Republic of Dave

The Republic of Dave is a sovereign nation-state in the Capital Wasteland consisting entirely of a ranch run by a man called Dave, along with his two wives. In earlier years it was known as the Kingdom of Tom.

Location
The Republic is located in the northeast corner of the Capital Wasteland, nearly in the top-right corner of the map.

Background
Over the past two centuries, this tiny plot of land has been known as the Kingdom of Larry, the Republic of Stevie-Ray, Billsylvania, the New Republic of Stevie-Ray, and, most recently, the Kingdom of Tom, after Dave's father.

In his earlier days, Dave was exiled from the Kingdom of Tom and wandered the Wastes, gaining experience and maturing into a mercenary. He returned, instigated a rebellion, overthrew his father, Tom, and renamed the Kingdom to the "Republic of Dave" where all citizens were safe from dictatorship, replaced with democracy.

The Republic's economy seems to prosper despite its small size, with trading happening, however rarely, with the trade caravans nearby. It also has its own agricultural sector to the left of the entrance into the Republic of Dave (the Brahmin pen).

The country's organization is as follows:

The Republic of Dave Military
Joint Security Force, consisting of Dave and Bob.

The Immigration Bureau
You cannot become a citizen of the Republic, but for asylum (the right to stay temporarily) you can first tell Dave that you are looking for asylum, or for a "special asylum" you can become a "refugee" within the country; you must either pay the 250-cap immigration fee or offer a Hunting Rifle as a gift to do so. It is also possible to tell Dave that you are the Ambassador of the Wastelands (speech check). In that case, he will let you stay without paying anything.

The Tourism Office
Answers any questions an Ambassador from the Wastes is likely to ask upon arriving.

Other amenities

 * Dave wishes to remind visitors that there is a Museum, School, Capitol Building, and Mens' and Womens' separate sleeping quarters which you cannot sleep in.
 * The school here is one of only three active in the entire Capital Wasteland, the others being in Vault 101 and Little Lamplight.
 * The children are taught that Dave is better than an average human being, notably: "As a baby, he never cried and his poop didn't stink."

Elections
The elections are a fairly important time in the Republic of Dave, though it does seem to be biased (Dave being the only Presidential candidate). The people blindly believe that Dave is their rightful leader and will vote for him unless convinced otherwise with Speech.

The law of the Republic of Dave is also another crucial element: everyone should refer to Dave as "Mr. President" and treat him with the utmost respect, or else they will have an hour to leave the Republic, lest they be executed.

Inhabitants

 * Dave, president
 * Rosie, his first wife
 * Jessica, his second wife
 * Bob, Dave's eldest son and second in command
 * Rachael, Dave's daughter
 * Mary, Dave's daughter
 * Ralph, Dave's son
 * Flower, Dave's daughter
 * Shawna, teacher and curator of the Museum of Dave; with enough speech you can convince her to buy your loot. She does not have anything to sell.

Notable Loot

 * Dave keeps a unique Hunting Rifle named Ol' Painless, that does significantly more damage than the standard Hunting Rifle. It also has a faster reload time then the standard Hunting Rifle. To acquire it, you either have to steal Dave's key or rig the election so one of the other two win, after which you will be given access to the safe. Obviously, the first option is considered stealing and must be done discreetly if you do not wish to upset the residents. Alternatively, if you have Dogmeat, ask him to find a weapon and he should retrieve it after a few tries.
 * The Bobblehead - Perception can be found in the Republic of Dave Museum. Taking it does not yield any Karma difference.
 * Two Pre-War Books in the museum (for Arlington Library). Nuka-Cola Quantum on the safe in Capitol Building. (Both must be stolen)

Related quests

 * You Gotta Shoot 'Em in the Head
 * Election Day

Behind the scenes

 * The lead designer is on record saying that the Republic of Dave was not inspired by anything in particular; it simply struck them as a funny idea for a location to visit.
 * The code you get from Rosie to open Dave's safe is 1138. This may be a reference to George Lucas and his movie THX-1138. The number is repeated in many of Lucas' films.

Bugs

 * For some people, rigging the election does not allow you to loot Dave's safe without technically stealing its contents, despite Rosie telling you that you're entitled to whatever is in the safe. This makes it very difficult to acquire Ol' Painless. For PC users, this can be fixed by using the console to set the ownership of the safe to you. For console users who still want to get Ol' Painless after this bug has occurred and not lose karma, the only way to put some .32 ammo in the safe, lure a Raider or Talon Company Merc into the capitol building, disarm them, then hope they retrieve it from the safe before they are killed by the residents. After it is taken, you are free to pick it up without karma loss.
 * There is a glitch whereby one of the women won't vote, meaning you will not be able to finish the side quest. You will need to disable and enable her via the console to get her to reset her voting process. (confirmed)
 * If you enter the Republic of Dave through a break in the east side of the fence, the entire town will turn hostile towards you and attack. The children become hostile too, making it impossible to fast travel out of the Republic of Dave for the rest of the game. (confirmed)
 * If the front gate is left open, occasionally Giant Radscorpions will wander into the compound and kill Shawna, Bob, or both without player assistance. Looting their corpses will turn the remaining NPC's (Dave, Jessica and Rosie) hostile to you. It is also possible that they will turn hostile towards you even if you don't loot the bodies of Shawna or Bob.(confirmed on PC)
 * There is a glitch where Bob will stand in front of the voting box forever. If told to vote he will say that he'll get it out of the way but will never do it. This may be fixed by shooting (not killing) Bob then holstering your weapon,however if you have followers there is a chance that they may kill Bob or anybody else. (confirmed on PC. 360)
 * If you have Fawkes with you,it may be best to have him wait outside as there have been cases of him killing all the adult NPC's in the Republic of Dave unprovoked. (confirmed PC) This is also true for Sierra Petrovita in Girdershade.
 * While talking to Jessica and Rosie after the election, that was rigged towards Bob winning, every time either of the women are asked about the Republic, they just say "Jessica is Dead!" and Dave doesn't think the election was over.(confirmed on one Xbox 360)
 * If you tell everyone in the Republic to go vote,except for Bob,then convince him to run for president he will head off to vote for himself. Then,before telling Dave that all of the votes are in, go to Rosie and convince her to run as well,even though she has already voted.Now, send Dave to tally the votes. At this point,the ballots in the box should be 1 vote for Bob and 4 votes for Dave.If you tamper with the ballots directly after Dave reads the first vote for himself, and withdraw all other votes.After pondering whether or not anyone tampered with the ballots,Dave will declare that Rosie is the new president.This is odd,considering there were no votes for her in the first place. Dave will still react negatively,claiming that the republic will fail without him, but he simply heads back to his office and is still considered the President.When addressing Rosie,the only new option is to tell her that she did not win the election.(Confirmed on PS3, 360)