The Fallout series takes place many years after a nuclear war that wiped out most of the population and left the world as a nuclear wasteland. Within this wasteland are many factions, some fighting just for survival and others fighting for bigger goals.
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The Brotherhood of Steel is one of those factions and has so far appeared in every Fallout game. It is a group of heavily armed soldiers operating in one of the last few organized military groups since the Great War. The Brotherhood is well known for its power armor, which is usually equipped with very powerful and advanced weapons.
What Is Left Of The US Military Still Stands
The Brotherhood was formed quickly after the Great War, and the apocalypse began. A few members of the armed forces came together under a rogue U.S Army captain named Roger Maxson. The Brotherhood was formed to collect the advanced technology left after the war to ensure it didn’t fall into the wrong hands. The Brotherhood also aims to reestablish order in the areas of the wasteland they visit, but their main goal is to search for powerful weapons and technology.
The power armor they use is left from before the Great War, and while it is widely available to the Brotherhood, they are not keen on sharing it. The Brotherhood does provide help to those in need in the wasteland but doesn’t provide armor and weapons to anyone. The Brotherhood is very untrusting when it comes to technology andpowerful weapons, which is at the heart of their conflict with the Enclave. With the Brotherhood being untrusting, it is not usual for outsiders to be allowed to use their gear or join their ranks.
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The Brotherhood Of Steel “Chapters”
The Brotherhood is divided into an organized system, with the High Elder being at the top. There are also many groups called “Chapters,” each led by an Elder and traveling to different parts of the US to establish order and control the powerful technology in the area. From there, the rest of the group is divided into Initiate, Knight, Paladin, and Elder. The chain of command within a Chapter is known as “The Chain That Binds.”
Initiates are the lowest level of recruits and usually consist of offspring of existing members or, on the rarest of occasions, recruited outsiders. Initiates are usually offered simpler missions and are rarely given permission to use power armor or more advanced weapons. Knights are the next rank, with the main task of handling repairs and maintenance of the gear of higher ranks. This is also the rank that handles newly found advanced technology and usually works within the base of that chapter.
Paladins are the next rank and are the core of the Brotherhood Of Steel. These are members with many years of service and are given power armor and access to the wide arsenal of the Brotherhood. This is the rank fighting on the front line, both attacking and defending the Brotherhood. Above Paladin are the Elders of the chapter, often too old to fight as efficiently and whose knowledge is better protected and used to plan the actions of the chapter.
There is also another group known as scribes, who are on the same level as paladins but exist outside the usual ranks. Scribes find and preserve knowledge both frombefore the Great Warand what is being discovered after.
