Vault 87 super mutants

The Vault 87 super mutants are a faction in the Capital Wasteland of 2277.

Background
After the failure of the Evolutionary Experimentation Program in 2078, the Vault 87 super mutants joined together with each other, and dedicated themselves to the hive-minded goal of converting the entire human citizenship of the Capital Wasteland into super mutants. Over the next two-hundred years, they spent their time raiding settlements and ambushing travellers, capturing them, and dragging them back to Vault 87 for conversion. Over the decades, they built up an enormous army of converts, and were spread all around the entire wasteland. However, in 2255, the Brotherhood of Steel arrived in the region, and set up a permanent chapter within the Capital Wasteland, dedicated to the extinction of the super mutant army, bringing the conflict into a full-on war. After long periods of fighting, the super mutants' influence and grip on the countryside regions were greatly diminshed, and they were almost entirely expelled into the Washington, D.C. ruins. During 2258, the super mutants succeeded in overrunning the Jefferson Memorial, and led to the Brotherhood and the Project Purity team's departure from the facility.

Eventually, the super mutants realised their FEV supplies were slowly running dangerously low, and set out to find new sources of the virus. By 2277, they began scouring the entire wasteland for sources, and greatly reinforced the Vernon Square district in order to explore the Vault-Tec headquarters for a possible lead.

By 2277, the super mutants were in a desperate battle to hold onto their territory. The Washington D.C. districts of Bailey's Crossroads, Chevy Chase, Falls Church, the Mall, Pennsylvania Avenue, Seward Square, and Takoma Park were under siege by other organisations in the wasteland, mainly the Brotherhood of Steel and Talon Company. Several prisoner camps and holding centers were set up throughout the wasteland, one of which being the Germantown police HQ. A behemoth was also held captive by raiders at Evergreen Mills, and locked in an electrified enclosure. The super mutants were also engaged in a slow attempt to conquer the Big Town settlement. They are also still unable to occupy the Lamplight Caverns, due to the efforts of the children that reside there. Outside of D.C., and other than Vault 87, the super mutants had two major garrisons and strongholds, with the rest of their territory being outposts in the wilderness. Arthur Maxson claims he once saw a behemoth outside of the Citadel walls at some point in his life. Whether it survived is unknown.

Vault 87 was raided by the Lone Wanderer during the events of Finding the Garden of Eden, which led to the G.E.C.K. being taken. Later on, the Enclave also penetrated the facility. Depending on the Lone Wanderer's actions, the Brotherhood of Steel could have been informed of Vault 87's secret, and that it was an FEV conversion center. Elder Lyons would have taken on board the information, however the following events are unknown. If the Brotherhood conquered Vault 87, the super mutants would have had no FEV stocks or headquarters, and they would have dwindled in a slow battle to their own extinction with the denizens of the wasteland.

Structure
The Vault 87 super mutant army has no form of leadership, however, there are power structures within the army, based on a mutant's age. The longer they live, the taller and stronger they become. In the order of hierarchy, recent converts are the weakest, and wield either nail boards or hunting rifles. Brutes are the next in line, normally owning either R91 assault rifles or sledgehammers. In third are masters, normally owning a Chinese assault rifle, a super sledge, or heavy weapons. In fourth, are the overlords, who are the highest ranked infantry possible, and are nearest to the behemoth process, and normally use high-scale energy weaponry. Finally, behemoths are the strongest individuals in the army, although whether they hold any leadership skills is unknown. There are five such behemoths known to exist within the Capital Wasteland, and they are usually called out to large-scale attacks.

The super mutants are a hive-minded society, and exist only to pursue their common goal of converting all human beings into their own kind.

Territory
Super mutant territory tends to be marked with spiked scrap metal structures and spires, along with mutilated human corpses and the bagged-up remains of their limbs and organs. The super mutants have almost entirely conquered the entire downtown region, and hold small pockets of territory in the mid-west and north-west areas of the Capital Wasteland. They also hold a small amount of locations dotted throughout the other regions of the wasteland.

Washington, D.C. ruins

 * Arlington district
 * Arlington Memorial bridge
 * Anchorage Memorial riverside (prisoner camp)
 * Citadel (small skirmish teams alongside the outer walls)
 * Irradiated metro topside
 * Anacostia Crossing district (under siege by Rivet City and wastelanders)
 * Jefferson Memorial (garrison; later cleared out by the Lone Wanderer)
 * Super mutant bonfire (prisoner camp)
 * Bailey's Crossroads district (under siege by Brotherhood Outcasts)
 * Chevy Chase district (under siege by the Brotherhood of Steel)
 * Falls Church district (under siege by the Brotherhood of Steel)
 * Farragut (under siege by Megaton and wastelanders)
 * Georgetown district
 * L'Enfant district
 * The Mall district (under siege by Talon Company, the Brotherhood of Steel, and other wasteland groups)
 * The Capitol building
 * Museum station
 * Museum of Technology
 * National Archives
 * Mason District
 * Pennsylvania Avenue district (under siege by the Brotherhood of Steel)
 * Seward Square district (under siege by Talon Company)
 * Takoma Park district (under siege by Talon Company)
 * Vernon Square district

Outer wasteland

 * Broadcast tower KT8
 * Calverton (ambush site)
 * Chryslus Building (garrison)
 * Clifftop shacks (prisoner camp)
 * Everglow National Campground (contested by raiders)
 * Germantown (prisoner camp and holding area)
 * Hallowed Moors Cemetery (prisoner camp)
 * Jury Street
 * Mason Dixon Salvage (prisoner camp)
 * Roosevelt Academy (garrison and prisoner camp)
 * Vault 87 and the surrounding countryside (headquarters and FEV conversion center, later cleared out by the Lone Wanderer and the Enclave)
 * Murder Pass

Relationships
The Vault 87 super mutants hold no alliances or even relationships with any other groups or individuals in the wasteland, and will attack any entity that is not them or a centaur on sight. They do however occasionally leave ghoul individuals alone, due to the FEV conversion being ineffective on their kind, although it is unknown if the two species have dealings or dialogue between each other. There are two super mutants known to have defected from the army and their ways, Fawkes, and Uncle Leo, who are civil towards people not of their kind.

Appearances
The Vault 87 super mutants appear in Fallout 3.