Roger Maxson

Captain Roger Maxson (service number 072389) was an officer in the United States Army detachment at Mariposa Military Base who became the founder of the Brotherhood of Steel and its first high elder after the Great War.

Biography
Roger Maxson was originally the second in command of the security team stationed in the West Tek research facility since January 3, 2076.

The team and research personnel were later relocated to the Mariposa Military Base on January 7, 2077, where further FEV research was conducted. On October 10 Maxson and his men learned about the human experiments going on in the base, causing morale to suffer a hefty blow. The original leader of the security team, Colonel Robert Spindel, suffered a nervous breakdown from this discovery and locked himself in his office, causing Maxson to assume his command.

Captain Maxson then took control of the entire base and began interrogating the scientists. After interrogating chief scientist Robert Anderson and learning what was really happening on the base, Maxson executed him. Two days later, in an attempt to find out what he knew, Maxson and his men forced open Spindel's office door, in time to witness him commit suicide. After this, Maxson took full command, ordering all the scientists to be interrogated, and finally executed. Disgusted with their findings, with almost every scientist stating their orders came directly from the upper echelons of the Army, Maxson declared himself and his men in full desertion from the Army via radio. No answer came as the political situation was at its climax and the Great War was at hand.

The personnel families stationed outside the base were ordered to move inside the base on October 20 and three days later the bombs fell. Maxson and his men survived the war unharmed, safely sealed inside the Military base unaware that the world had ended around them. After making sure the radiation levels outside were safe, Maxson ordered everyone to leave the military base, certain it would be targeted in the next series of strikes, and travel to the Lost Hills government bunker. After burying the scientists, Maxson's soldiers and their families began the Exodus to Lost Hills. Raider attacks inflicted a heavy toll of civilian casualties, purposefully targeting them as the surviving soldiers had full power armor, including Maxson's wife, but his teenage son survived.

Some time later, in a proclamation to his men, Maxson declared that the United States had failed to protect its citizens and serve their needs during the years leading up to the War, and stated that they must form a new order to preserve civilization: a "Brotherhood of Steel." Shortly afterwards, Maxson and his men used a communications satellite to contact other Army units across the country and recruit them to the Brotherhood's cause. One such unit, based in Appalachia, was led by Elizabeth Taggerdy, an old acquaintance of Maxson's. Maxson remained in frequent contact with the Appalachia chapter, often broadcasting speeches about specific elements of his philosophy in creating the Brotherhood. Maxson was deeply troubled by the sudden appearance of the Scorched Plague and accompanying Scorched and Scorchbeasts, advising Taggerdy on setting up killzones to lure the Scorched into. He remained in contact with Appalachia chapter until the satellite burned in the atmosphere, as no one was left to correct its orbit. In his last transmission he assured Taggerdy of his complete trust in her leadership.

Maxson would go on to be chosen as high elder of the Brotherhood. In 2097 his grandson, John Maxson was born. Roger Maxson eventually died of cancer in 2135 and his son, already an accomplished soldier took up the role of the high elder, which stayed with the Maxson family until John's death.

After his death, the Brotherhood regarded Roger Maxson as an almost holy figure. Two places are known to be named after either him or his descendants - Maxson, one of the states of the New California Republic, and Maxson bunker, a Brotherhood of Steel outpost somewhere to the east of California.

The only known current living descendant of Roger Maxson is Arthur Maxson, who spent his childhood inside the Citadel in the Capital Wasteland, under the care of Owyn Lyons and the East Coast detachment of the Brotherhood of Steel. In the year 2287, he is the elder in charge of the East Coast detachment aboard the Prydwen in the Commonwealth.

Fallout

 * Captain Maxson's diary
 * Maxson log
 * Brotherhood honor code (non-canon)

Fallout 76

 * About the Brotherhood
 * Elder Maxson's final conversation
 * Formation of the Brotherhood of Steel
 * The Nuclear Option
 * Preservation of technology
 * Radio log: Aug 29 2077

Appearances
Roger Maxson does not appear in-person in any of the Fallout games but is mentioned in holodisks and in Brotherhood of Steel dialogues. Fallout 76 features his first speaking role in the series, in audio logs left behind by the Brotherhood's Appalachian chapter.