Darren Kloss

Born to a mother descended from Vault 191 and a father whose line originated in Vault 200, Darren grew up understanding just how cruel Crawler citizens can be. Even though both of his parents were a part of the rebellions that helped take down both of these Vaults, he was still called 'slaver' or 'chem dealer' most of his early life. Despite his circumstances, Darren earned a medical certification and began to work as a doctor as soon as he could take the exam.

This began a relatively comfortable era of his life as he was able to afford his own accommodations and settle down to start a small family. His career brought him in contact with all manner of interesting people, one day leading him into a conversation about a search for an undiscovered Vault. This ignited a sense of adventure in the man that had spent his thirty years aboard the stuffy corridors of the mobile platform despite the dangers he knew full well it would entail.

When his kids got jobs of their own and the passion had long died out in his relationship, he began taking contracts from the public terminal. These started as simple trips to Undercity as a medic, but before long he was being deployed on scavenging runs to locations within sight of the Crawler. Darren invested much of his savings into top of the line gear and training from the VCP, hoping to get enough experience to chase the lead he had gotten half a decade earlier.

His hopes of finding the lost Vault would diminish all in one horrible afternoon when he was exposed to La Plaga Viviente. Too far from the Crawler to treat the infection properly, he was forced to amputate his own arm to survive. This weakened him in the company of mercenaries he was not well acquainted with, and they took full advantage. Although they initially took him by surprise, Darren had injected himself with several chems to stay conscious on the journey home.

He managed to fight off his attackers in the sense that he killed one and wounded two others that fled into the desert, however he sustained further injuries without any remaining medical supplies to treat them. Bludgeoned, stabbed, and shot twice, he used a roll of duct tape to keep himself from bleeding out as he made the long journey back towards the Crawler. He fell unconscious several times along the way, one time waking up to being robbed by Undercity residents when he was less than a mile from the main lift.

As a medical practitioner Darren was allowed a loan to afford the cybernetic replacement of his arm. Unfortunately, he confided in his wife about the true nature of the dismemberment, and when she shared that information with the First Citizens Council, he was flagged as a mutant in the database. Not only did he lose his career, but he was also forced to move out of his dwelling to a much less desirable part of the platform. Unable to get high paying work, his loan defaulted, and he was given several choices on how to proceed.

Not wanting to have to surrender his appendage, Darren took a qualification course as was accepted as into the The Vault Crawler Protectorate. No longer allowed to practice medicine, he had little choice but to take jobs with high risk to stand a chance at making good on his debt. This led him to serve under Sergeant Benson aboard the Dreadnought as an artillery gunner, and although little about this position was glorious, he still finds some comfort in traveling the wastes.

• Official Title- Corporal Kloss


• Age- 43


• Birthplace- The Vault Crawler, Kansas (United States)