Unity

The Unity (also called Master's army    was the military and political organization created by the Master to advance his agenda. The Master desired to forcefully evolve humans into a single, perfect race removing the inequalities that are the cause of strife among humans. To this end, he used the Forced Evolutionary Virus (FEV) on humans to uplift them. The Master's race would colloquially be known as the super mutants by most people of the former American Southwest.

Background
The Unity began with an expedition to Mariposa Military Base, undertaken by Harold, Richard Grey, and a group of other adventurers On June 23, the party was routed by mutants inhabiting the base. Grey was knocked into one of the Vats. His wounded state combined with extreme long-term exposure to the FEV precipitated his evolution into the Master. After he regained consciousness and dragged himself from the vats, he continued to mutate. However, experiments were slowed by a lack of subjects or understanding of the virus.

In December 2102, following a series of directed mutations by injecting doses of the virus into various areas of his mutated body, Grey gained the ability to neurolink with computers, allowing him to access the base's databanks. Aided by the data, he began experiments on humans who strayed into the facilities, without much luck. In January 2103, he isolated radiation exposure as the crucial factor affecting transformation success.

In 2131, the Master decided to focus on acquiring subjects from caravans that crossed the wasteland in ever increasing numbers. By 2137, there were enough super mutants to sustain mass production. While the success rate was between 15-20%, with a half going on to join the Master's army, it grew rapidly into a potent military force. The resulting army was named Unity by the Master, becoming the foundation of his vision for humanity and the world. For the next fifteen years, the Unity would expand over the former American Southwest, striking for the shadows. In 2152, the Master enlisted the aid of Morpheus and his doomsday cultists, creating the Children of the Cathedral to act as the Unity's public face and maintain secrecy.

After apprehending a caravan of Vault dwellers from the Los Angeles vault, the Master transferred his command there and ordered Morpheus' cultists to renovate the building above the Vault, establishing the Cathedral and its Children. The Vault provided a wealth of information to the Master and the Unity, most importantly the locations of other Vaults. Super mutants began searching their suspected locations, gathering prime subjects for super mutant conversion. Not all operations were successful: The detachment sent to investigate Bakersfield and Vault 12 wound up engaging the ghouls living among the ruins, with fighting only ceasing when Set brokered a ceasefire, explaining that the ghouls were what remained of Vault 12's dwellers. A garrison was left behind to ensure Set's cooperation and apprehend the occasional human passing through.

On April 20, less than two months after the death of the Master, the Dweller delivered the killing blow to the Unity by destroying the Mariposa Military Base. Although the Vault Dweller disappeared into the wasteland, the Brotherhood of Steel picked up where they left off, driving the super mutants away with minimal loss of life, on both sides of the conflict, and establishing itself as a major power in the wasteland.

Surviving super mutants split into several different groups, each pursuing a different goal: Many groups migrated away from New California, north and east, looking for new places to settle. Some settled in the Mojave, first at Black Mountain and later in the settlement of Jacobstown. A large group journeyed eastward into the Rockies, eventually reaching Chicago and becoming Gammorin's Army.

Some settled down to coexist with humans to attempt to integrate into society or find a new life for themselves, with one of the most notable attempts being Broken Hills, founded by Marcus and Jacob in 2185, as a place where regular and mutated humans could live side by side. Eventually, together with ghouls, the mutant population would become large enough to become a distinct population group in the New California Republic, which would pass laws prohibiting discrimination based on a mutation in 2205.

Not all super mutants would adapt to the new situation. Some took to the desert, refusing to lay down their weapons and surrender. The die-hard remnants of the Master's armies would continue to plague northern New California and the Mojave, contributing to lingering prejudice against mutants. Even as late as 2281, some mutants would fall prey to the prejudices of man, such as Mean Sonofabitch, tortured and maimed by a group of bigots. Some politicians sought to capitalize on the anti-mutant sentiment for the benefit of their political career.

The only problems were one with intelligence, as some candidates for transformation did not have the mental fortitude necessary to withstand the strain. While they were a minority among the mutants, their impact was severe enough to interfere with the Unity's goals.Fallout Bible 5: "5. In F1 the Lieutenant said that the FEV raises intelligence. There are, however, very many dumb mutants. What can you say about it? And what do you think of my theory, which i've been using in my Fallout PnP campaign? Sorry, Pawel, for two things: I wasn't able to personally respond to your email because I kept getting bounced, and two, I wasn't able to comment on your FEV theory (as a reminder, I can't read fan-created material, so just send questions, comments, or facts if you can). As for the FEV enhancing intelligence, the original Pre-War FEV at West Tek did, and more consistently than the Fallout-era virus. The current Fallout-era FEV does enhance intelligence - in some people. Just not many. The Lieutenant was one of the lucky ones who didn't become a knuckle-dragging, butt-scratching moron after being dipped (and it may not have raised his intelligence, he may have been that smart before his dipping, but no records of his past exist to verify this). ''The FEV that was released out in the wasteland was mutated by radiation, so its effects changed. As for the FEV at Mariposa, the Lieutenant says the super mutants are smarter than humans ("We are highly intelligent and immune to disease"), which is only half-right, and he also says that the virus can also interfere with a person's memory, causing them to forget things. Obviously, the Lieutenant keeps forgetting that most of his super mutant forces can barely form complete sentences.'' ''Basically, the FEV in the vats only has a small chance of raising a being's intelligence (or even keeping it intact). The Master was one of the lucky ones. More often than not, it causes brain damage. It's also possible that the crude dipping procedure in Mariposa also caused imperfect mutations as well, reducing the chance of heightened intelligence.'' ''But to answer your question: the FEV at West Tek before the war caused increased intelligence in its subjects, but the FEV at Mariposa after the war rarely enhanced the intelligence of humans who were dipped. The reason for this is unknown.'' ''Chris Taylor says: Actually, a dip in FEV has a chance of modifying Intelligence, but it doesn't always increase it. Some people do gain increased intelligence, a larger majority lose intelligence and most people remain the same. It also depends if people have enough radiation damage to be turned into ghouls or super mutants.''"

Humanity's reluctance to overcome its inherent problems meant that most had to be forced to change and adapt. If humans embraced the call, the Master's plan would never be required in the first place, after all. There were differing beliefs, of course: Some super mutants viewed themselves as equals to normal humans, owing to their common ancestry. They viewed the mutation as merely a rebirth - and supported the Unity, believing it to be the best chance for peace, despite misgivings.

FEV was referred to as the Blood of God, the restraints used to prepare humans for dipping were holy, while the Vats were the womb where the armies of god were created. Joint meditation sessions between super mutants and normal human faithful from the Cathedral were common as well, even if they reinforced the religious side of the Unity.

Even if the Master did succeed, the Unity would fail, as the FEV rendered the super mutants sterile and the Unity would bring about the final end of humanity. While it did not damage primary sexual characteristics, it did interfere with gametes, correcting the DNA within. As a result, conception was impossible.

Exposure to the Forced Evolutionary Virus would result in super mutant unification and thriving in the wasteland as one race and one people, united behind a single goal. Neither ghouls nor normal humans were seen as competitive, the former being victims of the nuclear death brought upon mankind by the latter. To become a super mutant was to reach the next step in human evolution - and save the world in the process.

All worthy humans would be converted by FEV. Faster, stronger, more intelligent, and immune to disease or radiation, prepared for living in the ash-covered world. Sacrificing choice in the matter was deemed an acceptable trade-off for the ability to live without fear. All the worthy individuals would undergo the conversion - regardless of their opinion on the matter. Those who did not qualify would be permitted to live out their lives under Unity control and protection but deprived of the ability to perpetuate their species.

Scientists conducted experiments in psionic warfare, attempting to replicate the Master's potential by injecting FEV directly into the various areas of the brain, with mixed results. Four partial successes were recorded, creating incredibly powerful psychics who were nonetheless terminally insane. All four were kept sequestered and nullified in the laboratories of the Los Angeles vault.

The Unity has a salvaged nuclear device was kept in a secure location beneath the Cathedral, while the nuclear arming key was entrusted to the Lieutenant at Mariposa Military Base. It was intended for use as a weapon of last resort, should the Unity encounter a foe it is unable of overcoming. However, even this was considered doubtful, as the Master did not want to unleash the dreaded nuclear flame once again.

Appearances
The Unity appears only in Fallout and is mentioned in Fallout 2, Fallout: New Vegas, Fallout Tactics and Fallout: Brotherhood of Steel.