Vault 11 was probably constructed along with the other Vault-Tec vaults in the mid 2060s to the early 2070s. As with the majority of other vaults, Vault 11 is a social experiment. In this experiment, the inhabitants of Vault 11 are told that they must sacrifice one of their fellow vault dwellers each year, and that, should they refuse, all inhabitants will be killed by the computer. In actuality, if the residents refuse, an "Automated solution response" is played. It states that by choosing not to select one of their own as a sacrifice, they are "a shining example to humanity" and that no one will be killed. They are also informed that the vault door is then unlocked so they can come and go as they please but are urged to consult with their Overseer before they do so. By the time Vault 11 refused to continue sacrificing their residents, only five survivors remained.
'Elections' and the Overseer's role
Evidence gathered from computer terminals throughout the vault attests that the vault residents were required to select an annual sacrifice from among their members. Therefore, at the end of the Overseer's term of office, the Overseer was required to enter a chamber below the Overseer's Office to be executed by the vault's computers. The computer did not require that the sacrifice should be the Overseer, but if a sacrifice was not selected, the computer controlling the vault would execute the entire population. Of the original residents, only the Overseer had entered the vault knowing about the yearly sacrifice. The residents of the vault, in their shock and anger at discovering this after having already been sealed inside the vault, selected the original Overseer (whom they viewed as having betrayed them) as the first sacrifice. This decision would marry the positions of Overseer and Sacrifice until the end.
In this vault, several voting blocs emerged to exercise power and influence over other vault residents. Prior to the final election, Roy Gottlieb, leader of the most powerful of the voting blocs (the Justice Bloc) confronted Katherine Stone, threatening that, if she did not perform sexual favors for the members of their bloc, they would nominate her husband, Nathan Stone, for Overseer (it is hinted that he may have made enemies of the Justice Bloc because of an unusual winning streak during the poker games he attended). Katherine, fearing for her husband, complied. Much to the shock of the Stone family, the Justice Bloc nominated Nathan for Overseer regardless. Because candidates were typically people who had outraged the community, they were usually nominated by several blocs; in Nathan's case, his nomination was backed only by the Justice Bloc.
Fearing for the fate of her husband, Katherine decided that she had to save him using the only method she felt left available to her: she began to stalk and kill the members of the Justice Bloc, which held a very narrow majority. Upon her capture, she confessed to her crimes immediately, explaining not only her plan but also her reasoning: as a murderer, she was sure the voters would elect her in her husband's stead, because it was a choice "they could live with".
Katherine Stone's first act as Overseer, "Overseer Order 745", dissolved the election process and decreed that the position of Overseer would be chosen using the vault's computer systems and a random number generator. The Justice Bloc, aghast that they were going to lose the ability to control vault life by means of election threats, not only feared that one of their own members would be selected, but also worried that the damage to the vault's social structure would be so severe that they would have permanently lost power by the time one of their own members was elected and could reverse the Order. They decided to stage an armed coup to force Katherine to reverse Overseer Order 745. The fighting that ensued killed nearly all of the remaining vault dwellers population, and in the end only five people survived.
The Final Sacrifice
The first audio log discovered by the player as they enter the vault records the fate of the final survivors. In an act of suicide they defied the vault computer and refused to send any more sacrifices, only to discover that their defiance was exactly what the vault computer wanted. They were given the freedom to leave the vault and congratulated for their selflessness.
After learning the awful truth about the vault experiment, the five survivors decide to commit suicide to punish themselves for the events that happened in the vault, and to prevent the outside world from learning about their shameful behavior. They are not unanimous in their decision. In the audio log, there is an argument among five people: a man referred to as "Voice 1" tries to convince the other four (three males and a female) to leave the Vault. Voices 2 (female), 3 (referred to as Harry), 4 and 5 want to commit suicide after finding out about the vault's experiment, while "Voice 1" is having second thoughts and tries to convince them to leave the vault and spread the word about what happened there. At the end of the audio log, four gunshots are heard, followed by a sigh and the sound of someone dropping a gun.
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Originally Posted by Saph
You're giving me a million reasons about a million reasons
21-08-2011, 03:13 AM
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Screw Big Brother, Vault 11 was the business.
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