Humility is a virtue in the wasteland. One will not find dignity when scavenging in a pile of rubble. Those who are lucky enough to be born into prosperity should know that their way of life can vanish in a moment, likewise those who come from humble beginnings must believe that they have the potential to build empires, lead armies, or heal the world around them. Each generation has seen would-be conquerors who seek to forge their own utopia from the ashes of the old world, but the most successful attempt at rebuilding has come from the most humble of origins.
"Shady Sands"... sounds like the sort of thing you'd read on a pre-war postcard. A tropical getaway for bored families in the old world... But Shady Sands was actually a little village in California, made up of the people who came out of one of the Vaults. Lucky for them, their vault, number 15, wasn't so bad. At least when compared to some of the other ones.
It was designed to open fifty years after the Great War, and its inhabitants were well-supplied, even though they were deliberately made up of people who Vault-Tec knew wouldn't get along. They managed to keep from killing each other until the doors opened, then most of Vault 15's inhabitants tore through the wasteland forming some of the worst raider gangs the Wasteland would ever see. Even the Great Kahns today can trace their heritage back to the hooligans who came out of Vault 15.
Not all of them were troublemakers like the Khans, though. Quite a few decided to settle down and build a farming town. They had some gadgetry from the Vault that made Shady Sands a prosperous little place, but that prosperity also made them a target. Raiders attacked Shady Sands without mercy, even going so far as to kidnap the Mayor's daughter.
Superstitious folk will say it was destiny that brought the Vault Dweller to Shady Sands at their time of need. Or maybe it was just because Vault 13 happened to be located nearby and people are always in need. For whatever reason Shady Sands was the first place that tested the now famous Vault Dweller - this was before that kid from Vault 13 became the hero of the wasteland.
The example set by the heroics of the Vault Dweller stuck with the people who lived in Shady Sands. Folk like Aradesh, Tandi and Seth, names that will go in the history books - once someone starts writing down history again.
Junktown, The Hub, and other places that the Vault Dweller passed through all felt the same call to be a part of something greater. The mayor of Shady Sands, Aradesh, guided the most influential communities of the twenty second century formed an alliance - each one had played some small role in saving the wasteland, and this brought them together.
In those early years of this New California Republic, even the Brotherhood of Steel was an ally, their original headquarters being right in the heart of the NCR. That alliance lasted about as long as you'd expect, but it shows that the Brotherhood and the NCR could get along.
Aradesh was made president for life of the NCR. He lived a good long life but like many old men he wanted to head out on a few final adventures before death came calling. He disappeared out in the wasteland one day, probably looking for his old friend the Vault Dweller. We're not sure exactly how it ended for Aradesh, when they write those NCR history books they'll probably make up something suitably noble and heroic for his last adventure.
With Aradesh gone, the natural successor was his daughter Tandi. The official records don't like to dwell on the way that President Tandi once had to be rescued from the Kahns by the Vault Dweller. Getting kidnapped wouldn't seem very "Presidential", but that sort of humbling experience helped mold her into an ambitious leader who was wise enough to know the dangers of the Wasteland around her. She led the NCR until she was nearly a hundred years old. A ripe old age for someone who never mutated, and she spent the whole time trying to unify the towns north of the NCR.
