First Citizen Lynette is the leader of the Council of Vault City, a technologically highly advanced settlement in former west Nevada, built around Vault 8 by its inhabitants shortly after the Great War. The Council was established in 2103 to govern the vault dwellers after the original Overseer retired and construction of the new city had begun. The Council, consisting only of citizens-by-birth and led by the First Citizen, rules in completely authoritarian fashion, controlling every aspect of life in Vault City. It is responsible for managing the daily affairs of the city, trade, legislation, and making sure that its very strict regulations are enforced. In its judicial capacity the Council can administer punishments ranging from incarceration and reeducation to stripping the offender of his or her citizenship and permanent banishment, depending on the severity of the transgression. The power of all three branches of government converge into the position of First Citizen, who also personally appoints the captain of the Vault City Guard. For many years now Joanne Lynette has held this position, in no small part due to her single-minded ambition and extremely managerial disposition. Perhaps even more so than other citizens, who rarely venture beyond Vault City�s walls, she has always held the outside world in contempt, treating the city�s neighbors with haughty arrogance, convinced of their inferiority. Ironically it now seems Lynette�s leadership has only hastened the decline of Vault City, despite its technological superiority, as the city�s xenophobic policies left its population stagnating, counting barely more than a hundred true citizens. Outsiders paying to live inside the city�s walls and the groups of Servants - virtually slaves in all but name - have limited rights and are not even considered citizens. Facing up to reality, Vault City recently entered negotiations with the NCR to broker an alliance and the eventual admission of the city into the federation.
