Denver (Van Buren)

Dog City or Dog Town is what is left of Denver, Colorado after the Great War. There is no real civilization present, just a series of salvager camps set up high in the skyscraper ruins, away from the endless pack of feral dogs which roam the streets below.

Before the War
A rich city known for its industry, Denver was a place of prominence in the pre-War United States. Its factories supported the development of Boulder, a city on its outskirts, and a major center of scientific research, developing technologies in medicine, energy, robotics, and even power armor. However, the prominence of Denver was marred by incidents, such as a disastrous leakage from the nearby Rocky Mountain Arsenal, which created a poisonous cloud that hit Denver, killing a lot of people. Although the military apologized and invested money into the creation of the Boulder Dome as compensation, the damage was done.

The incident heralded the city's dark future. For a time, everything seemed in order and the city entered a building boom shortly before the war, as many new jobs were opening there the city was swollen to bursting. Most of the construction was housing for these immigrants. But when the war with China did start in 2066, resource rationing occurred and suddenly the construction workers didn't have anything to build with and weren't getting paid. Union riots and strikes occurred because the city couldn't pay and the federal government wouldn't step in to help. When Mexico and the Great Midwest Commonwealth started to suffer food shortages, Denver was hit hard because of its high population. Food rationing began. Food riots started because of the rationing, and some buildings were set on fire. The National Guard was called in to contain the rioting, using InstaPens (aka "bullpens") to contain and imprison rioters. Some people deliberately attacked police and National Guard troops so they would be imprisoned and fed. Rioters, National Guard personnel who disobeyed orders and other military folk who refused to help contain the riots were sent west and east.

Then, an outbreak of the New Plague hit the city. Rioters burned down large parts of the city in their fear of contamination and anger at their treatment. Many panicked and fled the city by car, clogging the freeways when they ran out of gas and trapping everyone behind them. And then the bombs fell, destroying some of what was left and killing everyone who had managed to live through everything else.

After the War
Post-War, civilization in Denver has collapsed and huge packs of wild dogs have taken over the city. Small groups of scavengers have tried to loot some of the buildings, but there had never been a coordinated effort until 2251.

In 2251, a group of work-release NCR prisoners from Porter's gang arrived to salvage items to buy off the rest of their sentences. They were to scavenge as many building supplies as possible, establish a track outpost, and pave the way for the NCR occupation.

In 2253, glowing ghouls started arriving from Boulder. Some slavers from Caesar's Legion are waiting out the Midwest's radioactive duststorms keeping them from getting home, and a rival gang of salvagers have moved in and started raiding claims from the NCR salvagers.

Economy
The salvagers have many supplies to trade. However, they desperately require some variety in their food and medical assistance. Scavengers also believe that there is gold to be found in the area.

Relationships with other communities
The salvagers were treated poorly by the administration while in prison and therefore didn't hold a strong opinion of the NCR. They don't care one way or the other about the tribals, though the Hangdogs and the salvagers would've mutually benefited from trade. The salvagers were willing to make deals with the Brotherhood of Steel as long as the Brotherhood didn't try to claim any tech for themselves. Used to working, they would've also likely gotten along with the people of New Canaan, provided they were treated well.

Others

 * Daniel
 * Dogbody
 * El Diablo
 * Job

Appearances
Denver did not appear in any of the published games, but was to appear in the canceled Fallout 3 project by Black Isle Studios codenamed Van Buren.

Behind the scenes

 * The Denver design document was written by Sean K. Reynolds. The entire document (1.0 version from 7/24/2003) leaked and was released by No Mutants Allowed in June 2005.


 * Dogtown could be a reference to the album Diamond Dogs, composed in 1974 by the artist David Bowie, where the singer describes a post-apocalyptic world full of mutated feral beasts and toxic clouds. The art design of Denver is similar to the landscape in the album booklet.