Vault 83

 

Society

Uncommonly peaceful and harmonious compared to other Wasteland societies, Vault 83 wears its uniqueness on its sleeve- at their coming of age, inhabitants take the GOAT, are subjected to a brainscan, then their brains are removed, reprogrammed using CODE tech, then placed either within a robobrain, a cyberdog's cranium, or back within their skulls within a biogel-filled dome. This conditioning does multiple things; it is used to "correct" extremes of temperament, it is used to

Technology

Vault 83 is roughly at the level of Pre-War. 

History

Intended to test the effectiveness of CODE brain reprogramming technology for creating societal stability, this Vault was populated several days before the Great War. The cyberdogs and robobrains, in addition to the Overseer, called small groups of childless Dwellers, a few at a time, to the Vault, where their brains were promptly removed. And then finally, the Overseer’s brain was removed and hooked up to a computer system, where it would be able to exert direct control over almost all of the Vault’s subsystems.

Every brain was reprogrammed- except for the Overseer's- to completely change their very identities. They would no longer see themselves as male or female, identify as a specific species- after that one week, they viewed themselves as just brains. Brains occupying bodies, which could be swapped out or changed at their leisure. After their new programming, each brain was given a different body to fit their talent and temperament, within a clear, domed, biogel-filled enclosure. Nobody minded terribly, in fact they were unanimously glad that everyone received a body they could make the best use out of. 

And for more than twenty years, the Vault was almost completely peaceful. Sure, fights still broke out, tempers flared, but they were almost always about work efficiency. The inhabitants otherwise were happy to toil their lives away, their minds unmarred with thoughts of rebellion or discontentment, even when their brains were slated to become mere computer cores and ripped from their heads. But all this changed, gradually, as the Overseer's brain became gradually more mad with power and the Vault Dwellers began to have children of their own. 

The Overseer would issue ridiculous punishments for imaginary wrongdoings, changing the rules almost daily in order to have a fresh supply of wrongdoers to abuse. It started with public humiliation, but it soon proceeded to corporal punishment and forced brain removal. And soon, the Vault Dwellers' children became the target of this abuse- and here the Overseer overstepped his hand. Though the brainwashed Dwellers didn't mind stripping naked in front of everyone, getting whipped, or even volunteering to become a brain in a jar indefinitely, they were discontented at the idea of the next generation suffering. Productivity in the Vault dropped, and for the first time ever there were whisperings of rebellion.

In fact, some of the cyberdogs and robobrains began to come around to the idea of supporting the rebels. They, as the rest of the Vault, were aware of the Overseer's mental deterioration- and they concluded that for the sake of the experiment's success, the Overseer would need to be removed. And eventually, a coup was launched. The Overseer's brain was removed from its vat and smashed into pink goop on the ground. 

But the Dwellers soon realized, to their horror, that they were without the guidance of a centralized authority. The nine ringleaders of the rebellion volunteered to have their brains extracted and hooked up to the computer systems, serving as the new Overmind- who would command and control the Vault. Some of the cyberdogs and robobrains accepted this wholeheartedly- after all, they didn’t care who they served as Overseer, just that there was one, and that the experiment would continue. The others were swiftly rounded up, their brains destroyed and replaced.

Soon after, the Vault opened to the world. Armed robobrains, accompanied by security personnel and cyberdogs, went into the cityscape and wasteland beyond and began to carve out a little outpost atop the Vault entrance- which became bigger and bigger as the years went by.