Arroyans

In May 2162, the Vault Dweller returned to Vault 13 after defeating the Master and his army, only to be exiled for fear of encouraging others to follow their example and leave the vault. They wandered the desert but never moved far from the mountains that shielded the vault from the rest of the world. Upon hearing of what happened to them, a few other residents of the vault decided to leave and join, following soon afterward. The Vault Dweller eventually came into contact with the small group of dwellers. They knew little of the outside world and would have likely died if it were not for their knowledge and experience. After this, the Vault Dweller removed their jumpsuit, never to wear it again.

Two months later, the Vault Dweller headed north, to the great canyons, with a small group of former dwellers and wastelanders, and founded the village of Arroyo. Over time, their ragtag group turned into a minor tribe. The Vault Dweller fell in love with a member of the tribe named Pat, and they raised a family. The construction of Arroyo was completed on August 18, 2167.

### Early years

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Initially, they would send scouts back toward the vault, but that slowly came to an end. The Vault Dweller taught the others the skills they would need to survive and grow strong, such as hunting, farming, engineering, and warfare. The Vault Dweller and spouse initially led the village. The tribe grew strong with their help. In 2188, a daughter, who later became the Arroyo elder, was born.

### Dweller's departure

On January 16, 2208, several years after Pat's death, the Vault Dweller wrote their memoirs and vanished soon after, presumed dead. The Vault Dweller left the jumpsuit behind, folded on the bed. Some say they were taken by the sky spirits, others say that the Vault Dweller felt it was time to move on and leave the elders to guide Arroyo. After the one-moon (month) cycle of mourning for the Vault Dweller ended, activity in Arroyo began to return to normal.

The final training of the Vault Dweller's daughter for the role of village elder began on February 2. She underwent a great deal of physical training and tutoring in various sciences, mathematics, and weapon skills. Two years later, she took her mystic test, a key ingredient of which is several pots worth of hallucinogenic plants from Hakunin's garden. She ran the gauntlet in the Temple of Trials, using her charm to pass most of the tests after her handgun jammed and was ruined on the first level. She offered numerous criticisms of the test, resulting in many revisions. Two days later, she ascended to the role of village elder. She ruled with a steady hand, and her wisdom was greatly respected.

### Chosen One

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The elder's son, later called the "Chosen One", was born on March 23, 2221. His father was not recorded in the tribal records. In 2241, the worst dry season in many years caused a drought in the Northern California area, hurting crops and brahmin in Arroyo. The elder, having read a G.E.C.K. advertisement in her father's old holodisks, decided that her son must be sent to find it, as it was the village's only hope. On July 25, the Chosen One began his mystic test, descending into the Temple of Trials, just like his mother had many years before. Two days later, he left his home village to find the ancient device.

While the Chosen One was on his quest, on July 20, 2242, Arroyo was attacked by Enclave soldiers in Vertibirds, wearing power armor and armed with energy weapons, and the villagers were captured and brought to the oil rig. Some of them tried to resist the attackers and were killed, and Hakunin was seriously wounded. When the Chosen One returned to the village, he found it almost completely destroyed and found a dying Hakunin among the dead bodies. Now, the Chosen One had a new quest - to save his people from the hands of the Enclave.

The Enclave needed the tribals for their FEV experiments. They needed two test groups: one of clean, pure humans; and another composed of the "mutants" that lived all over the mainland, suffering radiation and FEV exposure for decades that, to the Enclave, made them unclean. The unclean sample was easily obtained by kidnapping the entire population of Arroyo. The clean group were the dwellers of Vault 13, who were reunited with their long lost Arroyo brethren in Enclave prison cells.

In Fall 2242, the Chosen One managed to enter the Enclave using a damaged tanker and destroyed the Poseidon Energy platform, killing the President of the Enclave and severely setting back the Enclave's plans for world domination. The surviving people of Arroyo and Vault 13 were free.

### Revival

After the Enclave oil rig's fragmentation, the refugees of Arroyo and Vault 13 resettled, building a new community with the aid of the 'holy' Garden of Eden Creation Kit. Finding themselves hundreds of miles from their Vault, the members of Vault 13 chose to join the villagers in establishing a new community, and their technical expertise, combined with the villagers' survival skills, allowed the new settlement to grow and prosper. The two branches of the same bloodline were re-united, and their savior, the Chosen One, became Elder, presiding over the village for many years to come. The settlement would later come under the power of the New California Republic, with the taxes and inflation of the republic along with it.

1. ↑ The Courier: *"How long have you been with the Followers?"*
Emily Ortal: *"About five years now. I have family back in Arroyo, but this is where all of the good work is being done, so to speak. NCR taxes and inflation have been hard for a lot of people to deal with, and most of the money is going to the war effort. There's not much funding for medical research with OSI or any other group - not unless it has a military application, anyway."*
(Emily Ortal's dialogue)