Fallout TSC Commander Faction Report

by mattallensy

This is a series based on the Fallout 3 mod Mothership Zeta Crew. It is a mod that gives you a new faction under your command and you are in charge of it. This series covers how canon and non-canon factions relate to the Terran Starship Command.

3. Lyons Brotherhood of Steel

From: The Commander

To: Starship Council

Subject: Capital Wasteland Brotherhood of Steel—General Assessment and Personal Impression

The first major organization I ever encountered in my travels and the one group that has a connection to my family, other than Vault 101. As you should know, while I try to be objective with this group, I am still biased in their favor. I consider some of the senior members of this group family. Lyons' Brotherhood is the second most technologically advanced faction in the Capital wasteland, and strangely, also an honorable, honest group that puts the welfare of the wasteland first. From conversing with Brotherhood scribes, I have deduced that the original, Western Brotherhood seems to be an elitist group who mostly rejects relations with the outside. After seeing the wasteland of DC, and out of the mighty reach of the west coast Elders, Elder Lyons saw that the Brotherhood's technology can actually help these people and rejected the isolationism of the original ideals. 20 years after that decision, devoid of support from Lost Hills, he has recruited wastelanders to fill his ranks, but they don't have the training to last very long. What hurt Lyons most was the desertion of his friend and second-in-command Paladin Casdin, along with a sizable portion of his the original force of the Brotherhood that came west. These deserters formed the so-called Brotherhood Outcasts.

During those 20 years my own father was the lead scientist of Project purity, but after my mother died birthing me and the lack of significant progress, my father left and the project broke down. The Brotherhood had wasted time and effort on a dead project. After I left Vault 101, I searched for my father James. I had several unique encounters. I eventually found him in Vault 112 after I dealt with the insane overseer Braun. James (my father) headed to Rivet City and from there we headed to Project Purity. The summary of the events for the Enclave and related subjects I will put in another report. After the events of PP we escaped to the Citadel, and I was then recruited by the Brotherhood to deal with the Enclave. I talked to several of the scribes to gain information and went on my way. After entering vault 87 and securing the GECK, I was caught by the Enclave.

When I regained consciousness I was being interrogated by Col. Autumn. I then met President Eden. After I returned to the Citadel, war was about to break out. I was made an honorary member of Lyons' Pride and given a set of Power Armor with the appropriate insignia. The attack on the purifier began, led by Liberty Prime. Sentinel Lyons and I took the Purifier and we made the ultimate sacrifice; knowing that one of us would die. Both of us survived, and I awoke two weeks later. I was given the rank of Knight to my "delight," and we finished the Brotherhood war against the Enclave. In the end, even though it was delayed, Lyons' Brotherhood accomplished both missions: the original Brotherhood mission of securing advanced tech on the East coast and Lyons mission to protect the wasteland.

History:
The history of Lyons' Brotherhood starts at the split of both of the Coasts brotherhoods. As you know I have discussed the brotherhoods histories up to this point. Lyons' brotherhood was tasked in 2254, sometime after the destruction of the West Coast Enclave, by the Lost Hills Council, to send a contingent of soldiers to the East Coast. This group had three goals: 1) reconnect with the lost Brotherhood expedition that was sent East decades earlier, which is now known as the Midwest Brotherhood; 2) scour the ruins of Washington D.C for advanced technology; 3) investigate rumors of super mutant activity on the East Coast (the super mutant goal being a secondary objective). This group was sent and lead by the idealistic Paladin Lyons, technical advisor Reginald Rothschild, and his three year old daughter Sarah Lyons. They then began their long trek to East to D.C.

Personal note: I find it ironic that the West Coast Brotherhood cannot deal with internal affairs effectively. Instead of reconciling their ideology problems, they send them far away. This has happened three times, first with the Midwest brotherhood, second with Lyons, then third with the Mojave chapter mostly because of an idealistic Elder and former Scribe. This irony seems to benefit the Brotherhood and everyone else, as none of the more independent, extroverted chapters would have come into being without it.

The Pitt:

Lyons first objective with the Midwest chapter was not successful. They refused to return command of their society to the Lost Hills Brotherhood. The expedition then continued east and arrived in Pennsylvania. There, they found a post-War Slaver settlement known as The Pitt. This city was plagued with a verity of monstrosities, from insane raiders known as Wild Men, to mutants known as Trogs, and finally to the standard Slaver-Raider gangs. The Brotherhood, seeing this place, knew that it must be put down, even though it was not part of their mission to defend anyone but themselves. The Brotherhood practically razed the city. They were outnumbered 10-1, yet only suffered one casualty (Paladin Asher). I discovered later that he was not dead, just MIA, but I'll get into that later. The Brotherhood gathered all the non-mutated children, around 20, and traveled south.

The Citadel:

After the group arrived in the city it did not take them long to make several significant discoveries. As the Brotherhood had feared, the Pentagon was heavily damaged but not completely destroyed. Its sub levels were largely intact. After the Pentagon's defenses were taken care of they found enough technology to make a permanent base in the area. This discovery gave Lyons a promotion to Elder that he accepted gladly and gave the Brotherhood a base they desperately needed. The Pentagon eventually became known as the Citadel.
As I have been told by Rothchild and other early members of this chapter, it did not take long for the Brotherhood to find the super mutants. In the streets of D.C., the presence of super mutants was so bad that it was impossible to avoid them.

Super Mutants:
After Lyons saw how much of threat the Mutants were, he made his first decision to defy the orders of Lost Hills. This decision and the events of the Pitt (known to the survivors as The Scourge), have won the admiration of the Locals of the C.W. The Brotherhood was able to turn the tide against the super mutants. They forced the Super Mutants back into the D.C. ruins. While SM's still control a majority of the downtown area, they've never been able to make any significant inroads against the Brotherhood. Though life was still harsh and unfair, the people of the wastes finally had a chance to organize and develop, all thanks to Elder Lyons.
Fighting Super mutants, or simply keeping them at bay, may have been enough for the wasteland but it was not enough for the Brotherhood. There were too many unanswered questions. How were these local Super mutants created? Were they related to the Core Regions mutants? Why were they capturing the people of the wasteland? Where were they taking them? Lyons became obsessed with answering these questions.

Declaration of Independence:

After this decision the events of the Capital Wasteland were in a bit of stasis. The Brotherhood did not realize the importance they held to the Locals. The Elders in the West Coast also did not seem to care or realize this importance and wanted to hog the East Coast tech all for themselves. The Elder's original mission was very clear- to acquire advance technologies in and around the ruins of D.C. The elimination and investigation was important too, but secondary. The West Coast elders assumed that Lyons could eliminate the Super Mutants easily and their source quickly. This seemed to be the conversation topic of all the communication with Lost Hills. They rambled on and Lost Hills refused to budge, and Elder Lyons eventually made the decision that he felt was more important than Technology. He seceded from Lost Hills. Lyons' Holotape transcript of the relevant communiqué reads: "I will find more technology when I am damn good and ready, and I will not sacrifice the people of the Capital Wasteland who rely on the bravery and strength of the Brotherhood of Steel."

Personal Note: Even though I was not there, this decision, along with others, has given me great respect for Owen Lyons. In my opinion, he holds the true ideals of the Brotherhood: to preserve and improve technology until it is ready for society's resurrection. That time is now since the nuclear fire has died down.

From what I have heard from conversations with the Scribes of the Citadel, the halls of Lost Hills erupted in rumors and speculations. Owen Lyons had, as they say, "gone native" putting the needs of the Capital Wastelands locals above the needs of the Brotherhood Itself. Some disagreed, wondering if he had finally exhibited the selfless behavior that served as the model for the entire order. This is one of the last greatest known controversies with the Brotherhood. The decision of Lost Hills was split in half. So they made the only honorable decision that they could act upon. They recognized Elder Lyons as the leader of the Citadel and their D.C. headquarters, but all materials and personnel support from the West was cut off. If Lyons wanted to pursue his own agenda, he would do it alone. The irony is that now Lyons is like the Midwest; his faction controls territories and makes its own laws and customs, but is not really affiliated with the original Brotherhood anymore.
Personal Note: This decision was typical West Coast Brotherhood behavior: they always toe the line and don't make any major decisions. Honestly, I think those who opposed him hoped that, after a few years of degradation, this chapter would recognize the futility of independence and beg for renewed support. This is a typical establishment reaction against anything new, as they usually believe that their way is the only way. Lyons' supporters hoped to use the situation to explore a Lyons' new ideology; since Lost Hills was still dealing with the NCR, Lyons essentially had a blank slate. History would prove that those who opposed this man were wrong and that rules must adapt as times change.

The Outcasts:

I'll cover the Outcasts later in their own report, but in a nutshell, this group broke from Lyons and is still trying to contact the West Coast so that they could be in charge. This decision was (and is) bad and they have no defined goal or way to actually achieve their Goal.

Current Status: The most current status of Lyons' Brotherhood is intertwined with my personal history; for specifics I'll write a report of my travels before the creation of the TSC. To this point Lyons has outshined the West Coast Brotherhood starting just a few years after their establishment. After 20 years Lyons now has access to external recruitment, the Enclave's most advanced power armor, and Vertibirds which gives them a real Air Force. Lyons also had a functional Liberty Prime, until it was severely damaged. But thanks to the War with the Enclave they have access to repair parts and abilities to improve on the giant robot. But what is more important than the destruction with Liberty Prime is that the Brotherhood has been able to reverse engineer Liberty Prime's eye Cannon, making the new Tesla Cannon. With these capabilities they will eventually be able to start developing more technologies and make their own energy weapons.

Technology
Defense: The Capital Wasteland Brotherhood current standard Power Armor is T-45d. They have enough of it for all members of the Brotherhood to use it, even Initiates. Apparently, the armor they brought over from the West was worn out and needed replacing. I have no doubt they still have access to a few suits of T-51b, but the Outcasts likely took most, the rest are sometimes used for the most senior members of the chapter. So for these two reasons T-45d has become the most standard power armor, most of which are from the Pentagon's vault, surrounding military bases and bases they encountered on their trek over west. More recently, thanks to the war with the Enclave and the capture of Adams Air force Base, the Brotherhood has access to the Enclaves most advanced Power Armor (APA MK2, Mk II Tesla Armor, and Hellfire Armor).

Weapons: Before recent events this chapter used Energy weapons but to a significantly lesser degree than other chapters. Laser weaponry is delicate and degrades easily; they lacked repair parts, the facilities to produce new parts, and were no longer receiving supplies from the West Coast. To compensate for this, the Brotherhood Knights and Paladins use conventional ballistic weapons: R91 Assault Rifles and Type 93 Chinese Assault Rifles. But after the war with the Enclave, they now have access to replacement parts for their Laser weaponry and access to Plasma weapons. In heavy weapons, they have Enclave Heavy Incinerators, Tri-beam Laser Rifles, and Tesla Cannons.

Industry: The Enclave had manufacturing facilities, which produced advanced technology. The Brotherhood has now taken many of the designs, and can build more using factories here in the Capital Wasteland. With this ability they will be able to construct weapons, armor, medical (and other non-military) technology, replacement parts, and Vertibirds. Of course, these processes will be very slow due to the condition of Pre-war buildings. Most likely the Brotherhood will employ locals in these factories, providing jobs and safety for their workers.

Exotic: Up until recently, Lyons had access to a 40 ft. robot known as Liberty Prime. It has enough weapons to stand against almost anything, perhaps even our Valkyries. The thing is practically invulnerable to standard weaponry and it took an orbital missile strike to put it out of action. The Head Scribe of Lyons' chapter, Reginald Rothchild, has made it his personal mission to restore and improve on Liberty Prime. The robot, while no longer able to fight, was not completely destroyed; his A.I. is still intact and might be useful as a base computer if repairs are impossible. (I have my doubts as to whether that would be any good). Other exotic technology is from the war with the Enclave were they got access to Vertibirds and the Database of AAFB.

Project Purity: This is probably the most precious of all of Capital Wasteland technology, thanks to the conditions in the area. Everyone needs clean water. Whoever controls this supply controls the country. As Lyons' chapter now controls it, they are in a position to hurt us.
The purifier is also my father's life's work; he sacrificed himself to get this purifier up and running.

Personal Note: This is a technology that thought not superior can purify larger quantities of water, then what we can. Even though we threaten the monopoly the Brotherhood, it is not all bad. We have a larger populace to produce purified for so we are not much of a threat. I will take it as a personal favor if we must have access to Project Purity that it is not done through military force to have it through diplomacy.

Military
The Capital Wasteland Brotherhood is divided into three clear ranks: Initiates, Knights (and Captains), and Paladins. Initiates are either born into the Brotherhood or local recruits, on the way to become full Knights. In recent years, however, many of the initiates lack the proper training and have been rushed into combat. They are the most numerous members of the Brotherhoods ground forces. The next ranks are Knights and Knight Captains; these members have served time in the Brotherhood and had become fully fledged members. They are backbone of the Brotherhood's fighting forces. The Paladins are veterans of the Brotherhood. These are the most elite of this chapter and most are from Lyons' original expedition to D.C. A number of them are part of a special unit called Lyons' Pride. This spec ops team is led by Lyons' daughter, Sarah, and constitute the best of the Brotherhood (they consider themselves the best of all the Brotherhood).

Society
As I have stated before the Brotherhood is a neo-knightly order that has strong roots in the old U.S. military. Its main focus is the eradication of mutants and the worship of technology, and the Brotherhood has never been known to share resources with outsiders. Though Lyons is much more open to wastelanders, even he does not share that often. His reason is that while he does not find wastelanders to be inept, they are too greedy and prone to in-fighting to deal with.
The East Coast Brotherhood, unlike other Brotherhood chapters, has taken the old chivalry-centric style more than other chapters by actually caring for justice in the wasteland. They have been known to hire the Regulators and Mercenaries like Riley's Rangers to do work that they cannot handle.
All in all, the description of Elder Lyons as "[gone] native," is correct. Lyons believes he has a responsibility to protect the people of the Capital Wasteland from the super mutant threat. Until recently, most of Lyons' knights have forgone the mission to recover new technology to instead act as a kind of security force. As you know Lyons runs operations from the stronghold of the Citadel, a heavily defended structure built from the ruins of an ancient government building known as "the Pentagon."

Relations
The Capital Wasteland Brotherhood is more idealistic when it comes to trading with outsiders. The Brotherhood was known to help patrol and defend settlements like Megaton, until the super mutant threat became so big that they were forced to pull out of many key locations. When they are out in the wastes, they try to protect any and all innocent wastelanders they find, and recruit them if possible. I don't think they trade with other factions or towns, and when I tried selling them some of my gear, I had to get permission from Lyons to do it.

Personal Assessment
My personal assessment of the Capital Wasteland Brotherhood of Steel is that Lyons' chapter is the most influential group in the CW next to Rivet City. They will prosper if not hindered by any external forces. With its influence derived from production and distribution of Aqua Pura, access to external recruitment, and the technology captured from the Enclave, an alliance would be most fruitful. If they are not amenable to this, then we at least must not lightly antagonize them. But like all the other groups that I have found, this one has its flaws. The greatest is that this chapter in general, and Elder Lyons in particular, is a bit gullible: during my travels I had several chances to turn on them, the most promising of which was during the attack on Adams Air Force Base. If I had destroyed the Citadel with an orbital strike, I would have been able to take whatever was left. This would have freed the Capital Wasteland from Brotherhood influence, but left almost every settlement defenseless against Super Mutant attacks, at least until we could establish the needed presence. Plus, it would clear the field for the Outcasts to exert more control upon trade and industry, which is not desirable, for reasons I will explore later. Overall, Lyons' Brotherhood has a decent military force and recruitment base but barely any security, and will recruit almost any promising wastelander they find.

Lyons himself is an idealist; he believes the best of everyone. He even sympathizes with the Outcasts, recognizing that they were justified, from a certain point of view (theirs), in deserting for what might be termed political reasons. The man may have great respect from those he commands and protects, but it is only because he has never truly suffered for his naiveté (i.e. defeat by a hostile faction or individual). If the Outcasts had retained the support of the Western Elders, he would be forced to deal with them, and disregard the needs of the wasteland. I must acknowledge the facts that his general friendliness could make him a great politician, and that he seems to have the lion-like strength to fight off the proverbial wolves. But I fear that he may not be cunning and devious enough to recognize and avoid traps, let alone set any for enemies that prove too powerful to be taken down by conventional means. He'd make a good spokesman in any new order, but he could never lead one.