Timeline

For a complete timeline of the world of the Fallout series, please see the timeline on Nukapedia.

What follows is the timeline of events depicted or mentioned in Fallout: New California.

This page is under construction.

2059

• Annai Oran is born.

2061

• A plane carries a shipment from the 25th Order of Quetzalcoatl to tobacco lobbyist Helen Trout. Whether it successfully arrives or not is unknown, but the plane is later scrapped and left in Uncle Fig's Scrapyard.

2066

• July 6: Jonathan and Sally Harding are married.

2072

• October 13: Jonathan Harding records that he has discovered a set of unused rooms within the Union City sewers, unmarked on city plans. He also records his intent to start building a fallout shelter for his family within the sewers.
• December 31: Jonathan Harding reports that he has stolen government construction equipment for his shelter project, and that it is starting to take a toll on his marriage.

2073

• June 21: Jonathan Harding reports that he has made plumbing and wiring changes within the Union City sewers to account for his new bunker, and laments his wife's differing outlook on the potential nuclear apocalypse.

2074

• January 13: Jonathan Harding reports that he has begun installing wood paneling in his sewer bunker, and notes on a quarrel with his wife over his project.

2076

• October 13: Four years after the start of his sewer bunker project, Jonathan Harding's wife Sally leaves him, taking their daughter Sarah, over their disagreements on the usefulness and cost of Harding's project. He becomes a broken man, falling into excessive drinking and forced to attend therapy, distancing himself from his family memories.

2077

• October 23: The Great War begins, and ends, in only 2 hours, leaving most of the earth destroyed.
• October 23: Those assigned for residence in Vault 18 hurry to enter, and are ultimately admitted without issue. The overseer, Clarence Duvnic, disobeys Vault-Tec directives and delays the closure of the Vault door by five minutes to allow the Vault-Tec Security MPs outside to enter as well, and successfully seals the Vault afterwards.
• October 23: Senator Andrew Oran and his daughter Annai, intended for residence in Vault 18, flee Los Angeles but are caught in a car accident at the I-138 - I-15 beltway. They survive but are unable to reach the Vault before it seals. Senator Oran dies of his wounds, leaving Annai alone in the Pass.
• October 23: Residents of Union City, Mission Hills, and Black Horse Ranch flee to Athens-Tec Mine to shelter inside, along with the many workers already present at the mine.
• October 23: Jonathan Harding manages to take shelter in the Union City sewers, surviving the initial nuclear strikes. However, he has forgotten the password to his bunker and is unable to get inside.
• October 24: Jonathan Harding attempts to reach his old house to ascertain his daughter's safety, but is forced to return to the sewers due to excessive outside radiation.
• October 25: Following two days of unrest in Vault 18, the Vault-Tec Security MPs under Guard Chief Clint Dickson restore order, overthrowing Overseer Duvnic and placing the Vault-Tec agents in the Vault under house arrest and thwarting their attempt to initiate the self-destruct. They are unable to stop the agents from killing Duvnic for his actions two days earlier.
• October 27: Jonathan Harding perishes from radiation poisoning in the Union City sewers, still stranded outside his bunker.
• November 25: Discovering the true purpose of the Vault-Tec program, Guard Chief Dickson has his personnel cut communications with most of the experimental Vaults to neutralize Vault 18's Vault experiment.

2078

• January 4: Now acting overseer, Guard Chief Clint Dickson orders an evaluation of the cave exit beyond Vault 18's door, but it is useless due to the automated Vault-Tec door seal controls.

2079

• To avoid the Vault-Tec system, Vault 18's residents choose to establish a democratic system of government, electing a new overseer every four years.
• May 8: Vault 18's first overseer election is held. Guard Chief Clint Dickson wins, but vows to keep his Security MPs humble to avoid abuse of power.

2080

• August 20: Overseer Clint Dickson leaves a warning for future overseers to avoid giving the position - and its control over the Vault self-destruct - to those who are an "easy pinch."

2099

• October 23: Vault 74's Vault experiment is officially marked as a failure.

2140

• Glassface, the founder and leader of the Voiceless, dies.

2157

• December 24: Vault 18's door finally unseals after 80 years. The Vault residents take their first steps outside into the wasteland, but do not venture far beyond the cave exit.

2158

• January 3: Acting Sgt. Elias, the only survivor of Vault 18's first scouting expedition into the wastes, returns from the wastes with the woman who saved him, Orri'ca, and begins logging his reports on the outside world.
• January 8: Despite their previous losses, Vault 18's residents under now-Sergeant Elias begin making plans for new scouting missions and even a training regimen for new scouts. Learning of the Survivalist Raiders from Orri'ca, as well as a mutant horde along Highway 18, they choose to avoid scouting Highway 173 for the near future.

2177

• October 23: Exactly 100 years after it is sealed, the final phase of Vault 37's Vault experiment activates. The walls separating the various tribes formed in the Vault lower, exposing them to each other for the first time, and the tribes are told to kill one another or face extermination. The Vault Vikings eventually win the ensuing conflict and exit the Vault.

2183

• Albert Christianson is born.

2200

• The first of the "modern" Voiceless arrive, being slaves banished by the Survivalists to work in the Athens-Tec Mine's depths.

2201

• May 21: Vault 18 launches its 100th successful scouting mission.
• May 28: Wasteland Scout Dr. Rogers begins advocating for Vault 18's residents to colonize the Pass due to the Vault's high population8. His supporters begin teaching their children a "Forgetting Game" to protect the Vault's location.
• July 18: Following several tectonic shifts and fears of the Vault caving in, Dr. Rogers' colony plans gain widespread support in Vault 18. Those who refuse to leave take to calling the prospective colonists "Exodites."

2210

• Odyssey is founded on the remains of an old rest stop along I-15 by a group of ghouls. James McHenry is among them, and is later elected mayor of the new settlement.

2224

• Juan Maxson-Elsdragon is born.

2240

• The Battle of Union City occurs. New California Republic troops invade Union City, capturing it from the Survivalist Raiders but taking heavy casualties. They do not make major efforts to advance thanks to the embarrassing losses, but fighting with the raiders for control of Union City and its surrounding areas continues for many years to come.

2241

• June 28: Sgt. Dale Norman files Scouting Report 202, having exited the Vault to investigate rumors about potentially hostile Brotherhood of Steel units spotted in the Pass.

2242

• April 17: Wasteland Scouts under Dale Norman and Kevin Rossman enter the Cave of Stars, the home of the Orian Tribe, to find it in a state of destruction and its residents missing. They are able to find and rescue several surviving children who were hidden, among them the Star family and Jamie and Eric Campbell, and bring them back to Vault 18, convincing the Vault's leaders to adopt the children. Fearing the worst, they immediately head back out to find the other Exodite villages.
• Sometime after July, John and Chevy Bragg participate in the raid on Vault 13, resulting in the extermination of the intelligent deathclaws.
• August 12: Kevin Rossman and the Wasteland Scouts find the remains of the "last two" Exodite tribes, destroyed like five others before them. They are too late to save the hidden children, who have died of starvation.

2245

• April 20: Vault 20's Vault experiment is officially marked as a failure.
• Remnants of the Enclave move into The Pass.

2248

• October 2: Sgt. Dale Norman revisits Wasteland Scout mission 202. Brotherhood of Steel sightings in the Pass are proved to be false alarms apart from the harmless Doc Marius in Union City.

2250

• Vault 47 is conquered by Caesar's Legion during this decade, with inadvertent help from Kevin Rossman. Its residents, Gaius Diocletian among them, are assimilated into the Legion.

2252

• John Bragg is let into Vault 18, carrying a map to direct the residents of the Vault to another Vault down the mountain, due to a sudden water chip shortage and lack of clean water in Vault 18.

2253

• The NCR finally secures Union City following a major three-week offensive where around four hundred NCR troopers are killed by Elsdragon's raiders when they detonate the ethanol fields. In the aftermath, the NCR signs an official ceasefire with the Survivalists, and they are recognized as a foreign power with undisputed control over most of the Pass, although in coming years the NCR will contest this more and more. The NCR starts rebuilding Union City, while the newly-formed Raider Alliance begins to grow.
• April 14: In response to hostilities from the NCR and under orders from Security Chief Paul Evanson, Vault 18 locks down its doors in fear of attack from the NCR, the Survivalists, or any of the many enemies of the Wasteland Scouts.

2254

• September 22: Vault 7's Vault experiment is officially marked as a failure.

2258

• September 24: The newly-formed Vault Patriots Vault Ball team in Vault 18 holds tryouts.
• October 21: John Bragg reveals his master list of Vault 18's residents to Overseer Albert Christianson.
• October 25: The senior Wasteland Scouts - Kevin Rossman, Dale Norman, Yetti Hail, and Dr. Bishop - are sent out into the wasteland on their last mission by Security Chief Evanson. No one notices their absence.
• November 8: Renovation work on Overseer Christianson's new Vault 18 Terrarium office nears completion. The last of the Vault controls are installed in the Terrarium, including the self-destruct system.

2260

• November 23, 11:00 AM: NCR news reports on heavy combat along I-8 near Marina Del Rey, believed to be an attack by the Pirate Raider Legion, which leaves five NCR troopers dead.
• November 23, 1:15 PM: On NCR news, President Wendell Peterson announces the setback of an expedition to the Mojave Wasteland after NCR scouts have a violent encounter with an unknown group, the "Legion of Caesar," along I-10 in southern Arizona.
• November 23, 8:30 PM: NCR news reports on an agreement by the Raider Alliance to allow NCR supply convoys to pass through their territory to enter the Mojave.
• November 23: The events of New California begin. The final game of the 2260 Vault Ball season in Vault 18 is played, on the night before election day between incumbent overseer Albert Christianson and John Bragg, and the Star Player of the Vault Patriots team makes the life-changing decision to Tackle Or Dodge when facing Johnny Matheson.
• November 24: John and Chevy Bragg, forced to push up their plans for taking control of the Vault, begin their revolt with the Enclave Patriots. Much of the Vault is destroyed, and many residents are killed - among them Shawn and Mandy Star and Jason Star-Christianson. Overseer Christianson retreats to the Vault 18 Terrarium, guarded by a garrison of loyal security guards.
• November 24: Vault 18's self-destruct is triggered, resulting in the deaths of most of its residents, as well as a number of raiders and Enclave soldiers outside the Vault. Its Vault experiment is officially marked as a failure at 12 seconds past 12:24 am.
• Two companies from the NCR Army's 5th Battalion are sent up I-15 from Angel's Boneyard to scout the Mojave for future expansion. They are attacked by the Raider Alliance at the I-138 - I-15 beltway outside Union City. In the resulting Battle of I-15, the Raider Alliance largely pushes out NCR forces to take control of I-15, halting NCR expansion and exploration and cutting off the Pass from the outside world.
• A military expedition to Fort Daggerpoint by the Star Player and either the NCR or the Raider Alliance reveals a long-hidden threat: the Father's Unity, which begins to expand outwards into the Pass.
• A large-scale battle involving the Star Player, the NCR, the Raider Alliance, the Father's Unity, and Enclave Squad Leonidas occurs at Fort Daggerpoint. Its exact participants and outcomes are unknown, the details lost to time and classified military records.