Necropolis

"City of the Dead"

Necropolis, also known as the City of the Dead, is a ghoul city upon the remains of Bakersfield, located in southern California.

This Greek word meaning "city of the dead" refers to this strangely silent ghost town. Most of the buildings are intact, but travelers report that no one seems to live there, and people who arrive to settle it either end up with radiation sickness or simply disappear. The truth of the matter involves a small population of ghouls beneath the city's streets.

Location
Necropolis can be found six squares east and twelve squares south of Vault 13.

Background
In February of 2162, the Vault Dweller recovered the water chip in Necropolis, The Chosen One: "{119}{}{Lenny, have you ever heard of something called a Garden of Eden Creation Kit?}" Lenny: "{150}{}{A G’garden of Eden C’creation K’kit? I heard that Vault City had one of those. That’s the only one I’ve ever heard of, though.}" The Chosen One: "{153}{}{Well, my ancestor, the Vault Dweller, said that Vault 13 owes us one. I need to find it.}" Lenny: "{190}{}{W’well. I didn’t actually m’meet the V’vault Dweller. But I saw them. Once. }" The Chosen One: "{191}{}{You saw the Vault Dweller? Where?}" Lenny: "{270}{}{I’it w’was a long time ago. In a place called N’necropolis. A lot of us g’ghouls lived there. One, day I saw someone running through the city.}" The Chosen One: "{271}{}{Running?}" Lenny: "{280}{}{Yes, running. You see, we ghouls c’can’t run too much anymore. So, I knew it was an outsider when I saw them. They ran by so close I could have touched them. I wish that I had joined the Vault Dweller.…}" The Chosen One: "{281}{}{You wanted to join my grandsire?}" Lenny: "{290}{}{Yes. I h’had the chance of a lifetime and I blew it.}" The Chosen One: "{291}{}{What do you mean?}" Lenny: "{300}{}{L'later, I h’heard that the Vault Dweller had fixed our water system. The V’vault Dweller saved us -- all of us. Do you understand? It didn’t matter that we were ghouls. For once it didn’t matter. We w’were people again. W’worth saving.}" The Chosen One: "{301}{}{My ancestor was the founder of our tribe. That memory is revered amongst my people.}" Lenny: "{310}{}{Later, I heard that the Vault Dweller destroyed the source of the m’mutant army. The Vault D’dweller saved all of us. Human and ghoul alike… I could have been a part of that, but I lacked the c’courage. I’ve never forgiven m’myself.}" (GCLENNY.MSG) but Ian was killed by a super mutant and reduced to a cinder during the fight. In March of the same year, the mutant army attacked Necropolis out of vengeance for some mutants that the Vault Dweller killed; this forced most of the ghouls to flee, and those who stayed were not spared. After the mutant armies advanced, they left a truly dead city behind them. Necropolis, however, didn't become completely empty and a few ghouls still lived there.

The scattered survivors of Necropolis led the Great Migration across the wastes, leading to the founding of towns such as Gecko, Dayglow and Broken Hills.

Layout
Necropolis suffered extreme destruction. Debris litters the streets and makes navigation practically impossible. The sewers serve to connect the various sections of town. Necropolis is divided into three districts and three sewer sections.

Motel


This district is a virtual shooting gallery, filled with ghouls. They are easy experience pickings for the distance shooter. The ghouls will become hostile easily if the Vault Dweller tries to converse and/or rifle through their storage. There are manholes which lead to the city's sewers.

Hall of the Dead


In a building that appears to be the remains of some sort of church, the player character can find a number of imprisoned glowing ones, Set, Garret and various ghoul guards.

Watershed


The last district (accessed through the sewers) and the home to:
 * Children of the Cathedral medics
 * The broken water pump
 * A ghoul prisoner
 * The super mutants with rhyming names
 * The entrance to Vault 12

Sewers


Three sections of tunnels connecting Necropolis districts.

Inhabitants
The ghoul population was divided into three groups:
 * The surface dwellers were what could be called the public face of Necropolis, as they were by far the most numerous of the three groups, and controlled most of the city's surface. They were typically the first thing outsiders encountered in Necropolis and were likely the cause of the aforementioned rumors surrounding the City of the Dead. Their operations were based out of the Hall of the Dead, where their leader Set did his business. Paranoid and intolerant of outsiders and non-ghouls, the surface dwellers were often violent, attacking strangers on sight and harboring a particularly deep hatred of super mutants. This was most likely due to the super mutant garrison newly established around Necropolis' important watershed. Though Talius mentions heated resistance to the super mutant presence in the city by Set's surface dwellers, by the time the Vault Dweller arrives there appears to be a sort of stalemate between the two groups, though Set does not hesitate in employing the outsider to eliminate the super mutants garrison.
 * The glowing ones were heavily irradiated ghouls who lived in the old Vault 12, shunned by even their own kind, who disliked the other ghouls as much as they did the normal humans.
 * The so-called underground ghouls, who were forced to live in the city's sewers, were ironically by far the most peaceful of Necropolis' residents and were much more tolerant of outsiders than either of the other groups.

Appearances
Necropolis appears only in Fallout and is mentioned by multiple characters in Fallout 2 and by Raul in Fallout: New Vegas (as Bakersfield).

Behind the scenes

 * In Fallout, according to the Vault-Tec Vault locations holodisk, Vault 12 was located in Bakersfield. However, while Necropolis lies to the northeast of Los Angeles, the actual city of Bakersfield is not far to the southwest of the Lost Hills bunker. The location of Necropolis roughly matches the town of Barstow.
 * In ancient Greek, a necropolis (νεκρόπολις) literally means, a "city of the dead," in this case referring to the ghouls that inhabit the ruins of the city.