Marcus

Fallout: New Vegas=

Fallout 2=

The Entire History of Marcus=

Marcus is the sheriff of Broken Hills in Fallout 2 and mayor of Jacobstown in Fallout: New Vegas.

Background
A burly old mutant with a weary cast to his face, Marcus' toughness and vigor seem at odds with his long history and fundamental belief in the goodness of people. He doesn't have any regrets about his transformation into a mutant. In fact, he prefers his existence as a super mutant, as he is free of the petty character flaws regular humans suffer from.

He served in Unity with distinction, a firm believer in his vision and philosophy. For Marcus, the Master's plan was a chance for elevation of humans above internecine conflict and war, to break out of the vicious cycle of war, which never changes. Marcus believed that humans could never elevate themselves alone, that the Master's actions were a necessary step in the advancement of humanity. The destruction of the Unity by the Vault Dweller hit him dearly. Though he hated the Vault Dweller at first, he eventually developed a healthy respect for him. After all, if all humans fought for their beliefs like he did, the Master would not have had to come into being. Still, he missed his friends, the best that humanity had to offer.

After the fall of the Unity
Following the fall of the Master, Marcus took to the wastes. Around 2185, he came across Jacob, a Brotherhood Knight. The two fought for a couple of days, before realizing the futility of the fight. As the pair laughed, Jacob abandoned his sworn oath to destroy mutants and joined Marcus in his travels. As they traveled together, discussing Brotherhood doctrine and the Unity (in particular the neurolink between the Master and the Cathedral computers), people gradually started following them. After all, it doesn't get any safer than a Brotherhood Knight and a super mutant veteran. Marcus led the growing group to the site of a pre-War uranium mining town he knew about from old maps. There, he and Jacob founded the settlement of Broken Hills in fall of 2185.

After ensuring that the town survived winter, Jacob said his goodbyes and moved on. Marcus stayed, as mayor and sheriff, though he missed his friend dearly. Particularly the arguments between him and Jacob on dipping and how the latter "would've been a great mutant".. His steady hand in managing the affairs of the town led it to prosperity. Uranium found its way to numerous clients in the wastelands, including the Vault City. Marcus' positive opinion of humanity, inspired by Jacob, eroded as he saw the petty hatred and jealousy tearing apart his people. He mused that the Master's plan could have succeeded with better candidates. But would it be able to succeed against the human tendency to tear down the exceptional men and women among them? In his heart, he knew that the Master was right. But he soldiered on.

Rumors of an anti-mutant conspiracy did not help. Chasing shadows, Marcus eventually asked a tribal wanderer to help him investigate. That tribal was the Chosen One. After successfully exposing the conspiracy and saving Broken Hills' mine from closure, the old mutant decided he was far too old for settling down and joined the tribal. They fought side by side on Control Station Enclave, saving the world from destruction, eventually vaporizing the oil rig in nuclear fire. Marcus never returned to Broken Hills. Instead, he headed east into the Rocky Mountains, inspired by his tribal friend. His goal: finding other mutants like himself and creating a place they could call home. Fallout Bible 0: "5. Why in the final scene in Fallout 1 and 2 nothing is said about players friendly NPCs ? I'd love to know what happened to Marcus, Tycho, Ian, Cassidy or Vic afterwards. - Kreegle Fallout 1: I don't know why. Tim and the Troika crew apparently ended up doing this for the NPCs in Arcanum, though. Well, according to the manual in Fallout 2 (written by Chris Taylor), Ian bit the bullet in Necropolis, and Dogmeat died in the Mariposa Military Base. Tycho and Katja are not mentioned, so it's assumed they didn't join the Vault Dweller. Still, even though it's mentioned in the manual, I'd substitute your own experiences with them and let that be the true history... even though Dogmeat's pretty likely to bite it in the Military Base because of those damn force fields and because you can't tell him to park his doggie ass in a safe place (without locking him in a force field cage). ''In any event, I'll try to include alternate endings for these characters depending on what you did in the game. Your actions should make a difference. As for Fallout 2, Matt Norton and I wrote end text for all of the ones in Fallout 2 using the narrator's perspective (and occasionally the appropriate voice actors), so here's the sections I was able to dig up (and it's not all the NPC allies, but the talking heads of everyone). They just didn't make it into the game, and as I understand it, Ron Perlman already had 5 billion lines to do in 2 hours. It's possible we decided not to do them because we ran out of time... or because Ron Perlman is an extremely muscle-bound fellow who looks like he can crush bricks in his hands." "In any event, here you go - note that some are personalized for the actor, others are not:"''

[...]

"Marcus" "Inspired by the example set by the Chosen One, Marcus eventually traveled across the great mountains to the east, searching for other refugees from the Master's army. You never heard from him again." He never heard of the Chosen One again, but he had a feeling everything turned out well for his friend in the end.

A safe haven
Marcus turned out to be a charismatic leader, gathering a sizable following of super mutants. Eventually, he and his followers reached Black Mountain, a pre-War satellite facility, irradiated by a direct nuclear strike. Scavengers avoided the place due to high amounts of radiation. However, this did not deter the super mutants, who claimed Black Mountain as their new home in 2277. The machines were in serviceable condition, enhancing its appeal.

However, it did not turn out to be the safe haven Marcus imagined it as. The biggest and most long lasting problems came from the nightkin that accompanied him. Tabitha, a former high ranking member of the Unity and a nightkin suffering from a particularly severe case of Stealth Boy-induced schizophrenia, was a constant problem. After Rhonda, her robot companion broke down, her mental condition deteriorated. Attempts to distract her with a journal project failed when she discovered Black Mountain's radio station and managed to get it repaired. Broadcasting her message consumed her attention and exacerbated her mental issues, leading her to ignore Marcus' leadership. After all, for her, he was a first generation super mutant, just a step up from the second generation imbeciles all too common in the settlement.

Eventually, the situation deteriorated. As the nightkin clashed with Marcus' fellow first generation super mutants, he found himself unable to broker a peace. Rather than aggravate the conflict, he chose to leave along with those mutants loyal to him and found another community in 2279, but not before smashing Black Mountain's radio transmitter in an attempt to hamper Tabitha's efforts. The radio did not remain broken for long, however. Raul Tejada, a wandering ghoul mechanic from Mexico, had been attracted by the broadcast's sudden disappearance and offered to fix it, but much to his dismay Tabitha decided to imprison him for his efforts and keep him around to be on hand to fix other broken things. With her voice back on the airwaves, Tabitha was free to implement her utopian project. The State of Utobitha was born, broadcasting a rather peculiar, if not insane and rambling, radio message throughout the wasteland. A permanent element of the program was the harassment of Raul, who was constantly threatened with execution, if he didn't fix anything and everything around the complex. Having gained a firm foothold, the nightkin from Utobitha started harassing travelers and merchants on the I-15 for supplies and food. Although the victims reported the matter to NCR Rangers, they were unable to divert men and resources to take care of the problem.

In the meantime, Marcus and his remaining followers traveled to the resort at Mount Charleston, where they founded another settlement. Marcus named it Jacobstown to honor his old friend. The place was perfect, far away from human settlements to remain peaceful and big enough to house the mutants and their crops. Marcus' ultimate goal was to establish it as a valuable trading partner and an example of human-mutant cooperation: A second Broken Hills. Marcus has also founded a research project together with Doctor Henry of the Enclave, trying to find a cure for nightkin schizophrenia. His promise of cure attracted nightkin leaders such as Keene and Davison and their followers to the town, but as the research dragged on, the nightkin began to lose their patience.

By the time the Courier came, Davison had left with his followers, while Keene's patience was teetering on brink. Something had to be done – quickly.

Interactions with the player character
Fallout: New Vegas=

Quests
Fallout 2=
 * Unfriendly Persuasion: Marcus asks the player to deal with Norton's merry band of mercenaries outside Jacobstown.

Companion

 * Marcus can be hired by the player after completing the two quests listed below.
 * He is a devastating heavy weapons specialist and energy rifleman, though he doesn't particularly care if friendly targets are in the target area when using explosive or burst fire weapons. As such, arming him with miniguns is a double edged sword, as while he can ruin the enemy's day, the player may end up having to scrape other followers from the walls. His animation frames also permit the use of unarmed and throwing weapons, he is generally best with Energy Weapons.
 * His notable flaw is that he cannot wear armor. However, his super mutant skin gives him a degree of protection against enemy attacks, equivalent to combat armor when he's reached maximum level.
 * As stated, Marcus can level up four times total. His level up messages are comedy gold:
 * "Wow! I feel as if I've passed some arbitrary experience value and gained more power!"
 * "Aaagggh! Muscles... bulging... Stats... increasing.... Gaining level..."
 * "Gimme a diploma and a silly lookin' hat with a tassel, 'cause I just graduated!"
 * "Hey, I feel more powerful! Does that mean I get a pay raise?"
 * Marcus will interact with other members of the party, Lenny and Myron. He is particularly good friends with Lenny, seeing how he's a fellow evolved mutant. With Myron, well, Marcus generally teases him about his small size (proposing arm wrestling).
 * Having Marcus or Lenny in the party will bar the player from entering the interior of Vault City (the Courtyard is fine). The player can bring them in without causing VC guards and inhabitants to become hostile and attack if they are Captain of the Guard. Lynette will still kick them out if she sees the mutants, though.

Quests

 * Find the missing people for Marcus.: Marcus asks the player to find missing people.
 * Fix the mine's air purifier.: This quest has to be completed to hire Marcus as a permanent companion.

Other interactions

 * If the player is Captain of the Guard, Marcus can be healed by Doctor Troy in Vault City. He will removed a ton of ammunition from his body, have it recast, and give it to the player: 20 7.62mm, 40 .44 Magnum JHP, 40 .44 Magnum FMJ, 50 5mm JHP, 10 .45 caliber, 24 10mm JHP, 50 .223 FMJ, and 20 9mm ball.

Inventory
Fallout: New Vegas=

Fallout 2=

Behind the scenes
Fallout: New Vegas= Fallout 2=
 * Marcus was written by Jeff Husges, basing on the character dialogue in Fallout 2.
 * Marcus is one of three non-Legion characters (the two others are Easy Pete and Follows-Chalk), to pronounce Caesar /ˈkaisar/ - in the classical Latin pronunciation - rather than /ˈsiːzər/, the morphed Zar pronunciation.
 * Marcus jokes about being fertile after a visit to the Cat's Paw, but Chris Avellone confirmed that he was only joking: Mutants can't breed.
 * Marcus will sometimes shout "I am NOT a merry Mutant!" when he's hit in combat, referencing Michael Dorn's role as Worf in Star Trek: The Next Generation. The original line comes from "Qpid", where Worf was... Dissatisfied with his role as "merry man" in Q's Robin Hood recreation.
 * Another of his combat floats (Unarmed, "one fist, two fist, red fist, blue fist") is a paraphrase of the tile of Dr. Seuss' book One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish.

Fallout: New Vegas

 * "Welcome to Jacobstown, human. You're free to walk around, just don't stare at the nightkin. They don't like people looking at them." vdialoguej greeting 0013d7f9 1.ogg
 * "Was a resort pre-War. I renamed it to Jacobstown after an old friend. Died a long time ago." vdialoguej vdialoguejacobs 0013de85 1.ogg
 * "Was part of super mutant army, ran a town, walked the wasteland with a tribal. Now I'm here." vdialoguej vdialoguejacobs 0013de80 1.ogg
 * "Long story, so here's the short version. The Master created the super mutants and nightkin." vdialoguej vdialoguejacobs 0013de81 1.ogg
 * "The Master thought he could unify everyone. No more differences, no more war. Didn't end well." vdialoguej vdialoguejacobs 0013de81 2.ogg
 * "Town was Broken Hills. Bunch of super mutants, humans, and ghouls all living together peacefully. Well, most of the time." vdialoguej vdialoguejacobs 0013de84 1.ogg
 * "We were looking for a GECK to save the village of Arroyo. Eventually, we did. Nuked an oil rig in the process." vdialoguej vdialoguejacobs 0013de83 1.ogg
 * "We went separate ways after that. I went east into the Rockies, looking for other mutants like myself." vdialoguej vdialoguejacobs 0013de83 2.ogg
 * "Don't know what happened to my friend. I've got a feeling it turned out all right in the end." vdialoguej vdialoguejacobs 0013de83 3.ogg
 * "Caesar thinks he can change human nature. Most of the Legion is following Caesar, not Caesar's ideals. When he's gone, it'll crumble." vdialoguej vdialoguejacobs 00144c49 1.ogg
 * "Might not happen overnight. Might take a few decades. But it'll happen. Basic human nature - greed, ambition, jealousy - will see to it." vdialoguej vdialoguejacobs 00144c49 2.ogg

Appearances
Marcus appears as a companion and a talking head in Fallout 2, and in Fallout: New Vegas as an non-player character.