Chosen One

Context

This character profile is part of a chronological series, and is intended to be read right after the fourth profile.

Said chronological series goes :

• We suggest first reading the Jolene Hassan profiles, in no small part because they have the setting information. Also, there’s a continuity between FO1 and FO2.
• The Chosen One (Alessa-Maria Hassan) (Profile #1 – Arroyo).
• The Chosen One (Alessa-Maria Hassan) (Profile #2 – Vic).
• The Chosen One (Alessa-Maria Hassan) (Profile #3 – Safe in Vault City).
• The Chosen One (Alessa-Maria Hassan) (Profile #4 – Biggest little city in the world).
• The Chosen One (Alessa-Maria Hassan) (Profile #5 – Take California).
• The Chosen One (Alessa-Maria Hassan) (Profile #6 – The trouble with the tribal).

It follows a typical Fallout 2 playthrough in good but not overwhelming detail. This is meant to give readers a decent second-hand knowledge of FO2’s setting and general storyline.

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• This profile features a sample or customized Player Character. See our video games writeups FAQ for more.
• This profile assumes a specific video game playthrough. See our video games writeups FAQ for more.
• This profile features tabletop RPG mechanics about the video game’s gameplay. See our video games writeups FAQ for more.
• This profile features non-canon hypotheses about in-game events and mechanics. See our video games writeups FAQ for more.

Background

Powers & Abilities

The bulk of Alessa’s training during the second half of the previous chapter was with heavy weapons handling. Marcus trained her with the available and captured weapons, and occasionally with weapons in gun shops where the owner allows it. And people tend to say “yes” to Marcus.

Alessa never having clocked above 130lbs, she’ll likely never tote a machinegun like Marcus does. But after seeing two men in power armour  (though she yet has to learn about the Enclave) and having Marcus explain how it works, acquiring one becomes a life goal of hers. Which means she’ll be able to tote machineguns.

At the abandoned Army base she spends two weeks intensively studying technology, electronics, computers, military equipment and explosives. She used part of this knowledge (and Army spare parts) to make her motorcar more reliable.

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Cybernetics

During this era, the Chosen One undergoes two operations to increase her durability using cybernetic implants. These aren’t complex operations, since she downloaded the full procedures for Doc “Painless” Johnson  to follow, and he’s Vault City-trained. On the other hand they require rare beforetimes military supplies.

The gain in durability isn’t a super-hero-comic-book-scale one. The implants are chiefly intended to help well-armoured soldiers deal with shock, burns and blood loss. But this allows them to keep going despite minor — by battlefield standard – wounds.

Cybernetic enhancements appear to have been common among elite units of the pre-Great Silence US military. They feature in the character advancement scheme of all main Fallout games

The beauty of our weapons, part 6

Revolver

Alessa still sports her signature magnum early during this era, but her new shotgun makes it redundant. She’ll still carry it just in case when not expecting combat, though.

Pancor Jackhammer

See our Small Arms part 2 article. This weapon is usually used for semi-automatic, aimed shots. The miscalibrated laser sight of the magnum is eventually mounted on the Jackhammer, where the beam sort of matches the dispersion of the buckshot.

This is Alessa’s workhorse weapon during this era.

Knife

“Little Jesus” is a nine-inch Bowie-style knife made by (in)famous knifemaker D.E. Henry more than 250 years ago. It is as sharp and tough as ever, and was meticulously maintained and sharpened. It is so sharp as to essentially ignore leather armour and thick clothing.

The knife is named after its former owner, “Little Jesus” Mordino son of the family boss “Big Jesus” Mordino. Alessa uses it in order not to waste ammunition, often to quickly finish off a wounded and incapacitated opponent.

DKS 701

This precision rifle is now more mission-specific (the Jackhammer has a pretty good range, really) and mostly gets broken out when Alessandra expects to snipe.

Bringham needler pistol

This light weapon is sometimes carried as a sidearm. It is used as a “New York reload” – that is, to transition quickly to the needler when the Jackhammer is empty and Alessa doesn’t have time to reload.

Bozar smartgun

Alessa keeps the Bozar smartgun on the seat next to her in her Highwayman. It’s too heavy for her to carry for long.

Yet, she knows that she is stalked by several well-armed parties. These include Kaga the mad Arroyo tribal, and the vengeful brothers of “Frog” Morton. Such a machinegun would be a good asset to break an ambush.

See our Fallout weapons locker for more about the Bozar and the needler.

Official soundtrack for this character profile

Propellerheads – Take California.

Available for download on Amazon .

History

Alessandra-Maria assassinated two New California Republic councilmen in short succession as part of Bishop’s games of regional power. She then drove back to New Reno.

With his enemies in the NCR dead, the gleeful Mr. Bishop made “Hurricane” a made man to join his mop-up of the broken New Reno families. As they broke out the good whisky to celebrate, Alessandra triggered the explosive charge that allowed Marcus to breach in from the roof. Within the next second she shot Mr. Bishop in the back of the head point-blank with her shotgun.

The assault-from-within at the Bishops’ casino didn’t go all that well. Both Alessa and Marcus ended up in sorry shape, only kept up by massive doses of stims. The firefight went ugly with multiple civilian casualties, including a number of patrons and casino girls.

A good part of these occurred as Marcus’ blood got into his eyepiece just as he was emptying a Bozar magazine at guards in the main gambling room. Another guard panicked and tried to take a croupier hostage, with Alessa immediately gunning both down to maintain momentum.

But in the end, the Bishop family joined the Salvatores and Mordinos in the grave. Only the weakest family, the Wrights, was left.

Oh what a day… what a lovely day !, part 1

Alessa stabilized herself and Marcus so they could keep functioning once the stims receded. But they had to keep going. The Stables, the Mordino Jet-making facility in the desert, was isolated for security reasons. But they would learn what was going on in New Reno.

Another day of work at the Stables. Click for an expanded version, where you can see one of the ground-level buildings. Spoiler – the guard dies within the next few seconds.

Though the security was supposed to be tight, Alessa had noticed that it actually sucked. Once they drove there, she could easily snipe the poorly-positioned perimeter guards. They then could enter and deal with the guards in isolated pairs.

They rounded up Myron  and the other scientists staffing this torture camp. Marcus and Alessa got into an argument, as he refused to murder them outright.

The Chosen One put her shotgun away, as she wanted to kill the scientists with a melee weapon to save ammunition. Seeing this the desperate researchers futilely attempted to rush her, but she drew her knife in a flash and worked her way through them in seconds. Marcus was furious.

Oh what a day… what a lovely day !, part 2

From the research data and simple observation, it was clear that the 50-ish slaves and captives kept at the Stables were doomed. Almost all were badly brain-damaged, insane, irretrievably addicted to Jet, crippled, diseased…

The horrendous tortures in the name of developing an even more powerful and more addictive form of Jet had left them hopelessly broken.

There was no hospital that could care for them, there were too many of them to transport. And left to themselves, they would just kill each other and die of thirst, pre-existing wounds and infections, and exposure.

After assessing the situation and medical records, Ms. Hassan shrugged and again drew her knife.

Marcus out, part 1

At this point, Marcus cracked. He gave Alessa her Bozar machinegun back, took his old minigun  and ammunition from the car’s trunk, and said he was leaving. Though murdering the slaves was cleaner than leaving them to die in terrible pain in the desert, he wanted no part in this.

Drugs dealer in New Reno. Click for an expanded version, where you can see the whole building and nearby streets.

By this point the plan was to carry out one last mission for the Wrights in the mountains, then kill them all like the other three families. However, Alessa had noted that the Wrights were closer to a smuggler clan than a predatory crime cartel. Marcus said he would walk back to New Reno and force a deal with the Wrights to turn them into an ad hoc police.

Meanwhile, Alessa would conduct the last mission for the Wrights, alone. It would be a further incentive for the Wrights to align with Marcus and bring stability to the blood-drenched New Reno streets. The super-mutant also took some of the Jet “antidote” that had been brewed up in Vault City, to break the city’s massive addiction problem.

Marcus out, part 2

Though she was annoyed at losing Marcus, Alessa agreed to the deal. *If* Marcus could convince the Wrights to work along with him.

As he left, the angry sheriff spit out that the worst thing was that the hapless, dying slaves would be murdered without any consequence, regret or cost for anyone. Hassan’s mutation allowed her to do the hideous deed without paying the price, and Marcus felt that all mutants — and in particular himself — were lessened by this.

(As always this is a light dramatization of the in-game events, though based on various characteristics of Fallout 2. For instance burst fire from companions often hitting the wrong targets, no solution existing for the tortured slaves at the Stables, or Marcus not working with somebody who killed children and Myron being flagged as a child.)

(In the actual game it takes two dead children to be flagged a childkiller, not one. So as with Cassidy, Marcus leaving is a storytelling embellishment. As is his strategy of siding with the Wrights and keeping them in line for New Reno’s sake.)

We were working secretly for the military, part 1

The last mission for the Wrights was to penetrate a secret site they had found – a beforetimes military base . The Wrights needed more, better guns in order to take control of New Reno, but couldn’t afford them. They assumed that a military base would have guns stocks.

Part of the remains at the S.A.D. entrance. Click for a expanded version, where you can see a much greater amount of the perimeter, including some of the robot turrets.

At the base, Alessa found the previous, large scouting party massacred. Having already seen sentry turrets in Vault City, she quickly deduced what had happened by using her rifle’s scope for observation.

Since Vault City security had described how Bishop’s raiders were disabling their turrets, she did the same with her DKS-701. After cautiously tinkering with various explosives, she then breached the main underground complex and reconnoitered.

She found enough weaponry to equip the Wrights, filling the back seats once occupied by Marcus with rifles, magazines and bullets. The Wright family greatly welcomed the guns, which cemented their agreement to have Marcus take command of their troops as a crude police force.

We were working secretly for the military, part 2

Marcus also told the Wrights how to stay permanently on Alessa’s good side. They ordered the brothel’s madame to treat “Hurricane” as a VIP with full free service.

But by this point Alessa’s attention had drifted away from New Reno. She was fascinated by the abandoned military base.

She spent two weeks there – with long workdays at the base and evenings at the brothel. She gradually worked her way through the extensive security measure, unearthing treasure troves of data. She also contacted an artificial intelligence called Skynet, hosted within the base’s experimental mainframe.

Hakunin  then returned to her in a dream. As a result, Alessa tore herself from her studies at the base to carry on. She intended to come back, however.

Up ahead in the distance, I saw a shimmering light

Alessa drove all the way back to the New California Republic . She wanted to continue selling off her unwieldy stocks of looted guns, and do a full check-up on the car with the local mechanic who had installed the supercharger.

While there, she learned that the NCR — probably the largest, most established power in the area — had been in a way created by her grandmother.

The seat of the NCR’s government, or at least the entrance. Click for an expanded version, where you can see part of the neighbourhood, including the heroic statue to the Vault Dweller.

The Vault Dweller had been active in the Shady Sands village and had rescued the village’s chief teenage daughter Tandi  from local raiders, the Khans. Impressed by the Dweller’s determination, Tandi worked all her life to develop and expand Shady Sands, especially after her aged father’s death.

Over time, the relentless and charismatic Tandi had built a large coalition with a robust infrastructure, rule of law and military. She was essentially President-for-life. By the Chosen One’s time she was almost a centenarian.

Alessa was curious to meet her. As luck would have it, she learned that President Tandi was looking for a merc to investigate Vault 15. Hassan followed her usual strategy of doing some local odd jobs to strike a good relationship with the police so they would let her see the President.

A perfect day, Elise

As it turned out, it was easy. The elite corps of the NCR military, the New California Republic Rangers, had heard of her strikes against slavers in The Den and in the desert. They mistakenly thought that she shared their anti-slavery agenda.

In actuality, the slavers in The Den had been slain simply because Ms. Hassan didn’t want to pay for Vic, and those in the desert camp to allow Sulik to free his sister. Nevertheless, Alessa nodded and went along with the Rangers’ CO , Chief Elise .

Elise had Alessandra carry out a covert strike against slavers just outside the city, in the NCR bazaar. The Rangers couldn’t touch it for political reasons. The Chosen One did the job and freed the slaves. Elise made her a Ranger.

Though Alessandra-Maria’s goal was just to sport a NCR Ranger insignia to facilitate meeting the President, this furthered the misunderstanding. The Chosen One was increasingly seen as some white knight roaming the wasteland to save the oppressed. Especially with the stars-and-stripes Rangers insignia that was now on her chestplate.

When the Chosen One introduced herself to President Tandi, they discussed about Jolene Hassan. Tandi explained that she needed resources from the ancestral Vault 15, but there was a population of squatters who had moved around the entrance and was clinging desperately to it. She was looking for a peaceful solution to that problem.

Khaaaaaaannns !

The squatters explained that they depended upon Darion, reportedly a great engineer slowly reclaiming Vault 15. Though he lived entirely in the Vault, Darrion had some trusted squatters ferry the food and drink from the Vault to the population around the entrance.

This was suspect. Alessa had heard her mother’s descriptions of her mother’s descriptions of Vault 15. Though bulky machines like the ones President Tandi wanted to salvage could still be within, such quantities of food would have long since been pillaged.

Detail of the Vault 15 squat later on. Click for an expanded version where you can see the building, presumably built by Khans slave labour.

As she investigated the squatters, Alessa had a stroke of luck. A refugee’s daughter had gone missing, and the desperate mother had little choice but to ask the Chosen One for help. Alessandra soon discovered that the teenager had been kidnapped by a couple of degenerates. Once the kid was rescued she told everything she had learned.

Darion  was a fraud. He was actually the master of a gang of raiders called the New Khans. The raids were what procured the food and drink used the keep the squatters alive. Unbeknownst to them, the refugees were used as human shields against the NCR and a cover for the New Khans.

With advice from the squatters, the Chosen One invaded Vault 15 and took on the New Khans. Though they were numerous and well-armed, they were overconfident brutes with no tactical sense and mediocre morale.

Alessandra-Maria then discovered that the aged Darion had been a member of the original Khans.

Oh sweet Fifteen

The Khans were the gang that had been destroyed by Jolene Hassan during the combat rescue mission that freed young Tandi. Darion had survived by hiding in abject terror. As a result, he became a hateful and self-despising bundle of neuroses and created a new gang.

Alessa finished the job her grandmother had started. She also determined that the Khans had a spy among the NCR Council, further explaining the lack of action on their part.

Alessandra-Maria invades the Khan’s Vault 15. Click for an expanded version where you can see the reclaimed living quarters, though still running on makeshift lighting.

The Khans had cleared accesses to some blocked Vault 15 areas over the years. But as she expected, the Chosen One did not find a G.E.C.K. just lying around. Too much of Vault 15 was still buried.

On the other hand, she did find the machines that President Tandi wanted to recover. And by restoring power to the accessible portions of Vault 15, she could use the surviving computers.

By this point Alessa had become something of a computer science expert, thanks to the time spent in the abandoned Army base. She broke into the Vault 15 master database. From there, she downloaded the location of Vault 13 into her PIP-Boy.

The holy ancestral grounds of our tribe

After a pit stop in NCR, the Chosen One entered the caverns leading to Vault 13. As it turned out, the Vault was full of deathclaws. Talking deathclaws.

Completely confused, Alessa pieced the following together :

• The deathclaws had been selected for their intelligence and ability to parrot human languages by the Enclave. Both qualities had then been enhanced through cybernetics.
• They had been forced into servitude by the Enclave, but refused to talk about it and seemed ashamed of it. Otherwise, they were impeccably civil and helpful.
• After the Vault Dweller had left with those who founded Arroyo, the remaining people in Vault 13 ended up overthrowing their Overseer. But they continued to live in the Vault for decades. The dead Overseer was replaced by a sophisticated computer bought from the Brotherhood of Steel.
• Some months prior, the Enclave had tricked Vault 13 into opening its door. The enslaved deathclaws had then been sent in to capture everyone so the Enclave could take them away. The Enclave left the deathclaws behind, presumably for logistical reasons.
• The deathclaws had been living in Vault 13 ever since, and even took in stray humans who needed help.
• However, a human saboteur, seeing them as a threat to humanity, sneaked in, sabotaged the mainframe and nearly managed to destroy the eggs with a bomb.
• Vault 13 still had its G.E.CK.. The deathclaw chief offered it in exchange for repairing the damaged mainframe. This was promptly done, using computer parts procured in Vault 8.

(For more about the Enclave, see our Frank Horrigan character profile.)

Deathclaw guards in Vault 13. Click for an expanded version where you can see the former overseer area (replaced by a mainframe and the hatchery/nursery, plus various human refugees.

A young deathclaw academic  mentioned that the Enclave was very active in a site to the West. One of the humans refugees in Vault 13 thought this site had something to do with the Brotherhood of Steel, and Vault 13’s mainframe.

The Chosen One then drove back all the way to Arroyo. However the Enclave had already found the village. Apparently, they were tracking down those with ties to Vault 13.

The Enclave had gunned down the primitive warriors opposing them, gassed the rest and captured the survivors. When Alessa arrived, only corpses were left.

Gone. All gone.

However, Hakunin’s spirit had been watching from beyond death. He briefly reanimated his own corpse to speak to his protégée. He explained what had happened. He said that the aircrafts had then flown South, to a place in the ocean.

Hakunin’s spirit then left for good. At this point Alessa felt a tinge of sadness. While faint, the emotion was so unfamiliar that it made her angry, antsy and uncharacteristically uneasy.

Her hunter Kaga  then came in from ambush. He was equipped to Enclave standards, having struck some sort of deal with them. He also was accompanied by well-armed mercenaries from San Francisco. In anger, Alessa darted away, sprinted to the car, dove through open driver’s window, grabbed what was on the passenger’s seat, kicked the passenger door open and rolled behind a boulder.

The fanatical tribal charged in, confident in his power armour and gatling laser and followed by his more careful mercs. They all were reaped by unexpected Bozar fire. The Chosen One then ran in, stabbing Kaga in the eyes about 30 times with her knife through his broken visor. She hurled the armoured corpse down the cliffs surrounding Arroyo, with a live plasma grenade forced into its face.

Unlucky 13

Exhausted and dazed by the unfamiliar burst of emotion, Alessa took hours to recover.

Her only lead at that point was the base to the West of Vault 13. Perhaps it held information about what the Enclave was and why they were so focused on Vault 13 and its legacies.

(In the actual playthrough, Kaga’s attack happened a few days after the Chosen One’s return to Arroyo but heh, dramatic licence. It took place mere hours after the Player Character hit level 24, thus taking the Sniper trait, then using her saved level 21 trait to take Mutate and turn Finesse into Fast Shot. Kaga’s sense of timing for his big attack was… the worst. Ever.)

Description

New Reno drugs dealer Jules  has alleged that Alessa is a hot one, like seven inches from the midday sun . He’s known for being hyperbolic in such matters, though, and thus not reliable.

(Yes I know, it’s an anachronism by one year. Close enough.)

During the end of this era and for a bit into the following profile, that Alessandra has subdermal armoured reinforcements is somewhat visible, making her body and face more angular and less rounded. This eventually gets compensated for through a separate Brotherhood of Steel procedure.

Personality

There’s some minor maturation from increased experience and knowledge. But generally speaking, her personality cannot change.

Quotes

Buster the gun guy: “You guys clearly know your shit, so I’m breaking this out from my special crate. Pancor Jackhammer, 12-gauge, two-forty har-pee-em, and it comes with five 10-round cassettes. I checked everything personally.”
Alessandra-Maria: “Want.”
Buster: “22 kays.”
Alessandra-Maria: (gestures at Marcus, who brings two large travel bags. Alessa unzips them, revealing a dozen 10mm submachineguns, four combat shotguns, and more, all tidily packed and cleaned.)

(Marcus kicks the door to splinters and Alessa makes a smooth entry with her Jackhammer. But the only person in the room is Mrs. Bishop, doing a good job of looking calm and dignified).
Mrs. Bishop: “You treacherous little bitch. Come to kill me too ?”
Alessa (lowering her gun): “What ? No. You give good sex. Nice sex. You can go. You’re free now. Mr. Bishop’s dead now. All his guys are dead now, or soon. You can do whatever you want now.”
Mrs. Bishop: “‘All his guys’… oh my God Angela.”
Alessa (focused on reloading a spare shotgun cassette, nods): “Your daughter [Angela]’s dead. She responded with other guards. Gunned her down.”
(With surprising speed Marcus moves in, grabs Mrs. Bishop in one hand, throws her in the next room like a rag doll, slams the door shut and blocks it with a large piece of furniture.)
Alessa (puzzled): “What ?”
Marcus: “She was about to commit suicide by mutant. I know these things.” (pauses, looks at Alessa) “Nothing you would understand. Or relate to.” (wearily massages his brow) “Or care about. Or regret.”
Alessa (shrugs): “Okay.” (finishes reloading)

By Sébastien Andrivet.

Source of Character: Fallout 2 (1998 video game).

Writeup completed on the 4^th of February, 2017.