 | For Denver in Van Buren, see Denver (Van Buren). |
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Denver | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Concept art by Chris Applehans | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Dog City, Dog Town, or Denver (known only as Denver prior to the Great War) is a city in Colorado overrun with feral dogs, including pre-War cyber dogs. It was annexed by Caesar's Legion after they assimilated the Hangdogs, a tribe who inhabited the outskirts of the city. Some of the Legion’s dogs are taken from the city.
Background[]
Before the War[]
Road to Denver.
A rich city known for its industry, Denver was a place of prominence in the pre-War United States. Its factories supported the development of Boulder, a city on its outskirts, and a major center of scientific research, developing technologies in medicine, energy, robotics, and even power armor. However, the prominence of Denver was marred by incidents, such as a disastrous leakage from the nearby Rocky Mountain Arsenal, which created a poisonous cloud that hit Denver, killing a lot of people. Although the military apologized and invested money into the creation of the Boulder Dome as compensation, the damage was done.[1]
The incident heralded the city's dark future. For a time, everything seemed in order and the city entered a building boom shortly before the war, as many new jobs were opening there the city was swollen to bursting. Most of the construction was housing for these immigrants. But when the war with China did start in 2066, resource rationing occurred and suddenly the construction workers didn't have anything to build with and weren't getting paid. Union riots and strikes occurred because the city couldn't pay and the federal government wouldn't step in to help. When Mexico and the Great Midwest Commonwealth started to suffer food shortages, Denver was hit hard because of its high population. Food rationing began. Food riots started because of the rationing, and some buildings were set on fire. The National Guard was called in to contain the rioting, using InstaPens (aka "bullpens") to contain and imprison rioters. Some people deliberately attacked police and National Guard troops so they would be imprisoned and fed. Rioters, National Guard personnel who disobeyed orders, and other military folk who refused to help contain the riots were sent west and east.[2]
Then, an outbreak of the New Plague hit the city. Rioters burned down large parts of the city in their fear of contamination and anger at their treatment. Many panicked and fled the city by car, clogging the freeways when they ran out of gas and trapping everyone behind them. And then the bombs fell, destroying some of what was left and killing everyone who had managed to live through everything else.[2]
After the War[]
Post-War, Denver has been abandoned by civilized folk, mainly because of lingering radiation (which is gone by now) and huge packs of wild dogs that have taken over the town. These packs swarm their targets and tear them apart, no matter how many of their own they lose. Centuries of natural selection resulted in Denver hounds becoming incredibly potent killers.[3] A tribe of people learned how to live with the dogs, treating the feral hounds as spirit animals, companions in the post-nuclear world.[4]
Between 2277 and 2281, the Caesar's Legion came. The Hangdogs were assimilated and their culture wiped out, while Denver became a Legion territory. The cost was steep, however, as Legate Lanius lost many men to attrition caused by a combination of factors: No local tribes to assimilate, save the Hangdogs, supply lines stretched to the breaking point, and vicious dogs that killed many, almost breaking the Legion, in fact.[5] The control remains formal, as the city remains dominated by feral dog packs (which may include pre-War police cyberdogs),[6][7][8] but the Legion is able to capture some and put them to use as war dogs.[9]
Appearances[]
Dog Town did not appear in any of the published games, but was to appear in the canceled Fallout 3 project by Black Isle Studios codenamed Van Buren. Denver is mentioned by Antony and The King in Fallout: New Vegas as being overrun by dogs and home to cyber-dogs. It is also mentioned by Ulysses.
References
- ↑
Boulder design document: "Boulder was long a place where advanced scientific research took place. The University of Colorado, IBM, and Ball Aerospace were located here. Supported by money from Denver's industry and an active military presence, Boulder scientists made advances in medicine (bio-med gel was invented here), alternate energy sources, robotics, and even developed a power armor prototype. Unfortunately, leakage from the Rocky Mountain Arsenal (a nearby toxic waste dump/weapons storage location) caused a poisonous cloud that killed a lot of people in Denver. As an apology, the military funded a program to create a self-sustaining research dome, capable of withstanding a nuclear attack. This "city of the future" was to be a prototype for settlements on the moon and other planets."
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Denver design document
- ↑ The Courier: "What were the creatures in the underpass?"
Ulysses: "Tunnelers. Predators that make their own roads beneath the ground here. Divide broke their sky, showed them the world above - and the scent of new prey. Be a slower death for the Mojave than bombs and fire... but they'll come for its people, from where they least expect - below."
The Courier: "When you say, "slower death for the Mojave," you mean they're spreading out from the Divide."
Ulysses: "[SUCCEEDED] Death'll come from below. In the Divide, need to watch the sky and ground... Mojave'll be easy prey for them. They'll start emerging throughout the Mojave in time, might be years. Probably less. They breed fast, hunt in groups, more than enough to bring down the strongest in the Mojave. Once they draw blood... Seen them tear apart Deathclaws... Deathclaw might get some, but the rest will swarm it, tear it apart, like Denver hounds."
The Courier: "Denver hounds? Denver's far to the East - Legion territory."
Ulysses: "[SUCCEEDED] Mojave and the Divide aren't the only places I've walked. Walked the East, too, before the Bull came. Then... much like the Mojave before the Bear... tribes, towns, clutching to life. Bull did a better job."
(Ulysses' dialogue) - ↑ The Courier: "Tell me about yourself."
Antony: "I've been around dogs all my life. They're my life, always were - all the way back when I was a tribal, one of the Hangdogs, outside Denver. Dogs roamed that city. Our tribe made peace with them. Thought they were our spirit animals - helped us hunt, provided for us in some lean times. Then the Legion came. Good thing, too. Stronger now, don't need those beliefs anymore."
(Antony's dialogue) - ↑ The Courier: "As Legate, do you really believe that, or are you taking a chance?"
Lanius: "Hnh. Long ago... when taking Denver, I had to face such a challenge. Many died, over many years to claim the city as ours. It was the lines of food and water that nearly broke the Legion's strength... and the lack of tribals near that cursed city. What I felt in that struggle, I felt as I saw the map of the West. The West is a trap. The bear has already been caught in it, and it is dying."
(Lanius' dialogue) - ↑ The Courier: "I could use Lupa's brain to fix my cyber-dog."
Antony: "Cyber-dog? Like the ones I've seen up in Denver? I know what you're talking about, and it would make Lupa immortal in a way."
(Antony's dialogue) - ↑ Antony: "The mechanical dog you have with you - where did you get it?"
The Courier: "Rex? I picked him up in New Vegas."
Antony: "Oh? Such things are common in Denver, but I didn't know that other cities had them as well."
(Antony's dialogue) - ↑ The Courier: "Why do you want to know?"
Antony: "I ask because Caesar once had a similar pet, but it was lost during a battle."
(Antony's dialogue) - ↑ The Courier: "Where does the Legion get its dogs?"
Antony: "We breed them, mostly, but sometimes we get some good ones from Denver. That whole city is overrun with them."
(Antony's dialogue)
