On Saturday, October 23rd, 2077 the long-awaited moment finally arrived as atomic bombs rained
down across the world, extinguishing human civilization in a matter of hours.
As America’s greatest cities and achievements were wiped off the map one by one, the nation’s
highest leaders, its most prominent corporate, scientific and military officials watched
the destruction from safety, spread across the world in dozens of specially prepared
and fortified installations.
Chief among these was a deep-sea drilling platform hidden in the vast stretches of the
Pacific Ocean, specially equipped and completely self-sufficient.
It was here the President and his closest advisors began to set their plans in motion;
to retake the wasteland once known as the United States, restore the control of the
rightful government and eliminate the threat of communism forever, all in the name of the
Enclave.
While nearly unrecognizable when compared to its pre-war counterpart, the Enclave was
obsessive in its desire to be recognized as the legitimate successor to the United States.
It retained much of its pre-war iconography and governmental structure including some
form of Congress, Atomic Energy Commission, Department of the Army, Secret Service and
many other branches.
These varied considerably however from effective divisions of service to largely symbolic agencies
existing purely for ceremonial or propaganda purposes.
For decades after the Great War, the Enclave was content to remain hidden on its oil rig
monitoring background radiation levels across the wasteland and observing as society slowly
began to rebuild itself.
What they saw horrified them.
Bands of psychotic mutants, malicious raiders, rogue machines and all manner of aggressive
mutant creatures fought over the remains of once great cities while even the more civilized
settlements rebuilt themselves in a perverted reflection of pre-war America.
Disgusted by the effects of radiation and the pervasive mutation that had occurred across
the continent, the Enclave grew increasingly xenophobic and isolationist, eventually considering
themselves to be the last known concentrated bastion of pure unmutated humanity.
As a result, no attempt was made to recruit additional manpower from outside the Enclave,
instead they relied on their formidable technology to achieve their goals.
These included some of the most advanced prototypes of pre-war armor and weaponry, methodically
preserved and improved upon across the centuries.
Combined with one of the last known sources of fossil fuel in the post-nuclear world which
was used to supply their fleet of Vertibird transports, the Enclave was one of the best
equipped and trained organizations in the entire Wasteland.
More than a match for the disparate communities on the mainland who had never seen so much
as a working car before.
Once background radiation levels had subsided to acceptable levels, the Enclave used its
Vertibirds to conduct scouting missions all across California, the closest state to their
oil rig and a prime candidate from which to commence the rebirth of America.
One such mission discovered the remnants of the Mariposa Military Base, a site of great
interest to the Enclave due to its role before the war in the development of the Forced Evolutionary
Virus, or FEV.
The FEV was responsible for the creation of the Wasteland’s first super-mutants, brutal
and aggressive creatures gifted with immense strength and endurance while immune to disease
and radiation.
Considered the greatest threat to the success of the Enclave, it was hoped that the FEV
might be repurposed into a biological weapon with which to wipe out the super mutants.
Mariposa Military Base had been left in a state of ruin following some previous battle,
but Enclave construction teams, augmented by slave labor conscripted from local settlements
were put to work excavating the site.
Eventually the Enclave gained access to the lowest levels of the facility and uncovered
vats containing intact samples of the FEV.
Dozens of miners and other Enclave personnel were inadvertently exposed to the FEV during
its discovery, including Frank Horrigan, a Secret Service Agent for Enclave President,
Dick Richardson.
Those affected slowly transformed into a second generation of super mutants overthrowing their
guards and leading a revolt against the Enclave.
Meanwhile, Frank was evacuated back to the Oil Rig for further study, the entrance to
Mariposa was blasted shut and the remaining mutants were trapped inside.
With the FEV in hand, Enclave scientists began conducting a series of experiments, abducting
vault dwellers to use as test subjects, creating a race of intelligent deathclaws, and most
significantly, achieving their goal for a biological weapon capable of eradicating not
only the supermutants, but the majority of the wasteland’s mutated and “impure”
human population.
Just as the Enclave was preparing to launch their new virus into the atmosphere, a mysterious
champion from an obscure northern tribe managed to repair an ancient tanker in San Francisco
Bay and use it to reach the Enclave’s hidden oil rig.
This “Chosen One” as he is known in Wasteland myth and legend, supposedly destroyed not
only the Enclave’s base of operations, but also Frank Horrigan, who had been transformed
into a living weapon and encased in power armor as a means of keeping him alive.
How much of this true and how much has been embellished over the years by overly theatrical
Wasteland chroniclers remains unknown.
What is certain is that the Enclave experienced some sort of calamity on the West Coast and
its headquarters was destroyed.
Leaderless and vulnerable, the majority of its surviving personnel were lead east by
a high ranking scientist named Autumn who had apparently been contacted by the new Enclave
President, John Henry Eden.
Of those who refused to flee, many were eventually hunted down and destroyed by the Brotherhood
of Steel and the New California Republic.
The group lead by Autumn eventually reached President Eden, establishing a new headquarters
at Raven Rock, a military base on the outskirts of the former capital, Washington DC.
Here the Enclave began to reassert itself, commandeering abandoned military equipment
and building a network of outposts across the Capital Wasteland.
These attempts were not uncontested however, and the Enclave found itself once again at
odds with the Brotherhood of Steel.
When Autumn died, his son, Augustus Autumn was selected to take his father place, commanding
the armed forces and becoming the sole point of contact between President Eden and the
rest of the Enclave.
In contrast to its efforts on the West Coast, the Enclave adopted new techniques in the
Capital, embracing the value of propaganda rather than brute force alone.
A fleet of eyebots roamed the wasteland, spreading patriotic music and inspiring speeches from
President Eden promising a return to the glory days of America.
Yet despite the benevolent direction the Enclave had seemingly adopted in Washington, it had
never swayed from its original intentions and President Eden’s true goal was to find
a method capable of disseminating the modified Forced Evolutionary Virus.
An opportunity presented itself when the Enclave became aware of a water purification effort,
known as Project Purity, spearheaded by a group of local scientists.
The project was intended to cleanse the Potamic River, giving the Capital Wasteland a limitless
supply of clean water.
By injecting Project Purity with the FEV, the Enclave could accomplish what they had
failed to achieve on the West Coast, the death of every super mutant, ghoul and wastelander.
President Eden attempted to recruit another mythological hero of the wasteland known as
the Lone Wanderer in his efforts, hoping to use him as a double agent within the Brotherhood
of Steel.
Yet Eden was opposed by Agustus who saw greater value in commandeering Project Purity to use
as a bargaining chip against the other factions of the region.
During a battle between the Brotherhood of Steel and the Enclave at the Jefferson Memorial,
Agustus was defeated by the Lone Wanderer and the Enclave devastated after repeated
attacks by the Brotherhood’s superweapon, Liberty Prime.
Of what became of President Eden and Project Purity none can say with certainty and various
stories have spread across the Wasteland in the ensuing years.
Some have even suggested that Eden was not a man at all, but some type of thinking machine
imbued with the minds of pre-war presidents.
Of the Enclave itself, they are likely a doomed organization, reduced to scattered and isolated
outposts across the Capital Wasteland and elderly veterans, living in secret across
the New California Republic, are occasionally exposed, arrested or executed by the local
authorities.
Yet with an organization as sophisticated and resourceful as the Enclave, there remains
the ever present possibility that some as of yet undiscovered base is working in secret
to achieve the dreams of their forefathers and cleanse the Wasteland of the impure
and the undeserving.