Deathclaw

Deathclaws are an enormously large, agile, and strong species of bipedal reptiles. It is said that they were originally derived from mixed animal stock DNA (mostly Jackson's Chameleons) before the Great War to replace humans during close-combat search-and-destroy missions and late refined by the Master, using genetic manipulation.

Around 2161, deathclaws were still a mystery, a legendary creature, to many inhabitants of Southern California. In Fallout, a deathclaw first appeared in a mission to find missing caravans: while the deathclaw was not responsible for the caravan disappearances, as some had believed, evidence in its lair did lead to the solving of the missing caravans mystery. Deathclaws had also established a nest in the abandoned warehouse district of the Boneyard, obstructing traffic between the Gun Runners and potential trading partners and making any scavenging in the area very hazardous. As the deathclaw population grew, the deathclaws stopped being perceived as legendary beasts, and started to be seen as simply yet another dangerous animal.

Talking deathclaws
In 2235, the Enclave captured many deathclaws and exposed them to FEV. This boosted their intelligence, giving them the ability to talk with varying degrees of erudition and articulation. While the Enclave hoped that the Deathclaws would be intelligent enough to obey orders without being so intelligent as to question them, the Enclave's deathclaws began to doubt the morality of their masters. While they helped the Enclave in storming Vault 13 in 2242 and kidnapping the population, they later abandoned the Enclave, adopting the now-empty vault as their new home under the leadership of Gruthar.

Several humans from the surrounding area moved into the vault to live under the protection of the deathclaws, but not all were pleased with these new neighbors. One human, Matt, struck against the deathclaws by bombing the mother and hatchlings (the deathclaw mother survived, but security was tightened from then on). The deathclaws faced other problems adapting to life in the vault, as well: after the overthrow of the paranoid Overseer, the dwellers of Vault 13 had turned day-to-day operations of the vault over to a Brotherhood-technology based computer. The only way the deathclaws could interact with it was by voice commands, but the computer's voice module was broken. Fortunately, a travelling tribal known as the Chosen One had a replacement voice module, and was willing to install his in exchange for Gruthar's help in finding a GECK, one of which Gruthar had within the vault's storage area.

The deathclaws paid a high price for their rebellion, however: an Enclave team, lead by Frank Horrigan, attacked Vault 13 and massacred the deathclaws (and presumably those humans under their protection). Of Vault 13's inhabitants, only Goris, who had accompanied the Chosen One on adventures outside Vault 13, survived.

Depending on the actions of the Chosen One, Xarn, a deathclaw kept in Navarro under the custody of Doctor Schreber, and Goris were the only intelligent deathclaws in the whole Fallout Canon to survive the end of Fallout 2. They did not, however, reproduce, and were the last of their kind.

Intelligent Deathclaws have a rigidly hierarchical, peaceful, pack-based ethical code. Fights within a pack are unheard of, and the pack's leader controls many aspects of life, such as choosing and matching female and male deathclaws for reproduction.

Hairy deathclaws
A deathclaw subspecies living in the area of the former states of Illinois, Missouri and Kansas developed patches of fur to better cope with the colder climate. Furthermore, some of them were noted to be capable of speech as early as in 2197, which means that they either developed speech through spontaneous mutation, or were experimented on by someone other than the Enclave.

Appearances in games
Deathclaws appear in all Fallout games. In Fallout Tactics hairy, talking deathclaws appeared. As their existence is inconsistant with facts established in the previous games, they are not considered to be canon.

Behind the scenes
Deathclaws were originally modelled (visually) on the Tarrasques of the Dungeons & Dragons canon.