Intelligent Deathclaw

Intelligent deathclaws are a variety of deathclaws in New California that were experimented on by the Enclave, which gave them higher intelligence and the ability to speak.

Background
In 2235, the Enclave captured deathclaws and exposed them to FEV. This boosted their intelligence and gave them the ability to talk with varying degrees of articulation.

While the Enclave hoped that the deathclaws would be intelligent enough to obey orders without question, the Enclave's deathclaws doubted the morality of their masters. Although they stormed Vault 13 in 2242 and kidnapped the population with the Enclave, they later abandoned them and adopted 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 and bombed the mother deathclaw and her hatchlings; the deathclaw mother survived, but security was tightened from then on. They faced other problems while 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 over to a Brotherhood-technology based computer. However, the deathclaws could only interact with it by voice commands, and it became a severe problem when the computer's voice module malfunctioned. Fortunately, a 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, led 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.

However, it is known that there was a bugged "good ending" present in the game files as well as being restored by the Fallout 2 Restoration Mod. Whether this has any bearing on future games and the intelligent deathclaws' existence is unknown; further complicated by entries in the Fallout Bible, as mentioned below. In this ending, the deathclaw pack residing in Vault 13 survived, and peacefully expanded into the surrounding region, possibly leaving the confines of the Vault as the Enclave threat was ended by the Chosen One.

Goris, as well as Xarn, a deathclaw kept in Navarro under the custody of Dr. Schreber, are the only intelligent deathclaws in the whole Fallout canon to survive the end of Fallout 2, depending on certain actions of the Chosen One. According to chapter six of the Fallout Bible, they did not reproduce and were the last of their kind, though chapter five says otherwise.

Known intelligent deathclaws

 * Gruthar, the pack leader
 * Kerith, the pack mother
 * Jul, the nest guard
 * Goris, a scholar
 * Dar
 * Thearn
 * Valdis
 * Xarn, held captive in Navarro

Characteristics
This subspecies was intelligent for deathclaws, about the equivalent of an eight-year-old, with some individuals on par with average adult humans. Their learning capacity was very high, and they were capable of abstract thought and reasoning. Although they did not have vocal cords, the deathclaws seemed to mimic human speech similar to a parrot. Socially, they had rigidly hierarchical, peaceful, and pack-based ethical code.

They were extremely loyal to the pack as a whole, treating it as a family unit rather than having individual families. 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. Deathclaws are not subject to sterility from FEV exposure; this trait is not explained.

Quests

 * Retrieve the GECK for Arroyo
 * Fix the Vault 13 computer

Appearances
The intelligent deathclaws appear both in Fallout 2 and Fallout Tactics.