Big MT

The Big Mt. Research and Development Center, Big MT or colloquially known as the Big Empty after the Great War, is a high-tech military research facility in the Mojave Wasteland. Many of the Mojave's mutated creatures originate from here.

Background
A pre-War military research and development facility built on a mountain to create the technology of tomorrow without moral restraint. The Big Mountain Research and Development Center has remained secure ever since the Great War, its scientific secrets and treasures undisturbed, protected by robotic guardians and well-concealed by its sheer size. It was created sometime before 2003 and welcomed the most gifted scientists of their generation. The six most relevant, each director of a department were Dr. Mobius, Dr. Dala, Dr. 0, Dr. 8, Dr. Borous under the command of Dr. Klein, the administrator of Big MT. Together and without technical and moral restraint, they started many projects in many experimental technological fields, and were capable of prowess sometimes surpassing even the Enclave's technology. An example of this was "Project Burke", where due to lack of budget, they didn't hesitate to dig up the corpses of people to do new experiments on them.

Before the Great War (which they had more or less predicted), the directors of each department began work on the "Think Tank Project". The ultimate goal of the project was to transfer their brains from their flesh and blood bodies into a think tank, a special type of brain bot allowing a person to continue living by using their brain as a power source. This allowed the six to continue their work at Big MT indefinitely. During the Great War the facility was bombed, yet it was protected thanks to its unique force field. However, the core of the mountain could not withstand the shock and collapsed, leaving only a crater in the center containing the Big MT, surrounded now by an extremely inaccessible chain of rocks and its unique force field.

Nowadays, the installation is described by Elijah as a "treasure box" and "a scientific graveyard of Old World misery". The facility still houses the six pre-War directors of departments, in their think tanks form. There, they continue to perform experiments that can only be described as atrocities on anyone unlucky enough to find themselves at the facility. People subjected to them are often damaged beyond recognition by the procedures - some could only hear static, others became gibbering wrecks. Other technologies created at the Big Empty include Saturnite alloy (cosmic knife, Saturnite D-25A), hibernation chambers, holograms, holorifle, Securitrons, the hazmat suits worn by the ghost people and the vending machines found in the Sierra Madre.

Sometime in 2281, Christine Royce, a Circle of Steel knight, came across the Big Empty in her hunt for Elijah. When she finally found him, he trapped her in one of the medical research labs, modifying her brain with cybernetic enhancements to the point where she can only think and dream in numbers and causing irreparable damage to her brain. He then left to search for the Sierra Madre, taking with him a supply of explosive collars and a unusable holorifle prototype, perfected in the Sierra Madre. Not long after, Christine was freed by a mysterious courier, Ulysses, who encouraged her to continue her hunt. After the mysterious courier questioned Dr. Klein, he left Big MT. Later, the Courier arrives at the Big MT, where they will be forced to unlock the secrets of the facility.

Creatures
Originally, the facility was meant to produce a large amount of weapons, gadgets, and other scientific wonders of pre-War era, and even though it did so, the greatest impact of Big MT and its actual residents, the think tanks, on the life of post-apocalyptic America is the creation of a vast number of horrifying, unique creatures and machines, several of whom have made Mojave Wasteland their home. The Big MT "legacy" are:
 * Cazadores - hybrid insect creatures that broke out of the facility. Creation of Dr. Borous.
 * Nightstalkers - hybrid dog/snake creatures that broke out of the facility. Creation of Dr. Borous.
 * Spore carriers - human results of a plant-based virus. Delivered to Vault 22.
 * Ghost people - mutated products of The Cloud in the Sierra Madre, another "test field" of Big MT.
 * Lobotomites - countless lobotomized victims of Big MT's experiment. Used to clean Big MT.
 * Y-17 trauma override harnesses - robotic suits holding long-dead bodies inside.
 * Robo-scorpions - Robotic guardians inspired by radscorpions. Creation of Dr. Mobius.

Appearances
The Big Empty is mentioned in the Fallout: New Vegas add-ons Dead Money and Honest Hearts, and appears in the add-on Old World Blues.

It was to appear in Van Buren, but in later development was merged with the Leavenworth prison into the Tibbets Prison facility. Tibbets would occasionally still be referred to as the Big Empty by developers in design documents.

Behind the scenes

 * The Big Empty is one of two known facilities to have done research on electrical weapons. The other was the Secret Vault, Vault-Tec's private vault.
 * The Big Empty appears to have used geodesic domes in its construction.
 * There are three geographic features called "Big Mountain" in the southwest: Arizona's Black Mesa, a peak in Nevada's Black Rock Range, and Big Mountain Ridge, in Los Angeles County, California.