GURPS: FALLOUT - Fallout GURPS - Free

Super mutant threat
Several years later, the Brotherhood were to face an enemy far greater
than any band of raiders. In October 2161, a Brotherhood of Steel patrol
came across a dead super mutant in the badlands. They took the corpse
back to the Scribes, and Head Scribe Vree began to study it. After several
long examinations, it was shown to be completely sterile.
In February 2162, a man known as the Vault Dweller came to the Lost Hills
bunker, wanting to join the Brotherhood. Not taken seriously, he is told to
go to the ruins of the West Tek facility, which was now called the Glow,
after being hit by a nuclear bomb during the Great War. When, after some
time, he returned alive, and brought with himself a holodisk with the record
of a lost expedition of several Brotherhood Paladins to the Glow, he was
the first outsider in a very long time to be accepted as a member of the
Brotherhood of Steel, even though some prominent members of the BOS
resisted his joining the organization.
It was from the Vault Dweller that the Brotherhood learned about the
Master's army and his plans to turn everyone into a super mutant. With the
support of John Maxson, he managed to convince the Council of Elders to
send a squad of paladins to the Mariposa Base (which had been,
ironically, where the BOS originally came from, although by that time even
John Maxson didn't remember it), where the Master's FEV vats were
located. With the help of the Brotherhood, the Vault Dweller eventually
managed to defeat the Master, and was never seen again in the Lost Hills
bunker.
Aftermath
After the death of Maxson, Rhombus, head of the Paladins, became the
new High Elder. After the death of the Master, the Brotherhood of Steel
helped the other human outposts drive the mutant armies away with
minimal loss of life on both sides of the conflict. Without the ability to
create more mutants and enforce their harsh brand of justice, the majority
of the mutant armies fled to the east, beyond the no-man's land.
A much smaller faction, under the leadership of Attis, tried to recreate the
mutant army in Texas, but was eventually defeated by the Brotherhood.
Midwestern Brotherhood
The Brotherhood found themselves at odds with their need for new blood
versus their code of technological secrecy. The debate went lightly. Finally,
the elders ruled against sharing the technology with outsiders, convinced
that they would endure what they had before. Further discussion was
discouraged and the elders ordered the minority on a mission across the
wastes. The Brotherhood constructed airships and dispatched the minority
East, to track down and assess to the extent of the remaining super mutant
threat. However, a great storm broke the main airship and flung it far from
its course. The mighty airship was badly damaged. The smaller sections
were torn from the main craft and never to be seen again. Many of the
expedition leaders were lost to the winds. The fraction of the crew that still
survived, struggled to keep their ship aloft before finally crashing on the
outskirts of the ruins of Chicago. The survivors eventually formed an
organization called the Midwestern Brotherhood, which diverged greatly
from the ideals of the old Brotherhood. In time, they established a harsh
rule over the towns and villages in that area.
After long fights with countless raider bands, a warlike technological cult
known as the Reavers, and a super mutant army led by mad Paladin
Latham, a survivor of one of the other BOS airships, in 2198 the
Brotherhood eventually faced their greatest enemy - a robotic army
commanded by the Calculator, mad AI of Vault 0. Eventually, the robots
were defeated, but in the course of the war, the Midwestern Brotherhood
lost many of its men, and territory. As of 2242, the splinter faction has yet to
meet the original, West Coast Brotherhood again.
Decline
After the defeat of the Master, the Brotherhood had become a shadow of its
former self. No longer the sole custodian of advanced technology in the
wasteland, the Brotherhood was struggling to find a new identity. After they
first encountered the Enclave, they started to raise small bunkers in various
cities throughout Northern California, and in 2242 they eventually came
across the Chosen One, the granchild of the Vault Dweller who, with
Brotherhood's help, destroyed the Master in 2162. They sent him to
Navarro to retrieve the vertibird plans for them, but it is not known if they
eventually got them.
War with the NCR
In 2250s, the BoS leadership, led by Jeremy Maxson, favored a return to
power by wresting all advanced tech from the hands of "lesser people" by
any means necessary. This attitude didn't win them any friends, and
because many in the Brotherhood disagree with such brutal methods, the
whole organization was on the verge of civil war.
In the year 2242, Jeremy Maxson renamed Peterson's bunker, found by
Andrea Brixley's expedition in 2231, after his famous ancestor, Roger
Maxson. He then sent a full compliment of troops for occupation. Brixley
was promoted to Elder, given the rank of General, and placed in charge.
The remainder of her exploratory team was given the title of Elder as well.
It was not long afterward that the war with the New California Republic
was announced.
For years the war waged on and was considered a victory for the
Brotherhood of Steel. However, no matter how many troops fell to the
Brotherhood's superior technology, the NCR always seemed to have more
replacements available. The Brotherhood, however, was not so fortunate.
Being an elitist group, replacements were short in arriving. It soon became
obvious that the Brotherhood was doomed to lose the war to the NCR's
greater numbers. Morale at the bunker began to falter as the war seemed
more and more hopeless. Eventually the inevitable happened. Lower
ranking members of the Brotherhood began to desert their posts.
In an effort to end the war once and for all, the Brotherhood began to use
newly discovered subversive technology known as StealthBoys. These
devices could create a field of energy that would bend light around the
user, thus making him virtually invisible to sight. This allowed Brotherhood
operatives to penetrate deep into NCR territory for the gathering of
intelligence. However, it was soon discovered that the devices had severe
side effects. Paranoia, delusions, and eventual schizophrenia were the
major ones. The Brotherhood disallowed the use of StealthBoys and once
again fell behind in their war effort.
Now the Brotherhood of Steel is facing yet another problem. The side
effects of the StealthBoys were not discovered until the team using them
had already begun to feel their effect. When the team was disbanded,
paranoia over the reason began to set in and the team plotted against
their leaders. They stole the StealthBoys, fled the bunker as deserters,
and formed a covert group known as the Circle of Steel. The goal of the
COS is to recover lost technology and rebuild the glory of the Brotherhood
at any cost.
Capital Wasteland
The Brotherhood's ruling council decided to send a contingent of soldiers
to the East Coast, to recover any and all advanced technology from
Washington, DC and to investigate the reports of super mutant activity in
the area. When the group reached the East Coast, they found the
Pentagon largely destroyed, but they found there a technological marvel
that, if restored, could help the Brotherhood rebuild a strength and
reputation that had been declining steadily for years. After the discovery,
Paladin Owyn Lyons, the leader of the expedition, was promoted to Elder.
A permanent base known as the Citadel was built into and beneath the
ruins of the Pentagon. Lyons and his soldiers also found the super
mutants in the urban ruins of downtown D.C. and helped stop the mutant
tide from overtaking the entire region, by at least keeping them at bay.
Eventually, Lyons decided to make protection of innocent inhabitants of
Capital Wasteland from super mutants his main priority. In response, the
Lost Hills elders cut off all support to the East Coast faction, while still
recognizing him as a leader of the Brotherhood of Steel, and the Citadel
as their D.C. headquarters. However, some members of the Capital
Wasteland Brotherhood believed that by abandoning the Brotherhood of
Steel’s primary mission of acquiring new technologies, Elder Lyons had
abandoned the very values that defined the order itself. One night, the
dissenters departed from the Citadel, absconding with weapons, Power
Armor, and other pieces of technology and equipment. Lyons branded the
dissenters “Outcasts,” traitors to the Brotherhood of Steel – it was a name
they would ultimately wear like a badge of honor, proud of the distance it
put between themselves and Lyons’ “soldier sycophants.” Without
reinforcements from the West Coast, Lyons was forced to recruit locally.
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