Brotherhood of steel

"The only salvation this tortured planet and its people have. Without us, humanity is sure to perish." -Vree

The Brotherhood of Steel is a quasi-religious organization operating across the ruins of post-war North America, with its roots stemming from the American military and the government-sponsored scientific community from before the Great War.

Genesis
The Brotherhood of Steel was founded by Roger Maxson, a captain in the United States Army. Led by Colonel Robert Spindel, Maxson was part of a team sent on January 3, 2076 to monitor progress at a West-Tek facility in California, which was conducting research on behalf of the American government. On January 7, 2077, all West-Tek research and personnel – Maxson and his team included – were relocated to the newly constructed Mariposa Military Base in an effort to enhance security.

On October 10, 2077, Captain Maxson and his men discovered, to their horror, that the West-Tek scientists at Mariposa were using military prisoners as unwilling test subjects for their genetically engineered Forced Evolutionary Virus (F.E.V.). Morale in the base quickly collapsed and Colonel Spindel suffered a mental breakdown, eventually committing suicide five days later. In the midst of the crisis, Maxson's men turned to him for leadership. Captain Maxson proceeded to interrogate Robert Anderson, the chief scientist of the West-Tek research team stationed at Mariposa, learning the extent of their experiments. Anderson, along with most of his research team, were subsequently executed for their crimes.

Maxson, now in control of the base, declared his desertion from the United States Army via radio on October 20. To his confusion, he received no response from the chain-of-command, as the U.S. Army was currently focused on escalating conflicts with the Chinese. Three days later on October 23, both nations launched their entire nuclear arsenals. Within two hours, the Great War had ended and much of the Earth was reduced to a radioactive wasteland. The Mariposa Military Base survived the onslaught, its numerous safety protocols protecting the soldiers within from the radiation and the F.E.V., which had been accidentally released and was now seeping into the newborn Wasteland. Two days after the attack, on October 25, Captain Maxson sent one of his men, Platner, outside in protective power armor to scout the area and gather readings on the atmosphere. Platner reported no significant amounts of radiation in the surrounding area.

After burying the bodies of Anderson and his executed staff members, Captain Maxson and his men raided the base for various supplies and weapons schematics before sealing Mariposa and venturing off into the desert, eventually managing to reconnect with surviving members, including Maxson's own wife and teenage son. The following weeks of travel inflicted casualties on the party at the hands of raiders and the harsh conditions of the Wasteland. In November 2077, Captain Maxson eventually led his band of survivors to the safety of Lost Hills, a government fallout shelter. This journey came to be immortalized in Brotherhood lore as “the Exodus”.

In time, Captain Maxson set the bunker as the headquarters for his new organization, the Brotherhood of Steel. As the Brotherhood's first High Elder, Maxson sought to use Lost Hills' resources to help rebuild civilization – no matter the cost.