“You may know me as the Head Chief First Researcher of Labs Z-9 and Z-14. There I fought valiantly to preserve rattlesnake DNA, and put it right where it belongs, in the husk of another feared predator. Oh, and the tarantula hawk. Can't splice enough, I always say, especially if you can make a magnificent Cazador!”
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Doctor Borous is a pre-War scientist and member of the Think Tank residing in Big MT in 2281.
Before the Great War, the boy who would later become Borous was a child prodigy who had been bullied in American High by a classmate named Richie Marcus. He also had an unrequited crush on another student, Betsy Bright, who had turned him down for Richie and picked on him as well.[2] His only friend was his dog, Gabe.
Later in his life, he became a part of Big MT's staff as head of the X-8 cyberdog project and began cruelly experimenting on his own dog Gabe, feeding him various drugs such as psycho.[3] Numerous other animals also fell prey to his vicious experiments, but only Gabe remained faithful and loyal, answering malice and cruelty with love and attachment. Sometime before the Great War, Gabe was eventually transformed into a prototype model of the cyberdog.[4] However, due to errors in programming, he was forcibly sealed in an unfinished section of X-8's test areas, as a "...precaution."
After the Great War, together with the rest of the Big MT "Think Tank" executives, the doctor became a think tank to continue his work at Big MT. However, when he started to show symptoms of the insanity that began to consume his comrades, Doctor Mobius, the sole sane researcher, wiped his pre-War memories, hacked his data banks and gave him the name "Borous", all to keep him and his colleagues forever trapped in the Big MT, so that they could never unleash the horrors of the crater on the unsuspecting world around them.[5]
Doctor Borous is the "Head of Animalogy, Beastology, and DNA-Scrambling technology" at the Big MT, and created both the night stalkers and cazadores.[6][7] He also claims to be responsible for creating the radar fence around the crater.[8]
Old World Blues: If Klein cannot be convinced otherwise, Borous, along with two other members of the Think Tank, are needed to convince Klein to give up trying to escape the Big MT. If the player character does not have enough support from the other scientists to convince Klein, then Borous has to be killed, along with all the other Think Tanks, to prevent their escape.
Picking Your Brains: After completing 'Welcome to the Big Empty', the player character needs to talk to Borous and the rest of the think tanks to complete this quest.
Welcome to the Big Empty: One has to talk to Borous as with the rest of the think tank to complete the quest.
A Brain's Best Friend: After Gabe's bowl is returned to him, he feels an overwhelming sense of remorse and regrets how he treated his dog, as Gabe was a loyal companion to him. This feeling is quickly repressed, however, and Borous' personality remains unchanged on the surface.
Effects of player's actions
If the player character has shown Borous Gabe's bowl before completing Old World Blues, and the player character does not have a 100 in Science or 85 in Medicine to convince Dr. Klein, Borous will side with the player character in convincing Klein to back down.
Other interactions
After A Brain's Best Friend has been completed, once a day, the player character can ask Borous what animals he has experimented on today and he will give the player character some of their parts:
Doctor Borous proudly states that he is the 'Head Chief First Researcher' of labs Z-9 and Z-14, where he created night stalkers and cazadores. He claims that they are sterile and contained within Big MT, regardless of what the Courier tells him.
When Mobius mentions what the Think Tank scientists have forgotten, he mentions "the thrill of discovery" as an important characteristic. This is probably referring to Borous as he expresses the lack of desire to leave Big MT and due to that, he refuses to believe the Courier that his mutant creations have not only escaped but thrived in the Mojave Wasteland (and as far as Zion Canyon in the case of the cazadores).
If one has Gabe's bowl but have yet to complete the X-8 Residential Test, the player character can ask him if the bowl looks familiar. He will express that he cannot remember, thinking it might be a cazador skull or a Bowlian. Then he tells them to find more information somewhere in Big MT.
Test Lab X-8 is a re-creation of his high school with Dr. Borous acting as the "Doctor-Principal".
After the player character completes the add-on, Doctor Borous will still act as if Doctor Mobius is still a threat, saying, "If there is a next time, for any of us".
In Borous's house in Higgs Village, in the same room where the player character finds the key to the basement, one may find a knife stuck into a crayon picture of a monster with the word "DAD" written on it on the floor near the bed, suggesting a poor relationship with his father.
Borous is suggested to have a sadistic side. Not only he experimented on his own dog, Gabe, there is evidence of animal cruelty in his house within Higgs Village and one of the rooms within The Think Tank facility. Examples include bloody surgical instruments and animal cages.
Borous has a unique dialogue if Gabe is spared. He will thank the Courier if Gabe is left alive or if killed, he will still provide gratitude, albeit with some disappointment.
He may mention how Big MT competed with Vault-Tec for the best way to acquire human test subjects (Big MT needing to cut backdoor deals for permission to use testing grounds while Vault-Tec created the Vaults and used their unknowing occupants), displaying he is one of the handfuls of individuals aware of their experiments.
After passing the 45 Speech check after sparing or killing Gabe, choosing the first or second option will cause Borous to reflect on the situation, mentioning an overwhelming feeling as if they have "forgotten something." This, like the Courier entering Big Mountain for the first time, nearly makes Borous get past the recursion loop in his programming and realize something was wrong before crushing it down and pushing it "into the loop" and forgetting about it.
Notable quotes
"You may know me as the Head Chief First Researcher of Labs Z-9 and Z-14. There I fought valiantly to preserve rattlesnake DNA, and put it right where it belongs, in the husk of another feared predator. Oh, and the tarantula hawk. Can't splice enough, I always say, especially if you can make a magnificent Cazador!"
The name Borous is a reference to the name of the ancient symbol Ouroboros, which is typically depicted as a snake eating its own tail - another looping and infinite figure which follows the naming convention of the other members of the Think Tank. The misspelling of "Boros" was an error on Mobius' part.
Doctor Borous' speech often parodies that of a stereotypical 1950s science-fiction movie narrator, emphasizing certain words or phrases in an extremely over-dramatic manner.
↑Mobius: "Dr. O... which is actually not his real name multiplied, since you can't multiply his real name in the first place... Ouro-bor-ous, Klein... They have all forgotten themselves. And not only themselves, but the world, sense of time, and history. All that is left is what's here. I reprogrammed their chronometers, geometers, and cartography programs. This is now their world, here, Big MT. It was a merciful lobotomy, really, thinking back. They were my friends, but... sometimes they would take things too far.And the world isn't ready for that kind of too-far-thing-taking. That's my professional opinion, anyway, and I am told I was once quiet professional." (Mobius' dialogue)
↑The Courier: "Wait a minute - that means you're trapped here?" Doctor Borous: "Ever since my anxiety-filled days of powerlessness and being bullied in American High School, I have dreamed of such security as the FENCE. That, and giant cybernetic dogs that would ruthlessly patrol and kill anyone who wasn't my friend. Like RICHIE MARCUS. And BETSY BRIGHT. Who's laughing NOW, Betsy? I hope you and Richie are HAPPY, smoking in your radioactive coffins. I'm GLAD you never came to my birthday party." (Doctor Borous' dialogue)
↑Doctor Borous: "Gabe would bark and snarl and bite whenever ANYONE came to visit. That's why I replaced his legs with spare parts and fed him a steady diet of Psycho-laced dog chow." (Doctor Borous' dialogue)
↑The Courier: "Is this Gabe's bowl? Your dog from X-8, Gabe?" Doctor Borous: "WHAT? Why... yes, it is. I used to leave it outside his dog house, chock-full of chems. Before the cybernetic modifications, of course.And... no matter how chemmed the food, he would always eat it. And his tail, would wag... even...even while I... I...You know, I am having the most perplexing feeling squiggling through my biogel. I can't quite... pin it down." (Doctor Borous' dialogue)
↑The Courier: "You reprogrammed their names as part of recursion loop? What, to trap their processors?" Doctor Mobius: [SUCCEEDED] Now, "trap" is a rather harsh word. Like "excrement." Not an inappropriate word, but still - rather harsh. But... yes, I did... take some liberties with their programming. It's all right, they don't remember. I certainly didn't until you said "trap." And then I said "excrement." And then..." (Doctor Mobius' dialogue)
↑The Courier: "Who are you - what do you do here?" Doctor Borous: "BEFORE you is the brain of Dr. Borous. Head of Animalogy, Beastology, and DNA-Scrambling technology here at Big MT. I lay the bones and hearts of animals bare beneath my searing gaze. Especially the dogs. I did so love dogs once. Especially Gabe, that rascal. But there are MANY animals to shape. Industrious Cazadores, the happy-go-lucky Nightstalkers... they are my living, breathing DNA test tubes." (Doctor Borous' dialogue)
↑The Courier: "All right... when did you create Cazadores?" Doctor Borous: "In... two thousand... let's see, carry the three... then count backwards from the Great Static... or beyond? There were the tarantula debates... and something about hawks, which made it around... eh, 2003? May? Tuesday. It was definitely Tuesday." (Doctor Borous' dialogue)
↑The Courier: "Tell me about this "Radar Fence" around the Crater." Doctor Borous: "The RADAR FENCE protects us all! If evidence is correct, the one who built it - is ME! It keeps anything with a disembodied brain INSIDE - like US - and anything without a brain... also INSIDE! It is the ULTIMATE DEFENSE against Communist aggression. There'll be no infectious ideas on MY watch!" (Doctor Borous' dialogue)
![Borous before becoming a brainbot[Non-game 2]](/wiki/File:FNV_OWB_Borous_Human.png "FNV OWB Borous Human.png (795 KB)")
