Wasteland Memories: Photos from the Fallout Universe

[Tresckow]

Noticed there isn’t a thread similar to “photos from featherston’s confederacy” for the Fallout universe. Figured I’ll start off.

Photograph of pre-war New York City, circa 2076. The city had a population of roughly 20,000,000 before the bombs were dropped. The entire city was leveled and the population decimated due to its industrial, economic, and population importance. Roughly 10,000 inhabitants who were not in vaults survived the war.

 

[S. Marlowski]

US Army soldiers from the 79th Infantry Division watch as US Air Force fighter bombers drop napalm on a Chinese held position near Nelchina Alaska, circa 2072. The Chinese Military would put up a stubborn resistance on the Alaskan Front, which made that front very reminiscent of WWI.

 

[Sunstone77]

The Lady in the Water (or the Lake Mead Monster) shortly before being raising from the eponymous Lake Mead and her restoration by the Boomers of New Vegas. Remarkably well preserved after more then 330 years in the water, The Lady would go on to play a crucial role in the Second Battle of Hoover Dam, providing heavy air support for [#@?! DATA CORRUPTION!#@?!]

 

[Gukpard]

Standart US officer uniform on the capital wasteland, 2277

 

[Odinson]

President Disney at a 1957 press conference announcing his EPCOT Initiative in order to overtake the Soviet Union after the launch of Sputnik.

 

[Tresckow]

President Nixon apperaring with USSA astronauts after the successful Galileo 9 mission that fully orbited the Earth on July 7, 1965.

General Secretary Tatyana Novikova of the Soviet Union (born 30 April 2037, died May 7, 2094). Novikova started her career in the KGB at the age of 20, and managed to infiltrate the Fourth Reich's intelligence during the late 2050s, exposing their nuclear arms program. She was honored as a Hero of the Soviet Union by Chairman Dmitry Romanov in 2058 and became one of the youngest female members of the Politburo in 2061. In 2067, she was selected by Chairman Grigory Kovalev to be the Chairwoman of the KGB, a post she served in until 2071 when Kovalev suffered a major stroke. The CPSU elected her the General Secretary of the Party that year and she concurrently became Chairwoman of the Supreme Soviet. Under her chairmanship, she continued the Soviet Union's "dual neutrality" policy in the Sino-American War, however negotiated secret trade agreements with the United States to export Siberian oil to American markets. On October 23, 2077, the Soviet Air Force detected nuclear missiles leaving China, and Novikova ordered a counterstrike against China. About 1,000 warheads were exchanged between the Soviets and Chinese, and the Soviets also suffered attacks from western European enemies. Novikova managed to survive the attack thanks to Metro II, however much of the Soviet government erradicated at the hands of China, the German Empire, and others. In the wake of the chaos, and Novikova named herself "Supreme Executive of the Emergency Contingency Government," based in Yakutsk. While the interim government claimed the entirety of the Soviet Union (as well as Xinjiang and Mongolia), their authority was limited to Siberia. Novikova would die of cancer in May of 2094, survived by her husband and two children. Yakutsk would be renamed Novikovagrad in her honor.

(photo taken in 2070)

 

[Gukpard]

Dick Richardson, the last official POTUS around 2242
After his death the Enclave was shattered into claimants

 

[S. Marlowski]

A Chinese Missile Boat firing Anti-Ship Missiles at US Navy warships near Kodiak Island, circa 2067.

 

[Tresckow]

A Chinese war propaganda poster created during the early stages of the Sino-American War, lauding the success of the invasion of Alaska as a symbol of strength of the Chinese people.

 

[Tresckow]

On the other side, here is an American propaganda poster, attempting to put a positive spin on the ban on the sale of gasoline for automobiles and encouraging citizens to sell their tires to help the war effort.

 

[S. Marlowski]

European Commonwealth soldiers resting in Syria during the Euro-Arab War, circa 2055.

 

[New Cleo Genesis]

Commander Norman Talbot of the HMS Ranger had the dubious honour of being the first Englishman to sink a ship of the United States Navy in more than 250 years. He was in command of the Ranger on September 3rd 2070 during a routine patrol mission on the perimeter of the British Exclusion Zone(*) near Rockall, when the crew detected a signal from an unknown submarine. The vessel did not respond when Talbot and his crew tried to communicate, so he ordered his crew to destroy the intruder with a nuclear torpedo.

Unbeknownst to Talbot, the mysterious vessel in question was the American USS Fort Wayne, captained by Commander Henry "Hank" Carter. The aging American ship had suffered a partial electronics failure earlier during the day and had drifted off course into the Zone. The technicians were still working on fixing the systems when the Americans noticed they were being watched. Once the hydrophone detected their adversary firing at them, Carter responded in kind, using the still functional weapons systems.

The British torpedo struck the Fort Wayne, with predictable results. However, the American one had not yet escaped its blast radius, and it exploded as well. The chain reaction was strong enough to cause structural harm to the Ranger, which suffered a reactor breach. Talbot had enough time to order the ballast tanks to be emptied and the submarine to surface, but radiation poisoning would kill all the crew members into their inflatable boats once they abandoned their ship. A search-and-rescue Navy helicopter would discover their disfigured corpses 44 hours later.

---

Yep, the two officers are based on the British and American submarine captains in The Spy Who Loved Me.

* I've seen several fan-made maps depict the British as completely cut off from the outside world, so I thought I could follow the same here.

 

[Sunstone77]

A United States Army solider keeping an eye on prisoners in an Ontario internment camp in early 2077. Despite a long history of cultural and political influence over their nothern neighbour, resistance by the common Canadian populace remained constant and strong against their occupiers, forcing the United States to employ ever increasing brutality to maintain control, with hostage taking and public executions becoming common events.

A common joke amongst NCR soldiers is their wish for a little Nuclear Winter to break the heat of the Mojave desert. For the survivors and settlements left in what in what was once Canada, nuclear winter is a fact of life. While atomic fire may have scorched much of their southern neighbour, the heat and dusts thrown up from the countless blasts sent the Canadian winter into overdrive as weather systems went crazy. A few "lucky" hundreds found salvation in Vault-Tec vaults or homemade bunkers, many Canadians and American occupiers and settlers would perish in the punishing cold. Those that didn't die to frostbite of radiation sickness would eke out scavenging for supplies or tradeable materials from the bombed or frozen ruins of old cities.

Originally built to keep the Alaska front in the Sino-American War supplied (and later export Canadian resources back to the United States), Icebreaker is an old American superheavy train which has found new life in a post Great War world as a makeshift city. Abandoned when the bombs were dropped and its intended destination destroyed, survivors repurposed the train and its atomic powered generator as shelter during the harsh nuclear winter. Since then, Icebreaker has become a local hub of trade and commerce. However, this prosperity has made it a target for raiders and factions which seek to reclaim its technology. If Icebreaker wishes to survive, it may need to get those centuries old engines running and pull her tailing town down those ancient tracks once more

 

[Danifa94]

Doctor Stanislaus Braun, circa 2054.

Director for Vault-Tec's Societal Preservation Program. Head of Future-Tec, a division of Vault-Tec Corporation. Creator of the Garden of Eden Creation Kit™.

A preeminent German scientist, Dr. Braun headed up many astonishing experiments in his long and varied career, but of most interest were his theories on advanced life preservation. It is said that the U.S. Army had contracted Braun to develop various methods of sustaining human life in case of an atomic war. When the war did come, Braun assumed his assigned position as Overseer of the Vault 112 of Project Safehouse, located in the Columbian Commonwealth, United States of America.

 

[S. Marlowski]

Chinese PLA troops launching a human wave attack against American Positions near Shantou, circa 2075.

 

[Sunstone77]

Chinese Horseman raider, circa 2083. Much like their American counterparts, the destruction of the Great War and the ensuing collapse of society led to a armed bandits who'd raid and pillage survivors. Many raider gangs would be composed of former PLA soldiers, who thanks to army issue equipment were able to weather the radiation better then most of the populace

 

[Sunstone77]

Occupying the beached and broken wreck of an old aircraft carrier, Rivet City continues to be a centre of trade and one of the largest settlements in the Capital Wasteland even after the Brotherhood-Enclave War and Brotherhood’s wasteland reclamation efforts

 

[Tresckow]

Photograph of U.S. Army soldiers of the 18th Armored Division taking a break during the Gobi Desert Campaign, June 2075. The previous year, the United States overran communist Korea and captured Kim Kang-dae, and entered Manchuria largely unopposed (the Yangtze Campaign was seen as a much bigger threat by the Chinese). The success of the Gobi Offensive soon dissipated as occupying the empty Chinese interior only dealt the Chinese a brief morale blow and cost the Americans vast amounts of resources. Plans were drawn up for two-front invasion of Beijing, however as the bombs soon dropped across the world, the plans never became reality. The fate of soldiers serving in China is not known, but most consider their fates grim. Rumors circulate that some defected to the Soviet Contingency to avoid being murdered by the Chinese who survived the war, but those claims are considered dubious by both Soviet and American historians.

 

[Tresckow]

Photograph of Emperor Katsuhito (Dōwa/同和), Empress Mamiko, Crown Prince Norihito, and Princess Fujiko, circa 2065. The Dōwa Era (2055-2096) marked the rise of Japan to superpower (the restoration) status by the mid 2070s, with two factors fueling Japan's return to dominance. Japan had suffered economic downfall due to the oil crisis, but was ahead of the world when it came to alternative energy. Mitsubishi revealed the "Ichi-Suiso" (One Hydrogen) in 2047, the world's first hydrogen fuel cell car. Within three years, 1 in 3 Japanese cars were fuel cell powered, and by 2060, the entirety of Japan's cars were fuel cell powered.

The first cause of the "Dōwa Restoration" was due to the Japanese-American rift that began in the 2030s but became noticeable once the energy crisis began. Relations between the United States and Japan became strained during the energy crisis, mostly due to Japan prioritizing fuel cell production for their own markets and the anti-American sentiment growing in Japan following several rape incidents in Okinawa. By 2061, the nationalistic Katayama government evicted American forces from Japan, and two years later drafted a new constitution that reverted Japan's name to the "Empire of Japan."

The second cause would be the Sino-American War. The decade long war drained her economic rivals of their resources to the point that Southeast Asia and Oceania sought closer ties with the Japanese Empire during the 2070s. The Pan-Pacific Economic Partnership Group would be founded by the Japanese in 2074 and included the Republic of Vietnam, Kampuchea, Laos, Indonesia, Malaysia, Australia, New Zealand, and Chile as major partners, as well as the KMT government-in-exile as an observer. By 2076, Japan had finally overtaken the United States as the worlds largest economy, and soon bore the third largest standing army in the world, trailing the bloated armies of China and the United States respectively.

By 2077, Japan was in a position to challenge the United States and China both economically and militarily (obviously not simultaneously). The Sino-American War had claimed millions of lives on both sides, nearly double the casualties of World War II. It was becoming obvious that despite the war turning in the Americans' favor, the sheer amount of casualties suffered by the United States would cripple its power for decades to come, if not forever. With relations between Tokyo and Washington soured due to Japan's refusal to join the Sino-American War, the Nakajima government began to strongly consider striking the United States after the end of the war, just to show off Japan's power to the rest of the world. Of course, these plans were never fully realized due to the nuclear holocaust of October 2077. With the ensuing anarchy across the world and radical changes in the world climate, the Emperor ordered the "Second Sakoku" and closed off Japan from the rest of the world.

Very little is known about postwar Japan. Similarly to Vault 101, no one ever enters, and no one ever leaves.

 

[Sunstone77]

Photograph of Emperor Katsuhito (Dōwa/同和), Empress Mamiko, Crown Prince Norihito, and Princess Fujiko, circa 2065. The Dōwa Era (2055-2096) marked the rise of Japan to superpower (the restoration) status by the mid 2070s, with multiple two factors fueling Japan's return to dominance. Japan had suffered economic downfall due to the oil crisis, but was ahead of the world when it came to alternative energy. Mitsubishi revealed the "Ichi-Suiso" (One Hydrogen) in 2047, the world's first hydrogen fuel cell car. Within ten years, 1 in 3 Japanese cars were fuel cell powered, and by 2060, the entirety of Japan's cars were fuel cell powered.

The first cause of the "Dōwa Restoration" was due to the Japanese-American rift that began in the 2030s but became noticeable once the energy crisis began. Relations between the United States and Japan became strained during the energy crisis, mostly due to Japan prioritizing fuel cell production for their own markets and the anti-American sentiment growing in Japan following several rape incidents in Okinawa. By 2061, the nationalistic Katayama government evicted American forces from Japan, and two years later drafted a new constitution that reverted Japan's name to the "Empire of Japan."

The second cause would be the Sino-American War. The decade long war drained her economic rivals of their resources to the point that Southeast Asia and Oceania sought closer ties with the Japanese Empire during the 2070s. The Pan-Pacific Economic Partnership Group would be founded by the Japanese in 2074 and included the Republic of Vietnam, Kampuchea, Laos, Indonesia, Malaysia, Australia, New Zealand, and Chile as major partners, as well as the KMT government as an observer. By 2076, Japan had finally overtaken the United States as the worlds largest economy, and soon bore the third largest standing army in the world, trailing China and the United States respectively.

By 2077, Japan was in a position to challenge the United States and China both economically and militarily (obviously not simultaneously). The Nakajima government began to strongly consider striking the United States after the end of the Sino-American War, or temporarily allying with them and grabbing pieces of Korea and China, while waiting a decade or two before launching Operation Shihai. Of course, these plans were never fully realized due to the nuclear holocaust of October 2077. With the ensuing anarchy across the world and radical changes in the world climate, the Emperor ordered the "Second Sakoku" and closed off Japan from the rest of the world.

This feels more like Red Alert 3 then Fallout. I can buy Japan going hard on technology to save them but being able to challenge China and the USA to such an extent feels rather wank-y