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FALLOUT Lore: Ch.11 - Ulysses' Divide
This entry was posted on May 2, 2014
There were some mighty inhospitable places in this world even before the war. Deserts that could sear the life from a man as fast as any radioactive crater, rivers so polluted they'd catch fire, and lawless lands ruled by brutal fanatics. It was a bad enough place that some people even looked forward to the apocalypse; a chance for humanity to start over and build a new society that was worthy of its people's loyalty. There are some folk who are proud to wear the flags of the new societies that have appeared in the aftermath. The Brotherhood, the Enclave, New California Republic - even some slaves in the Legion who are proud of the bull symbol embroidered on their clothes. But the flags of the old world are still out there for travelers who care to look. The red, white and blue, and the stars and stripes appear all over the Mojave. They're a code. A message for someone. Can't say who they're for, but the man who made the marks isn't shy about making his presence known.
He traveled throughout the Mojave as a messenger of the Mojave Express out of Primm, concealing his role as one of Caesar's Frumentarii. He calls himself Ulysses. That's a name from the old Roman times, and one that belonged to a general who fought in one of America's most bitter wars: Ulysses Grant. The Mojave's Ulysses named himself after this general, a hero who united two nations under a single flag. America's flag on his back is a symbol of that dedication.
That is just one example of his beliefs. Ulysses is a man who respects symbols. He spent his life trying to find one that he could be proud to wear. It began with the tribe he was born into, the Twisted Hairs. They wore their hair in braids to symbolize their life and achievements, and Ulysses has honored that tradition throughout his life, even after the tribe was assimilated by Caesar's Legion.
He's a loyal man too, and that is a both a virtue and a curse in the Wasteland. Despite seeing his tribe betrayed and enslaved by Caesar, Ulysses still remained loyal to the Legion. Give that man a cause, and he'll fight under its flag.
He carried the symbol of the bull with him throughout Nevada and was the first in the Legion to discover Hoover Dam, where he spotted the Rangers from the New California Republic. The Rangers had their own flag, their totem was the two-headed bear of the NCR. These werFallout 4 Lore History Ulyssese men who shared his respect for symbols, and Ulysses knew that the bull and bear would battle to the death over that dam.
He didn't fight in the battle for Hoover Dam himself. Caesar had sent him further West to cut the NCR's supply lines. Interstate 15 used to be a highway where cars and trucks rolled at speeds faster than a deathclaw on Jet. Two centuries after the war, it was known as the Long 15, and it saw its fair share of traffic with brahmin carts bringing food and ammunition to NCR soldiers. The road served as a jugular vein for the bear's two heads.
Shortly before the NCR clashed with the Legion at the Dam, Ulysses was out by the Long 15, in a town called Hopeville. That's the sort of name they liked to give places back before the war. Putting the word "Hope" in the name didn't save the place when the Great War struck, though. Got hit pretty bad, and it took years before folk started settling back in. Seems there was a courier who frequented that route on trips between California and the Mojave. Funny that Ulysses and this other courier could walk the same roads for years and never meet face to face, but that other courier helped build up Hopeville and neighboring town of Ashton. The place was looking mighty promising a few years ago thanks to the work of that one courier.
Ulysses saw the symbols of the old world in that restored community. He realized that the stars and stripes had the potential to be greater than the Bear and Bull combined. Hopeville and Ashton could have been a new home for him, free of the war between the Legion and NCR. A starting point for a nation that was worthy of his loyalty.
