Minerva

	For a visual inventory of Minerva's shop, with prices, see Minerva/Emporium.

Minerva is a gold bullion vendor selling rare plans and recipes at discount, working for the Blue Ridge Caravan Company in Appalachia, in Fallout 76. She deals in gold bullion and is protected by her bodyguard, Tommy Ten-Toes and her brahmin Minos. She has traveled with the Blue Ridge Caravan Company in the past, and has worked with Aries.^[1]

In gameplay terms, she is a discounted gold bullion merchant, offering a selection of unique plans for purchase at a 25% discount. However, her offer is limited and she rotates between four locations each week.

At the moment, Minerva is found at Crater (sale #10).

Background[]

Minerva lived in Washington, D.C. as a child before the Great War, managing to survive the bombs inside a library functioning as a secondary shelter. After wandering through the wasteland from group to group, her talents finally caught the attention of a Blue Ridge Caravan group. She joined up and ended up as an apprentice to a bookseller, learning how to copy books by hand. Over time, the bookseller turned into a friend and mentor. After his passing, she took over his caravan and expanded its inventory, switching from selling printed media to more practical items, including schematics and recipes. She considers Blue Ridge to be more than just a business party; to her, the faction is an actual family, and she could not ask for a better one.^[2]

She has one key advantage in her line of work: an exceptional memory and the capability to copy any schematic, plan or recipe she sees in perfect detail, not unlike a human copying machine.^[3] She claims she is able to copy them down to 1/100th of a milimeter.^[4] Regardless of the truth of this claim, her plans are indistinguishable from the originals.^[5] This makes her very popular on the caravan trail, but since she recreates the materials by hand, her offer is limited. Carpal tunnel syndrome is particularly unpleasant in the wasteland, where few treatments survive.^[6] She primarily relies on observations she makes during her troubles to update and rotate the stock, and remains on the move to keep her stock fresh.^[7] Her talents would make her an excellent preservationist, but she is amused by the suggestion of using it for anything other than making a profit. Trade is the only thing she knows and she likes it that way.^[8]

She works closely with Tommy Ten-Toes, a ghoulified former mob enforcer. While she calls him a "big goofy teddy bear," she trusts him entirely to keep her and the caravan safe, and may have observed him rip out someone's sternum for stealing from the caravan in the past.^[9] Tommy likes Minerva, although his underwhelming intellect makes him unable to understand why Minerva's work is so popular among wastelanders.^[10] He appreciates her silver tongue and spirit,^[11] and the two are considered by Vinny Costa to be an excellent team.^[12] This is still the case even after the Chattanooga incident, which involved Minerva, Tommy's ten-toed foot, and an unfortunate dog. The two kept working together, but Minerva prohibited Tommy from ever taking shoes off in front of customers again.^[13]

Minerva has mastered the art of sale, styling herself as a merchant who is appreciated primarily by people with a refined, special taste.^[14] At the same time, she promotes her wares in the manner of a carnival barker, emphasizing the range of her offer, accurate copying and prices well below those of the competition.^[15][16] While her limited selection of goods is primarily to avoid injuring her wrist, she turned it around and integrated it into her marketing, telling prospective buyers that they should make a purchase on the spot, as she likely will not be carrying the item next time.^[4] She also has a knack for rhymes^[17] and instinctively understanding her target audience. She emphasizes weapons and violence at the Crater (hoping mentions of robbery will not encourage the raiders to actually rob her),^[18] casual camaraderie and bad puns at Foundation,^[19] and the Brotherhood of Steel's unique jargon at Fort Atlas.^[20][21]

Interactions with the player character[]

Interactions overview[]

Interactions
	This character ignores combat and cannot be damaged.
	This character is a vendor.	Accepts Sells: Special vendor All sales are 25% off
	This character appears in the following locations.	Foundation The Crater Fort Atlas The Whitespring Resort

Merchant schedule[]

Minerva will set up camp at one of four rotating locations in Appalachia each week: Foundation, The Crater, Fort Atlas or The Whitespring Resort. She will only change locations once per week. Her schedule will run from noon (U.S. Eastern) Monday through noon (U.S. Eastern) on Wednesday for three weeks as part of Minerva's Emporium. The fourth week, she will run from noon (U.S. Eastern) Thursday through noon (U.S. Eastern) on Monday, referred to as Minerva's Big Sale. Her schedule will then start over and repeat the following week.^{[Non-game 1]}

Historical schedule[]

Inventory[]

Equipped inventory[]

Vendor inventory[]

	For a visual inventory with prices, see Minerva/Emporium.

The items Minerva sells rotate weekly. During Minerva's Emporium, her inventory will be one of the following lists: 1-3, 5-7, 9-11, 13-15, 17-19 or 21-23. During Minerva's Big Sale, her inventory will be list 4, 8, 12, 16, 20 or 24. All prices will be 25% off the normal prices for these plans at the other vendors. There are no quest, reputation or player-level requirements to purchase any item.

Appearances[]

Minerva appears only in Fallout 76, introduced in the Steel Reign update.

Behind the scenes[]

• Quest designer Carl McKevitt contributed to Minerva's writing and design. According to Carl, she is a bookworm who loved reading as a child, and Carl compared her character design to the Roman goddess Minerva/Greek goddess Athena.^{[Non-game 2]}
• Voice actress Erikka J. Veney was nominated for a 2022 One Voice Award for her performance as Minerva, in the "Gaming - Best Performance - Female" category.^{[Non-game 3]}

Gallery[]

Minerva's location at Foundation

At Foundation

At Foundation

At Foundation

Minerva's location at Fort Atlas

Minerva's location at The Crater

Minerva's location at the Whitespring Resort

References[]

Non-game

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