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Ghouls are a mutated subspecies of Humans.
Biology[]
Ghouls are by nature a strange species, their flesh seems to have a mild necrotic tendency, though this is offset by their exceptionally long lifespan, with the oldest being in the hundreds of years old, they seem to have superior abilities to their Human cousins, being immune to the effects of radiation and most chems, hell, one Ghoul had to concoct a specialised variant of Jet (creatively called Ultra Jet) just to get the same kick as a Human.
It's currently unknown precisely how Ghouls appear, all that is conclusively known is that it has something to do with ionising radiation, whether it be through a drug, a type of radiation treatment, exposure in high radiation areas and even being in the direct blast radius of an atomic bomb, let's just say there's more ways than one to become a Ghoul, though natural born Ghouls do occur, as Ghouls do seem to have functioning sex organs.
One notable issue faced by Ghouls is the possibility of going feral, an occurrence where in a Ghoul loses their sapience and, for lack of a better term, devolves into a bestial state, becoming aggressive to all non-Ghouls, these Feral Ghouls seem to organise in packs, usually around a highly radioactive Ghoul known as a Glowing One (though Glowing Ones are not always Feral, as though rare, there are Glowing Ones who maintained their sapience), at least one Ghoul who dwelt in Kiddie Kingdom at Nuka-World set out in an attempt to find a cure to feralisation, but as of yet only preventative chems are known to exist.
Culture and Society[]
Ghouls are in a fairly precarious position in the wastes, due to their nature as mutants they are hunted by the Enclave, by proxy of being created by the war, they are seen as abominations worthy only of eradication by the Brotherhood of Steel, not to mention the general discrimination faced by them in a large number of Human settlements, though there are specifically Ghoul settlements which act as safe-havens for their kind, such as Necropolis in California, Underworld in the Capital Wasteland and Goodneighbor in the Commonwealth, it is known that Ghouls have equal rights to Humans in the states of the New California Republic, where they have been known to serve in the military,
Many Humans also distrust Ghouls due to many Ghouls being involved in criminal enterprises, such as the various Raider factions across the wasteland and many more organised groups, such as the Triggermen of Boston who operate in Goodneighbor and within the abandoned Vault 114.
Ghouls are known to have similar faiths to Humans, with those who identify as Christians having their own version of Saint Monica, though unique Ghoul religions are known to exist, such as the Bright Brotherhood whom were lead by a Glowing One named Jason Bright who wished to use the rockets at the REPCONN Test Site in order to take them all to a place known as the Far Beyond.
History[]
The earliest Ghoul we know of is a man known as Eddie Winter, a crime boss from Boston, after working with the Boston P.D and the Bureau of Alcohol, Drugs, Tobacco, Firearms and Lasers to expose other bigwigs in the Bostonian criminal underworld in exchange for amnesty for his crimes, much to the chagrin of detective Nick Valentine whose fiancée had been murdered by a gang of Eddie's goons, shortly before the war, Winter underwent an experimental radiation treatment in an attempt to become immortal, he soon sealed himself away in his bunker, waiting out the war and every other event which occurred over the next two hundred years, until he was rediscovered by Nick Valentine, well, a prototype Synth who possessed his memories and personality and he was killed in the place he had called home for over two centuries.
When the bombs fell, many weren't capable of entering the vaults constructed across America, many hid in cellars and Palowski's, others simply sat and awaited the inevitable, many died in the war, many more began to change, in Bakersfield, California, the door to Vault 12 never properly sealed, allowing for massive amounts of ionising radiation to enter the vault, ghoulifing all inside.
A few years after the war, the residents of Vault 63 began to experience ghoulification due to the lack of shielding on their reactor, soon many of these people would begin feralising, including the wife of Overseer Hugo Stolz, after the meteorology department discovered that their weather simulation device was capable of halting the feralisation process, in a last ditch attempt to save his wife, Overseer Stolz ordered all the meteorologists into the vault's atrium, allowing him to gain access to the machine, which then shocked both him and his wife with several thousand volts of electricity, causing a further mutation which Stolz would inadvertently spread to the other residents, turning them into a new Ghoul subspecies known as The Lost, over time, many would leave the Vault, mostly Lost who had already become completely insane, though some Ghouls did emerge onto the surface with at least one becoming a member of the Blue Ridge Caravan Company (a trading business in Appalachia).
Later in the 22nd Century, Vault 12's residents returned to the surface, expelling their overseer and founding the settlement of Necropolis, The City of the Dead, where they welcomed not only Ghouls but various other kinds of mutants, this settlement is believed to have either been lost due to an attack by the Unity, or saved by a mysterious Human from Vault 13 known only as The Vault Dweller.
After the founding of the New California Republic, laws instated by President Tandi made bigotry against Ghouls became illegal in the NCR's territory, this is also one of the numerous reasons for the takeover of Vault City (a city founded by the residents of Vault 8) though no major issues were seen with the conquest of Vault City as no one really liked them anyways, around this time Ghouls were also under threat by the remnants of a pre-war subgovernment cabal known as The Enclave, who planned on releasing an aerosolised strain of FEV in order to wipe out all non-Enclave Humans and Mutants, this plan failed thanks to the NCR, Brotherhood of Steel and a mysterious Arroyo tribesman known only as The Chosen One.
After the Battle of Hoover Dam, NCR and Legion forces situated in an area which was once along the borders of California and Nevada where caught in a radioactive dust storm, this caused them to mutate into a unique kind of Ghoul, unable to leave the radiation of The Divide, they became known as Marked Men due to the unique red hue of their decaying skin.
As the NCR continued with the Mojave campaign, some accidents did occur, such as some groups of soldiers ghoulifying, but the only truly notable occurrence was when the Bright Brotherhood were assisted in reaching the Far Beyond by an individual known as The Courier.
A year later on the east coast, a man of the McDonough family (whom was actually a Synth designated M7-62) of Diamond City ran for election as Mayor on an anti-Ghoul platform, this deeply offended his older brother, whom after experimenting with a pre-war chem had ghoulified himself, after the Ghouls were expelled from the great green jewel of the Commonwealth some who were lead by a Ghoul known as Wiseman travelled outwards and founded a Tarberry farm known as The Slog, other wound up going to a town called Goodneighbor, situated around the Old State House, it was run by a cruel mayor known as Vic, the only one who truely wished to stand up to him was the older McDonough, whom after awakening in the Massachusates State House right next to the clothes of American founding father John Hancock, the Ghoul then proceeded to steal these clothes and took the name Hancock as his own, soon gathering together a band of Drifters and taking down the corrupt mayor and hanging him off the balcony of the Old State House, and all Hancock said to his new citizens was "Of the people, for the people" and that became the towns motto.
Back on the West Coast, after the destruction of Shady Sands and the weakening of the NCR, Ghoul rights on the West Coast became more tenuous, with some being held captive by slavers and many more outright being killed by the re-emerging Brotherhood of Steel and Enclave.