In California, a ways East of the Pacific Coast are the remains of a town once called
Mariposa. There's a military base outside the town - little more than a hole in the
ground these days but it has played a pivotal role in the wasteland's destiny time and time
again. I know most of you were born there. Or re-born.
But Marcus tells me that some of you are having trouble remembering things, and can't always
figure out what's real and what's not, so I'm here to give you all a refresher course in mutant history.
Haha! You talk a lot! Sound funny when you talk,
like a stupid human. Ha ha ha ha ha!
Yes, as I was saying…
When I visited the Mariposa base a few years ago, there was little more than the bones
of a few dead Super Mutants, deformed rats, and the skeleton of some old dog lying next
to a broken down force field generator, but deeper down, much deeper, I saw firsthand
the secrets that spawned both the Super Mutants and the Brotherhood of Steel.
Back before the Great War the facility was used to experiment with the Forced Evolutionary
Virus. The big vats are destroyed now, but you can still find some of it deep below the
ground. Long before the Master came, the FEV was created by the United States government
in an attempt to generate useful mutations. The government used its own citizens as guinea
pigs; prisoners and Commie sympathizers - but Americans nonetheless.
Captain Roger Maxson, the founder of the Brotherhood was stationed there before the war, a simple
soldier in the security detail. But when men under his command found out what the scientists
were doing to his comrades-in-arms, they rebelled, and Maxson soon became their leader. Eventually,
they became the first members of the Brotherhood of Steel. When the nuclear holocaust took
place a few days later, Maxson led his soldiers and their families out into the wasteland,
leaving the Mariposa base behind. They sealed the place up as best they could, and activated
automated security measures, but with no one on hand to maintain it all, eventually people
and critters made their way inside. The pre-War scientists never quite succeeded
with their experiments. It took a more - advanced mind to control the effects of FEV mutation.
Decades after the Great War, the future Master fell into those vats, and when he emerged
he picked up where they left off, experimented, and eventually created most of you. Then the
Vault Dweller located the place, and-
I'm so sorry!
But that was a long time ago, and the Vault Dweller is long dead.
Ha ha ha! Yes! Too fun.
Most people never knew of the base's existence
in the years afterwards, but the Enclave had the resources to locate the origins of the
FEV, and they went to Mariposa to secure a sample for their own devious purposes. The
Enclave kept their soldiers and scientists protected from the FEV, but their slave laborers,
miners kidnapped from the town of Redding to excavate the lower levels, had no such
protection from the goo that survived the decades.
Slowly, those poor workers began to mutate. Sadly, that second generation of super mutants
didn't have the Master guiding their transformation. He had carefully chosen his subjects before
dipping them, but this second generation was composed of anyone unfortunate enough to be
pressed into the Enclave's service. The results were... mixed. The second generation
was as big, sometimes even bigger, but much less intelligent. That's why some Super Mutants
in New California can get along with humans, while others are-
ARRRRRGH!
In fact, some of the original Super Mutants
even call the second generation “Dumb Dumbs”.
Ha ha ha ha. Stupid robot. Ha ha ha.
But a few of this new batch ended up developing abilities that would have made The Master proud.
Silly robot. Ha ha ha.
When the Chosen One was searching for the Enclave's headquarters 40 years ago, they
stumbled across the Mariposa base, and discovered some second generation mutants still trapped
inside after the Enclave blasted the entrance. The Chosen One fought a mutant named Melchior
who could summon creatures out of the FEV goo, just like a magician pulling rabbits
out of a glowing green hat.
At least that's what the Chosen One claimed. No one back then was keen on inspecting the
place first hand to verify a story about magical deathclaws. Only person who seemed to care
what happened to the miners from Redding was Melchior's son, Junior. He was just a tyke
when his dad disappeared. If he's still alive, he'd be middle-aged about now. Maybe still
wandering the wasteland looking for his dad. Since then, Marcus has done his best to give
some of you a home. Among the mutants, every person is their own unique being – a species
of one. That kind of genetic diversity is a blessing; there are places in the wasteland
where the opposite is true. Dozens of identical men caged together, consumed by a murderous
rage against all outsiders.
But that- is a story for another day...