Vault Dweller

In a general sense, a vault dweller is just a dweller of one of the Vault-Tec Vaults.

When capitalized, the Vault Dweller is the main character of Fallout 1. He was sent out by the Vault 13 Overseer on a misson to find a replacement for the Vault's broken water chip. In the course of his adventure, he ended up defeating the mutant threat (by blowing up an abandoned military base overrun by the supermutants and housing massive FEV stockpiles) and assasinating the Master, and the leader of his cult, the Children of the Cathedral's Morpheus.

At the end of Fallout 1, after he completed his task and returned home, he was exiled from Vault 13 by the Overseer, as he thought his contact with the outside world would cause disruption within the vault. He went north with several other vault dwellers who chose to follow him and founded the village of Arroyo where the Chosen One, his grandson and main character of Fallout 2 was born.

Note that while in Fallout 1 the player could choose to be either male or female, the canon Vault Dweller, as established by Fallout 2, was male.