Brotherhood of Steel

The Brotherhood of Steel is a quasi-religious technocratic military order, founded in the immediate aftermath of the Great War by members of the United States Armed Forces and the government-sponsored scientific community. By 2317, the original California chapter of the order is a tiny force, localized in a single underground bunker at Lost Hills.
The history of the Brotherhood begins in 2077, when an army captain named Roger Maxson mutinied against the U.S. government in response to military experiments with the Forced Evolutionary Virus (FEV). When the atomic bombs of the Great War dropped, Maxson led a group of military personnel and their families to take shelter in a Californian government bunker known as Lost Hills. Horrified by the suicidal mistakes of world leaders and isolated in their bunker, Maxson's group reformed themselves as a knightly order: The Brotherhood of Steel.
The Brotherhood is a deeply hierarchical and disciplined society, dedicated to preventing the extinction of humanity. They make great efforts to preserve technology and withhold it from the public, who could misuse it. Their society is divided into three strict castes: the Elders who provide leadership, management and administration, the Knights who conduct military operations in the wasteland, and Scribes who study pre-war technology and maintain the order's equipment.
The Brotherhood faced its first significant opponent in 2161, with emergence of The Master and his cult known as Unity. This conflict was especially personal for the Brotherhood, as The Master used the FEV virus to raise an army of supermutants, bent on world domination. Brotherhood knights skirmished with supermutants for years, until a hero from Vault 13 emerged. The Vault Dweller descended into The Master's lair and killed him, destroying his ability to create supermutants and sending the remnants of his army fleeing from the California area. In response, the Brotherhood sent airships east to follow the supermutants, resulting in the creation of the Midwest Brotherhood of Steel.
Generations passed and the New California Republic grew around the Brotherhood, while the order stagnated in their bunkers. It wasn't until 2240 when the Brotherhood would find purpose again, when remnants of the U.S. government (known as the Enclave) emerged in Northern California. The Enclave was on a genocidal mission of conquest, and was better equipped than the Brotherhood. It was only by the action of a tribal (the descendant of the heroic Vault Dweller) that the Enclave's secret oil rig base was destroyed and their plans were foiled.
In 2255, Brotherhood scouts heard rumours of super mutant activity in the Capital Wasteland, and sent a contingent east to face it. This led to the formation of The Capitol, a nation which eventually broke off from the Brotherhood order.
By the early 2260's rapid expansion of the New California Republic encroached on Brotherhood operations to the point that violence erupted between the factions. The resulting NCR/Brotherhood war left the Brotherhood in shambles, hiding in a few of their most hidden bunkers.
In 2282, the forces of the NCR and Caesar's Legion were repelled from New Vegas by the robotic army of Mr. House, and the loss of the Nevada campaign left the NCR broken and defeated. This mood fostered a formal peace agreement between the NCR and the Brotherhood, each recognizing the other's sovereignty, territory and right to exist.
In 2300, the New Vegas Event left the Las Vegas region a smoking crater. And with it died the Brotherhood bunker at Hidden Valley, the order's most populous settlement. Already in a weakened state, the loss was devastating.
Seventeen years later, the Brotherhood of Steel in California is just a shadow of its former glory. Total membership is below 2000. The Midwest Brotherhood no longer recognizes California's supremecy and takes no direction from them. The Capitol has seceded entirely. The NCR rarely consults the Brotherhood, even in matters of defence. Elder Alexander Marshall leads the group, though that entails little more than managing the operation of the Lost Hills bunker.

Type

Military, Knightly Order