Fiends

The Fiends are a raider gang made up entirely of chem fiends, hence their name, in the Mojave Wasteland and New Vegas area in 2281.

Background
Vault 3 was once an ordinary and happy vault, but the water system started leaking one day and the lower levels were flooded, forcing its people to open its door to the outside to seek help. Unfortunately, the first people they came across were a gang of bloodthirsty, chem-addicted raiders, lead by a man called Motor-Runner, who were loitering in the near vicinity of the vault. The raiders took advantage of the vault dwellers' naivety and conned themselves into the vault, upon which they brutally slaughtered every inhabitant and took Vault 3 as their own. Having firmly rooted themselves in this safe haven, the Fiends have since steadily grown stronger, and they now claim a large part of the southwestern New Vegas conurbation as their territory.

They are unexceptional in every way, but there are a slew of them. The vault itself is wide-open, practically being a feral den for the Fiends and their huge packs of dogs. Whether it is murder, rape, or burning innocents for sport, these bloodshot-eyed Fiends are more than happy to bring their anarchy to this area, which has become a source of growing concern for the New California Republic. The Fiends are erratic and dangerous; their mental stability isn't helped by the fact that they are almost constantly high on chems, most of which are provided by the Great Khans.

Although they are widely hated by the NCR due to their unpredictability and chem addiction stamina/insanity, to the point of having a bounty put on their leaders heads, the NCR unfortunately can't do anything about them, due to the restriction of issued orders to hold the line around the area, along with the vault providing a fall-back point to the Fiends.

Organization
The Fiends have little organization, except for their occupation of Vault 3, often aimlessly roaming the northern Mojave looking for their next chem score or an innocent wastelander to jump. Violet, Cook-Cook, Driver Nephi, and Motor-Runner seem to be the most influential leaders, with Motor-Runner being the head that resides in and runs operations within Vault 3.

Like many other raider groups, the Fiends split into small war-parties, usually between three to four members, which allows them to operate in an enormous portion of the outer New Vegas, aside from their main area of the western and south-western city.

Outside, they are usually gathered around campfires where much of their scavenged items, such as first aid and ammunition boxes, can be found scattered around. Many raider camps are protected by makeshift walls and littered with graffiti. At times, they utilize traps in order to protect their shelter, as seen inside Zapp's Neon Signs.

Outside relations
The Fiends attack anyone aside from the Great Khans, who supply them with chems.

The Fiends are loosely affiliated with Caesar's Legion, who welcomes the constant trouble the raiders create for the NCR, and their Frumentarii regularly feed them with information of the NCR troop movement to maximize the damage the Fiends does to them, even going as far as to not attack any caravans marked by the Legion. Caesar himself, however, holds no love for the Fiends, as he especially considers their chem-abuse culture an affront to the Legion's principles. Seeing them as inferior fighters, he also plans to betray and eradicate the gang as soon as he is in control of New Vegas, rather than integrating them into the Legion.

The NCR, meanwhile, looks upon the anarchic Fiends with growing concern, as their activity remains an constant background threat to their military's local headquarters at Camp McCarran. It has become a big enough problem that Major Dhatri is putting bounties on the head of the Fiends' leaders. They are hated by most residents of Westside, as they are a constant danger to the settlement, going as far as to simply walk into peoples homes and kidnap them.

On the Strip, the Omertas also have some trouble with Fiends, as their secret gun shipments are occasionally compromised by Fiend activity.

While the Fiends are openly hostile towards almost all groups in the Mojave Wasteland except the Great Khans, they do seem to co-operate with a few certain wasteland inhabitants. Cook-Cook, for example, is known to have bought slaves from Saint James and Dermot.

Interactions with the player character
With a Speech check of 65, one can convince the main guard of Vault 3 that they are a Great Khan selling chems, which you can sell for 20 caps each or 22 caps with a Barter of 65.

Technology
Fiends have a variety of different weapons, from basic melee weapons such as knives and pool cues, to an unusually large number of high-tech range weapons like Laser RCWs and plasma rifles. They are mostly found carrying basic guns like caravan shotguns, varmint rifles, and silenced .22 SMGs. Some Fiends can occasionally be found carrying weapons like chainsaws, Rippers, and flamers. Due to the wide range of different weapons varying from Fiend to Fiend, it is assumed that they are either scavenged, stolen or looted off people the raiders had killed. They dress in various raider armors and wear distinct helmets adorned with war-painted ruminant skulls. The Fiends have also used the neon signs from Zapp's Neon Signs to erect a perimeter fence around their territory.

Appearances
Fiends only appear in Fallout: New Vegas and the graphic novel All Roads.

Bugs

 * When you have dealt with Motor-Runner and the Fiends in a friendly way during Aba Daba Honeymoon or by passing a Speech Check at the entrance to Vault 3 the Fiends might become permanently friendly. Entering in the console will make them hostile again.
 * When you kill Cook-Cook, Violet and Driver Nephi (leaving Motor-Runner alive), and complete the endgame quest Eureka! for the NCR, you still get the ending as if all Fiend leaders remain alive.
 * Completing the endgame quest No Gods, No Masters instead will get you no Fiend ending at all.