Terminology

An event in which our timeline splits off from the Fallout timeline. Which occurred sometime in the 1950’s. Smaller events in the timeline can also be traced back.

A nuclear exchange between the Chinese, and the Americans that lasted for 2 hours. Continental America would be effectively destroyed. Those that survived took shelter in underground vaults, constructed by Vault-Tec.

A company in the Fallout universe tasked by the US government to build vaults, in case of a nuclear holocaust, called "Project Safehouse". Some vaults acted as "control vaults" and some acted as places to conduct social experiments.

A virus secretly developed by a small portion of the US government to make their soldiers stronger against the Chinese. Later variations were developed that had horrifying effects upon those that were affected by it.

A staple drink of the Fallout series, equivalent to Coca-Cola, Nuka-Cola is a fictional beverage beloved by many Fallout fans. The bottle caps used on these bottles also act as a currency for the post-war apocalypse.

A system of currency that is used all across the wasteland. Since ordinary money has lost all value, caps were used instead due to fact that it is very difficult or impossible to counterfeit. The currency is backed by water, something that is always needed in the wastes.

Essentially a mascot for the game series. A myth was created around Vault-Boy, many fans thought that he was measuring the distance from a mushroom cloud with his thumb. Who knows...

Not to be confused with Vault-Boy, The Pip-Boy is a wrist-mounted device that was developed to basically be a portable computer.