Confessor Martin

Confessor Martin was the leader of the Children of Atom prior to High Confessor Tektus.

Background
According to DiMA's memories and accounts made by the Children of Atom themselves, Confessor Martin was the former leader of the Children of Atom when they first came to Far Harbor. After some time, they were kicked out of Far Harbor due to their beliefs and DiMA, out of pity, gave them a place to call their own. Residing within a defunct nuclear submarine base known as the Nucleus, Martin eventually became close friends with DiMA and he and his followers were the first to accept the synths. The Sole Survivor: "If this thing involves the whole island, then you need help. I can be your problem-solver if you let me in." DiMA: "I suppose there's something to be said about refusing help even when it's offered and you're in need. There's a conflict that's been brewing on this island, shortly after we built Acadia. Between Far Harbor and the Children of Atom." Chase: "Simply put: They want to kill each other, and each side wants us to help them." Faraday: "We've tried to stay neutral, but Far Harbor was going to be wiped out by the Fog, so that's when we built the Condensers for them." DiMA: "And I was friends with the previous leader of the Children of Atom, Confessor Martin. I even gave them their headquarters, the submarine base they named the Nucleus." Chase: "Which was a mistake, because Martin is gone and the new Confessor, Tektus, is completely insane." DiMA: "He's been threatening us, to force us to choose a side. I left behind something very important in that submarine base I gave them." Faraday: "DiMA's earliest memories are stored in the military computer banks in that base. The prewar security systems and Confessor Martin's good will were supposed to keep them safe." Chase: "But now Tektus is in charge, and he's after DiMA's memories. We don't even know what's in them." DiMA: "But we do know that I spent nearly a century on this island, alone. Whatever's in there is too dangerous to allow Tektus to get his hands on them." (DiMA, Chase, and Faraday's dialogue)

For a high confessor, he was a considerably moderate believer and a fair leader. Although he believed that to be divided in a nuclear fire would bring forth life to millions of new worlds, he didn't know if he truly could go through with igniting the nuclear weapons within the USS Democracy. With Martin struggling with how literal to take his interpretations of his faith, DiMA, not wishing to lose his first friend, decided to hide the fact that he knew where the nuclear launch key was.

It was at this time that the Fog would continue its spread across the Island, and although the Children would see this as a blessing from Atom, the people of the Island didn't. With DiMA wishing to preserve the literal safe harbor that was the last few pockets of humanity on the Island, he supplied the harbormen with fog condensers. Although the Children saw this as an blasphemous refusal to vacate what they believed was Atom's domain, they were still trying to evangelize the denizens of the island. This ended however with their last missionary, Brother Andrews, who was murdered by Allen Lee. Although he was not the first to die trying to evangelize to more of the harbormen, he was beloved by his community, and his death was the catalyst for even more direct hostility.

With Andrew's death, Martin began to grow more hostile to not just Far Harbor, but also to DiMA, due to his assistance to the inhabitants by way of the fog condensers. Martin tried to persuade DiMA that they should both try to convince the harbormen to leave the Island, both for the harbormen's safety and to satisfy the Children, but DiMA wouldn't be swayed.

With Martin's zealotry lingering and losing control of his flock, one member came to him to discuss her crisis of faith. Sister Gwyneth, upon seeing documents describing what an atom was, could no longer believe that Atom was real. For the better part of two hours, they discussed their dogma, with Martin reminding her of all the gifts they believed Atom bestowed upon them, their radiation immunity, their family and their home on the Island. That eventually calmed her down, but as she left for bed, her questions lingered in his mind and raised doubts that Martin had had for some time. Martin would question how wise she was, although this would be blamed on DiMA.

One morning, Confessor Martin disappeared after going to sleep in his chambers. Despite a search party of zealots organized by Tektus, he was unable to be located. Tektus, who would take over as leader and become high confessor, claims that his devotion was questionable and that he may gone to Far Harbor or fled to the south. A final note from Martin implies that he had lost his followers and faith, as well as being known as a traitor to his group, finally deciding to leave to start a new life without Atom. In Martin's absence Tektus would continue to radicalize the Children further, and Tektus would grow ever more paranoid. Seeing any dissent in his rule to be both a lack of faith and adherence to the absent Martin. This would lead to witch hunts and executions.

Appearances
Confessor Martin is mentioned only in the Fallout 4 add-on Far Harbor.