Uniquely, Fallout: New Vegas explores homosexuality in the context of wasteland societies, and touches upon related issues. The core theme of New Vegas is that the desire to recreate the past is driven by irrational nostalgia, and any endeavor to manifest past glory is dangerous and doomed. The social issue of homophobia is used as a demonstrative example. The resurrection of corporate and military power structures presents new avenues for Old World problems such as institutional homophobia to reemerge. One of the many issues that divide the New California Republic and Caesar's Legion is the latter's open persecution of gay people. The NCR is described as tolerant and even accepting of same-sex relationships, though acceptance tends to fall off the further one moves away from the developed, urbanized core of New California. In recent years, the Republic's rapid economic transformation has led to an unforeseen erosion of the humanitarian ideals which it was founded to serve. In practice, to recreate America was to take on its shortcomings and its sins. As subsistence scavenging has dried up, the people of the NCR increasingly turn to wage labor, entrepreneurial venture, or military enlistment to keep their families fed. Meanwhile, their government enacts morally corrosive imperialism, their dominion expanding indefinitely as their infrastructure crumbles from within. This has led to a profit-based imperial monoculture which must conquer, consume, and coerce to perpetuate. As personal politics and service labor grow in importance, people find themselves more inclined to present as "normal" in the interest of financial stability and political expedience. A loading screen visualizes this culture of artificial social normalcy: the portrait of President Aradesh on the NCR 5$ bill neglects to depict his unibrow, earring, and facial scarification, overall portraying the once-chieftain so cleanly-cut as to be unrecognizable at first glance. He also appears to be wearing a collared shirt or suit as opposed to the robe he wore in Fallout.

In the Legion, Caesar has mandated that every legionnaire take a wife and produce children, citing high infant mortality rates and the constant need for soldiers, and going as far as instituting child quotas. He treats human beings as a resource to be exploited for war. Ostensibly in this aim homosexuality has been declared a capital offense punishable by death. Historically, routine demonstrations of violence towards women and gay people are a deliberate feature of fascist societies, the only logical cultural conclusion of a government devoted entirely to war and control. In Forlorn Hope letter 9, an NCR soldier wrote wrote the following to his boyfriend:

Dearest Andrew, Writing this seems pretty morbid, but tomorrow we march into the no man's land between our camp and Nelson, which is crawling with Legion. The Major insisted I write this damn "if you get this, I'm dead" letter so here it is. What a crock. I have the luck of the devil and your love on my side, so I'll be home soon. Keep the porch light on for me. We'll party in New Vegas when I get back. I love you. —Devin

Devin believed he would prevail over the Legion because his love would keep him safe. He was found dying or dead on the battlefield, the letter was found on his body. In a post-release patch, the injured soldiers were removed from the battlefield for performance reasons, and never re-implemented. Driven largely in reaction to the Legion's hyper-masculine posturing and misogyny, rumors persist across the Mojave that gay male relationships are not only common within the Legion, but condoned. These rumors are repeated commonly in NCR society. A closeted NCR Major mentions that the Legion is "a little more... forgiving" about close male "friendships," speaking in a hushed tone to avoid suspicion. At the same outpost, the player can encounter Cass, a bisexual civilian woman. She may flirt with a male Courier, who may imply they are gay, prompting her to imply gay men are more common in the Legion. Even as gay men fight and die in the name of love under his command, NCR General Oliver may remark to Courier Six at the Second Battle of Hoover Dam: "If you think after all that's happened, I'm going to grab my ankles and take it like the Legion..."

This writing pertains to institutionalized homophobia which manifests in practice though power structures and social interactions without being written into law. Simply put, in his derogatory remark, the general expresses to his army that military surrender is gay, much like their gay enemy. From the brevity and bluntness of this remark, it's clear that this sentiment is already well understood among his ranks. Logically, to project strength in the eyes of such a leader, one might also project homophobia by scrutinizing and harassing one's peers and subordinates. In this atmosphere, the expression of homophobia is not only normalized, but materially incentivized. For the ambitious, it becomes a tool, and a way of casting shame upon rivals. For the closeted, homophobia becomes a survival tactic, hoping to throw scrutiny off oneself. This is why Major Knight is immediately frightened when a male Courier flirts with him. He is so profoundly alienated that he romanticizes life as a gay man under the Legion. The Legion punish homosexuality with death, and yet Knight characterizes them as more "forgiving" than the NCR. Through these apparently disparate events, the audience can trace how a distorted perception of gay people emerges among insecure men in a military environment, and subsequently becomes ingrained in the corresponding civilian culture. At the 188 Trading Post, a lesbian from the Brotherhood of Steel named Veronica also wryly remarks that she believes legionaries have gay sex about as often as straight sex. She also notes that this only applies to men, as women have no rights whatsoever in Legion society. In this aside, she conveys a pre-existing frustration with lesbophobic social norms. Veronica also mentions that the people of her bunker would rather she remain on the surface. The Mojave Brotherhood of Steel has no official policy prohibiting homosexuality, but an implicit attitude among its dominant members that their limited numbers require everyone to have children to avoid extinction. Numerically, this may seem logical on the surface, given their reluctance to recruit outsiders. However, given their tiny population, this is an ineffective countermeasure, as they do not have nearly enough members to maintain genetic diversity for more than a few generations. This approach is not universally supported by all family units within the Brotherhood, but every individual is ultimately at the mercy of the elder. Veronica was in a lesbian relationship, but they were quietly separated by Elder Elijah, due to the dominant culture of enforcing heterosexual pairing among their population.

Caesar's law has not ended homosexuality within his domain. Despite the obvious risks, some legionaries have continued to pursue relationships behind closed doors, especially given their access to slaves. So long as members complete their societal obligations and fulfill the child quotas, they are able to pursue romance with other men in secret. Homosexual relationships in the faction are noted as being relatively equal compared to the average Legion husband and wife, in a "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" sort of open secret policy. Gay legionaries must always make sure to keep their activities hidden. A centurion was once almost caught fraternizing with the teenage boy he had chosen to tend his tent. Despite previous "romantic" intentions, he quickly resolved to dispose of the slave to dispel suspicion. Had they been caught together, the centurion would have been charged with homosexuality and sentenced to death. This story is only known because the enslaved young man, Jimmy, managed to escape execution. Further illustrating the cruelty intrinsic to Legion governance, it's stated that homosexuality was the crime, and not the rape of a young slave; in fact, it seems Jimmy was forced to contribute to the child quota despite being a gay teenager, and the experience left him traumatized. He has resolved to never have sex with another woman, as the very notion triggers memories which fill him with disgust, and (in his own words) makes him feel like a slave all over again. The Strip is indifferent to gay people, viewing them as another opportunity to make caps. Both the Gomorrah and the Atomic Wrangler are interested in maximizing profits, and their prostitution services cater to clients regardless of their orientation. The openly gay Jimmy works at nearby Casa Madrid, but there is some tension among his peers due to his co-worker Maude's blatant homophobia. She supposes he's "okay, for one of those," and if propositioned by a female Courier, Maude will direct them to Sweetie for such "perverted" services. Pretty Sarah must regularly intervene to keep the peace among her staff.

The Followers of the Apocalypse, well-read punks who seek to embody healing through anarchistic values, are not concerned with gender. Most are openly and casually sexually active. Upon meeting Courier Six, Arcade Gannon offhandedly makes his gayness known, unprompted. The audience must face the fact that Arcade's apprehension of the Legion is far from abstract; under Legion law, he would be put to death. One possible ending gives further insight into Caesar's hypocrisy: should the player sell Arcade into slavery and leave Caesar alive, he will keep Arcade as a personal physician and philosophical advisor. They intellectually spar at length, and Caesar grows singularly fond of him. Accordingly, Arcade imitates the historic suicide of Cato the Younger by disemboweling himself. The Legion's remaining medics attempted to save his life, but none were Arcade's equal. Caesar understood his doctor's final gesture of contempt, and mourned him for months.

New Vegas ventures further into themes of healing from the trauma of sexual violence, from the perspective of a lesbian character. Corporal Betsy, an NCR sharpshooter, is a rape survivor, and suffers with PTSD from the incident. Her unprocessed trauma has manifested as a maladaptive tendency to aggressively and explicitly proposition the women she encounters, in an effort to reassert a sense of control. This defensive hypersexual impulse has negatively impacted her ability to connect with other women. A male superior officer notes that her behavior is inappropriate for anyone of her stature, but abstains from disciplining her out of sincere concern for her mental health. The Courier can help her begin to recognize these problems, and convince her to seek treatment from Doctor Usanagi at the New Vegas medical clinic, which proves helpful to her as she processes and heals from her trauma.

In Old World Blues, the Think Tank are five floating brains in jars who express themselves by waving robotic arms bearing screens depicting facial features. Before the War, they were federal scientists who committed crimes against humanity in the name of weapons development. Each is stuck in some sort of neuro-bionic feedback loop which prevents them from moving forward with their projects, mentally binding them to their central laboratory. Walking through their homes at Higgs Village, it's clear each was deeply neurotic before they were transformed into floating brains. Now without bodies, they attempt to maintain the illusion that they are exempt from sexuality as purely mental beings, but each displays obvious interest in the human form. They have codified this shaming with the term "formography." Most of the men are obsessively defensive over their complete disinterest in penises, which they talk about constantly. However, the shameless Dr. Dala shows overwhelming interest in observing and recording any and all human functions. Already androgynous in her pre-War life, Dala has taken to self-identifying as a "gender neutral entity" (though she is not known to use they/them pronouns). Regardless of the Courier's gender, they may coquettishly scratch themselves, clear their throat, and stretch in front of Dala until her biomed gel decoagulates. Dr. 8 also responds positively to graphic masturbation advice from Couriers of either gender. The X-8 research facility is ostensibly a massive immersive shrine to Doctor Borous's hatred of Richie "Ball-Lover" Marcus, a long-dead child who bullied Borous centuries ago. He also clings to his resentment of one Betsy Bright, who refused to attend a dance with him, supposedly so she could "go smoke with RICHIE MARCUS." Clearly arrested in development, Borous has literally built a temple to the fantasy of torturing his adolescent romantic rival and feeding him to dogs. His frozen, static characterization of the jock Richie Marcus as a "pinko-commie" who "likes balls" reflects the shallowness, pettiness, and overall misanthropy underlying his patriotic identity. It remains apparent throughout Old World Blues that the Think Tank are all chronically sexually repressed, which is inseparable from the values of the violent and judgmental pre-War culture which created them. With time and isolation, this ingrained repression has manifested as various intense and deranged psychosexual behaviors, including rage-fueled homophobia, voyeurism, and the obsessive performance of puritanical pretense.

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written (with help from other editors) for fallout.fandom.com/wiki/LGBT_representation_in_the_Fallout_series criticism welcome

i want 2 make comics, comics my beloved but i'm still dragging myself bodily towards the truth of "sometimes you may need to draw cars. sometimes backgrounds are real" and crying

pencil commission for @ rihrus on instagram of their OC Harlow and Charon 🖤 thank you for your order!

if you'd like a commission from me here's a handy dandy pdf of prices and examples to look at!

YOOOOOO HAPPY BIRTHDAY FALLOUT 

that reminds me, i've been wanting to get into postwar printing methods and what sort of print materials are being widely distributed

canonically, you've got the wasteland survival guide, farming the wastes, and water aerobics for ghouls in circulation, just to name a few, but i haven't seen a ton of discussion on this and i think it's fascinating

i imagine some folks can use terminals or printing presses to mass produce texts, but not everyone would have access to that

there's got to be a popular cartoonist working out of a casino on the strip and some famous penny dreadful author churning out serials

Is there a Fallout community on Tumblr?

May I join you, please?

I hate twitter.

Musing On Stimpaks

So in the item descriptions of stimpaks in various Fallout games, its noted that stimpaks stimulate cell regeneration and red blood cell production. This makes a lot of sense, since they’re suggested to be a sort of battlefield first aid– an ‘apply to prevent bleedout’ sort of item, boosting the system and stopping the worst of internal/arterial bleeding… but in a wide world of radiation, I see a more pointed purpose that also leads to some fascinating implications, as well as possible dangers of stimpak overuse.

See, our cells response to radiation is mass suicide. This is what happens when you get a sunburn. That redness, inflammation, and heat on your skin? Its not a traditional burn like you touched something hot. That is dermal cells going OH SHIT THOSE UV RAYS DAMAGED OUR DNA INSTRUCTIONS, WE’RE GONNA SELF DESTRUCT FOR THE GOOD OF THE BODY NOW. It is peacemeal tissue death– thus why severe sunburns lead to peeling as whole sections of skin on the upper layers die off at the same time. Should these cells fail to execute this failsafe, this damage can lead to cancer because the part of a cell’s instructions that tells them to respond to your body’s signals on when to divide gets damaged.

This is what radiation does. It blasts off parts of our cellular instructions, and malfunctioning cells either kill themselves, are killed by the immune system, or start malfunctioning with incomplete instructions. Deeper ionizing radiation does the same, just to tissues deeper in the body, and ups the chances that a malignant error may occur.

Now let us consider the fact that Radaway doesn’t restore health. It lowers radiation you’ve already picked up, detoxes your tissues… but it doesn’t heal them. But the stimpak does

Because the stimpak kicks off cell regeneration– to replace the cells lost to their own failsafe process.

Here’s the thing tho– unless stimpaks are filled with fucking Soylent, that means your body is using its own resources to repair damage, just faster… which means that anyone who uses a stimpak is gonna be FUCKING EXHAUSTED and SUPER HUNGRY once they’re out of danger as their body burns through all internally available resources to heal damage and replace blood. And blood! Blood requires WATER, and you better be chugging it like a nutter who just found an oasis in the desert unless you want the ratio of red blood cells to plasma to be so off that it turns to sludge in your veins and causes cardiac arrest with the overstrain of the heart trying to circulate it.

And finally, lets talk folate.

Folate is an intensely important nutrient that humans usually pick up from leafy green veggies. Its abundant in kale and spinach, beet greens and asparagus. Why is it so important? Its a key ingredient in cell genesis– the process of making new cells. Folate deficiency can lead to lethargy and body soreness as the body can’t replace damaged cells at an optimal rate, and modern humans RIGHT NOW in the US tend to get not as much as they need, thus why its in pretty much any ‘enriched’ wheat product you’ve ever eaten. Check your pasta, your cereal, and your bread, most products that use enriched flour have had folate added.

Y'know what else has a butt ton of folate?

Pregnancy vitamins.

Pregnant persons who don’t get enough folate tend towards having kiddos with a horrifying condition wherein the tissues of the back never seal over the spine, so the kid is born with their spinal cord and canal exposed. This results in death most of the time, so pre natal vitamins have a stupid amount of folate in them.

Conclusion– people in Fallout who tend to get in a lot of firefights will pay top caps for folate supplements, and scavenged pre natal vitamins will sell for stupid amounts.

Secondary conclusion– if a person is folate deficient, isn’t eating well, or is dehydrated, a stimpak may actually do more harm than good.

Tertiary conclusion– rad away stops the process of mass cell death in response to radiation poisoning, but you’re still gonna be barfing up blood as your stomach gets rid of the cell lining thats already dead, and you’re still gonna get ulcers and otherwise if you don’t take the needed steps to replace those lost cells ASAP.

Sorry for the 4am reblogs I have hay fever

another w.i.p on top of many other w.i.p

[id: a light blue userbox with a pastel blue border and pastel blue text that reads  "this user is normal about fallout"  on the left is an image of vault boy from fallout. ./end id]  

ain’t that a kick in the head

it's always sunny in new vegas

description under da cut

[image ID: 4 images, fallout new vegas redraws of episode stills from the tv series "it's always sunny in philadelphia". all dialogue is in the form of captions typical of tv shows, with a white font on a black subtitle box.

eli, lelelego's courier, and rose of sharon cassidy (cass) are standing in a dirty public bathroom. cass is lighting a very short cigarette. eli is standing a few paces away, looking weirded out. cass says "so, uh, you're gay, huh?

cass, standing in front of a cubicle. she's still lighting the cigarette. she asks, "for pay or for free?"

eli, looking to the side like he's confused by the question, says "uh, for free, I guess."

cass, now putting the cigarette to her mouth, smiles and says, "chump." /end ID]

also, the pics were from alwaysshoutyinphiladelphia :>

some old boone/eli sketches i coloured ft. eli's old outfit design :>

waiting and waiting