The New California Republic

Two men shaking hands covered in blood.

In 2161 a wanderer from Vault 13 would leave the comfort of their home to search the wastes. In their journey they happened upon the small town of Shady Sands and ended up assisting when their leader, Aradesh, lost his daughter Tandi when she was captured by a gang called The Khans. (Not to be confused with the New Khans, nor the Great Khans) Through means of their own choosing, the Vault Dweller returned Tandi to her tiny settlement and carried on their way, never realising the immense effect that single act would have on the wastes in the years to come. Tandi and her Father would go on to become leaders in the local community, eventually proposing that surrounding growing settlements should go on to form a republic. Soon five of the surrounding 'states' would band together to be the founders of the New California Republic. 

Aradesh would be the first president of the Republic, but his rule would be overshadowed by his daughter Tandi who is to date the most popular president the faction has ever possessed. Boasting citizens in the hundreds of thousands, the NCR quickly came to establish laws and structure in the image of the old world that had passed, in hopes of recreating some semblance of order in the post world. NCR citizens could expect a play of democracy, doled out by a central government of democratically elected officials as elected by state representatives. A coherent and predictable journey of hierarchy and red tape leading up to the Vice President and President of the Republic who try their best to keep the people fed and the territories expanding. If any post-war faction could be considered a poster child for having 'Old World Blues', it's the government who based their entire lives on pretending they were still living in it.

In 2271 the NCR would strike a unification treaty with the Desert Rangers, incorporating their number into the NCR's own rangers. These Desert Rangers are the ones who's image adorns the iconic 'Fallout: New Vegas' cover art, making that game the only title in the mainline series to date not to feature a generation of Power Armor. Within the lore, the unification of the rangers represents a point at which the NCR adopts the role of warden in the west, putting them on a collision course against anyone with the strength and penchant to challenge a ruling authority. And in a meta sense, the unification could represent the incorporation of Black Isle Studio's 'Wasteland' world into it's the successor series: 'Fallout'. (Given that 'Wasteland' is literally about a band of ramshackle former army engineers who formed a post apocalyptic policing service called 'The Desert Rangers')  

The union wasn't made on a whim. It was done in response to the expanse of the tribal army known as Caesar's Legion which threated to swallow up all the west if left unchecked, with this new treatise the NCR were obliged to face off against them. Having discovered the potential of the still functioning pre-war installation known as Hoover Dam thanks to the efforts of one particularly archival Frumentarii, the Legion knew exactly where they would face off against the one faction with the force to actually stand against them. Thus on the 200th anniversary of the Great War, Caesar's Legion and the NCR clashed over the power-potential of the hydroponic Dam in a conflict that would lock up both nations in a four year long stalemate. (At least four years. It's really up to the player how much time passes before the next battle begins.)

Serving as the murky mirror of the old world, it's only fitting that the structure of the NCR should carry some of the baggage of that old system of governing too. The American government was absurdly corrupt in the years leading up to the Great War, to the point they spawned a splinter cabal of elitist who conspired to preserve themselves when the rest of the world fell to the war they were goading on. The NCR is similarly corrupt, with bureaucrats, lobbyists, water barons and Brahmin tycoons wielding unchecked powers over the basic pauper citizens. The return of paper money almost instantly ushered in an age of rampant capitalistic greed, resurrecting the mistakes and egos of the past and with the memory and evidence of what the last crazed money hungry republic did to it's citizens, there's a lot of independent settlements out there that just want nothing to do with the NCR's expansionism.

Which of course, is the other big problem. The NCR are an ungainly large faction within the wastes, playing ward over far more people than they can comfortable cater for. Seizing upon Hoover Dam was a desperate attempt to secure a renewable source of power for the citizens of a nation that was expanding too fast and thinning it's resources. They depended on their size and apparent security to win over any nation-state they happened across, and the second they hit a wall which wouldn't budge, Robert House's Vegas, they stalled and brought the entire train crashing to a halt. Vegas started to bleed the NCR dry, costing them resources, manpower and money as the NCR tried to hold control over a territory that plain didn't want them. Somewhat similar to the problem plaguing the long-term sustainability of the 'White Legs' of 'Zion National Park', the NCR had grown into a beast that needed to consume to sustain itself. Constant annexation, constant 'unification', everything it could to keep bodies and resources trailing back to the capital and the very second those supply lines ceased being constantly supplemented- the nation threatened to starve.  

Caesar, when pressed to justify his decision to face up against a entity as large and ungainly as the New California Republic, fell back on his belief of a philosophy known as Hegelian Dialectics. Now I'm not exactly a philosophical scholar nor a specialist, and many modern laymen have tried and utterly failed to grasp the sheer basics of what this concept even means. But if we take Caesar's own dumbed down explanation, this concept is about thesis meeting antithesis to create a greater synthesis... or something; I don't exactly get it myself. But by manning his viewpoint, we can see the way in which Caesar sees his Legion as the opposite to the NCR and that by colliding with this equal force the result will be something stronger, a belief correspondent to his core principals that struggle refines and betters man. And does this track? Well the NCR is over extended and wrapped in red tape, whilst the Legion is centralised and efficient. The NCR promotes democratic and personal freedoms, whilst the Legion relies on despotism and societal restrictions. The NCR balk from war and seek the annexation through a show of force rather than a use of it, whilst the Legion try to test their mettle against everyone they can in some twisted game to ascend to their highest form. Perhaps then the NCR was always destined to face the Legion as the Moon to their Sun.

Following the war at the Dam the NCR either annexes Vegas or is sent back to California with their tails between their legs, either way it seems doubtful that their reign is set to be eternal. Perhaps through their very nature the NCR has more years on it than the Legion would, (Afterall, having a system for selecting a presidential successor makes the future a lot more certain) but their own greed for land seems destined to catch up with them sooner or later. The resources of Hoover Dam would alleviate that, but only until they annexed the next giant landmass with millions of citizens and find themselves on the brink of collapse once again. Set yourself up as the old world did, and lead yourself into the all the resource shortage situations that sank their society and it seems like you're just setting yourself up for failure. And like a certain dreadlocked former Legion Spy loved to say: "Who are you, who do not know your history?"