Boulder and Boulder Dome
OST Atmosphere (Dome):
OST Atmosphere (Town):
Pre-War History:
Prior to the Great War, the Boulder Dome was a scientific facility constructed where in our own world the NCAR facility lies. It was established in response to clean-up efforts of major chemical leakage from an incident at the Rocky Mountain Arsenal. In reality, this was a cover-up. The Boulder Dome's primary objective was to develop a bioweapon for usage against enemies of the United States.
Under the direction of scientific prodigy Victor Presper, Limit-115 was formulated. Limit-115 was intended to act as a highly contagious virus, largely asymptomatic and intend to be indistinguishable from that of the common cold. The after effects however, would be permanent and irreversible sterility. Further development resulted in Limit-115 remaining dormant in the body, passable past the original transmission through bodily fluids.
However, there were imperfections. A small amount of those infected would develop what would later be called 'The Blue Flu' by the public. Those with Blue Flu would develop symptoms eerily similar to the Black Plague of antiquity, blueish boils and severe sickness that would result in death within a week. This was deemed inoptimal as it would remove the hidden nature of the virus and bring clear inspection.
The situation drastically changed however with Chinese infiltration, a failed attempt at sabotaging the project and stealing the virus resulted in a shootout which leaked the virus in the heart of Denver, beginning the New Plague pandemic. It was unknown however, if surviving Chinese infiltrators had escaped with research data or even samples.
A complete reversal occured, and all evidence of Limit-115 being developed at the Boulder Dome was scrubbed barring the deepest archives of its state-of-the-art ZAX supercomputer. The Boulder Dome was now focused on treatment, disease control and cure research. With the disappearance of Victor Presper, cure research was prolonged and ultimately went nowhere, later being passed onto private contractors, namely West-Tek.
With the primary wave of the New Plague passed, Boulder Dome began to expand into other research areas. Medically it was developing potentially successful treatments for cancer. The bio-gel suspension pods used to prolong/preserve Blue Flu patients was expanded into cryonics research, which also brought success. However, post-cryonic syndrome still posed issues largely unresolved.
Eventually, the Boulder Dome was commissioned to develop an advanced technological method for the CODE program by the Department of Civil Defense for the Van Buren Prison Complex. Big Mountain was originally considered for this project due to their expertise in neuroscience, but were overloaded with projects pressing for the war effort considered far higher priority, and ultimately passed on.
The CODE Mark I was a handheld device developed by Boulder Dome utilising existing technology from Robobrain research. Loaded using "punch cards" with advanced encryption, within range of 20 feet usage of the device would produce a flash much like that of a camera's flashbulb, and would render the target completely suggestible to any orders given barring anything that would violate instincts of self-preservation (such as suicide). However the punch-card system meant that the effects of this were limited to less than a minute. Once the punch-card was consumed, said card was useless and the Mark I would require "reloading".
The CODE Mark II was a larger device, resembling a film camera in much the way the Mark I resembled a photographic camera. It utilized a "reel" system akin to film reel rather than punch cards, allowing for greatly extended usage as long as the device was continually directed at the target and there was reel left loaded (when the reel was finished, it too would become useless) producing an almost film projector like effect.
This was used in great conjunction with RobCo Eyebots, mounted with the Mark II they would be able to effectively manouvre and utilize the projection. A shipment of CODE equipped Eyebots was sent to Van Buren effective immediately, with more refinement and more units to come. In the future, complete and permanent reprogramming and suggestion would be developed.
Then, the Great War occured.
Many of the staff fled, but a group of remaining scientists decided to entomb themselves within the cryonic chambers, trusting that ZAX would develop a method of resolving post-cryonic syndrome in the meantime. There were not enough pods for the amount of scientists, so they drew straws.
Post-War:
After 25 years, ZAX had decided that both the environment was safe and had developed a method of avoiding post cryonic syndrome. A precision second-to-second calculation regarding the infusion and combination of chemicals into the body was required for a safe wake-up, only ZAX was capable of this.
The Scientists (referred to later generations as "The Sleepers") awoke to the Wasteland, and lived in isolation within the Dome for many years. That was until a group of wanderers suffering from radiation sickness and other ailments stumbled into the suburbs below the Dome. Taking pity on them, the Sleepers invited them inside and using their own knowledge combined with the automated medical technology of ZAX, healed them completely.
Soon, it became something of a mythical secret and Boulder Dome became known as a haven of medicine where one could be cured of all, if you could find it. Most dismissed it as a rumour or a story. A community formed in the suburbs and order was established, an armed guard 'Dome Authority' equipped with old Environmental Armor from the clean-up era and leftover Laser Carbines used by the soldiers once stationed at the Dome. Outsiders would have to pay in service or money for treatment, and locals would be prioritized.
The Sleepers used their knowledge to build "Nutrient Farms" that utilized battery acid and chemical leftovers to harvest mutant grubs (think of the protein farms in the introduction of Blade Runner 2049) as well as slowly over decades linking the town of Boulder with facilities such as electricity and plumbing. The limitations of the Nutrient Farms meant that Boulder had a steady but stagnant population.
When the last of the Sleepers began to die, they sealed the 2nd Floor of Advanced Research and Development, where CODE was developed, to make sure future generations never learnt of their sins or abused their technology. It was entrusted to ZAX to be reopened only if they were ready.
The second generation of Sleepers had learnt much from their parents, but mostly relied on ZAX's automated process. In their elderly years, they even began to construct educational programs with the help of ZAX, projected onto an old drive-in movie theatre teaching literacy and arithmetic.
By the third and current generation, the Sleepers of the Dome were entirely reliant on ZAX, acting basically out of ritual and habit. This began to cause problem as ZAX began to show it's age. Miscalculation, mistakes, total blackouts for days, then weeks, then months at a time that killed the infrastructure of Boulder. Teams were sent into Denver to salvage computer components and memory tapes to feed ZAX, but this was a finite solution.
The Present Day and the New Plague
Boulder is the only non-tribal community left in Colorado, and it is beset by problems, problems that could bring it all crumbling down. The first and oldest problem is continued harassment and raiding by The Coyotes, a large cannibalistic tribe in the western mountains. A distant off-shoot of the Hangdogs, Dome Authority is having increasing trouble keeping them at bay. Especially considering they're running out of Microfusion Cells for their Laser Carbines. Most Dome Authority now carry spears in addition to their energy weapons, but in close quarters they're no match to the tribal warriors.
The second is that ZAX is effectively gone. Using the last of its memory tapes, for the past few months it has been entirely focused on advanced calculations that the Sleepers did not understand. The end result of these calculations are ready for decryption, but none of the Sleepers know enough about computer science to decrypt it.
The third most recent and by far biggest problem is that the New Plague has returned. Through a critical cataloguing miscalculation of ZAX and a failure by the Sleepers to double check the procedure, a rudimentary treatment for pulmonary issues led to the injection of a sample of Limit-115 into a patient. Said patient returned to the East Side of Boulder, and before anyone knew it the Blue Flu began to arise. The entire East Side was blocked off with junk fortification (later reinforced with salvaged anti-riot tech from Denver) and formed into a quarantine zone. Nobody in or out. Dome Authority drops parcels of supplies over the wall, and when someone with Blue Flue symptoms arise, they are taken to the Dome for treatment.
Problem is, without ZAX they don't know what to do, and many have died. Those outside the Dome are lied to, that their friends, family and children are recieving treatment. The Sleepers had at least the sense to put the children inside cryogenic storage, awaiting a solution. Of course, without ZAX they cannot be safely woken up either.
Fortune has it that an outsider arrived: Xian, a Shi educated Doctor turned Follower of the Apocalypse chasing the rumours of the Boulder Dome. Immediately welcomed inside the Dome because of her medical knowledge, she is working with Goddard, head of the Sleepers, almost singlehandedly to keep people alive. She has developed a "Nutrient Paste" from the outer farms that seems to delay the symptoms of Blue Flu, keeping an entire ward of patients barely alive. But she has no grasp on a cure.
Tensions are boiling in Boulder, those in the QZ want out and regularly riot, those in the West Side are dumb struck terrified of the Plague and the Coyotes, and everyone is wondering when the patients will come back from the Dome. The Captain of the Dome Authority thinks the entire QZ should be roasted alive with flamers to cleanse the plague and be done with it.
The ZAX Solution
If a player with rudimentary Computer Science skill decrypts ZAX's final calculation, it will reveal two noted sets of coordinates. The first is for the trajectory of a crashed BOMB station that has landed in the Grand Canyon, with calculations stating probability of its ZAX components surviving to be more than likely, of which there would be a Memory Can - allowing for long term memory storage. The second is another location of a ZAX Unit that is likely active and may be able to help: Vault 29
