Slave collar

The total pacification collar (commonly referred to as a slave collar) is a pre-War prisoner control device developed at Big MT Research and Development Center, and adapted by slavers after the war for the purpose of capturing and forcing slaves into submission.

Background
Slave collars have a simple, but deadly design. A small explosive charge is encased in five pounds of durable steel. A microphone/speaker and a radio wave receiver and transmitter may also be present though models vary. When remotely triggered, the receiver signals the detonation of the charge, obliterating everything above the neck of the wearer without damaging the surrounding area. The collar's transmitter constantly broadcasts its position and environmental input to the controller, meaning wearers can be constantly monitored and eavesdropped upon. In addition, the collars are designed to detonate if they are removed without a disarming signal and key; it takes quite the expert in explosive circuits to get one off without such a signal. The collars can even be adjusted to detonate if the outgoing signal of another nearby collar goes silent. Their simple design also allows for easy modification of additional electronics and even completely repurposing the collars function. However, this simplicity can be the downfall of their wearers: the collars do not have selective radio wave jammers, meaning that rogue background electromagnetic waves can interfere with the receiver and set off the collar.

After the war, they have found widespread use among the survivors, usually slavers. Particularly sadistic use involves setting a timer on the collar to detonation, which slavers and raiders are known to do in the Capital Wasteland to persons they have captured. However, some also use it for simply ensuring cooperation, such as the Brotherhood of Steel and Father Elijah, for forcing others to perform his bidding and without the risk of hostilities. But has achieved limited success employing the collars in such a way.

Slave collars are an increasingly rare find, with the only known pre-War users - aside from going to the former manufacturer - being concentration camps and at least one prison, Eastern Regional Penitentiary, making their use limited even among slavers. 

Slave collar


The standard run-of-the-mill slave collar used to subjugate slaves to the will of their master.

Explosive collar


Explosive collars are used by the Mojave Brotherhood of Steel to make sure detained prisoners comply.

Destroyed collar


A slave collar that has already been detonated. In Freeside, on the corpse simply named "Man." He is equipped with a destroyed slave collar that can be taken off of him. It is implied that he tried to remove the collar himself but ended up triggering the explosive. It is identical to normal collars.

Dead Money collar


A slave collar from Big MT that Elijah tinkered with to make his captives obey orders to crack open the Sierra Madre Casino & Resort.

Deactivated bomb collar


A slave collar from Little Yangtze that Elijah tinkered with in order to understand its internal workings. This allowed him to alter other bomb collars, namely the Dead Money collar.

Shock collar


A slave collar modified to administer electrical shocks to their wearers if they don't comply with the Nuka-World raider gang's orders.

Prisoner collar


Employed by the Eastern Regional Penitentiary for use on all of its inmates, from parking ticket violators to murders. They can be easily found 25 years after the Great War in abundance littering the halls of the fully automated prison.

Behind the scenes
Exploding collars are frequently used as plot devices in fiction entertainment. The earliest known use of an exploding collar was in the Starchild Trilogy, a trio of novels published between 1964 and 1969.