Cloud



The Cloud is a massive blood red blanket of toxins, spewed over a deserted cityscape by the air conditioning and climate control systems inside the Sierra Madre Casino.

Background
The Cloud is not a natural occurrence - it is an artificially created toxin possibly intended as a biological weapon for the war effort created in the Big MT facility, deployed in the Sierra Madre as part of a greater experiment, using the casino and the villa as proving grounds - with Sinclair fully unaware of this. The Darklight Hazmat suits worn by the ghost people were a follow up experiment to The Cloud, something many researches in Big MT found disturning. It is also pointed out in terminals in the Big MT that Sinclair was aware of the experimental state of the suits, but not of the cloud.

The toxins were seemingly meant to force the usage of the newly created Auto-Docs. During the construction of the Villa, construction crews discovered the gas backed up in the Sierra Madre's ventilation system, and attempted to inspect it. Even trace amounts of the gas proved to be harmful. Hazmat suits that were also developed in the Big Empty were ordered by the workers with the hopes that it would protect them. Unfortunately this wasn't the case, the workers were still exposed to the Cloud and the fastenings of the suits were corroded, trapping the exposed workers inside to the point where they had to be cut free with a cosmic knife. The exposed workers were sent to the medical district, and concerns were raised about the gas building up beneath the streets.

Sometime two hundred years after war, the Cloud had completely engulfed the casino and villa, somehow preserving it despite the decades of disuse. Elijah sees the potential for this, and wants to use the Cloud in his new world, using it to preserve and cleanse old world technology. He also plans to use it as offensive technology, unleashing it upon the Mojave, cutting it off. He could then use modified REPCONN rockets to wipe out the New California Republic (NCR) at Hoover Dam, and finally let traces of it drift west to NCR territory, killing outlying communities there. However, it is unknown how Elijah planned to rid of The Cloud once it had fulfilled it's purpose, or if he even had planned that far and never intended to combat it in the first place because of his relative madness.

Characteristics
The Cloud slowly depletes the health of visitors to the Sierra Madre(During Hardcore Mode), and concentrated pockets of it will deplete health far more quickly. Only the ghost people walk the Cloud, protected by ancient hazmat suits fused to their bodies. God remarks that the cloud tastes of copper or "old world gold". The rebreather and power armor will offer no protection from the Cloud.

Appearances
The Cloud appears in the Fallout: New Vegas add-on Dead Money and is mentioned in a terminal in Old World Blues.