New California Republic

The New California Republic is a postwar faction and self-proclaimed nation state operating in New California (from its founding in the 2189 to the present) and various other regions since its foundation under Aradesh in the year 2189, in the wake of the earlier prominence Shady Sands unintentionally gained during the Unity Crisis after the dislodging of the Radscorpions, defeat of the Khans, and rescue of Tandi at the hands of the Vault Dweller caused Shady Sands and several other communities to unify into the New California Republic (NCR). Since its founding, the NCR has gradually expanded from its capital in Shady Sands and absorbed other communities and regions under its various promises of security, “Wasteland Democracy”, and its dedication to Old World Values, to varying degrees of enthusiasm, and fought numerous wars against opponents of its expansion, its various ideological enemies, and other regional powers and postwar factions. With a standing Army of over 100,000, the largest in the entire Wasteland, and a total population of roughly 700,000 across various cities, the NCR is one of the most powerful factions in the Western United States, however a series of setbacks have placed it on a path towards stagnation as of 2292—the beginning year of the “Era of Stagnation”.

A Geography and History Lesson
Before the Great War of 2077, there was a nation known as the United States of America (no durr) and in it there was a State known as California divided into two substates, Northern California and Southern California, within the Northwest Commonwealth and Southwest Commonwealth respectively. The New California Republic‘s primary geographical region, “New California”, derives it’s name from California and corresponds roughly to the State of California and some spillover regions into nearby States within its two substates’ host Commonwealths.

Vault 15
During the years leading up to the Great War, Vault-Tec prepared many experimental Vaults (some of which were far less experimental than others or contained no experimental parameters at all, and were thus dubbed “Control Vaults”) to publicly shelter the American population from nuclear annihilation but which were secretly created by Vault-Tec, a highly autonomous corporate division of the Enclave, to run tests on pre-selected groups of the U.S.’ human population on behalf of the Enclave, a shadowy collective within the U.S. Federal Government who saw nuclear annihilation coming and planned to preserve their own existence and then recolonize the postapocalyptic Wasteland and potentially even other planets using data collected from the Vaults. One such Vault was Vault 15, located in the Part of California assigned to the Southwest Commonwealth, and while it was a contol Vault, it possessed a criterion-based experiment which was to test ”diversity”, of both its population’s ideology and their ethnicity.

Vault 15’s Experiment Bears Fruit
In time, Vault 15’s de facto experiment would prove too successful, resulting in a violent civil war amongst the Vault Dwellers and them splitting into 4 groups. 3 became criminals, ruffians, and bandits: 2 became total cultlike savages, the Vipers and the Jackals, while 1 became Mongolic Raiders, the Khans. The 4th group became a peaceful farming community known as Shady Sands, which was repeatedly sacked by the Raiders during the harsh Nuclear Winter that would hit the area near the now-abandoned Vault 15. Eventually, the Raiders succumbed to infighting, the Khans emerged victorious, and the Jackals and Vipers retreated to their hideouts, before the Vipers eventually fought a war against the Brotherhood and were driven East (where they’d eventually be enslaved by the Daughters of Hecate before being driven West into Nevada by Caesar’s Legion). (Meanwhile, the Jackals would later be driven East into the Mojave by the NCR.) After their victory over the Jackals and Vipers, only the Khans remained, continuing to raid Shady Sands during the Winter.

The Vault Dweller Arrives
By 2261, the town of Shady Sands, now under the leadership by of Aradesh (a 3rd generation descendant of the original leader of the exodus of civilians from Vault 15 who founded the town), were still under siege from the Khans and plagued by a Cave of Radscorpions around the time the Vault Dweller emerged from Vault 13 in search of Vault 15’s water chip. The Vault Dweller dispatched the Radscorpions, and proceeded to ask Aradesh where the water chip was located in line with the purpose of his mission. Aradesh, being distrustful of the outsider, denied him the knowledge of Vault 15’s Location. Eventually, the Vault Dweller gained the town’s trust and also rescued Tandi, Aradesh’s daughter, from the Khans, destroying virtually the entire gang and therefore saving the town in the process, and was thus provided with the Vault’s location, however the water chip was not present. These actions would later indirectly set in motion the NCR’s rise to power.

Rise of the Republic
A few decades after the end of the Unity Crisis, of which Shady Sands emerged unscathed due to The Master’s defeat and Mariposa Military Base’s besiegement occuring prior to The Master’s planned attack date on Shady Sands, Tandi convinced Aradesh to finally begin trading with Junktown and The Hub, something he had previously been reluctant to do. Shady Sands, now no longer impeded by the Khans or the Radscorpions thanks to the actions of the Vault Dwellers, was free to do this. Aradesh therefore agreed, and trade between Shady Sands and nearby settlements was established. At this point, the village of Shady Sands was also growing into a much larger community.

Formation, 2189
In 2189, various settlements across what is now defined as the Core Region voted on the formation of the New California Republic. These were Shady Sands, the Boneyard, Dayglow, The Hub, and Maxson. The newly-formed NCR also became aware of the existence of the Brotherhood of Steel via the accession of Maxson and the distribution of Brotherhood knowledge to Anti-Mutant Forces during the Unity Crisis. The Core Region, birthplace of the NCR, was now firmly secured aside from a few exceptions (New Adytum, Nipton, and The Pass).

Death of Aradesh and Rise of Tandi, 2196
In 2196, a tragedy befell the entire nation when Aradesh, who had led the NCR since it was simply a village, disappeared while searching for Vault 13 and was presumed dead. The NCR Council elected his daughter as his successor, and as expected, she did a fine job. She would serve as President until her death in 2248.

Securing the South
Some of President Tandi‘s more competent military officials were tasked with maintaining order in the Capital itself, and the NCR Rangers and later the NCR Military Police were eventually formed. Meanwhile, the Core Region fell under total NCR control aside from New Adytum in the Boneyard (which while under nominal NCR control due to the Boneyard joining the NCR was de facto independent) and the lawless raider-filled Cajon Pass between the ruins of Riverside County and The Hub (or, as The Pass’ residents called it, “Barstow”, its Old World Name). The NCR also did not control Nipton, San Bernandino County (which was part of the Mojave Wasteland) despite it being inhabited, a part of California, and a part of the Core Region, however it would later service their soldiers during the Mojave Campaign. It is also believed that during this time the NCR Army negotiated to purchase munitions and weapons from the Gun Runners, allowing it to gradually become better equipped.

The Slow Trek North
Tandi’s Administration was known for expanding the NCR organically, slowly absorbing towns peacefully and imposing fair laws upon them. Her administration also, despite its massive influence over it, curbed the influence of the Stockmen’s Association. In spite of all of that, the Tandi Adminsitration did not expand the NCR particularly far North, with Navarro being the most significant acquisition (and that comes later).

Conflict with the Enclave
Eventually, the Enclave came back from its nigh-eternal slumber, and Control Station ENCLAVE was destroyed by Arroyo, leading to a quick war between the NCR and their tacit Allies, the Brotherhood of Steel, on one side and the Enclave on the other. The resulting conflict culminated in the First and Second Battles of Navarro, where the NCR Army, with the aid of the Brotherhood, took Navarro from the Enclave first in 2246 and then again c. 2254 under President Wendell Peterson. The first attack began the war, while the Second ended it. Tandi lived only to see the first, and the beginning of the ruthless hunting down of the Enclave as war criminals.

Death of Tandi, 2248
Tandi eventually died of natural causes in 2248, having served as President for 52 years as de facto President-for-Life due to the NCR Presidency’s lack of term limits, with many critics of her (Including ironically Caesar) using her long time in office and status as the daughter of Aradesh as evidence that the NCR is in fact a hereditary dictatorship and not a democracy. After Tandi’s Death, she was succeeded not by her son Hoss or by Vice President Frank Carlson, but instead by Joanna Tibbett, an elected President.

Tibbett Administration: “Failure, Failure, and More Failure”
The Tibbett Administration didn’t go very well, and saw the beginning of internal conflict among the NCR, the murder of NCR citizens both in the Mojave Wasteland and near Bullhead City at the hands of The Fiends and Bullhead City’s Tribals, respectively, and the beginning of tensions between proprietary entities within the NCR which would later explode under the Peterson Administration. Her failure to adequately respond to Bullhead City’s Tribes and The Fiends’ massacres of NCR citizens in Bullhead City and the Mojave Wasteland led to a vote of no confidence against her in Congress and her eventual replacement with Wendell Peterson, who proceeded to give the order to deploy 3 battalions of NCR infantry into the Mojave to dispatch the Raider menace in the Region, which the NCR was already seeking to expand into for economic reasons.

Back on Track
The Peterson Administration was marked by way less instability than the Tibbett Administration thanks to the effectiveness of Congress and the effective management of the Military. The Mojave Campaign that was begun by the Peterson Adminsitration was new and marketable at the time, as it had not yet bogged down into ”The NCR’s Vietnam” and was limited just to cross-border raids into the Mojave against the Fiends and various other Raiders, such as the Jackals who had been pushed East into the Mojave by the NCR beforehand, as well as the Pacifaction of the Mojave occurring in Bullhead City. The NCR’s “Slow Trek North” also began to ramp up under the Peterson Administration, with Mariposa Military Base being de jure annexed, the NCR establishing Sac-Town over the ruins of the Prewar Californian Capital of Sacramento, and the NCR eventually negotiating with The Shi and the Greene Family for the annexation of San Francisco amidst the Brotherhood War after the failed Brotherhood Sortie Attack on San Francisco was fended off by The Shi and Jack’s Militia (a Private Militia affiliated with John ”Jack” Greene), and the annexation of Sunnyvale alongside San Francisco. The alliances that the NCR had previously formed with the Bishop crime family and the ties that Roger Westin and the Stockmen’s Association had formed with Vault City also facilitated the NCR’s eventual expansion into Norhern Nevada (and the Bishops’ eventual infiltration of the NCR’s Congress).

Final Defeat of the Enclave
The Remnants of the Enclave (who had retaken Navarro in a surprise attack) were defeated by a Joint NCR-BoS Force at the Second Battle of Navarro in 2254 during the Early Years of Wendell Peterson’s Administration, effectively bringing an end to the NCR-Enclave Conflict under Peterson in the same location where it began under Tandi 8 years prior. After the battle, most of the Enclave either fled to the East Coast or Chicago to link up with those who fled the Destruction of Control Station ENCLAVE, granted some of them deserted upon arriving in D.C., or the few Enclave Remnants stuck on the West Coast either fled to Nevada or integrated into the NCR. Those who couldn’t escape or integrate at all were captured by the NCR or Brotherhood and tried as war criminals and usually executed afterwards.

Tensions with the Brotherhood and Road to War
The Brotherhood of Steel and the NCR had formed an Alliance against the Enclave prior to the Sacking of Navarro which culminated in their cooperation against the Enclave during the Battles of Navarro, and the Brotherhood’s presence in the Lost Hills Bunker meant that the State of Maxson, which Lost Hills was located inside the boundaries of, enjoyed their protection. However, after the defeat of the Enclave at the Battles of Navarro, the Brotherhood and the NCR’s relations began to strain over the issue of dividing the spoils. After the Enclave’s total defeat, the Brotherhood, isolationist and distrustful of outsiders with advanced technology, was vehemently against the idea of the NCR obtaining the Enclave’s stockpiles of energy weapons, research data, Vertibird schematics, and Power Armor, and wanted to take it for themselves. Likewise, the NCR didn’t want the Brotherhood becoming too powerful and hoarding all of the spoils of war for themselves. As a result of this impasse, the NCR-BoS Alliance slowly began to disintegrate under the Peterson Administration and the seeds of war between the two factions began to be sewn.

The Brotherhood War: Prelude
Eventually, the NCR occupied Navarro after the Second Battle of Navarro, and the Brotherhood believed it was in no position to allow the NCR to hncover the secrets of the facility. The Brotherhood prepared a preemptive strike against the NCR shortly after the expulsion of BoS personnel from Camp Navarro by the NCR Army, when President Peterson’s Generals and the NCR General Staff and NCR Rangers believed that the negotiations were going nowhere. The NCR Planning Office prepared a counterattack to a Brotherhood attack they believed saw coming, planning to attack the Brotherhood’s outpost in San Francisco and possibly use it as an excuse or smokescreen to annex the city and nearby Sunnyvale.

The Brotherhood War: New California
Eventually, the War that was believed to be inevitable finally broke out when the NCR Planning Office’s plans for simultaneous attacks against Lost Hills via Maxson and San Francisco Outpost via Sac-Town and Navarro were undone by a surprise attack by the Brotherhood against Navarro. The Third Battle of Navarro ended in a Decisive Brotherhood victory, and the Brotherhood held Navarro for enough time to send a sortie to attack San Francisco alongside the forces of the Outpost and to also attack Redding. Their attack on San Francisco was repulsed by a combined force of the NCR’s newly-formed “Army of the North”, The Shi, a Private Militia formed by an enterprising merchant named Jack Greene (a member of San Francisco’s influential Greene Family), and various armed civilians, they were eventually driven from Navarro by soldiers under the command of Thomas Moore, and their attack on Redding was generally exhausted by lack of manpower and was eliminated by the Van Graffs and disconnected harassment by gangsters loyal to Frog Morton, who later stole their laser rifles. The NCR’s attempts to launch an attack on Lost Hills from Maxson failed, as the Bunker was fortified beyond any level of reasonable comprehension, and the War eventually became a stalemate for several years.

Cajon Campaign
The entrenched Raider Alliance forces in the Cajon Pass within the NCR’s Core Region had proved to be a hassle for the NCR’s supply lines for years on end, and under their newest leader, the Raiders had become more annoying to the NCR. Eventually, President Peterson greenlit General William Silverman to begin operations against the Raider Alliance in the Cajon Pass shortly after Vault 18 was sacked by Enclave Squad Leonidas and Silverman assassinated the Bishops’ half-sibling Ambassador to the Military who was stationed in The Pass during the Chaos of the Bishops’ other issues. The result was unimpeded military operations against the Raiders, Enclave Squad Leonidas, and the Super Mutants in The Pass, which eventually allowed Athens-Tec to be occupied by the NCR and Enclave Squad Leonidas to be hunted down. As a consequence, Enclave Squad Leonidas was, with the help of a survivor from Vault 18, destroyed by the NCR. The Super Mutant leader was killed shortly afterwards, and the Consolidation of The Pass was complete and supply routes between Boneyard and The Hub via Union City and the rest of the Cajon Pass were secured.

Horizons Move North: Reno and Arroyo
Later on, the NCR annexed Arroyo, then a microstate known as the “Arroyan Empire”, and the de facto city-state of New Reno, controlled by the NCR-aligned Bishops, allowing their continued movement northwards towards Redding, which was formally annexed alongside the Gold Reserves shortly afterwards. Klamath and The Den would follow suit, however Modoc and the Ghost Farm would not. Vault City and Gecko also would not, requiring later actions to be taken to secure both.

Internal Conflict Between Mercantile Groups
Meanwhile, the Red Family of the Boneyard and the Greene Family of recently-annexed San Francisco we’re currently engaging in a perpetual slugfest over the latter with no end in sight, that the Central Government was largely uninvolved with aside from some minor skirmishes. This was until the Wrights wrestled away control of New Reno from the Bishops, the Bishops infiltrated the NCR’s Congress and became entrenched, the Van Graffs invaded New Reno and became co-rulers with the Wrights, and a series of events led to a proxy conflict over New Reno known as the “Struggle for Reno”. The result was a clusterfuck where the Central Government almost intervened due to the Bishops’ meddling, but were prevented due to Northern Cities banding together to resist intervention via a Congressional Alliance and pooling together their National Guards to stop movements of the Army of the North. Granted, the Bishops would eventually use said Army to reenter New Reno and avoid annihilation, which happened shortly after the Yakuza were defeated and the NCR’s small garrison near the Yakuza’s larger base at Carson City was destroyed during the Routing From Carson City after the Yakuza betrayed their tacit alliance with the Bishops. The ”Corporate War” would persist as low level mercenary police action after the end of the violence in New Reno, but the crime families’ involvement would largely end. A consequence of the Struggle for Reno was the occurrence of the Wrights, Van Graffs, and Roberts Company organized “New Reno-Redding-Gecko Strategic Offensive Operation”, which led to the Liberation of Gecko and the Ghouls’ freedom from Vault City’s enslavement and the subsequent NCR-Vault City War that led to Vault City’s annexation, Gecko’s formal independence from Vault City, and Gecko’s eventual annexation as well.

NCR-Vault City War
As stated above, the Liberation of Gecko led to Vault City’s atrocities becoming public knowledge in the NCR, and thus a force commanded by General Thomas Moore invades the City and annexed it into the NCR after successfully eliminating some Security Teams and taking the First Citizen hostage. Gecko then achieved its formal independence from Vault City’s subjugation and was too annexed by the NCR shortly afterwards as well. The NCR-Vault City War was a rousing success for the NCR, and consolidated their control over New California aside from Modoc.

The Frontier
Eventually the NCR, via Arroyo and Klamath, would discover The Frontier and the fledging Cascadia Republic to the North, as well as Tribals such as the amicable Badlanders and the abominable Bloodbourne, Super Mutants such as Troll Warren and the Kieg Super Mutant Warlord State, and discover the presence of two different local Chapters of the Brotherhood of Steel operating within a condominium within the Pacific Northwest, plus Outposts of the regular Lost Hills Brotherhood. They’d also become aware of the Inner Circle, anarchist insurgents in Seattle, and of Winter’s Enclave, an Enclave Remnant in the Seattle Expanse. They’d also learn of the endless politically-motivated and ideological war between the Liberally-minded people of “New New England” (formerly Colfax) and the Conservatively-minded people of Spokane. Finally, they’d learn of the spooky stuff going on in New Salem due to the Wicca Society, and of Vault 6 located under Mt. St. Helens (and of the Mountain itself). All this information came in layers, but eventually the Republic was bombarded with it, and they had no real way to respond. Eventually, William Silverman, the Hero of Cajon, suggested an Expedition into The Frontier to deal with these threats and more, and so, The Frontier Expedition began.

The Frontier Expedition: Early Stages
After using Arroyo and Klamath as a staging area, the newly established Crimson Caravan outpost of Gecko Falls, as well as Modoc and the Toxic Caves, were decided as springboards for the Expedition. Eventually, the Expedition launched simultaneous spearheads from all these locations and reached Grants Pass, Oregon, and captured it with no resistance, to the happiness of the locals, who wished to be protected from the Oregon Cannibals. Silverman’s Expeditionaries moved farther North in pursuit of the Brotherhood, where they eventually made contact with and forged an alliance with the Empire of Hadleigh, a monarchic city-state with access to advanced technology and a regional power. They then allied with and conscripted some Cavemen and fought skirmishes with some other. Eventually, they faced the Brotherhood at the installation known as Bunker Taco Gomez, and captured it for the NCR. The NCR continued to move North into Cascadia towards the Seattle Expanse, establishing to now-abandoned garrison of Fort Eugene on the ruins of Eugene, Oregon, and skirting around New Salem due to the perpetual mist surrounding the city. They also annexed the settlements at the base of Mount Hood due to treaties. Eventually, they reached Washington, and occupied the postwar town known as Snowvale (located South of both Colfax (now New New England) and Spokane) as well as established a Crimson Caravan Office in Fort Vancouver. They eventually reached the Expanse, and fought against the Guerillas of the Inner Circle alongside their paramilitary formation of local conscripts, Arroyan military attachés, penal battalions, and Cascadian and Inner Circle defectors: the Free Northwestern Army. They also fought against the Washington Brotherhood, who they consequently captured the city of Seattle from in the 2060s. The Inner Circle then fought an insurgency within Seattle against the NCR that lasted until their supposed eradication after President Peterson left office in the 2070s. Portland, capital of the Cascadia Republic, was never occupied by the NCR during this time period due to the uneasy truce between the NCR and the much smaller power, however The Frontier Expedition always intended to secretly supplant the Cascadia Republic. In the end, eventually Silverman’s Campaigns on The Frontier stalled, and he returned home to New California with his Army, having kept said Army mostly intact.

The Pacification of the Mojave

Finally, the NCR’s actions on the Mojavian Front were not as grandiose. They sent a force to capture Bullhead City, Arizona from its various Tribal inhabitants. It began under Peterson, and would take years to be completed before finally being completed in 2070, raising General Aaron Kimball to the status of national hero and kickstarting his future political career and eventual election as Peterson’s replacement as President.

Renewed Focus on the Mojave
After Peterson’s Administration ended, Aaron Kimball was elected president on a pro-war and pro-expansion platform with regards to the Mojave Wasteland. He delivered on his promises, with the subsequent launching of renewed offensives against the Brotherhood and Raiders in the Mojave. However, the NCR was about to discover something it would never forget: it had an enemy. One that was different from the Raiders and the Tec-Knights. One that could actually rival it. They would soon discover their greatest adversaries yet.

Operation: Sunburst
In 2274, the NCR launched an offensive against entrenched positions of the Mojave Chapter of the Brotherhood of Steel located at the Helios One power station in the Mojave Wasteland. The Chapter’s Elder, Elder Elijah, was too preoccupied attempting and failing to reactivate an Old World superweapon known as ARCHIMEDES II to actually lead his Chapter to victory effectively, and the Mojave Chapter were eventually overwhelmed by the NCR’s sheer numbers and crushed, losing half the Chapter in the process and being forced to retreat to the Hidden Valley Bunker to escape the watchful eye of the invading NCR. In the chaos, Elijah disappeared and a new Elder was found in the form of then-Paladin Nolan McNamara, who instituted a hyper-isolationist “lockdown” policy to ensure the survival of the now-halved Chapter. Operation: Sunburst was a decisive success.

New Vegas Treaty
Eventually, within the same year, the NCR would encounter something they were not expecting. Scouts had always reported lights from the city of Vegas and claimed that Hoover Dam was in working order, but the validity of these claims was far realer than the NCR had expected. They encountered Mr. House, the Three Families, and the Securitrons, who requested to parlay with the NCR. After some negotiations, an agreement was reached, and eventually the NCR was granted 95% of the Dam’s power output, while The Strip retained the remaining 5% for its own use. The NCR also could not prevent its citizens from visiting The Strip and while it was allowed to maintain an Embassy on it and have MPs assist in policing vacationing troops, no servicemen could carry firearms on The Strip except the commander of all MPs, and only MPs could carry any form of weapons on The Strip (those being electric cattle prods).

NCR-Legion War
Eventually, The NCR encountered its greatest enemy yet. Caesar’s Legion, an enemy and rival nation state that had been emerging East of the Colorado River, had set its sights upon the Mojave as well, and Caesar had specifically set his sights upon the Hoover Dam and planned to cross the Colorado like his namesake crossed the Rubicon, and make Vegas his “New Rome”. A conflict with the NCR’s Mojave Expedition was therefore inevitable, and it finally broke out at the First Battle of Hoover Dam.

First Battle of Hoover Dam
During the First Battle of Hoover Dam, Caesar’s Legion, under the command of the Malpais Legate, Joshua Graham, attempted to take Hoover Dam from the NCR in preparation for a planned assault on The Strip and eventually the rest of the Mojave. They were repulsed in a desperate defense by the NCR Army and NCR Rangers, who defeated them only due to tactics and use of sniping, as well as a successful and decisive subterfuge maneuver in Boulder City. The Legion fled across the Colorado, and the defeated legatus had an example made of him by the vengeful Caesar, as he was subsequently coated in pitch, set on fire, and thrown into the Grand Canyon. The [First] Battle of Hoover Dam was over.