Brotherhood of Steel (Fallout: Tactics)

The Brotherhood of Steel in the Midwest is a vast militaristic empire born out of a splinter faction of the original Brotherhood of Steel. It is variously referred to as the Eastern Brotherhood or the Midwestern Brotherhood of Steel.

Background
This Brotherhood began its life as a group of stranded airship survivors. 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, in 2198, the Brotherhood eventually faced their greatest enemy – a robotic army commanded by the Calculator, the mad cyborg of Vault 0 in Colorado. The robotic army was defeated and the Calculator was either destroyed or merged with a new mind, that of the Warrior or that of Simon Barnaky, giving birth to a vast empire laying claim to lands from Colorado Springs in the west to the shores of Lake Michigan in the east.

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 did not go lightly. Finally, the elders ruled against sharing the technology with outsiders, convinced that they would endure what they had before. Further discussion was discouraged when the elders ordered the minority who wished to share their technology on a mission across the wastes.

The Brotherhood constructed airships and dispatched the minority East, to track down and assess the extent of the remaining super mutant threat. However, as they traveled over the great mountains, a great storm broke the main airship and flung it far from its course. The mighty airship was badly damaged, the smaller sections torn from the main craft, 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.

Stranded thousands of miles from headquarters, the survivors rallied and formed a new chapter of the Brotherhood, which slowly diverged greatly from the ideals of the old Brotherhood. The Brotherhood had much to offer to the surrounding villages. They traded advanced medicines in exchange for food and labor. They traded protection from bandits in exchange for new recruits. In time, their ranks began to swell. Separated by distance and ideology from the main Brotherhood forces. The minority was free to forge this new Brotherhood of Steel into one that reflected the ideals they had strived for all along.

By 2197, the Brotherhood established its foothold in Chicago and the surrounding areas. It clashed with local raider tribes, pushed east by losses incurred in battles with long-range scouts of the Calculator. The raider attacks resulted in the fall of several tribal villages and were met with decisive retaliation by the Brotherhood. Moreover, the order used the attacks to coerce the tribes into accepting the Brotherhood's protection, imposing quotas of food and recruits.

Expansion south
The campaign against the raiders culminated in the assault on Rock Falls by the Warrior and his squad, as the Brotherhood decided to expand south. The objective was to expand new bunkers and bring local tribes and settlements to heel. However, the expansion process was not smooth. The Brotherhood's position was still not as secure as it would prefer it to be and the supply lines were stretched thin. As the supplies carried by Brotherhood vehicles, food, weapons, and medicine, were all in high demand among the wastelanders, this created ample opportunity for raiders and other troublemakers. A textbook case occurred in the ruined city of Macomb, where a single Hummer carrying supplies was separated from the main convoy and cornered by enemy forces.

The situation was rectified by an up-and-coming soldier of the Brotherhood, the Warrior. Their squad penetrated enemy defenses, secured the Hummer, and safely escorted it through the city. As the expansion base thrived, the Brotherhood used the opportunity to demonstrate its strength and resolve. Three extermination squads purged Macomb of hostile enemies. Those that weren't killed were placed in labor camps.

The Brotherhood focused on securing its position in the region. One vital aspect was maintaining their stocks of advanced technology, which included securing old military and scientific installations and removing anything of value, particularly rare fusion batteries. Another involved securing new allies. The opportunity to seal a major alliance manifested soon, as a previously unknown threat manifested itself. The city of Quincy petitioned the Brotherhood for protection from the Beastlords, a unique tribe of mutants indigenous to the area, capable of controlling wild animals. As the city was a major asset, offering population, industry, and other resources, the Brotherhood immediately deployed a squad to relieve the city and secure its allegiance. The success of the squad also brought to the Brotherhood's attention the true nature of the Beastlords and their savage traditions, including cannibalism. The decision was made to exterminate them.

An extermination squad was deployed to Mardin, to destroy the cannibals and remove the last obstacle lying in the way of the Brotherhood's expansion. The underground labyrinth would pose a challenge, but the assault was necessary, in particular, to learn how the Beastlords were capable of controlling animals. The squad was successful and the Beastlords were destroyed, including their leader, Emperor Daarr. The victory has sealed the Brotherhood's control over the region, with towns voluntarily submitting to Brotherhood rule and donating resources and recruits. The only downside was the fact that the Beastlord ability could not be weaponized by the Brotherhood, as it only developed under the unique Mardin radiation and even then, only after prolonged exposure for over twenty years.

War with Gammorin
With their expansion along Illinois completed, the Brotherhood pushed west, into a region known as The Belt. This grim, desolate land was a wasteland in every sense of the word. It still bore the scars of the war, with death lurking behind every corner and treasures hidden amid the devastation. The few who lived here were hardy people, whose bleak existence was built through blood and sheer determination. The isolated groups of humans were expected to prove hard to annex by the Brotherhood. Furthermore, even the Brotherhood veterans were ill at ease with the prospect of pushing into the ominous land, as there lay the reminders of the Brotherhood's ill-fated crossing of the Rockies, including one great zeppelin, brought down by the great storm.

The Brotherhood's fears were soon proven true, as their forces clashed with the super mutant army on April 6, 2197. Unbeknownst to the Brotherhood, the super mutants were organized into a true army by one of their own, Paladin Latham, thought lost with the crashed zeppelin. Under his leadership, the super mutants were more than a match for the Brotherhood.

As Latham was responsible for laying down many of the procedures the Brotherhood used every day, the mutants were able to counter battle tactics and reconnaissance efforts with ease. As such, during the first large scale battle between the Army and the Brotherhood, at St. Louis, the mutants were able to rout the enemy forces and entirely destroy six out of eight veteran squads committed to the battle. General Simon Barnaky participated in the battle directly but was captured in combat. Subsequent attacks included the death of most of Brotherhood's intelligence operatives, stunting the organization's reconnaissance records.

Although the Brotherhood reeled from the super mutant attacks and suffered devastating losses, it did not surrender. With a much more powerful industrial base and source of manpower, in the form of villages and towns annexed by the Brotherhood, they held the line and managed to secure several victories against the super mutants, including the successful defense of Kansas City and the recovery of a nuclear warhead in working condition and the conquest of Jefferson Ciy, along with Latham's research project into curing super mutant sterility.

The Brotherhood's key asset was the Warrior's small, highly resourceful squad, which was deployed to Osceolla when the Brotherhood learned that Gammorin was, in fact, Paladin Latham. Due to his actions against the Brotherhood, the former Paladin was sentenced to death for treason and to cull the security risk he posed. He was confronted by the squad in his bunker (a situation he expected) and slain by the Warrior's squad in honorable combat. His death evoked mixed feelings in the Brotherhood, as while he was the leader of a military force that caused it to sustain devastating losses, he remained a Paladin. His army disintegrated, splitting into warring factions, vying for control. A number of super mutants joined the Brotherhood, continuing to serve a higher cause. Latham's legacy was not forgotten.

Facing the Calculator
The Brotherhood pushed further west, intent on confronting the robotic menace that terrified the raiders and Gammorin's Army so. The highest concentration of robots was located in Colorado Springs, where the fabled Vault 0 was supposed to lie. More information was needed. After establishing a surface base at Bunker Delta, the Brotherhood's forces moved on Junction City, to investigate reports of a victory over one of the Calculator's robots. Given that Junction City was a staunchly independent settlement that rejected Brotherhood offers of protection and lacked any heavy weapons, this fact intrigued the order. The Brotherhood also wanted to intercept the Reaver Movement, which set its sights on acquiring the devices. Upon recovering the parts, the Brotherhood learned that the robot was already severely damaged by the time it entered the settlement and exploded due to its power source overloading.

Information recovered from the robot and recon efforts by the rebuilt intelligence wing of the Brotherhood allowed it to track down the source of the robot. It was tracked to the pre-War center of industry known as Great Bend. The ruined city was identified as a potential robot manufacturing plant, in the process of being established. A squad was dispatched under the Warrior's lead to destroy the area and any robots they found. The squad managed to infiltrate the city and remove the robot presence. Thanks to the fact that the command robot (a pacification bot) was damaged, the artificial terrors could only offer limited resistance. Brotherhood squads Smear and Falcon booby-trapped the area to deny the robots a potential manufacturing plant.

However, the Brotherhood's offensive was slowed by treason. The Warrior's squad that formed the spearhead of the offensive was recalled from the frontlines to deal with a domestic issue: A group of Quincy inhabitants under Guldo Sciavo's leadership managed to steal equipment, a Brotherhood vehicle, and several suits of power armor from a Brotherhood weapons depot at Quincy, after poisoning the guards. The Elders judged them guilty of high treason and sentenced them to death in absentia. The Warrior was sent to carry out the verdict. After navigating the independent town, the squad managed to destroy the Red Stingers and their leader. The Brotherhood leaders ordered the bodies of the gang members to be crucified outside Quincy, along with the guards that were supposed to have stood watch. Furthermore, friends and known family members of the Red Stingers were rounded up in an internment camp for interrogation and to suppress any rumors that may spread.

In the Warrior's absence, events took a strange turn. The Reaver Movement contacted the Brotherhood with a desperate plea for help. Their war against the Calculator was going poorly, with the only remaining stronghold in Newton under constant assault by the robots. While the Brotherhood would normally allow the robots to wipe out the Reavers, the Movement offered to trade their knowledge of pre-War Yuma Flats Energy Consortium designs, in exchange for the rescue of the main Reaver leaders from Newton. The Warrior's squad was deployed on a search and rescue mission. The mission succeeded and the Reaver officials were moved to Brotherhood bases under armed escort, while the surviving members of the Movement were placed in internment camps for interrogation. The Elders eventually allowed them to join the Brotherhood. However, the deployment also highlighted a troubling development: The robots started taking prisoners.

Man against Machine
The war with the Calculator entered its final phase with the establishment of Bunker Epsilon. The Warrior and his squad became an integral point of the Brotherhood's strategy. Outmatched severely by the Calculator, the Brotherhood had to carefully plan and structure their attacks to weaken the robotic menace first. The first operation carried out in the new territory was directed at a robot repair station in Canyon City, to destroy a vital piece of the infrastructure. The assault was combined with attacks by Dagger and Tusk squads on smaller repair stations in the area. The success severely reduced the Calculator's ability to project power in that part of the region. The Brotherhood immediately formulated further attack plans, to exploit this opportunity, even as the revelation that the Calculator was an automaton, not artificial intelligence, spread among the command corps.

The next attack focused on a newly discovered nuclear power plant supplying the robotic army with power. As the Brotherhood was far too successful in its war against the robots to be ignored, the assignment given to the Warrior was simple: Search and destroy. The success of the mission was tremendous. With their power supply cut, the Calculator was only able to leverage Vault 0's own power source for robot manufacturing, slowing its war machine down, while the destruction of the facility's manufacturing facilities scattered its plans. However, the Brotherhood also realized that the ultimate goal of the machine was nothing less than total genocide, the removal of any humans deviating from its programmed definition of one. Worse, as it was not an AI, but simply a machine that ticked off its programmed priorities, reasoning with it was impossible. The Brotherhood was the only thing standing in its way, a small group completely unsuited for total war with an enemy seemingly without number.

The final assault on Vault 0 and Cheyenne Mountain was delayed to deal with a critical security risk. As the Brotherhood was unable to match the Calculator and his robots in the field, it relied on hit-and-run tactics to retain initiative without sacrificing men or revealing its bases. However, Bartholomew Kerr, a merchant in good standing with the Brotherhood who sold his wares at the organization's primary bunkers, was captured by robots and taken to Scott City. His knowledge of Brotherhood bases and their populations could prove the death of the Brotherhood. The Warrior was dispatched with a grim mission, to neutralize him. The mission was a success, though it left the Brotherhood traumatized. Scott City was the local "interrogation" base. Captives were tortured for information and then their brains were removed for further information retrieval. Apart from a mass grave containing over 300 dead bodies, the Brotherhood located the body of General Barnaky, tortured and lobotomized just hours before the Brotherhood squads hit the city. The potential of the Calculator accessing his knowledge forced the Brotherhood's hand.

The Brotherhood resorted to a desperate, bold plan: A direct attack on Cheyenne Mountain, with the Warrior leading the charge and Dagger squad providing backup. Vault 0 was breached with the Kansas City warhead detonated at point-blank range, right in front of the Vault's massive blast door. The squads pushed deep into the Vault, to find and destroy the Calculator. As the squads pushed into the Vault, the Calculator mounted the offensive that the Brotherhood feared. A spearhead of six Behemoth-class robots supported by a large number of pacification robots were committed to the assault on Bunker Epsilon, with hundreds of other robots simultaneously engaging survivor communities along the front. The Warrior was facing victory or extinction. Penetrating the lower levels of the Vault, the Brotherhood squad met the transformed General Barnaky, now bound to the sterile shell of a combat brainbot. After successfully dealing with the once-great general, the squad confronted the Calculator and managed to destroy the brains that formed the organic part of its computational matrix, corrupting 85% of the main protocol programming.

The Calculator pleaded with the Warrior to sacrifice themselves and help stabilize the network, in exchange for becoming the leader of the robotic army, but the Warrior refused and destroyed the machine, disabling the entire robotic army in mid-step, preventing the second holocaust of humanity. After the smoke cleared, the Brotherhood devoted time to rebuilding its massive losses. The ruined Vault 0 was claimed as its main base of operations, while the remaining forces rallied. The weak Brotherhood found itself at odds with opportunistic raiders, fighting a guerrilla war against the military order and its realm. The Brotherhood suffers major setbacks, losing outposts and men as it consolidates its power base. Eventually, it manages to prevail and form close bonds with the peoples under its protection, creating a new regime under the command of the Warrior, now a general of the Brotherhood. Humanity began to prosper under his care and leadership. Fallout Tactics endings: "When the acrid smoke clears nothing remains of the entity known as the Calculator except burnt wires and broken valves. It is a decisive victory for humanity, for at a crucial point in the raging battle the robots were stopped dead in their course of destruction. The Warrior can only ponder on the lost opportunity that the destruction of such a technological marvel represents, history has shown that even the victors of battle have some regrets but sometimes one must move forward. The Brotherhood is quick to establish Vault 0 as its main base of operations, all though much destruction was wrought here it still represents a massive store house of knowledge and technology. The ancient structure becomes the central hub of operations, coordinating between outposts far and near and reinforcing their supply lines and transport routes across the countryside. Ironically mimicking the original purpose of their defeated enemy.

''Recruitment and education of the local tribal and village populations becomes the all important mission of the depleted and wounded Brotherhood but the education is not once sided, after generations of surviving in the harshness of the wastelands the indigenous people are in tune with the land. They have valuable lessons to teach those immersed solely with technology, lessons of nature and balance that the Brotherhood had previously neglected. Not all of the wasteland's inhabitants are sharing the same noble purpose, opportunistic raiders and bandits enjoy the fruits of a recovering war torn Brotherhood. Patrols are scarce and in smaller numbers than the thieves remember encountering in the past, as the Brotherhood focuses on consolidating its power base. Several frontier outposts are lost as the Brotherhood finds they are fighting a guerrilla war without the support of large numbers, but adversity and hardship are as familiar to the Brotherhood as discipline and knowledge and they learn their lessons quickly. With a new power over this region comes a new responsibility, all plans for re-establishing contact with the west are postponed indefinitely.''

''Recruitment begins anew and the initiate ranks swell, all military efforts are then concentrated on uprooting all outlaw predators in the region finally making it safe for the Brotherhood and its allies. In time the Brotherhood once again rules the land, resources are then allocated to expansion and development. Technology becomes more widespread, with irrigation systems established to make the nuclear blasted land fertile, humanity once again starts to prosper. The Hero, the warrior of the Brotherhood, now a general, shares the burden and the satisfaction of overseeing civilization's development. The Brotherhood of Steel has come through the trials of this region and emerged scarred but wiser, it will be decades before a reunion is possible between the old Brotherhood and the new Brotherhood regime. In that time there are new alliances to be made, new battles to be fought, new victories to be had but that is a tale for another day."''

The fate of the splinter faction is unclear. The Elders in Lost Hills would send an expedition to Washington, D.C. to recon the area for any advanced technology, in addition, to regain contact with disparate chapters of the Brotherhood. This included the Midwestern Brotherhood chapter. Contact was re-established between the main branch of the Brotherhood and the Midwestern Chapter, and so the expedition continued east. As of 2277, the Brotherhood was reduced to a small detachment outside of Chicago, considered as gone rogue and off the radar of the Brotherhood.

Caesar controls most of Colorado while the Brotherhood in D.C., one that crossed the continent and would come across Eastern settlements, only mentions a small detachment in Chicago, rather than the massive realm that would spring up in other endings.

Society and organization
The Brotherhood of Steel in the Midwest is much different from its western counterpart. The primary difference is that it is highly expansionist, using its superior technology and military training to expand and annex new areas. In exchange for military protection, the Brotherhood takes recruits, raw materials, and other goods to sustain its expansion and existing rule. Anyone living under its control is also expected to submit to Brotherhood's rules without question. The most expedient way to achieve this in the Brotherhood's opinion is to terrorize its enemies and strike fear in the heart of those they 'protect', by dealing with all threats without hesitation or mercy. All settlements under its protection must also accept the laws of the Brotherhood, or suffer the consequences. Collateral damage is generally dismissed out of hand, as the Brotherhood considers a few lives lost by accident to be a small price to pay for a free, prosperous world, particularly if those who died were mere tribals.

The resulting power structure is essentially neo-feudal in nature, with the Brotherhood at the top, as the royalty and nobility, with city dwellers below them, and tribes at the lowest possible rung. This leads to friction between the castes, especially when people who once lived in a free, independent city come under the Brotherhood's thumb.

Ensuring obedience is its justice system: Swift, harsh, and far-reaching. If any subject of the Brotherhood severely breaks its laws, they may expect swift retribution. For example, when Quincy inhabitants stole Brotherhood equipment, including power armor, and escaped to Coldwater, they were sentenced to death for high treason, tracked down, and executed. However, that wasn't the end. The Brotherhood employed collective punishment: The bodies of the criminals were crucified outside Quincy alongside the guards that failed to prevent their incursion, while friends and families of the perpetrators were permanently interned in Brotherhood camps for interrogation and to prevent the spread of rumors.

Symbols
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, gray for the sword, and black for the gears), the Midwestern Brotherhood uses a blue monocolored variation. It should be noted that they also use a mirrored version of the original insignia interchangeably with the original one as well as variants of other colors (golden and black).

Military


The greatest difference between this faction and the rest of the Brotherhood is the willingness to accept non-humans into their ranks. During the war with the Calculator, the Brotherhood's forces consisted of survivors from the expedition, human recruits from tribes and towns, reformed raiders and religious fanatics, ghouls, sapient (hairy) deathclaws, super mutants, and machine legions from Vault 0. Many recruits were defeated foes pressed into the Brotherhood's service (or in the case of autonomous robots, recovered from the Calculator's repair bays).

Brotherhood members who perished in the line of duty are entitled to a funeral with all honors. The typical burial is through immolation: A coffin containing the fallen Brother's body is draped in the Brotherhood's flag, with a pair of gloves and a sidearm placed on top, and then placed inside a furnace with molten metal. The ceremony is led by a scribe who recites the appropriate passages from the Codex.

The dead are further honored with vigils and services and the recording of their names on the Brotherhood Wall of Honor (sometimes with their aliases).

Squads
The Eastern Brotherhood of Steel operations is based on small, versatile squads deployed to engage the enemy. They rarely hold more than ten brothers. A rough listing of the most notable, named squads follows (player's six-person squad excluded):
 * Brimstone: Simon Barnaky's personal guard, composed of battle-hardened paladins. Obliterated in St. Louis.
 * Dagger: considered to be the most elite unit in the Eastern Brotherhood of Steel. Dagger squad helps the warrior during the assault on Vault 0. Their team color is blue.
 * Demon: support squad for Brimstone; obliterated in St. Louis.
 * Falcon: another regular battle squad that was assigned to watch over Great Bend along with Smear squad.
 * Fang: heavy squad deployed in St. Louis; destroyed by a super mutant rocket team.
 * Grail: led by Paladin Lancelot, this squad perished in their assault on the Buena Vista Nuclear Power Plant. Their team color is dark green.
 * Lance: mentioned only by Gloria Timmons.
 * Repo: a squad dedicated to acquisition and transportation of valuable technology.
 * Shadow: regular battle squad of the Brotherhood, deployed in Kansas City to ensure the safety of the nuke.
 * Smear: regular battle squad of the Brotherhood, which, along with Shadow squad, was deployed in Kansas City and later in the town of Great Bend with Falcon squad, to protect the area from robots that might return.
 * Talon: under the command of Paladin Emerald Solo, the Talons managed to survive St. Louis and evacuate with help from the Warrior. Their color was teal.
 * Tusk: a battle squad that, along with Dagger squad, participated in the war against Calculator. Mentioned in the demo as the ultimate assignment of the demo squadmates.
 * Urban: intelligence squad under the command of Paladin Klotz (also known as Ma Baker), which monitors and confronts raider activity.

Sayings

 * "There is always another enemy."
 * "There is strength in numbers."
 * "Better to err on the side of caution."

Related holodisks

 * Journal of Sir Latham
 * General's holodisk to wife Maria

Appearances
The Midwestern Brotherhood of Steel appears as the main faction and player's affiliation in Fallout Tactics.

In Fallout 3, Scribe Reginald Rothchild makes a mention about a small detachment of Brotherhood in Chicago that has fallen off the radar and gone rogue. The only known group of Brotherhood that has operated in and around Chicago is the Midwestern Brotherhood of Steel.

In Fallout: New Vegas, Caesar mentions that the Legion has captured Brotherhood scribes back East. This may be a reference to the Midwestern Brotherhood of Steel, though it could instead be a reference to the Maxson bunker in Colorado, from the canceled Fallout 3 project Van Buren.

In Fallout 4, the airship accident is mentioned when asking Lancer Captain Kells about the Prydwen's history and design.

The Midwestern Brotherhood of Steel is mentioned in Fallout: Wasteland Warfare.

Behind the scenes

 * The term "Midwestern Brotherhood of Steel" is never used in-game, but was created by fans to differentiate it from the original Brotherhood of Steel. The Fallout 3 Official Game Guide Game of the Year Edition names it in one blurb as the "Eastern Brotherhood."
 * While the belief that the Eastern Brotherhood uses a specific, reversed form of Brotherhood's insignia persists, it is incorrect. The Eastern Brotherhood uses both variants interchangeably.