War for Zion

The War for Zion was an armed conflict between the White Legs and the native Dead Horses and Sorrows that took place in the Zion Canyon in 2281.

Prelude
Returning to his native New Canaan after his attempted execution by Caesar's Praetorian Guards, Joshua Graham found himself accepted back into his tribe despite his deeds as the Malpais Legate. Unfortunately for the New Canaanites, Graham's survival become known to Caesar, who could not tolerate the embarrassment he would face if his inability to kill the former legate became known. Caesar found a potential solution to this problem in a local tribe, the White Legs, who wished to join his legion. As a test of their worthiness to join the Legion, they were instructed to destroy New Canaan and exterminate Graham's tribe, as well as any who sheltered its surviving members.

Led by their chief, Salt-Upon-Wounds, the White Legs sacked and destroyed New Canaan, butchered its inhabitants, and salted the earth to prevent the land from being resettled. While few New Canaanites survived, Graham was not among the casualties. Together with what was left of his tribe, he traveled to Zion Canyon. While the rest of the tribe continued their flight, Graham and a fellow New Canaanite named Daniel remained in the area. Daniel began preparing the local tribe, the Sorrows, for the inevitable coming of the White Legs. Meanwhile, Graham approached a tribe called the Dead Horses, traditional enemies of the White Legs. Accepting him as acting war chief, they traveled back to Zion with him to oppose the White Legs.

War
Sure enough, in 2281 the White Legs arrived in Zion and began searching for Graham and New Canaanite survivors. More warlike and much better-equipped than the peaceful Sorrows and the technologically primitive Dead Horses, they attacked anyone not of their tribe on sight. Faced with such a formidable enemy, Daniel favored evacuating the Sorrows to the Grand Staircase, where the White Legs could not follow, while Graham wished to use his keen grasp of strategy and tactics to lead the Dead Horses to victory against White Legs. However, the supplies and equipment to carry out either of these plans were located in places considered taboo by the Dead Horses and Sorrows, and so it appeared that one of the two New Canaanites would have to go get them, a seemingly suicidal task with the White Legs roaming the area.

At the same time, a caravan from the Happy Trails Caravan Company, unaware of New Canaan's fall and seeking to regain contact with its people, entered Zion. The White Legs soon fell upon the caravan and killed everyone in it, save for the Courier, who had been hired on as a guard. Unable to find a way back to the Mojave Wasteland, the Courier encountered Joshua Graham, who agreed to provide directions back to the Mojave if the Courier would help resolve the situation in Zion. Not being bound by tribal taboos, the Courier would be able to gather the equipment needed to carry out Graham or Daniel's plans.

Appearances
The War for Zion occurs in the Fallout: New Vegas add-on Honest Hearts.