Slags

The Slags, led by Vegeir, are a faction consisting of mutated people from the Ghost Farm at the outskirts of Modoc in 2241.

Background
The Slags are the descendants of a secret militia group that, when the Great War came, sealed themselves and their families underground for protection. This event came to be known as the Sealing. Since the Sealing, the population mutated. Their skin became pale and their pupils enlarged, adapting them to life underground. Although their sensitivity to the sun's light is the main reason for them remaining below ground, their fear of the night sky paralyses them. They see it as a black sea of nothingness, their sensation of falling upward is so great for them that they lie frozen, clutching the ground.

The Slag population steadily increased since the Sealing. It soon became apparent that they could no longer survive underground without further supplies. So the Seal was broken, and they once again looked to the surface for survival, creating a small farm some years prior to 2241, which to the people of Modoc looked as if the farm appeared out of nowhere.

A group of Modoc's inhabitants were out hunting when they noticed the new farm. Soon after, some of them got together to visit their new neighbor, but they didn't find anyone there. After many months of trying to contact the owners with no success, it was decided that the farm must have been abandoned soon after it was built. So instead of letting the crops rot in the fields, young Karl moved in.

To get rid of the intruder, the Slags, who were not a violent people by nature, came up with the ghost idea, smearing themselves with glowing fungus. After some time, Karl started to tell stories of seeing strange glowing figures tending the crops and feeding the animals at night. The other people of Modoc all laughed at him, thinking he was making up stories. Then one day Karl stopped coming into town.

When the people of Modoc came looking for him, they found bodies, some crucified, while others were left to rot out in the sun. In reality, the bodies were merely props the Slags manufactured to scare off those who try to steal from them, mostly brahmin guts and dummies. While the inhabitants of Modoc believed Karl to be dead, he only escaped to the Den.

The Slags seek to make contact with the surfacers to trade surplus foodstuffs for medicines. The player can help the slags to contact Modoc.

Organization
Due to being a militia group, the Slags have no real structure apart from following their leader, Vegeir.

Relations with the outside
Having been sealed underground for decades, the Slags have little to no contact with the outside world, but had ventured out to gain food, doing so by means of disguising themselves as ghosts in order to scare away any potential threats.

Technology
Being sealed underground and descended from a militia group, the Slags, while not as advanced as some, do have some intellect, using glowing fungus to appear ghostly, as well as knowledge in agriculture and prop design, using it to create an entire farm using irrigation, as well as creating an elaborate ruse to mimic a gruesome slaughter.

Appearances
The Ghost Farm and the Slags appear only in Fallout 2. Their ultimate fate depends on whether the Chosen One chooses to help establish good relations between Modoc and the Slags or leaves things as they are, in which case the people of Modoc continue to consider the place haunted or simply wipe out the Slags in what they considered revenge for Karl's death.