The Enclave



"I am the elected representative of the people. The United States does still exist. God bless us, every one. We've just had to adapt in order to survive after the war.

The Enclave is a secretive political and military organization who are descended directly from members of the pre-War United States government, and claim to be the legally-sanctioned continuation of the government while styling themselves as such.undefined

Overview
The Enclave takes pride in being the last known concentrated bastion of pure, unmutated humanity, aside from the unopened Vaults, and being the most technologically advanced faction in the wasteland. Because of the effects of radiation and the Forced Evolutionary Virus on the people of the Wasteland, most members of the Enclave generally do not consider them to be human any more because of these hazards. They, as well as other mutated creatures, like the various generations of super mutants and ghouls, are considered to be abominations that are, at best, to be used as conscripted assets or slaves, and at worst, eradicated so that "true humanity" could take its place as the "real" nation of America.

The government is headed by a President, and, according to the speeches made on Enclave Radio, there is some form of Congress.[5] The Enclave's scientists continue to do research on armor (e.g. the advanced power armor) and weapons after the War and thus are better equipped than the Brotherhood of Steel, who only have U.S. Military standard issue left over from when the Great War broke out. The Enclave had managed to gain access to one of the last known supplies of fossil fuel in the post-nuclear world.

Origins
One of the few old world organizations to survive the Great War, the Enclave finds its roots in various branches of the pre-War American government. Its founding members embraced the inevitability of nuclear war. They believed that the common man of the nation could not survive it. With most believing that as long as the 'important people' of the United States survived, they could regroup quickly when worse came to worst and wipe out communism once and for all.

Though not technically a part of the Enclave, many powerful corporations lobbied for the benefits that they hoped would result from government-sanctioned war contracts. Based in many of the Enclave's research facilities, most were protected or grazed during the nuclear firestorm of 2077.[7]

In 2073, as the global race to exploit the handful of remaining natural resources reached its most fevered peak, the United States managed to stake a claim on the entire world's last known supply of crude oil, buried thousands of feet beneath the Pacific Ocean. Poseidon Oil, which in the years leading to the war became the world's leading monopoly on remaining oil reserves, was contracted to build an oil rig and extract the precious oil.

Finally, early in the fateful year of 2077, with the planet ultimately headed directly for nuclear devastation, the President of the United States and various other members of the continuity of government fell back to multiple fortified areas around the world. The Poseidon Oil Rig in the Pacific Ocean was chosen as their main hidden fortress with which the United States could continue to exist and wage war on China, with the eventual goal of retaking the continental United States and wiping out communism forever. Other members of the Enclave retreated to remote locations in other parts of the world, but when the bombs began to fly, they lost communications with the main group.[7]

As the world burnt in nuclear hellfire and the United States with it, its President, and the Enclave, remnants of the pre-War American government,[8] assumed positions and established themselves as its continuation.