good morning, my love

v; fallout 4 companion 

October 23, 2077:  The world ends.  The East and West bomb one another into annihilation, the government retreats into the safety of their oil rigs, an awol group of soldiers form their own little militant survival group, the vaults seal well below their maximum capacity, and the rest are left to loot, riot, panic, and either ghoulify or die in the leftover chaos.

Not everyone dies.  It isn’t a, “and then all was silent,” situation.  More people scrambled and panicked than tried to keep the peace, but those not caught in the immediate area of the bombs survived - at least for a time.  Tony Stark is one of those people.  Something he should have seen but hasn’t, is the buffering effect of his arc reactor, which keeps him in a stasis all its own.  It keeps his heart beating, it keeps the shrapnel out of his heart, it keeps the ambient radiation neutralized.  He survives.

And survives.

And eventually lives long enough to see settlements begin to form again in the New York wasteland, begins to establish his own, help connect them in a network of security and exchange.  Sees, on a smaller scale, his goals for things like clean energy start to come to life in making the post-war world he finds himself living in as comfortable as possible.  His own technology advances, not through his most-used fix on fail method of testing, but through simulations, calculations, long years of ruminations that are carefully weighed and considered before he acts, because resources are scarce and there are some changes he’s making the he knows he can’t take back if he goes through with them.  Errors are checked for, the math checked and rechecked a hundred times, all while the vaults open and people begin once more to strive for some semblance of life in a place that’s far removed from the one before the bombs.

And he’s content that way.  He’s busy.  He’s occupied and making a difference somewhere, until a group of power armored soldiers pass New York a little too slow in their cosplay of the Hindenburg and he decides that, with New York as stable as he can personally make it, it’s time to branch out and see what else is out there, following them into the Commonwealth just in time to hear their “do not interfere” speech.  He doesn’t have an intention to stay, but plans have a way of going awry, at the worst of times.

technical info ;;

Tony comes as his own free agent to the Commonwealth to investigate the Brotherhood of Steel.  From his position in New York, he’s heard rumors from passing caravans both coming from DC and leaving Boston, but rumors are rumors, and he wants solid, verifiable facts, because their crawl past New York was too slow for his own liking.  He’s been alive long enough in the wasteland that he, like everyone else that lives there, is much less trusting than he originally would have been.  He’s suspicious, can be cagey, paranoid, and above all, take an us vs. them mentality when it comes to anyone that displays violent tendencies, such as raiders.

He doesn’t go by Iron Man - if you put that one together it’s probably because it’s been a dire situation, and he’s used the suit.  He doesn’t do that often anymore.  Instead, he picks up the moniker Handyman from various settlements, or the Mechanic.  Or he’s just plain old Tony.  He’s learned the value of keeping certain things close to the vest, and doesn’t hand out personal details like candy to just anyone anymore, and he’s not exactly a public figure.

His primary goals in the Commonwealth are gaining info about the Brotherhood of Steel, and will grow to finding out more about the Institute, Railroad, and Minutemen, as he starts to put together pieces to see there’s a bigger picture in front of him.  It’s because he’s insatiably curious, nosy, and likes to put his thumb in pies it probably doesn’t belong in, because he’s a busybody.  The Minutemen gain him as an ally, as, outside of a SoSu, he’ll put together settlements (eventually) of his own, because he can’t help himself.  The Railroad does good work, but he’s not interested in joining, and they don’t want him.  He’s too loud, too direct, and even if he did get Black Ops training from SHIELD, he doesn’t use it in a way that would be conductive to the Railroad’s goals. 

His main bases are: Fort Hagen:  This he cleans up after the SoSu has their Kellogg-killing rampage and turns it into a lab.  The town around he spruces up and makes ready for settlement...Further down the line.  He’ll start with the ones in Fort Hagen at first, but he’ll also rebuild and reprogram Gen 1 and 2 synths in Commonwealth, building a ground force of the Iron Legion.  Waste not, want not, you know how it goes.  The same goes for unclaimed power armor, he’ll snag that, as well, and any assaultrons, protectrons, and other robots he can get his hands on.  He’ll gripe about the wiring and coding of General Atomics and RobCo, but he’ll strip them clean and use them as a case to do his own work. Cambridge Polymer Labs:  If anyone’s going to get this place workable in seriousness again, it’s definitely him.  Will wander along and find it either with or without the SoSu (depending on if a SoSu is in play and if they mess with the quest there or not).  This will be Lab #2, with no settlement outside.  This is the one he keeps quiet and private.

He also has various boltholes he’ll establish throughout the Commonwealth, but you gotta be a VIP to know where they are.

He mostly hangs around Goodneighbor, out of the larger settlements.  He’s got a good rapport with Daisy and KLEO and prefers to trade with them over Myrna in Diamond City, and he barely glances Bunker Hill’s way because of how the raiders are paid off.  Otherwise, the best place to run into him are prewar industrial ruins.  He’s always picking them over for resources.

He favors energy weapons over ballistic weapons, but he can use either.  Wouldn’t say no to a power fist, either.

IMPORTANT TO NOTE:  If RJ MacCready has NOT been romanced or picked up as a companion by a SoSu, Tony directly defaults to the romantic relationship he has with @gwinnetts‘s MacCready, especially if there’s no expectation of shipping with the other character in play.  This is not a thing that’s set in complete stone, but Mala and her Mac have been instrumental in helping me hammer this whole verse out, so extracting Mac out of it isn’t impossible, but will require some plotting.  Note:  I don’t mind doing that plotting.  It also means that Tony isn’t unwooable - he is.  Just if nothing is initially discussed with this verse, that’s where he directly defaults to.

(The short version is Tony runs into Mac fairly early on in his time in the Commonwealth for information on the Gunners.  MacCready sees Tony is a possible cash cow because if you don’t think Tony uses his math brain to hustle at pool in the Third Rail, you’re wrong.  Shit happens.  Feelings happen.  Whoops, there’s attachment.  He helps Mac get Duncan to the Commonwealth.  They’re a ridiculous family with a grumpy merc, a reckless superhero, and a cute af kid.  The end.  Also thus why I say if he hasn’t been taken as a companion and max affinity reached, because there’s a rewriting of Mac’s whole questline in play there.)

Obviously the above does not count if threads are with a different MacCready.  I mean.  /props on elbow  /leans closer  Unless you wanna do a thing.  /waggles eyebrows  Especially since Mac is a good foil for Tony, but hey.  Just throwing that option out there.

Some Links! About The Suit Some Info On The Fandom Mashup Tony & Settlements Tony As A Companion About M.O.E. Tony And Other Factions Concerning Institute Sole Survivors More Tony In The Wasteland Notes The Original Take On This Verse Using Tony As An Endgame Faction About Traveling At Night Should You Loot His Body Appearance Headcanons & Wasteland Vocabulary Quirks And Habits #1 Things Game Mechanics Left Out But Probably Exist #1 New York Wasteland Misc Notes The Playlist