Sons of Dane

The Sons of Dane were a survivalist, anti-government movement founded by Dane Rogers before the Great War.

Background
Spurred by a bloody event in Clarksburg, the Sons of Dane's goals were to be free from an oppressive government and to be self-sufficient. Dane Rogers prophesized that the group would be delivered from destruction when the world would inevitably be consumed in fire as a result of the Sino-American War. In October 2077, the group discovered an abandoned homestead along Interstate 63 that was perfect for them to set up and defend. Over the course of the next week and a half, the Sons converted the property for their own purposes, set up defenses, and established hunting parties, as "the Sons of Dane [did] not shop at the grocery store."

On October 20, Dane told the group to convert a barn into a beer hall so that their rowdy get-togethers could move indoors and not take place around simple bonfires. The Sons often partied at the Buck's Den Beer Hall for celebratory nights of food, drinking, and general debauchery.

When the Great War struck on October 23, the Sons temporarily moved underground to survive the bombs and the ensuing fallout, as they had planned to do in case of emergency. One member, Clem, wanted to stay topside and promised that he would not mess with anything while the others were underground. Dane gave him permission to do so, but told Clem that if he fucked with the compound, he would kill Clem himself. When all of the Sons emerged, they quickly realized that living in a post-nuclear world would not be easy, as the food was harder to come by and freshwater had been tainted with radiation.

The Sons' problems worsened when Clem began to report seeing a creature in the night. Clem was terrified by the "crazy noises" he heard while on guard duty and would often find animal corpses that had been completely gutted in unnatural ways. Many members, including Verne, saw this as an excuse to get off guard duty and party in the Beer Hall at night, though Clem swore that what he saw was real. In the end, Clem was proven right. After a long night causing a ruckus in the Beer Hall, a creature broke inside while most of the men were sleeping and attacked Jackson, grabbing him by the leg and swinging him against the wall, smashing his brains out in an instant. Dane put at least six bullets in the creature, though it was unphased and managed to escape.

About a week later, the Sons realized that the loud music and partying was attracting the creature's attention. Verne was playing music one night when Paulie Keith told him to shut it off. However, it was too late, as the creature pulled him through a window, never to be seen again. Fed up, Dane decided that they had to track down the creature itself. He enlisted the help of Angie, "the best damn tracker in Appalachia," and they eventually found tracks that matched the creature. However, the trail soon ran cold, as the creature had vanished. Dane speculated that it was much more intelligent than they had realized.

Not long after, Angie started playing her guitar around midnight. This attracted the creature once more, and although she put up a decent fight, she was no match and had her guts pulled out like a deer. The other members tried shooting at it, but the creature just ran off again. The surviving Sons began calling the creature the "Nightstalker" and Dane was determined to kill it before the rest of them turned into its food.

The next time the Nightstalker struck, it killed two Sons in the Beer Hall - Clem and Beeks. By this point, there were only a handful of members left, including Dane himself. Growing desperate, he set up an automated alert asking for assistance from any experienced hunters in the area. However, this call for help ultimately failed, and the Nightstalker slowly but surely exterminated the Sons of Dane. The Nightstalker, a unique wendigo, can be hunted down by the Vault Dwellers, still roaming the area years after the Sons of Dane were destroyed.

Interactions with the player character
The player character can avenge the group by attracting and killing "the Nightstalker" in the quest One Violent Night.

Appearances
The Sons of Dane are mentioned in Fallout 76 and its update Wastelanders.

Behind the scenes
The Sons of Dane being killed, while engaging in drinking and partying, is reminiscent of the tale of Beowulf, in which the mead hall of a Danish king and his warriors is attacked by a monstrous creature called Grendel.