From the Unknown

by Metal Harbinger

Prologue: War Never Changes

War. War never changes.

When atomic fire consumed the landscape humanity was sent retreating to the safety of the great underground vaults. Those who survived took the knowledge of the old world with them, in turn passing it down to the generations that followed.

When the vaults opened, their inhabitants entered a hostile new world.

What had once been the American Midwest was now reduced to an open grave site littered with the ruins of once great cities, plagued with raiders, savage tribals, super mutants and other horrors sired from the fallout of a long ago war. Famine, plague and warfare lurked around every corner and with little resources and even fewer prospects the emerging survivors seemed destined to follow the same fate from those before them.

Yet even in the darkest of days humankind is a stubborn creature and all would have been lost if it had not been for one man determined to bring hope to those living in the death grip of fear.

This man was George Washington Stanton.

Inspired by the tales of the great leaders of yesteryear, he alone embarked upon an ambitious quest to restore order to a hostile land, spreading the old world values of democracy, liberty and the rule of law. It was through his efforts a loose confederation of small city states would unite to form a new nation that would rise from the ashes like a phoenix.

This nation was the New Midwest Commonwealth.

Under his leadership the scarred landscape slowly began to heal: towns being rebuilt, resources being reclaimed, raiders and other threats being beaten back, the population growing as tribes and villages were assimilated. The NMC also proved its might as a regional military power, beating back both an already weakened Enclave and a Midwestern Brotherhood of Steel that had long ago fallen into decline. It was a golden age of enlightenment and progress that would last for well over 30 years, only to be squandered following the Founding Father's untimely passing.

Lacking the brilliance, experience and iron will of his predecessor, the next President Thomas Jefferson Hadley would lose many of the commonwealth's territorial gains through a series of embarrassing military blunders against a rejuvenated Brotherhood, which in turn would lead to a very public falling out with the leader of the NMC's military forces, General Abraham Barca, who saw the new commander-in-chief as an incompetent coward.

With a loyal inner circle and support from desperate and dissatisfied locals, General Barca would lead a successful takeover of the NMC's capital Steel City (formerly Chicago), coming within inches of capturing President Hadley, who would escape to the northernmost reaches of the NMC's territory to reestablish his rule. It is only thanks to their preoccupation with the reemergent Brotherhood that has thus far stalled the ambitious general's advance into the northern territories.

The southern territories firmly under his control, General Barca embarked upon a brutal campaign of hawkish imperialism, expanding the Southern Midwest Commonwealth's reach into expanses of Iowa, Kentucky, and Ohio, slaughtering all who would oppose him.

As the young nation is divided into two separate, warring factions, the renewed Midwestern Brotherhood of Steel seeks to reestablish their foothold in the region.

Driven by a sense of revanchism following their embarrassing loss to the nascent Commonwealth decades earlier, the Brotherhood retreated further into the West, where they hid in the shadows, biding their time, replenishing their forces, and stockpiling newly gathered technology in preparation for a major counter-strike that would commence following the death of President Stanton, a time when their old enemy would be at its weakest.

Now led by the effective Elder Tobias Longstreet, the Brotherhood finds itself on the cusp of reclaiming what it rightfully believes to be theirs, forcing their already exhausted and overstretched adversaries to fight a two-pronged war that threatens both sides in the long run.

The year is now 2294, eight years having passed since the first shots were fired. The nation remains divided as all factions struggle with the perpetual threat of super mutants, raiders and other encroaching threats of the wasteland. Aside from a few sporadic skirmishes, a sense of normality, if not peace, has fallen over the land as people struggle to survive in a time of war.

But it is only the calm before the storm.

While Barca continues with his campaign of aggressive expansionism, the NMC's current President Frank Spector struggles to rebuild his forces and restore the people's faith in him as a strong, effective leader. Elder Longstreet meanwhile sees a golden opportunity to reclaim the American Midwest in the name of the Brotherhood. Through it all, there are those watching from the shadows with their own motives in mind, waiting for the warring factions to gradually wear each other down and ensuring nobody can best the others. Who they are and what their motives are remains unknown.

As it has been with any major conflict throughout recorded history there are always those who are caught in the middle, unwitting pawns in a game much larger than they can ever anticipate. It is their move that tips the crucial balance of power in favor of the eventual winner.

Because war, war never changes.

Author's Note: They say the definition of "insanity" is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results, in that case I must be one very insane motherfucker because here I am attempting to do a "Fallout" fic again.

No matter what happens, it's just an idea that doesn't want to leave me behind, compounded by me FINALLY playing "Fallout 4" on my own and with it, the ideas coming flooding in.

This time around I've tried to be a bit more cautious and have been plotting out a road map that can hopefully give me some form of structure as I go another round.

Until then, read and review! This is Metal Harbinger saying SPREAD THE SICKNESS, ONE MIND AT A TIME!