstory doesn't fit the origins listed here, ask a moderator for advice. Chances are your backstory does in fact fit in one of these. In the unlikely event that it doesn't, we will work with you to create a custom origin.
There are two categories for Origins: Custom Faction Origins and Lore Faction Origins.
Custom Faction Origins are broad-category origins for Custom Factions that apply to most backstories. These origins allow for "Lore but x" factions, though such origins are typically weaker than their corresponding Lore Faction cousins. There are also no limits to the number of factions that may use these origins.
Lore Faction Origins are specific origins for the various Lore Factions we have in the region. To use one of these origins, you must be playing as a member of that lore faction. These origins are limited by the number of people allowed to play as a member of any given faction (3). Note that not all Lore Factions are represented here. The Lore Origins listed below mainly encompass Major Factions from across the games. If you desire an origin for a lesser-known lore faction, ask a Moderator for advice.
Custom Faction Origins
Children of the Vault
It's been several decades since you left the vault, and life was much harder than either you or Vault-Tec anticipated. You've managed to form a stable society, but the going was rough and in the struggle to survive, you've lost things. After all, who has time to keep track of holotapes when you're out in the fields all day or scavenging for scrap? While you're still noticeably more advanced than your wastelander counterparts, you're also notably regressed from your days in the vault.
Starting Tech
Agriculture: 4
Biology: 7
Energy: 4
Industry: 4
Weapons: 6
Engineering: 3
Starting Equipment
Vietnam-Era weapons
Foreign Government Remnants
You're like the Enclave but from a different country. Perhaps you were an Asian government-in-exile after China took over your country. Maybe you're the government of Mexico, in hiding for so long after the occupation, or the Canadian government. Maybe you're the scion of an exiled royal family, sheltering in the Americas, scheming to take back their throne and finding opportunity in the post-apocalypse. Whatever the case, you were well-stocked with the best equipment and bunkers money could buy - though not quite as good as the Enclave, or even the Brotherhood.
Starting Tech
Agriculture: 7
Biology: 7
Energy: 7
Industry: 7
Weapons: 6
Engineering: 6
Starting Equipment
Vietnam-era weapons, 2 Engineering appropriate vehicles of choice, 1 bunker.
Special Bonuses
Two Engineering appropriate vehicles of choice and a bunker.
Restrictions
Starting population reduced to 2,500. Starts out as a dot in the tile instead of a whole tile.
Military Remnants
You're a band of brothers, descended from the remnants of a pre-war military outfit that weathered the apocalypse by sticking together. The journey wasn't without challenge and loss, of course, but your strong collectivist ethic meant that you survived to the present day. Of course, being military brats means you know your way around weapons, but everything else tends to be greek to you.
Starting Tech
Agriculture: 3
Biology: 4
Energy: 4
Industry: 4
Weapons: 9
Engineering: 8
Starting Equipment
Fallout-era conventional weapons
Neo-Medievals
You ain't a tribe, but you ain't much better either. You've at least got an appreciation for knowledge, even if a lot of the world is still considered magic to you, but that's slowly changing. You might even be on the cusp of a renaissance. In the meantime, though, you've made some agricultural improvements and made strides in your fight for survival, having figured out basic engineering and architecture to build walls and protect yourself from the horrors of the wastes. You still haven't quite figured out gunpowder, but your melee weapons and your crossbows are at the zenith of their development.
Starting Tech
Agriculture: 3
Biology: 1
Energy: 1
Industry: 1
Weapons: 1
Engineering: 1
Starting Equipment
Crossbows and melee weapons
Raiders
You're raiders. Not much else to say. You don't produce anything yourselves but thrive on stealing it from everybody else. Either that or you scavenge it from the ruins. When you're not doing that, you're brewing up alcohol and drugs to feed your addictions and drown your depression. Your society, if you can call it that, is entirely based on strength and natural selection. Only the strongest, smartest, and most brutal rule. Time will tell whether or not your society will survive this unsustainable form of living.
Starting Tech
Agriculture: 0
Biology: 7
Energy: 1
Industry: 1
Weapons: 4
Engineering: 1
Starting Equipment
Scavenged melee and pipe weapons
Society of Wizards
You're a society descended from pre-war academics, dedicated to the preservation of knowledge and the furtherance of science beyond what was achieved by the pre-war world. Unfortunately, this task was much harder than it seemed and you've spent the majority of the last two centuries clawing your way back from the dark ages in most areas. That being said, you do have one or two areas of specialization where you've made great progress, maybe even surpassing the pre-war world in that field.
Starting Tech
Agriculture: 3
Biology: 3
Energy: 3
Industry: 3
Weapons: 3
Engineering: 2
Starting Equipment
WW1-era weapons
Special Bonuses
Choose up to 2 Tech Categories to advance to Tier 10
Restriction
Starting Pop reduced to 2,500
Tribals
You're a tribe, in that old Jingoistic sense. Your concept of medicine is herbal, you consider guns to be magic, and you haven't even heard of the plow. Your life is a constant struggle for survival in the harsh wastes of post-war North America. But you at least have a functioning society that, with the right mindset, might make something of itself someday. After all, what doesn't kill ya makes ya stronger.
Starting Tech
Agriculture: 1
Biology: 1
Energy: 1
Industry: 1
Weapons: 1
Engineering: 0
Starting Equipment
Basic bows and melee weapons
Vault Dwellers
You've lived in a vault since the bombs fell. Living underground for two centuries hasn't been easy, but you've made it work somehow. More impressively, you've either managed to survive Vault-Tec's social experimentation or was fortunate enough to land in a control vault. Sturdy as Vault-Tec's construction is, eventually, you'll have to venture beyond your door if only to get supplies to repair your home. If you decide to leave, you're well-equipped to do so, armed with what knowledge the pre-war world thought useful to you, and that they could cram onto a holotape. As Vault-Tec used to say, "Prepared for the Future!"
Starting Tech
Agriculture: 8
Biology: 7
Energy: 8
Industry: 8
Weapons: 8
Engineering: 3
Starting Equipment
Laser weapons and other Fallout weapons
Restriction
Starting pop reduced to 1,000.
Wasteland State
You're a band of plucky wastelanders who recently emerged from the Dark Ages, having formed a stable state and have begun to claw your way back to civilization. Knowledge is slowly increasing; you've rediscovered medicine, basic agricultural techniques, even figured out how to make smokeless powder in small amounts. You're not out of the woods yet, but there is hope for the future, that you might eventually master the wasteland and all its horrors.
Starting Tech
Agriculture: 3
Biology: 4
Energy: 3
Industry: 4
Weapons: 4
Engineering: 3
Starting Equipment
Small arms from WW2
Lore Faction Origins
Brotherhood of Steel
The Brotherhood of Steel. Some call them heroes. Others call them jerks (or worse). Most people think they worship technology. The Brotherhood would tell you otherwise, that they're merely keeping harmful toys out of the hands of children. Either way, the Brotherhood is one of the most well-equipped factions in the wasteland, at least in the East, and remains a relevant power in wasteland politics.
Starting Tech
Agriculture: 8
Biology: 8
Energy: 8
Industry: 8
Weapons: 9
Engineering: 8
Starting Equipment
Laser weapons and Fallout conventional weapons
Special Bonuses
The Prydwen, Liberty Prime, and VB-01 vertibirds
Restrictions
Individual chapters may have different starting conditions. Ask a moderator for details.
Caesar's Legion
Caesar's Legion, a motley collection of tribes forged into a mighty hammer by Edward Swallow, the first Caesar. They are the Antithesis of the NCR - autocratic, misogynistic, and brutal to the benevolent negligence and democracy of the NCR. That being said, the Legion has now twice lost at Hoover Dam, and with Caesar on his deathbed - or perhaps even dead - the Legion is facing a similar identity crisis to its neighbor across the Colorado River. Will the Legion survive the death of Caesar?
Starting Tech
Agriculture: 3
Biology: 2
Energy: 1
Industry: 1
Weapons: 4
Engineering: 1
Starting Equipment
WW2 Era small arms and melee weapons.
Special Bonuses
Starting pop increased to 100,000
Restrictions
See Lore Faction Starting Conditions
Enclave Remnants
The remnants of pre-war America's political, economic, and social elite, the Enclave survived the war in relative comfort and emerged as a power in the wasteland. A series of defeats, however, culminating with the destruction of the Oil Rig and, much later, the Mobile Base Crawler, have reduced them to a shadow of their former self. The Enclave is one of the most technologically advanced factions in the wasteland, rivaling the Institute, but a century of defeat at the hands of wastelanders has left them weak and splintered.
Starting Tech
Agriculture: 9
Biology: 9
Energy: 9
Industry: 9
Weapons: 10
Engineering: 10
Starting Equipment
Plasma weapons and Fallout conventional weapons, X-02/Hellfire power armor, and up to 4 VB-02 Vertibirds.
Restrictions
Starting pop reduced to 1000.
Individual chapters may have different starting conditions. Ask a moderator for details.
Great Khans
The Khans are a former gang, now a tribe with a long and storied history. Formed from one of the groups that came out of Vault 15, the Khans quickly established themselves as one of the toughest and most ruthless gangs in the wasteland. Decimated first by the Vault Dweller, then again by the Chosen One (both on behalf of the NCR), the Great Khans had been reduced to a shadow of their former glory, living on a reservation in the Mojave. The NCR-Legion War allowed them, however, the chance to escape and start afresh, using the glory of the Mongols as a template for their revival. During the chaos of the 2nd Battle of Hoover Dam, they upped stakes and escaped into the wasteland. Where exactly they went remains to be seen, though it is assured that wherever they turn up, they will be a formidable force.
Starting Tech
Agriculture: 3
Biology: 7
Energy: 5
Industry: 1
Weapons: 8
Engineering: 1
Special Bonuses
See Lore Faction Starting Conditions
Gunners
The Gunners are best described as a private military outfit with its own agenda that happens to hire out mercenaries on the side. They are definitely the best mercenaries in the business, with soldiers regularly carrying laser rifles and wearing combat armor. This, of course, means they're also one of the tougher factions in the Commonwealth. Mercenaries aside, the Gunners seem to have some sort of goal for the Commonwealth - though what that is, no one knows.
Starting Tech
Agriculture: 0
Biology: 7
Energy: 8
Industry: 1
Weapons: 8
Engineering: 4
Starting Equipment
Laser weapons and Fallout conventional weapons
Starting Conditions
See Lore Faction Starting Conditions
Institute
Secretive and ominous, the Institute is the most highly advanced faction in the wasteland, with technology rivaled only by Big MT and the Enclave. The Institute makes up for its smaller population by producing Synths, both of the Terminator variety and of the near-perfect human replica that is their Gen3 Synth. Time will tell, though, if they can continue to lead their utopian underground life undisturbed by those living on the surface...
Starting Tech
Agriculture: 9
Biology: 10
Energy: 10
Industry: 9
Weapons: 4
Engineering: 4
Starting Equipment
Institute lasers weapons
Special Bonuses
4,000 Gen-1/2 synths, 3,000 Gen-3 synths, and 100 Coursers and a Teleporter (allows instantaneous travel wherever the Institute can broadcast their radio signal)
Restrictions
Starting pop reduced to 2,000
Minutemen
If the Institute is the bogeyman of the Commonwealth, then the Minutemen are its heroes. Well, were its heroes. The Minutemen have fallen far from their glory, reduced to the Castle and a handful of splinter cells across the Commonwealth. But they still have their artillery, and in the Sole Survivor, they have a rallying point, meaning they are poised to reclaim their glory and finally build the dream of a United Commonwealth.
Starting Tech
Agriculture: 4
Biology: 3
Energy: 6
Industry: 4
Weapons: 8
Engineering: 3
Starting Equipment
Laser Muskets and Fallout conventional firearms
Special Bonuses
The Sole Survivor leads this faction. Starts with the Castle and five artillery pieces there.
New California Republic
The New Californian Republic, the shining beacon of democracy in a post-apocalyptic wasteland. More than any other faction in the wasteland, the NCR represents the rebirth of civilization and the true continuation of American ideals. That being said, the NCR is slowly rotting on the vine as decades of incessant war and expansion take their toll on its political and economic institution. With a bureaucracy plagued by corruption and having recently experienced defeat at the hands of the Courier at the 2nd Battle of Hoover Dam, the NCR is a nation gripped in paralysis, teetering on the edge of either a renaissance - or a collapse into authoritarianism.
Starting Tech
Agriculture: 4
Biology: 7
Energy: 6
Industry: 6
Weapons: 8
Engineering: 4
Starting Equipment
Fallout conventional weapons, trucks, and 4 VB-02 Vertibirds.
Special Bonuses
Starting pop increased to 700,000
Restrictions
See Lore Faction Starting Conditions
New Vegas
The glittering jewel of Nevada, outshining New Reno, New Vegas is a power just coming on the scene. New Vegas was the true winner of the Second Battle of Hoover Dam, first utilizing NCR troops to defeat the Legion, then kicking the tired and overstretched NCR forces out with its massive army of Securitrons. With the dam under its thumb and money continuing to roll in from the casinos, New Vegas is poised to lead the world - though whether under House or under the Courier is up to you.
Starting Tech
Agriculture: 4
Biology: 7
Energy: 8
Industry: 9
Weapons: 9
Engineering: 6
Starting Equipment
Fallout Conventional Weapons
Special Bonuses
Starts with 10,000 Securitrons and control of Hoover Dam and Camp McCarran.
Restrictions
Starting pop set at 10,000. Securitrons need a functioning Radio Relay Tower to operate outside of the New Vegas tile.
Nuka-World Raiders
Savage, ruthless, and cunning, the Nuka-Raiders are less raiders and more a warlord state living out of the old Nuka-World park. An alliance between three different raider gangs underneath a powerful Overboss, tyrannically ruling over the slave Traders, the Nuka-Raiders are a new force in the Commonwealth and one to be reckoned with. Time will tell if their parasitic lifestyle can survive the challenges of civilization - or if they can claim their place in the crowded field that is the Commonwealth.
Starting Tech
Agriculture: 3
Biology: 7
Energy: 3
Industry: 1
Weapons: 8
Engineering: 1
Starting Equipment
Fallout conventional firearms, Nuka-Raider weapons, and Nuka-Raider armor
Special Bonuses
See Lore Faction Starting Conditions
Railroad
If the Institute is secretive, then the Railroad is downright shadowy. The Railroad is less of a nation, more of an organization dedicated to the liberation of synths from the Institute as well as the eventual destruction of the Institute. What they lack in the way of advanced technology they make up for in sheer gumption and exceptional combat ability.
Starting Tech
Agriculture: 0
Biology: 7
Energy: 8
Industry: 5
Weapons: 9
Engineering: 6
Starting Equipment
Gauss rifles and Fallout conventional weapons
Special Bonuses
Mercenaries and resources from the Merchant are cheaper.
Restrictions
Population reduced to 2,500. Cannot take tiles (but may still occupy bases).
Shi
Ah, yes, the Castaways, now grown into a nation and culture of their own. The Shi are a people descended from a Chinese submariner crew stranded in San Francisco when the bombs fell. Technologically adept, the Shi rival both the Enclave and the Institute with their scientific achievements. However, their position surrounded by the NCR means they have little opportunity to expand and are constantly in danger of being swallowed up by it. It remains to be seen if the Shi will amount to anything more than just another NCR protectorate.
Starting Tech
Agriculture: 9
Biology: 9
Energy: 8
Industry: 9
Weapons: 9
Engineering: 10
Starting Equipment
Fallout conventional weapons
Special Bonuses
See Lore Faction Starting Conditions
Perks
Custom factions, in addition to their Origins, are allowed what we call Perks. Perks are backstory-related faction bonuses that help distinguish and differentiate your faction from the rest of the world. Does your faction have a bonus to food growth? That's a perk! Is there an old ironclad sitting in your harbor? Use a perk to start out with it repaired! Every faction gets two perks in addition to their origin.
Perks can cover a variety of situations and bonuses, but they do have restrictions. For starters, Perks cannot modify anything already covered by the SPECIAL system. In other words you cannot perk your way into higher science or higher population growth. Perks also cannot modify the restrictions of an Origin. If, for example, your Origin restricts you to a starting population of 1,000, then you cannot use a perk to bypass that - you're stuck at 1,000.
That being said, you can use your Perks to rearrange your Starting Tech Tree. If you feel like the tech tree of an origin doesn't adequately represent the technological character of a faction, you may use a perk to redistribute up to two (2) points from any category to any other category or categories. This can only be done once; ergo, you may not use both your perk slots to rearrange your tech tree.
Perks can also be used to start out with normally prohibited things like working vehicles or heavy weapons. There is a limitation, though - a perk may only reference one type of vehicle (a particular model of tank, vertibirds, etc.) and is limited to a small number (defined in our region as 4 or less, depending on the vehicle). Vehicles should either be thematically appropriate to your faction or a reference to a real-world museum piece in your starting tile. WARNING!!! Perks are intended to help establish the character of your faction, not bypass rules. Moderators reserve the right to deny equipment perks if deemed unrelated to a faction's backstory or inappropriate to your chosen Origin.
To request a perk, write down the information in a factbook and submit it to the Moderators in the #ask-vault-tecd channel on Discord for review. A Perk should have a Title, its effect, and a short blurb describing the history of the perk and how it relates to your faction's backstory. Moderators will review the perk to make sure it makes sense or is not too OP (or breaks rules, etc.). If approved, the factbook should be maintained throughout the life of the faction. Once approved, a perk may not be rescinded, modified, or replaced.
IMPORTANT: Lore factions have perks already assigned to them; none may be added nor their existing ones modified.
Example Perks
Breadbasket
Effect: Rations tiles produce 1.5 the amount of food per level of improvement.
Growing food in the wasteland is hard, but we've gotten good at it over the years. Thanks to pre-war knowledge recovered from an agricultural university and the storing up of our own knowledge, we've been able to coax more food from the land than most others have.
A Pirate's Life for Me
Effect: Starts out with 2 small Eg-ships of choice.
The apocalypse drove our ancestors to the sea. The sea was our salvation, our nourishment, and most importantly, our highway to the resources we need to survive. The fact that those resources are owned by others is but a minor inconvenience, one usually overcome with ease.
