Nelson

Nelson is a settlement in the Mojave Wasteland in 2281. Recently, the town was occupied by Caesar's Legion following the Battle of Nelson. It is located southwest of Camp Forlorn Hope and east of Novac.

Origins
Nelson's history dates back to the 18th century and the Spanish discovery of gold in the Eldorado Canyon. The future Nelson was at the heart of the biggest mining boom in Nevada's history when gold and silver were discovered around the town. Its meteoric rise was assisted by a corresponding one in crime, especially the notorious Techatticup Mine in the middle of the canyon. Ownership, management, and labor conflicts led to a spate of wanton killings, made worse by the town's remote location and popularity during the dark years of the American Civil War, when it attracted deserters from both the Union and the Confederacy, hoping to elude authorities. It received its name in 1897, after a camp leader killed by a renegade native American. By the middle of the 20th century the mining activities petered out, turning Nelson into a virtual ghost town.

As such, the Great War barely touched it or the people living here. However, in the decades after the Great War, the closed mines were reopened by enterprising miners in order to exploit what remained of gold, silver, copper, and lead. What would have escaped the notice of pre-War corporations was more than enough for the wastelanders.

NCR occupation
In 2281, the New California Republic occupied the town and established a military camp. The area was of high value due to its strategic location, between Camp Forlorn Hope and Camp Searchlight, both for logistics planning and to plug the between the bases and cover the Colorado. Shortly after the NCR occupation, before the troopers managed to settle in, the Legion launched an attack. Two contubernia, led by Decanus Dead Sea and seized Nelson. With Searchlight recently destroyed and Camp Forlorn Hope stretched thin, no counter-attack materialized. The town has remained under Legion control ever since.

Under orders from Caesar to demoralize troops in the area, Dead Sea has ordered the execution of captured NCR troopers by hacking them apart, forcing them to jump off the cliff overlooking the river, and crucifying the remaining three. All within sight of surrounding NCR forces. To maintain pressure after taking Nelson, Dead Sea has launched raids against Camp Forlorn Hope to the north.

Layout
Nelson rests on a mesa on the western side of the Eldorado Canyon, enclosed by what remains of State Route 165. The mining camp and town itself is enclosed by a chainlink fence and surrounded by bunkers made from sandbags. The tallest point in Nelson lies up a hill on the northern edge of town where Legion soldiers monitor the area from an overlook. The NCR has established a roadblock on the road leading to Nelson. The town itself is centered around an open-air courtyard, now containing three crucified NCR troopers.

Surviving houses line the perimeter, used for a variety of purposes, including storage, an armory, mess hall, and housing. A small fortified position on the terrace below the town overlooks the Colorado River, with three graves nearby. A pair of barracks face the center of town. The barracks to the west contain the bodies of two NCR troopers and the eastern barracks contain another deceased NCR trooper as well as two recruit legionaries and their leader, Dead Sea.

All of the inhabitants have been culled by Dead Sea and his legionaries, either hacked apart or forced to jump off the cliffs. As such, the only people who remain in the area are the aforementioned crucified troopers and legionaries. A squad of three NCR trooper with caravan shotguns will occassionally stage a raid at the town, but be easily repulsed.

Notable loot

 * Liberator - Unique machete, carried by Dead Sea in the eastern barracks.
 * Nuka-Cola Victory - In the Nelson house west of the barracks, behind the fridge.
 * NCR dogtags are found on all dead NCR soldiers.
 * C-4 plastic explosive with detonator - In a footlocker at the NCR roadblock with Ranger Milo.

Related quests

 * Back in Your Own Backyard
 * Restoring Hope
 * We Are Legion

Appearances
Nelson appears only in Fallout: New Vegas.

Behind the scenes

 * Nelson is located in the same geographical area as the real world town of Nelson, Nevada.
 * Megan Parks was responsible for layout, prop placement, decoration, terrain shaping, and vistas in this location.
 * As with Camp Forlorn Hope, there is cut content at Nelson. Firstly, there are several markers around the central campfire, as with Forlorn Hope. These control the enabling/disabling of various groups of NPCs. Of particular interest is VNelsonDeadTroopersMarker, which enables several dead NCR troopers in the area (most of which are placed on top of land mines). This is unused in the final game and the dead troops are never seen (despite the Legion boasting of recently massacring them).
 * There is also a second marker called VNelsonExtraNPCMarker that enables a great number of extra Legion NPCs. It is unclear why these were left disabled, other than either to improve frame rate or fix memory problems on consoles. Looking at the game's code, these NPCs are supposed to be disabled after talking to Dead Sea in certain situations. His dialogue script individually disables some of the NPCs tied to these markers. However, this does not actually work, as NPCs with enable states tied to other objects can only be enabled/disabled if the parent object is itself enabled/disabled.

Bugs

 * After the NCR has spawned and the Legionaries are gone, there may be 3 Legionaries running into each other in front of the campfire.
 * When completing a quest for Dead Sea, sometimes when leaving Nelson, near the guard tower facing Forlorn Hope, the Legion guards may attack the player character regardless of reputation. Killing them results in a loss of reputation. If this occurs, reload a save, circumventing the Legion soldiers.
 * Instead of three NCR troopers attacking Nelson, a group of roughly twelve may attack. They will kill any Legion soldiers or mongrels outside, and then stand in a circle in the center of the town.
 * Sometimes the NCR soldiers that are "tied up" are simply standing in front of the crosses. They appear to be "untied" but still need to be untied.