I could get used to traveling like this, EDNA.
This old VB-01 doesn't have the armor or firepower of the VB-02 gunship, but there's a lot of
them and Maxson seems to be putting them to good use.
*inquisitive beep*
'Who is Maxson?!?'
You must be pulling my leg EDNA!
*beep*
I see.
Well, it’s a good thing I didn't wipe your entire memory when I installed that stealth
module.
Sorry I’m not a better eyebot mechanic EDNA… blame it on my clumsy fingers.
When we get to the Prydwen we’ll have you looked at.
Until then, I’ll fill you in.
Elder Arthur Maxson is the last surviving descendant of the Founder of the Brotherhood,
Captain Roger Maxson of the United States Army.
Roger was a faithful soldier of the US, a rebel, then a deserter.
He founded perhaps the most enduring group of people this wasteland has ever seen.
I suppose greatness runs in the family.
You can trace it right down the line.
His son helped contain raiders in New California, only to fall in battle with Vipers, nicked
by a poisoned arrow with his helmet off – his legacy became the near extermination of the
fanatics.
Like General John Maxson, who led the Brotherhood through the Unity crisis and together with
Rhombus, ushered in an era of peace and prosperity as they worked side by side with the nascent
Republic.
That was before we ruined it.
*inquisitive beep*
Yes EDNA.
The long night.
The Brotherhood War.
The separation of the D.C. bunker under Owyn Lyons.
I distinctly recall him as a very capable warrior and tactician, the embodiment of Brotherhood's
martial values.
But as a leader…
Well, he did find Liberty Prime and scoured the Pitt – but the historical record isn’t
all rainbows and mentats.
2255, he arrives in the Capital Wasteland, finds Liberty Prime and sets up the Citadel
as a permanent Eastern stronghold.
And then, rather than uphold his mission, he goes Ahab.
For twenty years, he chased his white whale, the supermutants from Vault 87, all over the
Capital Wasteland.
It very nearly cost him his chapter.
It got him disowned by the West once they realized he was wasting men and materiel on
hunting down mutants, rather than upholding his mission.
And then there was the whole debacle with the Outcasts, who separated from Lyons' force
after he denied them permission to excavate Fort Independence, to uphold their charter.
It was 2276.
Imagine just how loyal Casdin and his men were.
They stood by Lyons even when he was cut loose by the West.
And then they left, and the weakened chapter faced the Enclave alone.
They won of course, with the help of a certain lone wanderer, and Owyn Lyons died about a
year after that.
The mantle passed to his daughter, Sarah.
I wonder if you remember her?
She was a Sentinel and a capable warrior, but that doesn't make you invulnerable.
Not even a year after the defeat of the Enclave the Citadel lost both Lyons: One to age, and
the other on the battlefield…
Sarah Lyons was a tragic loss.
They tried to cope with it by electing one Elder after another.
The construction of the Prydwen started around this time and the Brotherhood was rebuilding
its strength, slow as it was.
More importantly, they didn't stay in the way of Arthur.
The current Supreme Commander was originally sent here to be Lyons' ward, back in a time
when the West still spoke to him.
Could be that his mother also wanted him out of the politics of Lost Hills.
The heir to the Maxson legacy could be a powerful asset for anyone who wanted to control him.
I think isolation did him good though.
He trained under very capable warriors and had excellent tutors.
Though timid and restrained as a child, when he started becoming a man, he quickly showed
promise.
At twelve, he saved his training squad by taking out two raiders about to ambush them.
At thirteen, he fought a deathclaw in single combat and won – earning himself a disfiguring
scar in the process.
At fifteen, he defeated Shepherd, a super mutant trying to band together the remnants
of Capital Wasteland super mutants…
Which earned him the command of the D.C. chapter.
I know it sounds far-fetched EDNA, but I have no reason to doubt the records or Quinlan's
attention to detail.
You might think it’s unlikely, but then again, so does the story of a green Vault
Dweller single-handedly taking out an entire mutant nation, a tribal saving humanity from
global genocide, or a random courier surviving a slug to the head and then deciding the fate
of no less than three wasteland powers.
Maxson became Elder when he proved to be not only a warrior, but also a diplomat.
In 2283, at sixteen years of age, he reunited the Outcasts with Lyons' Brotherhood of Steel,
forming the new, Eastern Division.
Now he's the supreme commander and as the Brotherhood wanes in the West, it waxes here
in the East.
If Roger Maxson was the Founder of the Brotherhood, then Arthur is shaping up to be its Restorer.
Little does he know that the Commonwealth is likely to prove his biggest challenge yet…
But that- is a story for another day…