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.

5. The Midwest Brotherhood of Steel

From: The Commander

To: Starship Council

Subject: Midwest Brotherhood of Steel- Assessment and Recommendation

The Midwestern Brotherhood of Steel is technically a splinter group of the original Brotherhood. I have had very little personal contact with this chapter. What little I have had was during my expedition to the West Coast to visit "civilized lands" and to find a group that had the qualities I needed to build the TSC. Besides Lyons, from what I heard of the Midwestern Brotherhood, they might have been another group to help me with the Olympus. But no matter where I looked they seem to have eluded me. The closest was when I was in Alton, Illinois and found some logs on them. These logs were actually confiscated by a group called the Railroad. When the found an abandoned brotherhood outpost and scavenged what they could. I also heard rumors of them attacking some group in Kansas. But despite not finding them, the logs, rumors, and what Scribe Rothchild told me was enough to prove that this group exists. I dispatched a Seraph to investigate further. Thanks to our advanced technology and resources, I hoped we might be able to find more.

History:
There is some history of this group in Lyons' database about who this group was before they became the Midwestern Brotherhood. Other than that, the Seraph was able to find some old legends from the local tribes that seem to worship this chapter as deities. In exchange for the knowledge of the ancients and protection from the shadows, the tribes would give tribute to the Brotherhood. Sometimes, it was a group of young children, both male and female. They were the best of their children as provided by the guide left to them. Other times, it was food and provisions left in the middle of the village or town which would disappear the next day. But onto what we have been able to confirm.

Brotherhood Logs:
Apparently after the defeat of the Master, the Brotherhood had an internal political schism. They found that they were at odds with their need for new blood and their code of technological secrecy. There was much debate, but the Brotherhood pulled its classic move: push the problem aside instead of dealing with it. Further discussion of the topic was discouraged and the Lost Hills Elders decided to send the minority into the wastes. They built a fleet of airships (which was unique for such a group), a sensible choice for long distance travel. But it was not repeated because it did not go exactly as planned. Apparently, upon reaching their destination, they were supposed to communicate with Lost Hills but lost contact about halfway through their trip. Though this is speculation, it might have been their first attempt to send a group to the East Coast. But since the files were not in Lyons' database and other chapters are unwilling to give access to their files, that it is all that can be said. Through common sense and logic, we can reasonably speculate there was an accident and they had to crash land, from which they reemerged in the Midwest near Chicago. We also discovered that they have a base outside of Chicago but it is constantly under siege by several forces. It is at this point where exact logs give way to legend.

Tribal Legends:
Even though these are tribal writings, they are sophisticated enough to have dates and shows Brotherhood-style chronology. Around 2197, a "Warrior" was brought into the Brotherhood. He was a tribal recruit who demonstrated great potential. His initiation was to take out a bandit group with other initiates. At the time, the Brotherhood was trying to secure the area around Chicago. The Warrior eventually was brought into the Brotherhood's main goal of finding Vault Zero. From its implied location, our Enclave files say Vault Zero is located in Cheyenne Mountain.

Technical Note:
This place was full of pre-War technology, as it was the prototype command center of the pre-War Vault network, as well as experimentation on alien technology (something about a gate that sent people somewhere might have been a fraud) and a fallout shelter the most senior government, scientific, and military leaders were supposed to go.

After the Warrior's initiation, there was another campaign by the Brotherhood against (I find this hard to believe) an organization called the Beast Lords, a group of humans who were able to control animals and made Deathclaws their servants. The Brotherhood was eventually victorious but then ran into another enemy.

This group was found in "the Belt." From info provided by the tribals, it appears to be post-War Missouri. They ran into the "green giants," or Super Mutants. The first fights were costly and they were overwhelmed outside Saint Louis (St. Louis). They discovered that a former Brother was leading the group. Despite withdrawing, they remained under constant attack.

The Brotherhood's next victory was won through a stroke of luck. A squad was dispatched to destroy a munitions plant and found that it was actually a lab to cure mutant sterility. They claimed it in order to use it as a bargaining chip. At the same time, a group was at a ghoul town known as Gravestone, located in the ruins of Kansas City, where Brotherhood scouts found an intact nuclear bomb. They defended it from several hoards of mutants before securing the bomb in a safe bunker.

The Mutants' base was eventually discovered. All the legends say on the aftermath, though, was that "an ancient leader turned away from sanity and old brothers were forced to bring him back through death". The last words of the Mutant leader were "a cold enemy from the West is coming."

Technical Note:
The cold enemy appears to be a machine race, since there are several machines still rampaging in the Midwest.

After the cold army appeared, it was swept across the American Midwest. A cult known as the Reavers, dedicated to technology worship, was caught in between the Brotherhood and the robot army. They tried to fight a war on two fronts but eventually their lines collapsed. They sought sanctuary among the Brotherhood and in return they gave them electromagnetic pulse weapons. It was eventually discovered that the "cold army" was coming from Vault Zero, led by the "Calculator," further reinforcing that this was a robot army.

This Calculator, they learned, was a horrific combination of human brains and computer hardware. Events eventually lead this chapter to attack the main base directly. The cold ones had found someone with vital information on the Brotherhood and could destroy them. They created a plan to destroy the cold ones at their base at Vault Zero. They used the captured nuke to blast open the entrance to the vault. Two squads were able to get into the base, one led by the Warrior, where they confronted the Calculator.

The next parts of the tribal legends vary by source. Because of how hard it is to find definite groups of this chapter, it is difficult to separate myth from fact in the different endings to the legends that our Seraph gathered.

Current Status:
There seems to be two defined endings to the tribal legends because all the others contradict actual events. There are many variations to these endings but I'll try to elaborate the best I can. It is unknown to us how or what happened to the Calculator after this war but it is known that the Warrior was still alive in some form after the war. The fate of the Calculator is one of this chapter's best kept secrets. We have found that there were technical improvements throughout the Midwest, along with patrolling robots that follow a set path around the villages and towns of the Chicago area.

Technical note:
When our Seraph approached several of these machines, some ignored him while others attacked him on sight. The ones that are idle ignore wild life but watch and observe large groups traveling. The Seraph observed that these machines are always hostile to Legion forces that have tried to expand their territory into the Plains Commonwealth and some of Colorado. The Plains Commonwealth is made up of the former states Nebraska, Kansas, Iowa, Missouri, and Oklahoma. Though these states are not all Midwest territory, the robots patrol them nonetheless. Other than the robots, there are occasional Brotherhood patrols wearing interesting power armor. This group seems to claim large territory but does not actually have the forces to protect it all, hence their policy protecting the main settlements and villages with advanced transportation that is only rivaled by the Enclave and the TSC.

Territory:
After much effort to make contact with this chapter, they appear to have claimed all of the former Plains Commonwealth and parts of Colorado not under Legion influence. I speculate that is because they have history in all of it and do not want to let it go. There are many settlements that claim to be under the protection of this chapter and it is proven with tributes and definite bases in the area. The two we know of are Vault Zero (though it was still hidden to us when I requested an air sweep of the area, the whole known area was covered by trees). The other base was the one we made contact with, located in the outskirts of Chicago. It seems to be the face of this chapter. This is the same base that Lyons came in contact with twenty years earlier. It can be assumed that they lied about their current situation since we have seen them far more widespread.

This assumes they have valid claim over those territories, questionable as they still don't have the logistics to cover five states. There are also settlements that have refused this chapter's protection since they do not want pay tribute to them.

Technology:
This is a very touchy subject even though this group is open to outside recruits and relations. It is even more secretive with technology then Lost Hills. But besides this they openly embrace all technology, not just military technology but also Botany, Agriculture, and even Astronomy. We have seen advanced irrigation in the settlements controlled by the Brotherhood, with advanced hydro systems providing water for villages and settlements. This has made the land around these settlements extremely fertile as well.

Armor:
As I mentioned before we have seen them with a unique power armor that is not known to us or other Brotherhood chapters. When this chapter was first sent out they had the standard T -45d and T-51b series of armor. But according to tribal logs, they had this new armor almost right off the bat. It's obvious this is not true. This armor bears a remarkable visual similarity to the Capital Wasteland Enclave's variant of the Advanced Power Armor Mk II, but they were not created at the time these armors were found. I can see three possibilities: the Brotherhood found a way to develop new armor before taking Vault Zero, they found this armor at Vault Zero, or they developed it there and then had the logs altered to express their chapter's identity in their history, as the armor does possess great intimidation value.

Weaponry:
What is known about this chapter's weaponry is unknown at best. They probably have some laser and plasma weapons, as well as projectile weapons. But one thing we know for sure is that they have exotic Gauss weaponry. When our Seraph talked to a representative, the guards had a variety of Gauss weapons.

Exotic Technology:
The most exotic and best technology they have is the legion of robots at their command and presumably the Calculator itself. They use these robots to lay claim to territory that they cannot handle themselves. They carried standard patrol around known settlements and some were not hostile to our forces. But when we followed others, they immediately opened fire. There are only two things I can see for this: either is something we should not see there or these are rogue robots that attack anything on sight.

Relations:
The Midwestern Brotherhood relations with the outside are very similar to that of Lyons' Brotherhood. There are two ways they differ, however. For one, they recruit Super Mutants, sentient Deathclaws, and Ghouls. Secondly, they do it out of necessity and these recruits are typically drafted. All racial hate is put aside for the purposes of survival and the rebuilding of civilization. Human tribal and city recruits are drafted into the Brotherhood as a means of paying the Brotherhood for their protection. If they do not give an offering then they must meet the wrath of the Brotherhood Inquisitors. (They are pretty much collection agents.) Other than that, the towns and tribes live normally with very little fear of raider attack. However, thanks to the growing presence of the Legion, they might start a more aggressive recruitment process. As far as their relations to outside factions, they are typically not hostile to those who present a friendly persona, though they still remain cold. They will be hostile to those who have had negative relations with them in the past, but they clarify this information before they attack. For this reason, I would refrain from mentioning that some of our founding members are former Enclave. As for us, first contact should be a large extravaganza. They pushed away our representative as they did not believe that we told them. Though after finally meeting a regional commander, he stated that in any war that is with the West Coast Brotherhood with another faction with similar level of technology and size, they will stay neutral with unless hostilities are initiated by either group.

Other Information:
This faction, despite being powerful, has had a long run of bad luck. They have been hostile with every major faction they have encountered, from those they have taken down and assimilated to groups that have resisted and held their own against this chapter. If not for the constant hostilities, this faction would be much greater than they currently are. They are in constant hostilities with the Legion since it is the largest threat to them and two smaller factions as well. There seems to be an organized society in Kansas that they fought and were at first victorious over. But this boast was short-lived as this group was willing to take drastic steps to survive. This group as well has hostilities with the Legion and has fought both the Brotherhood and the Legion on both fronts. Taking tactics from the Legion against the Brotherhood, they were able to scare them into submission for a time. If it is possible we should investigate this and try to broker a peace between the two in the future.

The second minor faction is actually a shadow Enclave base that we know about thanks to our old Enclave logs. Unfortunately, because of the presence of the Midwestern Brotherhood, we have been unable to investigate them. It is astonishing that they have been able to elude this chapter for so long despite Chicago being in a constant state of warfare.

Analysis:
As the regional commander said, their standard procedure for large factions that are at war with the original Brotherhood is to stay neutral until one or the other threatens them. They seem to display skepticism towards any boasts of power unless shown evidence. Right now, there is not much we can do with this group, but when the Brotherhood War is over, I suggest a grand presentation of what he can do to them to open up relations; nothing hostile but something that shows them that we mean business. They have seen to have two reactions when this happens: 1) they find a large faction and try to annex them and if that faction refuses, then they go to war or 2) a group reveals themselves to the Brotherhood and if good relations are not made immediately, they go to war, as was the case with the Legion. I suggest a grand display that is nothing more than flashing lights and illusions to show them that we have power but are offering friendship and trade, not hostilities. Since they have gone to war with every major faction that they have encountered, they have been put into a position that forces them to rely on robots for their standard patrols and forcibly recruit people into their group or lose their protection. This group desperately needs a trade partner and not another war. The good thing about this group is they cannot be bribed by Irons, as they are their own group, and Irons cannot attack them as that would provoke their wrath. Though they will not be our allies, they at least would not be hostile if our forces met on the battlefield against Irons. On the other hand, if we provoke them, even though they are not really a threat to us, they are still well-armed enough to do significant damage, particularly to our settlements near their territory. We cannot handle a two front war with both Irons' chapter and the Midwestern Brotherhood. The war would be long and atrocious; we would have to grant them major concessions to get a ceasefire from them so we could deal with Irons. But if they are on their own, that would be to our advantage in a war. I do not suggest this, as I prefer to maintain good relations with every faction if possible instead of outright conquest. Eventually, if they wish, they can even join our group and we could assimilate their ideals, culture, and resources. If hostile relations with Irons would cease, I would also offer trade with them as well. This applies to all groups, even the Legion, if they made some major reforms.