Great Khans

"The glory of the Great Khans will be restored, and once the NCR is pushed back to California, all the land from here to the Colorado will be ours."

- Papa Khan

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

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 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.

Endings

 * If, after generations of being beaten down, the Great Khans are finally broken by The Courier, those few who avoid The Courier's wrath move north, into the wilderness of Idaho, where they try once more to rebuild.
 * If their alliance with the Legion is broken and the NCR are victorious at the Second Battle of Hoover Dam, the Great Khans return for a time to Red Rock Canyon. The NCR's pressing need to expand proves greater than its promise of amnesty, and before long the government decides the Khans have to go. The surviving Great Khans are relocated to an isolated, barren reservation, well north of NCR trade routes.
 * If they are convinced to support the NCR and the Legion are victorious, the Great Khans are ruthlessly hunted down. Caesar destroys all evidence of their existence at Red Rock Canyon, and forbids mention of their name in any history. The Great Khans' legacy is swiftly forgotten.
 * If the Legion are victorious at the Dam and the Khans remain loyal, as reward Caesar forcibly integrates them into the Legion. The sick and elderly are killed, the women sold as wives to ranking officers, and the tribe's identity is annihilated. Though many Great Khans mourn the death of their tribe, many more are ultimately satisfied with their revenge against NCR.
 * If the Legion are driven out of the Mojave Wasteland and the Khans are among those who had allied themselves with Caesar, the Great Khans are among the first to receive the attention of the victorious NCR, and the few who survived Hoover Dam are driven north, into the wilderness of Idaho.
 * If the alliance with Caesar is broken and neither side is victorious at the Dam, during the Battle of Hoover Dam, the Great Khans quickly evacuate Red Rock Canyon and head north and east into the plains of Wyoming. There, they reconnect with the Followers of the Apocalypse and rebuild their strength. Bolstered by ancient knowledge of governance, economics, and transportation, they carve a mighty empire out of the ruins of the Northwest.
 * If they make a suicidal last stand at Hoover Dam, the Great Khans cease to exist as a tribe. The few surviving members disperse, joining up with other tribes and gangs across the Mojave, and quickly forget their heritage.

Society
The Great Khans reside in Mongolian style tents called 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 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. If the Great Khans begin to dislike someone, however, they will often show great hostility.

The Great Khans subside by hunting and farming, as well as producing chemicals and drugs in the Red Rock Drug Lab. The Canyon is a harsh environment for plants, however, leading to the Great Khans usual dependence on drugs, 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. However, the drug trade is not their only form of self-sufficiency. They constantly hunt geckos and bighorns for their meat and pelts, which are tanned into the leather outfits they wear. The Great Khans also wear crude armor plating on their legs, meaning they either have a loose grasp on basic mining and forging, or more likely that they use decorated and charred bones from the animals they hunt.

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.

Technology
The Great Khans use a very random assortment of weapons throughout the Courier's involvement with them. 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, and at higher levels they use the Hunting revolver and Trail carbine, as well as the random odd weapon in between. Because of this, and also because of their tendency to fight in groups, the Great Khans are formidable opponents in a gun fight.

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

Behind the scenes

 * The tribe's culture is obviously based on the Mongol warriors under the rule of Genghis Khan, Papa Khan most likely being the example of Genghis himself. This is proven when the Courier, choosing to help the Great Khans seek inspiration from the past to decide their future, returns with a history book from Ezekiel of the Followers of the Apocalypse, detailing the history of the world. Papa Khan reads the section about the Mongol Empire, and realizes that the Great Khans' heritage, and cultural origins when in their respective Vault, a Vault known to be packed with various cultures, stems from them.
 * The tribe also lends much of its aesthetic appeal to the biker sub-culture that budded in the late seventies to the early nineties, as they dye their leather black much like the leather vests/jackets of bikers, and wear a patch on their back, which was an incredibly popular move for gang members of that time. The leather and drugs, combined with the fur and armor, make the Great Khans a mixture of both cultures, and of new and old.

Bugs

 * It has been reported that at Nellis Airforce 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.
 * 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 Lucky 38 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.
 * When talking with the water seller in Freeside, a Khan could be present. After switching to third person view, when trying to kill the Khan, the game will most likely crash.
 * 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.

Gallery
Великие Ханы