Enclave

The Enclave is an organization with close ties to the pre-War United States of America, its federal government, military, and corporations. This cryptocratic alliance eventually subverted the continuity of government operations to ensure its survival as the true United States of America, eventually becoming a quasi-state laying claim to the North American mainland. While the organization commonly styled itself as the Enclave, it used United States of America interchangeably, particularly in propaganda. To wastelanders who recognized it, it was commonly treated as a remnant of pre-War America.

The founders of the Enclave operated as an informal secret cabal type organization of the same name, comprising members of the government and the military-industrial complex, rooted deep within the highest levels of government, military personnel, and corporate elite. It coalesced into a coherent entity after the Great War, complete with its own ideals and symbols, and in at least one instance, turning on the legitimate survivors of the government. Its ideology evolved over the decades after the War, from rabid anti-communism in the immediate post-War era to pseudo-scientific racialism based in the conviction that its members were the sole representatives of unspoiled humanity, thanks to surviving the nuclear fallout in shielded facilities. This mindset came to dominate the Enclave's ideology, culminating in an unsuccessful attempt at global genocide in mid-23rd century.

Relative to other human societies throughout the wasteland, the Enclave is among the smallest factions, but their exact strength is impossible to precisely gauge due to their clandestine nature. Control Station Enclave, the largest known concentration of Enclave members in the wasteland, and is home to the main aspects of its central leadership, encompassed between a hundred and a thousand inhabitants by 2241. By comparison, the largest known city in the wasteland built from scratch, Shady Sands, is home to 3,000 citizens alone. The Enclave typically covered manpower problems by forcing wastelanders to work for them as conscripts, assets, or slaves (though it conferred no special benefits beyond immediate survival, as all were considered expendable mutants).

While the Enclave exercised control of a number of military bases scattered across the former continental United States, it is unclear how many strongholds or installations remain. All known strongholds were destroyed by various factions throughout the 23rd century, three times over.

For a list of all known members, see this article.

Origins
Before the War, the Enclave was a cabal of powerful individuals from across the United States, including presidents, members of the joint chiefs, prize-winning scientists, wealthy industrialists, members of the military, influential politicians and other powerful men and women who together formed the éminence grise of the United States of America. In the opinion of its members, it was the greatest assembly of minds on American soil.

Contingency planning
As the Sino-American War dragged on and the risk of nuclear war increased, members of the Enclave invested into various contingency measures to survive the coming war. Funded by corporate and government money, these installations would enable the Enclave to continue waging war even after the United States ceased to exist. The most prominent of these installations was the presidential oil rig out in the Pacific Ocean, backed by Poseidon Oil, with the Whitespring Congressional Bunker acting as a hub for future Enclave operations, covertly funded by funds embezzled from the Department of Agriculture by its secretary, Thomas Eckhart. Other facilities prepared in advance were Raven Rock Fallout 3 Official Game Guide Game of the Year Edition p.41: "The Enclave In the recent past, the Enclave—the remains of the United States government—were evacuated to an oil rig off the coast of California. Little is known about what happened to these forces, although the country has a new commander-in-chief: President John Henry Eden. However, recent reports and chatter have pinpointed the resurgence of the Enclave, with their base centered on a secure underground facility known as Raven Rock. Initial contact was made there 35 years ago. ''During this time, the new President Eden has been slowly rebuilding his resources, thanks in part to the technology already available at the Raven Rock military base. Vertibirds, weapons, and robots were easy to construct, but human followers were more difficult to find. The answer was to rely on Colonel Autumn, who controls the Enclave soldier forces, as well as creating a propaganda-spewing series of Eyebots sent to roam the Wasteland, spreading hope. Eden could spout his pro-government rhetoric, and promise a return of the pre-war America of legend: a land of white picket fences, baseball, apple pie, and good, old-fashioned American global supremacy.'' ''President Eden's secretive plan all along has been to rule over an America of the 'pure,' free from any mutation. He has learned of a ridiculously ambitious experiment known as Project Purity, and knew the time to strike had come: His Enclave forces would 'reclaim' the Jefferson Memorial. By controlling the purified water, Eden would control the Capital Wasteland, and the rest of the country eventually. What better way to administer modified F.E.V.- which kills anyone infected with any form of mutation-than through the water supply?"'' (Fallout 3 Official Game Guide faction profiles) and the Kovac-Muldoon Platform.

The Enclave used Project Safehouse and the Vault-Tec Industries' network of underground shelters for a grand social experiment, to test the occupants in unique circumstances. Vault monitoring and research were conducted under the Vault Behavioral Project. In order to monitor the populations being experimented upon, the Enclave's oil rig possessed a great deal of equipment that allowed them to observe and control the vaults. For example, the Enclave sent the all-clear signal to Vault 8 shortly after the War, prompting them to leave their vault and build their city. These monitoring tools also let the Enclave see that the population of Vault 13 was largely intact, although this wouldn't become important until much later.

Minutes to midnight
In March 2077, with the world heading directly for nuclear confrontation, the President of the United States and other members of the Enclave retreated to various fortified areas around the globe. Others remained behind, only retreating to fortified shelters as the nuclear war became imminent.

As the shadow government poised to take over the US government should the worst occur, the existence of the Enclave to the larger public was unknown. However, this did not stop individuals from attempting to uncover its existence both from within and without the government. As the only way to join the Enclave was to be invited by them, a large majority of the government was unaware of its existence beyond rumors and irregularities in the budget. The United States military notably refused to allow the Enclave access to some of its systems. Furthermore, the "powers that be" in the government largely opposed the notion of a nuclear first strike against China that some members of the Enclave promoted.

As early as Friday, June 4, 2077, United States Senator Sam Blackwell began an investigation into the Congressional Bunker Project and both Eckhart's and Vault-Tec's potential involvement. After unrelated threats were made against his daughter, Blackwell vanished; only to shortly reappear and deliver a critique of the US government. In it, he proclaimed the existence of a shadow government and their "sick" plans on American citizens in a controversial interview published in the Charleston Herald.

Front page news in the Boston Bugle for October 19th to 23rd, 2077, included another exposé of the Enclave by reporter Mags Veccio, who managed to locate the President to an oil rig off the coast of California. Thanks to an anonymous source, Veccio also learned that its official designation was "Control Station Enclave;" giving, as Veccio stated, "credence to the long-running rumors of a secret, militarized 'shadow government,' known as the Enclave, that would take control of the United States in the event of a nuclear conflagration."

The Great War and the Appalachian unraveling
On October 23, 2077, the Great War resulted in the destruction of the Old World and the creation of the post-atomic wasteland that would dominate the globe for the next several hundred years. The United States government largely ceased to exist. Some government officials who were supposed to retreat to the Congressional Bunker never made it, either failing to respond to hails or being removed from the list prior to the bombs for unknown reasons. Members of Congress who made it to the Congressional Bunker and were not part of the Enclave were summarily executed by automated turrets. Surviving members were then put to a vote as to whether to use the resources of Appalachia to continue the war against China or to oppose Eckhart's plans. Those that disagreed with Eckhart were also executed.

Following the purges, Secretary Eckhart rededicated his branch of the Enclave to the eradication of communism through any means necessary. However, plans were immediately thrown into disarray, as communications between Enclave hubs crumbled. The Whitespring Bunker was particularly affected as it dropped off the Enclave grid completely. Without contact with the oil rig, Raven Rock, and other Enclave outposts, Eckhart proclaimed himself President of the United States and Appalachian Enclave.

Although his reign lasted less than a decade, it left an indelible mark on the region and brought humanity to near-extinction. In his pursuit of vengeance, Eckhart planned to use Appalachia's automated nuclear missile silos to deliver secondary nuclear strikes on China to ensure its destruction. However, due to the nature of the automated systems, he first needed to convince them that Appalachia was under attack severe enough to warrant going to DEFCON 1 again. To do so, he unleashed progressively worse horrors upon Appalachia, from Liberators, through super mutants, to the scorchbeasts, massive mutated bats created by the Enclave, infected with a virulent plague capable of controlling living creatures. This proved to be the breaking point for members of the Enclave, with forces rallying around General Ellen Santiago. The result was a brief, but bloody civil war that ended in the death of every living member of the Appalachian Enclave: When Santiago's forces attempted to destroy MODUS, the AI defended itself. Although explosives already planted severely damaged its memory banks, it retained control over the bunker long enough to seal it and fill it with poisonous gas, wiping out the Enclave's Appalachian branch in 2086.

Resurgence
MODUS, the only 'survivor' of the Appalachian Enclave would begin repairing the damage done to the bunker during the civil war using leftover robots. It would also try to recruit a dweller from Vault 76 in 2102, and attempt (but fail) to recruit US Army Captain Oliver Fields and his band of survivors when people returned to Appalachia in 2103.

It was not until c. 2140 that the Enclave adopted a policy deeming it the sole remaining bastion of "pure," mutation-free humanity on Earth. Cohabitation with wastelanders was deemed untenable, leading to the decision to pursue extermination of "mutants."

Before the Great War, the Enclave started, and developed, a plethora of new technologies, including variations of the classic T-51 power armor. The work progressed slowly and the projects failed to yield improvements. A renewed research effort into creating a next-generation suit of powered infantry armor began in 2215, with President Richardson's presidential order. The project was completed in October 2220, seven months after Congressman Dick Richardson's (son of the previous leader) was elected president (on the 5th of March).

In 2235, the Enclave began its experimentation on deathclaws, with the aim of creating cheap shock troops for waging war in hostile environments. However, it was 2236 that became a breakthrough in its activities. On July 20th, 2236, Enclave scouts (re)discovered the ruins of the Mariposa Military Base. The Chemical Corps and other scientists began to scour the base, while assault squads began gathering slaves to use for excavating the base. In the process, they captured Melchior from the town of Redding. Excavations began in September. The slaves and construction crews dug into the collapsed base, removing tons of rock. Unprotected wastelanders were exposed to low levels of FEV in the ruins, released after the base self-destructed and mutations began to occur. At the same time, Frank Horrigan was exposed to the virus and sent to the oil rig for study. By October, Melchior (now mutating) realized that the Enclave would execute him and the others as soon as they recovered the FEV and virus data. He began secreting away weapons for the mutants in anticipation of the confrontation. The excavations were completed in January 2237. Shortly after Enclave scientists managed to obtain a pure sample of FEV and leave the base, the mutants rose up against their Enclave overseers. After suffering heavy casualties, the Enclave forces fell back and sealed the mutants in the ruins of the facility.

Although it came at a heavy price, the sample allowed the Enclave to start researching the creation of a biological agent that would allow for killing mutants worldwide. Dubbed FEV Curling-13, after Lt. Col. Charles Curling, the leader of the project, the sample was modified and refined by the Chemical Corps into a staggeringly effective killer. The Enclave defined the project's goal as achieving a global clean sweep with a 99.5% extermination rate. In the meantime, between 2236 and 2238, the scientists experiment on Frank Horrigan. The mutating trooper was kept heavily sedated: whenever he was conscious, "incidents" occurred that result in major bloodshed. By January 2239, tests ran dry and the decision was made to use Horrigan for fieldwork. On March 27, 2239, Horrigan was sealed within power armor custom-manufactured to fit his massive physique. After a number of horrifically successful field tests, he became the Enclave's solution to a number of sticky problems.

In 2241, the project was in its final stages. Although the Enclave ran into shortages of certain critical chemicals, they got around that problem by forming a secret relationship with the Salvatores of New Reno: in exchange for laser pistols, the mobsters provided them with the necessary chemicals made in their drug labs. Final testing required representative population samples for the toxin and the inoculation against it. The Enclave raided Vault 13 on March 16, 2242; the vault's inhabitants were taken to the oil rig so that the inoculation rendering humans immune to the FEV-based toxin could be tested. At roughly the same time, the village of Arroyo was also raided, to acquire subjects to verify the effectiveness of FEV Curling-13. By Autumn of 2242, the testing was completed and the target toxin efficiency of 99.5% was reached. 250,000 gallons were manufactured and prepared for release into the jet streams. However, hours before the toxin could be released, the Chosen One infiltrated the oil rig, assassinated President Dick Richardson and Frank Horrigan and triggered a nuclear detonation, obliterating the toxin supply and averting global genocide.

Retreat
The destruction of the oil rig and loss of senior leadership was a crippling blow to the Enclave. The forces on the West Coast were in disarray. Members from other installations within New California and survivors from the rig (like Sergeant Granite) regrouped at Navarro. In late 2242, senior scientist Autumn was contacted by a new president, John Henry Eden, who ordered the majority of the remaining Enclave forces on the West Coast to relocate eastwards, to the Capital Wasteland, near the ruins of the once capital of the United States, Washington, D.C.

Navarro remained as a fully staffed Enclave base. However, a couple of years after 2246, the New California Republic invaded Navarro, stating that it posed a threat to the region. The NCR Army was victorious and the Enclave remnants scattered to the winds. Enclave remnants fled east or attempted to integrate into the NCR, with limited success.

Meanwhile, John Henry Eden was joined by Enclave survivors from the West Coast. Raven Rock had full manufacturing facilities and a sizable stockpile of resources, enabling the president to create an army of robots and provide his new human subordinates with military technology necessary to maintain their technological superiority. A separate line of robots, the eyebots, were created to roam the wasteland, spreading a message of hope and the return of pre-War America, in the form of the Enclave. The Enclave maintained a low profile, rarely seen in the wasteland. Using Raven Rock and Adams Air Force Base, they slowly rebuilt their military might and even started a number of research projects to develop their technological edge, including Duraframe eyebots and Hellfire power armor.

Breaking the Steel
The Enclave began a large scale campaign of expansion in 2277, as Project Purity, a massive water purifier in the D.C. tidal basin was activated. Enclave forces raided the facility, establishing a secure perimeter around it. However, due to the actions of the project's lead scientist, who committed suicide by activating the purifier prematurely and flooding its control chamber with radiation (almost killing Colonel Augustus Autumn in the process), they were unable to use it. The Enclave focused on shadowing the scientist's child, the Lone Wanderer, to locate the part necessary for the purifier to function and captured them on their way out of Vault 87. With the Garden of Eden Creation Kit in their possession, the Enclave decided to activate the purifier. Colonel Augustus Autumn openly defied the president's plan to contaminate the water with modified FEV, so that it would cleanse the wasteland. The colonel instead wanted to use the purifier as a way to unite the wasteland and establish the Enclave as its saviors.

The Enclave's attempts were stopped by a sudden raid by Lyons' Brotherhood of Steel. A pre-War war machine code-named Liberty Prime, assisted by the Lyons' Pride and the Lone Wanderer, carved a swathe through the Enclave's fortifications, killing the droves of soldiers that manned them, and destroying a large number of Vertibird gunships that the Enclave called in as reinforcements. The battle ended in a success for the Brotherhood, who proceeds to lay claim to the now-active purifier. The ultimate fate of Colonel Augustus Autumn, present at Project Purity during the raid, remains unknown.

The Brotherhood used Liberty Prime in several other attacks against the Enclave, including the raid on Raven Rock. With their last major facility in the Capital Wasteland destroyed, the Enclave was forced to flee. Regrouping at the mobile base crawler at Adams AFB, the Enclave formulated a counter-attack plan. The Brotherhood was lured to the satellite relay station. As usual, they spearheaded the attack with Liberty Prime. The Enclave anticipated that and while the war machine attacked the facility, it was destroyed by mini-nuclear bombardment from Bradley-Hercules, a weapons platform in high orbit.

Robbed of their most important asset, the Brotherhood was demoralized. Reeling from the losses sustained at Project Purity, the Enclave sought to bolster their presence by redeploying special forces from remote and classified locations outside of the Capital Wasteland. Collectively known as Enclave Squad Sigma, these soldiers operated in groups of six, utilizing heavy incinerators and led by a commander in Hellﬁre Armor. Each member was a hardened veteran of numerous successful combat operations, and the units were posted around locations deemed by Enclave high command as imperative to the salvation of the cause.

However, the Enclave overestimated their strategy: the Lone Wanderer managed to elude their squads and retrieve components for a pre-War weapon that would give the Brotherhood an edge in the war. That same person subsequently assaulted the remaining Enclave stronghold at Adams, supported by Brotherhood forces and their captured Vertibird. This attack culminated in the destruction of the crawler, robbing the Enclave of their last known major command center.

Remnants
By 2281, the Enclave's presence has largely faded. Four decades after the fall of Navarro. Members who have not integrated into the NCR or were captured and tried for war crimes, fled to the fringes of the republic, keeping out of sight. One squad is known to have ended up in the Mojave Wasteland, on the frontier between the NCR and Caesar's Legion. Most of these old warhorses have found new lives, although their weapons and armor remain safely stored, awaiting the last call to battle that may never come. In the east, the only known survivor of the Enclave's forces under Autumn and Eden is former lieutenant Brian Richter, who was left for dead during a recon mission. A decade after the fall of Raven Rock, the Purifier, and Adams, Richter is a devout follower of Atom on the far-flung Mount Desert Island, at The Nucleus, having abandoned his former affiliation for a new life as a zealot.

The only other known remnant of the Enclave that isn't a rusted wreck, repurposed machine, or man running from their past is ED-E, a reinforced combat-model eyebot, sent out from Adams Air Force Base before its fall. Representing the last prototype of its line, it was sent to Navarro by way of Illinois, its creator not aware that Navarro has fallen. It is not known if ED-E ever tracked down the Chicago outpost or if it still exists. All that remains of it is a license plate bolted to ED-E's side.

Society
The Enclave has patterned itself after the pre-War United States of America, scaling down its structure to match its smaller size. The Enclave is led by a president, elected by the people of the Enclave without a term limit. The president is assisted by a vice president, who together form the executive branch of the government. The Enclave also has a congress, but there is no mention of a judicial branch. Some governmental agencies have also been reformed in the Enclave. The Atomic energy Commission exists but has been scaled down significantly and around 2242 was responsible simply for maintaining the oil rig's nuclear reactor.

Ideology
The Enclave claims to be the direct continuation of the pre-War United States of America. At the same time, it does not recognize anyone outside the Enclave as an American citizen, even if they were born in a vault to American citizens and would thus hold American citizenship. Furthermore, since c. 2140, the Enclave has adopted the position that its members are the last remaining bastion of humanity on Earth. Ruling out cohabitation with perceived mutants, i.e. anyone outside its ranks, it has decided to pursue a course of extermination  using FEV Curling-13, a reengineered version of the FEV-II, modified to become a catalyst for global genocide. The Enclave was prevented from releasing the virus by the Chosen One just hours before it was meant to be deployed.

In the West, the destruction of the oil rig paved the way for changes. Under the leadership of Colonel Augustus Autumn, the Enclave forces in the Capital Wasteland attempted to use their assets to bring fresh water, protection and a plan for the future to the wasteland, believing that the American people were worth fighting for. However, internal conflict between the colonel and President John Henry Eden made the actions of the Enclave erratic and inconsistent. While the president wanted to pursue a course of extermination once more, Autumn considered this plan too extreme on humanitarian grounds and eventually managed to convince the AI to abandon the plan (unsuccessfully in the long run, as Eden, fixated on the issue of purity, tried to coax the Lone Wanderer into carrying out his genocidal plan).

Despite that, the Enclave maintained a network of constituency enforcement points, to enforce Enclave presence among the general populace and perform compulsory genetic compliance screenings. Genetic non-compliance offenders were detained and executed. Even then, the Enclave employed at least two humans of wasteland origin (i.e. offenders of this type), Stiggs and Anna Holt. Even people of vault origin would have to be granted amnesty before they would be accepted into the Enclave.

Enclave bases
The true extent of the Enclave is unknown. The strongest concentration of their forces historically being New California and Capital Wasteland, with an isolated force making use of the Whitespring Bunker in Appalachia. In general, the great plans of continuing the war against China from the safety of their bunkers were ruined by communication breakdowns and isolation.

Enclave bases make use of the best security technologies available. Forcefields are common passive defenses, while plasma turrets and auto-cannons are common stationary defensive emplacements. Enclave patrols are a common defensive measure, including anywhere between three and five troopers armed with high powered weapons.

Apart from the oil rig and Navarro, the Enclave had locations and bases hidden throughout New California and the Mojave Wasteland, however, their status after the destruction of the oil rig and Navarro is not known. However, some hypothesize that many members traveled east or integrated with the NCR.

Military
The military arm of the Enclave also uses the pre-War U.S. system to a certain degree. The president is the commander-in-chief, while actual command of the military is handled by the Enclave High Command. The Enclave military collectively forms the Department of the Army, which has at least two other departments: Research & Development and Peacekeeping and Recovery, charged with staffing Constituency Enforcement Points whenever they are set up in the wasteland. The Enclave has also recreated several pre-War formations. The Secret Service was reformed, tasked with protecting the government (most notably the president), though their activities will occasionally include being deployed on delicate missions to the mainland (such as silencing a Brotherhood outpost or assassinations). The United States Chemical Corps returned as well, its duties including the development of the FEV-II.

Apart from units based on their pre-War analogs, the Enclave has several formations unique to itself. The most well known are the verti-assault teams: heavily armed squads of Enclave power armor troops, widely known for their tendency to go in shooting without asking questions. They let someone else sift through the ashes to figure out what was going on. Other units include the Enclave Control Company, responsible for perimeter defense, and Enclave Squad Sigma, used for securing high priority targets. Another specialized formation are Fauna Details, tasked with handling animals used by the Enclave in their operations and experiments. Fauna Detail Charlie is one such example, handling deathclaws.

The Enclave experiments with automation in their military. Camp RHO is one such experiment undertaken under the auspices of the Army's R&D wing, testing a new R76-H3-0 chip that is a part of an automated defense grid staffed by a single officer.

The Pacific Fleet of the United States Navy was deployed to Control Station Enclave before the Great War, however, its exact post War fate is unknown.

Department of the Army
Evolved from the pre-War Department of the Army, the Enclave Department of the Army serves a much broader role than it's original counterpart. All branches of the US Military have now fallen under the control of the Department of the Army, creating a singular force that the Enclave uses to carry out its operations in the wasteland. At the Enclave's height, they were even considered the most advanced fighting force in the wastes. The bulk of the Department of the Army's forces are soldiers, clad in various forms of Enclave power armor wielding energy weapons. However, the Department also fields an Air Force made up of Vertibirds, of both the transport and gunship types, which are used for a wide variety of operations. They likewise maintain a naval force comprised of pre-War battleships, which may be the remains of the aforementioned Pacific Fleet. A garage at Navarro containing a tank truck overseen by a mechanic indicates they may also have a form of the motor pool as well.

The Army typically deploys its forces in squads that make use of advanced military tactics beyond the capabilities of most wasteland factions. Combined with their use of cutting edge technology, such as sentry drones that can protect their flanks, the Army is extremely capable of dispatching most threats to the Enclave. But when standard forces prove insufficient, one more weapon remains the Department of the Army's arsenal. The elite black-ops unit known as Enclave Squad Sigma can be dispatched to eliminate top priority dangers or guard installations considered to be of utmost importance, such as the mobile base crawler at Adams Air Force Base.

Research and Development
This branch has been responsible for the Enclave’s technological advancements and is run by some of the most brilliant minds in the Enclave. They designed the advanced power armor that is able to keep the Enclave soldiers safe from radiation. These scientists are rarely seen in the field. When they are, they are wearing heavy environmental protection suits.

Peacekeeping and Recovery
This department is responsible for civil protection, local council, and rule of the civilian side of the Enclave. It maintains bases around the Wasteland under the guise of "protecting" the citizens. They actually exist to keep an eye on the population and quietly remove anyone who the Enclave considers "non-compliant." In the Capital Wasteland, Peacekeeping and Recovery are seen at a camp near the Wheaton armory taking and enforcing details from wastelanders passing through and eliminating those that offend or do not comply with their regulations.

Secret Service
The United States Secret Service was a United States federal government agency, operating under the auspices of the Enclave following the Great War and the organization succeeding the American government. The Secret Service was reformed, tasked with protecting the government (most notably the president), though their mandates will occasionally include being deployed on delicate missions to the mainland (such as silencing a Brotherhood outpost or in state-sanctioned assassinations). Frank Horrigan, during his tenure as the presidential bodyguard, was considered a part of the Secret Service.

Foreign relations
Due to their ideology, the Enclave generally does not maintain relations with other entities, preferring hostility instead. Outsiders are considered useful only as slave labor (at Mariposa, for example), testing (FEV Curling-13) or eradication (ultimate goal). However, the Enclave is ready to make certain compromises. Such was the case with the Salvatore family of New Reno: in exchange for chemicals necessary to the process of developing FEV Curling-13, they provided the mobsters with Wattz 1000 laser pistols, giving the family an edge over their competitors.

The situation changed when the Enclave retreated to the East Coast: the Enclave established a strong presence in the wasteland circa 2277, maintaining a network of constituency enforcement points. However, rather than aiding wastelanders, they were subjecting them to mandatory genetic screening and execution, should they fail the test. It seems that the ultimate goal of Colonel Autumn was establishing the Enclave as the savior of the wastes, rather than pursuing extermination.

A large scale deployment of their forces to establish territorial control was an unprecedented change. Before the loss of the oil rig, the Enclave focused on covert operations, maintaining a low profile. This reduced their exposure and limited knowledge of the Enclave's activities. Of course, this course of action wasn't always successful. The Brotherhood of Steel became aware of the Enclave's existence around 2241. Though the Brotherhood was not what it used to be and obviously not the sole source of mankind's technology, they activated a network of outposts in the Den, the NCR and San Francisco to monitor its activities and keep watch. The Brotherhood has kept an eye on them for decades, and the Enclave's motives have not changed in that time.

Metzger of the Den slavers also managed to tap into their radio communications with the Salvatores. Other instances involved sighting by Wright children in New Reno, Melchior Jr. witnessing the kidnapping of his father, Vertibirds flying over Redding and San Francisco, and, of course, the crash of a Vertibird in the Klamath canyon following a rotor malfunction. The Enclave has been also indirectly polluting the coasts of southern California and Mexico, causing irreversible ecological damage with effluvia from the oil rig's nuclear reactor. By 2241, beaches in the region became saturated with toxic waste and highly irradiated sea life.

The tendency to maintain a low profile was present before the War as well. The founders of the Enclave, referred to as the Conspiracy, eliminated Quaere Verum, a group dedicated to exposing the shadow government, in response to them compromising the security of a top-secret laboratory and stealing the MPXL Novasurge plasma pistol prototype.

Technology
Access to the most intimate secrets of the United States government and its military, the Enclave managed to preserve a large variety of advanced and prototype technologies for future use within its bunkers. The most important of these were schematics for the experimental X-01 power armor, an advanced model still in early testing phases, and the Vertibird family of tiltrotor aircraft. Combined with the automated production facilities established at their bases, the Enclave was capable of outfitting its soldiers with weapons far above anything the wasteland could muster, including standardized Mark II power armors derived from the X-01, introduced in 2220, widespread plasma and laser weapons (such as the urban plasma rifle developed shortly before the War by REPCONN Aerospace), and, of course, the Vertibird s. Some theorized that the Enclave's technological level is a result of them using captured alien technology, but these rumors remain unconfirmed. The most exotic design used by the Enclave, the urban plasma rifle, was actually created by REPCONN Aerospace.

Enclave laboratories also possessed cutting edge equipment, ahead of anything wastelanders could muster. Apart from infrared spectrometers, chemical synthesis equipment and other advanced tools, the Enclave also possessed the necessary equipment and knowledge for conducting genetic analysis, engineering and large scale virus synthesizing. Their scientific expertise was matched by their industrial capacity: the Enclave had the ability to mass-produce next generation power armor, high tech weapons, Vertibirds, robots and more. It was also one of the few organizations to use high speed data networks, in the Enclave's case, the pre-War PoseidoNet created by Poseidon Energy.

However, despite manpower and hardware, the Enclave overwhelmingly relied on tweaking and tuning existing technologies, rather than creating new ones. The advanced power armor and the Vertibirds were both derived from pre-War designs, weapons issued to troops dated back to pre-War times, and even the Enclave's most fearsome weapon, FEV Curling-13, was fundamentally a modification of the pre-War Forced Evolutionary Virus. The only major new developments were undertaken by the isolated Appalachian branch, which experimented with the directed human mutation. The resulting mutation serums proved controversial, in no small part due to their reliance on human tissue grown in laboratory conditions. Despite ethical reservations, the mutation serums were used by Enclave operatives and contributed to the brutality of the civil war that extinguished the branch.

Major defeats due to external and internal factors effectively nullified the Enclave's technological advantage. By the end of the 23rd century, the Enclave lost all of its major hubs: The presidential oil rig, Whitespring, Raven Rock, Adams AFB, and Navarro. However, even without their homes, the Enclave remnants still possess their power armor, heavy weapons and Vertibirds. However, even before their defeats, the Enclave was largely outpaced in terms of technological refinement by factions such as the the Institute and isolated groups like the Think Tank.

Appearances
The Enclave appears in Fallout 2, Fallout 3, in Fallout: New Vegas and its add-on Lonesome Road and Fallout 76. The Enclave is mentioned in Fallout 4 and its add-on Far Harbor.

Behind the scenes

 * An enclave is an insular community that is completely surrounded by a different territory, which is demographically or politically distinct in some way.
 * In early development for Fallout 3, Bethesda used a different set of emblems (seen below) for the Enclave and its vertibird fleets that were drawn and by concept artist Adam Adamowicz. The prototype air force emblem can still be seen on the wreckage of Vertibirds in Fallout 3.
 * A lost Enclave patrol team would have also appeared in Black Isle's canceled Van Buren. In general, the Enclave would have been featured in the game more prominently. Bloomfield Space Center would be present to explain that the Enclave's ultimate plan to survive a nuclear war was simply to find another planet to live on after blowing up this one. They began repurposing the Hermes-13 rocket to escape Earth, but the attempt was never completed before the Great War. The plan was for the government to flee to the oil rig, and then leave in a spaceship for another planet. Eagle's Rock mine complex would also feature, exploring the ties between Enclave-affiliated politicians and Poseidon Energy executives.