New California Republic

The New California Republic is a democratic federation based in California, but with holdings in Nevada, Oregon and Mexico. The Republic is dedicated to old world values such as democracy, liberty and the rule of law, as well as restoring order and progress in the Wasteland, though in recent years it has faced difficulty living up to those standards.

History
The New California Republic was born from the remnants of the survivors of Vault 15 and the small walled community they founded. Under the leadership of Aradesh, and with the assistance of the Vault Dweller (who saved Tandi, Aradesh's daughter and a future president of the NCR), the community prospered. Trade routes with other settlements allowed cultural exchange, and a movement to form a national entity gradually took root and won popular acceptance. In 2186, the town of Shady Sands changed its name to "New California Republic" and formed a trial council government to draft a constitution. Four more settlements joined the council, and in 2189 the NCR was voted into existence as a sprawling federation of five states: Shady Sands, Los Angeles, Maxson, Hub, and Dayglow.

By post-apocalyptic standards, the NCR is a paragon of economic success and good ethical character: political enfranchisement, rule of law, a reasonable degree of physical security, and a standard of living better than mere subsistence are daily realities for its 700,000+ citizens. Currently the NCR is in a state of transition, with rapid economic growth and a sea change in political leadership endangering its grand humanitarian ideals. Nowhere is this more evident than in the Mojave, where the occupation of Hoover Dam has improved access to electricity and water, but at the cost of straining its budget and embroiling its armed forces in a morally corrosive imperialist project.

The NCR government's aim is to annex New Vegas as the republic's sixth state. While it already controls Hoover Dam, its treaty with Mr. House and the three families compels it to allot one-fifth of the dam's electrical and water production to local use free of charge. Adding injury to insult, the NCR is locked into protecting New Vegas from invasion by Caesar's Legion even as it receives not one cap in tax revenue from the Strip's highly lucrative resort operations. NCR citizens in the Mojave have largely come here for economic reasons, whether as paid citizen soldiers or as prospectors and fortune-seekers.

Society
Most of the NCR is made up of farmers, merchants or settlers seeking protection from the dangers of the post-apocalyptic world. In exchange, the NCR collects taxes from them to arm, train, and supply their troops.

Structure
The NCR is a democratic federation, modeling itself on the government of pre-War United States. The government is divided into three branches: legislative, executive and judicial. The legislative branch is the Congress, staffed by representatives elected by their states, who decide upon the President and Vice-President to head the council and govern the republic (under the advice of the Congress, of course) and senators, forming two houses: House of Representatives and the Senate. The Congressmen use a variety of titles: "Councilor", "Counselor", "Councilman", "Representative", "Senator", and in particular, the Hub (in its own obstinate way) prefers to call their representatives "Governors". The executive branch is the Republic council, headed by the President and Vice-President. Last, the judicial branch is made up of various courts and judges dealing with law.

In theory, this is a sound and well balanced system, but in practice, every state tries to assert its independence and work towards furthering its own agenda. There's a lot of friction between the states of Hub and Shady Sands, usually related to trade rights and caravan routes while New Reno remains dominated by various criminal interests. Significant pressure is exerted on the political and economic direction of the NCR by a variety of private interests; in particular the Brahmin barons whose wealth gives them great influence at the ballot box and whose needs are often placed first by officials seeking support in their political ambitions. With the armed forces the Gun Runners gain special dispensation and influence as they are the primary contributor to NCR's weapon arsenal. Elsewhere, monopolies like the Crimson Caravan and similar trading families dominate the trade routes and use their wealth to gain influence with the NCR government and extort large amounts of money. Smaller competitors who are unable to compete with both the larger competition as well as the high taxes are inevitably muscled out.

The president is the biggest factor in deciding on the course the Republic should take. For example, under Tandi (who served over ten terms as President; something Caesar mocks as indicative of monarchy, rather than democracy), the NCR has grown substantially, focusing efforts on rebuilding the pre-War infrastructure and restarting technological development, while under Aaron Kimball, the NCR became more imperialistic and expansive, in the process overextending itself on multiple fronts.

There is little to no sexism in the NCR (unlike many other factions in the wastes), most likely due to the community's origins in Vault 15 and Tandi's extended presidency. The republic also has shown little discrimination against ghouls and mutants, though many political analysts argue that this is because NCR has had limited contact with them (the NCR did have little contact with Necropolis or the Master's Army). However, some politicians use lingering anti-mutant sentiments to boost their popularity among the voters.

There is a clear separation of church and state - and resisted any attempts to canonize the Vault Dweller within the city limits (the statue outside the Hall of Congress is fine, but that's it). Both Aradesh and Tandi found that politics and religion don't mix, especially when they got more exposure to the people of the Hub and visits from a few well-spoken members of the Followers of the Apocalypse. In any event, the NCR in the past and in the present allows any non-psychotic religions within their capital, the NCR are very tolerant of religions as long as they don't involve human sacrifice or dipping people in vats of Forced Evolutionary Virus.

Military
The NCR's military is composed of several Divisions, including special cavalry and mechanized units. In addition, many of their major cities are protected and patrolled by heavily armed police officers. One of their "Special Forces" units consists of the New California Rangers, a select group that is pledged to protect the people of the Wastes much like the Texas Rangers of old. The Rangers are said to have numerous safehouses throughout the wastes, and they use these to strike at slavers outside of NCR territory (usually in the North). As expected, the two groups hate each other with a passion. NCR was also in the habit of establishing marshals in the major population centers in their territories, responsible for enforcing the laws of NCR throughout the Republic. Ghouls, super mutants, and humans were all known to serve in the NCR armed forces. But in the events of New Vegas, super mutants are no longer welcome in the NCR, even in the rangers. They also have access to multiple vertibirds from their battle with the Enclave over Navarro and their war with the Brotherhood of Steel. They may also have access to the blueprints of the vertibirds, because there were copies at Navarro and in possession of the brotherhood.

Relations with the outside
The NCR is embroiled in a vicious battle with Caesar's Legion, and the two are bitter enemies. The Legion is known for capturing and torturing or enslaving NCR soldiers and citizens without mercy. Many people in the wasteland have mixed feelings about the NCR - some people strongly support them and others vehemently oppose their methods of "controlling" everything they come into contact with. The NCR is also an enemy of the Brotherhood of Steel, the Great Khans and the small scattered groups of Fiends and raiders.

Technology
The NCR seems to have access to a lot of pre-war technology. Standard NCR soldiers have Service rifles along with the standard armor. Similar to the Brotherhood of Steel, the NCR uses Power armor, but it is salvaged, and does not require power armor training, and is only used by NCR Heavy Troopers. The New California Republic does not use Energy Weapons. Their special forces, NCR Ranger Veterans, use pre-war riot gear.

As for civilian technology, they appear to have knowledge of irrigation (As apperant in the NCR sharecropper farms). They can also maintain some pre-war transportation, such as the Monorail at Camp McCarran.

Appearances
The New California Republic was first mentioned in the Fallout end cutscenes for Shady Sands and it first appeared in Fallout 2, and was to appear again in the canceled Van Buren project. It appears in Fallout: New Vegas as one of the major factions fighting over the control of the Mojave Wasteland.