egas' survival is owed to the actions of Robert House. In 2065, House predicted that a nuclear exchange between the USA and China would take place within the next 15 years, and decided put all of his resources into protecting his home city of Las Vegas. He used his considerable intelligence and vast wealth to ensure that when war finally came, he would be prepared. He created an army of Securitrons, some to police the strip, but the bulk of them hidden beneath Fortification Hill for activation at a later date. He also had his own hotel, the Lucky 38 Casino, fitted with radar-jamming systems, missile arrays, a laser defense network, and life-support systems.

House calculated that his defenses would see off the majority of missiles bound for Vegas, but at least some damage to outer Vegas and the surrounding towns was unavoidable, and that more was to be done. To this end, he had engineers in Sunnyvale develop The Platinum Chip, a data storage device that would upgrade his defense systems and Securitrons to the Mark II OS, ensuring that Vegas and the surrounding area would be safe.

The platinum chip was due for delivery by courier on October 23, 2077, the day of the Great War. The attack, however, came 20 hours earlier than House had predicted, and before the platinum chip could leave Sunnyvale, the city was reduced to rubble, the chip buried beneath it. House was forced to make do with his relatively primitive stasis systems and although most of Vegas was saved, he suffered numerous system crashes and was eventually forced into a coma. Little is known of what happened in this period of Vegas' history, although evidence of riots scar the city even today, and at least one overweight gangster similar to Don Gizmo, was known to have made his mark.[1] In 2138, House awoke from his coma, but bided his time, watching the city be settled by tribals and raiders.

In 2274, New California Republic (NCR) scouts arrived at Hoover Dam, piquing House's interest. These were no tribals, these were civilized people - somewhere, out in the wastes, a new society had begun. A society that would no doubt see Las Vegas and its power source, the Dam, as theirs for the taking. House's Securitrons finally emerged from the Lucky 38, offering an ultimatum to the raider tribes settled on the Strip: join House and be part of his New Vegas, leave the Strip, or die. Three tribes accepted his offer, the Chairmen, the Omertas and the White Glove Society, becoming known as the Three Families. Only the Kings refused and were returned to Freeside. The Three Families, as well as the Securitrons, would be enough to protect the Strip for now, but if the NCR tried to take it by force they would not be able to resist in any meaningful way.

Instead, House had members of the three families, as well as a couple of his Securitrons occupy the dam. When the main NCR forces arrived to assume control of the dam, House send a Securitron forward to call for a parley between the NCR's leaders and himself. Eventually, they reached an agreement in form of the New Vegas treaty whereby the NCR would get 95% of the Dam's power output, McCarran International Airport as a base of operation, and the permission to establish an embassy on the Strip, while the Strip gets the remaining 5% power output - much more than required to run the place - and immunity from annexation. The treaty also disallowed the NCR from denying their citizens and soldiers to visit the Strip, leading to a boom in New Vegas' economy, as tourists from all corners of the NCR, as well as stationed troopers on leave, would flock to the Strip and spend their hard earned salaries on gambling, alcohol and prosttutes.

Around the same time, on the other side of the Colorado river, Caesar sat his eyes on New Vegas. Feeling that the empire he was building lacked a true capital, a place he would be proud to call his Rome, he mobilized Caesar's Legion in the hopes of forcing the NCR out of the Mojave Wasteland and taking the city for himself. In 2277 this culminated in First Battle of Hoover Dam, which the Legion lost. Caesar, however, has not given up his plans of taking control of Vegas, and has waited patiently in his headquarters on Fortification Hill ever since his first defeat for an opportunity to strike again.

The continuous presence of the Legion has created a delicate power balance in the region. The NCR would have taken the Strip long ago, but the presence of the Legion means that if they attacked the Strip, they would be vulnerable to an attack from them at Hoover Dam.

House has grand plans for Vegas - he calculates that on the back of tourism from the NCR, Vegas' economy will be strong enough to restart the development of new technology within 20 years, put people in orbit within 50 years, and within 100 years, have a colony ready to leave Earth behind and settle a new planet, untouched by war. And that is why he cannot let either side win. House spent over 812,545 caps hiring salvage teams to recover the platinum chip from Sunnyvale in just one year,[2] with countless more spent during other years. Having finally recovered it, House arranged for it to be transported back to him. Fearing, however, that the leader of the Chairmens, Benny, was conspiring against him and would try to steal the chip upon its arrival in the Mojave Wasteland, he had his trusted Securitron, Victor, contact the Mojave Express in Primm, to hire six couriers. Five of the couriers were going to carry various novelty items, acting as decoys for the sixth courier, who was given the chip, effectively placing the future of New Vegas in that person's hands.