The Community

The Community is a location in the Texas Wasteland, deep into Texas Brotherhood territory. It is about twenty miles northeast of Houston. Is is most notable for its Vault-like construction, although it was not constructed by Vault-Tec, as well as its physical connection to the Houston Texas Temple of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. It is inhabited primarily by a large community of Mormons, but many others also live in the large facility, which is open to outsiders. Anyone in the wasteland is permitted to enter and recieve medical attention as well as the other perks of living in the tightly knit community.

Background
In 2065, driven by the instruction of their prophet to be prepared for all things, the local members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints in Houston had wanted to construct a large food storage facility,  in case of large-scale disaster. As more and more of the plans were drafted, it became evident that only a facility dedicated solely to food storage would not be feasible in the long term. After much counseling together, they decided that the facility would have to be self-sustaining, and as such, inspired by the Vault-Tec vaults built in the decade previously, designed a mammoth construction under their temple, capable of supporting two thousand individuals indefinitely.

Though met with much opposition from government and other local authorities, many of whom were campaigning and petitioning for a larger Vault-tec presence in Houston, the general population not only encouraged, but actively participated in much of the six years of construction. By the time the building had been completed, over $900 billion had been raised and spent on the project, and extensive lists of volunteers and donors had been compiled.

Knowing that only two thousand individuals could be guaranteed spots in the Community, the locals, Mormon and not, voted for a large lottery of names, discerning that as the only fair way of distributing the spots. Each individual was granted one ticket for every $300,000 donated (though, it should be pointed that out the USD has been extremely inflated at this point) or every minute volunteered upon the construction. Many workers and donors willingly sacrificed their tickets, believing that they would not assist the community in surviving after isolation.

On December 25, 2071, starting at sunrise on Christmas morning, the President of the Klein Texas Stake of the Church (who, according to Mormon beliefs, held the "keys" to the area in which the Community existed), began drawing names from the over six million entries, announcing them to a large, televised congregation in the lot across the street from the Temple. Each winner had thirty six hours to reserve enough spots for their entire immediate family (i.e. spouse and children, or in the case of a minor, parents and siblings) or themselves and four other individuals. About 1600 names had been reserved by the 29th of December, and a second, smaller lottery was held at sunrise on New Year's Day.

Relocation lasted from January 27 to March 3, and in that time period, over three thousand cases of identity fraud had been attempted and stopped as many unauthorized tried to gain entry. On March 3rd, the final individual of the 2006 reservations entered. The Community remained open to the outside world until April 2077, when the Stake President of the Houston Community Stake felt impressed to close its vault doors (including closing off the Temple to the outside world) and initiate full isolation.

During the Great War that October, the Community's and the previously strengthened Temple's structures remained standing, receiving no damage as the bombs fell. The construction remained closed for an additional 18 months as the few fallout-cleaning robots were deployed around the area. In April 2079, the Temple re-opens its doors for the use of the surviving Saints in the area, and the Community itself opens again for trade.

In the two centuries following, about a quarter of families living in the Community had deemed the surrounding area fit for living, and as such moved out of the vault, and many other outside families moved into their previous living quarters, as well as many marrying outside the vault, making only about 60% of the inhabitants in 2087  (direct or indirect) descendants of the original inhabitants of the project.