Ian (Fallout)

Ian (?–February 13th, 2162) is a former Crimson Caravan guard, now a Shady Sands guard and a possible companion who resides in Shady Sands in 2161.

Background
Ian is a short, stocky caravan guard who adopted Shady Sands as his new home. He was working for the Crimson Caravan company during a routine caravan route to the small settlement. However, routine doesn't mean safe. He was shot by raiders and stayed in Shady Sands to recuperate. The Shady Sands townsfolk helped him recover and ultimately Ian decided to stay with them. His experience and skills helped him contribute, as very few of the townsfolk ever left its safe walls. He occasionally makes a run to Junktown and the Hub to do trading. He is strong, confident, and independent. A perfect wastelander.

These traits endeared the Vault Dweller to him. Together, they scouted Vault 15, learning that the water chip was in another Vault. Following a long trek through the wastelands, the two finally reached Necropolis. Engaging the super mutants at the Watershed in battle, Ian lost his life. A flamer unleashed by one of the super mutants burned him to death. The smell of Ian's burning body would haunt the Dweller for years to come.

At one point in the planning for Fallout 2, Ian had survived and was living in Vault City under the name of Old Joe. According to his dialogue, Ian would mistake the Chosen One for the Vault Dweller and would reminisce about events from Fallout before realizing the mistaken identity. Commenting on the prejudiced nature of Vault City's citizens, he would give the Chosen One a gun, apparently his old Colt 6520 10mm pistol before sending them away, encouraging the Chosen One to "make proud" the memory of the Vault Dweller.

Quests

 * Recruit Ian: Self-explanatory; recruit Ian.

Other interactions

 * Ian is one of the possible companion NPCs in Fallout. As a companion, he is notorious for his problematic lack of discretion with automatic firearms. He will - more often than not - make burst shots, and accidentally hit the Vault Dweller and other non-hostiles if they are in the same line of fire.
 * Because of his experience from being a former caravan guard, he can inform the Vault Dweller about the locations of several towns.
 * Ian will turn hostile if the people in Shady Sands are attacked without his company.

Comments

 * He has unique float dialogue for locations around the northern wasteland;

Fallout: New California
Ian can be acquired at the shop by any player character that has Charisma. Prior to starting a fight with him as the active companion, the player character can exhaust him in order lower the enemy's level by one, to a minimum of 1. However, he also damages the player character in the process, dealing two points of friendly fire.

When the player character performs the camp action, he will become unexhausted. However, if the player character does not have Luck at this time, he must be discarded.

Appearances
Ian appears in Fallout, Fallout 2, and the Fallout: The Board Game add-on Fallout: New California, and is mentioned in the Fallout Bible.

Behind the scenes

 * Ian was a test case character designed to see if the engine could handle non-player-controlled followers who would move from map to map with the player's character. Though the initial implementation required some troubleshooting, it functioned well enough for the team to decide to implement more followers.
 * The character of Ian is roughly based upon Ian Dunteman, roommate of designer Jess Heinig. However, the developer found it hard to portray the real-life Ian's characteristics in just a few short lines of dialogue.
 * Ian's line when asked to tell me about "Apocalypse" is a reference to a quote by Albert Einstein: "I do not know with what weapons World War III will be fought, but World War IV will be fought with sticks and stones."
 * Chris Avellone first mentioned in the Fallout Bible that Ian was to appear in the Den after the Abbey was cut, but was later corrected when his dialogue file indicated he would be in Vault City.