Intelligent deathclaw

Intelligent deathclaws are a variety of deathclaws in New California that were experimented on by the Enclave, which gave them higher intelligence and the ability to speak.
==Background==
In 2235, the Enclave captured deathclaws and exposed them to FEV. This boosted their intelligence and gave them the ability to talk with varying degrees of articulation.Goris: "{217}{}{So, the Enclave started messing with a virus, or some such thing, and injected the deathclaws with it. This virus was known to mutate humans into some sort of super beings, so the Enclave wanted to see what it would do to deathclaws. Well, the result was a breed of deathclaws so smart that they could see they were destined for slavery. So, they played dumb until they could gain their freedom. And here they are!}'"
While the Enclave hoped that the deathclaws would be intelligent enough to obey orders without question, the Enclave's deathclaws doubted the morality of their masters.Goris: "{147}{}{These aren't your average deathclaws, as I'm sure you noticed. They've had their intelligence enhanced by some means not understood by them. It was done by a group of humans known as 'The Enclave.' It seems this Enclave needed an army and they chose deathclaws because of their ferocity, physical prowess, and... well, you get the picture. Anyway, the only thing lacking in deathclaws was their intelligence. They needed to be smart enough to understand complex commands, but not so smart that they'd be a threat to 'those in charge.'}"Schreber: "{143}{}{The Enclave has been looking for cheap, expendable soldiers. We are interested in deathclaws because they have built in armor and weapons, and they're mean as hell. They just need to be smarter so they can understand commands but not too smart or they could develop a will of their own. With me so far?}" Although they stormed Vault 13 in 2242 and kidnapped the population with the Enclave, they later abandoned them and adopted the now-empty Vault as their new home under the leadership of Gruthar.Goris: "{151}{}{::sigh::) They were captured by The Enclave. Gruthar and the pack were forced to aid in their capture. They had no choice since they were slaves at the time. The fate of the humans has weighed heavily on Gruthar's mind. He's never really forgiven himself for his complicity in the affair. The humans were taken alive, but who knows what has happened to them since?}"
Several humans from the surrounding area moved into the Vault to live under the protection of the deathclaws, but not all were pleased with these new neighbors.Joseph (Fallout 2): "{159}{}{I traveled to another town and stayed there a week or so before returning. When I got back, I was warmly welcomed. Gruthar, the pack leader, came to me privately and personally thanked me for coming back. No, I am definitely here because I want to be.}" One human, Matt, struck against the deathclaws and bombed the mother deathclaw and her hatchlings; the deathclaw mother survived, but security was tightened from then on.Kerith: "{126}{}{That is a painful memory. A treacherous human sneaked in here and planted a bomb among the eggs while I was asleep. Fortunately he was not as stealthy leaving and I awoke to find the bomb. There was not enough time to deal with the device properly, so I threw it at the door and placed myself between it and the eggs. The eggs and I survived. The door did not.}" They faced other problems while adapting to life in the Vault as well: after the overthrow of the paranoid overseer, the dwellers of Vault 13 had turned day-to-day operations over to a Brotherhood-technology based computer. However, the deathclaws could only interact with it by voice commands, and it became a severe problem when the computer's voice module malfunctioned. Fortunately, a tribal known as the Chosen One had a replacement voice module and was willing to install his in exchange for Gruthar's help in finding a GECK, one of which Gruthar had within the Vault's storage area.
The deathclaws paid a high price for their rebellion, however: an Enclave team, led by Frank Horrigan, attacked Vault 13 and massacred the deathclaws (and presumably those humans under their protection). Of Vault 13's inhabitants, only Goris, who had accompanied the Chosen One on adventures outside Vault 13, survived.
Goris, as well as Xarn, a deathclaw kept in Navarro under the custody of Dr. Schreber, are the only known intelligent deathclaws to survive the end of Fallout 2, depending on certain actions of the Chosen One. According to chapter six of the Fallout Bible, they did not reproduce and were the last of their kind, though chapter five says otherwise.The Fallout Bible is mixed as to whether Xarn and Goris could reproduce and save the intelligent deathclaw breed. In a March 11, 2002 update, John Deiley (the creator and designer of much of the talking deathclaw content) wrote:
:In any case, there is a chance that two intelligent deathclaws survived to continue on the species. I realize that they are both males, but that is fine. When they were engineered by the Enclave, the intelligence gene was made male specific and dominant. What this means is: Any intelligent male that mated with a non-intelligent female would (most likely) produce intelligent offspring.
However, in a later (July 10, 2002) update of the Fallout Bible, Chris Avellone denied that the intelligent deathclaws lived, writing:
:BTW, the talking deathclaws were destroyed at the end of Fallout 2. Xarn and Goris did not go on to create a new species. They are gone. Kaput. Goodbye. In fact, any mutant animal that talks can safely be assumed to have died at the end at the exact minute that Fallout 2 was over.Any last words, talking animals?I thought not.
These two possible fates of the intelligent Deathclaws are not considered canon anymore, making it further unclear as to whether the race is still around or not.
===Known intelligent deathclaws===
* Gruthar, the pack leader
* Kerith, the pack mother
* Jul, the nest guard
* Goris, a scholar
* Dar
* Thearn
* Valdis
* Xarn, held captive in Navarro
*Wise Deathclaw (Fallout Shelter Online)
==Characteristics==
This subspecies was intelligent for deathclaws, about the equivalent of an eight-year-old, with some individuals on par with average adult humans. Their learning capacity was very high, and they were capable of abstract thought and reasoning. Although they did not have vocal cords, the deathclaws seemed to mimic human speech similar to a parrot. Socially, they had rigidly hierarchical, peaceful, and pack-based ethical code. 
They were extremely loyal to the pack as a whole, treating it as a family unit rather than having individual families. Fights within a pack are unheard of, and the pack's leader controls many aspects of life, such as choosing and matching female and male deathclaws for reproduction. Deathclaws are not subject to sterility from FEV exposure; this trait is not explained.
==Quests==
* Retrieve the GECK for Arroyo
* Fix the Vault 13 computer
==Notes==
*It is known that there was a bugged "good ending" present in the game files as well as being restored by the Fallout 2 Restoration Mod. Whether this has any bearing on future games and the intelligent deathclaws' existence is unknown; further complicated by entries in the Fallout Bible. In this ending, the deathclaw pack residing in Vault 13 survived, and peacefully expanded into the surrounding region, possibly leaving the confines of the Vault as the Enclave threat was ended by the Chosen One.
==Behind the scenes==
Chris Avellone regrets the inclusion of talking intelligent deathclaws, finding them too silly for the Fallout universe.Fallout Apocrypha Timothy Cain and Leonard Boyarsky also wished they could be removed, with Tim saying deathclaws were supposed to be scary monsters, not librarians.Fallout at 25 Fallout Wiki roundtable
==Appearances==
The intelligent deathclaws appear in Fallout 2,, Fallout Shelter Online, and in the Fallout: The Board Game expansion New California. Fallout Tactics features a separate species of intelligent deathclaws.
==See also==
* Fallout 2 deathclaw endings
==References==
Non-game
Category:Fallout 2 creatures
category:Fallout Shelter Online creatures
de:Intelligente Todeskralle
ru:Разумный коготь смерти
uk:Розумний кіготь смерті
zh:智慧死亡爪