I can't recall any from Fallout or Fallout 2, but the Capital Wasteland seems to have its share of immigrants. Tenpenny, despite his accent fail, is shown to be English from a blurb on one of the loading screens, and Dashwood's computer mentions that Moriarty ended up in 'this country' as a baby. Dukov's accent would clearly suggest he is foreign as well, not to mention Desmond in Point Lookout. How have all of these people/ghoul managed to get to America in a destroyed world. It's possible Desmond was already in America when the war hit, but what about the others? It seems like it'd be very difficult to cross the Atlantic in a Post-Apocalyptic wasteland.

Did the Dutchess Gambit's previous owner take it a lot further than the East Coast? (I think Tobar stole the boat, his outfit used to have a name other than Tobar on it, who's to say that clothes and brain chunks aren't the only thing he takes) Or has someone else gotten rich by flying or ferrying people across the ocean?

The vikings managed to take the trip over the Atlantic roughly 1.000 years ago. So, if there are anyone left in Europe, it should be doable for them to build a boat and navigate by the stars. It would be even easier, if there were prewar ships still in decent shape. A compass and a map should be possible to find. In Fallout 2, .

Not to mention, if Europe in particular was hit as hard as America (and probably was), it makes sense that survivors of the Great War (ghouls and around the time of Fallout 1, probably people's grandparents) would tell stories about the way the world used to be, and this would cause Europeans who grew up in the (for lack of a better term) European Wasteland to head across the sea Viking-style to seek their fortunes.

Obviously a lot of them wouldn't make it, but there'd be a slow trickle at least of European immigrants to the US after the Great War, much like how there was after World War II, which actually fits rather nicely into the whole 50's vibe the games have.

As for Fallout 1&2 not having much in the way of Europeans (except for that Celtic guy, but I think his family was here pre-war), well, they're on the west coast, while DC happens to be much easier to access, being on the east.

Desmond was in America when the bombs fell and therefore stranded. He was ghoulified and has been

For the others, I don't know.

It could very well be that there is more than one person with a boat capable of going great distances across the ocean, plenty of things in the Fallout universe end up using some vauge, logical reasoning to peice together the back story, like how did the super mutants get to D.C if they started off in California?, or how come there is so many deathclaws in the wasteland, if they wer alegedley Bio-enguneered by the pre-war military?, all the questions usually lead to a vauge answer where you esentialy have a good a guess as anyone else, oh i just thought of another one, why is there only one ZAX computer in D.C?

One that we know of.

Zax's werent exactly the "Sony Viao" of pre-war computing, they were rare supercomputers that cost a truckload (and took up about as much space). There werent a lot to go around.

Most of the technology presented in the Fallout series existed pre-war, including most of the weapons used. With how many weapons, armor, etc. I used to repair my equipment in Fallout 3, I found it hard to believe there would even be any pre-war weapons left. As for the bio-engineering by the military and scientists, it isn't so far fetched that while they were generally located in isolated facilities the knowledge could be passed on and spread to the military at other installations, as well as the government (Enclave). Since the Vaults were essentially one big experiment, mostly orchestrated by the Enclave, I would easily believe that one of the Vaults in the D.C. area could be designed with the sole intention of turning its residents into super mutants. Afterward, using whatever virus was left in the Vault, the super mutants could go out and begin capturing others to produce more. Deathclaws are produced by an egg-laying queen, like many insect societies. Since they are very tough, intelligent, and at least partially resistant to radiation (to the best of my knowledge), it is not surprising they would thrive in the wasteland.

Edit: And, as for the foreigners question... It isn't entirely implausible. As has been suggested, it is possible to use or manufacture boats for the trip. Another possibility is that further north there is a large amount of ice forming what would essentially be a bridge or solid ground that could be crossed to arrive in the Capital Wasteland. While such a thing might not exist year round, it could possibly last long enough for such a journey. It goes along the lines of 'nuclear winter.' Granted, so far from the nuclear war, any cooling effects to the planet should have subsided.

Simple, there are no Foreigners in DC.

Game Guide: page 378-05 "Dukov, 43, has a carefree attitue about life, and it's defines what he does every day: party. His talk is laced with profanity, yet he somehow maintains his charm and is able to win people over. His booming laugh can distinguish him in a room full of people. All he's concered with are his possessions, his "pad" as he calls it, and ladies." No mention he's from Russia. He could have come from an area like Little Odessa were many from Russia and the Ukraine settled before the Great War.

page 360. Colin Moriary, 50, has been here nearly his entire life. He claims that his grandfather helped found the original settlement a few years after the war. While no one can verify this, his father did use the nearby trade routes to amass wealth, which is used to help secure Megaton."

Colin got his accent from his family that came to america pre-war.

Tenpenny's description says he's an old Englishmen turned American but does not say he came from there. Englishmen at heart maybe? Still even if he did come from there we were robbed of an awesome story and he would be the only example. Therefore it's unlikely he came from over seas.

I am not just getting into semantics. People don't lose their accents just because they set foot on American Soil. When thousands come and settle at once they tend to speak their own language let alone the English language. People can have accents and still be American for generations.

Desmond is Pre-War He came to America before the Great War not after.

Fallout one has a man with an English accent and he got it from a Robin Hood book.