On January 7th, 2077 a group of researchers and a detachment of American military personnel
were assigned to the newly constructed Mariposa military base in central California.
Their purpose was to oversee the development of a secret project critical to the war effort,
the exact nature of which was known only to a select few.
By October however, the military detachment had learned the truth.
Deep within Mariposa, prisoners of war had been used as unwilling test subjects and exposed
to the Forced Evolutionary Virus.
Intended to create a race of super-soldiers, the FEV instead resulted in terrible mutations
and aberrant creatures.
The revelation led to the mental breakdown and suicide of the base’s commanding officer.
In lieu of any official order, the military personnel within Mariposa turned to Captain
Roger Maxson.
Maxson immediately began a full interrogation of the research team he had been sent to protect
and, horrified at the extent of their experiments, subsequently executed them all for their crimes.
On October 20th, Maxson, now in full control of Mariposa, made a radio transmission declaring
his desertion from the United States Army.
Across the world however, the war between the United States and the People’s Republic
of China had escalated out of control.
Maxson, his men, and his declaration were overlooked.
Three days later, nearly all humanity was extinguished in a nuclear holocaust.
What none could have realized at the time was that Maxson’s transmission would mark
the founding of a new organization, one that would dedicate itself to rebuilding civilization,
no matter the cost.
Its name is known, feared, praised, and hated across the wasteland that was once America;
The Brotherhood of Steel.
Yet even as the fires of the Great War still lingered, Maxson led his men and the remnants
of their families away from Mariposa, taking with them all the supplies and weaponry they
could carry.
In what would be enshrined in Brotherhood lore as “The Exodus”, the group braved
the earliest days of the Wasteland, fighting off psychotic raiders and desperate survivors
before finally arriving at the safety of Lost Hills, a government fallout shelter.
Over the following decades, Maxson and the Brotherhood gathered their strength and formed
the principles and structure that would govern the organization in the centuries to come.
When Maxson died in 2135 his son, Maxson the Second, succeeded him as High Elder.
Under his leadership, the Brotherhood slowly extended their influence in the area surrounding
Lost Hills, quickly becoming one of the major factions of the wasteland.
By 2155 the Brotherhood had encountered a prominent raider group known as the Vipers.
While these raiders would eventually be driven to near extinction, the Brotherhood’s initial
overconfidence resulted in the death of Maxson II, and the appointment of his son, John Maxson
as High Elder.
Despite this loss, the annihilation of the Vipers helped stabilize the region and trade
soon began between the Brotherhood of Steel and various settlements, most notably “The Hub”.
In 2161, the Brotherhood stumbled across the corpse of a super mutant.
These savage, mutated humans were the result of the Forced Evolutionary Virus, released
across the wasteland in the aftermath of the Great War.
This horrified the Brotherhood, which quickly grew fanatical in their quest to annihilate them.
The following year, a legend of the wasteland known only as the Vault Dweller arrived in
Lost Hills, seeking entry to the Brotherhood.
He was given an impossible task meant to deter would-be recruits, but to the Brotherhood’s
astonishment, he succeeded.
From the Vault Dweller, the Brotherhood learned of “The Master”, a hideous creature who,
together with his supermutant army, plotted to expose the remaining human population to
the FEV.
Convinced to act against this threat, the Brotherhood of Steel, together with the Vault
Dweller, returned to Mariposa, destroying The Master and scattering his army.
The defeat of the Master solidified the Brotherhood as the greatest power in the wasteland, for
they alone controlled access to some of the most advanced technology from before the Great War.
Yet with very little manpower and rival factions growing across the region, many began advocating
that their technology be shared with outsiders and new recruits encouraged.
In the end, it was determined that the secrecy of the Brotherhood was paramount, and their
technology was to remain in their hands alone.
Those who disagreed with the decision were sent on expeditions to the East, founding
satellite chapters of the Brotherhood in Chicago, Washington DC, the Mojave, and elsewhere.
By 2242 the Brotherhood of Steel’s technological supremacy had been rendered obsolete by the
Enclave, a remnant of the United States government possessing far greater resources and more
advanced equipment.
Outposts and bunkers across California were reactivated to deal with this threat, but
before the outbreak of any open conflict, the Enclave was suddenly and unexpectedly
destroyed by another legendary figure of the Wasteland known as the Chosen One.
Their collapse ended any threat to the Brotherhood, and it was rumored that some of the Enclave’s
most advanced schematics were eventually recovered and studied deep within Lost Hills in the
wake of their defeat.
In 2231, the Brotherhood of Steel, now under the leadership of Jeremy Maxson, began aggressively
expanding their operations eastward.
In a bid to strengthen their own position, they seized any and all technology from so
called “lesser people” and jealously hoarded all they found.
This led to disputes and eventually war with the New California Republic, which had launched
its own ambitious expansion.
Despite the Brotherhood’s overwhelming technological advantage, their lack of manpower made any
prolonged conflict with the NCR unwinnable and eventually they were forced to retreat
into the safety of their bunker network.
Sporadic fighting would continue as late as 2287, particularly in the Mojave.
It was on the East Coast however where the Brotherhood of Steel underwent a significant
resurgence.
A large contingent sent to re-establish contact with the lost Midwestern Chapter instead found
itself in the Capital Wasteland.
Here they fought against remnants of the Enclave which had themselves relocated to the region.
After eradicating the local slavers and mutants and founding a new headquarters known as the
Citadel, a second Expeditionary Force was deployed northward to the Commonwealth.
These forces were sent aboard the massive airship “Prydwen”, designed and constructed
over a period of 6 years and unlike anything else ever seen in the wasteland.
Under the leadership of Arthur Maxson, this detachment of the Brotherhood sought to find
and confront “The Institute”, a highly feared and secretive organization rumored
to possess unfathomable technology.
While the Capital, Commonwealth, Mojave, and Californian chapters of the Brotherhood all
exhibit varying tactics and doctrines, they all share the same basic organizational structure.
A ruling council known as the Elders governs their internal affairs, while the High Elder,
usually a descendent of the Maxson family, presides over the council itself.
A purely military order, every member of the Brotherhood is organized into various ranks
which determine their status and responsibilities.
These vary considerably across the different chapters but typically include Knights, responsible
for the manufacture of weapons and other technology, Scribes, who investigate and reverse engineer
new technologies, and Initiates, new recruits in the process of training before they can
be accepted into either group.
Paladins are the pinnacle rank of the Brotherhood military, responsible for major operations
across the wasteland, and typically promoted to Elder upon retirement.
All Brotherhood personnel are trained in the manner of pre-war American soldiers and have
access to advanced power armor, laser rifles, and even Vertibirds, giving them unparalleled
firepower and maneuverability.
Access to pre-war technology is the Brotherhood’s greatest advantage, and their reverence towards
it has become almost religious in nature.
While more moderate beliefs have begun to hold sway in certain chapters, the most fanatical
elements of the Brotherhood still show extreme reluctance in sharing even the most basic
technology with outsiders.
While this devotion has been the cause of wars across the Wasteland and soured their
reputation, it has also given the Brotherhood of Steel perhaps the greatest collection of
advanced cybernetics, computers, medical equipment, and robots found anywhere in the wasteland.
Liberty Prime is perhaps its most formidable artifact, restored to working order by a chapter
on the East Coast, and said to have taken part in battles in the Capital Wasteland and
the Commonwealth.
The ideology of the Brotherhood of Steel, like everything else in the Wasteland, has
been mutated, sometimes beyond recognition.
Whether they horde their technology so that they might one day use it to assist in the
rebuilding of the wasteland, or simply so that no one else can have it, the answer might
differ from chapter to chapter.
One thing is certain however.
On October 23rd, 2077, science outpaced man’s restraint and billions across the world died for it.
Until the wasteland is truly ready for the most terrible advancements of the old world,
it might be better that they remain under the control of the Brotherhood of Steel.
The Templin Institute investigates alternate worlds and realities.
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