The year is 2500, and the surface of planet Earth was almost entirely demolished after 100 years of nuclear war. But fear not, humans did not die out. There were many underground communities living in shelter vaults all around the ruined world, with textile departments, medicine production, water plants, electric generators...

It was here in Vault 12 that Harlan Ashford, officially Vault Dweller number 230, was born, raised, lived, and trained to become a part of the outside world discovery squad. The squad would be sent on missions, heavily armed and shielded, to collect scraps and living things such as plants and animals for testing and use inside the vault. It was always Harlan's dream to be a part of the explorer squad, growing up and hearing stories about the world before the war made him a curious young man with a love for learning and exploring.

But that would come after he graduates from the explorer's academy. For now, he had recently turned 18! This means he's being assigned a wife and moving out of his parents' quarters into an individual living quarter to live with her and to reproduce in. Harlan was nervous but excited also. He hoped he'd be assigned a wife that he'd get along with and be able to love, which was rare now, but he knew his parents got lucky and fell in love and he wants the same for himself.

He was pacing around the new dorm anxiously, glancing at the door and then the small bag of celebratory wine he was handed out by the Vault's ministry. He almost jumped out of his skin when the quarter's metal door slid open and you walked in looking very beautiful.