SL¥DE said:
I always thought they were created from random husks of flesh given life by the FEV. But the flatworm thing makes more sense.
Actually, having recently re-read the FOB and other sources, I'd say it's a good 50/50 guess either way here.
The following is what relevant bits I could find, direct from the FOB:
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2075 March 21 PVP experiments continue at West Tek with batch 10-011, in the wake of
successful tests of the virus on single-celled organisms. Experiments on plant
cells are postponed. The pan-immunity virion is renamed FEV - the Forced
Evolutionary Virus.
2075 May 9 FEV experiments continue at West Tek with batch 10-011, in the wake of
successful tests on flatworms, the flatworms exhibit increase size and
heightened resistance to viral contagions. Experiments with insects have less
success, and further experimentation on insects is postponed by Major Barnett.
So essentially we have direct confirmation that Flatworms were among the earliest test subjects, but never any direct mention to their ultimate fate in the grand scale, if in fact they had one at all, or were perhaps only early stepping-stones, later abandoned.
Further support for this line of thinking however, comes in the form that floaters are highly poisonous, as are several species of flatworm. Also, there's the vague resemblance between flatworms and floaters, and though there are differences, there aren't really many other "real-world" creatures one could easily say a floater did look like. Snakes would be one possibility, but the FOB also mentions those in passing (while speaking of the "lost raider tribe", the Vipers), and the allusions there seem clear that while the FO universe *has* snakes, none of them made it in the games.
Most pertinent bit on this follows:
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So there you are - all I could dig up on the Vipers. Officially, they exist in the Fallout universe, but they'll
differ from the description above in the following ways:
• The Vipers are from Vault 15.
• Mutated snakes do exist in the Fallout universe. Watch where you step.
Switching gears though, there's also support for the idea that they're something else, or possibly another "combination critter" like the centaurs. As far as has been actually stated, the only things we know for certain the Master experimented with dipping were humans (which either failed to produce viable results) or sometimes became super mutants, and whatever ultimately became known as "The Master's Pets", which the floaters are directly included as part of, but the information as to just what he was doing to create any of those is sketchy at best:
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2102 July-Nov Richard Grey begins to acclimate to his condition, and begins his first tests of
animals by exposing them to FEV. These experiments and his growing
awareness lay the foundation for his plans for the Unity and the master race.
He takes the name, "the Master."
2120 The Master starts experiments into the FEV-II. Over the next few years, his
experiments produce breeds of strange mutants, but only around the 2137
do his results begin to bear fruit and the super mutants are born
Rumor has it some dogs were affected, but no one's seen any, so for now that's just
rumor. Of course, the centaurs are a mash of human, dog, and various other parts... but
hey, who knows how that mutation came about. Grey was probably messing around in
one of his labs.
- FEV (Forced Evolutionary Virus) explains the more grievous mutations in the wasteland (the Master, the
Master's pets such as the floaters and centaurs, super mutants, Harold), and radiation caused most of the
other giant-style mutations you see (scorpions, rats, ants, etc.) and some of the others (ghouls).
So we do know the master created floaters, probably around the same time he did whatever it was precisely that led to his creation of centaurs. This would seem to lend a bit more weight to the idea that they're some sort of random hodge-podge, rather than flatworms. First, given his situation and location at the time, it's unlikely that he even had access to live flatworms to work with while doing his "early animal experiments", and secondly simply because at that point in the time line, he'd have very likely moved well beyond such simple organisms in favor of more complex and suitable ones.
After all, if he had a thriving colony of flatworms on hand, and they produced results as viable as floaters with any sort of consistency, why waste the time on experiments like the ones which would ultimately produce centaurs in the first place? That seems like an awful lot of work and effort to produce yet more fodder troops when he already had those. Particularly when you bear in mind that his real goal in all of this was an elevation of mankind (the Unity) into his ideal dream of a harmonious culture that could endure and survive rather than destroy itself with infighting and wars.
Anyway, some food for thought on the issue. I doubt we'll ever have a 100% certain answer though unless any of the developers still trades email with someone and actually remembers. Even while the FOB was a work in progress only a few years after Fallout, many of them had forgotten quite a few details when asked about various things.
-Wraith
