What is the Sierra Madre's Cloud? | Full lore and speculation

foreign the dead money DLC is a standout among all of Fallout DLCs for many reasons both good and bad what you cannot Escape however is the desperation and brutality of the Sierra Madre the unsleeping ghost people and of course the ever-present toxic cloud that has transformed the resort into a city of the Dead the cloud is as intriguing as it is deadly but where did it come from why is it at the Sierra Madre and can we manage to figure out exactly what it is crank up the RADS and let's pierce the veil of this mystery that has protected treasure and sealed away the secrets of the Sierra Madre the cloud owes its origin to the same group of scientists that created other wonders of the Sierra Madre Frederick Sinclair was a successful pre-war business magnate who had a vision to create an oasis in the Mojave a resort that served several purposes This Magnificent casino resort was meant to reflect Sinclair's own ego to be a shelter in the upcoming nuclear confrontation between China and the USA to be a gift to his love and infatuation veraquis a famous actress and socialite and lastly to Showcase some of the most advanced and bewildering technology that existed in the pre-war these Fantastical Technologies were all bought from the Big Mountain research facility after Sinclair was transfixed by the incredible possibilities of two specific Technologies big mountain or the Big MT developed hologram technology that is far beyond any other hologram technology that can be found anywhere else these 3D Holograms can be interacted with observe details in the environment and even attack with a laser-like direct energy weapon Sinclair envisioned these Holograms working security and Manning all the customer facing jobs in the casino and was willing to pay just about anything to make that happen Sinclair was also adamant that he used other Wonder technology from Big Mountain what would become known as the Sierra Madre vending machines these odd-looking Art Deco style machines are not simple vending machines as their name would imply they only accept the unique and advanced Sierra Madre chips and then they create Whatever item is requested by the customer yes the machines can create from the bottom up food items chems and even ammo and weapons things were looking great with these Technologies and more like the new saturnite Alloys and auto Docs but not all is As It Seems in Sinclair's rush to secure these Technologies he unknowingly entered into a diabolical experiment a terminal entry in the medical facility at Big Mountain mentioned something overheard by a scientist working at the Big MT apparently Sinclair had unknowingly agreed to allow the Sierra Madre to be a test case for the auto dock technology but also something called the Innovative toxins research the z43 Innovative toxins plant is a location at the Big MT that specializes in Research into well toxins Innovative ones at that apparently although there is no information about the specific projects that they were working on we know that they are responsible for one of the experiments that are going to happen at the Sierra Madre and they also create hazmat suits that will play a key role later we don't know the exact details regarding how the big mountain Technologies were installed but they were swiftly implemented both those that Sinclair knowingly paid for and those he did not whatever the Innovative toxin experiment was it did not seem to be active for some time or at least it was subtle enough that it went unnoticed by all that is until one eventful day down in the Villas a terminal entry in the puesta Del Sol switching station relates the first encounter with the Innovative toxins experiment the ventilation system in the Villas had backed up and the ventilation Chambers started to spew out a red dust cloud This Cloud looked like rust and all the workers that were exposed to it began choking and vomiting and had to be taken to the clinic now it seems that the pre-war workers and managers at the Sierra Madre considered this accident to be the result of a shoddy work on the ventilation system the primary supervisor who was in charge of construction in the Villas is someone known as Mr yesterday and he was siphoning off considerable amounts of money that was allocated for the construction projects and pocketing it himself some of that money went off to pay his workers with chems and other distractions to keep this embezzlement a secret from Sinclair but it also meant that they were cutting many corners and making a lot of compromises with their construction efforts however it is up for debate whether or not the failure of the ventilation system and subsequent leak of this new red dust was a partial consequence of the shoddy construction work or deliberately done as part of the big mountain experiments we don't know how long the workers attempted to find the source of the red dust leak but the need for protective equipment was made clear because of the effects on those that were exposed Sinclair went to his One-Stop technology shop and once again asked the big mountain Executives whether they had something that could help him solve this or not conveniently for big mountain and probably inconveniently for Sinclair a special hazmat suit known as the dark light suit that had been developed at you probably guessed it the Innovative toxins plant were sold to Sinclair a terminal entry at the toxin plants mentions this transaction and then says this important statement in regard to the suits looks like they're following up an experiment with another experiment so the toxic Red Cloud is part of some sort of experiment and they are adding another experiment on top of this in the form of the suits is this to mean that they are regarding the use of the suits as a kind of field test for the equipment if they really wanted to run experiments and test how well the new suits held up to this toxic dust that they had created and are using as an experiment at the Sierra Madre well why couldn't they just do that there at Big Mountain there seems to be more to this than a simple field test the terminal entry also talks about how creepy it was that big mountain was monitoring the Sierra Madre and examining the results of the experiment although how this is being done is not known there is a possibility that they could back door the Hologram technology and gather information that way the writer of the entry goes on to say that he doesn't think Sinclair knows what he really paid for which really is just to be guinea pigs like the Chinese prisoners at the little Yangtze internment camp that is located at Big Mountain and sure paints a bleak picture once the Villa workers got their hands on the suits they found the suits unnerving impossible to communicate in and difficult to move around in as well in the terminal entry that describes the arrival of the suits the writer refers to the red dust cloud as a cloud cocktail and later as just a gas the workers appear to have gotten the ventilation system working again since the entry expresses that people are worried that even more cloud or gas would be released should the system back up again equipped with the new and ominous sounding dark light hazmat suits the workers in the Villa sent to finding the source of the leak it did not take them long to find the problem although it is never specified what exactly the problem was while the workers were following the pipes to find the source that generated the Red Cloud they encountered traces of the gas although apparently this gas was not quote the full red stuff like last time end quote this would seem by all counts to be good since running into lower concentrations with the added protection of the hazmat suits would make the entire ordeal a complete non-event but that is far from the truth the gas somehow made it through the Hazmat suit you know the super special prototype suits that were made precisely for this application leading to gas exposure in addition to an altogether different issue the locks on the suits that were meant to keep them sealed until they were safely away from any dangerous substances corroded to the point that they were unable to function properly effectively locking everyone inside of the their suit left with no other way to remove the suits and needing medical attention since the gas penetrated their hazmat suits they cut themselves out of the suits it is unknown how close to the Great War that all these events occurred because there are no other recordings or mentions of this gas experiment at the Sierra Madre or at the Big MT after these events however we do know that the grand opening of the Sierra Madre the gala event was postponed indefinitely by the dropping of the nuclear bombs on October 23rd 2077 and the Sierra Madre entered some sort of safety State exits and entrances were blocked off and the heightened security protocols meant that the Holograms considered all the guests as hostels and began to Massacre them but importantly to this story The Cloud emerged over time growing over the years despite there being no obvious Source like cars machines or factories the cloud as it would become known would continue to grow enough that it obscured the sun causing it to look blood red and cast a foreboding red tone upon the entirety of the resort these scant details of the emergence of the cloud after the Great War come from Snippets of dialogue from Dean Domino a ghoulified pre-war star and Entertainer that was involved in a scandalous love triangle between Frederick Sinclair and the Starlet varakis that is a whole other story but Dean appears to be one of the few people at the resort to survive the security protocols that killed many of the original customers and managed to survive the emerging Cloud as well and has been able to evade the emerging dangers over the span of the last 200 years Dean tells the player that he has developed a bit of an immunity to the cloud allowing him to be exposed for longer than most others could and not suffer adverse effects he attributes this immunity to constant low dosage exposure presumably by living at the resort this whole time constantly surrounded by the growing Cloud it is unknown how his gulification could affect him and his resistance since there are no other ghouls at the Sierra Madre as the Sierra Madre began to hibernate in the post-war world the cloud would grow we don't know if there were post-war efforts to stop the cloud but many people presumably workers donned the dark light hazmat suits in an attempt to protect themselves from the cloud since they were otherwise unable to escape the resort due to the Holograms and automated security seeking refuge in the suits was not the reprieve that they were probably looking for as the men inside of the suits would be transformed the cloud would corrode the suit locks trapping the men inside and penetrate the suits themselves exposing and changing those inside we don't know much about this process we don't know how or why this change occurs but the ghost people as they would come to be called would become humanoid creatures that are unique to the Wasteland ghost people are never seen outside of the dark light suits moving around in a slow Twitchy manner that belies their sudden agility when they jump and attack anyone they see C is a threat they can live unnaturally long lives have lost most of their higher functions and although they are not aggressive towards each other will swiftly attack anything else they are smart enough to use weapons and they lay traps and are otherwise completely immune to the cloud which they are often found in and around their physiology has also drastically changed as they are apparently able to regenerate wounds seemingly coming back from the dead the only way to permanently keep a ghost person down is to destroy a limb a leg arm or the head as they are unable to regenerate entire limbs the ghost people will also explosively decompress when one of their limbs are destroyed and can often fly off at impressive velocities while they do bleed normal red blood they also release a yellow green fluid and the flesh appears to be gray and yellow a nightkin with dissociative identity disorder known as God or dog has eaten some of the ghost people and tells the player that the ghost people's flesh tastes like copper they also seem to have pressurized air under their skin as there is a hissing and decompression when dog bites through the skin the Sierra Madre would be nigh impenetrable for two centuries even though many would be lured to the casino with the promise of a great treasure just waiting to be claimed the Holograms cloud and ghost people were too much of an obstacle for everyone that is until an ex-elder of the Mojave chapter of the Brotherhood of Steel father Elijah set his sights on the resort Elijah sought the technology and treasures contained within the casino and one of those technologies that he was fascinated by and looking to understand and control was the cloud itself Elijah being the man of science that he is didn't just beeline it straight to the depths of the Sierra Madre he started taking samples of the cloud from around the resort that had drifted out he was able to gather a sample a substance that is known in game as Cloud residue and he made an important Discovery the sample that he collected and held in his chemistry set at a makeshift base in an abandoned Brotherhood of Steel bunker would slowly replenish itself it seems the residue is self-propagating or self-catalyzing and it allowed him to continue his experiments because he had a never-ending source of cloud residue Cloud residue can be found in small piles puddles I don't really know and it isn't even really clear how solid or liquid this dark brown red substance really is but it can be gathered in jars and used in crafting the residue can be used to create a poison called Cloud kiss that can be made in three variations depending on your character's survival skill melee weapons coated with Cloud kiss do additional poison damage to enemies given what we know so far about the cloud this application makes a lot of sense but what makes less sense are the other two craftable items that can be made with Cloud residue ghost sight is a chem-like substance that is made by heating up the cloud residue and upon consumption gives the player a kind of green night vision lastly is the Sierra Madre Martini that recipe cooked up by Dean Domino or Cloud residue and pre-war junk food are heated and combined in a way that make a brown liquid that heals HP increases endurance and increases strength but runs the risk of inducing alcohol addiction Elijah would finally make his way to the Sierra Madre and concoct a plan to uncover its secrets and treasures and everything would fall into place for father Elijah when you courier 6 stumble across his makeshift base at the abandoned bunker are knocked out and Spirited Away to the casino waking up with all your weapons and armor Stripped Away and a bomb color on your neck your will to survive is what drives you forward to overcome the horrific dangers of the Sierra Madre upon first encountering the cloud some things are immediately obvious the cloud is not all pervasive in the resort some areas will be completely devoid of any physical cloud while other places will have dense pockets of a thick red choking haze there are times where there is no choice but to go through the cloud which will distort the screen and make everything turn red Elijah confirms these symptoms of exposure that one's Vision will pulse and dizziness will set in with Supreme bedside manner he also tells us that the cloud is eating our insides slowly and with Too much exposure we will certainly die as such sleeping outside will result in death although Elijah will point out not all Air at the Sierra Madre is lethal and any areas separated from the outside air is safe enough to rest in hardcore mode does confirm that all outside air has at least traces of the cloud as the player will slowly and continually take damage when outside Elijah will also explain that the longer one is outside the more toxins that will make it into the body primarily through the lungs and the skin failing to move through the cloud quickly enough will cause a person to weaken to the point that they're unable to continue moving and they will succumb to the cloud their body unable to function enough to allow escape and so the Courier carefully makes their way around the Villa avoiding the cloud where possible and quickly moving through it when not suffering impaired vision and taking damage all the while the toxicity of the cloud is confirmed by how quickly it whittles down one's health and the corrosiveness is confirmed by Elijah as he has unsuccessfully tried to use chemical suits and re-breathers as protection against the cloud but it always decays and corrodes all of these enough to make them useless even still the cloud does not poison the player even though a potent poison can be made from the cloud residue the damage that is done is direct damage likely a combination of the body damaged by toxicity as well as the corroding nature of the cloud as The Courier uncovers The Villa area outside of the casino proper there are a few opportunities to re-engage the centuries-old ventilation systems in some areas like the switching station these old systems are remarkably Adept at removing the cloud from isolated areas giving the impression that the only reason the cloud may be as pervasive as it is is due to a non-functioning ventilation system The Villa area outside of the casino suffers a lot more from the cloud whereas the actual Casino has entire areas where no cloud is present the Executive Suite and the basement and Vault area of the casino are some of the only places where the cloud can be found and often the cloud will fill the lower levels indicating that it is indeed heavier than air and can sometimes be avoided by moving around elevated catwalks according to Elijah the heavy presence of the cloud in and around the buildings has had some sort of preservation effect on them contrary to the previous talk about how corrosive the cloud was corroding metal on the dark light suits and decaying chemical suits and rebreathers Elijah says that it protects and preserves the casino and Elijah thinks that it can be used to preserve and cleanse other old world relics let's keep this important and seemingly contradictory statement in mind after The Courier and his unlikely teammates make their way to the casino to confront Elijah the Master of Puppets himself one would think that that is the end of the cloud but that's not necessarily the case depending on how the Courier decides to end the story of the Sierra Madre the cloud can change the very face of the Wasteland should The Courier agree to help Elijah Elijah will use the technology from the Sierra Madre namely the Holograms the vending machines and the cloud itself to devastate the region in his attempt to as he puts it wipe the Slate clean he will make a Mojave undisturbed by man like he thinks it is meant to be in the ending slides for the DLC we see how Elijah's plans aided by The Courier would unfold in the years that followed the legend of the Sierra Madre faded and there were no new visitors to the city years later when a mysterious Blood Red Cloud began to roll across the Mojave then West toward the Republic no one knew where it had come from only that it brought death in its wake attempts to find the source of the toxic cloud failed the lahavi was cut off through the cloud lights were seen from Helios One there were stories of ghosts immune to gunfire who struck down anyone they saw with rays of light the last chapter of the Mojave came when a modified Repcon rocket struck Hoover Dam releasing a Blood Red Cloud killing all stationed there all attempts to penetrate the cloud and retake the dam failed and both the NCR and Legion finally turned away from it citing the place as cursed in the years that followed the legend of the Sierra Madre faded and there were no new visitors to the city only two remained alive in the depths of the cloud at the Sierra Madre waiting for their new world to begin again there is all the information we have related to the cloud its origin at The Big Empty and underhanded implementation at the Sierra Madre how it first manifested its effects on those that it touches its role in the creation of the ghost people and its potential future as a weapon used by a deranged man hellbent uncleansing the Wasteland of all those that continually disrespect and deny Elijah access to his so-called pre-war relics like the Helios One power plant that was rested from his hands by the NCR and that leaves us with one more task at hand and that is using all this information to try and determine what exactly the cloud could be this part is up to much interpretation and I would be interested to hear your thoughts as I present the evidence the first aspect of the cloud that I want to address and will help explain why I think the cloud is what I think it is has to do with the distinction between descriptions of it being both a cloud and a gas now those two things are not necessarily mutually exclusive but if we look at how the cloud is described by some of the first people to encounter it they seem to make a distinction between a red visible dust cloud that looks like rust and later on encounter traces of what they refer to as a gas that was not the red stuff like the first encounter it was this invisible or less visible gas that corroded the metal on the suits and penetrated the hazmat suits leading to adverse health effects in-game hardcore mode makes it clear that all the outside air contains part of the cloud as you will steadily lose Health even when not physically standing in or moving through a visible Cloud lastly the cloud is mentioned again in a terminal by the maintenance workers as being a cloud cocktail implying that there is a mixture of many different things together that make up what we refer to as the cloud so I don't think the cloud is any single kind of chemical but a combination or mixture of many kinds I also think that there's a distinct component that is all or mostly made up of particulate matter AKA dust and another component that is a mixture of gases this would help explain why there are visible pockets of the cloud that can be seen but also an invisible component that is still strong enough to reduce health and corrode metal now it is certainly possible that the difference between the visible and invisible parts of the cloud is simply because of concentration where we see the cloud there's just a metric butt ton of the cloud all in one space and everywhere else it's spread out and dilute enough to no longer be visible but is still dangerous there are a couple other reasons though why I think that there is a particulate or dust-like component that is separate from a mixture of less visible gases we have learned that the cloud has several interesting properties that can help us start to narrow down some potential candidates the first trait I want to consider is that the cloud is corrosive we know that it corroded the metal in the dark light suits making it impossible for the user to open the suit and get out so the cloud corrodes metal according to Elijah it causes some things to Decay his word not mine and it is this property that keeps some of the safety equipment like rebreathers and chemical suits from being useful against the cloud there are a handful of acids that could fit the bill here corroding metals and eating away at many kinds of materials but whoa there rad who said anything about acids the cloud is pretty obviously a gas or gas particulate mixture and how does that translate to any sort of acid well some gases especially those that are made of very electronegative elements like chlorine or fluorine will react with water or water vapor to make different acids that could start to corrode metals and eat through other materials like hypochlorous acid as just an example so these could be viable options in our Cloud concoction another trait seems to be exactly opposite of the corrosiveness and that is that the cloud seems to have a preserving effect Elijah says as much when he says anything the cloud has touched has preserved it one way or another right now at projects this casino preserves it used to preserve other old world relics at the same time how can the cloud be both corrosive and cause Decay while preserving things as well well another aspect of some of these gases that I mentioned before specifically chlorine and fluorine gas is that they are extremely toxic against organic life chlorine dioxide is a well-known decontaminating gas that has been shown to destroy bacteria spores viruses fungi and molds and if this gas or one like it were part of the cloud cocktail it could explain how some things seem to get preserved some objects or materials that would have otherwise biodegraded could last much longer if they are being regularly exposed to strong antimicrobial gas alright I will fully admit that this one is kind of a stretch but there is a process in metal production and metal work that is called pickling this process uses acids more often than not hydrochloric acid in specific ways to remove impurities in the metal often for steel where it removes oxide scale could this through some funky Fallout science be happening with some of these structures that Elijah says are being preserved by the cloud it's a stretch but so is radiation turning people into Ghouls and I thought I would at least mention it because of how specific Elijah is when he brings up how the cloud seems to preserve buildings and structures I have mentioned chlorine a few times and I want to zero in more on this because I think the evidence Bears out that the cloud likely consists of a mixture of many chlorine-based gases just pure chlorine gas or cl2 is very toxic and attacks the respiratory system the eyes and skin all characteristics of the cloud we see in game and hero through terminal entries it is denser than air and therefore can easily be trapped in spaces with little or no ventilation another attribute of the cloud that we see throughout the DLC with all that said chlorine gas is actually a very noticeable sickly yellow color not the red that we see with the cloud and it also doesn't obstruct light enough even in high concentrations to completely conceal objects like the cloud can however not every part of the Sierra Madre is a pale red color Cuesta Del Sol is noticeably different and although it can be hard to tell because of the lighting appears to be more of a yellow color than anything else and I'm not saying that this is intentionally thought out to reflect the presence of chlorine gas or anything like that it's just obvious that the cloud has more diverse coloring than just red so a yellow chlorine gas shouldn't be immediately discounted now to the part that really lynches the idea that chlorine based gases are to blame for a large portion of the cloud or May maybe even the bulk of it and it has to do with the ability of the cloud to penetrate through protective equipment chlorine plays a key role in the creation of many and I mean many Lethal agents that are considered chemical weapons that are banned from use by anyone with a functioning brain blistering agents blood agents choking agents mustard gases and arsenicals are dominated by chlorine bearing substances methyl dichloroirosine will not only win a Scrabble game for you but it will also kill you dead in the process this is a liquid that can be aerosolized attacking the eyes the respiratory system as well as causing blistering on the skin and was used as a chemical weapon in World War One there are more extreme symptoms including convulsions abdominal pain and eventually death and most importantly this substance is known to penetrate rubber any protective equipment that relies only on rubber for protection or using rubber as a sealant will allow methyl dick which is its actual nickname to pass through and start doing damage Cyanogen chloride is another extremely dangerous colorless gas that causes coughing confusion vomiting convulsions paralysis and eventually death and has been shown to penetrate a number of filters commonly used on gas masks due to this the the U.S which discovered it discounted it in any real capacity because their own gas masks couldn't protect against it these are just a few chlorinated substances that can defeat protective equipment and chlorine is way over represented in these kinds of deadly substances additionally we are told that the cloud has a slight smell of sulfur and wouldn't you know it chlorine is an important component of most nitrogen and sulfur mustard gases as well many of these gases are described as having an onion garlic or somewhat sulfuric kind of smell which could absolutely be because of the presence of one of these mustard gases this is all to say that I think that the gas portion of the cloud is a mixture of many chlorine based gases all at different proportions and decaying and reacting with each other and the materials around them in various unpredictable ways that can emulate the attributes that we see from the cloud like smelling faintly of sulfur rapid corrosion penetration of protective equipment but also paradoxically preserving some things from Decay so this brings me to the second part of the cloud that I think exists based on what is said by in-game sources and that is the particulate or dust portion we know the gas is described as a red dust cloud as well as tasting strongly of copper copper oxide one or cuprous oxide is one of the principal oxides of copper that can vary in color but is often seen in an unmistakable red color Cooper's oxide is used in several applications like semiconductors pigment and anti-fouling agents like the iconic red paint on the whole of older ships that helps keep organisms from attaching to the metal these anti-fouling and fungicidal applications could also Aid in the preservation of materials touched by the cloud but more than anything would explain the copper taste the red color and the lack of visibility in higher concentrations copper oxide 1 will over time turn into copper oxide too which is black and since this copper oxide would be fine particulate matter it would fall out of suspension over time if it's not being actively agitated this could account for the cloud residue that we can encounter and scavenge in game the cloud residue seems to be a kind of dark super viscous liquid that can be heated and turned into a chem or consumable with beneficial effects and this could be some of the copper oxide that fell out of suspension mixed with a bunch of the gases and their reactants that we have already spoken of and for the record copper oxide 2 is actually used as a copper supplement so there is a precedent for its consumption now this really just leaves one aspect of the cloud that we can't really account for and that is the creation of the ghost people it is hard to even speculate on the mechanism that could turn a human body into a ghoul-like primal and long living state so that is where I ask you how you think the cloud May create the ghost people it is obvious though that the dark light suits are tied to the creation of the ghost people since the only ghost people that are ever encountered are only found inside those suits and we know those suits themselves were also experiments it makes sense that the experiment would be on the humans inside of the suits because if the Big MT was interested in how the cloud and the suits interact well they could just put both into a test chamber at the Big MT and do that test themselves the corrosion of the locks I did not let the user out is likely purposeful as is the slow penetration of the cloud into the suit making the poor souls that became the ghost people just some in a long line of unwitting test subjects whose greatest Misfortune was just being subjected to Big Mountain technology however due to the large lack of information related to the ghost people and their condition I won't speculate any further here and instead talk more in depth about the ghost people and in an upcoming video so what do you think of my conclusions is it convincing enough to assume that the cloud may be a concoction of chlorine gases and copper oxide dust I want to hear your thoughts or alternate theories that fit the lore evidence well as well as any other thoughts about the cloud dead money has gone through an evolution for me I hated it at first because of how restricted I felt between the cloud and the radios and while I did appreciate the horror part of the DLC the survival part just felt weird to me in a Fallout game I have come to love the DLC as time has gone on but maybe I can save some of these thoughts for some sort of retrospective video a huge thank you to making it this far and to my patrons whose contributions Blood Sweat and Tears have helped establish the first church of Adam in Appalachia that's right Mothman move over because this game is only big enough for one cult take care of yourselves brothers and sisters and I'll see you next week foreign

Channel: RadKing

Views: 279,171

Keywords: fallout new vegas, Sierra Madre, fallout cloud, Dead money lore

Id: IXSPBbZeMYg

Length: 37min 17sec (2237 seconds)

Published: Mon Jun 12 2023