Hello all, I've browsed through these forums a bit and see that we all have a very keen grasp on the world of Fallout. And as such, I wanted to see what everyone thought would be the canonical state of the Capital Wastes at the end Fallout 3. In keeping with the trend of the canon usually being the best possible outcome (such as Shady Brooks growing to a town of 3,000 people and even the formation of the NCR) I've put together a list of my own:

1. The Super Mutant threat is greatly crippled.

2. Arefu safe and protected by The Family.

3. Megaton's bomb deactivated and its filtration system fixed.

4. Big Town now safe and able to defend itself.

5. Rivet City now in possession of the Declaration of Independence, Magna Carta, and Bill of Rights.

6. The Abolitionists now centered in the Lincoln Memorial, along with all Lincoln artifacts.

7. Canterbury Commons successfully organizes the trade of the Wastes.

8. Harold is alive and his Oasis spreading rapidly.

9. Paradise Falls wiped out.

10. Evergreen Mills wiped out.

11. Fort Bannister wiped out.

12. The slaves of The Pitt successfully revolt and take control of the Steel Mills.

13. Vault 101 now open to the Capital Wastes.

14. Agatha in possession of the Soil Stradivarius.

15. Tenpenny Towers now a ghoul haven.

16. Reilly's Rangers well and still active in D.C.

17.The Outcast gain access to a military cache, and a subsequent mutiny is put down.

18. The Ice Gang gains access to the Nuka-Cola Clear formula.

19. Harkness well aware of his identity and living peacefully in Rivet city.

Feel free to add your own or criticize mine.

Well, my main criticism would be that this really doesn't say anythig about the state of the wastes, rather the result of completed quests. There needs to be some impact on the wasteland, if the Mutants and Slavers are erdicated, then expansion would be easier, though I still disagree heavily with how the D.C wasteland is portrayed 200+ after the great war.

You could also mention something about the Republic of Dave, I let the woman win (I forget her name) because she was pro-trade and that's good for expansion. But a 'success' in that respect is purely subjective.

that's basically how i feel about those quests. now for some of my own.

Those: scientist gets his brains splattered all over his lab, fire ant queen killed and pulse activated.
(oh and as an added bonus no more experiments on ants whoohoo.)

Moira's book gets published saving the lives of many wastelanders who can now safely travel the wastelands.
(though it depends greatly on your choices it could just aswell cost just as many lives.)

My take on this:
1. Unchanged.
2. How in the HELL would the residents of Arefu be able to find enough blood packs to keep The Family happy? Nope. The Family has been wiped out, and Arefu doesn't have to pay protection "money" to anyone..
3. Unchanged. Except that the Church of Atom has been liquidated. No conflicts with the sheriff at all..
4. Unchanged. For better or worse (probably worse: bratty kids will continue to become whining teenagers)..
5. Unchanged. But Rivet City having those items WILL help; the ideals within those documents will be a guideline for future generations..
6. Abolitionists have the Memorial, but all Lincoln artifacts are in the possession of Rivet City (they're much more capable of safeguarding them)..
7. Unchanged.
8. Unchanged.
9. Paradise Falls alive and well. Ashur still needs workers for the Pitt..
10. Unchanged.
11. Unchanged.
12. Ashur retains control of the Pitt. His resources and technology are much more likely to result in a cure for mutation than the slaves' primitive equipment.
13. Vault 101 resealed, and for good. The inhabitants of the Vault will indeed eventually rot away down there..
14. After obtaining the Blackhawk from her, Agatha has been whacked, thereby saving the people of the Wasteland from having to hear crappy violin music..
15. Tenpenny Towers is NOT a ghoul haven. The ghouls have all been laid to rest, along with Tenpenny himself. No more sniping from the penthouse! The best all-around solution IMO..
16. Unchanged.
17. Unchanged.
18. Unchanged. And IMO this IS a good thing. The Ice Gang, instead of waylaying random Wastelanders, now has a source of legitimate income which will help them realize their dream of bringing Ice Hockey back to the masses..
19. A3-21 returned to his owners in the Commonwealth. Sorry, but I really wanted that cybernetic implant. It also frees people in Rivet City from having to listen to Zimmer go on about his androids..

All you have to do is ask Harkness permission to kill Zimmer yourself, tell him that Harkness is the android, get the implant, then kill Zimmer and Armitage before they reach Harkness.

They don't have to FIND blood packs, at all. They can MAKE them. The idea is, the people of arefu regularly donate packs of their own blood, and in return, the Family protects them from othe threats (which becomes somethign in the Family's own interests; they can use Arefu as a point-of-contact for Trade, plus, it's a secure, reliable food source. The safer it is, the more the population will grow - because people will seek out that very safety. The more the population grows, the less burden any ONE person bears in terms of giving blood ... yet, the more blood is provided to the Family, in total.

My evil character wiped the Family out, not to protect Arefu ... but to eliminate a potential rival. :chaos: Plus he's a cannibal, and all that "eat not of the flesh" stuff just got on my damned nerves ...

I wonder how the residents of Arefu can let blood without the appropriate skills, equipment, and sanitation. Another inconsistency would be, there are four residents of Arefu, five if you can convince Ian to stay. A person can let blood every 8 - 16 weeks, 12 as a common average. You can donate no more than a pint of blood a time, two pints if you're a 135pound male, or 150pound female. From Arefu's statistics that's 5 pints of blood a season. There are seven members of the Family at present.

Vampire lore states (and is the only real lore one can source from when dealing with human consumption of blood):

Using this template, as it's the only one exsisting, (Humans consuming blood for sustainance would realistically die from deficiencies, potasium, vitamins, etc. Let alone the ammonia content would force anyone to vomit if attempting to consume even small amounts) 5 pints for one person would last 10 weeks.

In order to sustain the seven members of the Family for 12 weeks, they would need 42 pints of blood. That's 42 donors over a season. Not taking into consideration any expansion of the Family, as they take in wayward cannibals.

The presence of doctors out in the wasteland argue that people do understand the concept of sterilization, and there's certainly plenty of equipment and training going around (Hello First Aid manuals!). As for getting enough blood, the Family members themselves can certainly donate. There's nothing in the dialogue to suggest they wouldn't be perfectly valid candidates themselves.

If Ian stays in Arefu, then he can write Lucy back in Megaton and get that community to help out. Once Arefu gets it's Brahmin Herds back, there could be legitimate trade between the communities - Megaton gets the Brahmin Meat, Arefu gets the blood packs.

Also, with the Family protecting Arefu, that makes any Raiders who decide to plague the town perfectly viable targets themselves. And unlike the residents of Arefu, the Raiders can donate more then just a pint in a single setting. Or there's always the possibility of the Family building a "herd" of their own from Captured Raiders. No sense killing off perfectly good sources of blood, after all.

I tried to kill Zimmer that way, but he would only go unconscious. Gave up on that idea..

Well, Arefu contributes almost 1/8 of that - with no need to go further afield. Plus, protecting Arefu from raiders - and probably, providing "courtesy" escorts to Traders bound to or from Arefu - would almost inevitably bring them in contact with a lot of raiders. Each of whom could be "convinced" to donate 3-5 pints, all at once, hehehe.

By the time the raider supply dwindled, the population of Arefu would have climbed, perhaps enough to feed the Family.

Also, we can't be sure the Family has the same level of ... "appetite", as your source indicates. Maybe a blood pack is only needed to help "suppress and sate" their urge to consume flesh? Or maybe, they only need a small quantity each day, and one blood pack would last one of them longer than ten days? *shrug* We don't know.

All we do know is: the donation of blood from the inhabitants of Arefu is apparently a sufficient quantity - either materially, or at least symbolicly - to be an acceptible deal i the eyes of the Family. Consider the fringe benefit, too: there's a stable population of "normal Humans" who may come to see the Family in a non-negative light. The Family might even gain a measure of acceptance in the Wasteland. All starting with that little deal of protection-for-blood ...