Appalachian Free States
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General
A loose group of Anarchists, Libertarians, and preppers who tried to secede from the United States before the Great War. They were largely based in Harpers Ferry, the site of John Brown's famous raid.
- Conspiracy Theorist: They were convinced that the Vault program was corrupt or at least flawed. They were right.
- Gondor Calls for Aid: The Responders allied with them when the Scorched started to become a bigger threat. Unfortunately, it was too late at that point.
- Graffiti of the Resistance: Vandalized the government's propaganda posters in Harpers Ferry (see below) with slogans such as "Government Lies", "Know the Truth ~ Be Prepared ~ Freedom", and "Save Yourself - War Is Coming".
- Red Scare: On the receiving end of this, with such charming slogans as: "Only A Communist Spy Turns His Back On America"; "The Gateway to Communism"; and "You're Either With Us or Against Us".
- Survivalist Stash: They left a bunch of these around Appalachia, inside their, sadly, inferior bunkers.
- Untrusting Community: Pre-War, they were pretty much this. They thawed out after the War, turning Harpers Ferry into one of the nicest places to live in Appalachia.
- We ARE Struggling Together: The Free States is comprised of various groups who don't have much in common other than a mutual opposition to the government and a common desire for freedom. After the Great War, however, the ones in Appalachia at least had become more akin to Fire-Forged Friends.
Senator Sam Blackwell
Voiced by: Jason Linere-White
Congressman for the Appalachian Territory/Commonwealth, also a founding member of the Free States due to his paranoia of the impending nuclear war between the Chinese and United States.
- Cassandra Truth: He warned his daughter about his encounter with a scorchbeast, but she initially dismissed it as a hallucination caused by his deteriorating neurological state. Judy soon changed her mind when it chased after her to the bunker.
- Death Seeker: He basically gave up on life after losing his daughter Judith, on top of his ailing mind, so much so that when the Enclave finally sent an agent to assassinate him in his bunker, he couldn't care less.
- He Knows Too Much: Blackwell dug deeper into his investigation of Thomas Eckhart's activities in which it led to learning the Enclave's existence, thus putting him and his daughter in danger. He winds up assassinated by Eckhart's underling Jefferson Grey.
- Make It Look Like an Accident: He was forced to kill an Enclave operative, who recognized him in Harpers Ferry, and made his death look like an animal attack. The Enclave were not fooled.
- Outliving One's Offspring: Blackwell's daughter, Judy, dies in his arms from an unspecified disease.
- Properly Paranoid: He was entirely right to think he was under scrutiny. Even after the Great War, the Enclave - under the orders of Eckhart - assassinates him.
- Reasonable Authority Figure: He was a union activist and senatorial muckraker who favored the people over rich elites and exposing political corruption.
- Scatterbrained Senior: He began to develop Alzheimer's prior to the Great War, but managed to stay in reasonably good condition thanks to the support of his daughter, despite the lack of modern medical support. Despite the disease, however, his mental faculties were apparently still sharp enough to allow him to spot a disguised Enclave operative and eliminated him without anyone in Harper's Ferry noticing, and even picked up the presence of a spycraft that Eckhart sent to investigate even though it was cloaked to prevent detection.
Raleigh Clay
Raleigh Clay (left) with wife Patricia (right)
Voiced by: Bruce Barker
Co-founder of the Free States and public representative of the group while Senator Blackwell worked things from the shadows in his Congressional position.
- All for Nothing: His efforts to rebuild and fortify Harpers Ferry came undone when the Scorched attacked.
- Dramatic Irony: He was angered that his oldest friend Sam Blackwell was nowhere to be found when the Scorched attacked, completely unaware that Blackwell had already been assassinated by an Enclave operative.
- It Is Beyond Saving: His initial assessment of Harpers Ferry post-war; the town's mayor asked him for help with rebuilding, but when he got to the town it was in such a pitiful state he originally wanted to leave it to die. He only changed his mind due to his daughter Marty's sympathy for the survivors.
- Uncertain Doom: His bunker is long deserted by the time the Resident reaches it, but there is no hard evidence of his death.
Ella Ames
Ella Ames (rear left) with family
Voiced by: Paula Tiso
A medical expert that served the Free States, and later, researched the various crazy happenings with the Mire.
- The Medic: Before the bombs dropped, she got a PHD in Medical Science from Vault-Tec University, and worked for a time as a doctor. After the war, and after she was a member of the Free States, she provided medical services to other Free Staters, and even came up with RadShield, a drug that protects the user against radiation even better than Rad-X, using the Strangler Pods all over the Mire as a source for the RadShield.
Abigayle "Abbie" Singh
Abbie (left) with brother Calvin (right) and dog Dax (middle)
Voiced by: Richa Shukla
A radio enthusiast who ended up becoming the last surviving member of the Free States.
- Can't Believe I Said That: Berated herself for twice botching her introductory holotape.
- Dead Man Writing: Left behind a series of holotape recordings and terminal entries explaining to anyone who found them how to complete the Free States' Scorched Detection System in the event of her death.
- Lost Pet Grievance: Blamed her brother Calvin for the loss of their dog Dax.
- Missing Mom: Her mother Geneva passed away before she and the rest of her family moved into their bunker.
- Take Up My Sword: Ultimately decides to finish her father's work on the Scorched Detection System after his death, and implores the Resident via holotape to do the same in the event of her own death.
- Uncertain Doom: Much like Raleigh Clay, there is no firm evidence of her presumed death (though it is implied that at the very least, she failed in her mission to recover Hank Madigan's uplink, as it's still sitting in the Raiders' cache at Pleasant Valley once the Resident gets inside, and Rose never mentions meeting her).
