Context: The following narrative element was designed for a fictional exploration space that could exist within any game in the Fallout universe.
The player would come across an abandoned and supposedly failed Vault-Tec experiment (Vault 91), where the premise for the experiment was to briefly prepare and then leave a vault full of children of different ages to be responsible for their own survival and the survival of their peers. Upon exploring they would discover a series of terminal entries by a former Vault-Tec employee that would help piece together for the player some of the events that took place there.
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Vault 91 Sample Terminal Entries – Michelle Lawder (Vault Psychologist)
Note: Misspellings/grammatical errors/sentence structure errors in the final entry are intentional to help convey tone/mood
10/30/2078
Today marks one week since our descent onto Floor 0 of Vault 91. While the majority of the past week for most of us has been focused on settling in and last-minute set up, Sherri, Lester, and of course Oberon have been monitoring the children during these crucial first days of independence. I’m very much looking forward to hearing about their initial reactions.
There is a widespread consensus that one year was not enough time to prepare the children. While I do believe that at least one or even two more years would substantially increase the likelihood of success, I do also think that more time spent with the subjects would only encourage attachment and therefore hesitation to part with them once the descent had to take place.
We were assured that, in the case of an emergency, we would indeed be able to step in to prevent any serious or lasting harm to come to the children. It’s a small but important comfort to many. I only hope that everyone can remain professional and remember that our work is important and should be prioritized above all else. Everyone knew what they were getting into before signing their contracts, after all.
12/09/2078
There have been…disturbing rumors passing around. I’m not sure who they are originating from, I can never get a clear answer from anyone when I ask, but some of my colleagues sincerely believe that we – everyone on Floor 0 – are not going to be allowed to leave under any circumstances. I have even heard such far-fetched things as all of us being killed, which makes no sense at all. We are running this experiment, and there is no experiment without us to observe and report on it. I think the idea that us all being murdered is paranoid and silly, but I am concerned about the idea that perhaps there has been a change in protocol and that we won’t be allowed to intervene if the children require assistance. Results have been promising in the last few months, so I could understand if there has been a growth in confidence in the subjects. I’ll see about speaking with Oberon privately to see what could have changed the direction of the project.
02/17/2079
This is a shitshow.
Fuck Oberon Feeser.
He’s dead.
We confronted him last night after months of growing tension and he finally admitted that all of us were supposed to die down here. Right from the goddamn start we were always going to die. Before our pens touched our contracts. It was going to happen. We damn near rioted on the spot. Lester got everyone to settle down enough to agree that this could be handled in the morning. And then this morning Oberon was dead. He hung himself. That cowardly bastard. Why was no one watching him? What are we supposed to do now?
I’m furious. I’m so, so scared. Everyone is. We ripped apart Oberon’s room. No one can find the primary bulkhead door controls on any terminal on the Floor. Ruby and her engineers have been trying to get the door open for hours. No one can contact the children from down here. I’m not sure if we ever could in the first place, anymore.
We need to try harder. We have to get out of here.
03/03/2079
PLEASE READ IF FOUND
Everyone on floor 0 is rapidly falling ill to what I can only guess is radiation poisoning, the symptoms are too similar and what else could it be
I’ve heard of radiation experiments, I’ve heard of men turning into monsters,
We worry that this was planned
Maybe the doors will open if we’re all monsters
Those who haven’t died already are choosing to die tonight
Bodies can’t go after people, I hope
To the children I am so so sorry, I don’t know if any of you will ever know what happened down here or why but we are proud of you and I am sorry
For however long any of you live, you have done so well and I am proud
To whoever dies I hope your suffering was minimal
We are ashamed and we are sorry
Goodbye