Can’t they give these Vaults some less boring names? Vault 31. Vault 32. Why not Vaulter Goggins in honor of a certain lead actor from the Fallout TV series? Vault Whitman? Vault Disney? Vaulter White? Something with a little more character… as if Vault 32 didn’t have enough. What is the story with the infamous 32? Allow me to explain.
First off – what’s a vault?
I’ll tell you what it is, a vault your best shot at survival in the post apocalyptic wasteland formally known at the United States of America. Vaults are futuristic underground bunkers built by the pre-apocalypse megacorp Vault Tec. Why did Vault Tec build vaults in the first place? As you may know, the United States of America was a pretty paranoid place in the 50’s. The 2050’s that is. The enemy? Those damn communists! In response to the growing power of communist controlled China, along with new disasters like the Euro-Middle Eastern War, the collapse of the U.N., and the virulent New Plague, the U.S. Government wanted to ensure a way to protect its citizens (and its deep state power structures). How? Build a series of technologically advanced underground vaults that could withstand disease, famine, and nuclear apocalypse. The U.S. had big plans for the future of the nation! And who was gonna build those vaults? A little mom and pop megacorp called Vault Tec.
Vault Tec had cornered the market on nuclear fallout shelter technology, able to build Vaults across the country at a rapid pace. There was only one problem, they cost an arm, a leg, the rest of the torso. Vault 13 was supposed to cost the government $400 billion even. It ended up being $650 billion. As a result, only 122 Vaults were ever built – allowing for the safety of less than 0.1% of the American population. Better than nothing, I suppose?
This however was not the only purpose of the Vaults. While on paper the Vaults were built in order to contribute to the survival of the human species, in reality they were only made to protect the “worthiest” members of humanity. Namely high ranking military officers, politicians, and Wall Street types. The American Oligarchy. The Vaults were meant to serve as a breeding ground for the “best and brightest” of humanity, to ensure that only people with “superior” genes would live to see the future. As for the rest of the population? Let them eat radioactive cake.
After the Great War, the surviving members of the upper class locked themselves inside Vaults and formed an organization called The Enclave. The Enclave is self described as the legitimate continuation of the United States Government, consisting of American oligarchs and their descendants. They believed that any non-Enclave people were subhumans, and not worthy of passing on their genes. They are the shadowy enemy of the Brotherhood of Steel, and an overarching force of antagonism across the Fallout franchise.
What’s the story with Vault 32?
Vault 32, along with Vault 31 and 33 was one of trio of Vaults under Vault Tec control. The plan was for Vault Tec to cryogenically freeze its best and brightest employees inside of Vault 31, while using Vault 32 and 33 as “breeding pools” for humanity. The denizens of Vault 31 would eventually be released into Vault 32 and 33 to mate with the “genetically superior” populations there and serve as overseers for those two vaults.
It didn’t work out that way.
While Vault 33’s population remained orderly and stable, society Vault 32 slowly disintegrated into animal madness. Sometime around the year 2294, Vault 32’s denizens fell victim to infighting, which led to violence, which led to resource destruction, which led to starvation, which led to cannibalism, which led to mass suicide. It was anything but pretty. So much for “genetic superiority”. The doors to Vault 32 were later breached by the Raider forces of Lee Moldaver, revealing the horrors therein. Ever resourceful, Lee’s raiders took advantage of the sorry situation and disguised themselves as Vault 32 dwellers. This allowed them to sneak into the intermarriage ceremony of Lucy MacLean to her husband. What’s an intermarriage ceremony? Exactly what it sounds like. Vaults 31, 32, and 33 often traded resources with one another… human resources. Intermarriage between members of separate Vaults was commonplace, and all a ploy to create genetically superior crop of offspring and a “perfect meritocracy” to inherit the future of Vault Tec and the world. Ew.
(Featured Image: Amazon)
