New California Republic

The New California Republic is a large nation in the post-apocalyptic United States.

Background
The NCR is an entity spanning portions of the American southwest, dedicated to values of democracy and the rule of law. The flag of the New California Republic features a bear with two heads, based on a pre-War symbol.

Founding
The nation was founded by individuals who emerged from a vault, starting a small settlement named Shady Sands. The leaders of Shady Sands, Tandi and her father Aradesh, first proposed the idea of the Republic, and three years after, five states were combined into the NCR by vote. The states include Shady, Los Angeles, Maxson, the Hub, and Dayglow, consisting of a population of 700,000. Shady Sands was renamed NCR and established as the capital, outlawing slavery, gambling, and drugs. Aradesh served as the first president of the NCR, and Tandi afterward, chosen by the council and serving for 52 years. They were followed later by Aaron Kimball.

Government
The NCR's large military force protects developing institutions such as law, currency, healthcare, representative and government. Societal freedoms extend to the sexuality of citizens. All citizens have access to the nation's court system and vote for representatives to sit in the Hall of Congress. The states' elected representatives select the president and vice president to lead a council who in turn guide the president's decisions. The NCR's senate is comprised of elected senators and is charged with approving military honors such as the Star of Sierra Madre and approving troop deployments.

Citizenship is offered to humans and mutants alike through a provisional process comprised of training. Applicants must be peaceful and law abiding, not engaging in raiding or slavery. The NCR accepts petitions for inclusion from villages, towns, bases, city-states that are interested in joining, based on location. The Relations Advisory Panel is charged with communicating these opportunities, creating marketing materials outlining the history of the nation. These materials describe the processes and requirements for application as well as outline exclusion criteria. Those living in NCR territories are required to register as citizens and pay associated taxes.

An educational institution named the Angel's Boneyard Medical University is located in the NCR, offering medical training. The institution is managed by the Followers of the Apocalypse, but membership in their group is not required.

Economy
Trade routes and initiatives both established and supported by the New California Republic fund its growth. Merchant companies such as the Crimson Caravan, the Far Go Traders and the Gun Runners operate in and with the NCR. Other entities such as Van Graffs have expanded alongside the republic, but serve as a competitor instead of trading partners. The NCR also competes with other political powers for the incorporation of potential valuable trading assets, such as gold ore from the mines of Redding. Landowners and brahmin barons such as those within the Stockmen's Association utilize bribery to influence their stake in the NCR economy.

The NCR trades mechanical equipment, gold, and various surplus products in exchange for medical technology with Vault City, located to the north. Vault City leadership warns their citizens to be cautious when traveling to the NCR to trade, as the Republic has increased efforts to absorb their settlement as a border territory. The Happy Trails Caravan Company serves as a smaller trading company established in Sac-Town, located in the northern part of the NCR.

Farming initiatives are undertaken by the NCR government, supporting research into crop development and sustainability in an attempt to avoid food shortages. The Office of Science and Industry contributes to locations such as the NCR sharecropper farms, established by way of the NCR's Thaler Act. Farms throughout the NCR utilize irrigation to grow crops successfully in the desert climate.

Currency in the form of the NCR dollar is printed and circulated in several denominations, valued at half of the equivalent of caps. The notes are printed with the names of both the Republic Reserve and Angel's Boneyard and a statement that the note is legal tender in all NCR territories.

Locations
In New California:

In indeterminate locations: <!--
 * Fort Aradesh (formerly)

Criminal law
However, outside the NCR's territory and entering into the Mojave Wasteland is a different story. The NCR Army isn't keen on peacekeeping activities and usually swiftly punishes crimes committed in and around New Vegas with death.

Part of this includes the setting of bounties and delegating the responsibility of capture to able civilians that can bring in criminals that have eluded NCR lawmen or military. At least for the military, bounties require proof in the form of an intact head; anything less conclusive results in a fraction of the bounty being rewarded.

Military law
This same rule of law also applies to prisoners of war. With laws enacted during President Tandi's administration, the NCR recognizes the rights of prisoners of war and approaches their care humanely and free from abuse. Most officers find these laws to be constricting, but resourceful officers find ways around it by employing the service of outside consultants.

Laws pertaining to soldiers are quite severe. Cowardice before the enemy, especially desertion, is punished with death by hanging or to be shot on sight. Dishonorable conduct usually leads to a court-martial and may result in execution by firing squad for particularly severe crimes.

Internal conflicts
The Courier: "Tell me about the Gun Runners." Alexander: "The Gun Runners have been putting rapid-fire death-dealing in the hands of anyone who needed to defend himself for over a century. We're the NCR's #1 supplier of weapons and ammunition. You might call us an unofficial branch of the army." (Alexander's dialogue)

the NCR has grown substantially, focusing efforts on rebuilding the pre-War infrastructure and restarting technological development, while under Aaron Kimball, the NCR became more imperialistic and expansive, overextending itself in the process thanks in no small part to General Oliver's incompetence and bureaucratic red tape.

Military
Subordinated to the president and the Congress, the military of the Republic is one of its most distinguishing elements. The core component, the NCR Army, has thousands of servicemen, either volunteers or draftees, organized into divisions and battalions, equipped with standardized weapons and armor, and with varying degrees of training and competence. They are the proverbial sledgehammer, a tool used to crush enemies of the Republic and build order in the lands under its control, and a shield, protecting it from harm that may come from its numerous enemies, such as the Caesar's Legion. Supported by the industrial might of the Republic and unique technologies reclaimed from the wasteland (like Vertibirds confiscated from the Enclave), they are the foundation of the security policy of the Republic. On the civilian side of the spectrum lie marshals and police formations, responsible for enforcing the law of the Republic within the territory of the NCR.

The premier unit is the New California Republic Rangers, who grew out of a paramilitary abolitionist militia dedicated to the eradication of slavery in New California. They have grown into one of the most professional and deadly military outfits in the wastes and were folded under the military command of the army. Commonly respected for their valor and skill in battle, the rangers are folk heroes and enjoy an unblemished, heroic reputation and access to top of the line weapons and armor, often coming from recovered and restored pre-War goods.

The Republic practices what it preaches and the military, like society, makes no distinction between the genders when it comes to serving in the military. Super mutants and ghouls are also known to serve in the elite Rangers. In addition, military honors are awarded for valor, such as the Star of Sierra Madre.

Foreign relations
Many people in the western wastelands have mixed feelings about the NCR. Some people strongly support the Republic's goals of spreading democracy and the rule of law, and others vehemently oppose their methods of "controlling" everything they come into contact with. With wastelanders who were used to having no more than a mayor or sheriff now suddenly being part of a complex political structure and having to pay taxes, some view it as a loss of the frontier lifestyles that once defined them. As the NCR's power and territory grew, it made progressively stronger enemies who would test the resolve of the Republic.

Under President Tandi, the NCR made slow but sustainable territorial expansion, allowing towns and other small communities, who were impressed by the principles of the NCR, to join of their own volition while defending their borders from hostile raiders like the once legendary Vipers and Jackals, who would be ravaged by the NCR's military until they became broken shadows of their former glory. Eventually taming southern California, these achievements would garner such respect for President Tandi that the people would come to adore her, and tribals outside the NCR's borders would refer to her as the "Great Mother."

Viewing the NCR's growth and success as a threat to their already stagnating power and influence, the Brotherhood of Steel would launch a military campaign with the goal of pacifying the NCR and asserting its dominance over the wasteland and its technology. The NCR would ultimately prevail and force the Brotherhood into retreat and hiding. The NCR had defeated their strongest opponent yet.

After the death of President Tandi, her successors would gradually change the direction of the NCR. Rapidly expanding the Republic's borders in every direction in a more imperialistic fashion, they sacrificed some of the NCR's principles and moral high ground in the process. Tribals that once revered the "Great Mother" began to become "domesticated" as the nation swept through tribal lands. Under President Aaron Kimball, the NCR's expansion has led it to the Mojave Wasteland, where it would encounter the impressive city of New Vegas, and the even more promising Hoover Dam. However, it would also encounter its greatest enemy to date, Caesar's Legion, across the Colorado River.

The NCR initially had great success in the Mojave Wasteland, setting up bases and an embassy on The Strip. The front line of the new conflict between the NCR and Caesar's Legion moved towards the Colorado River. The Legion attacked the NCR with its full strength during the First Battle of Hoover Dam. The NCR successfully repulsed the Legion's assault on Hoover Dam, devastating the Legion's elite forces by luring them into a trap at Boulder City in the process. After their defeat, the Legion regularly conducted raids on the west side of the Colorado River, even creating permanent bases at Cottonwood Cove and sacking towns like Nipton and Nelson with little response from the NCR. Known wars and military conflicts in which the NCR was involved include those with the Enclave, Brotherhood, Great Khans, Legion and raiders.

Technology
Overall, the Republic can be readily described as the most advanced entity in post-nuclear North America. While smaller organizations do possess more advanced weapons, armor or tools (like the Enclave, Free Economic Zone of New Vegas or the Shi), no one can rival the Republic's agriculture, industry, economy and military, with the sole exceptions of the Caesar's Legion and Brotherhood of Steel. The keystones of the Republic's economic might are its brahmin herds and arable land painstakingly recultivated with primitive tools they had at their disposal. Aided strongly by the Followers of the Apocalypse, the Republic thrived. When the shift in foreign policy occurred with Kimball's election, the relations soured and the Republic eventually lost the Followers' support. However, disillusioned Followers flocked to the government and formed the Office of Science and Industry in 2275, becoming a dedicated, NCR-aligned research and development house. By 2281, their achievements include implementing computer simulations to aid with agricultural planning and cultivation, maximizing the output of Hoover Dam and restoring the power grid between the Mojave and Shady Sands, and even begin developing solutions for a famine projected to affect the Republic in 2291.

However, the technology is not limited to just agriculture. The Hoover Dam powers every city and major settlement in New California, while the OSI continues to (re)develop and implement new technologies in fields such as medicine, engineering and biology. Building on the strong infrastructure built during the 52 years of President Tandi's rule, which includes roads, railways, transportation, manufacturing, forts and more, the OSI increased the NCR's technological advantage over its competitors. That edge is nothing if not immense: By 2281, the Republic's powerful merchant companies have access to facilities and materials allowing them to manufacture standardized armaments, weapons and ammunition to fully outfit the largest standing army in the wasteland, to the point of different companies actively competing with each other for supply contracts (such as the Crimson Caravan and Far Go Traders) or even considered an unofficial branch of the Army (the Gun Runners).

Advanced technologies are also harnessed by the Republic for the benefit of its citizens. The annexation of Vault City granted the Republic access to advanced medical and scientific technologies, including organ cloning, performance-enhancing implants, armor grafts and other refined procedures. Other advanced technologies utilized by the Republic include satellite communications, power armor taken from the Brotherhood,   and even global positioning system satellites. The NCR also has the ability to construct concrete bunkers on vital frontlines, such as the Colorado River.

Infrastructure is also a prominent success of the NCR's technology, as the Republic is known to have used railroads and uses refurbished Vertibirds salvaged from its war with the Enclave. One example of this is Bear Force One, the vehicle that Aaron Kimball arrives in to make his speech at the Hoover Dam in 2281.

Appearances
The New California Republic was first mentioned in the Fallout ending cutscenes for Shady Sands and first appeared in Fallout 2. It was mentioned in Fallout 3, Fallout 4, and appears in Fallout: New Vegas.

Behind the scenes

 * In Chris Avellone's Fallout Bible 6, a version of the NCR flag has a one-headed bear.
 * Joshua Sawyer stated that the NCR is both self-interested and willing to protect New Vegas, having sacrificed much already to do so.
 * The NCR was planned for inclusion in the canceled Van Buren project and appears on the anti-materiel rifle from the Creation Club content "Anti-Materiel Rifle."