Vault-Tech
VAULT-TEC CORE PRINCIPLES AND GOALS
Records are unclear as to whether Vault-Tec was formed in response to the Project Safehouse initiative of 2054, or whether they were an existing corporation that struck gold in the plague-and-war-panicked federal budget of that decade. What happened afterward is clearer. Publicly, Project Safehouse was a nationwide effort to build a series of underground bunkers, or Vaults, in which the United States population could hide if the unrest of the Euro-Middle Eastern War, the New Plague, and the collapse of the United Nations accelerated into outright nuclear holocaust. The vaults themselves were massive structures, budgeted at $500 billion each and built at over 150% of that estimate. Each complex formed an intact ecosystem, in which the lucky population could live independently for decades as the world above recovered to survivability after the bombs fell. To build them, Vault-Tec had to invent a range of devices and techniques, ranging from sustainable SimuSun lighting, automatic cleaning and cooking, nuclear reactors, and automated medicine. Although the government promised a program to save the entire populace, only 122 such shelters were even commissioned, an order that could support less than 0.1% of the population. After a demo vault was opened to the public in Los Angeles, near the Vault-Tec headquarters, public enthusiasm helped fund the junk bond drive that funded the rest of construction. It was a ray of hope in a profoundly dark time. Those too far from a full vault could buy a Series 1000 shelter, a one-level subterranean mini-vault priced more reasonable for a small corporation or medium-sized community. Vault-Tec won these contracts through a combination of clear vision, a cutting-edge technology infrastructure, and greasing the right palms in Washington. From the start, they made public their mission of saving humanity through better preparation... and, if that proved impossible, saving America with superior protection.BEHIND CLOSED DOORS
Despite the promises and propaganda, Project Safehouse was never intended to save the U.S. population in the event of a nuclear catastrophe. Instead, certain hands in government subverted it to preserve certain...approved... portions of society. Some 17 of the vaults were commissioned and built with that in mind, created to preserve those approved by the shadow government. Some say, once they were completed, elements of government hastened or even caused the Great War, so their vision for a changed society could come to fruition. Nobody can prove or disprove that now, though a few suspect those plans live on through the machinations of The Enclave. The other 105 vaults were built as experiments. They would house humans, protecting them from the bombs well enough, but life afterward was engineered for stress and challenge. Some would have insufficient supplies for the food synthesizer. Some took in humans of only one gender. Others would lose the capacity to recycle water, or even open prematurely and expose their populations. Sensors and computer subroutines observed and recorded every moment of life in these oversized societal petri dishes, delivering all the data to...somebody for purposes yet unrevealed. Meanwhile, Vault-Tec themselves built vaults of their own, scattered throughout the country for their own purposes. These did not even pretend to be a design toward human survival, but rather as testing grounds for various devices and techniques intended for commercial roll-out once the world became habitable once again. Some of these vaults opened as early as one year after the Great War ended. Others remain closed, their internal machinations either gone sour or still awaiting the proper time to make contact.OCTOBER 23 AND BEYOND
On October 23, 2077, air-raid sirens called survivors to their vaults. Many were stopped on the way, not on the rosters of the government or corporation list of those to allow in. Others on the list ignored the sirens, mistaking them for yet another of the increasingly common drills in what came to be known as the “Cry Wolf” effect. Full, empty, or underpopulated, the vaults closed their giant doors before the first blast waves hit. Many failed immediately, from under-engineering, equipment failure, or human error. Many more failed as their experiments ran their course or resulted in a total population casualty. A few intended for lasting survival fell in the following decades. In 2091, the all-clear signal rang through Vault-Tec’s communication network, in response to reports from radiation sensors on the surface. The first vaults to reopen were Vault 8, and the original Los Angeles demo vault. They formed the cores of Vault City and Adytum, respectively, and life in the Wasteland began in earnest.
Type
Corporation, Construction
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