Mass Fallout
Mass Effect x Fallout (3, then Vegas)
The premise- in a galaxy in which the Krogan Rebellions are still ongoing, a Salarian STG force looking for a lost scouting party investigates the origins of radio signals originating from a pre-spaceflight civilization, only to find a post-nuclear world of both opportunity and danger...
The idea- the aliens of the Fallout franchise are replaced by Salarians. Things begin to change from there, as the technological bases begin to interact... and not in the way the Salarians anticipate.
The 'Plot'
The Salarians land at the downed UFO, looking for clues of their lost bretheren. They land, expecting to be the baddest mother-fuckers around. In an initial ambush of some raiders that take a surprising amount of fire to go down, and being attacked by wild dogs (mini-varen), they are correct... though one of them is wounded/killed by a rad scorpion, and starts setting off the geigar counters.
Then they see their first securitron, laugh at how primitive it is... and watch in amazement as one of their owned is burned into ashes by lasers that go straight through the kinetic barriers. And when they finally enter the ship to find a bloody massacre secure the ship's logs, they are greeted with horror stories of monsters that take sustained weapons fire, giants who laugh at sniper rounds to the face, and a final, gory video of the monster with claws of death breaking free inside the ship...
A world of danger that even a Krogan might pause at. Which makes it a world of opportunity for the Salarians- a veritable pandora's box, in every meaning of the word.
Meta-comparison here- basically the Fallout!Humanity has mutated the Earth biozone to Krogan-esque levels, while Human energy weapon technology (particularly in the old-US) falls into the Mass Effect tech direct-energy blind spot. The centuries of radiation have also toughened up Humans so that the 'game mechanics' are real- 'matured' wastelanders really can take multiple gunshot wounds to the face like nothing... and the pre-war paranoia/fixation on firepower means that high-end weapons are actually comparable to low ME weapons. Which means we are disturbingly durable.
But not super-breeding, which makes us all the more appealing to the Salarians.
To run it really short, so I can go to work early, what would follow next is a small Salarian intervention into the wasteland of FO3 that leads to everything changing, and not always for the better.
Salarian STG
-The Salarian interest in collecting energy weapons technology brings them into direct conflict with the Brotherhood of Steel... and the Outcasts, which prompts the two to reconcile. Since the Brotherhood is the dominant faction in the wasteland, this means the Salarians have to stay out of their way.
-Since the STG can't interact openly, they have to find intermediaries to do their work for them... and the only people who don't mind taking tech from obviously grotesque mutants are distinctly evil folks... like Mr. Burke (their procurement contact) and the slavers (their source for 'genetic specimen').
-After initial, but limited, fighting with the BoS, another Salarian faction brings a division of Salarian army to 'reinforce' the STG and their troubles. The Salarian STG finds themselves occupying the wasteland, ruining previous plans and ideas.
-The Salarian interest in how radiation has improved/strengthened the species of the Earth includes interest in Humans as a possible proxy-warrior species to challenge the Krogan. However, Humans seem too independent/free willed/unpredictable... and they can still breed. Which leads to-
-The Salarians endgame is using Supermutants as their idea proxy-warriors. Trainable, able to take on a Krogan bare-handed, tough as a tank even without armor or barriers, and most of all sterile. The Salarian end-game is looking into 'why are Supermutants abducting people?' to try and find the source of the conversion.
-The Salarians are ultimately defeated- Liberty Prime, powered with a ME core, breaks the line with nuclear ease, while the Enclave takes over the Salarian Army mothership. The STG is forced to destroy the mothership to deny it to the Humans and keep them on Earth, and is forced to retreat from the Capital Wasteland... but they take with them samples of both the 'pure' FEV used to create the Wasteland Supermutants, and strains of the modified-FEV (the Enclave genocide virus), which has been modified to affect aliens and implicitly could be the solution to the Krogan rebellions...
Brotherhood of Steel
-The Brotherhood initially fights the STG thinking them mutants- their power armor stands up to ME weapons about as well as kinetic barriers, radiation-enhanced material technology that surprises the Salarians.
-The Outcasts, with Brotherhood sympathizes supporting, fight the 'mini-mutants' for having dangerously advanced technology, and seeking even more. Given that the Salarians quickly become involved in the slave trade, the Brotherhood and Outcasts find their priorities coming into alignment and begin to reconcile.
-When a Salarian military detachment (a hasty, uncoordinated reinforcement by a rival to the STG) comes to occupy the wasteland in force, the BoS reunification is key in protecting DC from outright occupation.
-The Salarians army, trying some heavy-handed diplomacy, occupies the Project Purity and intends to use it as a bargaining chip for outright domination over the wasteland.
-The Brotherhood endgame is to use the advanced alien technology to finish Project Purity and protect the wastelanders... and also finish Liberty Prime. When they do, Liberty Prime annihilates the Salarian army and convinces the Enclave to withdraw peacefully.
The BoS, possessing a captured shuttle, debates sending the Lion's Pride to California to update the elders...
The Enclave
-'Rescued' the only survivor of the initial STG recruiting party. They know aliens exist, and have since before the war.
-Mr. Burks is secretly their man, and their means of getting alien technology.
-They show up as 11th hour 'allies' for the BoS, providing reinforcements and new tech to counter the Salarian invasion effort. They claim to be wanting to help America/etc., but are not trusted... especially when they occupy Project Purity.
-The Enclave endgame is twofold- to capture the Salarian army mothership to use as an arc for colonization efforts... and to modify the FEV to kill aliens as well as 'mutants.' (The modified-FEV is stolen by the STG before it can be used.)
-The Enclave 'wins' a victory in that while its goals of taking D.C. and the mothership are ruined, they get some serious consolation prizes in tech (including ME tech and the full know-how of Project Purity), resources (including shuttles stolen from the Salarian mothership and payments through Mr. Burke), and retreat in good order under COL Autumn. Rather than being nearly destroyed, the Enclave is instead more powerful, more advanced, and arguably more dangerous than ever.
-The Enclave doesn't suffer the Raven Rock or Broken Steel or even the end-game setbacks, and implicitly retreats to become the proto-Cerberus. COL Autumn, channeling the Illusive Man, regrets that the Enclave can't commit to restoring the nation openly like it intended lest the aliens return in greater numbers... but does muse that it can act to prepare Humanity/America for the future alien threat.
And in Mass Fallout: New Vegas... Krogan in the Mohave!
Which is a bit misleading. Mass Fallout: New Vegas has no plot. Just ideas and themes that don't have a structure.
Krogan teaming up with Caesar's Legion, which revels in the radiation-evolution and in which Legionaries can give a Krogan a run for their money? A major aspect of this recast is that Caesar, while dismissive of relying on technology and conveniences, favors genetic engineering to 'make a better man.' Part of the Krogan-Caesar alliance would be letting the Krogan (led by Okeer) study Human genetic variability, and those mutations that have allowed people to take rifle shots to the face, in exchange for giving genetic manipulation tech to the Legion. Caesar's goal is to make the entire Legion like the legendary next-evolution humans like the Courier, Lone Wanderer, Chosen One, Vault Dweller. The idea that their abilities are genetic is the end-game for him.
Asari decadence and sexual taboos breaking free in Vegas, while Mr. House takes their resources with scorn while dismissing them as an evolutionary dead end for humanity? The idea that Asari, while liberal and democratic (and hot), would ultimately 'breed out' Humanity in free intermingling and marriage is a significant issue.
The NCR, tempted to play proxy for the Asari in exchange for self-sufficiency and colonization, but secretly influenced by the Enclave in hopes of 'purifying' the Hoover Dam water basin? The Enclave begins to channel Cerberus as the (self-perceived) necessary evil to catch up and remain independent of the aliens.
The finale would still involve a struggle for the Hoover Dam, which is the ideal place for the Krogan/Caesar alliance to deploy it's genetic bioweapon into the Colorado and seize the Mohave.
Retour en haut
