Boneyard

The Boneyard is what remains of Los Angeles. The headquarters of Vault-Tec was located somewhere in the LA area, and a VT demonstration Vault, which was not part of the Vault Experiment, was built there. it is called the Boneyard because of the skeletal skyscrapers still standing in the ruins of this once huge city.

LA was pretty much decimated during the Great War. The majority of people in LA are people who came to the city after the destruction. Most to scavenge what they could, be it equipment, food or people. Los Angeles houses gunrunners, gangs, and various people with delusions of grandeur. The largest concentration of people live in a "suburb" called Adytum.

History
Most people in LA died after the bombs dropped, due to radiation poisoning, disease, famine and each other. Some, however, took shelter in the demonstration Vault, and eventually most of them emerged in 2092, founding the Boneyard. Many of them were the founders of Adytum, a fenced town in the suburbs of the old Los Angeles. Some, however, founded other communities, like the Blades, the Rippers, the Followers of the Apocalypse and the Gun Runners.

In 2155, the Master learned the location of the LA Vault, conquered the inhabitants and set up operations there, and the human cultists began to use the Vault as their powerbase. Eventually, a monumental building known as the Cathedral was constructed above the Vault. The Cultists thus became known as the Children of the Cathedral. Of those that remained in the Vault, most became the Master's servants and members of the Children of the Cathedral. Those that left could be part of almost any organization in LA.

In the 2150s, a pack of deathclaws appeared in the Boneyard, taking over the base of the Rippers. In 2159 Jon Zimmerman, the town's mayor, hired a band of mercenaries known as the Regulators to help protect Adytum from the deathclaw and the odd random attack by raiders, who by 2161 were in control of Adytum.

The Cathedral was destroyed in 2162 either by a man known as the Vault Dweller or by the Master himself, when he learned that his super mutants were sterile.

By 2241, Los Angeles became one of the states of the New California Republic and Adytum became known as New Adytum.

Comments
It is not known what is the canon outcome of Vault Dweller's adventures in the Boneyard. The only available piece of information comes from the Vault Dweller's memoirs: ''I found many enemies, and a few friends, in the Boneyard. I killed when necessary and learned more about the nature of my true foes.'' It is not known for certain, however, whether he did uncover the assasination of Zimmerman's son by the Regulators and their attempt at putting their blame on the Blades, and whether he freed Adytum from Regulator rule. We don't even know if he killed the deathclaws, so it is entirely possible that Adytum joined the NCR under the control of Regulators, after the Vault Dweller was fooled into killing the Blades.

Appearances in games
Los Angeles appears in Fallout and Fallout: Brotherhood of Steel. In FOBOS, however, instead of the Boneyard it appears as the ghoul town of Los, which is entirely inconsistant with the previous games. Furthermore, the LA Vault in FOBOS is not a demonstration Vault, but a secret Vault designed for FEV research.

Quotes

 * The city of Los Angeles must have been the largest in the world before the War. The LA Boneyard stretched forever, the skeletons of buildings lying under the hot sun. Not even the wind entered this dead city. - Vault Dweller's memoirs