Zion Canyon

Zion Canyon is a location in the Fallout: New Vegas add-on Honest Hearts, serving as the gameworld for the add-on.

Background
Zion Canyon was spared most of the horrors of the Great War, and remains an unspoiled wilderness. In the immediate aftermath of the war only one man is known to have inhabited Zion - a survivalist by the name of Randall Clark. He camped out in the park, slowly losing his mind when a group of Mexicans came to the area, calling it "paradise". Clark watched the Mexicans, never making contact but subtly aiding them when they needed it. In 2096, a group of Vault 22 dwellers, infected with Beauveria Mordicana, arrived in the area, killing and eating the Mexicans, with Clark unable to rescue them. Clark killed most of the Vault 22 dwellers or waited for them to die of their infection, but befriended Sylvie, one caught up in a bear trap and ended up having a child with her. She died during childbirth, and the baby was stillborn.

In 2108, feral ghouls arrived in the area, but Clark was able to kill them all before they became a problem. 15 years later, a group of children arrived in the area, in the same location where the Mexicans landed all those years ago. Clark, now an old man, watched over the children as he did with the Mexicans, making sure that no harm came to them but never making contact with them. To them, he was "the Father in the Cave", a purveyor of gifts and dispenser of wisdom. Clark died at Red Gate, leaving behind his caves full of traps. The children became the Sorrows, a peaceful tribe that embodied innocence, and lived in peace for years, never venturing into the caves and treating all pre-War buildings and tech with reverence.

The peace was not to last. Recently, missionaries from New Canaan in the north have arrived in the region, attempting to convert the locals to Mormonism. That in itself would not be a threat to the peace, but the White Legs, a hostile group in the canyon, with whom the Mormon Church is embroiled in a conflict, have followed the surviving Mormons down to Zion, where the Sorrows now face extinction. Daniel and Joshua Graham, ridden with guilt over their part in the Sorrows' current predicament, have vowed to protect the tribe by any means. Daniel wants to evacuate the Sorrows to Grand Staircase, where they cannot be followed by the White Legs, but Graham, with his Dead Horses, wants to teach the Sorrows the art of warfare so that they may drive the White Legs out of Zion and secure the region for future generations. Either option will require the tribe to sacrifice a fundamental part of their identity, but a decision must be made nonetheless.

In 2281, the Happy Trails Caravan Company, the Courier among them, led an expedition from the Mojave Wasteland's Northern passage in the hopes of re-establishing contact with New Canaan. The caravan was ambushed however, and the ambushers killed its members, excluding the Courier, and now the fate of Zion rests in his or her hands.

Appearances
Zion Canyon appears only in the Fallout: New Vegas add-on, Honest Hearts.

Behind the scenes

 * Zion is the Biblical name for Jerusalem and sometimes Israel.
 * This area's real-world equivalent is a favorite holiday destination of Fallout: New Vegas lead designer J.E. Sawyer.