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| “ | "Love makes people do strange things. Won't argue that. It can drive you crazy sometimes if you can't... connect." | „ |
Christine Royce is the deuteragonist of the Fallout: New Vegas DLC pack Dead Money. She is an assassin for the Circle of Steel dispatched to hunt down Father Elijah, only to end up imprisoned in the Sierra Madre.
She is voiced by Laura Bailey, who also voiced the Female Courier.
Background[]
At some point in her life, Christine became lovers with Veronica Santangelo. But the Brotherhood Elder at the time, Father Elijah, used his influence to split them up, not wanting his protégé to be distracted. Despite efforts from Veronica to convince her to stay, Christine left the Brotherhood, becoming an assassin for the internal affairs splinter faction, the Circle of Steel.
When Elijah abandoned the Brotherhood after the disastrous Operation: Sunburst, he left a trail of crimes across the wasteland. As word of these crimes reached the Circle, Christine was dispatched to track him down. Both on orders and a chance to pay him back for seperating her and Veronica. She managed to locate him at Big MT. However, she wasn't careful enough and Elijah spotted her while he was experimenting on the Little Yangtze Ghoulified prisoners. Once she confronted her mark, they were interrupted by security robots. The elder escaped using the Ghouls as walking bombs while Royce was wounded and taken to the Y-17 Medical Facility for processing. During the course of experiments at the facility, involving jamming electrodes into the skull, and, in her own words "Making a flashlight out of her head". Her brain was damaged to the point of her losing the ability to read and write words properly (although she can still do equations and mathematical sums).
As she was recording a message to any other COS agent who was looking for her and a warning to the dangers inside the crater, she was rescued by a mysterious man named Ulysses, who blew up part of the facility just to get her out. She recovered with him for several days at Ulysses' hideout. While nursing her back to health, Ulysses and Christine argued about their beliefs. Christine argued that the Brotherhood were preservationists and that technology in the hands of all in the Mojave was dangerous. Ulysses agreed considering the horrors the Big MT produced but critisiced them for being obsessed with clinging to the past like the NCR and the Legion.
Christine countered that only Elijah was obsessed and that was why she was ordered to execute him. Ulysses called her out on being just as obsessed with Elijah as Elijah was with technology and how the Brotherhood was a futureless tribe. Christine mocked him for being 'the man with the Old World flag on his back' and how everything the flag represented had burned away. Ulysses firmly and angrily declared that America was only sleeping, and until it truly was dead, he would carry it just like he carried her. Ulysses informed her of his plan to talk the the Think-Tank as his questions were similar to Elijah's.
Once Ulysses met the Think-Tank and received his answers, he made his way to the hideout and informed her that Elijah had left Big MT. Christine demanded to know where he went, and Ulysses told her that Elijah had gone to the Sierra Madre Casino. Despite warnings from Ulysses that the Madre was a special kind of hell and that Elijah's fate was sealed one way or another once he got there, Christine insisted she had to go after him. The two separated, and in a form of gratitude, Christine gave Ulysses a handful of empty Y-17 tapes to serve as a journal. Christine left Big MT with the Mark I Stealth Suit and resumed her quest to find Elijah. Her original armor and sniper rifle were left behind.
She eventually tracked him to the Madre, where she was quickly captured by his slave, a Nightkin known as Dog, and forced to work for him in breaking into the Sierra Madre while fitted with an explosive collar. At some point, she was also locked in an Auto-Doc in the Villa's Medical District by Dean Domino, where her vocal cords were torn out, this procedure was continued for two weeks, deeply traumatising Christine and making her develop claustrophobia.
Note: Information about the character from here on out is the result of a good karma Courier choosing all the good options.
Christine was eventually rescued from the Auto-Doc by the Courier, who had followed the Sierra Madre broadcast on their Pip-Boy. Distressed and cautious, Christine managed to communicate with her fellow prisoner through hand signs. Where the Courier (with the right perks, reputation and skill levels) learned that she couldn't understand writing but could understand mathematical sums, she was an ex-member of the Brotherhood of Steel, she was hunting Father Elijah and she was in love with a woman once.
After the Courier escorted her to the Villa fountain, Christine was subjected to riddicule from God/Dog but she dared not retaliate out of fear for the Nightkin's physical superiority over her and the collar detonating. She was also subjected to flirting from Dean, but Christine, both annoyed with him and suspecting he'd been the one to place her in the Auto-Doc caused her to glare at him, causing him to back off.
After Elijah had given the team their instructions. The Courier and Christine made their way to the Puesta del Sol Switching Station, as Christine was the only one who could reroute the villa's power to open the Madre Casino. After they made their way there, Christine revealed her claustrophobia to her companion and expressed her reluctance to go in the maintanance elevator. Through encouragement and a request of faith that they'd return from the Courier, Christine relented and got to work.
Later on, after the Gala Event was triggered, Christine, along with Dean and God/Dog. But like them, the Sierra Madre defences activated and knocked her out. By this point, Whatever the Auto-Doc did to her wore off and the true surgery kicked in. Her voice had been replaced with that of Vera Keyes. The casino security, recognising her voice, took her to the suites, specifically Vera's room.
Before or after the Courier dealt with Dean and God/Dog, they reunited with Christine who told them her story. During this she mentioned Ulysses as the one who rescued her from Big MT and how he was hunting another courier himself (Both unaware that the Courier Ulysses was hunting was them/right in front of her). After the Courier got the notes Christine needed to rehearse the song to unlock the Madre vault.
Christine demanded that she follow the Courier, desperate to take her revenge for the suffering Elijah had inflicted upon her. Through encouragement from the Courier to let go of her hatred, Christine relented and left Elijah for them to handle. Christine read out the song notes that were the key to the vault (noting with amusement that the lyrics sounded like the Courier's advice) and waited in the suite in case Elijah triumphed and escaped.
After either Elijah was slain or trapped in the vault. Christine took on the role as warden of the Sierra Madre, replacing the broadcast for help with a warning for future adventurers and prospectors to stay away. Eventually, the Ghost People ceased hostility with her. Regarding her as merely one of the holograms and watched as she walked among them. Some time later, Christine learned that the Courier and Ulysses had finally met at the Divide in a legendary confrontation, and wondered what had become of both of her respective saviors.