Caravan merchant (New California)

Caravan merchants are businessmen that travel New California wasteland, carrying various goods for sale in the settlements they visit. The caravans are usually large in numbers and well protected, often using pack brahmin and wagons made from wrecked automobiles to transport their stock. They are very influential in the wastes, and for many settlements, they are the only source for basic commodities necessary for any blooming community.

Goods
Caravans carry pretty much anything that can be sold, as something that's taken for granted in one place may be a highly sought after commodity in a settlement 10 miles away (in the words of Rutger of the Far Go Traders). This includes, but is not limited to: water, chems, tires, guns, bullets, food, brahmin, dirt, even scraps of metal salvaged from the old world debris. The hub of all trader activity in New California was the aptly named Hub, where the largest merchant companies (Water Merchants, Far Go Traders and Crimson Caravans) based their headquarters.

As civilization rebuilt itself on the West Coast, other goods began entering the circulation, with gecko pelts, uranium ore, gold nuggets, and even slaves becoming a new norm. New Reno caravans also transported jet and other drugs manufactured within city limits, while Vault City's caravans specialized in exclusive trade involving high tech medical supplies. The NCR emerged as the largest supplier of brahmin on the West Coast, in addition to a myriad of other goods it produced.

Fallout
One can hire themselves as a guard for one of the caravan companies operating in downtown Hub.

Fallout 2
One can hire themselves as a guard for one of the caravan companies operating in most of the big towns.