The Institute

The Institute is a mysterious organization in the Commonwealth. It is known to possess advanced technology, including the ability to produce androids of high enough quality to pass as humans.

Background
The Institute is the descendant of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), located within the Commonwealth, the name now given in the post-atomic world to what was once the American state of Massachusetts. Little is known about the Institute other than that the scientists working in the sealed environment of the Institute possess highly advanced technology and technological skills. The Institute has created true artificial intelligence (AI) and is capable of creating convincing androids.

In fact, it seems that aside from a handful of groups on the West Coast, it is the only organization in the post-apocalyptic American wastelands that continues to pursue true scientific study and novel technological development other than the scientists at the Big Empty, like the Shi or the New California Republic, though it is probably most similar to the Boulder Dome.

Curiously, although the NCR, the Brotherhood of Steel and the Enclave are the United States wasteland's most powerful organizations, they do not mention the Institute, despite their research and search for technology.

Interactions with the player character
Another organization active in the Commonwealth, the Railroad, functions in direct opposition to the Institute, as their goal is to free the Institute's sentient androids from their creators.

Broken Steel
In Fallout 3 ' s Broken Steel add-on it is mentioned that Dr. Madison Li supposedly went north to join the Institute after the events of Take it Back!. Whether this was truly her intention and whether she actually made it there is currently unknown.

Appearances
The Institute is only mentioned in Fallout 3 and is referenced in Fallout: New Vegas.

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