The people in the Park and who live in Montana don’t call the world around them The Wasteland. They don’t see it as a ruined world.

Montana was hit harder than the Park, having Great Falls wiped off the map but for most people in rural communities after the bombs fell... the world continued on. Farmers and ranchers kept up their land and animals, helped their neighbors and planted bigger gardens. The sun still shined and the mountains still stood so they continued on. Radiation hit some places harder, but they adapted and continued to thrive. The Bitterroot flowers still grew, though now they were glowing, and the meadowlarks still sang.

The Park struggled more right after the war to get footing but everyone there had an appreciation for the natural beauty of the Park and that appreciation was passed on to the newer generations. It’s hard to watch geysers erupt and the sun come up over the Lake and think the world you’re living in is a wasteland.

Well you don’t have to have an iconic place cause really it’s the little things! Every place is special!

For me how I worked I thought of okay before the war what would have changed look at the canon of what happened in other places and think how it would work in Montana

Like the coal companies in West Virginia seemed to keep operating a bit after the war so I thought what if the Coal Companies in Eastern Montana became fuedal barons? Chinese internment camps were a thing in canon and Montana and Wyoming were locations of real life Japanese internment camps so it makes sense if they opened them again in those places, so Camp Crazy mountain became a thing.

Aka the first of many posts about my ideas of Montana in the Fallout Universe

First, this is mostly based in South-Central Montana cause that’s were I’ve been raised and I’m the most familiar with.

Let’s get one thing out right off the bat. Billings falls into Raider chaos in a half-hour tops. That city is on the brink of chaos to begin with so it’s not a far fall. They also rename the city to Killings (thanks @wolfsskull for that one), but basically everyone think that’s stupid and still call it Billings.

The Metra event plaza turns into a Colosseum where people do crazy stuff like fight yao gaui and deathclaws and also rodeos cause it’s Montana. They most likely have a market there of crazy raider things.

The refineries that are in Billings are most likely nuclear facilities in the fallout Universe and also most likely filled to the brim with ghouls and is a very dangerous place to be. But when powered up again it would power the city of Billings.

The Logan International Airport is empty until the Brotherhood of Steel show up, and turn the Airport into a base of operations hoping to take Billings from the raiders and power the city.

Obviously, they are in a stalemate.

The Brotherhood of Steel came to Billings from Butte. They were highly interested in the mining in Butte and all the technology. Underneath the city in the tunnels there are ghouls from the people that tried to run from the bombs, but it obviously didn’t work. In the Berkeley Pit, the toxic water (it’s more like sludge) lead way to a new kind mirelurk creature that is faster and deadlier. And being around the Pit makes you super sick being around it so don’t go around it.

Great Falls and the surrounding area is basically a giant crater. The Airforce Base and surrounding neclear silos made it a target. It’s full of radiation and ghouls, and monsters. In the middle, however, there is a surprising oasis. The Giant Spring is still producing clean, non radioactive water, and the small surrounding park, is a safe place to be in the middle of the dangers.

The town of Big Timber, before the war was neighbor to a Chinese Internment Camp, Called the Crazy Mountain Internment Camp. (Heavily influenced by the real life Heart Mountain Internment Camp in Wyoming. Look it up it’s heartbreaking) after the war the locals of Big Timber and the Chinese-Americans from the Camp founded Camp Crazy Mountain, Taking all the military structures from the Internment Camp to make a fortified settlement. They are very distrustful of outsiders.

The small communities that dot the backroads and along I-90 are actually thriving. Many towns have large Brahmin ranches with cowboys on Sleipners and Hayburners and the rare non-mutated horses to herd the Brahmin and Big Horners.

There is actually some sort of law in the state as well. From the ruins of the highway patrol and volunteers came The Vigilantes. They adopted a Old West Form of justice, where they are the judge, jury and executioner. Often times they go along the I-90 and backroads helping caravans and checking in on communities. But when Justice is needed they act fast. Every community under their protection have a sheriff’s star painted on the gates. They also bring back the practice of painting a “3-7-77” on the doors of people, warning them to get out of town or be on the receiving end of Justice.

After the Great War, local law enforcement fell to the wayside in favor of taking care of one ownself. Individual communities stuck it out by themselves until the Raiders from Billings, and Highwaymen began making themselves a problem for the ranchers, and towns.

Former law enforcement, banded together to bring back Old West Justice. They do not have an official, single leader; they operate on popular opinion of the communities they serve. Each town under protection of the Vigilantes have their brand on the gates of the town.

Typically, each town in the Vigilante Network has a representative who stays in town, and acts as a sheriff (The Exception of Camp Crazy Mountain). They rely on the townsfolk and word of mouth to learn when Raiders are going to attack next, so they can thwart the attempts. There are a few informants who work for the Vigilantes.

The Vigilantes also patrol along the old I-90 interstate where Highwaymen hit caravans and travelers.

Their justice system is a brutal one, but is swift. When a crime occurs the Vigilantes are usually informed immediately. The severity of the crime determines the severity of the punishment. Theft, petty crimes, and first-time raider activity ends with a slap on the wrist, a couple weeks in the town jail. Second time offenders get a harsher sentence. Third time offenders in towns and murderers get a different treatment; on their homes they get a “3-7-77” painted on the outside, an old Montanan practice warning that they have to leave town within three days, seven hours, and seventy-seven minutes or be in the receiving end of Justice, whether it be hanging, or exile. (Usually Hanging since exile results in more raiders).

Captured Raiders are often interrogated, in order to get more information out of them, and are usually hanged when their usefulness runs out. Cattle-rustling, and horse thieves are hung as well.

I can see there are people techy and mechanically inclined to rebuild robots and use them for farming and stuff and the raiders in Billings definitely program them for robot fights but I don’t see a real organized group.