- Joined
- Dec 16, 2019
The Brotherhood's original characterization I can understand. They are based off of the Catholic Church in The Canticle of Lebowitz, people dedicated to collecting technology and keeping it out of the hands of those that was use it to harm others. After all, it was the civilian government that was utilizing FEV at Mariposa, so I can see how the Brotherhood views outsiders possessing technology with suspicion. And being that the Brotherhood we see is generations after the first, I can see them becoming more isolated. They may have the most powerful technology but they lack the resources to expand, slowly forgetting the need to rebuild civilization.Also, when it comes to the other factions, FO3 was far more reasonable with their characterization. In FO1/FNV, the Brotherhood of Steel was always quite silly. FO3 made them more realistic in that, being descendants of the US army, they serve as a glorified town guard trying to keep the populace safe from threats. The way they run in FO1/FNV made no fucking sense outside of having someone the plot wants to call stupid. What's more realistic? That descendants of the US army dedicated to preserving civilization would try to protect what's left of the country? Or that they would just hoard all the tech they can find like they've got OCD and NOT try to innovate or improve the tech or the lives of the people in the wasteland?
The same thing goes with the Enclave. In FO2, they just wanted to genocide everyone, which makes no sense considering how small their population is. In FO3, they just wanted to play warlord and get the people to join them via free water supplies, and the only person in the Enclave who wants a mass genocide has to recruit an outsider for the task since no one would help him on that matter. Again, what's more realistic: that a small remnant of the government would just want to kill everyone so their tiny population can retake the country? Or that they would just play warlord using their advanced technology and try to get as many people as they can to join their side by giving something in return?
That's why I like the FO4 depiction of the Brotherhood as an almost crusading force, an evolution of the moral nature of Elder Lyons combined with the military origin of the Brotherhood. After FO3, the Brotherhood now has the resources and powerbase to expand. And there is the moral greyness of how they acquired the resources, as there's a repeatable quest in FO4 to demand that settlements give the Brotherhood supplies and the Brotherhood most certainly scraped the FO3 aircraft carrier settlement to build the Prydwen.
As for the Enclave, I could never understand the genocide plot or some players' fascination with them. They are nothing more than a sci-fi Nazi remnant, a 90s critique against politicians and big business for their exploitation of the people. I do like the idea that the rich and powerful basically decided to fuck off instead of solving the world's problems and then returning to the wasteland to claim some kind of sovereignty, but it feels like their population would be too small to be stable or effective in ruling post apocalyptic America. Perhaps a rewrite that captures that issue of the Enclave technically being the heirs to America, but lack the legitimacy to it. You have factions based on the positions of their ancestors. Military descendants want to conquer America, enforcing the martial law of 2077, violently returning America to a pre-war society. Business descendants want to enslave communities, set up company towns, directing the wastelanders to rebuild the pre-war economy. Politician descendants see the Enclave as the kings of America, bribing and manipulating settlements to submit to Enclave rule. Scientist descendants see the Wasteland as a grand experiment, whose results will lead to the next evolution in the human species. Then there's a final faction that wants to quite literally restore the Republic, recreating the American democracy, however, the only option is to do what the Enclave wants. The point of the Enclave would be that they lack the legitimacy to rule as it is their ancestors that neglected to care about America in the first place. But perhaps they could overcome their tarnished legacy, and return the Old World flag they carry into its original meaning.