Mod:DUST Survival Simulator/The Fall

The Fall is the given name of the apocalyptic event that devastated New Vegas and the Mojave Wasteland, leading to the events of Fallout: DUST. The player can learn the history of the Fall through the many notes, logs, and journals scattered around the wasteland.

Cause
Based on the various journals and logs found around the Mojave, it is implied that the NCR was at least partially responsible for The Fall and its subsequent chaos. While several details remain unclear, it is implied that the Fall was a result of (among other things) the NCR's experiments with the Cloud from the Sierra Madre and the invasion of Tunnelers from the Divide.

Pre-Fall
Twenty years before the events of Fallout: DUST, the Second Battle of Hoover Dam occurred. The NCR, aided by Courier Six, claimed victory over Caesar's Legion and drove them back across the Colorado River. However, the Courier ultimately turned on the NCR (either by order of Robert House or Yes Man) and ordered them to leave New Vegas. The NCR would eventually annex the Strip by force and brand the Courier as a terrorist.

The Beginning of the End
Some time after the Second Battle of Hoover Dam, the NCR discovered the Sierra Madre Casino, as well as the mysterious and deadly Cloud. It is implied that the NCR conducted experiments with the Cloud, bringing both massive samples of Cloud Residue and corpses of Ghost People back to the Mojave. Many of these experiments were conducted in a makeshift laboratory set up in the lobby of the Lucky 38 casino. Though the full nature of the experiments is unknown, it is implied that they were brutal, sadistic, and inhuman.

Five years after the Second Battle of Hoover Dam, something went terribly wrong. A new Cloud formed over the Strip, much more lethal and corrosive than the Cloud of the Sierra Madre. The skies above New Vegas turned red. The Fall had begun.

Chaos in New Vegas
As the Cloud began to spread across New Vegas, panic descended on the Strip and Freeside. Riots broke out as whole sections of the city were engulfed by the Cloud, killing hundreds. In Freeside, NCR troopers began to execute innocent civilians in the streets. In response, the Kings rebelled against the NCR, while also aiding in an evacuation of Freeside, saving countless lives. The Followers of the Apocalypse were forced to abandon the Old Mormon Fort. Eventually, the devastation caused by the Cloud became so bad that NCR President Aaron Kimball ordered an evacuation of all NCR citizens of New Vegas.

The city would ultimately fall to the Cloud. While some survivors managed to take shelter in the Strip's now-abandoned casinos, many citizens were not so lucky. Those who weren't immediately killed by the Cloud became ghouls or Cloud Victims, while others died slowly of radiation poisoning and Cloud exposure.

Spread
Eventually the radioactive dust storms (by-products of the NCR's Cloud experiments) would spread outside of New Vegas to the rest of the Mojave Wasteland, causing widespread devastation. Whole settlements and towns were evacuated or otherwise destroyed. One settlement in particular, Goodsprings, was struck by an unknown form of plague, killing most of its residents and turning the once-prosperous community into a ghost town.

Other areas, such as Boulder City, were overrun by Ghost People. Whether these Ghost People were newly created as a result of the NCR's Cloud experiments, or if they were originally from the Sierra Madre, is unknown.

The ultimate effects of the Fall would spread as far out as Zion Valley, where spore carriers from Vault 22 ran wild, alongside another strange, terrible creature...

Tunneler Invasion
As predicted by Ulysses, the Tunnelers from the Divide eventually burrowed through to the Mojave Wasteland, causing even more death and destruction. The dust storms blotted out the Sun, allowing the Tunnelers to hunt by day, killing off most of the native animal population in the Mojave.

Aftermath
After the Fall, few remnants remained of the old Mojave Wasteland. Once-powerful factions such as Caesar's Legion, Great Khans, and Powder Gangers were either wiped out or dissolved into roaming gangs of tribals and survivors. Cannibalism became rampant, as people did whatever they could to survive. The NCR remained in control of various locations such as Camp Golf, Hoover Dam, and Nellis AFB. Those fortunate enough to evacuate the Mojave mostly wound up at Camp Adytum, an NCR refugee center in the Boneyard.

The NCR would eventually launch expeditions into the ruins of New Vegas, presumably to acquire materials left over from the Lucky 38 laboratories. However, none of these expeditions were successful, and the NCR soon abandoned all attempts to return to New Vegas.

List of notable areas affected by the Fall

 * Bitter Springs - ???
 * Black Mountain - occupied by NCR
 * Boulder City - overrun by Ghost People
 * Camp Golf - occupied by NCR
 * Camp Forlorn Hope - overrun by cannibals
 * Camp McCarran - ???
 * Camp Searchlight - occupied by Brotherhood of Steel
 * Cottonwood Cove - overrun by cannibals
 * Freeside - destroyed by Cloud, overrun by ghouls
 * Fortification Hill - ???
 * Goodsprings - destroyed by plague
 * HELIOS One - overrun by cannibals
 * Hidden Valley - destroyed
 * Hoover Dam - occupied by NCR
 * Jacobstown - ???
 * Mojave Outpost - overrun by cannibals
 * NCR Correctional Facility - occupied by survivors
 * Nellis AFB - occupied by NCR
 * Nelson - ???
 * Nipton - occupied by Legion remnants
 * Novac - overrun by cannibals
 * Primm - overrun by cannibals
 * Red Rock Canyon - ???
 * REPCONN Test Site - overrun by cannibals
 * Sloan - overrun by cannibals
 * The Strip - destroyed by Cloud