#feral ghouls

[robboyblunder]

Based on my ghoul guide part 2 I wanted to draw my designs for each of copia's ghouls in feral form because I thought it would be fun! I have little excerpts about each too as a bonus :) (I also included my OC as extra bonus under the cut!)

ID in ALT text!

[ghouly-boiiiii]

Why does Cooper going feral look different from other ghouls?

Maybe there's game lore that explains this that I'm not aware of, but why do you suppose the symptoms Cooper experiences while in the process of going feral appears to be different than other ghouls? What I mean is, Cooper will start to cough and drool, then eventually pass out and lay on the ground immobilized, while other ghouls going feral will start snarling and growling and acting all feral-y (and repeating their names to try and stave it off).

My guess is there must be different symptoms that occur in different stages of turning feral, and Cooper is experiencing the early stages, while the other ghouls we see are in the final stages and right on the brink of losing themselves.

If that's the case, I wonder how long it would take for a ghoul to go feral after the first symptoms begin (without the serum to stop it). Like how long did Coop have laying there in front of the Super Duper Mart if Lucy hadn't brought him the vials? If it does occur in stages, I'd have to assume the immobility is temporary and he would have eventually regained mobility to some degree, as the ghoul Martha could walk. And then he would have probably been able to wonder into the place and find the vials even if Lucy didn't give him some.

Also, maybe there could be other factors that determine the symptoms a ghoul experiences when going feral. Like age or when they started needing the serum to keep from turning. Or maybe it's just kinda random for every ghoul?

Thoughts?

[lucky7h1rt3en]

A Fallout Theory

So, first off, I actually don't have any issue with the Ghoul lore changes in the show. I think they're actually pretty valid for a TV setting, and considering how spotty and often contradictory Ghouls are throughout the games, what's a little more?

That said, let's go off what we *do* know about Ghouls and their likely feral fate. It's not an inherent inevitability. We know that, although it can happen at random for some, it is often kept back by human interaction and made worse with extreme radiation contact. But even that doesn't make it a guaranteed fate. There are even a couple cases of glowing Ghouls who have their functions intact(Jason Bright and Oswald the Great). And while many Ghouls do down all the chems they can get their hands on, that's not the case for all, so it's not like the chems keep the feral rage away. So what *is* that serum?

Well, I think it's all to do with our favorite loony, chicken-loving snake oil salesman. He's creating his own supply and demand. Whether he's the mastermind behind it all or not is yet to be seen, but I'm sure he is at least in on one giant scam. Either way, he targets the injured, sick, and desperate, and turns them into Ghouls, then they hear through the grapevine, via other Ghouls, that there's a way to stave off that horrible fate all Ghouls fear...But there's a cure! Or at least a way to ensure it stays at bay. The problem? Stop taking it, and you WILL turn. It's its own medicine. It essentially infects any unwitting Ghoul, making them turn feral, but it keeps them from turning if they take more in time. In essence, any Ghoul unfortunate enough to be fooled and take that first dose is doomed already, and the only way to avoid being feral is by taking more. But any Ghouls who have not will go about their day like they would otherwise.

Whether that serum is the *same* one that turned Thaddeus or not is also a bit up for debate. If it is, then I would bet that any Ghoul turned by the serum is inherently doomed to turn feral sooner than later, which just means there are more who spread the rumors about the stuff that can save them from turning feral. If it isn't, and it's instead the weird experimental drug Hancock took that turned him into a Ghoul in Fallout 4, I really don't know. I feel the former is more interesting.

I obviously haven't fully fleshed this out, but it is something that hit me suddenly while trying to figure out what's going on with that serum, and I made the connection to the snake oil salesman, and now I can't shake that I might be onto something. That, or I need to lay off the mentats and maybe swap Hancock out for Nick for a little while. Either way, it's something I am starting to think through, and I'm hoping we actually do learn more.

[slocum-dodson]

I wish I could give Sanctuary's pet feral ghoul a bed. Or a job. I'd like to give it a job. Instead it just wanders about making gross noises. But, perfectly harmless. Kind of like my grandfather near the end in many ways. Except my grandfather always carried a revolver with him. It was the only thing keeping us from putting him in a home.

[iamthecomet]

Cirrus and Cumulus murder girlfriends.

[roundsoup]

me and my feral ghoul friends all hanging out knowing we're all the same type of ridiculous creature.

[skumpitt]

[switchplate-2]

Well and truly fucked

Swiss escapes his 'stage of shame' to visit Sodo. More under the cut.

Also I fully blame this on @sisterprocrastinator!

“Cum for me baby girl,” Swiss growled the words in Sodo’s ear.

 He knew that there was always the chance for Swiss to escape his little stage of shame as they teasingly called it, something that he had begun doing more and more of late. He would occasionally make his way to his side, sometimes running to harass one of the girls. But this time when Swiss ran up onto Sodo’s platform while he was really playing with all he had during ‘Watcher in the sky’ what happened totally caught the small ghoul by surprise.

Swiss positioned himself flush against Sodo’s back, his left hand fisting a handful of Sodo’s uniform pants while the left snaked it’s way under Sodo’s guitar. His mind flashed to in infamous dick grabbing clip that to his understanding is still circulating the internet. Swiss’ hand was gripping his cock and jerking him then and there on the stage in front of countless fans, during a part where all eyes were on him. This would be all over the internet before they made it to the hotel, again.

He's by no means a ‘two pump chump’ but coupled with already being horny, what he can’t help his high sex drive. Then add to it that the energy from the fans immediately ramps up anything the ghouls are feeling, which is why they always make sure that Mountain is fed, Rain had a nap and Sodo is properly fucked immediately before they go on stage.

When you add all those things together you are handling a volatile substance, one that Swiss has his fist around as best he can jerking all while Sodo tries to continue to play, the last thing he wants is Papa to yell at him for fucking up a song. The suddenly the thin thread holding what dignity that the Fire ghoul had together snaps with no warning and the only thing hiding his undoing was his guitar as he did exactly what Swiss told him to and came. “Good job, now everyone else will know what a needy little slut you are for me. Cumming like that in front of the fans,” Swiss purred to Sodo as he gave his ass a firm swat, all while Sodo held himself together and played as if he didn’t just cum in his pants.

It didn’t take long, and he could feel his own cum cool and each time the air hit it he was reminded of the way he folded for the Multi so easily in front of a full house. Each time Rain or Phantom came near him Sodo could hear them growl lowly. When Copia came and did the kneeling bit during ‘Kiss the Go Goat’ the look on the old man’s face gave away that he too knew.

Sodo was begging the Dark Lord to call him back to the Pit by the time that they made it to the final bow, and he was supposed to be throwing picks to the fans. When he smelled Mountain come up behind him Sodo whimpered, “You have any idea how fucked you are little one?” He was gone before Sodo’s brain was able to form any response at all.

Once Copia released them to head backstage Sodo ran to the green room. He wanted to change and put all this behind him. But his footsteps were soon echoed by more. He knew better than to look back until he made it to their dressing room. He slammed the door and swore at the fact that there wasn’t a lock on it, all he was able to do was back slowly towards the wall opposite the door. When it slowly opened the first one to step in was Swiss, “That’s no way to treat your pack when we are just here to help you out.” Rain, Phantom then Mountain all file in behind Swiss, all with feral grins on his face.

This is when Sodo really knew he was well and truly fucked.

[titaniumrock]

Wanted to share how I deal with writing feral ghouls and how I make them more than what we see from Beth.

There has been many ideas on just how a ghoul may go feral but one things that seems to a relatively common idea is, that all ferals are, well, Feral. They are depicted as just animals or zombies that attack on sight and throw themselves at anything without care. Now this isn't a bad thing as it fits with the name but that's honestly boring. So I've decided to have fun with how ferals can be more interesting.

(Please do feel free to use my ideas and change some stuff, I am always happy to share. Oh and please do share your own ideas if you want!)

I am however keeping the whole thing of them not really being able to talk (instead just growling and stuff) and the "lost their mind" thing Bethesda seems to have latched onto (this will be explained later on when I finally write out how ghouls go feral (and maybe regular people can go feral too, because why not?)), because it works to differentiate them from ghouls who do not tend to act like ferals (not all of them of course).

So here it is under the cut because it's pretty long lol.

--

Ferals can be stuck in a loop. This is something that I have mostly attributed to pre-war ferals that have somehow been left alone, (probably because they don't bother anyone). So when these people turned into ghouls (if they were lucky or unlucky) and then turned feral many of them ended up with the stuck trait as I'll be calling it. This stuck trait is where they will continue to partake in one action forever essentially or until they can't move anymore, or if they "snap out of it."

For example, there is a feral in my fic that is stuck trying to get a car off of them and their feral spouse is trying to help them by looking through the debris and rubble, this feral is also protective over them rushing to their aid if anything gets too close to their love. This is their stuck trait, their minds have latched onto these actions and they will continue to forever do their stuck traits neglecting their body and everything around them to try and complete it.

Now these ferals with this Stuck trait can "snap out of it" but it is mostly caused by "foreign" people getting too close. Not every feral will react the same way to this interruption either, some are defensive, some are cowardly, some act with their past in mind, and some act with violence. These "foreign" people can create this "snap out" reaction because they are something different that the feral has never noticed or seen before and so they "snap out" of their loop. But once the "foreign" person has left then they usually return to their Stuck trait.

Some stuck traits include; Always hungry (will try and eat anything and everything to feel full (they never feel full)), always thirsty (will literally drown themselves trying to feel hydrated), checking their appearance (to see if they look different or if they look good), breaking something (even if it’s broken they will literally try and obliterate it, even when they succeed they can't stop), reading (many of them will re-read stuff forever or go through every book/something that looks like a book forever), etc.

(post-war ferals can also have this)

--

Next many ferals don't all have this stuck trait especially since many of them aren't pre-war, (most of the pre-war ferals are usually in blocked off areas or in the deep parts of the metro (in the case of Fallout 3)). So many of the waster ferals of my Fallout universe have what I'll call Emotional paralysis. This is where the ferals are stuck with a certain emotion that influences how they'll react with the world and the beings in it.

These ferals can be stuck with any emotion, but one of the most common one for them to have is anger as their emotional paralysis, which makes them act "feral". This anger can be caused by anything and these ferals with this stuck emotion will never stop being angry and violent. But while they have this, not all of them attack people, some ferals will, but others may instead be destructive and try and break things instead. These are seen as the 'most common' simply because they are the easiest to run into.

The second common stuck emotion is fear. Many ferals are fearful, they try and escape from anything and everything. Many of them will even avoid other ferals even though most ferals prefer to not attack each other or even try to pose a threat to one another. These ferals are rather common but hard to find as they try and hide so not many consider them common despite the fact that they are.

The third most common stuck emotion is sadness. There are many ferals that have this emotional paralysis as they have just given up. They are stuck with this sadness and many of them try and get themselves killed because of it. Then many of them don't even try and do anything instead just staying in one place to rot away as they neglect their body. These ferals are common as they can be seen in the oddest places as many of them wait for the sweet release of death.

(by the way I'm using the basic words for the most common Emotional paralysis ferals have as technically they all are much more complicated but many of them end up being shoved into the same architype/category)

(pre-war ferals can also have this)

--

Next some ferals don't have any of these and instead have something that I'll call the Follower syndrome. The name of this is exactly what you think it is. These ferals basically have no mind of their own and instead will end up all flocking to a certain feral, human, animal, or Super mutant. Then all these ferals will follow their leader and do whatever they 'command'. It's a lot like follow the leader for these ferals and many of them can be found traversing after their leaders in rather big packs or in a certain area.

This syndrome usually happens to those who are natural followers, were in a team that they were a follower of, or it can just happen.

(Pre-war ferals can have this)

--

Finally many ferals may also have (with the other types or not depending on the feral) what I'll call Survival mode. This is very much what you expect it to be. So, there are many ferals that will be in this mode and they will be always hostile but won't attack until the other being shows aggression towards them (there are certain exceptions so don't take this as a solid rule). They don't (usually) allow others to get too close to them and will be very animalistic, many of them also prefer to act almost completely like animals especially with being on all four limbs.

(Pre-war ferals can have this)

Honestly I'll probably create more things for ferals as I just love how interesting you can make them, especially with all the combinations and such.

[graphitesnorter]

FERAL GHOULS AWOOP?!

Yeh forgot to mention I love feral ghoul designs and have a couple. No, you will not get them for a while. Only @jax-is-rattled and a couple others will know. love ya sweet cheeks. I love making you fear for my sanctity. Mwah mwah kithes for ya

[arcus-eponymous]

WHO THE FUCK STOLE HIS JAR OF CHUNKY PEANUT BUTTER

[sisterprocrastinator]

They do, and they are 🙄

"they make me insane" and it's my own ocs

[milaeryn]

I don't care, he is my new babygirl

[slocum-dodson]

I've often thought...If I had a lot of glue, we could start gluing feral ghouls together to make a kind of...feral ghoul rat king.

I have discussed this with my husband and he looks at me with horror at my mid-dinner conversation points. We move on to talking about supply chains, but I keep thinking about the ghoul rat king.

[iamthecomet]

Hihi comet!!! 1. Murder ghouls is so tasty thank u for the gift, 2. You happened to drop it at the same time I was watching a playthrough of bramble the mountain king, which features the wackiest (and most deliciously nasty murderous) portrayal of a Skogsrå I've ever seen; and now all I can think of is mountain luring siblings into the woods and nailing them to trees with their chests opened up, drawing power from the hearts he left in their chests that still beat ominously even though he made a meal of the rest of them.

Hihihihi! I'm so glad you enjoyed the murder ghouls! Honestly so so much fun to write and I can't stop thinking about them. And that image of Mountain is DELICIOUS. I have so many thoughts about Monster Mountain and you and I are absolutely on the same page. He's truly the monster in the wood. Luring people in however works and then just torturing them. Drawing it out. Making sure he gets every last useful drop from them. I think he lets them get a little freaked out first. He changes the forest around them--gets them hopelessly lost. And then he appears like the savior--here to lead them out of the woods into safety. He likes the way their faces fall when he turns on them. His face still gentle, leaning toward helpful, as he begins. And make no mistake. There is no quick death for anyone caught in Mountain's web.

[gxnderghoul]

i love swiss ghoul bc he's rly just a ghoul and his tambourine against the world