Vault 92

Vault 92 was one of the Vaults created by Vault-Tec, and part of the Vault Experiment. The world's best musicians were invited to the vault to "preserve artistic talent" for after the war. Vault 92's experiment, however, was a study in the creation of super soldiers. By exposing the citizens of the vault to white noise, the Vault Overseer and the vault doctor induced a trance-like state. While in the trance, the citizens were turned into potent warriors: one report states that the security detail shot one man 23 times before he died, ending his rampage.

Though the experiment showed great promise initially, the most promising subject suddenly went insane and tore three people apart. About one third of the vault population became violently unstable and killed the rest of the vault.

There are mines protecting the vault.

Vault Characters
Overseer Richard Rubin was in charge of Vault 92. He and Professor Malleus began the experiment by piping white noise into the recording studio while the musicians were listening to their recorded performances. He stepped up the experiment according to Vault-Tec's instructions without informing Malleus, however, and the two of them argued about the situation. Rubin decided he would be better off having Malleus killed to get him out of the way. This is likely a reference to producer Rick Rubin, or other famous people in the music industry with the surname Rubin.

Professor Malleus was in charge of implementing the experiment of Vault 92. He was initially intrigued and optimistic about the results of the test. When the killings began, however, he quickly got to the bottom of the situation and discovered that Rubin had been brainwashing the musicians without controls or safety measures, turning them into violent, primal animals. His name is probably a reference to the bone in the ear, more commonly referred to as the hammer.

Parker Livingston was the recording studio supervisor for Vault 92's musicians. He was one of the first to uncover clues as to the real purpose of Vault 92, though he never knew it. Livingston immediately uncovered a rogue element in the sound studio that was leaking into the recording banks, though he did not identify it as white noise for the purposes of brainwashing. He and Hilda Egglebrecht were involved in a relationship and were meeting in the recording studio when they were both killed by brainwashed citizens. His last name is perhaps a reference to Jay Livingston, an infamous composer who created music for a few films in 1958 to 1979.

Hilda Egglebrecht was a renowned violinist whose Soil Stradivarius is the Player's reason for visiting Vault 92. She brought her violin in its protective case with her to a meeting with Livingston in the recording studio when they were both killed. She is a reference to the real life Renate Eggebrecht.

Zoe Hammerstein was a promising young violinist invited the Vault. She was excited and a little bit out of her league with the other, more accomplished, musicians. She was one of the first to feel the effects of the uncontrolled white noise brainwashing implemented by Overseer Rubin. After being assured by the vault doctor that she was just stressed, she lost her mind completely. Her last name is perhaps a reference to the Hammerstein Ballroom, where several famous musicians have performed, or to famed Broadway lyricist and songwriter Oscar Hammerstein II.

Carl Maynard was the chief engineer for Vault 92. He and Parker Livingston were working on cleaning up a leaking signal corrupting the recording, though neither identified it as the white noise. Maynard's logs reveal that an underground lake or spring applied pressures to the buried walls of the Vault until they caved in, flooding the entire bottom level of the vault. It is through this breech that Mirelurks came to infest the vault.

Jon Adiglio was one of the last few citizens left alive and sane. Instead of fighting in the corridors, Adiglio locked himself in a closet and hid. While there, he wrote a note to his wife and children telling them that he had died with dignity and not gone insane. He then killed himself with a laser pistol.

Trivia
Like many elements of Fallout 3 this area is a veiled reference to another science fiction franchise - in this case, Firefly. In the show's feature film, Serenity, the government pumps a pacifying toxin throughout a settlement which causes a small portion of the population to go violently insane. Incidentally, also compare Fallout's Raiders to Firefly's Reavers.

Appearances
Vault 92 appears in Fallout 3.

Related Quests
Agatha's Song