Brotherhood of Steel (East Coast)



The East Coast Brotherhood of Steel is a division of the Brotherhood of Steel and was founded by Elder Owyn Lyons. Their headquarters is the Citadel which is an imposing fortress built into and beneath the ruins of the Pentagon on the edge of what used to be Washington, D.C.. As of 2287 it is led by Arthur Maxson who is the last descendent of the venerated Maxson family line. Under his leadership the Brotherhood has grown into a major military power in the region whose members are able to project their power and influence all along the East Coast.

History
Following the destruction of the Enclave on the West Coast, the Brotherhood dispatched an expedition to Washington D.C. on a mission to reconnect with the Midwestern Brotherhood of Steel, investigate reports of super mutants in the area and recover any advanced technology. Led by Paladin Owyn Lyons, the group included Henry Casdin, Ishmael Ashur, Reginald Rothchild and Lyons' 3 year old daughter, Sarah.

Contact with the Midwest chapter was unsuccessful, so the group traveled to Pittsburgh. The city was being terrorized by wildmen, trogs, slavers and raiders. Lyons' force swept through the city, destroying many hostiles and suffering only one casualty: Ishmael Ashur. Believing him to be dead, the Brotherhood gathered the surviving children into their ranks and continued toward Washington D.C.

On their arrival, the wilderness outside the city was overrun by super mutants. Attacking head on, they drove the mutants into the ruins of Washington D.C. and earned the favor of the local population. Their investigation of the Pentagon uncovered a remarkable cache of technology, including the two-story tall Liberty Prime. The discovery earned Owyn Lyons a promotion to Elder and a change in his orders: Instead of returning to the West Coast, they would establish a permanent presence in the area. They founded their base, the Citadel, in the remnants of the old Pentagon.

The Brotherhood's actions toward people in Pittsburgh and in Washington marked a characteristic trait of Elder Lyons' leadership. The Brotherhood's primary objective was to recover and preserve technology. In many prior instances this directive was followed, even in the face of human suffering. Elder Lyon's faction prioritized people's lives and well-being over machines. When the Elders in Lost Hills learned of these new priorities, they cut off all support to the chapter, though they still considered it as part of the Brotherhood. The chapter suffered a further setback when a number from within their ranks left in protest to form the Brotherhood Outcasts.

It was in this weakened and isolated state that it was possible for the Enclave, having relocated from New California as well, to re-establish a base of continual operations at Raven Rock, to make its move. They seized Project Purity, then set up outposts in Washington D.C. and its surrounding wilderness. However, with the assistance of the Lone Wanderer, the Brotherhood ended the Enclave's presence in the known region; driving them first from Project Purity and then from their final holdout at Adams Air Force Base. The fate of the Enclave as a whole after these events remain a mystery.

Despite the Brotherhood's success with Project Purity and the war against the Enclave, the organization continued to struggle. In 2287 Elder Lyons died of natural causes, and Sarah Lyons -now an Elder- was killed in combat shortly after her father's death. In the leadership crisis that followed the Brotherhood repeatedly appointed and deposed one ineffectual leader after another until Arthur Maxson assumed leadership. Maxson was appointed Elder at age 16, the youngest in Brotherhood history, after displaying exceptional skill as a capable warrior and diplomat by defeating the supermutant leader Shepherd and brokering peace with the Brotherhood Outcasts, bringing them back into the fold.

By 2287, the East Coast chapter has mostly returned to traditionalist views, refocusing the Brotherhood on its original mission: the acquisition, appropriation, maintenance, and development of technology. Under Elder Maxson the East Coast division of the Brotherhood has entirely abandoned the altruistic ideals of Elder Lyons; and has been reunited with its parent Chapters on the West Coast. The dramatic shift in leadership and ideology drove a minority of members to desert from the Brotherhood in protest, while the majority welcomed the transition and the opportunity to serve a refocused Brotherhood of Steel. Since Maxson's ascension to leadership the East Coast division of the Brotherhood has expanded to become a major military power in the region, able to project their power and influence all along the East Coast.

Upon hearing of super mutant activity in The Commonwealth, the Brotherhood began reconnaissance operations in the area, such as those carried out by Recon Squad Artemis and Paladin Danse. When Danse's team reported the high energy readings originating from The Institute, Elder Maxson mobilized The Prydwen for a lengthy campaign in the Commonwealth. The Brotherhood has consolidated its forces in Commonwealth at the Boston Airport, setting it up as their main base of operations, and docking the Prydwen to the control tower.

Society
The Brotherhood of Steel is a neo-knightly order that rose from the ashes of the American military of the West Coast in the years following the devastation of 2077. The organization's tenets include the eradication of mutants and worship of technology, and the Brotherhood has never been very keen on sharing their resources with their fellow wastelanders (whom they consider too ignorant and irresponsible to deserve such advanced technology).

The Brotherhood is generally beneficial to humanity, but they have their faults: they don't care for mutants, they venerate technology (and in many cases put it above human life), and they don't like to share their choicest technological discoveries, despite the obvious benefits their technology could bring to the Wasteland. It's commonly accepted within the Brotherhood that the people of the Wasteland are not responsible enough to posess advanced technologies. The Brotherhood has been known to trade some of their technologies with wasteland communities, such as NCR states, but they keep the more sensitive technologies to themselves.

Unlike the chivalrous knights of old, members of the Brotherhood are not interested in justice for the obviously weaker and less fortunate around them, but instead in keeping their secrecy and preserving and developing technology. Their motives are often unclear, and Brotherhood members are not people to be trifled with. The East Coast contingent of the Brotherhood when it was first founded had "gone native" under the leadership of Elder Owyn Lyons. Lyons believed he had a responsibility to protect the people of the Capital Wasteland from the super mutant threat. The East Coast division of the Brotherhood has since been reunited with the West, under the leadership of Arthur Maxson. Maxson personally reorganized and reprioritized the East Coast Brotherhood from the ground up, returning them to their traditional ways.

Military
The East Coast Brotherhood is divided into three clear ranks.
 * Initiates who are born into the Brotherhood or local volunteers who are recruited to become members, however in recent years this has become a problem, with many of the Initiates lacking proper training and being rushed into combat. Unfortunately, these are the most numerous members of the Brotherhood's ground forces.
 * Knights and Knight Captains are members who have served time in the Brotherhood and have become fully fledged members. They are the main backbone, less common than Initiates, but much better fighters and typically come equipped with power armor.
 * Paladins are veterans of the Brotherhood, many being members of Elder Lyons' original party that came out to D.C. They are among the best of the Brotherhood and are often high ranking field commanders or used in elite strike teams. Sentinel Lyons was the highest ranking field commander under Elder Lyons, she commanded the Lyon's Pride, the best soldiers of the chapter, in one squad. It is unknown if the Pride still operates as of 2287.

With the defeat of the Enclave and the reintegration of the Brotherhood Outcasts, the East Coast division of the Brotherhood has access to Vertibirds, power armor, energy weapons, along with a wrecked Liberty Prime, which they hope to one day reassemble. They also have the Prydwen, which Paladin Danse claims has enough men and women to "push a full scale offensive", and is captained by Captain Kells.

Relations with the outside
Originally under Elder Lyons rule, the East Coast Brotherhood was known to trade with outsiders, but as of 2277, there were many incidents which dissuaded the Brotherhood from such activities. The Brotherhood was also known to help patrol and defend settlements such as Megaton, until the super mutant threat became so escalated to the point that they were forced to withdraw from many key locations. In line with Elder Lyons' philosophy, Lyons' Knights and Paladins tried to protect any and all innocent wastelanders they encountered while out in the wasteland, and recruit them if possible. They were also known to hire mercenaries when needed, such as Reilly's Rangers. After the Battle of Project Purity, the Brotherhood began delivering Aqua Pura to settlements across the Capital Wasteland, working with Rivet City and its security team and wasteland scavengers.

By 2287 the East Coast division of the Brotherhood has abandoned the former Elder Lyons' altruistic vision, and has returned to more traditional goals and views. As such they are usually indifferent towards human wastelanders, but have a generally hostile attitude towards non-human mutants and synths alike. They believe outsiders are too irresponsible and unrestrained to possess access to advanced technologies. It is central to their beliefs that they must appropriate any dangerous technologies that they can control and destroy the one's they cannot, such as the synths. By maintaining a monopoly on advanced technology the Brotherhood hope's to prevent a second apocalypse from occurring due to the irresponsible use of advanced technology.

Unlike the old West Coast Brotherhood the East Coast division, even under Maxson, has continued the practice of recruiting outsiders into the Brotherhood. Unlike Lyons who welcomed outsiders into the ranks, the Brotherhood under Maxson recruits outsiders through a system of Sponsorship. Under this system existing members of the Brotherhood can sponsor outsiders, making them initiates. In this way the Brotherhood is able to balance it's need for new members with their desire to maintain their isolationism, and ensure the loyalty of new members.

Technology
In 2277, the East Coast Brotherhood primarily used T-45d power armor, this armor is much more widely issued, being given to most front-line personnel, and not just select Paladins. They still used energy weapons, mostly the laser rifle and the laser pistol. However, due to the difficulty of finding, producing new parts, and maintaining the laser based weapons, and the fact that the Brotherhood no longer received supplies from the west coast, many paladins were forced to use traditional guns, notably the standard assault rifle and the Chinese assault rifle.

The Brotherhood formerly had access to Liberty Prime, a communist hating super-robot that stands 40 ft tall with enough weapons to decimate anything in its way. It was destroyed by an Enclave orbital missile strike, although members of the Brotherhood hold high hopes of his reconstruction. After the war against the Enclave, the Brotherhood gained access to fleets of Vertibird gunships equipped with 5mm miniguns, stockpiles of laser and plasma weapons, and power armor.

As of 2287, they have equipped their forces almost exclusively with laser weapons, combat armor, and the T-60 power armor. The T-60 is a pre-war model superior to the T-51b, but inferior to the advanced "Enclave" X-01 power armor. it is unknown at this time how the Brotherhood came into possession of such a large number of T-60 power armor suits.

Appearances
The East Coast Brotherhood of Steel appears in Fallout 3, its add-on, Broken Steel, and Fallout 4. They are also mentioned in the other Fallout 3 add-ons, Operation: Anchorage, The Pitt and Mothership Zeta, and they are again mentioned in Fallout: New Vegas.

Behind the scenes
The East Coast Brotherhood of Steel have some similarities and differences with other Fallout games:
 * External recruitment is also present in Fallout Tactics, and for the "Texas Expedition" in Fallout: Brotherhood of Steel.
 * The Brotherhood Outcasts, renegades deserted from the newly established Brotherhood of Steel division are similar to the Circle of Steel in Van Buren.

Fallout 4
Hermandad del Acero de Yermo Capital Confraternita d'Acciaio della Zona Contaminata della Capitale Bractwo Stali Ruin Stolicy Brotherhood of Steel da Capital Wasteland Братство Стали (Fallout 3)