Chapter One

In 2282 the Second Battle of Hoover Dam ended with a spectacular display of force that featured at least five warring factions and a number of explosions that hadn't been seen since the Great War itself. Stories of who was involved, who did what and how many died change depending on who you ask. What is clear in all versions of the story is when the dust settled a leaderless NCR ran for its life, a Caesar and Legate-less Legion returned East and a House-less New Vegas was taken over by the dominant Courier and his Securitron army.

Peace, prosperity and the imposing threat of mechanized violence reigned for five good years. Unfortunately for the ever beleaguered wasteland denizens even this semblance of the good life was not to last. Like many tragedies the one to befall New Vegas was sudden and unexpected. On an otherwise pleasant and sunny day a call went out across the entire Strip ordering the inhabitants to evacuate. A similar message was broadcast at the Dam and throughout the Mojave. Two hours later on the mark, with most of the citizens out but not all of them, both New Vegas and the Dam were blown apart by massive explosions that caved in city streets and mountain walls alike. All that was left of the once glorious Strip was a smoking crater rent in the earth like a gate to hell itself.

At first the attack was a mystery that the survivors attributed to the vengeful NCR or perhaps the frumentarii of Caesar's ghost. Word slowly began to spread of a duster clad preacher handing out copies of a book that outlined the impossible. Holotapes of a long dead man named Ulysses were paired with the book that was part history, part philosophy and all warning. In it the man known as the Courier, already a Mojave legend, claimed responsibility for the unspeakable act of leveling his own empire. Not only had he done that but he also claimed to have thrice scorched the wasteland with nuclear fire unintentionally as well as purposefully. He warned the reader in no uncertain terms that should any Post-War societies rely on Old World values and technology that he would personally bring the fabled Divide to them.

At first despite the evidence the book presented it was thought by many to be a hoax. Still, somehow copies of the book spread to what was left of the NCR and the edges of the West. Then in 2288, just a year after the destruction of New Vegas, the city of New Reno suffered the same fate. Though a haven of vice and crime it was still an important trade city with a sizable population. Only fragments of the town were left after dozens of fertilizer based bombs ripped the buildings and streets to pieces. Carved into the ground near the town's wreckage was a symbol nearly fifty feet across: a circle of stars with one in the center. The mark was the Courier's symbol for the Divide and would not be taken lightly ever again.

After New Reno the various leading factions in the West condemned the Courier no matter if they believed him responsible or not. The NCR banned the Courier's book in its territories and made using the Divide's symbol illegal. The Legion, who had no love for the traitorous Mojavite who had killed their Caesar, burned anything to do with him on sight even as it encroached west on the NCR's lands. In spite of the menace he presented there arose groups of people who espoused the Courier's ideals. Referring to him as the Word Bearer they called themselves the Heralds of Ulysses and advocated the restructuring of all societies across the globe. They preached against using anything left from the Old World and warned that the Word Bearer himself would fall on those who ignored them.

Even with angry citizens and governments burning copies of Ulysses' Word new ones still seemed to circulate. The legend of the Courier grew as towns and settlements were wiped off the face of the earth either by flame, explosives or slaughter. Each time there was only a single symbol carved into the ground to show who had been there. The man who was once a courier left his mark and a newly printed copy of his book near the smoldering wreckage of each town he purged. Eventually he became a boogeyman always lurking in the shadows who waited patiently to drag entire cities into his Divide.

Some believed that all of the acts of destruction could not be the work of just one man. Others claimed to have seen the original Courier die years ago. Whatever the truth was behind the man by now no one ignored his symbol when it appeared. The settlement of Sunny Bluff was in a for a surprise on a gray morning in 2289. The Mark had been made just hundreds of feet away from the outskirts of their town. The Courier was near and he left entire nations dead in his wake. The townspeople could only pray to the wasteland gods who had forsaken them that there was enough time to evacuate before he returned.