Great Khans

The Great Khans are a raider gang found in the Mojave Wasteland in 2281.

Background
The Great Khans are the only truly organized band of raiders in the Mojave, and as befits their warrior culture, men and women both can hold their own in a fight, whether a brawl or a shootout. As a tribe, however, the Great Khans are but a shadow of their former selves, their numbers and morale ravaged by a series of massacres and displacements. From their rocky stronghold at Red Rock Canyon, they eke out a living by drug-trafficking and the occasional raid or salvage find.

Since the Bitter Springs massacre, the tribe has aspired to little more than survival and isolated, petty acts of vengeance on the occasional NCR citizen or deserter. The arrival of a Legion emissary, Karl, has changed this. Papa Khan, the tribe’s leader, wants to believe Karl’s assurances that the Great Khans will be absorbed intact by the Legion, assuming an honored place as one of its elite cohorts. To lead the assaults on Hoover Dam and the Vegas Strip would make for fine acts of vengeance. The rest of the Great Khans are not so entirely convinced.

Much as they want to exact revenge on the NCR and Mr. House’s Three Families, they know that they lack the strength to do so. Indeed, they believe it is only a matter of time before their enemies track them down, and that the Great Khans would be unlikely to survive such a confrontation. The looming conflict between Caesar’s Legion and the NCR and the message from Karl offers the possibility of a new way forward.

History
The Great Khans are the only truly organized band of raiders in the Mojave and, as befits their warrior culture, men and women both can hold their own in a fight, whether in a brawl or a shootout. As a tribe however, the Great Khans are but a shadow of their former selves. Both their numbers and morale have been ravaged by a series of massacres and displacements. From their rocky stronghold at Red Rock Canyon, they eke out a living by drug-trafficking and the occasional raid or salvage find.

Since the Bitter Springs Massacre, the tribe has aspired to little more than survival and isolation, with often petty acts of vengeance on the occasional NCR citizen or deserter. The arrival of a Legion emissary, Karl, has changed this. Papa Khan, the tribe's leader, wants to believe Karl's assurances that the Great Khans will be absorbed intact by the Legion, assuming glory and an honored place as one of its elite forces. To lead the assaults on Hoover Dam and the Vegas Strip would make for fine acts of vengeance. The rest of the Great Khans are not so entirely convinced.

As much as they want to exact revenge on the NCR and Mr. House's Three Families, as it was implied that the Great Khans had a war against the Omertas, they know that they lack the strength to do so. Indeed, they believe it is only a matter of time before their enemies track them down and that the Great Khans would be unlikely to survive such a confrontation. The looming conflict between Caesar's Legion and the NCR, along with the message from Karl, offers the possibility of a new way forward. Karl betrays the Khans and never did mean to be on their side, as told in his journal, in reality the Great Khans will be enslaved by the Legion after the Second Battle of Hoover Dam.

Society
The Great Khans reside in Mongolian-style tents called Gers (pronounced yurts) within Red Rock Canyon. However, unlike the other settlers of the Mojave, these homes are used for little more than sleeping in as they usually only have room for a couple of beds and a central fire. A Great Khan often carries all of their possessions with them, if they should decide to have anything besides the bare essentials. Because of this, as well as their aggression, the other factions view them as savages. However, unlike the Jackals, Fiends, Scorpions and Vipers the Great Khans are not hostile towards new-comers. As a similarity, if the Great Khans begin to dislike someone they will often show great hostility towards them.

The Great Khans subsist on hunting and farming, as well as producing chemicals and drugs in the Red Rock Drug Lab. The Canyon is a harsh environment for plants, leading the Great Khans to depend on drugs as a substitute for crops, which they can create quite easily and can sell to a multitude of factions. Coincidentally, one of their most frequent consumers is also their largest enemy: the New California Republic. The NCR officially has a ban on illegal drugs, however the Crimson Caravan and wealthy merchants that make up the NCR frequently turn a blind eye in order to make a profit. While these merchants make up a large portion of their custom, their biggest consumer is, by far, the Fiends - violent raiders constantly searching for new and exciting drugs. Though the drug trade is not the Great Khans' only form of self-sufficiency. They constantly hunt geckos and bighorns for their meat and pelts, which are tanned into the leather outfits they are often seen wearing. The Great Khans also wear crude armor plating on their legs.

The Great Khans' preferred form of warfare is through war parties, where multiple central figures lead their own individual units into individual battles and adapt on the fly, rather than being ordered by a main unit.

Relations with the outside
The Great Khans usually keep to themselves, rarely traveling too far from Red Rock Canyon, besides the odd raiding party or trek to Fiend territory for fear of being attacked by NCR troops. They frequently visit the fiends and other tribes or organizations dependent on their drugs, despite the fact that they are quite isolated and hostile to many factions. They remain suspicious of many strangers, because of what happened to them at Bitter Springs, although they are always ready to accept a newcomer and perform their brutal initiation rituals on them. They are often unpredictable and brash so relations are treated with caution, as the wrong word will often set off a fuse in them. They are hostile against anyone wearing NCR apparel, including the Courier.

The Followers of the Apocalypse visited them upon the arrival of Red Rock Canyon and helped them with books, medicine and technology. When the Khans instead chose to use that knowledge to become drug dealers, they withdrew their support in disgust.

Technology
The Great Khans use a very random assortment of weapons, while most Great Khans boast of their great strength very few use melee weapons as their primary weapon, even though a large arena resides in the canyon where multiple Khans hone their melee fighting abilities. At lower levels, the Great Khans use the 10mm submachine gun and 9mm submachine gun, at higher levels they use the Hunting revolver and Trail carbine, as well as the random weapons in between. Because of this, and because of their tendency to fight in groups, the Great Khans are formidable opponents in a fight.

Appearances
Great Khans appear in Fallout: New Vegas and All Roads.

Behind the scenes

 * The tribe's culture is based on the Mongol warriors under the rule of Genghis Khan.

Bugs

 * It has been reported that at Nellis Air Force Base, after trying to convince the Boomers to aid the NCR, coming out of Pearl's shack there were two generic Great Khans.
 * When trying to complete the Why Can't We Be Friends quest, the dialog option needed from Papa Khan may not show up especially if you are near the end of the Oh My Papa quest.
 * When completing and turning in the portion of the Aba Daba Honeymoon quest that involves the delivery to Motor-Runner when already "Idolized" with the Khans, the player may gain reputation with them, but somehow be cycled back down to "Accepted." This may be related to keeping the Khans faction uniform on when handing the quest in.
 * After killing Oscar Velasco in the side quest Climb Ev'ry Mountain, the player might find three Great Khans watching over them while they sleep. Three different Great Khans will appear at each bed and will not move or interact with the player. When talking to them, they will say 'Hi' and nothing else. Their appearance is probably due to the player's Great Khan reputation going down after murdering one of their clan; however, no attempt is made by them to attack or confront the player.
 * A Great Khan may run up to you at any place in the Mojave and try to enter conversation but will not say anything. The screen zooms into her face and zooms back out. This may interrupt resting times as well, except when resting at places such as the Lucky 38 presidential suite.
 * Three Great Khans may come with the Courier through the elevator to the presidential suite one day seemingly at random, after completing Oh My Papa and convincing the Great Khans to leave Red Rock Canyon. They wander around and interact with any companions that are staying in the Suite.
 * After becoming the leader of the Great Khans, the armorer in the Great Khan armory will stop selling you weapons and the option to engage in trading will not even show up.
 * Sometimes Great Khans will spawn near the player including NCR bases.
 * The Khans will also spawn in areas that don't accept them (behind the Securitrons at the Strip Gate for example), this will generally result in them engaging whomever is hostile to the them.
 * After talking Oscar Velasco into returning to the Khans, he can sometimes be found wandering outside near the sharecropper farms and fiend territory.
 * Regardless of your reputation with the Great Khans, they will sometimes say "Come to gawk at the Great Khans have you? Fuck off."
 * During fast travel or when waiting, one, two, or three Great Khans will appear - even in NCR camps. After extensive in-game testing, I don't believe this is related to a particular quest. Bug is related to reputation combination for Great Khans (tested on a save prior to making contact with Great Khans, using console to adjust fame/infamy.) Bug occurs consistently and repeatably when Great Khan reputation is Mixed, Unpredictable, Soft-hearted Devil, Dark Hero or Wild Child. (Fix On PC: use console to set fame/infamy so reputation is not one of the problem reputations.)