Arroyo

Arroyois a settlement located in south-west Oregon, and founded by the Vault Dweller following his exile from Vault 13 by Overseer Jacoren.

Originally a tribal village, after the Chosen One completed his quest and using the G.E.C.K. in 2242, it would eventully rise in power, become a large city.

Background
In May 2162, the Vault Dweller returned to Vault 13 after defeating the Master and his army and was subsequently exiled from the Vault by its Overseer. He wandered the desert, but never moved far from the mountains that shielded the Vault from the rest of the world. Upon hearing of what happened to him, a few other residents of the Vault decided to leave and join his side, following him soon afterward. The Vault Dweller eventually came into contact with the small group of dwellers. They knew little of the outside world, and would have likely died if it were not for his knowledge and experience. After this, the Vault Dweller removed his vault suit, never to wear it again.

Two months later, The Vault Dweller headed north, to the great canyons, with a small group of Vault Dwellers and Wastelanders, and founded the village of Arroyo. Slowly, he taught them what experience had taught him, and together they learned to thrive. Over time, their ragtag group turned into a minor tribe. The Vault Dweller fell in love with a members of the tribe named Pat, and they raised a family, like all of their tribes people. The construction of Arroyo was completed on August 18, 2167.

Initially, they would send scouts back towards the Vault, to help others who thought like themselves, but that slowly came to an end. The Vault Dweller taught the others the skills they would need to survive and grow strong: hunting, farming, and other skills to feed them; engineering and science to build their homes; fighting to protect what was theirs.

The Vault Dweller and Pat led the village and the tribe. The tribe grew, and grew strong with their help. In 2188, their daughter, who later became the Elder, was born. Eventually, she and their other children became the leaders of the community.

On January 16, 2208, several years after Pat's death, the Vault Dweller wrote his memoirs. Soon after that, he vanished from Arroyo and was presumed dead. The Vault Dweller left the Vault Suit behind, folded on the bed. Some say the Vault Dweller was taken by the sky spirits, others say that the Vault Dweller felt it was time to move on and leave the Elders to guide Arroyo to its destiny. After the One-Moon (Month) Cycle of mourning for the Vault Dweller ended, activity in Arroyo began to return to normal.

The final training of the Vault Dweller's daughter for the role of village elder began on February 2. She underwent a great deal of physical training and tutoring in various sciences, mathematics, and, of course, weapon skills. Two years later, she took her mystic test, a key ingredient of which is several pots worth of hallucinogenic plants from Hakunin's garden. She ran the gauntlet in the Temple of Trials, using her charm to pass most of the tests after her handgun jammed (and was ruined) on the first level. She offered numerous criticisms of the test, resulting in many revisions. Two days later, she ascended to role of Village Elder. She ruled with a steady hand, and her wisdom was greatly respected.

The Elder's son, later called the "Chosen One", was born on March 23, 2221. His father is not recorded in the tribal records. The reason for this is unknown, but the Elder may have simply been embarrassed. In 2241, the worst dry season in many years causes a drought in the Northern California area, hurting crops and Brahmin in Arroyo. The Elder, having read a G.E.C.K. advertisement in her father's old holodisks, decided that her son must be sent to find it, as it is the village's only hope. On July 25, the Chosen One began his mystic test, descending into the Temple of Trials, just like his mother had many years before. Two days later, he left his home village to find the ancient device.

While the Chosen One was on his quest, on July 20, 2242, Arroyo was attacked by Enclave soldiers in vertibirds, wearing Power Armor, armed with energy weapons, and the villagers were captured and brought to the oil rig. Some of them tried to resist the attackers and were killed, and Hakunin was seriously wounded. When the Chosen One returned to the village, he found it almost completely destroyed and found a dying Hakunin among the dead bodies. Now, the Chosen One had a new quest - to save his people from the hands of the Enclave.

The Enclave needed the tribals for their FEV experiments. They needed two test groups: one of clean, pure humans; and another composed of the "mutants" that lived all over the mainland, suffering radiation and FEV exposure for decades that, to the Enclave, made them unclean. The unclean sample was easily obtained by kidnapping the entire population of Arroyo. The clean group were the dwellers of Vault 13, who were reunited with their long lost Arroyo brethren in Enclave prison cells.

In Fall 2242, the Chosen One managed to enter the Enclave using a damaged tanker and destroyed the Poseidon Energy platform, killing the President of the Enclave and severely setting back the Enclave's plans for world domination. The surviving people of Arroyo and Vault 13 were free.

After the Enclave's destruction, the refugees of Arroyo and Vault 13 resettled, building a new community with the aid of the Garden of Eden Creation Kit and renamed the recently renewed city New Arroyo. Finding themselves hundreds of miles from their Vault, the members of Vault 13 chose to join the villagers in establishing a new community, and their technical expertise, combined with the villagers survival skills, allowed the new settlement to grow and prosper. Two generations of the same bloodline were reunited, and their saviour, the Chosen One, became Elder, presiding over the village of New Arroyo in the years to come. Certain that the safety of the new village had been secured and the new community was flourishing, his mother, the old Elder, passed away a few months later in her sleep. In 2281, New Arroyo is still present and has become a large city. Emily Ortal, a member of Followers of the Apocalypse, is from the city of New Arroyo, which has become part of the NCR.

Inconsistencies
The statement from the Fallout Bible timeline that the "construction" of Arroyo is finished in 2167 and one from the Vault Dweller's memoirs that the Vault Dweller taught the tribe "engineering and science to build their homes" are inconsistent with the fact that the people of Arroyo in the actual game live in primitive tents and the only real building is the Temple of Trials, which according to Chris Avellone was made before the Great War. But you have to remember, how exactly would they build advanced structures in such a situation.

Behind the scenes

 * The name Arroyo possible comes from the Spanish - an arroyo (literally brook in Spanish), also called a wash or draw, is usually a dry creek bed or gulch that temporarily fills with water after a heavy rain, or seasonally. As such, the term is similar to the word wadi. Arroyos can be natural or man-made. The term usually applies to a mountainous desert environment. In many rural communities, arroyos are the principal roads, and in many urban communities they are important multi-use trails for recreation and pedestrian and equestrian travel.

Appearances
New Arroyo appears in Fallout 2 under the name Arroyo and at the time it was still a tribal village. However, while not appearing in-game, New Arroyo is mentioned by a few characters in Fallout: New Vegas.