"Men were lost precisely because they wanted to save their labor. They had built a thousand and one kinds of machines. Each of them replaced one of their gestures, one of their efforts. They worked, walked, looked, listened for them. They no longer knew how to use their hands. They no longer knew how to exert themselves, to see, to hear.
Around their bones, their flesh had uselessly melted away. In their brains, all the knowledge of the world was reduced to the operation of these machines. When they stopped, all at once, by the will of Heaven, men found themselves like oysters torn from their shells. All that remained for them was to die..."
Ashes, Ashes - René Barjavel
The Shirabyōshi
Melee // Explosives Character Build for Fallout New Vegas
The Shirabyoshi is a build that aims to provide a cohesive and different experience to the female legionniare character for FNV. She is a proud and strong woman who believe that the old world died because it relied too much on technology and that it's a poisoned gift that slowly renders him useless and incapable of doing anything with his own hands. She seeks to create a feudal world of farmers and artisants, a pure world in her mind, under the rule of Caesar's legion.
In combat, The Shirabyoshi blows her ennemies with missiles of her missile launcher and then cleans whatever is left of them with swift and elegant cuts of her katana.
Backstory
The Shirabyoshi was born in one of the 17 control vaults of the United-States. Unlike most builds by Vault-tec. This one wasn't meant to serve any kind of experiment which allowed its inhabitants to leave in peace for more than 200 years. Disconected from the horrors of the post war world. She was a singer, loved by the people for her angelic voice and feminine charms. Life in this vault had an innocent flair to it that is usually reserved to toddlers. They ate processed foods produce in their automatic factories. Spent most of their days watching pre-war holotapes and indulging in artistic activities, having all the dirty work handled for them by robots. They had no idea what chicken or a cow looked like. For them, it was just the peace of meat handled to them on a plastic plate at lunch hours.
At that point if was almost like if the vault vas autonomus and its inhabitants were just cattle feeding on its fruits. Like Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. But like that story from the Bible, that one didn't ended well...
Over time, the vault structure started to had more and more technical problems. From brief power outage from robots bugging to end with bigger problems like water interruption and diseases running in the vault. The inhabitants were rendered helpless and dazed before the crumbling of their small underground world. Years of having any work handled to them by mechanical hand at made them completely incompetent and ultimately useless. With no competent doctor, engineer, electrician, coock, mechanist, soldier and so many more what was once a paradise transformed into an hell undergroud.
One day, a group of raiders managed to open the vault door. They pillaged it of any valuable it had left and took the survivors as slaves. The young Shirabyoshi was one of these unlucky few.
My idea is to make her a former vault dweller of a vault which crumbled to dust after the technology they rellied on stopped working. She was the only survivor and she had to learn to survive for herself in a harsh world. She spent a harsh decade in the wasteland and she came to hate technology and learn the importance of being able to do things with her own hands (cocking food, fight with a sword, repairing guns, salvage robots...). She manage to survive where many other died.
One day, she fell in love with a raider gang chief who respected her for her beauty and her smarts. At his side, she learned leardership and she read a plethora of books including Ashes Ashes by René Barjavel which helped her build her personal philosphy on technology. That it's a poisoned gift that slowly render humans useless and unable to act for themselves, disconnecting them from reality.
Upon the death of her husband she found herself back on the roads again, wandering in the wasteland. She took job as a courrier. You know the rest.
Roleplay
- Prioritize the main quest first to get the gear as quickly as possible.
- After Caesar succomb to his tumor, she is devastated and will traval outside of the Mojave to places like Zion or the the Divide. Giving her ample time to reflect on the future of the legion (and giving you time to play with her gear)
- Help those on your travels who deserve it and aren't ennemies to the legion. Proving its efficient by doing what the NCR and other can't.
- Meet all the females followers in the game (except Veronica) and do all the quest they have to offer.
- Those who relies too much on their technology like the brotherhood of steel or the boomers are your ennemies.
The lose of Caesar absolutely broke her. Even tho his death would not mean the end of the legion, she just lost the man who took her in and gave her a reason to fight in the harsh lands of the Mojave. Simply because she didn't have the skills required to save him. She still manage to convince Lucius that she wasn't responsable for her death and still intend to serve Lanius just like she did for Caesar but she need a break to morn the lose of her mentor figure.
This is the moment to complete all 4 stories expansions DLC and any secondary quest you wish to complete. Since by the time you get your hands on Caesar's armor when siding with the legion you will only be two quest away from the end of the game. Hoewever, saving the DLC for last give you ample to time to enjoy your fully equiped Shirabyoshi for as long as possible. And all of these DLC provide some great opportunities for character developpement too !
In Honest Hearts, she gets to meet with the legendary burned man the legion fear so much. She listen to him talking about god and his experience in the legion, also of his regrets concerning his relationship with Edward Sallow. She find his resilience, wisdom and desire to purge Zion of his tribe's ennemies admirable and she will put aside the rules of the legion concerning the burned man aside to help his noble cause. Refusing to hear any of Daniel's patronising nonsense. I know that the White Legs fight Joshua Grahamas because Caesar promised them to absorb their tribe into the Legion. But Caesar is dead now, and she has now qualms about eterminating a tribe of idiotic savages to support Joshua and the fact that you never hear anyone in the Mojave talk about the White Legs pretty much confirm the Legion does not care at all for that faction. So The Shirabyoshi will gladely whipe them out to allow Joshua to make peace with his past and the tribes of Zion to live in peace.
Dead Money is also interesting for that character (even tho you cant bring your cool outfit when abducted into the Sierra Madre) as it force her to think and act like a warchief in order to get every member of her squad out of the casino alive. Here she face Elijah, the former elder of the brotherhood of steel, a man she somehow find even more despicable than Mr House because of his technophiliac ideology. She cannot stand all the horrors he commited just to get his hand on pre-war artifacts and the fact that she wiped out the Brotherhood of steel at this point immediatly cimment a deep hatred between the two.
At the end of the DLC, she also get some gold that could prove very usefull for the upcoming battle of Hoover Dam.
For her hate of technology and people who cling on the old world. Old World Blues is also nice to do for her.
And like most character, the peak of her roleplay is researched during Lonesome Road, the last step of your journey before the second battle of Hoover Dam.
The journey of the Shirabyoshi ends with NCR permanently withdrawing from New Vegas, some tribes like the boomers, the kings and the brotherhood of steel wipped out, the khans absorbed into the legion whom's now control the entire region. Even tho this is your end of your journey as The Shirabyoshi, her will continue beyond the game. Now a high ranked solider in the legion, and the only one who can plead for women's cause. She is resilient and confident in her abilities to change the Legion for the best. Even tho she might never find peace for herself unlike so many people she encountered in her journey, she understand that acting for a better world is more important that her own comfort. Her resilience and desire to pursue her effort beyond the war can be summoned up by a quote from Joshua Grahams "it's better to be clean than comfortable"
Gear and weapons
Armor
Caesar's Armor (+5 to Survival and Speech)
Breathing Mask (+5 Radiation Resistance)
Weapons
Annabelle (Missile launcher)
Katana
S.P.E.C.I.A.L
Strength – 7 → Melee damage + perks like Unstoppable Force
Perception – 6 → For Better Criticals
Endurance – 6 → Toughness, Stonewall, decent DT
Charisma – 4 → Speech dialogue checks (no perks needed)
Intelligence – 6 → Skill gain
Agility – 7 → Melee speed, Slayer
Luck – 7 → Better Criticals, crit synergy with katana
Traits
Built to Destroy +3 Critical Chance
Claustrophobia + 1 to SPECIAL attributes while outside.
Skills:
Tagged: Explosives; Melee ; Repair
Minor: Speech ; Survival
| Perk | Effect | Requirements |
|---|
| Heave Ho! | +50% throwing/explosive range | STR 5 |
| Black Widow | +10% damage to male enemies, unique dialogue | — |
| Toughness (Rank 1) | +3 Damage Threshold | END 5 |
| Hit the Deck | +25% explosive damage resistance | Explosives 70 |
| Stonewall | +5 DT vs melee/unarmed, immune to knockdowns | STR 6, END 6 |
| Strong Back | +50 lbs carry weight | STR 5, END 5 |
| Demolition Expert (Rank 1) | +20% explosive damage | Explosives 50 |
| Toughness (Rank 2) | +3 additional DT (total +6) | END 5 |
| Demolition Expert (Rank 2) | +20% more explosive damage | Explosives 70 |
| Better Criticals | +50% critical hit damage | PER 6, LCK 6 |
| Splash Damage | Increased explosive radius | Explosives 70 |
| Piercing Strike | Melee ignores 15 DT | Unarmed 70 (temporary boost allowed) |
| Demolition Expert (Rank 3) | +20% more explosive damage | Explosives 70 |
| Jury Rigging | Repair with similar item types | Repair 90 |
| Unstoppable Force | +25% melee damage vs blocking enemies | STR 7, Melee 90 |
| Purifier | +50% melee damage vs abominations | — |
| Slayer | +30% melee/unarmed attack speed | AGI 7, Unarmed 90 (temporary boost allowed) |
| Hunter | +75% critical damage against animals | Survival 30 |
| Travel Light | +10% movement speed in light armor | Survival 45 |
| Terrifying Presence | Intimidate foes in dialogue (unique Legion fit) | Speech 70 |
| Rad Resistance | +25% radiation resistance | END 5 |
Inspirations
- Princess Mononoke (1997) by Hayao Miyazaki (Lady Eboshi)
- Ashes, Ashes (1943) by René Barjavel (Blanche)
- Ching Shih (鄭氏) historical character
- Shizuka Gozen (静御前) historical character
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