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Total Wasteland FAQ
What is Total Wasteland?
Summarized, Total Wasteland is the name of a post apocalyptic series that has taken the world by storm in the fictional setting if Equestrian City. It is the Show within a Show trope and is a commentary on the popularity of a single show taking over so many people’s lives in the “real world“. Its mentioned several times offhandedly by the main characters in Equestrian City, despite the situations being very dangerous at the moment of mentioning the show. It’s by far a satirical look at how involved fans get in their fandom be they ponies, thrones, zombies or business suits.
Then why is this passing commentary become more expanded in mods?
Well I for one have always been a fan of the Fallout Universe since I picked up a two pack of the first two games back in my youth. I enjoy the setting, the satire of the entire series itself and the cautionary tales it gives us in it’s own twisted exposition!
As Fallout 4 was released I became more involved with the modding community (NEXUS) and began to understand how to not just be a consumer of mods but a novice mod maker. I don’t make things from scratch mind you, but I do take the pony parts you see here.
I also make patches for mods (mainly companions and DLC quest mods) so myself and any other person who enjoys using Crimes Against Nature (the name of the mod the anthro pony model parts come from) in their games. Oddly as dead as the community was it’s slowly coming back in terms of MLP users.
So I keep plugging away and converting.
So what’s the basic premise here?
Well in a nutshell, it follows basic Fallout lore:
The world finally hit a pressure point over energy and renewable resources and two giant superpowers nuked each other and the entire world in a span of two hours. A company named Vault-Tec had underground vaults they had created through government programs to fund the projects and saved a great deal of people doing so. The vaults for the most part were part of a series of social experiments and usually no one made it out alive anyway (some experiments included an extreme form of democracy, an inflated form of mob rule, how an entire population would deal with no more than 40 watt bulbs in the entire facility, or how a vault filled with white noise would drive someone insane.) When humanity emerged from the vaults or their makeshift shelters the real problems began.
Now where our universe diverges deals with these several key points:
- Due to the military and other enforcement agencies being somewhat patriarchal, most of the men were on the front lines or out and about during the nuclear exchange. This meant a disproportionate amount of females now exist to males. As this increased as the race emerged the matriarchal society we see hinted at in MLP but never expressed now exists. The current ratio of males to females is 20 percent is Male and 80 percent female.
- Fertility is a major issue. As background radiation exposure increased more of the population became sterile. The current sampling indicates that one out of every seven females is fertile and one out of every three males is able to fertilize.
What’s the story format?
The story line is typically split between two characters adventures:
- Knight, a Pre-War engineer who was in cyro and possesses a vast knowledge of infrastructure and other vital elements to rebuilding society. He was revived by The Institute (more on them below) and was assigned the task of securing a vacant vault with the goal being to begin massive random sampling of current female fertility. He does this under the guise of using the vault as a new settlement funded by mysterious benefactors. He is sworn to secrecy of his true mission, his only companion he can confide in is Sunset. A generation 3.0 synthetic lifeform, her mission is to provide a link to the Institute for Knight and ensure the data he gathers is accurate. Aside from that her orders are to facilitate Knights mission runs smoothly at all costs.
- The other side of the coin is Mal: a Pre-War mutant. Having been a part of questionable but efficient police and urban pacification unit during the food riots prior to the Great War, he secured a place in Vault 76. After all went their separate ways to “rebuild the country” he found himself the unwitting experiment of a rogue A.I. in an abandoned presidential bunker. Escaping after nearly a decade of manipulation by the systems, he fled west and made his way back over the course of over 200 years. Not a ghoul but not entirely human anymore, the quick nap Knight took is a sharp contrast to the two centuries of experience the once noble public servant endured.Employed by the Institute as a surface agent, he handled and “fixes” the problems they don’t want to be directly involved in or tied to. His current companion is Dash, a strung out yet lethal pit fighter who follows him half out of contractual obligation and half for the fun he provides. Clean of the wasteland chemicals she once poisoned her body with, he supplements her with designer chemicals from the Institute that have far less side effects but much more painful withdrawal symptoms. Addicted to the thrill the chems and fire fights give her, Dash serves him, in all ways, since then.
So it’s about sex and violence?
Not so much. Sex and violence are a staple of the wasteland so it’s always going to be there. The reduced civility and lack of social taboos make the approach all parties have to both topics seem overly callous to the reader at first.
The adventures themselves are meant to have a hook to them and a lesson, much like any episode of MLP or a Schoolhouse Rock Special, but with more adult humor and pragmatic look at what value life has in a world that’s as deadly as it is.
Knights stories tend to be more about the human aspect of trying to find the light in the darkness.
Mal is more about finding husks and finding out what burned them out.
Though those are just guidelines, anything can happen in the wasteland!
Do you think you’re original?
Not so much in my characters but I see them only as tools to tell a story. They may resemble Rainbow Dash or Sunset or Twilight, but only by trace amounts of personality. I lay no claim, they are entirely original at all. I always enjoy a good “what if?” comic, and this is no different. It should be about the story and not the characters themselves.
Is this in any way related to Fallout: Equestria?
No, and I haven’t read Fallout: Equestria. One of my editors has, and will occasionally bring it up, but any similarities there are accidental.
But what about…
Ask away. No doubt I’ll have an answer!
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