oct 1, 2031 - Creation of the Vault-Tec Corporation

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"Revolutionizing safety for an uncertain future."

That was the motto of pre-War America's most infamous corporate conglomerate.

The phrase stemmed from widespread fear of what would happen if another global conflict were to break out. Following the Caspian Conflict, it became clear to all parties involved that the days of conquering rival nations through plain old-fashioned attrition were no more. No, if war were to break out once again, then victory would become achievable only through thermonuclear means. The term "nuclear hysteria," which hadn't been dusted off since the early 1950s, once again became a widespread theme across Western culture, dominating most forms of media well into the "Roaring 2020s."

Formed at the beginning of the fiscal year of 2031, Vault-Tec's original vision was to protect the lives and interests of "America's Elite," to preserve the wealthy one-percenter minority that dominated the country. To kickstart their efforts, the company's first money-making venture was Vault-Tec University, a for-profit institution that quickly became the STEM hub of the East Coast among the likes of MIT. Bureaucrats sent their aspiring children to VTU not only to flaunt their status but to build Vault-Tec's body of employees. Graduates of VTU were guaranteed high-paying positions within the company, and so they quickly filled their ranks with an immense talent pool more than three times the size of even Project Comona at its highest peak.

Their next step was to invest heavily in manufacturing, specifically in the now blossoming "survival equipment industry." Water pumps, backup power generators, emergency lights, dry storage units, and even "Build-A-Bunker" blueprints for Americans to build at-home concrete shelters in their own backyards were all on the table, among countless other offerings. Once they built a sizeable IT department, Vault-Tec also began offering military technology solutions, namely the Vault-Tec Assisted Targeting System (V.A.T.S. for short) and ZAX, an advanced artificial intelligence that quickly became the backbone of the U.S. military's logistics.

Ironically, their work with AI would be what garnered the attention of the United States government more than their actual survival gear. With the near-simultaneous onset of the Euro-Middle Eastern War with the MEC, the sudden appearance of the New Plague, no public developments in the space race, and the collapse of the United Nations, humanity appeared closer to the brink of extinction than ever before. In response to these crises, the United States commissioned Project Safehouse, a multi-billion dollar program to form a nationwide network of 5,000 underground shelters whose public purpose was to protect American citizens from the bombs.

In reality, their purpose was much more sinister. While the Vaults were intended in part to protect a select handful of lucky constituents, their real purpose was twofold. First and foremost came the preservation of the Enclave itself as well as America's upper class echelon at large. Only 122 of the intended 5,000 Vaults were ever actually constructed, as both Project Safehouse and America's aid in the conflict against the MEC pushed the crumbling federal deficit to a breaking point.

The second point was arguably worse than the first; to conduct horrifically unethical social experiments on the Vaults' general populaces on behalf of the Enclave. These "research programs" as they later came to be called, were meant to test the rigidity and long-term sustainability of the average American citizen in the face of post-nuclear apocalyptic conditions, yet the majority of them were simply nonsensible. Some Vaults were deliberately sabotaged by the staff for the sake of their experiments (Vault 12, Vault 19, etc.) while others fell prone to Vault-Tec's gross negligence (Vault 22, 34, etc.).

Not all of the Vaults were subject to the Federal government's aptitude for cruelty, however. Seventeen of the Vaults acted as "Control Vaults" which were the only ones that functioned as intended. Control Vaults were primarily used to protect America's wealthiest and brightest minds. They were also the ones where amazing technological breakthroughs occurred most often, as these were the ones Vault-Tec poured most of the money from their blank checks and junk bonds into. The majority of Vaults were completed by 2063, although many of them (some deliberately) would not be opened until much later.

Their Draconian practices were hardly limited to the experiments themselves. Vault-Tec employees were subjected to some of the cruelest working conditions found since the Americana Era, and the government protected their unsavory practices with the New Amended Espionage Act. Passed in 2056, the bill allowed companies to completely conceal their business practices from the public eyes under the guise that Chinese or Russian spies were looking to reveal all of America's juiciest trade secrets, This too was a farce and served to only further reinforce the inhumane ways of Vault-Tec's corporate culture.

Upon further review of the few remaining pre-War records of their financial standing, historians almost unanimously agree that Vault-Tec was among America's most mismanaged corporate entities in its history. Unfettered corruption at all levels, unchecked amounts of money lost to embezzlement by their top executives, deliberately ignored mistakes and a general apathy towards the Vaults' construction likely would have doomed the company if not for their sheer size and massive technological breakthroughs in the construction industry. Even with their many blunders, Vault-Tec managed to establish a domineering reputation of reliability and quality across all sectors via propaganda.


Vault-Tec's successful bid for the government contract for Project Safehouse, as well as their subsequent partnership with RobCo Industries, made them the most powerful pre-war Corporation America had ever known, dwarfing even the likes of Poseidon Energy, Raytheon, or Lockheed Martin in scope. Regional headquarters sprouted up in every remaining state, and dedicated divisions for Vault-Tec's original research were founded as the company's weight bloated more and more with each year. Everything from self-sustaining oxygen replicators to virtual reality simulators fell under their massive umbrella, and there was hardly an industry the firm found itself without a hand in by the 2070s.

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