Annai Oran is a mysterious mercenary with a personal agenda, known for her work in the Pass and the territory of the New California Republic.
Background[]
The name Annai Oran has many meanings among the different groups in New California. To those in the upper echelons of the NCR, the name is associated with a mercenary notable only for her investigations into certain pre-War sites and relics. To the tribes of the Pass, especially the California Tribe, the name instead belongs to a being known as a "witch" and a "betrayer," responsible for bringing the demons of the Prison of Ten Thousand Horrors to their doorstep and stealing away many of their number.
Original life[]
The original Annai Oran was born before the Great War, in 2059, to U.S. Senator Andrew Oran and Air Force Colonel Lauren Oran. Her mother was cold and distant, her parents eventually divorced, leaving her to be raised by a now single father. Annai lived comfortably thanks to her father and his senatorial status, this also allowed Annai to have her future ensured in the increasingly unstable world.
Annai eventually became immunocompromised when the New Plague was tearing through the U.S.A. Senator Oran, out of fear, desperation, and lack of alternative options, made Annai a test subject for Project Brazil, a black-ops FEV project that was spearheaded by the Enclave at Fort Daggerpoint. The experiment proved successful in restoring her immune system and its functions, this came at the cost of side-effects that went unnoticed until it was too late.
Later in 2070, the senator commissioned the construction of Vault 18 to house himself and his daughter in case of total nuclear annihilation. This proved proactive when the Great War struck seven years later on the 23rd of October, 2077. The pair fled Los Angeles for the vault, but were caught in a car accident at the I-138 - I-15 beltway. The wounded senator led his daughter on foot to the vault, but they were unable to reach it before it sealed. The senator died of his wounds, leaving Annai alone in the wastes.[1]
Shortly after the War, Annai found out about Control Station ENCLAVE and swam to it, armed with only her father's access codes (and braving the boiling ocean waters,) looking for answers about her condition. She was instead imprisoned and experimented on by Enclave scientists. It was around this time that Project Brazil's side-effects made itself known - the curse of Annai's immortality. The unstable Project Brazil parasite was ever-growing, fully maturing every several years to reproduce. When fully matured, the parasite would mutate and take control, making Annai into an uncontrollable, indiscriminately-killing beast which killed and ate until it had enough nutrients to reproduce. It then split into two, effectively cloning Annai - with each clone also possessing a parasite with the same traits. That is, unless starved, in which case the new clone would instead be male, whose parasite would not reproduce but still gave its host nigh-invulnerability.
The original Annai and her male clone, broken by a decade of torture, were indoctrinated into the Enclave and became known as Chevy and John Bragg, both choosing to suppress their pasts. However, one clone kept her original identity, somehow escaping the Enclave, and took it upon herself to destroy all the other clones, including herself and the original.
Mercenary work[]
The new Annai Oran would spend the next two hundred years looking for answers and hunting Enclave operatives and any new clones she produced (ones that managed to escape her at first.) She operated largely in the shadows, but became known as a bounty hunter, especially after the arrival of new "civilization" under the NCR and their war with the Enclave. She was aided by Jerri Oran, one of her male clones.
One particular clone evaded them but met her end elsewhere, having entered Fort Daggerpoint seeking a way to kill herself after being hunted by Enclave agents around 2241. Instead, she was captured by the Unity and assimilated as the basis of the Father's new biomass.
Despite all of her hunting, Annai never ventured far from the Pass, often returning and watching over Fort Daggerpoint, as well as Vault 18 and its Exodites. However, she became known as a "witch" to the tribes for being present before attacks by the Unity, although her true reasons were to warn or assist them. She was unsuccessful but still managed to hide several children every time, most of whom were later saved by the Wasteland Scouts and taken into Vault 18 - among them the Star Player and their siblings.
In 2259, Annai and Jerri made themselves known to the Wasteland Scouts at Black Bear Lodge, helping them rebuild parts of the lodge in exchange for temporary housing in the trailer nearby. They returned later in 2260, with the lodge now abandoned. Annai used a terminal in the basement to set up a false wasteland dating/porn network using NCRNet, in the hopes that she could use it to ascertain the status of the long-sealed vault.
By November 2260, only four clones of Annai Oran remain: Annai and Jerri, and Chevy and John Bragg. Both pairs know that there is no coexisting with each other, and are waiting for the inevitable conclusion to their conflict at Fort Daggerpoint, where it all began.
Interactions with the Player Character[]
Quests[]
- Journey To The Deep/Battle in the Deep: Annai must be negotiated with for the key to Fort Daggerpoint, and will accompany the caravan to Fort Daggerpoint, also assisting as a temporary companion. However, she and Jerri will disappear after the super mutant threat becomes known.
- Destroy Fort Daggerpoint: Annai, with her parasite nearing maturity, appears in Fort Daggerpoint after the Star Player has dealt with the Father, and will assist them as a temporary companion in fighting the remaining Enclave soldiers and the Braggs.
- Red White and Blood: Annai - in her Project Brazil parasite form - and Jerri serve as the final bosses of the Enclave quest line, and must be defeated in Fort Daggerpoint. Annai in FEV form cannot be dragged; activate either hers or Jerri's bodies to get a popup message which will finish the task automatically.
- Wild Card: On regular Wild Card, Annai will make herself known after the Star Player has dealt with the Father, and will assist them as a temporary companion against the Braggs. On Enclave Wild Card, she must instead be defeated, lining up with Red White and Blood.
Inventory[]
| Apparel | Weapon | Other items | On death |
|---|---|---|---|
| Leather armor, reinforced | 12.7mm pistol Potential plasma grenade 15 plasma grenades (Destroy Fort Daggerpoint) |
45 12.7mm rounds Fort Daggerpoint passcard |
Behind the scenes[]
A cut quest which would have allowed transition from the NCR to the Raider Alliance questline (similar to Cards Under the Table) would have introduced another clone of Annai, this one in hiding as a prostitute and who could help the Star Player escape from NCR jail. She would have eventually ended up killed by the Star Player, or captured by the raiders and handed over to the hunter Annai.
Appearances[]
Annai Oran appears only in Fallout: New California.
Gallery[]
References[]
- ↑ Star Player: "Wait, hang on, how did you know about Vault 18 to begin with?"
Annai Oran: "I was supposed to be there when the bombs fell. Unfortunately, my father, Senator Skolls, and I never made it. We were in LA when the sirens called. We barely got out of the city before the coast was hit. When we neared the highway out here, we were caught in a car wreck. The bombs fell, and we headed into the mountains on foot. By the time we reached Vault 18... The doors were closed. I'm sorry... I don't normally talk about this."