World information:

Vault-Tec and Project Safehouse

Introduction:

Vault-Tec used to be a producer of high quality safes and vaults for banks and casinos. When in the 2050s war broke out between the European Commonwealth and several nations in the middle east, not to mention the New Plaque and the collapse of the United Nations, the global panic led the US government to start Project Safehouse: The construction of enormous protective shelters in the ever more likely case of a global, thermonuclear war. The plan was approved by Congress in 2054 and an RFP was published that numerous construction companies entered with their plans.
In relatively short time, Vault-Tec, a company from Los Angeles, won the procurement process with their demonstration Vault in L.A. Vault-Tec was authorized to build further 122 massive Vaults all over the USA, near to areas of high population density.

The construction of the Vaults was incredibly expensive. Vault 13 alone, should have cost 400 billion dollars, but in the end reached a total construction budget of 645 dollars, more than 150% of the original budget. A reason for that, among others, were massive corruption problems both within Vault-Tec and within the US government, that had some very specific ideas (with Vault-Tec’s cooperation) what the Vaults should be used for. Ideas that were hardly in line with the popular assumption what the Vaults were for.

The Demonstration-Vault:

The first Vault built by Vault-Tec was the Los Angeles Vault that, as a prototype, did not receive a number. In the 2150s she was used as the main base by the Master and in 2162 destroyed by a nuclear explosion caused by the Vault-Dweller.
When it opened its gate before that, some years after the Great War, most of the former Vault dwellers settled the former Los Angeles. For more about the history of the settlement of Los Angeles, now called the Angel’s Boneyard, please check the city descriptions.

Costs and corruption:

The US government had their own plans, how themselves and numerous other chosen ones would survive the ever more likely “End of the World”. The Vaults, that was obvious to everyone who could count, were never meant to save the populace of the USA, but to repopulate the area. With
122 Vaults, the average large enough for 1000 humans, the whole of Project Safehouse, even if it would have done what was advertised, would have saved less than 0.1% of the US population.
By using new laws, that were officially meant to thwart Chinese spies, Project Safehouse’s budget and the true outfitting of the Vaults were kept ever more secret. The US government and Vault-Tec cooperated, but not to safe human lives, but for their own, very nefarious means.

The true purpose of the Vaults:

While the US government, later known as the Enclave, had their own plans to survive the nuclear holocaust, they saw no reason not to finance Vault-Tec anyway. But they saw no reason, not to use Vault-Tec for special experiments. With the exception of about 10 Vaults, the so called control-
Vaults, that really were planned to offer their 1000 dwellers long term safety, each other Vault was designed as a medical or even psychological experiment.
Two Vaults offered space for 1000 humans, but each had only one man or one woman under 1000 women and 1000 men respectively. In another Vault, the food dispensers were programmed to only offer an unsavory, gray gruel, that, while providing all necessary nutrients, never offered any form of variety.
Another Vault was designed in such a way, that many of the automated machines would quickly break – the problems were easily repaired, but should keep the dwellers fully occupied and on edge.

In another Vault, near Salt Lake City, that was filled with Mormons, the provided clothing should quickly be destroyed, so that after these 6 – 9 months these religious dwellers would have no option but being naked.
The experiments were designed to study human behavior and serve the Enclave to better repopulate the USA. There was no concern given to human life or dignity in any of these experiments.

Future-Tec and GECK:

A different branch of Vault-Tec, Future-Tec, seemed not to know, that the Vaults were not meant for what people actually believed they were: this branch developed incredible technologies for the time after the opening of the Vaults, among them the storied terraforming suitcase they simply named the “Garden of Eden Creation Kit”. Along with loads of information on holodiscs this suitcase contained a cold fusion reactor, seeds and fertilizer as well as a small replication unit.

GECKs are among the rarest objects in the Wasteland. Before the Great War, only a handful were ever produced – and most of them were used after the Great War.