The Scorched Plague Outbreak

Events & Timeline · Source: Fallout 76 (2018), main questline, holotapes, and terminal entries

Overview

The Scorched Plague Outbreak of 2102 was the sudden eruption of the Scorched infection across Appalachia, as scorchbeasts emerged from the earth and spread a mind-destroying plague that collapsed the region's surviving communities within months.

History & Background

The scorchbeasts — monstrous, plague-spreading bat creatures — were engineered in pre-war and early post-war experiments tied to Appalachia's hidden facilities. When they emerged from the fissure sites that riddle West Virginia, they carried an infection that turned humans into 'Scorched': hollowed, hive-minded servants of the beasts that spread the plague to everyone they touched.

Details & Timeline

2102: scorchbeasts erupt from the fissures; the plague sweeps the region. The Responders, the Free States, and the raider factions — already reeling from the war's aftermath — collapse one by one as their members turn Scorched. The final broadcasts from Charleston and the Responders' leadership document the last days. Vault 76 opens on Reclamation Day, and its dwellers — immune survivors — become the wasteland's last hope, hunting the Scorchbeast Queen at Fissure Site Prime and finally checking the plague's spread.

Wasteland Significance

The outbreak depopulated Appalachia and defined its post-war character: a haunted, plague-ravaged region where every ruin tells of someone who turned. It also made the Vault 76 dwellers into the region's de facto protectors, and the Scorched remain the single greatest threat to anyone who dares rebuild there.

Notable Appearances

Fallout 76 (2018), the main questline, the Scorched Earth event, Responder and Free States holotapes documenting the plague's spread, and the fissure sites across Appalachia.

Tags: scorched, scorchbeasts, appalachia, fallout-76, plague, west-virginia, 2102, fissure-sites, responders, infection, scorched-earth, wasteland