Brotherhood First Expeditionary Force

The Brotherhood First Expeditionary Force, also referred to as the Appalachian Brotherhood of Steel, is a faction comprising Brotherhood of Steel soldiers sent from Lost Hills to re-establish contact with the original Appalachian Brotherhood. Ever since reaching West Virginia, they have taken the mantle of their old brothers and sisters in protecting and gathering technology from all around Appalachia.

Background
When Roger Maxson formed the Brotherhood of Steel following the Great War, he used surviving satellites to communicate with survivors across the United States of America, attempting to recruit them into the Brotherhood. He succeeded in contacting Elizabeth Taggerdy, who formed a Brotherhood chapter with her Army Ranger unit in Appalachia. Contact was lost with Taggerdy when the satellites failed years later, and the Western Brotherhood was left unaware of the outcome of the Appalachian chapter's war against scorchbeasts and the accompanying Scorched Plague.

During the following years, Maxson prepared an expedition to investigate their fate. One of its critical members was to be Scribe Hailey Takano, but due to health issues she was not able to be a part of it, and was replaced by her student Scribe Odessa Valdez. To lead the expedition, the former National Guard veteran and current Paladin, Leila Rahmani was chosen. Three knights were given the task to accompany them: Knight Alan Connors, another National Guard veteran and close friend of Rahmani; Knight Matthew Thornberry; and Knight Daniel Shin.

Paladin Rahmani led the First Expeditionary Force on their cross-country journey from the Lost Hills bunker, initially to travel across the United States to investigate valued technological sites, finally stopping at ATLAS Observatory, in order to discern the fate of the Appalachian group.

After crossing the Rocky Mountains, radio communications were likewise lost between Lost Hills and the Expeditionary Force. Over the course of the following months, the scribes at Lost Hills tried to reach the Expedition, but to no avail. Command sent various encrypted radio messages, first while estimating their location near Lincoln, and later ordering the expedition to divert from their primary goal. Still with no response, Lost Hills tried once again to contact them, estimating the unit to be somewhere east of the Mississippi River, and ordering them to proceed with their original mission in order to establish contact at the target location in Appalachia. The next radio message was recorded off the record by Elder Roger Maxson via a private channel to Paladin Leila Rahmani. He believed the paladin understood the value and purpose of the Brotherhood of Steel, and despite their disagreements, Maxson hoped the lack of communication was simply due to the inability of answering back. Otherwise, the radio silence would be taken as desertion by the council of Elders, and Maxson would be overruled in regards of what to do with the expedition and wouldn't be able to defend her anymore.

After more than three months without any contact with the First Expeditionary Force, Elder Maxson sent a last official message to Paladin Rahmani. The scribes estimated they should have already entered the borders of West Virginia and be close to their target destination at the ATLAS Observatory. Maxson's orders for the expedition were to reestablish contact with Lost Hills right after securing the observatory, providing a full report on their whereabouts during their journey, and to represent the Brotherhood in Appalachia.

At some point during their months-long journey, Rahmani and the rest of the First Expeditionary Force encountered a settlement under threat of raiders. Rahmani decided to equip them with government-issue weaponry they had found in a military facility in the Midwest that they had initially intended to keep for the Brotherhood. However, the weapons proved useless against the raider force, as the settlement was wiped out, with only two survivors. Because of the loss of Knight Connors and the raiders actually getting strengthened by the looted weapons, the incident would set off a division between Rahmani and Shin, with Shin wanting Rahmani to stand trial with the Council of Elders. Rahmani would like to avoid re-establishing contact with Lost Hills, as she fears it would result in having their titles stripped and their influence rendered illegitimate. Despite the fact that re-establishing contact was an order in and of itself, Rahmani believes that they could continue on as a sanctioned offshoot nonetheless, able to spread "authority and goodwill across the nation."

However, after Russell Dorsey fortified the ATLAS Observatory, her voice could once again be heard across the region, becoming more audible with each passing week. The loss of communications came from the interference of raiders, preventing the force from messaging back due to the loss of their long-distance transmitter.

By the time they reached Appalachia, crossing over two thousand miles, taking multiple months, the group itself was made up of only three original Brotherhood personnel. In addition, they had informally recruited many initiates and hopefuls along the way.

Locations

 * Fort Atlas
 * Makeshift vault

Members
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Paladins

 * Paladin Leila Rahmani (formerly, optional)

Knights

 * Knight Alan Connors
 * Knight Daniel Shin (formerly, optional)
 * Knight Matthew Thornberry (formerly)
 * Vault Dweller (optional)

Scribes

 * Scribe Hailey Takano (formerly)
 * Scribe Odessa Valdez

Initiates

 * Doctor Solomon Hardy
 * Initiate Erika Hewsen
 * Initiate Felton Reed
 * Initiate Luis Ramirez
 * Initiate Norland
 * Initiate Pappas
 * Initiate Russell Dorsey
 * Initiate Vernon Dodge (optional)

Hopefuls

 * Colin Putnam (optional)
 * Marty Putnam (optional)

Robots

 * Recruiter
 * Construction Protectrons
 * Protectrons

Variants
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 * Brotherhood hopeful
 * Brotherhood initiate

Appearances
The Brotherhood First Expeditionary Force appears only