After an earlier BoS Outcast roleplay Red Legion, I started another character. Nothing special. The original concept was simple: play a raider. I came up with a basic premise way back during the Wasteland Workshop days and decided to play sneak / demo / commando, forcing myself to use pipe weapons and crappy armor while I built up a little raider gang. To deal with lore, I decided cryostasis had damaged my housewife’s memory beyond repair (lotsa facial scars to show it). She tried to make it right but went insane soon after leaving the vault.
Over the course of several DLCs however, what began as a throwaway experience became considerably more – and I’ve only just scratched the surface of post-plotline development. So, without further ado, let me introduce the roleplay: Kingdom of Atom.
In which the northern Commonwealth is terrorized and enslaved.
Unfortunately, I don’t have any screenshots of my early gameplay as this was before XBOne allowed screenshot sharing without live gold, so I never took any. Simply put however, the slave empire began at Starlight Drive-in with a massive Arena and later expanded south to Greygarden and East to the Slog, then south again toward Nordhagen Beach. Each settlement captured or exterminated was turned into a slave pen while raiders stood guard. You’ll see what became of those settlements later. First, let’s introduce the…
In which Jessie finds her salvation in radiation poisoning.
Author’s Note: due to issues early in survival, I ran out of supplies while the Cathedral was just a foundation. At the very moment I wanted to hike back to Diamond City for supplies, a Gunner attack spawned. I barely managed to hold by hiding in the skeletral structure, using the gamma gun to pick of three legendaries who’d holed up on the other side of the foundation (where the cathedral windows now are). It was an awesome firefight and in the RP cemented Jessie’s belief that the power of Atom had no equal, even back home.
Prayer Hall and Spiral of Atom at night, seen from upper interior walkway. Radiation vents are installed on ground level to irradiate an entire congregation as Atom demands. Dining hall and apothecary are located behind the camera but not fleshed out enough to warrant images.
Original loading dock, since converted to a marketplace, with the workshop area in back. Two loading doors can be lowered individually, sealing off the Cathedral proper and the outer wall as needed.
Agricultural area and storage shed beside the main warehouse. Volunteers work in the fields under the watchful gaze of Atom’s Sentinels, who walk the upper walkways with their eyes peeled for their old foe, the Gunners.
Entry area as seen from near the waterfront. Pilgrims often stop here to rest and browse at the local shops before entering the Cathedral proper for prayer.
Author’s Note: Originally I wanted to style Vault 88 like the Sentinel Site and implement it as a weapons storage bunker supplied via the train network there and claimed by Jessie due to its atomic arsenal. Unfortunately, I couldn’t hoard enough Fat Men or mininukes on survival to flesh out the atmosphere, so I had to simplify the design. This was before I started modding my savefile, but I never bothered to redecorate as the setting was already too elaborate to rebuild.
Now the followers of Atom congregate in the three-leveled ammunition storage area. The original munition stockpile remains locked safely away in crates, untouched by these religious fanatics, who consider them sacred relics.
An exception to this rule was made with the Siegebreaker Assaultron prototype known as Atomico, which was found wandering the hallways of the Vault in disrepair, and later restored with some help from a raider named Gage.
Due to security concerns, the main vault door now remains firmly sealed, and believers come and go through two rear entrances that lead to the destroyed settlement of University Point. A nearby security checkpoint checks everyone entering the vault for the required minimum dose of radiation poisoning.
The original overseer’s office, which overlooks an underground munitions train station, has since been claimed by the High Inquisitor and redecorated appropriately. Due to frequent power shortages caused by an ageing reactor, alternate light sources have become common throughout the vault.
The original diner, rife with the same old government-sponsored propaganda which lines all the hallways of the vault, now serves irradiated dishes for the faithful. The soda machine, its inner workings contaminated by two decades of decay, is a particular favorite among the current residents.
Kingdom of Atom continues in Part II: Chapels & Shrines