Elizabeth Taggerdy

Paladin Elizabeth "Lizzy" Taggerdy was the leader of the original Brotherhood of Steel chapter in Appalachia.

Background
Before the Great War, Elizabeth Taggerdy was a lieutenant, serving abroad with Taggerdy's Thunder. During her service, she served under Captain Roger Maxson, with who she eventually became close friends. Leila Rahmani also knew Taggerdy.

In October 2077, the Thunder was sent to Appalachia to participate in war games, leading them against two units of United States Marines posing as hostile Chinese forces. She and her squad were looking forward to the exercise as well as the two-week furlough which would follow. However, they were surprised by the beginning of the Great War. After first dismissing the attacks as part of the simulation, the news of nuclear warheads striking multiple sites in the United States made it clear that the emergency was real.

With the chain of command in tatters and nothing but static on the radio, the Thunder attempted to raise any kind of ranking officer to receive new orders and move forward. Taggerdy was surprised to find Roger Maxson on the radio bands, trying to contact someone in Appalachia. Although she was hesitant about speaking to a confessed traitor to the US government, their previous friendship made her decide to give Maxson a chance after initial hesitation. Taggerdy learned shocking things from Maxson which shattered her loyalty to the US government as Maxson shared the crimes they uncovered. To back Maxson's words, Taggerdy's group found evidence of a super-soldier program using civilians and the Forced Evolutionary Virus at Huntersville.

Together with her unit, Taggerdy moved to Camp Venture, an old survival training camp, where they spent the winter of 2077 after turning it into their headquarters. Soon after, she ordered the camp reactivated to fill out the ranks of the Thunder. Eventually, recruits started appearing at the camp in numbers, primarily former soldiers looking for a way out.

Brotherhood of Steel
Maxson eventually involved Taggerdy and her men in the foundation of the Brotherhood of Steel, promising them a new beginning. Although Taggerdy was skeptical, Maxson outlined his plan to give her and her men a new identity as members of the Brotherhood, both as a way to return meaning to their lives and combat the overwhelming depression that threatened to take what few survivors made it through the nuclear fire and to immunize them to the authority of any politicians that might emerge from the vaults (or in Appalachia's case, the Whitespring bunker) and begin the cycle of destruction again. Even though she did not initially believe in the cause, Taggerdy accepted the new orders.

Taggerdy became known as Paladin Taggerdy, the head of the Appalachian chapter of the Brotherhood. Under her leadership, the Brotherhood worked closely with the Responders to rebuild civilization in Appalachia; their cooperation culminating in the Battle of Huntersville where Taggerdy delivered her seminal speech to the assembled troops of the Brotherhood and the Responders in May 2086. Taggerdy's leadership, though strained due to her preference and bias towards soldiers and people with a military background, carried the battle and confirmed Maxson's view that the Brotherhood could be the catalyst for something greater than the pre-War world. Hannah de Silva lost her life in the battle.

However, another desertion happened that further set Taggerdy's in for isolation from outside groups. Also in 2086, Hank Madigan deserted from the Brotherhood to join the Responders. Madigan's desert was in defiance against Brotherhood's new direction of technology hording from the original goals of Taggerdy's Brotherhood, but the reason did not matter to Taggerdy as she saw this desert as another E. Fisher desertion, with Madigan taking his expertise for the Responders to use in ways she saw unfit. holotape recording (HolotapeQuest_LVC) Maria Chavez: "Sergeant Madigan, is it?" Hank Madigan: "Was. Not sure that really applies anymore." Melody Larkin: "Cause you quit the Brotherhood." Hank Madigan: "Our interests no longer aligned." Maria Chavez: "And why is that, exactly? Brotherhood's been a good ally to us. Taking you on could be seen as an act of bad faith." Hank Madigan: "Taggerdy's Brotherhood was a fine organization. Maxson's Brotherhood's only cares about locking away every bit of technology they can get their hands on. I was a fire fighter before the war. It's my opinion that looking after the people of Appalachia should be top priority. From what I've heard, Responders do too." Maria Chavez: "I'm guessing Paladin Taggerdy didn't recruit a fire fighter because she liked how you looked in fatigues. What were you before your civilian life?" Hank Madigan: "Marine Recon." Melody Larkin: "No shit." Maria Chavez: "And why would the Responders need a Marine-turned-Brotherhood defector in their midst?" Hank Madigan: "Because I guarantee you don't have someone like me. I find things. People. Supplies. Solutions. And I'm good at it. You guys have a lot of mouths to feed and a lot of people to keep safe. I can help you do both. All I ask is regular rations and my own bunk." Melody Larkin: "And how do we know you ain't just sellin' us a bill of goods?" Hank Madigan: "I'm willing to prove it. Gimme a job. I'll show you what I can do." Melody Larkin: "How would you feel about getting back into a fire suit?" (Maria Chavez, Hank Madigan and Melody Larkin's dialogue)

The Scorched
When the Scorched Plague led to the rise of Scorched and scorchbeasts, Taggerdy's troops found themselves locked in a war with no end in sight. She considered the use of nuclear weapons to take out the scorchbeasts, believing it to be a necessary step but was forbidden to do so by Elder Maxson because he found the concept of using nuclear weapons, even to help fight the scorchbeasts, to be too morally abhorrent after their world was destroyed by nukes. Although Lost Hills attempted to sustain them with their scientific expertise, providing automated research programs and weapon schematics to set up kill-zones, they were unable to stem the tide of enemies. Eventually, the satellites failed and Lost Hills went silent, leaving Taggerdy alone to deal with the situation.

Rather than cooperate with the Responders or the Free States, Taggerdy tightened the ranks and planned to win the war with the scorchbeasts using those she could rely on - her soldiers. However, Taggerdy's policy proved to be short-sighted. With no way to replace losses in the war, she was forced to abandon outlying outposts. Camp Venture was officially abandoned on July 20, 2093, as the Brotherhood called all remaining troops to focus their fire at Fort Defiance and Thunder Mountain Power Plant, the latter they seized from the Free States. Although the remaining squires completed their training, no new candidates were accepted. The Brotherhood focused entirely on fighting the scorchbeasts, tapping all available sources of supplies. By January 2094, Taggerdy authorized routine requisitions of food, missiles, fusion cores, and hundreds of rounds of conventional ammunition from all available sources.

The radio communication between Taggerdy and Maxson failed due to a failing satellite. In their last exchange, Maxson implored Taggerdy to hold their ground and adhere to their beliefs. In a desperate attempt to end the Scorched threat once and for all, the Brotherhood launched Operation Touchdown on January 29, 2095. Paladin Taggerdy took the most well-trained troops of the Brotherhood, including Knight Moreno, in order to confront the scorchbeasts in their lair and destroy them. The operation claimed the life of Taggerdy and her group; they were confronted by a massive scorchbeast and detonated their explosives, sacrificing their lives. She was declared dead by Senior Knight Wilson on February 2, 2095.

Related holotapes

 * About the Brotherhood
 * Battle of Huntersville speech
 * Elder Maxson's final conversation
 * Radio log: Aug 29 2077
 * Scorchbeast briefing
 * The nuclear option
 * War games

Appearances
Elizabeth Taggerdy appears only $$

Behind the scenes
According to Ferret Baudoin, an alternate version of the Christmas Flood event would have had David Thorpe order former Taggerdy's Thunder recruit and deserter E. Fisher, a demolitions specialist, to rig a device of several Mini Nukes stolen from the Brotherhood of Steel. Taggerdy was aware of Fisher's involvement in this atrocity. This, combined with the desertion of Hank Madigan to the civilian faction, the Responders, would have better explained Taggerdy's reservations about trusting civilians. This version of events never made it into the storyline and Baudoin explained that "lore is what you see in the games," and anything not contained within the game is "just headcanon for a writer."