FEV Complete History, Lore and Speculation

FEV is such an integral part of Fallout that it finds itself in every single game, either directly or indirectly. Let's give FEV its due and dive deep into this incredible piece of lore, compare against real world science and speculate on the fuzzy parts of the lore.

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Timestamps:

1:14: FEV history
30:31: FEV lore, real world parallels
46:54: FEV speculation, lore questions and conflicts
57:40: Comment highlights

[barkbuck]

Gameplay wise, I'm sick of seeing super mutants, especially since they're all roughly the same enemy since FO1. Lore wise however, I love the existence of FEV and that multiple factions just keep experimenting with it. We just need more Harolds, Franks, and Masters for characters and Floaters, Wanamingos, and (ideally multiple designs) Centaurs for enemies.

[sharonratner]

I wonder if humans after the war who were more sensitive to radiation has less efficient immune systems, because white blood cells were less likely to identify cells with mutations. This also explains why FEV evolves more rapidly in more irradiated individual, since the white blood cells that recognise mutated cells also recognise virus infected cells

[crislouise]

One FEV incident you left out was grayditch in fallout 3 with giant ants being altered with FEV in a attempted to make them smaller but instead they ended up being able to spray fire like a flamethrower.

[TwentyOneBunSalute]

I love the Super Mutants in FO3 and New Vegas that were treated like SCP Containment Breaches. They were dangerous, dark stories that you got to play through. FO4 Super Mutants were used more like orcs lol

[jacobmiller]

personally, my theory on the institute's use of fev in synth creation is that they used it to alter the dna enough from the base specimen from shaun to achieve genetic diversity. otherwise, the synths would be clones, rather than synthetic humans.

[tinaherr]

I have a potential solution (or something to add) to the FEV airborne debate. The Enclave report said that there were trace amounts of FEV exposure in the people of the region. However, relying on this as a piece of evidence assumes that the report is infallible, when it isn't. Think about it: how would the Enclave actually *get* this data?. They would have to get DNA samples from subjects. But how would they get the DNA samples from everyone in post-war California? I highly doubt they have a sign asking for people to come in and give their blood or hair. The Enclave were a secretive group, not interacting with outsiders unless it was to obtain something important (chemical supplies from the Salvatores, killing the Brotherhood of Steel member who stole some vertibird schematics). Most of the population don't even know of their existence. So I believe that the Enclave only got DNA samples from the people they have kidnapped. And based on the fact that no one is talking about mass disappearances, I believe that the Enclave only kidnapped a handful of wastelanders, and not enough to cause suspicions.Therefore, the Enclave report does not apply to 100% of the people in the region. So I believe that the people that the Enclave captured were people (or their descendents) who were near the Glow (West Tek facility) and got exposed to small amounts of FEV that were scattered around that local area. So the FEV wouldn't need to be airborne in order for the Enclave report to be made.


TLDR: Enclave realistically couldn't have gotten DNA from everyone in California, so their report saying that everyone was partially infected with FEV is not accurate.

[KngMaxwell]

i used to have a big problem with super mutants anywhere but fallout 1 but this video made me okay with them showing up anywhere cause i had no idea FEV was researched in so many areas

[falloutshorts]

One whole hour of RadKing Fallout lore, yes please🙌

[KhrZygarde]

FEV is fascinating to me, since it's tests, especally the tests on Huntersville reminds me of the Tuskegee Syphilis experiments (and if you don't know what those were, look them up, it's saddening what our own government does to some of it's constitutes when they don't think of them as people. )

[ServantOfOdin]

There is another possibility about WesTek: When the facility blew up and the strains were thrown around, even with the best possible winds and other aerial carrying factors, it couldn't have gotten that far. But! What if the "aerosol" fell into soil and reached ground water, or fell into a river and polluted the river? A barrel in the right (or wrong) spot in some crevasse trickling a drop every minute into a flowing river can contaminate anything and anyone drinking it downstream the whole way to the ocean for decades, perhaps even centuries.
But, this is the only thing that I can think of to make the theory work that the WesTek-FEV is not airtransmittable. This would make it hardly air-transmissible, only the initial burst was a forceful transmission after all, the major transmission was water-based - which dilluted it sufficiently to give everyone a certain immunity without mutating them.

[renegade]

Doing a video on all cut creatures of Fallout would be awesome. Also, I know I said this before, but a video on the companies of Fallout who be cool too.

[shayminthedoctor]

Man, I love just putting one of Radking's videos on in the background while I build. And this one's a full hour long
A real treat

[ponyperson]

Holy nuke!! It's an hour long...

Please, do continue

[Tarma__]

Keep it up Rad king! I've loved watching you grow :)

[candidization]

Immunologist here. Since mega viruses are so big, most are able to survive long durations of inactivity. Even if they aren't air transmissable, it getting kicked up into the air, it would act as neucleation sites for rain clouds. Once it rains the virus is in the water, essentially exposing all life that needs water to the virus.

[neetard]

I appreciate how people make vids about games with such inconsistent lore as fallout with such heart, vigor & interest
Y'all are genuinely epic for such dedication on such genuinely difficult topics, cheers m8!

[Vquid]

Just yesterday I was looking at your channel wondering when you would be back, this is awesome!

[millerboy]

It’s been a long time since I’ve been able to watch any YouTube, but man, your channel looks way more awesome since I was here last. Great content!

[MediumRareOpinions]

If that quad helix in Fallout is radiation damage resistant, do you think the children of Atom are "blessed" with such an adaption?

[shedninjareal]

YAY radchan posted~ all jokes aside please keep up the content