New California Republic

The New California Republic (NCR) is a fictional post-War republic from the post-apocalyptic Fallout franchise. Operating primarily out of Southern California, it serves as an attempted governing body for the wasteland, including some portions of Oregon and Nevada, along with further colonization efforts in Arizona and the Baja California area of Mexico.

The NCR first appeared in Fallout 2, and later served as a key element to the plot of Fallout: New Vegas. It reappeared in the 2024 television adaptation based on the video game series.

Structure
The New California Republic is a republic in Fallout: New Vegas; it has a professional military and system of elected government, collects taxes from trade routes, and has laws prohibiting gambling and prostitution. The faction's primary goal is to reestablish a formal governing body for the wasteland. A democracy, one of the major policies of the NCR is upholding the rights of posthuman beings such as ghouls.

Appearances


The New California Republic was first mentioned in an ending to the original Fallout, and then appeared as a major faction in Fallout 2. Its most prominent appearance was in Fallout: New Vegas, where the NCR featured as a major element to the game's plot. The faction engages in war against the Brotherhood of Steel, and actively fights against Caesar's Legion for control over the Hoover Dam, which the NCR uses to provide themselves and civilians with power and water. The NCR also fights over post-war Las Vegas and the Mojave Desert region. Additionally, the cover art for the game depicts an NCR Ranger. The NCR is additionally referenced in Fallout 4.

In the 2024 television adaptation Fallout, the character Lee Moldaver (Sarita Choudhury) is depicted as an NCR leader seeking cold fusion in order to power the surrounding area. The NCR previously operated from its founding location, a settlement called Shady Sands. Following the NCR's rise in political power over California, Shady Sands was completely destroyed by a nuclear bomb dropped by Vault-Tec employee and Vault 33 Overseer Hank MacLean (Kyle MacLachlan). During the beginning of the show, Moldaver leads a raid upon Vault 33 and kidnaps MacLean, prompting his daughter, Lucy MacLean (Ella Purnell), to leave the vault to search for him.

Promotion and merchandise
On June 17, 2021, Bethesda released limited-edition, wearable NCR Desert Ranger helmets. The helmets, listed with a limited quantity of 500, were sold out right after being put up for sale.

Reception
Kristine Steimer of IGN labelled the NCR as "bloated and ineffective at protecting its people" during her review of Fallout: New Vegas, while Dan Whitehead of Eurogamer granted that the NCR had brought "semblance of order" to the Wasteland. In 2017, a man cosplaying as a New California Republic character in Grande Prairie, Alberta, Canada, was arrested after members of the public mistook him for an individual carrying a bomb. Following the release of the 2024 television adaptation, the New California Republic's lore came into question by Fallout fans who discovered apparent contradictions between the timeline of events surrounding the show's sixth episode and events from Fallout: New Vegas.

With the destruction of NCR's base of operations in Shady Sands in the television series, Fallout fans questioned the faction's future. In an interview with IGN, Bethesda executive producer Todd Howard responded by teasingly remarking "I don't think you've heard the last of the NCR." Howard additionally noted that the NCR after all had operations beyond California, implying that the destruction of Shady Sands will not be the end for the republic.