Brotherhood of Steel (Fallout: Tactics)

For the Brotherhood of Steel faction from Fallout 3, see: Capital Wasteland Brotherhood of Steel

The Midwestern Brotherhood of Steel (also known as the Eastern Brotherhood of Steel) is a splinter faction of the original Brotherhood of Steel. It controls the areas around Chicago.

History
After the defeat of the Master, the original Brotherhood found themselves at odds with their need for new blood versus their code of technological secrecy. The debate went lightly. Finally, the elders ruled against sharing the technology with outsiders, convinced that they would endure what they had before. Further discussion was discouraged and the elders ordered the minority on a mission across the wastes. The Brotherhood constructed airships and dispatched the minority East, to track down and assess to the extent of the remaining super mutant threat. However, a great storm broke the main airship and flung it far from its course. The mighty airship was badly damaged. The smaller sections were torn from the main craft and never to be seen again. Many of the expedition leaders, including Paladin Latham, were lost to the winds. The fraction of the crew that still survived, struggled to keep their ship aloft before finally crashing on the outskirts of the ruins of Chicago. The survivors eventually formed a new organization, which diverged greatly from the ideals of the old Brotherhood. In time, they established a harsh rule over the towns and villages in that area.

After long fights with countless raider bands, a warlike technological cult known as the Reavers, and a super mutant army led by mad Paladin Latham, a survivor of one of the other BOS airships, in 2198 the Brotherhood eventually faced their greatest enemy - a robotic army commanded by the Calculator, mad AI of Vault 0. Eventually, the robots were defeated, but in the course of the war, the Midwestern Brotherhood lost many of its men, and territory.

As of 2277, the splinter faction consists only of a small detachment in Chicago. It has come into some contact with the original, West Coast Brotherhood, but it refused to accept the authority of the Lost Hills elders. Thus, they are considered to be rogue by the rest of the Brotherhood.

Symbol
It is said that in the Brotherhood of Steel symbol, the gears represent their engineering knowledge, the sword is their will to defend themselves, the wings are the uplifting hope, and the circle is the wholeness that makes it a brotherhood.

While the original Brotherhood uses different colors for different elements of the symbol (blue for the wings, grey for the sword and black for the gears), the Midwestern Brotherhood uses several monocolor variations. A blue version is used by the Knights and Paladins, a black one by the Scribes and an orange one by the Elders. The golden/yellow variant seems to symbolize the Brotherhood as a whole. The Midwestern version is also reversed horizontally - the large gear is to the right of the smaller ones, not to the left.

Ranks
The Midwestern BOS has a rank system that differs from the original Brotherhood Ranks. In the Midwest, the Scribes act as both scientists and engineers, taking the place of both Western Scribes and Knights. Midwestern Knights are just a military rank lower in the hierarchy than Paladins (even lower one being Squire) and are not allowed to use Power Armors. The Inquisitors act as the Brotherhood's law enforcement and intelligence.

Military ranks:
 * Civillian
 * [[Image:Initiate.gif|Initiate]] Initiate
 * [[Image:SeniorInitiate.gif|Senior Initiate]] Senior Initiate
 * [[Image:Squire.gif|Squire]] Squire
 * [[Image:SeniorSquire.gif|Senior Squire]] Senior Squire
 * [[Image:JuniorKnight.gif|JuniorKnight]] Junior Knight
 * [[Image:Knight.gif|Knight]] Knight
 * [[Image:SeniorKnight.gif|Senior Knight]] Senior Knight
 * [[Image:KnightCommander.gif|Knight Commander]] Knight Commander
 * [[Image:JuniorPaladin.gif|Junior Paladin]] Junior Paladin
 * [[Image:Paladin.gif|Paladin]] Paladin
 * [[Image:PaladinCommander.gif|Paladin Commander]] Paladin Commander
 * [[Image:PaladinLord.gif|Paladin Lord]] Paladin Lord
 * [[Image:General.gif|General]] General

Appearances in games
The Midwestern Brotherhood appears only in Fallout Tactics. The names "Midwestern Brotherhood of Steel" nor "Eastern Brotherhood of Steel" was never used in the game, but were made up by fans to diffrentiate it from the original Brotherhood. "Midwestern" is preferrable, as it distinguishes it from the Capital Wasteland Brotherhood of Steel from Fallout 3, active even further East, in the Washington, DC area.

Holodisks about the Brotherhood
Fallout Tactics
 * Journal of Sir Latham
 * General's holodisk to wife Maria