Big MT

The Big Mountain Research and Development Center, Big MT and colloquially known as the Big Empty in the wasteland, was a privately owned major pre-War defense contractor and research center located in the Southwest Commonwealth.

Origins
Big MT research and development center was originally built inside a cavern system underneath a mountain peak (hence the name) to create the technology of tomorrow without moral restraint. It welcomed the most gifted scientists of their generation. The six most relevant, each director of a section were Dr. Mobius, Dr. Dala, Dr. 0, Dr. 8, Dr. Borous under the command of Dr. Klein, the administrator of Big MT. Together and without technical and moral restraint, they started many projects in many experimental technological fields, and were capable of prowess sometimes surpassing even the Enclave's technology. An example of no moral restraint was "Project Burke", where due to lack of budget, they didn't hesitate to dig up the corpses of people to do new experiments on them.

Due to a failed experiment conducted before the Great War, the mountain above was vaporized, leaving behind a giant crater the exposed central dome of Big MT, surrounded now by an extremely inaccessible chain of rocks. This catastrophe did not phase the researchers and the efforts in pushing back the boundaries of technology continued unabated. The new land exposed by the explosion was adapted for scientific purposes: new facilities were estabilished, both above and underground, including an artillery test field and a test town. The research conducted within the newly established facilities was groundbreaking, but at the same time highly unethical, the most heinous of which were tests conducted on living humans (both American volunteers and Chinese prisoners). Big MT even included a concentration camp of its very own.

Outcome
Before the Great War (which they had more or less predicted), the directors of each department began work on the "Think Tank Project". The ultimate goal of the project was to transfer their brains from their flesh and blood bodies into a think tank, a special type of brain bot allowing a person to continue living by using their brain as a power source. This allowed the six to continue their work at Big MT indefinitely. Mobius, tired of his endless and horrible experimentation, erected a radar guided repulsive field perimeter around the Big MT to prevent the think thanks from escaping into the wasteland and destroying what little remained of humanity with their experimentation. He also hacked their data banks, erasing most of their pre-War memories, replacing them with a mangled, disjointed versions and a firm belief in the non-existence of the world outside. However, with their new forms, their research continued, becoming more sinister and debauched as the years went by.

The facility gave birth to new technologies, such as the Saturnite alloy, next generation hazmat suits, intelligent armor, holograms, Securitrons and many more. At the same time, many new horrors were also born in the laboratories of the Big MT: cazadores, nightstalkers, mutagenic plants, Y-17 Trauma override harness, The Cloud and other fearsome creations. Creations of both types were at times sold to private parties in exchange for certain favors: Frederick Sinclair obtained various experimental technologies (including even the prototype matter conversion machines) in return for allowing Big MT to use Sierra Madre as proving grounds, a decision that backfired when the experimental technologies turned on the casino inhabitants, dooming them. Such an event was not unprecedented either: the Hopeville incident being an example of a disastrous meteorological experiment as a result of such a loan.

Muteness and visitors
But at some point, the Big MT fell silent, its researchers dead, gone or turned into demented and/or insane robotic monstrosities, still housing the six pre-War directors in their think tanks form. The sheer size of the crater acted as its best camouflage; most wastelanders assumed the ragged edges to be remnants of a massive nuclear explosion and avoided it altogether. The unfortunate few who wander in disappear forever, apprehended by robots and lobotmized by the think tanks to act as little more than organic automata, maintaining the decaying facility and protecting it against scavengers. Over the years, it became known in the wasteland as the Big Empty, a place where nothing exists, its sheer size blocking the establishment of trade routes and reliable supply caravans (a fact that proved crucial to the Legion's survival during the First Battle of Hoover Dam, as NCR was unable to route supplies through Big Empty to reinforce its army).

Yet the security of the base was not perfect. Some were able to elude the think tanks and survive its horrors. The most notable of these are Elijah, Ulysses and Christine Royce. Elijah came to the Big Empty in search of weapons that would allow him to destroy the NCR and everyone who'd oppose him in the creation of the new wasteland order, his order. Elijah scoured the facility for technologies that would be of use to him in his endeavour; after learning of the Sierra Madre from Ulysses, he started gathering equipment that would allow him to crack the casino, the most important and sinister tools he used being the concentration camp prisoner collars and a unusable holorifle prototype, perfected after in the Sierra Madre. Ulysses came to this graveyard in search of knowledge; to learn what makes and breaks nations, to learn what would allow him to reawaken America, the Old World. Christine Royce came to kill Elijah for the crimes committed against the people of the wasteland.

Of the three, Christine was the only one who did not escape unscathed; captured by Big Empty security following a disastrous skirmish at Little Yangtze. She was subjected to horrific experiments which resulted in permanent damage to her brain, destroying her ability to read and write fluently. She was saved from certain death by Ulysses. The courier nursed her back to health and encouraged her to continue her hunt. After, he managed to coax the answers he wanted out of Dr. Klein and left Big MT. Elijah was the only one who left the think tanks a parting gift; after being apprehended by Dr. 0 and Dr. 8, he hacked them all within minutes, permanently damaging the voice module of Dr. 8 and left destruction in his wake. He rode out of the Big MT on a cargo train, crashing the remaining trains in tunnels leading out of the facility, and he left for the abandoned bunker 13 in view of his expedition to the Sierra Madre. Much later after these events, the Courier arrives at the Big MT, where they will be forced to unlock the remains secrets of the facility.

Creatures
Originally meant as a beacon of new hope for humanity, Big MT eventually created a vast number of horrifying, unique creatures and machines, several of whom have made Mojave Wasteland their home and killing grounds. The Big MT "legacy" includes:


 * Cazadores - hybrid insect creatures that broke out of the facility. Creation of Dr. Borous.
 * Nightstalkers - hybrid dog/snake creatures that broke out of the facility. Creation of Dr. Borous.
 * Spore carriers - human victims controlled by plant pollen. Delivered to Vault 22.
 * Ghost people - mutated products of The Cloud in the Sierra Madre, another "test field" of Big MT.
 * Lobotomites - countless lobotomized victims of Big MT's experiment. Used to clean Big MT.
 * Y-17 trauma override harnesses - robotic suits holding long-dead bodies inside.
 * Robo-scorpions - Robotic guardians inspired by radscorpions. Creation of Dr. Mobius.

Appearances
The Big Empty is mentioned in the Fallout: New Vegas add-ons Dead Money and Honest Hearts, and appears in the add-on Old World Blues.

It was to appear in Van Buren, but in later development was merged with the Leavenworth prison into the Tibbets Prison facility. Tibbets would occasionally still be referred to as the Big Empty by developers in design documents.

Behind the scenes

 * The Big Empty is one of two known facilities to have done research on electrical weapons. The other was the Secret Vault, Vault-Tec's private vault.
 * There are three geographic features called "Big Mountain" in the southwest: Arizona's Black Mesa, a peak in Nevada's Black Rock Range, and Big Mountain Ridge, in Los Angeles County, California.