Republic of Dave

The Republic of Dave is a fortified homestead/ranch run by a man called Dave, along with his two wives. The "country" is located in the northeast part of the Capital Wasteland, nearly in the top right corner of the map. The Republic of Dave's economy seems to prosper despite its exceptionally small size, with trading happening, however rarely, with the trade caravans nearby. The country also has its own agricultural sector to the left of the entrance into the Republic of Dave.

Overview
The country's standing is as follows:


 * The Republic of Dave Military: Joint Security Force, consisting of Dave and his son 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.


 * While the size may fool the player, Dave wishes to remind visitors that there IS a Museum, School, Capitol Building and Men and Women separate sleeping quarters that you can not sleep in.

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 population 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. Everybody should refer to him as "Mr. President", and treat him with the utmost respect or they will have an hour to leave the republic, or be executed.

Citizens

 * Dave
 * Rosie, his first wife
 * Jessica, his second wife
 * Rachael, Dave's daughter
 * Bob, second in command
 * 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.
 * Dave and Rosie's children

History
The history of the Republic of Dave is fairly simple. In his earlier days, Dave is believed to have been in exile from the Kingdom of Tom, wandering 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.

Notable items

 * Dave keeps one of the two existing special hunting rifles named Ol' Painless, that does significantly more damage than the standard hunting rifle.
 * The Perception Vault Boy Bobblehead can be found in the Republic of Dave Museum.
 * Two pre-war books in the museum. (For Arlington Library)
 * Nuka-Cola Quantum on the safe in Capitol Building.

Related quests

 * The Republic of Dave is the location of one part of the side-quest You Gotta Shoot 'Em in the Head in which you have to assassinate several characters that have offended the quest giver, Mister Crowley. You can choose either to kill Dave or persuade him to give you his key and pretend that you've killed him.


 * Election Day: There also appears to be a minor quest in which you can attempt to affect the outcome of the "election" that is currently taking place in the Republic of Dave. The player can convince two additional citizens of the republic (Rosie and Bob) to run for President as well. It does not appear possible to alter the results of the election through speech alone (as Shawna, Jessie, and Dave will apparently always vote for Dave), but one can determine the winner of the election by committing electoral fraud and taking away other votes from the Ballot box (you can only do this at the moment Dave unlocks the box). The box text will be red, but you won't lose karma for opening it or taking out ballots. If Rosie or Bob win the election they will award you with the combination for Dave's safe, where you can find his unique rifle. The safe text will also be red, but this time you will lose karma if you take things from it. If Dave loses the election, he will immediately leave the Republic and head to Old Olney to establish The New Republic of Dave, though he will most likely be killed on his journey unless safeguarded by the player. Once in Old Olney, Dave will simply sit in front of a corpse filled alley, and will warn/attack the player if talked to three times. The town will remain being called the Republic of Dave, even if he lost the election and/or was killed. If Bob is elected, he will only say that the flag should have a picture of him on it and that the Museum of Dave should be renamed.

An easy way to finish this side quest (GOOD-Karma): 1. Tell your companion,(Charon, etc.) to follow you, finish the election. 2. Crouch and steal something from Dave (maybe the Safe key...). He should realize that. 3. Now, they'll start to attack you. That's the moment when Charon starts to shoot..

Trivia

 * This location is most likely a reference to the Branch Davidian Ranch, a cult compound which was the place of a 51-day standoff between the cult followers and law enforcement. Residents referred to themselves as "Davidians", and were led by David Koresh, whom like in-game Dave; also had two wives.


 * This location is possibly a reference to Will Self's Book of Dave. It could also be a reference to the Futurama episode "Bend Her", in which a one man Olympic team from the "Nation of Joe" competes in the 3004 Earth Olympiad. The sole athlete, Joe, is also the leader of the nation and prominent figure on the Flag of the Nation of Joe.


 * Another possible source of inspiration is Danny Wallace's book How to Start Your Own Country, in which he documents his schemes of declaring his London apartment a separate country called "Lovely" and draws many parallels with the Republic of Dave.


 * A sketch on the Mr. Show with Bob and David featured Mountain Dougie (played by comedian David Cross), a lone separatist, who succeeds in breaking off from the United States and forming his own country, Newfreeland, populated only by himself and his dog.


 * "Daveland" also occurs in Douglas Adams' unfinished and sadly final novel, The Salmon of Doubt. Due to the fact that the book only consists of manuscripts put together after Adams' death, no more is certain though an apocalyptic event might be interpreted.


 * Dave may also be a reference to the movie "Dave" in which a imposter of the president runs for office.


 * It's also possible that the Bethesda developers figured that in a post-nuclear Apocaliptia there would be some gun totin' nut who would fancy himself as the "Head of State" for his own deranged, inbred nation...


 * The Canadian band The Rheostatics had a song called PROD, which stands for People's Republic of Dave.

Bugs
There is a glitch whereby one of the woman voters won't vote, meaning you will not be able to finish the side quest. As a result, you will have to kill her.

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.

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 NPCs (Dave, Jessica and Rosie) hostile to you.

There is a glitch that Bob will stand in front of the voting box and just stand there forever, telling him to vote he will say that he'll get it out of the way but will never do it.