For Raul, the Enclave mechanic in Fallout 2, see Raul (Fallout 2). |
Raul Alfonso Tejada[1] is a ghoul mechanic and former gunslinger in the Mojave Wasteland in 2281. He is a possible companion of the Courier.
Background[]
Hidalgo Ranch[]
Born in 2047,[2] Raul Tejada has a long and storied history. Before the war, he lived at Hidalgo Ranch owned by his family outside Mexico City where he developed skill in using both firearms and mechanic tools, both of which occasionally got him in trouble with the law, although Raul's close family ties mostly kept him in line. When not practicing with his guns or helping maintain or repair machines, he consumed tabloid magazines like El Periódico de las Aburridas reporting on events like a scandalous story about a starlet who dated American businessman Robert House.
When the Great War erupted in 2077 and Mexico City was bombarded, the ranch survived largely intact due to its distance from the city. However, in the days following, the stream of refugees from more heavily affected areas proved difficult to deal with. The Tejada family was as accommodating as they could be, but they soon began running out of food and lodgings and ultimately had to start turning people away. Many did not take kindly to this, forcing Raul and his father to arm themselves and force the hostiles off the ranch.[3]
That same night, after the Tejadas had gone to sleep, around two dozen people arrived, barred the doors, and set the house ablaze. Raul and his younger sister Rafaela were the only ones who managed to escape, climbing out a window while their parents, grandmother, two other brothers, and two other sisters were unable to escape. They had no time to mourn, however, as they were pursued by the group that attacked their home. Raul turned his guns on them, killing many but not all. The survivors he left behind, not wanting to risk Rafaela's safety over raw revenge.[4]
Mexico City[]
After the loss of his family, Raul knew that they could not stay at their ranch anymore, forced to flee by the refugees who wanted him dead for killing their family members. They even put a bounty on him. Despite his sister's fears, he convinced Rafaela to come with him to Mexico City by promising to take her to see the vaqueros (Spanish for "cowboys"). Being so young and unaware of the world, neither knew anything about nuclear bombs and especially not radiation. Though it wasn't hit as hard as other places in America, by the time the Tejadas reached Mexico City, according to an older Raul, it was little better than a "radioactive ruin." The survivors that made their way inside the city got by through looting, a foundation for the future tribes of raiders infesting the area. The Tejadas themselves were living like scavengers, constantly searching for both food and medicine for radiation burns Raul sustained in the process, what he believes marked the beginning of his ghoulification.[5]
One day, Raul found a novelty costume shop and went looking for something to slice up and bandage his burns with. Then he found an old vaquero outfit, still untouched on the rack, and took it to wear. When he returned to their camp, Rafaela immediately loved it; she was smiling and laughing for the first time since the bombs and the loss of their family. However, Raul was fully aware of how dangerous it was to be dressed in something so noticeable. Soon after, between wearing such a distinctive outfit and his stellar gunslinging skills, Raul gained equal fame and notoriety as the "Ghost of Mexico City," a reputation that drove off trouble most of the time, but it also began attracting more problems in the form of would-be gunslingers hoping for glory by killing him. Despite the constant hassles of these challenges, Raul kept wearing the outfit due to the joy he saw it bring to his sister, and so the Ghost's legend continued to grow. With a renewed optimism for their futures, Raul started to play with the thought of carving out a permanent niche in Mexico City, but things would not work out.[6]
Eventually, the debilitating effects of his radiation poisoning caught up to Raul and he found himself too ill to go out scavenging with his sister, so Rafaela was left to gather supplies on her own. One fateful day, after she failed to return from a market she was scavenging for food, Raul forced himself out of his sickbed and went in search of her. To his horror, he found her brutally dead, likely raped and then killed by a group of raiders that came through the area. They left the corpse so badly mutilated Raul could only identify his sister by a tiny childhood scar on her knee. Completely consumed by anger and thoughts of revenge, Raul tracked down the raiders responsible at the market and killed them to the last man. Afterward, he furiously shunned wearing the vaquero outfit that had brought him the fame and he felt got his sister killed, though at the same time, held onto it for sentimental reasons.[7]
Two-Sun[]
Leaving every aspect of his former life behind, he wandered for a long time, getting as far as the Gulf Coast where he came to inhabit an unclaimed Petró-Chico refinery. He spent another long period of time there, thinking about his life. At one point, he found a Petró-Chico jumpsuit and swapped his clothes for it, even taking the name "Miguel" from the suit's sewn-in name tag as an alias for fun. His travels afterward eventually led to the city of Tucson, Arizona, now called Two-Sun (a strong pet peeve of Raul's from then on). He settled there, putting his old repertoire of mechanic skills to use as a general handyman while keeping his guns stashed away where they could do no further harm. After a long 75 years of relative peace, one day, Raul saw from afar Claudia - a prostitute working in a local brothel who bore a striking resemblance to Rafaela. Spurred by this reminder of what he lost, he took the time to look out for her – though, for obvious reasons, he never visited her.[8]
The peace Raul coveted did not last forever. The former state of Arizona had become overrun with raiders and tribals between the Great War and the rise of Caesar's Legion to tame the area. Eventually, a group led by Dirty Dave and his six brothers rolled into town looking for supplies of bullets. Raul offered to sell them ammunition in the hope they would take it and leave; instead, the raiders decided they wanted the brothel. Once inside the brothel, Dave and his brothers mercilessly killed four girls and took Claudia for their own use before leaving. Raul chased them and caught up after three days. However, by the time he found Claudia, the raiders had cruelly executed her. Fueled by the same rage when Rafaela was killed, Raul charged in and killed all of them. Youth, however, was not on his side anymore and the raiders managed to inflict severe wounds on him in return before dying; he claims he only stayed alive purely to spite them.[9] Riddled with bullets, Raul was forced to recuperate at the camp until he got the strength to get up and walk back to Two-Sun where he could fully recover.[10]
Black Mountain[]
Dragged back into a depressed state, Raul left Two-Sun and wandered west, where he eventually arrived in the Mojave Wasteland. He built himself a small shack in a relatively quiet corner of the desert east of New Vegas, and settled down there, spending his days listening to the Black Mountain Radio. Some time prior to, or during 2281, Raul discovered the radio's signal had stopped transmitting and decided to wander up to Black Mountain to investigate. There, he was apprehended by the State of Utobitha but managed to negotiate a deal where he offered his services to Tabitha, the nightkin leader of the super mutants living at Black Mountain, and fix the transmitter, but to his dismay, Tabitha decided instead to imprison him for his efforts, and threatened him into working for her, mostly with repairing broken toasters for the super mutants as well as performing repairs to her broken Mr. Handy, Rhonda.[11]
Personality[]
By the time the Courier finds him during his captivity at Black Mountain, Raul has been beaten down by a hard life. He initially declines to tell anything about himself other than the name that his "boss" can call him by. He's highly prone to making self-deprecating jokes about his appearance as a ghoul and the physical effects of old age like arthritis in his knees, but does maintain enough self-respect to crack back against snarky comments made by others as well.
Raul is perhaps the most tolerant towards the Legion when compared to the other humanoid companions who generally fear the inevitable suffering should the Legion be victorious. Though he admits that their methods are extremely severe, he recognizes the effects of the Legion's presence in the wasteland, specifically the security and order they enforce like how they pacified the tribes of Arizona and wiped out the raiders there too, a far cry for what he remembered of the former state.[12] He expresses a similar indifference to the New California Republic, acknowledging both their successes and failures, like most pre-War governments had.[13] He also has quite an insightful amount of knowledge about Mr. House, since Raul was alive before the Great War and knows of House's previous exploits.[14][15]
Interactions with the player character[]
Interactions overview[]
Interactions | ||
---|---|---|
This character is essential. Essential characters cannot be killed. Hardcore mode | ||
This character is a permanent companion. They grant the Regular Maintenance, Full Maintenance and Old Vaquero perk. | ||
This character starts quests. | ||
This character is involved in quests. | ||
This character can repair items. | Max Repair condition: 100 |
Quests[]
- Crazy, Crazy, Crazy: Raul can be recruited as part of the quest, or simply by traveling to Black Mountain and busting him out. In order to free Raul, one needs to unlock his prison door, via the Very Hard-locked terminal next to the door. It can be accessed either by hacking it, or by receiving the password (123456789) for it, the latter of which can be found by reading entry 6 on the non-locked terminal in the same room.
- Old School Ghoul: While Raul is an active companion, talk to and exhaust all dialogue options for Loyal, Corporal Sterling, and Ranger Andy. Upon finishing the last conversation, Raul will open up a new dialogue with the Courier. Note that killing any of the non-player characters will cause the quest to fail, resulting in Raul's new apparel to be unobtainable, except through console commands.
Other interactions[]
- He is a very competent repairman, but it is only possible to use his services after dismissing him back to his shack. He will never offer any kind of a discount, however. Dismissing him to the Lucky 38 will not enable repairs.
- Sample prices: (Barter skill of 65)
- Laser RCW, CND +35% = 1,515 caps.
- Q-35 matter modulator, CND +13% = 754 caps.
- That Gun, CND +41% = 1,427 caps.
- NCR Ranger patrol armor, CND +85%, DT +6 = 663 caps.
- NCR salvaged power armor, CND +85%, DT +7 = 5,100 caps.
- NCR Ranger combat armor, CND +86%, DT +8 = 12,873 caps.
- Sierra Madre helmet, reinforced, +100%, DT +3 = 1,700 caps.
- Sierra Madre armor, reinforced, +99%, DT +9 = 1,979 caps.
- Raul will comment on, and eat, anything sweet put in his inventory, like Sunset Sarsaparilla. If a Sunset Sarsaparilla (or another sweet item, such as bubblegum) is put into his inventory, he'll say one of the following quotes:
- "You're going to rot my teeth, boss. What's left of them anyways."
- "How did you know I had sweet tooth, boss?"
- "Ahh, sarsaparilla. That's just what this dry old throat needs."
- Raul will make his state of being apparent if the player makes him do certain actions.
- If made to wear heavy armor, he will complain that the player is going to "destroy [his] knees faster than nature."
- When sneaking, he will make various remarks about how this won't go well. Primarily, he'll retort "Keeping quiet, unless my creaking knees give us away..." If convinced to take up his gun-slinging ways, he'll sarcastically comment on how well a ghoul vaquero will blend in with the scenery.
- When asked to stay close, he will say "any closer and you'll need a RadAway, boss." Since only glowing ones irradiate their surroundings, this is most likely just his sense of humor.
- When damaged enough, he will say "Boss! The pain from my wounds is starting to outweigh the pain from my arthritis!" He will also say "Boss! Is my jaw still attached? Good, can I get some help to keep it that way?"
- Raul has various sarcastic quips when the Courier is vilified by different factions such as the NCR, Caesar's Legion, and the Brotherhood of Steel.
- A Courier with low Intelligence will end up taking Raul's sarcasm literally.
Effects of player's actions[]
- If the player obtains Raul as a companion before dealing with Tabitha, she will broadcast her displeasure through her radio station, saying "No! I won't let you take my Raul!" Afterward, the station will no longer play music. She will then appear outside the prison building and attack with a few other nightkin.
- If the Courier deals with Tabitha and frees Raul but does not recruit him, he will take note of the Black Mountain radio silence and asks if he can leave.
- At the conclusion of his quest Old School Ghoul, Raul ends up in one of two mutually distinct situations:
- If he's convinced to permanently retire from his gunslinging ways and live peacefully as a mechanic, he dons an armored version of his jumpsuit and gains the Full Maintenance perk, an upgraded version of his original Regular Maintenance perk.
- If he's convinced to resume life as a gunslinger, protecting the innocent with his shooting skills, he dons his old vaquero outfit and gains the Old Vaquero perk which increases his rate of fire with revolvers and lever-action rifles.
Comments[]
- He has unique idle dialogue for locations around the Mojave:
Raul Tejada's comments | |
---|---|
Location | Comment |
Camp Forlorn Hope | Eesh. These soldiers look how I feel, boss. |
Sunset Sarsaparilla headquarters, Festus | It's like looking into a mirror. A tacky, cowboy-festooned mirror. |
Hoover Dam | I can't believe I'm about to do this, boss. If I buy it out there, I want twelve mariachi bands playing at my funeral. A medal might be nice, too. |
Jacobstown | Just putting this out there, boss: if these Super mutants kidnap us and force us to fix toasters for them, it's on you. |
REPCONN test site | Hey, I'm one of you! Don't eat me, eat the smoothskin! Oh, uh, sorry boss. |
Camp Searchlight | I guess hunting down ghouls like wild animals is okay. I mean, they're probably going to die anyways, right boss? |
Non-player character comments[]
- Most wastelanders will often comment negatively about his ghoul state, saying things such as "Your friend smells like a bag of rotting meat," or "Your friend is one ugly motherfucker!"
- The Fiends in Vault 3 will often remark "Your friend smells like ass," and "Take your pet ghoul away from me!" when fighting them.
- Gomorrah floor managers will treat Raul normally like other gamblers, assuring him that he can "have a good time" even if he's a ghoul.
- Hookers dancing in front of Gomorrah will occasionally comment "Mmm, I haven't had a ghoul before. Do I get to keep the tip?" - This is a reference to a dirty joke in which a man with leprosy hires a prostitute and says he "let her keep the tip," referring to a specific part of his anatomy detaching.
- Gamblers will remark on Raul being on the Strip, saying "I thought they didn’t allow ghouls on the Strip."
- Boomers will say "I've never seen a ghoul up close before. Not sure I wanted to."
- Brotherhood of Steel members will say "Oh good, now I have to put up with the stench of rotting ghoul as well. I hope the air filters are working."
- There will be unique dialogue when Raul is taken to certain locations:
- When brought into the NCR Embassy at the Strip, an MP will randomly approach the player just to comment on Raul (more specifically, to the presence of ghouls on the Strip).
Endings[]
# | Slide | Voice-over narration | In-game condition |
---|---|---|---|
1 | After a long and eventful life, Raul's luck finally ran out during his time with the Courier. |
Raul dies. (Will override all other endings) | |
2 | Still grappling with self-doubt over his usefulness in the face of old age, Raul was never able to find peace with himself. Eventually, he left the Mojave and assumed a new name, as he had done so many times before. |
Free Raul or acquire him as a companion, do not complete his personal quest Old School Ghoul. | |
3 | Invigorated by his travels with the Courier, Raul once more took up his guns in memory of his lost Rafaela. Soon after, the Mojave was filled with tales of the ghost-vaquero who hunts down those who prey on the weak. |
Acquire Raul as a companion and complete his personal quest, Old School Ghoul, by convincing him to become a vaquero again. | |
4 | Convinced that his time as a gunslinger was past, Raul made peace with the idea of growing old. After traveling with the Courier for a time, he retired and settled down in Outer Vegas, where he would spend his days fixing ancient machinery. |
Acquire Raul as a companion and complete his personal quest, Old School Ghoul, by agreeing that his time as a gunslinger has passed. |
Inventory[]
Apparel | Weapon | Other items | On death |
---|---|---|---|
Petró-Chico outfit | Raul's .44 Magnum revolver Raul's lead pipe |
Notes[]
- Like Desmond Lockheart, Raul's mustache survived his ghoulification.
- Like Jason Bright, Dean Domino, the Chinese remnants, and (potentially) Moira Brown, Raul's voice is not raspy or hoarse, a rare trait among ghouls.
- Raul is exceedingly difficult to pickpocket, even with the aid of a Stealth Boy.
- Raul is the only non-faction non-player character in the base game who can repair items up to 100%.
- Before recruiting him as a companion, Raul will repair items for a fee in his prison room. After recruiting him and asking him for repairs, Raul will wisecrack and recommend asking him at his shack. As long as he is dismissed as a companion to his shack, he will be able to make repairs. All caps paid for his repairs vanish from his inventory when he becomes a companion.
- When asked what skills he has to offer, Raul claims that his primary value is being a "walking encyclopedia," but he rarely has anything insightful to say. Most of his banter consists of ridiculing the Courier's choices through sarcastic praise and insincere enthusiasm.
- If the player character keeps asking who he is after the first time, he will eventually ask if the Courier got shot in the head because you forget so fast.
- If asked why his jumpsuit says Miguel, he will simply state, "I don't know; probably because it used to be Miguel's."
- He is similar to Vic from Fallout 2 in that they are both enslaved, are repairmen, and refer to the player character as "boss."
- Despite his sarcasm, it appears that Raul enjoys the Courier's company, judging by his response when dismissed.
- While the English version of the game does not make a big deal of his accent other than his correctly pronouncing Spanish words and names, the Spanish, French, German and Italian versions give Raul a heavily stereotyped charro Mexicano voice.
- Also, in the Italian version, Raul speaks hoarsely, like almost all the other ghouls.
- Raul is the only humanoid companion who has a fairly passive opinion of the Legion.
- Despite having Science as a tagged skill, Raul never shows any notable computer-based abilities. This is especially visible during Crazy, Crazy, Crazy when, if asked about Rhonda, Raul states he easily repaired the mechanical issues but was unable to correct the programming problems.
- In Fallout: Wasteland Warfare, Raul is included in a "Super Mutants" faction set. However, his unit card states that he is a unit in the "Survivors" faction.
- According to PlayStation Blog: Meet the Companions, Raul was kidnapped by the mutants at Black Mountain on his way to New Vegas. This differs from his backstory explained in-game, where he went to Black Mountain on his own accord to repair Tabitha's radio equipment before being taken prisoner.
Notable quotes[]
- "I'm an open book, boss. Granted, the book's in Spanish and some of the pages have fallen out, but I'm an open book."
- "My name is Raul Alfonso Tejada. Can I leave now? Or did you want to ask me again in five minutes?"
- "<Sigh.> No. No, boss, I'm, a prisoner of the crazy Super Mutant with the wig and the glasses. I was kind of hoping you were here to set me free. But maybe I'm not a pretty enough damsel for that, huh?"
- "Sure, boss. I'd be happy to prolong my captivity and psychological abuse to tighten some lug nuts for you."
- "Sure, boss, the old man will crawl around in the dirt to keep hidden."
- "Hey, don't worry about it, boss. The decrepit old man can easily carry all your stuff for you. Really." – Under heavy strain, being sarcastic
- "Hey, as long as you're not asking me to go back to Black Mountain, I'm a happy old man."
- "Oh, good. Now there's an army of robots. You don't do things by halves, do you, boss?"
- "Sure, I'll stop using my rather effective gun and switch to, ah, this piece of metal tubing here. Great plan, boss."
- "I'm sure pissing off a ruthless warlord with a tribe of fanatically-devoted warriors was a good move. How could it not be? It was your idea."
Appearances[]
Raul Tejada appears in Fallout: New Vegas and Fallout: Wasteland Warfare.
Behind the scenes[]
- Raul Tejada was written by Travis Stout.[Non-game 1]
- Raul was featured on the PlayStation blog "Fallout: New Vegas for PS3: PlayStation Blog Meet the Companions" preview in September 2010. He is described as being ethnically mestizo. His age is listed at 230 which contradicts his age of 234.
- His quote about the super mutants asking him to fix toasters is a reference to the "Toaster Repair" skill in Wasteland.
- The holodisk Ghoul in trouble, indicating that Raul was being held captive on Black Mountain, was to be given to the player character after listening to a radio broadcast.
Bugs[]
- When asked to go to the Lucky 38, a notification will pop up saying he has gone there. When looking for him in the Lucky 38 later, he will not be there, and will stay at the last location the player asked him to leave. [verified]
- Vault 19 or killing Mr. House. He will also comment on the Courier's search for Benny as well as on constantly getting him into dangerous situations, even though the Courier had met him only moments before. Raul's dialogue is heavily glitched. He will often comment on events that didn't happen (or happened when he wasn't serving as a companion at the time) such as blowing up
- Unlike other companions, Raul won't walk around while in the Lucky 38, but will stand in the main room to the right of the door until spoken to. [verified]
- Cass as a companion. [verified] After fast-traveling to a location, Raul will occasionally start running away as quickly as he can for no reason, and cannot be interacted with. Loading to a new area or simply waiting for him to turn around will correct this. This also happens with
- When Raul awakens after being knocked unconscious, he will sometimes claim to have had a nightmare of Petro Chico Boy "stealing his chicharrones (Spanish for pork rinds)", but the subtitles will incorrectly use the word "chitlins" instead of "chicharrones". [verified]
- Great Khan will spawn. [verified] Sometimes if the player speaks to him in the Lucky 38 presidential suite, a generic
- By pressing "Take All" when pickpocketing Raul, the caps will still appear in the player's inventory despite being caught. To repeat this again, take him outside of his shack and dismiss him as a companion. This allows the player to get free repairs infinitely. [verified]
- When leaving a casino, if Raul is given a weapon, the weapon's weight will be present, but no item can be seen. [verified]
- stimpak. [verified] His voice will change if given a
Gallery[]
Fallout: New Vegas[]
Fallout: Wasteland Warfare[]
References[]
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Non-game
- ↑ Joshua Sawyer on Twitter: "Companions: Arcade (me), Boone (Fenstermaker), Cass (Avellone), ED-E (Hooper), Lily and Raul (Stout), Rex (Farrell), Veronica (Fenstermaker)."
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