When atomic fire consumed the earth, those who survived did so in great, underground Vaults. When they opened, their inhabitants set out across the ruins of the old world to build new societies; establishing new villages, forming tribes.
As decades passed, what had been the American Southwest united beneath the flag of the New California Republic, dedicated to old-world values of democracy and the rule of law. As the Republic grew, so did its needs. Scouts spread east, seeking territory and wealth in the dry and merciless expanse of the Mojave Desert. They returned with tales of a city untouched by the warheads that had scorched the rest of the world, and a great wall spanning the Colorado River. The NCR mobilized its army and sent it east to occupy Hoover Dam, and restore it to working condition.
But across the Colorado, another society had arisen under a different flag. A vast army of slaves, forged from the conquest of 86 tribes: Caesar's Legion.
Four years have passed since the Republic held the dam - just barely - against the Legion's onslaught. The Legion did not retreat. Across the river, it gathers strength. Campfires burned, training drums beat. Through it all, the New Vegas Strip has stayed open for business under the control of its mysterious overseer, Mr. House, and his army of rehabilitated tribals and police robots.
You are a courier, hired by the Mojave Express to deliver a package to the New Vegas Strip. What seemed like a simple delivery job has taken a turn... for the worse."
"You see that you and I are of a different stripe, don't you? We don't have to dream that we're important. We are."
— Mr. House
Cass: (discussing the NCR's over-expansion problem) No one's dick is that fucking long. Not even Long Dick Johnson, and he had a fucking long dick. Thus, the name.
The Courier: Yeah, I got that part, thanks.
"As an anthropologist and linguist, my assignment was to learn the dialects of the Grand Canyon tribes. What a fucking waste of time!"
— Caesar
"Rangers are volunteers. Every man and woman who signs up is willing to die for the NCR, myself included."
— Chief Hanlon
"I would sooner spit on my dead mother's grave than have some Courier walk-the-wasteland-fuck talk to me like that!"
"It's... a thing. A science thing. It hurts robots. Don't worry about it."
— Arcade Gannon
"What in the goddamn...?"
— Benny, upon seeing the Courier
"People called me a hero after what happened at HELIOS, but I left that battle scarred by fear, and have allowed that weakness to govern my actions."
"The rapist with the flamethrower? Yeah, that's a combination I stay the fuck away from."
— Little Buster, about Cook-Cook
"Thanks, Mister/Lady!"
— Freeside Kid, eating a giant rat you just killed out of a gutter.
"'By the rivers of Babylon, there we sat down, yea, we wept, when we remembered Zion. Remember, O Lord, the Children of Edom in the day of Jerusalem who said, 'Raze it, raze it, even to the Foundation.' O daughter of Babylon, who art to be destroyed. Happy shall he be, that rewardeth thee as thou hast served us. Happy shall he be, that taketh and dasheth thy little ones, against the stones.' Do you know what it means?"
— Joshua Graham, informing you of what he wishes to do to the White Legs.
"Lastly, waging war against good people is bad for the soul. This may not seem important to you now, but it's the most important thing I've said."
"Who are you, that do not know your history?"
— Ulysses
"It's said war - war never changes. Men do, through the roads they walk. And this road - has reached its end."
— Ulysses, narrating the epilogue to Lonesome Road.
"My name is Raul Alfonso Tejada. Can I leave now? Or did you want to ask me again in five minutes?"
— Raul Tejada
"Get up without my permission, I'll blast your ass so far through your head, it'll turn the moon cherry pie red."
— Dean Domino
"I don't trust a man that doesn't have something strange going on about him, 'cause that means he's hiding it from you. If a man's wearing his pants on his head or if he says his words backwards from time to time, you know it's all laid out there for you. But if he's friendly to strangers and keeps his home spick-and-span, more often than not he's done something even his own ma couldn't forgive."
"The women of New Vegas ask me a lot if there's a Mrs. New Vegas. Well, of course there is. You're her. And you're still as perfect as the day we met."
— Mr. New Vegas
"Heh... now, come on, you open up. Open up, damn you. Open the vault... I can make it worth your while, think about what you're throwing away. I have other weapons, other technology I can share with you. And the Big Empty... I know the way there. I know some of its secrets... if... The collars... the collars were a mistake, I see that now. Why would I kill you? After all you've done... after all we've done together. Are you listening to me?! Everything down here, I-I Swear, so much you could see! You could rule the wastes with what's down here, make your own army, reshape the world, and if others disagree... put collars on them, I can show you how. Don't you leave me here. You can't do this to me. Getting dark in here. Machine... machine's losing power, no. I still have Pip-Boy light... maybe... maybe... no, no, that doesn't work. Where... where is the door. Can't find the door. Calm, been in worse situations... find a way out... somehow, then find that Courier... Maybe Veronica... no... no, she thinks I'm dead. Must be someone... maybe that other courier, one with the flag on his back... maybe... no... no, said he'd never come to the Sierra Madre... No way out. Can't... can't end like this. You. I know you can hear me. When you die, Courier... I'll be waiting. Your grave's going look just like this vault. When you die... I'll be waiting here... at the Sierra Madre. Waiting."
— Elijah
"Bull and Bear over the Dam, at each other's throats... But a light from Vegas? Ball spinning on the wheel, more than two at the table. Placing bets. All lose in different ways. A dam of corpses, towns of corpses, scattered across the sand. But whose in what shares? Even the dealer doesn't know. Forecast: A rain of blood will flood the desert and not purify it."
"Your face does the thinking - two to the skull, yet one gets up. Odds are against you... but they're just numbers after the two-to-one. You're playing the hand you've been dealt, but you don't let it rest, you shuffle and stack, and a gamble... a gamble that may pay off? But how? Forecast: Rapidly changing conditions."
— The Forecaster
"By the time I was 30 years old, I was a billionaire thirty times over. I founded and ran a vast economic empire. Do you really think I'm going to let an upstart come into my home and ransom my property to me? I spent two centuries searching for the Platinum Chip. It is my invention, my property - MINE! Now be a good courier and deliver it!"
— Mr. House
"You've heard of the Sierra Madre Casino. We all have, the legend, the curses. Some foolishness about it lying in the middle of a City of Dead. A city of ghosts. Buried beneath a blood-red cloud... a bright, shining monument luring treasure hunters to their doom. An illusion that you can begin again, change your fortunes. Finding it, though, that's not the hard part. It's letting go."
— Elijah
"That thing on your wrist - it's a convenience. It tells you where to go, what to do, dulls your brain.. It may have helped you find the Sierra Madre broadcast, but it's just as much a crutch today as it was in the Old World."
— Elijah, who for the record, uses a Pip-Boy
"There are some back home who ask me, "But who are we protecting? What is Nevada to us?" Sometimes we forget that the light of our society shines beyond our borders. Sometimes we take those privileges for granted that our forebears fought so hard to achieve. We must always remember that wherever Californians stand, we carry our principles with us: equal respect, representation, and protection under the laws of a just republic. This was the same fire that burned in the heart of the Old World that preceded us. We are the heirs of that civilization, torchbearers eastward of the Pacific, into the darkness of this wasted land.[...]Four years ago, we held this dam. Four years ago, we carried the weight. Four years ago, we drew a line through the Mojave as clear as the Colorado River, a line that Caesar cannot cross. Today, you stand here with our brothers and sisters to hold that line. Today, you honor all Californians by carrying that weight. Today, you are the waves of the Pacific, pushing ever eastward. You are the sequoias rising from the Sierra Nevadas, defiant and enduring. You are the great western light of California, torchbearers in the darkness, living reminders of all that is best in our republic.... Okay, let's get the fuck out of here. What the hell are you waiting for – do you think I want to get shot? Let's go."
— President Aaron Kimball
"Rangers, this is the Chief. I know I can ramble on sometimes, but I need you to listen close for the next minute or so. I got some bad news. I messed up, made a mistake. I thought I could help us get out of here, but it didn't work out. Rangers get injured all the time, it's part of the job. But if you lose a few fingers, get a bad break, that's it. You step down. We rely on each other too much to let our infirmities become a liability. A ranger knows when it's time. Only I didn't. Somewhere along the way, something broke inside me. I couldn't find us a way out of this desert. I wrestled with it, and it took me down a dark road. I wish I could explain it to you. The old chief's finally at a loss for words. Send me all the Legion you can; I'll be waiting for them."
— Ranger Chief Hanlon, before committing suicide
"What have we here? You weren’t the one who I was expecting. I’m disappointed. Still... even if you aren’t my intended guest, you take direction. Good. You can’t have been an idiot to figure out how to release from my cage... or perhaps you are, with that leash on your arm and the one around your neck... with our collars and manacles, why, we may as well be kin."
— God (no, not that God), upon meeting you
"Every boss has a line to explain why he's special, why everyone gotta do what he says. Just figuring that out?"
— Benny
"You know what New Vegas taught me? That a lone package courier can get shot in the head, recover within a few days, and become an unstoppable killing machine that will murder the shit out of everything ever whilst simultaneously becoming the living God of people with so many guns they could re-destroy the planet AND displaying levels of scientific, technical, and medical know-how that would shame pretty much anybody; oh, and also somehow displaying levels of charisma and aptitude for manipulation that should only come about by creating the bastard offspring of JFK and Bill Clinton with a little side of young Mel Gibson. Not to mention all this is done while consistently outperforming the trained, veteran forces of two separate armies. Now THAT is a goddamn motivational story."
— Cracked article comment, on Fallout: New Vegas
Courier: [Black Widow perk dialog option] I'm saying I dig you, despite it all. What do you say?
Benny: I hear "dig" from you, babe, and all I can think of is a shovel.
"My coming would have saved you, set your people free in ways they cannot see. War would have tested them. Broken the weak with its violence, yet allowing the strong to arise. Violence gave you that strength, awakened you - I can see it upon your face, where two bullets left their mark."
—Legate Lanius, if the Courier convinces him to stand down
"There's your signal. Faint, but still there. Just like NCR. Voice without fire, without strength. Sick."
—Ulysses
