Salt-Upon-Wounds

"When Salt-Upon-Wounds took New Canaan, he ordered the White Legs to salt the earth so nothing could grow again. What kind of monster would do that?"

- Waking Cloud

Salt-Upon-Wounds is the war chief of the White Legs tribe and destroyer of New Canaan, living in Zion Canyon in 2281.

Background
Salt-Upon-Wounds is a harsh, merciless leader infamous among the inhabitants of the Zion Valley for his cruelty as well as his prowess in hand-to-hand combat. He is well known for personally leading his warriors into battle, and is described as having killed hundreds of enemies with his personal power fist. His "salt-the-earth" policy of conquest and destruction is progressively transforming Zion National Park into another polluted piece of wasteland. He is also the main antagonist of Honest Hearts.

Quests

 * Flight from Zion: Salt-Upon-Wounds and his warband block the entrance to Pine Creek Tunnel, and serve as the final obstacle faced by the Courier, Joshua Graham, and Daniel when evacuating the Sorrows from Zion Valley. He can either be defeated in combat, or convinced with a Speech skill of 75 to retreat without a fight.
 * Crush the White Legs: Joshua Graham will singlehandedly infiltrate Salt-Upon-Wounds encampment and capture him and his White Legs followers. When the player reaches them, Graham will be systematically executing the White Legs one by one, with Salt-Upon-Wounds begging the player to help save him from Graham. The player can either allow Graham to execute Salt-Upon-Wounds, allow Salt-Upon-Wounds to die in a "fair fight" against the player and Graham, or convince Graham to spare Salt-Upon-Wound's life and allow him and the White Legs to flee in peace.

Effects of player's actions

 * If Salt-Upon-Wounds is spared and subsequently escapes, he is "a dim shadow of his former self," and is unable to prevent his people from being destroyed by their enemies soon after retreating from Zion.

Other Interactions

 * If you have the Sneering Imperialist perk, you have an extra option to tell Graham to "cap General Gobbledigook".
 * If you have a Speech skill of 90, you can ask Graham to spare him, after which he will run away.

Appearances
Salt-Upon-Wounds appears only in the Fallout: New Vegas add-on Honest Hearts.

Behind the scenes

 * Salting the earth destroys plants and nutrients in the soil, essentially making the area uninhabitable for small farming communities such as New Caanan, and obliterating natural areas such as Zion.
 * Salting the earth of a defeated opponent dates back before the Romans, although the best known example is the (mythical, not historical) salting of the earth at Carthage at the conclusion of the Punic Wars. While it's unlikely Salt-Upon-Wounds would have been aware of it, the White Legs were interested in joining the Legion, and may have picked up the idea from them.