Ashton

Ashton is a city in the Divide in the Fallout: New Vegas add-on, Lonesome Road.

Background
Along with its neighbor Hopeville, Ashton was home to several United States Armed Forces nuclear missile bases and silos. In 2077, along with the rest of the world, it burned in nuclear fire. Although the Ashton area was a major part of the ballistic defense matrix, the missiles raining down on the city must have caught the soldiers there by surprise, as the ICBMs never left their silos.

Close to two centuries later, a small survivalist community emerged near the ruins of Ashton and Hopeville. Though small at first, the willingness of a single Courier to travel the hard road to and from the community Named the Divide, it was a community of hardy folk, building a new future using the Old World as foundation. The Courier: "This road leads nowhere. There's nothing in the Divide." Ulysses: "Many in the Mojave think the Divide's nothing but canyon and storm. Wasn't always. There was life, a town, farther West... not talking about an Old World town like Hopeville... more recent. Something you saw in your lifetime. It had the name "the Divide," too. But rather than cracks in the earth, it was a road from the West into the Mojave, a supply line. Took a Courier to make that road. You. Back then, you saw the road with eyes facing East. This time... the Divide's in the other direction. And if your eyes try to make sense of it when you reach it... home's not what it was." The Courier: "If you blame me for what happened here at the Divide - why do you care?" Ulysses: "The community that was once here... and the package you brought... both had markings of the Divide. Markings of America. You've seen the marks, the symbol. As early as the Hopeville silo, maybe. Carried it etched on your weapons. The Divide, its buildings, its people, were built around those same markings, surrounded them here... ...markings like the flag on my back. When I followed your road to the Divide those years ago, I saw the symbol I wore all around me. An Old World symbol. Strong, to survive here - its people, strong. Outlast the Bear, outlast the Bull. Promise of something better. Caesar was right to want it dead. NCR was right to want to rake their claws in it. Seeing it... changed me, just as seeing Hoover Dam changed Caesar and the NCR. Seeing it end changed me, too." (Ulysses' dialogue) It was a new nation, slowly stirring to life, forging new ideals to apply to the new world they were placed in.

The success of the community eventually drew the attention of the New California Republic, who began to annex it swiftly for a newly established supply line across the treacherous Divide into the Mojave Wasteland. This drew the attention of Caesar's Legion, which attempted to cut the new supply line. This war did not destroy the settlement, however. It was the work of the Courier who, returning to the Divide again, carried a package from Navarro by order of the NCR. This package containing the activated ICBM launch codes, and when the package was close enough it sent a signal to the dormant nuclear missiles, causing them to begin detonating one after another, splitting the earth, cracking and twisting the landscape, and causing massive earthquakes. This turned Ashton into what it is now.

Layout
Ashton is now a wreck of the skeletons of buildings and camps of marked men who have survived the brutality of the Divide. Many ruined elevated highways have collapsed as well as numerous cars littering the area.

Locations

 * Ashton missile silo
 * Ashton silo control station

Appearances
Ashton appears only in the Fallout: New Vegas add-on, Lonesome Road.

Behind the scenes
Ashton is based on the real world location Ashton, a water stop between Amargosa Valley and Beatty in Nye County, Nevada. Notably, the Nevada Test Site is 18 miles to the east.