Grant McNamara

"We may die, yes. But someone's got to figure out how to destroy these bastards once and for all. Don't make it so Taggerdy died in vain."

Scribe Grant McNamara was a member of the Brotherhood of Steel in Appalachia.

Background
One of many survivors in Appalachia, Grant McNamara was originally a nameless refugee before joining up with Taggerdy's Thunder. Even though Paladin Taggerdy was willing to take a chance on him, most of the Thunder considered him nothing but another mouth to feed. However, he won them over by being useful, cracking the security at West Tek research facility and helping the Thunder make sense of the atrocities they discovered there.

Grant was stationed at Camp Venture alongside Sergeant Ted Wilson in 2083 and was the one who found K Kelly's body after she took her own life.

As the Brotherhood grew, Grant continued to contribute his engineering and mechanical skills. He helped restore power at Grafton Dam, impressing Johnny Moreno and reinforcing Moreno's belief that the Brotherhood needed more civilian members. Moreno's sentiment was not shared by Paladin Taggerdy who had a great distrust of civilians within her squad; a distrust which was not aided by her experiences with Hank Madigan and E. Fisher.

Grant was also responsible for turning the old Allegheny Asylum into a building worthy of the name "Fort Defiance," installing salvaged military-grade security (including the security laser grid guarding access to the top floor) and creating a fortification plan for the building. His approach to planning rubbed some of his compatriots up the wrong way. However, as exhausting as they found him, they grudgingly admitted that his attention to detail was impressive.

As one of the few civilians who Paladin Taggerdy trusted, Grant worked closely with the top Brotherhood brass on both sides of the continent, including Hailey Takano, his personal idol. Although he was intimidated by the arrangement, he did his best to keep up with her. While working with Takano, Grant was responsible for implementing and tweaking the numerous solutions sent to their chapter by Lost Hills, including a sonic generator designed to lure scorchbeasts into kill zones, an echolocation module to track their nests and an automated research program for analyzing their weaknesses using equipment available at Vault-Tec University to conduct analysis. Over the course of his work, Grant realized that the only way to destroy the scorchbeasts was to understand them and come up with a solution. He wanted to cooperate with the Responders to run the automated research program around the clock until a solution could be found. Although Paladin Taggerdy allowed Grant's operation (program designation 099-01) to be run once, the loss of life and the risk of causing the Responders to become hostile meant that she was unwilling to repeat the operation, despite Grant's insistence, eventually ordering him to drop the matter.

Grant did as he was told and dutifully manned the communications when Taggerdy launched Operation Touchdown in 2095 to track down the source of the scorchbeast infestation. After losing contact with the detachment and the subsequent earthquake, the scorchbeasts briefly disappeared. Grant implored Ted Wilson, the new commanding officer of Fort Defiance, to allow 099-01 to be run again, to verify that the scorchbeasts were truly gone. Wilson refused, believing that the lack of scorchbeasts was proof enough of the mission's success.

When the scorchbeasts resurfaced and it became clear that Operation Touchdown had been a failure, Grant renewed his plea to run 099-01. Wilson rejected his request again, telling Grant to focus on keeping the generators at Defiance and Thunder Mountain operational, so that the Brotherhood could continue to keep Appalachia safe.

As the scorchbeasts continued to relentlessly attack Fort Defiance and other Brotherhood outposts, Grant worked to prepare the fort for anyone who might follow in the Brotherhood's wake. He was one of, if not the last Brotherhood member to fall defending Fort Defiance from the scorched, leaving a note begging anyone who found it to succeed where the Brotherhood had failed in wiping out the scorchbeasts.

Appearances
Grant McNamara is mentioned only in Fallout 76.