Duck and Cover

It seems that the FEV as it is used in the fallout universe is good for only one thing: explaining all the mutations and strange critters.

Back in the day, popular science fiction saw it as some mysterious power that could drastically alter something, sometimes to make it really big(a mutant) or give it unnatural powers.

When the post apocalyptic genre spawned, the horrible mutations were an essential part of the genre.

However, we have since learned that radiation in high doses does not create mutants, supermen, or two headed brahmin. It may create deformities in infants, but hardly anything useful or good. Radiation in high doses is only good for killing things.

Interplay had to think up a good excuse for all the mutations. FEV is the easy answer they came up with.

Either that, or you can chalk it up to all the biological weapons used.

But here's an interesting thought: Does FEV spread from parent to child? It's obviously not something you catch normally, but it might spread the same way as herpes 1.

And if so, wouldn't everyone be exposed to it from eating brahmin and their byproducts?

The mutants were sterile.

If one is "infected" with too much FEV i think they can't have a kid.

Harry got the "FEV" from just being in the Military Base, i think. (Been a while since my last game.)

Maybe it's a weak virus that can't get to someone who's relatively healthy...

I don't kno... It was OK in Fallout but went way out of line in FO2 where everything was explained by it...

Chris Avellone is the "FEV Explains It All" guy. Tim Cain said that most mutations in Fallout were from the background radiation. Ghouls, giant insects, brahmin, etc. were all the result of radiation.

Considering Fallout's roots in 1950s Sci-Fi, I think Tim Cain's idea is better, and considering he was one of the people who came up with the ideas in Fallout, I'll go with his answer.

FEV was originally intended to be very special in the Fallout universe, not the source of everything you see.

I got the impression that FEV required a large dose to be effective. Examples: being dipped in a vat of it, a massive injection, or long-term exposure to high airborne levels of it(like the laborers who became SM's in the military base ruins in FO2).

Gehenna wrote:However, we have since learned that radiation in high doses does not create mutants, supermen, or two headed brahmin.

The thing is that most mutations due to extreme radiation are lethal or just bad for you. However, we can thank the background radiation for the fact that we evolved and that everything living still is evolving.

Robert A. Heinlein described a planet that was like earth in the novel "Starship Troopers". That planet had almost no background radiation, which meant that the newly arrived lifeforms (humans and their flora/fauna) knocked out the domestic lifeforms, that had no resilience at all. I quite cool idea really.

Chemical weapons is a good source of mutations. I live at a farm, and one early summer I noticed something very strange at a place we'd been storing chemicals the whole winter...
A large of the dandelions showed heavy mutations... The flowers themselves looked healthy, but the stalks were all twisted up and weird... Siamese dandelions were not uncommon... (brahmin anyone..?)
So, in other words, chemicals can be an explanation to some of many weird mutations in Fallout... That, combined with the background and immediate radiaton, could give some nasty results... As a matter of fact, I'm surprised there isn't a higher mutation rate among humans than there is... Oh my, I'm talking like it's real again... :roll: Just another proof of Fallout addictivity probably... Or maybe of my imagination... :roll:
Anyways... I am planning an experiment with dandelions this summer... As soon as the first wave of dandelions starts to wither, I'm going to pluck the seeds and grow them in my hobby room, using different kinds of chemicals in the pots... Perhaps I'll even post a website with pics...

Btw: It is has been stated in this thread that the radiation would do nothing good with the species(flora or fauna) exposed to it... Not necessairly true... While most genetical mutations would be negative/lethal, positive changes would also probably occur... Now, the individs who got their genes mutated for the worse, would die... According to Darwin, the ones with positive effects from the mutations would survive, and pass down the positive changes to the next generation.(Unless they got infertile, that is... 8O )
It's just the natural evolution on fast foward, really...

Sincerly,
Gany...

I can't believe I just signed that with a "sincerly"-ending...

I think you're forgetting that Fallout is based on 1950s sci-fi, Ganymedes, not reality nor what we know works today. Even the effects of radiation in Fallout were based on the 1950s data of what exposure to radiation did to a person.

So, in Fallout, being rooted in 1950s sci-fi, radiation could lead to giant insects, mutant venus fly traps that are man sized, and a whole host of other things. After all, in 1950s sci-fi, nearly every earth born monster was the result of radiation. The ants in Them! are a prime example.

Hm... You're right... The chemistry geek in me got a bit carried away... :roll:
Anyways, in Fallout history, "the reds" used biological weapons... I'm not sure whether any of those ancient history holodisks did mention anything about chemical weapons, though... And you must remember that chemical weapons was quite a scare in the 50s... (At least I think I've heard so. I'm tired and too lazy to check ... I could very well be wrong, but I think I remember seing pictures of Wehrmacht soldiers with gas masks... Unless I'm mixing them up with those RTCW screenies, then... :roll: )

Ganymedes wrote: And you must remember that chemical weapons was quite a scare in the 50s... (At least I think I've heard so. I'm tired and too lazy to check ...

Two words: Mustard Gas.

Biggest scare in the fifties was nuclear war, not bio-warfare. That was just a nasty possiblity, but at least it wouldn't destroy the entire planet.

In anycase... The FEV caused the mutations because it was somehow released into the atmosphere when the bombs dropped. Then, the radiation mutated the virus, and the FEV started to mutate whatever survived. That's also how ghouls came into existance. Anyone infected with the FEV before they were hit the the radiation had a good chance of it happening.

Um... I'm babbling.

I think MCA's (what does that "M" stand for anyway..? ) explained it with the FEV being spread into the athmosphere as the West-Tec research base(Can't remember the base title at the moment, but "the Glow" in FO) got blown to pieces...

I was just walking around in the glow, reading a holodisk now and then when I ran into a lrage compueter. Yes, it was our good friend, Zax. He toild me that FEV cannot be spread into the atmosphere. TRhe only way to get infected is through an injection or by excessive exposure (being "dipped" for example). The FEV-cells' membranes are also so thick that neutrons, protons and electrons can't pass through them as well, so readiation is not able to alter them. There, Fallout 1 documentation.

Radoteur wrote:The mutants were sterile.

If one is "infected" with too much FEV i think they can't have a kid.

Harry got the "FEV" from just being in the Military Base, i think. (Been a while since my last game.)

No they weren't. Take Marcus to a brothel sometime and you get an interesting little sideline to that discovery. Also, one of the ghoul leader's kids is hanging around in the old ghoul's home, if I recall correctly.

And the original FEV was probably not an airborne pathogen..but what the master did to it or how it mutated of it's own accord we have no idea. Which would explain a lot of the 'FEV caused everything' reasoning in fallout 2, whether it was meant to or not.

And in the fallout world, I imagine most of the mutations are supposed to be caused by relatively low-level radiation as the years passed. Over a long period of time this could (probably wouldn't, but hey, it's a game) cause the deformities seen in animals that cycle through generations relatively quickly (ants, rats, etc...don't ask me about the cows).

Well, the thing Marcus said was a joke. That has been cleared up already!

This is Gonna Hurt wrote: And the original FEV was probably not an airborne pathogen..but what the master did to it or how it mutated of it's own accord we have no idea. Which would explain a lot of the 'FEV caused everything' reasoning in fallout 2, whether it was meant to or not.

And in the fallout world, I imagine most of the mutations are supposed to be caused by relatively low-level radiation as the years passed. Over a long period of time this could (probably wouldn't, but hey, it's a game) cause the deformities seen in animals that cycle through generations relatively quickly (ants, rats, etc...don't ask me about the cows).

Um, The Glow(West Tek) was blown up in The Great War, several decades before Richard Gray found Mariposa. In fact, Gray never went to West Tek at all, so he couldn't have mutated the FEV to make it airborne in time to cause everything in Fallout.

hah. I think it's called Forced Evolutionary Virus because it's forced upon the player as a crap justification.

LOL! That was a great thought you got there, S-8! But it's- well, BIS never realy got very far into the world of Fallout. I hope someone a bit more qualified than they would get a chance to make our long-awaited Fallout 3...

They could put winged ballerina deathclaws in FO3 and blame it on FEV and we'd still be happy with the game.