Brotherhood of Steel



The Brotherhood of Steel (commonly abbreviated to BoS) is a post-War techno-religious organization with chapters operating across the ruins of America. The group has its roots in the United States Armed Forces, founded by a unit stationed at Mariposa Military Base before the Great War. While the goals of the Brotherhood vary from chapter to chapter, they share a core mission centered on seizing and regulating pre-War technology throughout the wasteland. Though small, the Brotherhood has been an influential group in the history of the wasteland, first as a survivalist group, then a major research and development house, then finally as the enemy of the New California Republic, fighting a bitter war for control of technology in New California. Having suffered defeats in the West, the Brotherhood would be strengthened on the Eastern reaches of the continent, under Elder Arthur Maxson.

The faction has been featured in every Fallout game, in one form or another. This article focuses exclusively on an overview of the Brotherhood as it appears throughout the series. For information on specific Brotherhood chapters, see: List of Brotherhood of Steel chapters

 The Brotherhood of Steel is a quasi-religious technocratic military order, founded in the immediate aftermath of the Great War by members of the United States Armed Forces and the government-sponsored scientific community. Originating in California, the organization has numerous extant chapters throughout the former continental United States.

The Brotherhood War
The rampant expansionism of the NCR would eventually lead to a collision course with the Brotherhood. As the NCR's power grew, the Brotherhood adopted a policy of reclaiming technology from people outside the order, energy weapons most of all. The disagreements over the way technology should be handled eventually resulted in full out war with the New California Republic. The Brotherhood was eventually forced into a retreat. At least six Brotherhood bunkers were lost to the Republic, four of them destroyed by the Brotherhood themselves in a last ditch attempt to deny them to the enemy.

The most spectacular known confrontation occurred during the Brotherhood's Operation: Sunburst in 2276. Under Elder Elijah's leadership, the Mojave chapter of the Brotherhood of Steel was operating out of the solar power plant of HELIOS One when the NCR launched an attack. The NCR's numerical superiority over the Brotherhood, coupled with Elder Elijah's immense reluctance to leave Helios, allowed the NCR to overwhelm the defenders, leading to the loss of over half the chapter. The Mojave chapter of the Brotherhood was considered effectively neutralized. The Mojave chapter went under lockdown following their defeat at HELIOS One and the retreat to Hidden Valley.

Despite their crushing victory over the Brotherhood, the war would serve to cost the NCR dearly. Apart from losses in manpower and materiel, the greatest victim of the war was the Republic's economy. The Republic's gold reserves were completely destroyed by Brotherhood raids: new gold coins could not be minted and paper money could not be properly backed with gold. NCR citizens panicked and rushed to reclaim the listed face value of currency from NCR's remaining gold reserves. Since the NCR was unable to realize these withdrawals, particularly towards the frontier, faith in their currency considerably dropped. To protect against actual economic collapse, the NCR government abandoned the gold standard and established fiat currency, not payable in specie. Since then many wastelanders lost faith in it as a medium of worth, both as a result of it not being backed by anything but the government's word and the inevitable inflation. In response to the loss of faith, merchant consortiums of the Hub established their own currency, the veritable bottle cap, backing it with a standardized measure of water.

The Brotherhood in the Capital
The Brotherhood's presence in the east suffered a further setback, when Elder Lyons, head of the Capital Wasteland division, refused a direct order from the Lost Hills Elder Council, confirming their suspicions that he has gone rogue and was no longer pursuing the original mission. In response, the Brotherhood completely shut off communications to Lyon's division and denied them any reinforcements. Alone, Lyons' organization attempted to implement a charitable program of aiding the wasteland, but their insistence on charity, rather than an equitable exchange, led to their steady decline and loss of territory. While the tides seemed to turn during the Battle of Project Purity with the remnants of the Enclave, thanks to the influx of new technology and resources, the organization was effectively crumbling.

The key blow to the organization came with the death of Owyn Lyons circa 2278 and the loss of now-Elder Sarah Lyons later that same year. With the seat of power emptied, the remaining Brotherhood members elected multiple ineffectual leaders, while the adolescent Squire Arthur Maxson matured into a capable warrior and tactician, eventually securing a victory over Shepherd, the new warboss of the Capital Wasteland super mutants, in 2282. This feat earned him a provisional leadership position. In fact, this position was bestowed by West Coast Elders, who revealed that they still monitored their errant brethren.

Maxson's position solidified in 2283, when he negotiated a treaty with the Brotherhood Outcasts, bringing them back into the fold and reforming the entire organization, abandoning Lyons' Doctrine. Lyons' Brotherhood became a distant memory as Maxson restored the original mission of the Brotherhood of Steel. While some members found this distasteful and left, the overwhelming majority remained, proud to serve a refocused Brotherhood. Maxson became leader of the Brotherhood's Eastern branch, effectively leading to its rebirth.

Society
The Brotherhood is a military order with a strictly enforced hierarchy and chain of command. At the foundation of the hierarchy lies the Chain That Binds doctrine. It mandates obedience to one's superiors and forbids circumventing ranks when giving orders. Superiors may only give orders to their direct subordinates, but not their subordinate's subordinates. Although intended to ensure the cohesion of command, the doctrine has been generally interpreted as a simple mandate of obedience within the order, with the order flow requirements ignored, abandoned, or altered in practice. However, it does provide a technicality that can be invoked to relieve members of their rank - up to and including elders.

Roger Maxson's goals in inventing a new tradition and mythology for the Brotherhood were two-fold. First, they would ensure that members of the Brotherhood would be stripped of their ties to the pre-War military and government, ensuring that any surviving general or politician would not be able to invoke their oaths and use them to eg. unleash nuclear devastation on the world again (as was the case with Col. Ellen Santiago and Sec. Thomas Eckhart in Appalachia). Second, it would give the survivors an idea to believe in, something they could dedicate themselves to, and finding meaning in their lives after the nuclear war. The inspiration came from the fall of the Western Roman Empire when knights and scribes kept the fire of civilization going after the empire imploded.

Property and trade
As a military order, the Brotherhood seems to have no internal market. Necessary operations, supplies, and other amenities are provided free of charge to working members of the Brotherhood at Lost Hills (though in case of new initiates coming from the outside, they must serve for ten years before the Brotherhood will provide its most advanced services without charge). Every member receives an allotment of rations to maintain their health and they may be traded between members. All equipment beyond personal items is issued by the Brotherhood and issued items, especially weapons, are carefully tracked by serial number.

Outside of Lost Hills, though, the rules may change from chapter to chapter. For example, the Mojave chapter will not sell any equipment to any outsider unless the elder gives permission. Under Elder Lyons' rule, the D.C. Bunker was known to trade with outsiders, but as of 2277, there were many incidents that dissuaded the Brotherhood from such activities. As of 2287, the Eastern division has resumed trade relations in the Capital Wasteland and established new ones in the Commonwealth. While standard issue gear and weapons are available for free to members, more specialized weapons and equipment must be purchased from the quartermasters.

Social structure
The Brotherhood has several distinct classes that define a member's standing in the Brotherhood social structure, with a strict hierarchy distinguishing each member's position.

West Coast
The original hierarchy implemented by the Lost Hills chapter and followed by Western chapters. Members of the west coast Brotherhood are primarily descendants of soldiers and scientists that broke away from the United States during the Mariposa Rebellion, apart from a small number of outsiders in their ranks.

This means that the western Brotherhood is very small compared to other organizations in the region, such as the New California Republic. While not an official policy, some members believe that in order for the Brotherhood to survive, all fertile members of the order are obligated to procreate. As a result, these persons display a lack of tolerance for same-sex relationships. Those born in the Brotherhood that want to be neither Scribes, Knights nor Paladins are free to leave – the Brotherhood does not believe in forcing anyone to serve them against their will.

The castes are as follows:
 * 1) Initiates are the youngest and/or least experienced members of the Brotherhood, whose sole purpose is training and learning to become a valued member of either the Knights or the Scribes.
 * 2) Scribes are scientists, responsible for researching and reverse-engineering recovered technologies, maintaining the Brotherhood's scientific knowledge, and even experimenting with new ones (though the Brotherhood's focus on preservation means this is rather rare).  There are three Scribe orders within the Brotherhood, focusing on different types of technology: the Order of the Sword (offensive), the Shield (defensive), and the Quill (civilian).  In eastern chapters, Scribes have taken over the duties of Knights, becoming responsible for research and engineering activities of the Brotherhood.
 * 3) Knights are the craftsmen and foot soldiers of the Brotherhood. They maintain the Brotherhood's stockpile of technology, repair and providing technical services where they are needed, as well as producing new weapons to replenish stocks and provide trading goods. Knights also perform patrols, scouting assignments, and support the Paladins in offensive operations. Those that focus on combat training, may be eligible to become Paladins, the protectors of the Brotherhood.   Eastern chapters have offloaded engineering duties to Scribes, focusing Knights on logistics and combat operations, reflecting their proactive focus.
 * 4) Paladins are the primary combat force of the Brotherhood, in charge of all security and outside activities. Equipped with the best military technology the Brotherhood has to offer, they are some of the most fearsome foes in the wasteland. The ranks of the Paladins are reinforced by promoting exceptional Knights and it's generally impossible to become a Paladin any other way. Notably, while power armor was reserved for Paladin use in the first century of the Brotherhood's existence, the restrictions were relaxed over the decades, allowing Knights and in extreme cases even Initiates to use power armor (usually older models, such as the T-45).
 * 5) Elders are the highest ranking members of the Brotherhood, its leaders and decision makers, determining everything from meals to the course of campaigns. Typically, only Paladins are eligible to become Elders, but exceptions can be made for extraordinary members of other branches. Regardless of their branch of service, Elders are elected into the council by other council members, with the High Elder chosen by the council. The candidate can turn down the offer. Out of the first four High Elders, three belonged to the Maxson lineage, but there is no requirement for the council to propose the position to a member of the bloodline. Elders may be dismissed for violating the Brotherhood's charter or laws, such as destroying technological devices without due cause, violating the Chain that Binds, or murdering a fellow member. Due to the requirement for elders to set an example, elders may also be stripped of their position if allowing them to retain it would compromise the integrity of a given chapter.

Eastern division
The Eastern division implemented a heavily modified hierarchy derived from Lyons' Brotherhood of Steel altered ranking system, adapting it to the challenges of the wasteland.


 * Squires are children who are too young to train as Initiates but are allowed to serve the various needs of full-fledged members of the Brotherhood. In exchange, they are taught basic concepts such as military structure, combat readiness, and loyalty that will help them when they are old enough to become Initiates. Squires sometimes accompany exemplary Knights on missions, at the behest of Lancer Captain Kells, to experience combat firsthand but only as an observer.
 * Initiates are Brotherhood-born members and sponsored outsiders who are training to become Knights, Scribes or Lancers.
 * Aspirant is a rank used to denote someone training under a superior officer such as a Paladin or Knight-Commander in order to be promoted to a full-fledged knight. They are a step above Initiates.
 * Lancers are the backbone of the Brotherhoods newly formed airforce. Without them, the Brotherhood would be unable to operate their vast fleets of Vertibirds.
 * Knights are fully-fledged members who have served time in the Brotherhood. They are professional soldiers, and the main backbone of the Brotherhood's ground forces.
 * Paladins are the Brotherhood's elite, seasoned veterans that are often high ranking field commanders or used in elite strike teams.
 * Scribes are the brains to the Brotherhood's brawn. They are responsible for the development and research of all Brotherhood technology, as well as the maintenance of advanced systems, weapons and armor and any other technical requirements.
 * Sentinel is a rare rank, only given to the Brotherhood's best and most distinguished soldiers. The last known Sentinel was Sarah Lyons, daughter of Elder Owyn Lyons; she was the highest-ranking field commander under Elder Lyons and commanded the Lyon's Pride, a single squad of the chapter's best soldiers. It is unknown if the Pride still operates as of 2287. The Sole Survivor can achieve this rank through completion of A New Dawn.

Belief system
The beliefs of the Brotherhood were shaped by the experiences of Roger Maxson at Mariposa Military Base and in the aftermath of the Great War. At first, the Brotherhood focused on aiding survivors to the best of its ability, acting as an armed fighting force, rather than a military order it would become. The change came with the realization that the collective knowledge of humanity was in danger of being lost for generations to come. To keep the secrets of the past alive, Maxson decided to dedicate the Brotherhood to the preservation of technology and human knowledge, collecting it in order that the Brotherhood might become the catalyst for humanity's rebirth. As the guardians of civilization, the Brotherhood would focus on the big picture, with direct aid considered a secondary concern.

While scribes were originally considered second-rate members, tools to protect knights and maintain the Brotherhood's bases, this change in priorities placed them on equal footing with soldiers of the Brotherhood, tasked with preserving and developing technologies recovered from the field by the knights.

Finally, Maxson's intention was to maintain the Brotherhood as an organization that works closely with people outside of the Brotherhood, as guardians of civilizations, not its gatekeepers. His idea of an open Brotherhood put him at odds with isolationist members of the Brotherhood, including his own son and Paladin Lizzy Taggerdy, head of the Appalachian chapter. Although nobody confronted him openly on the issue, out of respect for his role as founder, Roger Maxson was in the minority.

Preservationists
In 2135, Roger Maxson died of cancer. Although referred to as the Founder and Deliverer, the Brotherhood changed under his son, Maxson II. The most noticeable effect of the change in leadership was the cessation of outside recruitment by 2141, relying solely on natural growth.

However, the Brotherhood was still focused on its stewardship role, aiming for the salvation of humanity. Their power armor was a symbol of hope, the harbinger of restoration as the Brotherhood waited for the right moment to restore the battered Earth to humanity. Until then, it would preserve knowledge and control it, so that it could not destroy humanity again by preserving knowledge and its practical applications for future generations, as Maxson intended. While the mandate was to recover, restore, and record whatever the Brotherhood could find, it emphasized hard sciences and the tangible, resulting in a tacit disregard for non-technical, softer fields of knowledge such as history or sociology. This benign neglect steadily developed into a major problem as the Brotherhood started to forget its own history and origins. As early as 2160, many Brotherhood of Steel initiates did not know who Roger Maxson was. Some scribes could not account for the group's origins a century after the Brotherhood's foundation.

The Brotherhood continued to research theoretical and practical aspects of science, including biology, physics, and chemistry. Practical applications were particularly emphasized, as weapons, ammunition, medical supplies, and so on were exported in exchange for food, water, and other necessities. Exports were limited to conventional technologies, with restricted, advanced items strictly controlled and only provided to those deemed responsible enough to use it.

Regardless of its disregard for soft sciences, the Brotherhood's policies allowed it to reach a position of influence. Its stockpiles of technology and combined knowledge allowed it to emerge as a major research and development house in New California, slowly reintroducing advanced technologies while wisely remaining outside the power structure. Its advantageous position would ultimately lead it to its downfall, as the Brotherhood grew confident in its unchallenged role as quasi technology police, stagnating.

Reactionaries


The refusal to adapt and evolve led to a decline in the Brotherhood's standing and influence, as the New California Republic emerged as a major power player in the wasteland. Facing a changed wasteland with no plan in place, corruption of the Brotherhood's lofty ideals was a matter of time. The increasingly strict adherence to the organization's principles evolved into religious dogmatism. This mindset eventually dominated its leadership. The Codex became sacred, with Roger Maxson effectively deified.

The definition of technology became very selective. The Brotherhood started to focus almost exclusively on combat technologies such as energy weapons or power armor, zealously restricting its use to its own ranks. Basic, useful technologies like genetic modification of crops or civil engineering were largely ignored, as irrelevant to the pursuit of narrowly-understood power.Fallout: New Vegas Official Game Guide Collector's Edition p.43: "Brotherhood of Steel The Brotherhood of Steel is a militant organization devoted to the preservation of pre-war technology and human knowledge. Their professed mission is to preserve pre-war technology and human knowledge for the benefit of future generations. In practice, its definition of technology is strangely selective, ignoring basic but potentially useful technologies (genetic modification of crops and civil engineering, for example) in favor of combat technology such as energy weapons and power armor: and even now, nearly two centuries after the Great War, the Brotherhood zealously restricts the use and knowledge of such technologies to its own membership. ''The Mojave Brotherhood operated freely amid the Vegas wastes for several years, carrying out many reclamation missions without serious opposition. The balance of power shifted in 2251, when a large contingent of NCR troops entered the region and occupied Hoover Dam. Conflict was inevitable. Nearly two years of guerilla skirmishes culminated in a pitched battle at HELIOS One, a solar energy plant the Brotherhood had been refurbishing for several months with the goals of bringing it back online and activating its hidden offensive capabilities (the ARCHIMEDES II death ray). The battle for HELIOS One (Operation: Sunburst) proved a disaster for the Mojave Brotherhood. More than half its Paladins and Knights were killed. The chapter's leader, Elder Elijah, disappeared without a trace. The Brotherhood was driven from the facility, which suffered extensive damage. Survivors retreated to Hidden Valley. Since that defeat, the chapter's leader, Elder McNamara, has restricted activity outside the bunker to occasional reconnaissance missions and high-value raids. All operations take place at night, and engagement of NCR forces is strictly forbidden. Though the Brotherhood's ascetic lifestyle has prepared its members for a sequestered existence better than most, the passivity of their current situation has proved highly stressful."'' (Fallout: New Vegas Official Game Guide faction profiles) Sharing of Brotherhood secrets, even for a greater purpose, is seen as treason warranting summary execution.

The drive to protect the people from the ravages of technology was replaced by hoarding. The Brotherhood became aggressive in their efforts to control technology, wrestling it away from people viewed as lesser. No outsiders were permitted to join their ranks. Rather than restoring the Earth, the Brotherhood wanted to outlive and inherit the Earth after other rivals have died out. The Codex itself was either rewritten or reinterpreted to emphasize the world view.

Not all Brotherhood chapters were dedicated to this reactionary policy. Lyons' Brotherhood of Steel diverged when Elder Owyn Lyons turned his chapter into a purely charitable organization, aiding the wasteland without compensation and opening its ranks to outside recruitment. His insistence on charity, rather than equitable exchange, led to a steady decline and loss of territory over a period of twenty years of their presence in the Capital Wasteland. While the Purifier Conflict with the remnants of the Enclave provided an influx of new technologies and resources, the chapter was crumbling under Lyons' leadership, devoted to his failed policies of containment and attrition of threats in the Wasteland. Particularly severe was the fact that Lost Hills completely shut off communications with Lyons' chapter and denied them any reinforcements.

Restorers
Major changes were introduced under Elder Arthur Maxson in the 2280s. Like the Brotherhood of the 22nd century, the Eastern division (re)dedicated itself to the advancement of humanity. Beyond taking an active role in wasteland politics, the Brotherhood embraced Elder Lyons' policies of eradicating abominations, combining them with a new approach to controlling technology. Abominations of nature brought about by mankind's meddling are viewed as a scourge that needs to be destroyed in order for humanity to prosper. The list typically involves super mutants and hostile ghouls, although the Brotherhood also eliminates raiders and other threats as a matter of course.

Control of technology is seen as a means to an end. While the crumbling western Brotherhood attempted to control technology in a desperate attempt to stave off its destruction, Maxson's Brotherhood returned to the original mission of containment: Protecting mankind from technologies that cannot be fully controlled and thus represent a threat to its long-term welfare and even survival. As a result, the Brotherhood seeks to understand the nature of technology, its power and meaning to humans, and fights those who would abuse said power for their own ends, endangering mankind in the process. The most noticeable way in which this policy is implemented is the collection of technology from pre-War sites, to prevent its abuse.

The Brotherhood rejects technological development for the sake of technological development, drawing on the lessons of the Great War. The Brotherhood holds that it was a result of technological progress outpacing man's restraint and moral progress. Consumerism and greed became the driving forces of progress, new technologies exploited by megacorporations for their own gain, pocketing the cash and ignoring the collateral damage to society and environment. Though miracle advancements in medicine and welfare were made, the unchecked development spurred by the war with China led to widespread abuse of technology's potential. Bio-engineered plagues, FEV, and ever more destructive nuclear weapons were but a handful of horrors created by pre-War mankind. The Great War was a natural result of putting the implements of Apocalypse in the hands of mad men.

Gen 3 synths, which are indistinguishable from humans, are a perfect example of science run amok - a technology that cannot be fully controlled by humans. The combination of their superior physique and the capacity to think for themselves renders them a threat to mankind, while the way in which they are created - assembled in a laboratory and programmed like a robot - is anathema to the Brotherhood, which holds human life to be sacred.

Notably, while the Brotherhood's new rhetoric has religious overtones, Elder Maxson rejects the notion of being worshiped as divine. The eradication of Maxson cults in the Western Brotherhood is consistent with his desire to be nothing more and nothing less than human: Aided and perfected by technology, but not controlled or enslaved by it.

Insignia
The iconography of the Brotherhood is built around its emblem: Gears, sword and wing, used widely to decorate their facilities, tag armor and equipment, and as part of markers identifying their territory. The gears represent their engineering knowledge, the sword is their will to defend themselves, the wings represent the uplifting hope that the acquisition of lost technology represents for mankind's salvation following the devastation of the Great War, and the circle represents the fraternal unity that makes the organization a true brotherhood.

Another interpretation is that the Brotherhood's symbol represents each of the organization's different orders. The sword represents the Paladins, the wings represent the Elders (the "wings" control the movement of the sword), the large gear represents the Knights, and the two smaller gears represent the Scribes and the Initiates, whose services keep the Knights supplied with the information and the manpower required to get their jobs done.

The Brotherhood insignia has evolved throughout the years and while it has retained its general appearance, the number of cogs on the gears, their facing, and basic color scheme have varied between iterations. The standard is nine cogs on each wheel, at times facing interchangeably, as both left- and right-sided have been in use at the same time.

Founding chapter
The headquarters of the Brotherhood and its first chapter is the Lost Hills bunker in California, the seat of the Brotherhood's High Elder, and its ruling council, and the place where the organization was founded. It is also the center of their research and military activities. However, by 2242, the Brotherhood was spread across the wastes of California in small bunkers and installations hidden from the eyes of common folk, and finding them all and wiping them out would be a difficult and dangerous task.

Their installations include small observation bunkers (for example, in the Den, San Francisco, and Shady Sands), as well as major outposts and subterranean facilities, like Hidden Valley. Apart from Hidden Valley, at least six other larger bunkers are confirmed to exist, though four of them were destroyed by the Brotherhood and two fell to the NCR. All Brotherhood outposts are formally subject to the Lost Hills' ruling council's authority, even if they sometimes tend to act independently, especially if they are located far from California, and contact with the headquarters is rare. The Lost Hills bunker is surrounded by the state of Maxson, which, while named after the founder of the Brotherhood, is officially outside Brotherhood rule and is a state of the New California Republic. The later conflict between the Republic and the Brotherhood most likely resulted in the destruction of many of the Brotherhood's bunkers in New California.

Appalachia
The Appalachian branch of the Brotherhood of Steel was founded when Roger Maxson contacted Lt. Lizzy Taggerdy via satellite. The chance meeting led to the earliest branch of the Brotherhood being established in the remote region. Based out of Camp Venture and later Fort Defiance, the chapter focused on recovery and aiding the local population in its early years, before focusing entirely on the destruction of the scorchbeasts and the Scorched as an existential threat to humanity. The chapter failed in its attempt to contain the threat, becoming extinct in August 2095, less than twenty years after their foundation.

However, in the year 2103, the Brotherhood First Expeditionary Force arrived in Appalachia and set up at Fort Atlas, previously called the ATLAS Observatory, reestablishing a Brotherhood presence in the region.

Mojave Chapter


The Brotherhood's bunker is located in Hidden Valley, directly east of the settlement of Goodsprings in the Mojave Wasteland. It is surrounded by powerful underground fans that serve as a high-tech defense system, creating artificial sandstorms that allow the inhabitants to travel to and from the bunker undercover. It also serves as a kind of electronic disturbance to any and all outside factions' targeting sensors, therefore rendering the bunker safe from detection.

Prior to 2276 the Mojave Brotherhood had been very active in the region before their crippling defeat at HELIOS One by NCR Forces and were forced underground on the orders of their new leader Elder McNamara. Due to a complete lockdown ordered to preserve what remaining soldiers he had, McNamara relies solely on teams that were trapped outside of the bunker for intel and trusted undercover operatives to bring food and supplies back to those trapped inside.

Despite their seclusion from the outside world they still are regarded as a powerful faction in the region, this is shown in Mr. House's calculations as they painted the Brotherhood insurgency to be the greatest threat to his reign in the Mojave Wasteland in the long-term.

East Coast Brotherhood
On the East Coast, the East Coast division of the Brotherhood established the Citadel, built into and beneath the ruins of the Pentagon in Washington, D.C. This faction was led by the idealistic Elder Owyn Lyons who decided to make the protection of the human inhabitants of the Capital Wasteland from super mutants and other threats his top priority, instead of the acquisition and preservation of technology. While Lyons was officially recognized by the ruling council at Lost Hills as the leader of a Brotherhood faction, because of his changed priorities he received no support from California, and his faction, for all intents and purposes, was independent. Without reinforcements from the West Coast, Lyons was forced to recruit locally, but, as most new wastelander conscripts are overeager, unskilled, or both, the survival rate of these local members was atrocious. Elder Lyons’ daughter Sarah commanded her own elite squad, Lyons' Pride. These soldiers help preserve the Capital Wasteland by holding back the super mutants, who tend to remain in the urban ruins of Washington, D.C.

Members of Lyons' expeditionary force who preferred to stay faithful to the Brotherhood's original goals of locating and preserving technology and knowledge eventually abandoned him in 2276, after Lyons outright refused to permit them to excavate Fort Independence. Under the lead of Paladin Henry Casdin, they left the Citadel to take up residence in the fort and styled themselves as the Brotherhood Outcasts. In addition to carrying out Lyons' original orders, the Outcasts attempted to re-establish contact with the western elders and have Lyons placed in front of a firing squad.

As the war with the super mutants intensified, the Enclave returned in the flesh after fleeing New California several years prior. Their radio broadcasts had been heard for years on Wasteland radios. In a bold first move, they seized the Jefferson Memorial's "Project Purity" (a project intended to provide clean water to the wasteland), and subsequently consolidated their power throughout the Capital Wasteland. At first, favoring caution, Elder Lyons soon changed his mind, engaging the Enclave in a full-scale battle after the Enclave acquires possession of Vault 87's G.E.C.K. and nearly activating Project Purity. With the aid of Liberty Prime, the Enclave was ousted from the Jefferson Memorial and into uncertain disarray. Despite the subsequent loss of Liberty Prime, Lyons' chapter started its recovery to dwarf their fellow chapters back west in power, especially after the devastation of the NCR-Brotherhood War.

Following both Lyons' deaths circa 2278, the chapter was managed by a string of largely ineffectual elders, only to come under the leadership of Elder Arthur Maxson in 2283, who reunited the chapter with the Brotherhood Outcasts. Together with the Prydwen, a large airship whose creation started in the twilight years of Lyons' reign, and their victory against the Enclave in 2277, the chapter achieved its goal. As of 2287, the chapter is able to field large quantities of Vertibirds and T-60 power armor, manufacture replacement parts, and use standardized energy weapons. Their newly acquired power allowed them to send long-range recon teams to scout regions and recover technologies. One of these, Recon Squad Gladius, was sent to the Commonwealth to investigate the region after the disappearance of Recon Squad Artemis. Their findings prompted the Brotherhood to deploy in the Commonwealth aboard the Prydwen and strike against the Institute. Once they arrived, the Brotherhood conducted an air assault on the feral ghouls occupying Boston airport and established their main base of operations there. They are capable of and frequently conduct air assault operations, especially when inserting patrol teams and assaulting objectives such as Bunker Hill.

Montana Chapter
A bunker exists in Montana and is at some point the home of Elder Patrocolus.

Chicago detachment
The Brotherhood of Steel sent a detachment of troops east by airship to track super mutants. After crash landing in Chicago they have clashed with them in the city. By 2254 they have been classified as a rogue unit and fell off of the radar of the organization's other chapters.

Foreign relations
While they are generally not hostile to others without a good reason, members of the Brotherhood are not interested in justice for the obviously weaker and less fortunate wastelanders (or mutants) around them. They largely focus on keeping their secrecy and preserving and developing technology, which they often put above human life since technology is irreplaceable in the post-nuclear wastelands—lives are not. Their motives are often unclear, and Brotherhood members are not people to be trifled with. It is safe to say, however, that if a group of Brotherhood Paladins appears to be helping outsiders, their motives are not altruistic.

The Brotherhood does not like to share their choicest technological bits with others, despite the obvious benefits their technology could bring to the Wasteland. It is a commonly accepted truth within the Brotherhood that the people of the Wasteland are not responsible enough to use (and maintain) all of the technology the Brotherhood has at their disposal. They are known for trading some of their technologies with frontier communities and the states of the New California Republic in exchange for food and other resources, but they keep the more sensitive and advanced technologies to themselves.

By 2281, the Brotherhood reversed its earlier policies, in response to their waning power, and became much more insular and aggressive, opting to wrestle technologies from the hands of 'lesser' people, whether they be willing to give them up or not. This led to the devastating Brotherhood War. One of the most devastating campaigns of the war played out in the Mojave wasteland: in the course of Operation: Sunburst more than half the chapter perished, forcing Elder McNamara to declare lockdown: sealing the chapter underground, with only high security patrols and supply runners allowed outside. All brothers left outside the bunker are cut loose if this protocol is enacted. The Brotherhood has also enacted a scorched earth policy: if a bunker is invaded, the crew is obligated to initiate self-destruct. In four out of six instances of successful invasion by NCR forces, this was carried out.

Outside recruitment
For most of its existence, the Brotherhood did not recruit outsiders as a general rule. When it did, they require the recruits to be very young, so that the proper relationship with technology can be cultivated. Adults have an approach that the Brotherhood considers perverted. However, exceptional individuals may conditionally join the Brotherhood.

Circa 2287, the policy changed radically. As Elder Arthur Maxson became the leader of the Brotherhood's Eastern branch, he retained Elder Owyn Lyons' practice of recruiting wastelanders sponsored by existing Brotherhood members and expanded it. As it was under Lyons, the sponsor would travel with their charges and teach them the ideals of the Brotherhood and train them in combat. To this end, active members can field promote recruits to Initiate rank, but the rank and subsequent promotions have to be confirmed by the Elder at the earliest possible opportunity. However, while the member can retract their sponsorship, once the rank is confirmed by the Elder, only the Elder can dismiss the sponsored party from the organization.

Attitude towards mutants
The Brotherhood's attitude towards mutants ranges from dislike to outright hostility. When it comes to the ghouls, the Brotherhood dislikes them due to their ideology. As the Brotherhood hoards and preserves technology, tinkering ghouls that dismantle or sometimes damage old technology are abhorrent. Their dislike was amplified by salvaging operation in the Glow, a location regarded by the Brotherhood as close to the holy ground due to the deaths of their comrades there and high technology within. Most Brotherhood members came to see ghouls as filthy scavengers. Thankfully, contact between them is limited.

Their hostility towards super mutants was derived from the location of Lost Hills. The proximity of their bunker to Mariposa and the desolate Central Valley put them in the paths of many bloodthirsty mutants. That made them an easy choice for an external enemy to focus members of the chapter on. However, the Brotherhood drove away super mutants with minimal loss of life on both sides of the conflict after the fall of the Master and wasn't hostile towards super mutants that settled down peacefully.

By 2287, the Brotherhood has radicalized its policy towards mutants, with standing orders to exterminate any post-War abominations. In practice, the Brotherhood usually doesn't shoot on sight unless targets are confirmed as hostile - even if they are a synth in a critical location.

Weapons
Military technology is the Brotherhood's main priority, and their efforts over the centuries have equipped them with a powerful array of power armor, energy weapons, defense turrets, combat implants, and computers. Their focus allowed them to amass sizable stockpiles of power armor (T-60, T-51 and T-45 variants, though the western chapters lack the ability to manufacture new units) and energy weapons. Apart from applied combat technologies, the Brotherhood also has access to advanced medical technologies such as cybernetics, combat implants and virtual reality training systems, which allow personnel to maintain their combat prowess even under lockdown.

Some chapters have also supplemented their combat force with recovered robots, like robobrains, sentry bots, and even a prototypical bleeding edge combat robot. Due to their lack of manpower, and the fact that they did not recruit outsiders, the Brotherhood splinter group known as the Outcasts relied heavily on reprogrammed robots in order to augment their smaller pool of human soldiers.

Vehicles
The Brotherhood does not possess working ground vehicles, at least not in the mid-2100s. The Brotherhood did have access to an entire fleet of airships in the mid-22nd century, used for exploration and recon. However, over the years the fleet was either destroyed or dismantled for spare parts. By the 23rd century, none of the airships remained, with one notable vessel crashing in the Midwest on a long-range exploration mission. It was not until the acquisition of Pride One, a captured Enclave Vertibird, at the end of the Brotherhood-Enclave War, that the Brotherhood returned to the skies. Eight years later the Brotherhood built a new, more advanced, airship at Adams Air Force Base which they christened The Prydwen. The Prydwen's construction was carried out alongside a brand new Vertibird fleet. This fleet would be made up of captured and restored Enclave Vertibirds, as well as brand new ones built from scratch. By 2287, the size of this new air force was so significant that the Brotherhood created an entirely new caste, known as lancers, in order to pilot them.

Research and manufacturing
While the overall devotion to research has decayed over the course of centuries, the Brotherhood was once at the forefront of research in the wasteland. In the 22nd century, for example, research topics ranged from redeveloping laser weapons, through physics,   to astronomy  and theories on time travel.

In terms of manufacturing capacity, the west coast Brotherhood relies on items hand-made by the Knights. Although limited supplies pose a challenge, the real problems come from the actual manufacturing and prototyping process, especially when the reality doesn't seem to match the Knights' expectations. Regardless, the Brotherhood was able to maintain a high enough output of technology (primarily weapons and ammunition) to support themselves and trade the surplus for water, food, and other necessary supplies. However, hand manufacturing and the high degree of sophistication of their primary weapons mean that the Brotherhood has limited strategic flexibility: It cannot compete with nation-states like the New California Republic, with their reserves of manpower, industrial output and the mass use of inexpensive weapons.

Members by chapter
West Coast Chapter High Elder John Maxson Head Paladin Rhombus Head Scribe Vree Paladin Latham Matthew Vault Dweller (initiate) East Coast Chapter Elder Lyons Sentinel Lyons Star Paladin Cross Paladin Vargas Initiate Ashur (formerly) Head Scribe Rothchild Elder Arthur Maxson Lancer-Captain Kells Paladin Danse Scribe Haylen Proctor Ingram Lone Wanderer (knight) Sole Survivor (initiate/knight/paladin/sentinel, optional) Mojave Chapter Elder McNamara Head Paladin Hardin Head Scribe Taggart Journeyman Scribe Veronica Elder Elijah (formerly) The Courier (paladin, optional) Circle of Steel Knight Christine Royce Appalachian Chapter Paladin Elizabeth Taggerdy Paladin Swafford Senior Knight Ted Wilson Knight Johnny Moreno Knight Tex Rogers Knight Esposito Scribe Grant McNamara Squire Gary Weber Squire Hannah de Silva Hank Madigan (formerly) First Expeditionary Force Paladin Leila Rahmani Knight Alan Connors Knight Daniel Shin Knight Matthew Thornberry Scribe Odessa Valdez Initiate Russell Dorsey Initiate Vernon Dodge (optional) Montana bunker Elder Patrocolus

Appalachia

 * Fort Atlas
 * Fort Defiance (formerly)
 * Camp Venture (formerly)


 * Thunder Mountain power plant (formerly)

The Commonwealth

 * The Prydwen
 * Boston Airport
 * Cambridge Police Station
 * Waypoint Echo

Capital Wasteland

 * Adams Air Force Base
 * The Citadel
 * GNR building plaza
 * Jefferson Memorial
 * Washington Monument

Mojave Wasteland

 * Abandoned Brotherhood of Steel bunker (formerly)
 * Brotherhood of Steel safehouse
 * HELIOS One (formerly)
 * Hidden Valley bunker

Montana

 * Montana bunker

New California

 * Lost Hills
 * San Francisco Brotherhood outpost

Appearances
The Brotherhood of Steel appears in all Fallout games to date.

Behind the scenes

 * Apart from the Knights of Genetic Purity and the Imperial Tech Cults, the Brotherhood of Steel were also based on a completely hostile faction known as the Guardians of the Old Order in the 1987 game Wasteland, the predecessor to Fallout.
 * The Brotherhood's technology-centric religious ideology was directly influenced by A Canticle for Leibowiz, which dealt with how a group of Christian monks who task themselves with preserving all scientific and technological knowledge of mankind until the human race is ready for it again.
 * Although the Brotherhood was not a particularly prominent faction in Fallout and a tangential element of Fallout 2, with a minimal presence, it became one of the most iconic and marketable elements of the franchise. The release of Fallout Tactics, built around a rogue branch of the Brotherhood, and the Dark Alliance cousin, Fallout: Brotherhood of Steel by Interplay cemented its status as one of the series' icons. Under Bethesda Game Studios' aegis, the Brotherhood has been a major part of every Fallout game, becoming the de facto protagonist faction of the series and the Brotherhood's relationship with the world at large tied into the arc themes of each game, from Fallout 3 to Fallout 76.
 * The Brotherhood insignia created for the wiki in 2008 has been used by Bethesda's artists in 2020 as basis for the Steel Dawn recruitment bundle contents, such as the player icon and the banners on the scouting tower.
 * Cross-game
 * Valve Software's multiplayer FPS Team Fortress 2 pays homage to the Brotherhood with an achievement in the game's 'Mann vs. Machine' game mode.