 | This page is about the city from Fallout. For the founder of Hubology, see Dick Hubbell. |
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The Hub, also called The Hub Trading Co. is a location in Fallout. It is mentioned in Fallout 2, Fallout: New Vegas, and in Fallout 4.
Background[edit]
The Hub is described as an enormous trading center[2] and settlement established in the ruins an old town relatively untouched by the Great War.[Pub 1] The city is larger than Junktown and Shady Sands combined,[Pub 2] with an estimated population of at least a thousand citizens.[3] A group of merchants seized control of the city's water tower and proclaimed themselves as the Water Merchants, forcing everyone to buy their water from them.[4] This would trigger a merchant war that lasted for years until Roy Greene, grandfather of the Hub's sheriff Justin Green, negotiated an agreement that ended the conflict.[4]
The majority of traders in the region originate from the Hub, which also has some companies that manufacture new products.[2] The city is run by three seperate caravan groups: the Water Merchants, the Crimson Caravan and the Far Go Traders.[5] The three caravans run a council where each group has two representatives—with four votes being required to pass a proposed resolution—but they are unable to agree on anything.[6] These three factions have spent years sabotaging one another.[7]
The Water Merchants are the largest of the three merchant groups and is led by Daren Hightower.[Pub 3] The group controls the Hub's water tower and water, charging high prices for it.[Pub 4][Pub 5] The Water Merchants attempted to trade water to the Brotherhood of Steel for a stockpile of weapons, but the Brotherhood declined.[8] The Water Merchants responded by sending thieves to steal the weapons from Lost Hills, though all were captured.[8] The Brotherhood considered attacking the Hub to teach the merchants a lesson, but the Elders voted against it.[8]
The Crimson Caravan is the second largest merchant group and are located in Downtown.[Pub 6] They're led by Demetre Romara.[Pub 7] The Far Go Traders are the smallest of the caravan groups and are led by Butch Harris.[Pub 8]
Caravans are organized here, carrying goods across various locations and factions, such as Shady Sands, Junktown, the Mojave Wasteland, Lost Hills, the Boneyard and the Khans.[9][2][10][11][12] The caravans have been known to sell faulty products.[9] Bottlecaps as a form of currency were backed by the merchants of the Hub and would become the only common money in the region.[13] They became accepted anywhere and are sometimes referred to as Hub Bucks, Hub Script, Hubbucks or Scripts.[13][14][15][16][17]
The Hub is also made up of several smaller factions. The Underground is a criminal organization in the Hub run by Decker and his right hand man, Kane. The organization is based out of a bar and flophouse called The Maltese Falcon.[Pub 9] They extort the caravans for protection and pit the merchants against each other.[18][19] Though the Hub is officially run by the merchant groups, the Underground is holds much of the power in the Hub and little occurs without Decker's knowledge.[Pub 10]
The Children of the Cathedral took over a hospital inside the Hub, offering cheap medical services.[20][21] The group is led by Jain, a High Priestess of the Children of the Cathedral,[Pub 11] who spreads their to doctrine to persuade others into joining their faction.[Pub 12]
The Thieves Guild are run by Loxley, a group who steals from the rich and gives to the poor.[Pub 13] The Hub Police are run by Justin Greene, a group that attempts to keep law and order in the city.[22] The Gun Runners were originally from the Hub before they moved to the Boneyard.[23]
Caravans from the Hub began disappearing and rumors spread about their cause, blaming everything from The Water Merchants to the Children of the Cathedral and Deathclaws.[24] These attacks affected the Far Go Traders the most.[25] The Master was behind it behind however and had ordered his Super Mutants to gather human stock from caravans.[26]
New California Republic[edit]
During the events of Fallout, the Vault Dweller traveled to the Hub and hired the Water Merchants to transport water to Vault 13.[27][28] The Vault Dweller returned to the Hub after finding the Water Chip and discovered the Underground. The group attempted to manipulate the Vault Dweller, but he ended up using them instead.[29] Afterwards, the Vault Dweller destroyed the Master and the Vats at the Military Base, saving the Hub and the surrounding region from the Master’s army.[30][31]
In 2186, President Aradesh proposed the idea the New California Republic and three years later in 2189, the Hub became one of the five founding states of the New California Republic.[32][33] The final vote count for the Hub was 55% in favor of joining the NCR.[34]
The Mojave Express operates an office out of the Hub, which handles the hiring of couriers.[35] The Crimson Caravan expanded its operations to the Mojave Wasteland. Normally overseen from the Hub, Alice McLafferty was sent to the Crimson Caravan's New Vegas branch after it started underperforming.[36] Joseph B. Steyn, the Mayor of Nipton was originally from the Hub and planned to return there before he was burned alive by the Legion.[37] Conrad Kellogg was a gunslinger from the Hub and met his wife Sarah there.[38][39]
Location[edit]
The Hub can be found one square east and thirteen squares south of Vault 13. It's also four squares south of Junktown.
Layout[edit]
The Hub is divided into five districts and two outside sections.
| Hub Entrance | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ↓ | ||||
| Heights | ← | Hub Downtown | → | Old Town |
| ↓ | ||||
| Irwin's Farm | Water Merchants | Deathclaw's lair |
Hub Entrance[edit]
Fundamentally, the entrance of the Hub serves as both a landing and a jumping-off point for the countless caravans that crisscross the wastes. At any time, several caravans will be loading or offloading goods, typically accompanied by a retinue of heavily-armed mercenary guards. Apart from the staging areas for the caravans, much of this outskirts area is given over to agriculture, under the protection of the Hub Police.
Downtown[edit]
The busiest section of the Hub, Hub Downtown is second only to the entrance in terms of foot traffic, the entrance only busier due to caravans. Downtown is host to most of the city services, including the Hub Police station and library, as well as a number of commercial interests: both the Far Go Traders and Crimson Caravan hold offices in downtown, as does the Friendly Lending Company, as well as a few arms merchants. One colorful character in downtown is Iguana Bob, proprietor of a lucrative iguana-on-a-stick stand. The Maltese Falcon, the local bar and flophouse, rounds out the area. The occasional homeless or drifter, such as Irwin, can also often be found here.
Old Town[edit]
The enigmatic section of town, Old Town is a combination residential and commercial district. Several important characters, including Harold and Loxley, can be found in Old Town, along with a handful of arms merchants and miscellaneous Hub residents. Despite its unassuming appearance, however, a great deal of danger can be found in Old Town by the adventurous or unwary, and several miscellaneous quests have their roots here.
Water Merchants[edit]
One of the most vital sections of the Hub, yet home to one of the most unscrupulous commercial entities in California, the water merchants section of town is home to the titular Water Merchants, a trading group specializing in the sale of potable water to various settlements in the wasteland. As "clean" water is a precious commodity, the water merchants section of town is the site of great wealth, both in coin and in water, and is therefore well-guarded. Any person wishing to do business with the water merchants must come to this section of the Hub. There is also a hospital run by the Children of the Cathedral in this area.
Heights[edit]
The Heights is the upper-class residential area of the Hub and is home to Daren Hightower, a local and very wealthy merchant. That Hightower keeps considerable valuables in his mansion is an open secret, any merchant as rich as Hightower certainly has items of value worth taking. Hightower, however, has not made his money through foolish risk-taking, so the Heights are often patrolled by paid mercenary guards. Any visitors without a good reason - or at least a good story - for being in the area are promptly ushered out, usually at gunpoint.
Irwin's Farm[edit]
This location is only accessible during the quest "Help Irwin." It's a small farm, next to the Hub, owned by Irwin, which is now under the control of a band composed of seven raiders.
Deathclaw's Lair[edit]
This location is only accessible during the quest "Find the missing caravans." The deathclaw's lair is a cave near the Hub and the home of one of the fearsome deathclaws and a dying super mutant.
Factions[edit]
Several factions constantly vie for control of The Hub:
- The Hub Police are run by Justin Greene, a group that attempts to keep law and order in the city.[22]
- The Water Merchants is the largest merchant group and led by Daren Hightower.[Pub 14]
- The Crimson Caravan is the second largest merchant group and are led by Demetre Romara.[Pub 15][Pub 16]
- The Far Go Traders are the smallest of the caravan groups and are led by Butch Harris.[Pub 17]
- The Underground is a criminal organization in the Hub run by Decker and his right hand man, Kane, based out of a bar and flophouse called The Maltese Falcon.[Pub 18] They extort the caravans for protection and pit the merchants against each other.[40][41] Though the Hub is officially run by the merchant groups, the Underground is holds much of the power in the Hub and little occurs without Decker's knowledge.[Pub 19]
- The Thieves Guild are run by Loxley, a group who steals from the rich and gives to the poor.[Pub 20]
- The Children of the Cathedral control a hospital inside the Hub, offering cheap medical services.[42][43] The group is led by Jain, a High Priestess of the Children of the Cathedral,[Pub 21] who spreads their to doctrine to persuade others into joining their faction.[Pub 22]
Appearances[edit]
The Hub appears in Fallout and is mentioned in Fallout: New Vegas,[44][45] its add-on Lonesome Road,[46] and Fallout 4.[47]
Behinds the scenes[edit]
- The Hub is mentioned in the Fallout Bible.[Dev 2]
- The background music is "A Trader's Life," which was later used for NCR in Fallout 2.
- The good ending for The Hub cannot be achieved, as it checks if the global variable in Vault13.gam, "KIND_TO_HAROLD," is set to 1.[Ext 1] This global variable is never referenced in any scripts.
- Dan Spitzley was pulled off of Planescape: Torment to rework "pretty much all of the Hub" during the last few months of the game's development.[Dev 3]
- Feargus Urquhart mentioned that he worked on the Hub, specifically he said some of his work was "taking a really complicated design that wasn't really working and making it work."[Dev 4]
Gallery[edit]
Hub background used for talking heads
Ruins of the town in the bad endings
On the Caravan card table
Ending slide for The Hub's good ending
See Also[edit]
References[edit]
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- ↑ Fallout Official Survival Guide p. 75: "The Hub is an enormous trading center and settlement established in an old town relatively untouched by the war. Caravans are organized here, carrying goods to LA, Junktown, Shady Sands, and elsewhere. Numerous adventures can be had here."
- ↑ Fallout 2 Manual p. 88: "The Hub was a larger city than both Junktown and Shady Sands combined. You could drop the Vault in there, and you probably would not notice. But the people of the Hub had no life, and it was a desolate place just the same."
- ↑ Fallout Official Survival Guide p. 76: "Daren Hightower: (Minor NPC) lhe unpleasant head of the Water Merchants. He believes he is the chief power in the Hub."
- ↑ Fallout Official Survival Guide p. 75: "The Water Merchants: The largest of the three main caravans organized out of the Hub. Location: The Water Merchants' Map."
- ↑ Fallout Official Survival Guide p. 76: "Daren Hightower: (Minor NPC) The unpleasant head of the Water Merchants. He believes he is the chief power in the Hub."
- ↑ Fallout Official Survival Guide p. 75: "The Crimson Caravan. the second largest caravan organized out of the hub, has offices in the same building. location: Downtown."
- ↑ Fallout Official Survival Guide p. 76: "Demeter Romara: (Minor NPC) Head of the Crimson Caravan."
- ↑ Fallout Official Survival Guide p. 76: "Butch Harris: {Major NPC) Head of the Far Go Traders."
- ↑ Fallout Official Survival Guide p. 75: "The Maltese Falcon: A bar and flop house. Decker's office can be reached here by stairs behind the bar."
- ↑ Fallout Official Survival Guide p. 95: "Decker is the true power in the Hub, and little happens thereof that he is not aware. He is outwardly calm, even placid, and quite patient; he is also quite ruthless. He will, in fact, be willing to hire the player to commit several assassinations. He will also order the player killed, if the player refuses to work for him, but knows too much.
- ↑ Fallout Official Survival Guide p. 77: "Jain; (Major NPC) High Priestess of the Children of the Cathedral."
- ↑ Fallout Official Survival Guide p. 98: "Jain believes completely in the doctrine and dogma of the Children of the Cathedral. She is devout, pompous, and fanatical, and can be qurte stubborn. She refers· to the Master as "the Holy Flame," and genuinely believes that what she and the Children are doing is right. She will try to persuade the player to join the Children. but she has no patience for people distracting her from her work."
- ↑ Fallout 2 manual p. 77: "Head of the Thieves' Circle. A real, modern day Robin Hood."
- ↑ Fallout Official Survival Guide p. 76: "Daren Hightower: (Minor NPC) lhe unpleasant head of the Water Merchants. He believes he is the chief power in the Hub."'
- ↑ Fallout Official Survival Guide p. 75: "The Crimson Caravan. the second largest caravan organized out of the hub, has offices in the same building. location: Downtown."
- ↑ Fallout Official Survival Guide p. 76: "Demeter Romara: (Minor NPC) Head of the Crimson Caravan."
- ↑ Fallout Official Survival Guide p. 76: "Butch Harris: {Major NPC) Head of the Far Go Traders."
- ↑ Fallout Official Survival Guide p. 75: "The Maltese Falcon: A bar and flop house. Decker's office can be reached here by stairs behind the bar."
- ↑ Vault Dweller's Survival Guide p. 95: "Decker is the true power in the Hub, and little happens thereof that he is not aware. He is outwardly calm, even placid, and quite patient; he is also quite ruthless. He will, in fact, be willing to hire the player to commit several assassinations. He will also order the player killed, if the player refuses to work for him, but knows too much.
- ↑ Fallout 2 manual p. 77: "Head of the Thieves' Circle. A real, modern day Robin Hood."
- ↑ Fallout Official Survival Guide p. 77: "Jain; (Major NPC) High Priestess of the Children of the Cathedral."
- ↑ Fallout Official Survival Guide p. 98: "Jain believes completely in the doctrine and dogma of the Children of the Cathedral. She is devout, pompous, and fanatical, and can be qurte stubborn. She refers· to the Master as "the Holy Flame," and genuinely believes that what she and the Children are doing is right. She will try to persuade the player to join the Children. but she has no patience for people distracting her from her work."
- ↑ Fallout Bible 7; Dogmeat or...?
- ↑ Fallout Bible 0
- ↑ "Fallout and Fallout 2 were both developed concurrently with Planescape: Torment, on which I was the lead programmer. Near the end of each of the Fallout game dev cycles there was a lot of scripting that needed to be done and very little time to do it. I was pulled from Torment for about two months on each of them to do area scripting. I don't really recall all of the work I did on Fallout 1, but I know I reworked pretty much all of the Hub. On Fallout 2 I scripted all of Vault City and the bulk of Broken Hills and Navarro. In addition, I did a bit of design work in Broken Hills which probably felt really out of place. I came up with Mickey the midget treasure hunter, the Professor and the scorpion, and running over the ghoul with your car. The area was pretty sparse near the end of development and something needed to go in there, so I did what I could with my programmer brain"
Fallout Developers Profile - Dan Spitzley - ↑ Fallout Retrospective Interview
- ↑ else if (game_get_global_var(GVAR_KIND_TO_HAROLD) == 1) {
fid = art_id(OBJ_TYPE_INTERFACE, 325, 0, 0, 0);
endgame_display_image(fid, "nar_32");
(engame.c - Fallout 1 Reference Edition)
|