Destruction of the Divide

The Destruction of Hopeville and Ashton was an event in New California during the year 2277.

Background
During the NCR-Enclave War, the New California Republic sacked the previously heavily defended Navarro outpost, inflicting a decisive blow to the remaining Enclave presence in California, despite suffering heavy casualties. The technology left behind by the Enclave was recovered by the NCR, and it was noticed that the symbols found upon the technology (American flag, silo stencils, etc.) were identical to those that had been recovered at Hopeville and Ashton, and so a tie between the two was suspected. The NCR hired a Courier to take the item from Navarro to what would become the Divide.

The Courier carried the package from Navarro by order of the NCR, containing what was an activated ICBM detonator to the Divide. When this device was close enough, it remote linked with the ICBM computers, sending a signal to the dormant nuclear missiles lying in the silos beneath the ground. They then began detonating one after another, splitting the earth, cracking and twisting the landscape, causing massive earthquakes. Entire companies of NCR soldiers in the area were trapped together with a detachment of Legion forces sent further west to disrupt the primary NCR Supply line towards the Mojave Wasteland. The disaster warped the Divide into a new form: a wind-beaten maze of twisting canyons, skin-flaying dust storms, and horrific abominations.

Aftermath
The Divide twisted the surviving NCR and Legion. As the winds flayed their skin and radiation ghoulified them, they became the marked men; skinless horrors fueled by hatred and rage for everything around them. Outside the Divide, the disaster became a blessing in disguise for the Legion: cutting off NCR supply lines along California State Route 127. however it also traumatized and inspired Ulysses as he learned the impact a single person can have on history, leading to his occupation of the Divide's largest missile silo and the Battle of the Divide.

Appearances
The destruction of the Divide is mentioned in the Fallout: New Vegas add-on Lonesome Road.