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Publick Occurrences is a newspaper in the Commonwealth run by Piper Wright in 2287.
Background[]
The newspaper owes its name to the first newspaper ever published in Boston, in 1690.[1]
Piper Wright was first inspired to use truth as a weapon when her father, a militia member, ended up dead. She started investigating and discovered that her father's superior had struck a deal with raiders to leave the gates open at night; her father had discovered this and been murdered to cover up the truth. Piper then plastered this information on posters all over the town, leading to the murderer's exile, and a successful defense of the town.[2] Piper then later took her sister Nat to Diamond City in search of a new life, but found the city plagued by many issues.[3] She decided that shining a spotlight could fix these issues, mostly as an "act of desperation," but once she shed light on the issues, she found that there were others who shared her views, and some of the issues started to change. In one example, Piper found a broken section of the Wall that was simply covered up by a bookcase, with the guards hoping nobody would notice. Her efforts in publishing information about this forced the guards to properly repair the wall with real brick and mortar.[4]
However, Piper quickly learned that running an activist newspaper didn't earn her many friends, as many in the city who were previously friendly to her now avoided talking to her, or complained that she never wrote about anything positive.[5][6] Things escalated over time as the issues she exposed became riskier, and Piper has had several brushes with death. These include an attempted poisoning by a merchant caravan cartel driving up food prices, which Piper fought against,[7] as well as a near execution by Atom cultists she discovered while investigating irradiated drinking water at Bunker Hill.[8] She has also become well-acquainted with Diamond City security, having been frequently jailed due to her activities (the lockup was nicknamed the "Piper Suite" because of how often she occupied it).[9]
Due to the content of the periodical, Publick Occurrences has garnered ill will with McDonough, the mayor of Diamond City, who Piper considers a tyrant and believes to be a synth infiltrator. She has flat-out accused the mayor of being such in her issue "The Synthetic Truth," which has caused increased tensions within Diamond City and garnered the most heated reprisal from McDonough as of yet: McDonough temporarily barred her from entering the city in late 2287 for spreading "lies and scandalous assumptions."[10] He has also threatened to shut down her paper, though he never ends up following through on this threat.[11]
Regardless of her critics, Publick Occurences is still the only newspaper publication in the Commonwealth and is circulated throughout its many settlements by merchants who buy the paper from her and sell it second-hand.[12]
Organization[]
Publick Occurences is run entirely by Piper and her sister Nat out of their Diamond City office (which doubles as their home). Piper acts as the head of the paper, its chief investigative journalist, and author. Nat helps run the printing press and acts as a papergirl, hawking the latest issues to passerbys outside their office. Nat frequently complains that the duo's aging printing press is about to break, but Piper always dismisses these concerns.[13]
Interactions with the player character[]
After meeting with the Sole Survivor, Piper suggests coming by her office at some point to provide her with an interview for a new article.
Articles[]
- The Synthetic Truth - Available from the beginning of the game
- View from the Vault - Becomes available if the Sole Survivor allowed Piper to interview them in the Story of the Century quest. Content changes according to answers given during the interview and the article are split into three parts:
- Fear the Future? - Becomes available if the Survivor ended the main quest by siding with the Institute and has a high affinity with Piper.
- The Boogeyman banished? - Available if the Sole Survivor destroys the Institute in the endgame. There are different variations depending on who destroyed it.
- Moving Forward - Becomes available once the Sole Survivor finds out that Mayor McDonough was a synth.
Notes[]
- If a bar is set up in any of the settlements, including the settlements on the Island and the Nuka-World Red Rocket, settlers can be seen reading the newspaper.
- If the Sole Survivor goes upstairs inside the Publick Occurrences building, either Nat or Piper will follow them.
Appearances[]
Publick Occurrences appears only in Fallout 4.
Behind the scenes[]
"Publick Occurrences" shares its name with the first multi-page newspaper published in colonial America.
Gallery[]
.png "Art of Fo4 Publick Occurrences (concept art).png (1.49 MB)")
References[]
- ↑ Fallout 4 loading screens: "Diamond City's newspaper, Publick Occurrences, gets its name from the first newspaper ever published in Boston, in 1690."
- ↑ Piper Wright: "Always on good behavior, aren't ya?"
The Sole Survivor: "I try to be."
Piper Wright: "Seems like you're doing better than "trying." I appreciate it. Too few folks can be bothered. Course, in my experience, if you want to do real good, playing nice only gets ya so far. I mean, look at Diamond City, a place I've been trying to warn of real danger. But every issue I publish, all I hear is: "Oh, Piper, why don't you ever publish anything happy? Piper, why can't you write something nice for a change?" It's enough to make me wanna to hang up my hat some days."
The Sole Survivor: "Is Diamond City really in danger? It's not like there's Raiders pounding on the gate."
Piper Wright: "Are you kidding me? There is a very real chance that the city leadership has been infiltrated by an Institute Synth. A synth under the control of an organization widely known to kidnap or murder anyone that stands up to them. I'd take Raiders at the gate any day of the week over that. Course, making sure folks are actually listening... that's a battle in itself..."
The Sole Survivor: "Sounds like it must be exhausting."
Piper Wright: "Heh, no kidding. But people, they deserve to know the truth. Sure, it can be scary, knowing what's really out there. A night doesn't go by I'm not afraid some Institute drone'll decide today's the day to pay 'ol Piper and family a visit. But it's worth it. Because I know the truth, that's what protects us."
The Sole Survivor: "Scared, huh? Could've fooled me."
Piper Wright: "I'm pushy, not crazy. Honestly, these days, I'm more scared for my sister. I don't know what I'd do if something happened to her. But I'm not the only one with something to lose. That's why people deserve to know what's out there, good or bad."
The Sole Survivor: "Couldn't agree more. How can you protect you and yours if you don't know what you're facing?"
Piper Wright: "Exactly. Most folks, though, they'd prefer a comforting lie. Not me. I've seen firsthand what the truth can do. My sister and I, we grew up way out in the Commonwealth. Tiny little settlement. Our Dad, he was part of the local militia. "Keeping the Raiders off our backs and the Mirelurks out of our latrines," as he'd describe it. Well one day, our Dad turns up dead. His captain, asshole named Mayburn, claims Raiders must've gotten him on watch. Well, I didn't buy it. I start making inquiries. Turns out, the captain, he'd sold out. Thought he wasn't getting paid enough to babysit the town. He was going to leave the gates open one night, let a group of Raiders sack the place, and take a cut of the profits. My dad found out and was going to turn Mayburn in, but Mayburn got to him first. And I wasn't about to let that bastard get away with murder. I tried talking to the Mayor but he wouldn't listen. So I papered the entire town in posters, "Wanted for Gross Dereliction of Duty. Captain Mayburn." The Mayor sure wanted to talk after that. The town threw Mayburn out on his ass and were dug-in when a very surprised group of Raiders finally showed."
(Piper Wright's dialogue) - ↑ The Sole Survivor: "What happened after that?"
Piper Wright: "We made due. Sis was still pretty young at the time and mom was... out of the picture, so we got by on the kindness of others for a while. Eventually I saved up enough to book us both passage with a caravan and then we moved on up to the big city. Called it home ever since."
(Piper Wright's dialogue) - ↑ Piper Wright: "I just wanted to right the things I thought were wrong. And when Nat and I first got to Diamond City, there was a lot of wrong. Crooked guards, lousy infrastructure. Heh. There was a hole in the exterior wall that was patched over with a bookcase. One bookcase. That's it. I started the paper more as an act of desperation than anything else. It turned out, I wasn't the only one who wanted things to change. After the first couple of editions, people may not have agreed with what I said, but everyone was listening."
(Piper Wright's dialogue) - ↑ Piper Wright: "When that first edition hit the stands, I felt like I'd finally done something worth doing, but afterwards, things, things changed. People didn't want to talk the way they used to. Seemed that overnight, I'd gone from being Piper, friend and confidant, to Piper, the nosy snoop. A lot of folks, they haven't treated me the same since. It started to feel like the only person I could count on was my little sis."
The Sole Survivor: "That was a long time ago. People can't still treat you that way."
Piper Wright: "You'd think, but if anything, it's gotten worse. Sure, I've earned some friends back in town, but now I've even got a reputation outside Diamond City."
(Piper Wright's dialogue) - ↑ The Sole Survivor: "Seems like you're doing better than 'trying.' "
Piper Wright: "I appreciate it. Too few folks can be bothered. Course, in my experience, if you want to do real good, playing nice only gets ya so far. I mean, look at Diamond City, a place I've been trying to warn of real danger. But every issue I publish, all I hear is: Oh, Piper, why don't you ever publish anything happy? Piper, why can't you write something nice for a change? It's enough to make me wanna to hang up my hat some days."
(Piper's dialogue) - ↑ The Sole Survivor: "Someone poisoned you?"
Piper Wright: "You kidding me? I barely had the paper going before I got poisoned. First time, I'd just published an article about this cartel of caravans that had been driving up food prices in the city. Article went over well, even got a boycott of their goods started in town, so I figured I'd pop over to the Dugout Inn for a victory drink. I'd already taken a swig by the time I realized something was... wrong. Vadim, he wasn't at the bar. The beer tasted off... even so more than usual. And I start feeling real woozy. I don't know what he slipped me, but I knew I had to get it out. I'm looking around for something... And there it is. The still. And I just start chugging moonshine. Honestly, I'm still not totally convinced it was better than just dying from the poison. But it worked. And while I was passed out on the floor, security managed to grab the bartender. He eventually ratted on his bosses and they all got to share some time in the pen."
(Piper Wright's dialogue) - ↑ The Sole Survivor: "Someone poisoned you?"
Piper Wright: "You kidding me? I barely had the paper going before I got poisoned. First time, I'd just published an article about this cartel of caravans that had been driving up food prices in the city. Article went over well, even got a boycott of their goods started in town, so I figured I'd pop over to the Dugout Inn for a victory drink. I'd already taken a swig by the time I realized something was... wrong. Vadim, he wasn't at the bar. The beer tasted off... even so more than usual. And I start feeling real woozy. I don't know what he slipped me, but I knew I had to get it out. I'm looking around for something... And there it is. The still. And I just start chugging moonshine. Honestly, I'm still not totally convinced it was better than just dying from the poison. But it worked. And while I was passed out on the floor, security managed to grab the bartender. He eventually ratted on his bosses and they all got to share some time in the pen."
(Piper Wright's dialogue) - ↑ Piper Wright: "You really do have a talent for finding trouble, don't you?"
The Sole Survivor: "I suppose so."
Piper Wright: "Hey, I'm not one to judge. Honestly, it's just nice to not be doing it alone for a change. In my line of work, things tend to get pretty hairy. I've been shot at, poisoned, nearly executed. Heck, until recently, they called the lock-up in Diamond City the "Piper Suite." Anything for a story, I suppose."
(Piper Wright's dialogue) - ↑ Danny Sullivan: "I got orders not to let you in, Ms. Piper. I'm sorry. I'm just doing my job."
Piper Wright: "Just doing your job? Protecting Diamond City means keeping me out, is that it? "Oh look, it's the scary reporter!" Boo!"
Danny Sullivan: "I'm sorry, but Mayor McDonough's really steamed, Piper. Sayin' that article you wrote was all lies. The whole city's in a tizzy."
Piper Wright: "Agh... You open this gate right now, Danny Sullivan! I live here. You can't just lock me out!"
(Danny Sullivan and Piper Wright's dialogue) - ↑ Mayor McDonough: "Piper! Who you let you back inside? I told Sullivan to keep that gate shut! You devious, rabble-rousing slanderer! The.. the level of dishonesty in that paper of yours! I'll have that printer scrapped for parts."
Piper: "Oooh, that a statement, Mr. McDonough? 'Tyrant mayor shuts down the press?' Why don't we ask the newcomer? You support the news? 'Cause the mayor's threatening to throw free speech in the dumpster."
(Mayor McDonough's and Piper Wright's dialogue) - ↑ Richard's note
- ↑ Piper Wright: "Hey, kiddo, how are the paper sales?"
Nat Wright: "Well, the presses are getting overloaded. That motor is going to go soon if we don't replace it."
Piper: "Ah, you've been saying that for weeks, and the old girl still keeps cranking. Stop worrying so much. I gotta head into the office. You start whistling if you see any angry politicians coming our way."
Nat: "Why? Is something wrong? Piper is walking away, not listening to you"
(Piper Wright's and Nat's dialogue)