The Brotherhood of Steel is one of the most well-known factions in the Fallout universe, appearing in every Fallout title to date. The organization has its own sub-factions spread across the Wasteland and its roots go all the way back to the United States Army before the Great War. While their sub-factions have their differences, the Brotherhood of Steel has always been about collecting and preserving technology.
Due to being in every Fallout title so far, the Brotherhood of Steel has a very extensive history. The group has tangled with others on many occasions, such as the NCR and Institute. The many factions can get overwhelming, but it can help to know that the whole Brotherhood of Steel was originally founded by a single man, a captain in the United States Army by the name of Roger Maxson.
Origins Of The Brotherhood: Roger Maxson
The founder of the Brotherhood, Roger Maxson served in the Sino-American War that eventually concluded with the Great War. He was one of a team that was sent to oversee the FEV project that took place at West Tek. In January 2077, the research team, and Maxson's defense team moved to the Mariposa Military Base. Maxson and the rest of the military were unaware of the true nature of the FEV project, though, and this secrecy of the research eventually lead to a mutiny nine months later.
Maxson and his soldiers slowly realized that human testing was happening at Mariposa, particularly on military prisoners. The situation made Maxson interrogate a scientist, and when the scientist yelled he was just following orders, Maxson killed him and became the leader of a rebellion at the military base. Eventually, all the FEV project scientists were killed. At this point, Maxson declared his unit to be in full formal withdrawal from the United States in hopes that the government would respond to the situation. The government never made a reply, but news of the mutiny spread. With the war heating up, Maxson made the decision to bring the families of his unit to Mariposa to take shelter.
When the bombs fell that same month in the Great War, Mariposa was not hit. However, for fear of China eventually hitting where they missed, the soldiers and families evacuated the base. They moved to the Lost Hills government bunker but lost many lives along the way. According to the Fallout Bible, losses included Maxson's wife. Once they settled into the bunker, Maxson declared that the United States failed to protect its people and that they must rise up to the occasion to preserve society. It was then that the Brotherhood of Steel was formed.
The Early Brotherhood
In its early years, the Brotherhood of Steel mostly focused on helping any Great War survivors to the best of its ability. This action slowly changed as Maxson realized that collective human knowledge, if not preserved, will disappear. So he dedicated the organization to preserve this knowledge, focusing more on the big picture rather than helping wastelanders. However, Maxson did not want the Brotherhood to be isolated either, hoping it would protect civilization and not gatekeep. While he was the leader of the organization, he was in the minority in terms of not wishing to be isolated. He also never allowed the use of nukes due to the world being destroyed by them in the first place.
Roger Maxson died of cancer in 2135 and was replaced by his son, Maxson II. He was a teenager during the Great War and, unlike his father, supported isolationism. Due to this, he had the Brotherhood no longer recruit people from the outside and only let members from within the organization's families. He died in 2155 from a poison arrow when trying to track down a war band of Vipers.
With the death of Maxson II, his son, John Maxson began to lead the Brotherhood in 2161. The Council had to make John the new High Elder with some convincing. He was a talented commander, but as he aged, he got less and less popular among the Brotherhood. At age 64, he was considered a little crazy, as he believed an army was amassing out north with no convincing evidence. He did not want the Brotherhood to stay underground and wanted to be fighting enemies out in the world. He was basically a soldier forced into politics that he did not enjoy. It is unknown whether he still lives or not.
The East Coast Brotherhood
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The Brotherhood of Steel's ruling council eventually sent soldiers to the east coast. Paladin Owyn Lyons led this unit and made the Capital Wasteland its base of operations. Lyons was promoted to Elder with the discovery of Liberty Prime. As the unit stayed for a couple of years, Elder Lyons decided he wanted to dedicate his team to helping the people of the wasteland rather than hoard technology. This made the west coast Brotherhood of Steel totally cut him and his unit off. Most of his unit supported Lyons, but some abandoned his command and left.
When Owyn Lyons eventually passed away, his daughter, Sarah Lyons, took new leadership over the east coast faction. Despite the leadership role, though, Sarah remained fighting on the front lines of battles and was ultimately killed in battle. A strong new leader did not take power until Arthur Maxson.
Arthur was a descendent of Roger Maxson and was sent at a very young age to be raised by Owyn Lyons at the Citadel due to the dangers out west with infighting amongst the Brotherhood. Arthur was raised with top-notch education and combat training and everyone had high expectations for him since he was the last of the Maxson line. After Sarah died, he met people's expectations and more, single-handedly killing a deathclaw, killing raiders to protect a squad that was supposed to escort him, and killing a super mutant leader all at the age of 15 and younger. Arthur's strong leadership reunited the east coast Brotherhood that was originally fractured under Owyn Lyons. They even reconnected with the west coast Brotherhood, whose council promoted Lyons to the youngest Elder in Brotherhood history.
Fallout 4 is available on PC, PS4, and Xbox One.