Tribals (Point Lookout)

The Tribals are a group who inhabit the peninsula of Point Lookout

Background
One day while wandering within a natural grotto, Jackson discovered a strange device and inadvertently activated it. The device was a projector, and Jackson believed that the hologram that emerged was the manifestation of a powerful spirit. In reality, this hologram was a broadcast of Professor Calvert, a disembodied brain that had been isolated in Point Lookout for centuries. Jackson would return to Calvert more and more and commune with the "spirit," passing on the wisdom of the "Transcendent One" to the growing number of followers he had collected.

The tribe began cultivating punga fruit and sold it to passers-by like Tobar, a ferryman. The fruit's natural addictive properties drew a steady stream of addicts in addition to entrepreneurs, who later would wind up inducted into the tribe.

However, Jackson's cult is the last thing Calvert wants. Living agents able to carry out his will would seem fortunate, but Jackson consistently misinterprets Calvert's dictations as religious instruction and cannot seem to execute the simplest of demands, resulting in Calvert harboring a considerable amount of contempt for the "simpering spiritualist and his tribe of idiots." Point in case, the tribals led an attack on Calvert Mansion after Jackson "envisioned" its destruction, in order to consecrate the mansion and remove the "impurities" disrupting the Transcendent One's perfect guidance. In attempting so, they failed to both eliminate Calvert's longtime nemesis Desmond Lockheart, as well Lockheart's cognitive wave jammer, which limits Calvert's psychic powers to a short range.

Beliefs
Because the physical world has been destroyed, the tribe believes in disregarding material trivialities and concentrating on reaching astral planes of existence, where the purest thoughts of the universe manifest. As such, Jackson considers Calvert to have transcended the need of his physical body completely, yet his consciousness returns to the material plane to guide the tribe. He obeys Calvert's every order, which is why the normally peaceful tribals assaulted Calvert Mansion, which they were told was a holy site being blasphemed by the presence of the ghoul.

Initiation ritual
In order to be accepted into the tribe, prospective "astral explorers" travel to the Sacred Bog to retrieve punga seeds from the Mother Punga. When the seeds are removed from their pod, the explorer is exposed to a hallucinogenic gas and must wander the bog in an attempt to find their way back out; in reality, Tobar removes a portion of the explorer's brain, allegedly the part responsible for inhibitions. Sometimes this procedure results in the death of the potential tribe member or a loss of more brain functions than desired. This is to an extent that Woodrose, the tribe matriarch, is charged with ensuring everyone in the tribe still eats and sleeps. Survivors who make it back to the cathedral are then accepted into the tribe.

Organization
The Point Lookout tribals are headquartered in the Ark & Dove cathedral and do not stray far from there without good cause. Although Jackson appears to lead the tribe, Calvert is truly the one determining its "spiritual growth". Jackson, who unindoctrinated observers see as a poor leader, describes himself merely as "the largest fish" who follows the guiding beacon of Calvert. Having proclaimed himself to be the only one enlightened enough to understand the Transcendent One's guidance, Jackson bars any other tribal from witnessing the spirit's sea cave sanctuary. However, should anyone be guided to the sanctuary by visions of the Transcendent One, they clearly are enlightened enough to commune with him.

Outside relations
The tribals of Point Lookout mostly keep to themselves, but there are exceptions. Anything that the punga does not provide, the tribe gets by trading with outsiders. For instance, Tobar, the ferryman who brings travelers to Point Lookout, is traded bounties of punga fruit for his amateur surgery skills. Whenever the tribals send a person into the Sacred Bog as their initiation, Tobar is not far behind, waiting for them to be gassed by the Mother Punga so he can begin cutting out a bit of their brain.

Interactions with the player character
Upon arrival in Point Lookout, tribals will attempt to burn the Calvert Mansion to the ground. Following that, Desmond will ask the Lone Wanderer to infiltrate the cult. They must then journey to the Sacred Bog as their initiation.

If the Lone Wanderer follows the direction of Calvert and gets rid of the cogwave jammer, Desmond will become furious. Returning to him and apologizing, explaining their actions were only to fool Calvert, will result in Desmond forgiving them. After this point, one can teleport freely to the cathedral without the tribals becoming hostile. Conversely, if one follows the direction of Desmond, planting the device on the Ferris wheel, the tribals on the boardwalk will attack. If one kills Calvert, the tribals will remain hostile indefinitely.

Technology
The Point Lookout tribals possess a sophisticated hydroponics system that is used to cultivate large harvests of a refined cultivar of punga fruit, which is more nutrient dense and purges radiation to a larger degree than its sickly wild cousins. The tribe also cultivates wild punga fruit outside the cathedral, aided by the fertile soil from the nearby Ark & Dove Resting Grounds.

Members

 * Jackson (leader)
 * Croatoa (gardener)
 * Jimson (gatekeeper)
 * Woodrose (tribe matriarch)
 * Nadine (newly recruited)

Appearances
The Point Lookout tribals appear in the Fallout 3 add-on Point Lookout.