Factions (5e Fallout Supplement)
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Raiders[edit]
Located all throughout the wasteland, raiders do not truly form a single faction. Instead, raider groups war with each other over territory and raid poorly defended settlements for resources. They are almost always unable or unwilling to produce food and other supplies, instead operating off of resources stolen from settlements and those found in their current place of residence. Important groups of raiders include the chem-slinging Khans surrounding New California, the poisoning Vipers and addicted Fiends of New Vegas, the mechanical Rust Devils and blazing Forged of the Commonwealth, the advanced Talon Company and Paradise Falls slavers of the Capital Wasteland, the three main gangs in Nuka-world the cruel disciples, the cunning operators, and the animalistic pack, and the poaching trappers of far harbor an island in Maine
Tribes[edit]
Consisting of the less advanced civilizations, tribes are typically self-sufficient and relatively peaceful. Most view pre-war sites and relics as cursed for a variety of reasons. Due to this, they tend to settle far away from ruins, the typical dwelling place of non-tribal societies. While they are often viewed as primitive and unintelligent by towns, there is a case to be made that the inverse is true. Tribal culture involves sustainable production of effective healing remedies, techniques to dominate the wasteland’s creatures with minimal resources, and ways to begin new societies from effectively nothing. Important examples include Arroyo, the Beastlords, the Treeminders, and the inhabitants of Zion.
Towns[edit]
Forming in pre-war ruins, towns are the status quo for post-war settlements. They survive off of the dregs of the old world: eating pre-war food, wearing pre-war clothes, firing pre-war weapons, consuming pre-war medical supplies. Distrust, depression, and debauchery are commonplace in such dinghy societies. In very rare situations, towns and tribes can coalesce into a single society. Such civilizations typically have the best chance of survival, retaining both proficiency in and independence from old world supplies. Instances include the crashed aircraft carrier town of Rivet City, the baseball arena town Diamond City, and the motel town of Novac.
New California Republic[edit]
Dedicated to old world values of justice and democracy, the New California Reoublic, often shortened to NCR, is the chief power on the West Coast. Formed from the small town of Shady Sands, it would become a superpower thanks to the destruction of the Master’s Super Mutant army with assistance from the Brotherhood of Steel. Stretching across the entire Californian Coast and beyond, its power can not be understated.
NCR Subfactions[edit]
- Blades: survivors living in the dangerous ruins of the Los Angelis Boneyard. While generally lacking in combat skills, they are well versed in scavenging, food and chem production, and mechanical repair.
- Followers of the Apocalype: a charity-based groups of good samaritans. They mainly focus on education and healing. They have long-since succeeded from the NCR due to disagreements with their foreign policies, though they are still given NCR citizenship due to their invaluable efforts.
- Gun Runners: a widespread group of traders. Being the only group on the West Coast with the supplies, facilities, and personnel to manufacture and distribute firearms on a large scale, they are incredibly powerful.
- The Hub: a major trading hub in the south. Caravans organized here reach all across the NCR. It is run by a secret council of corrupt caravan leaders known as the Underground.
- Hubologists: a cult of notable individuals in the wasteland. On the cover, they follow the teachings of pre-War writer Dick Hubbell, who wrote that the universe operated as a Great Wheel, with himself as the “hub”, hubologists as the spokes, and nonbelievers as the rim, and that one day, the “Star Father” would call them to planet Quetzel. In reality, the leaders of the cult run a pyramid scheme focused on amassing as many riches as they possibly can by “purifying” their subordinates of their possessions and ordering the brainwashed to do their bidding. In order to appease the Shi to make their way to Control Station Enclave, they were destroyed by the Chosen One.
- Junktown: a moderately sized settlement founded by a United States Army soldier. While most information regarding this man has been lost, his last name, Darkwater, has remained in the settlement’s mind. As its name implies, it is primarily built out of the wreckage of vehicles and other scrap.
- New Reno: “the biggest little town in the world” is covered in trash can fires and neon lights. Its acts the the NCR’s greatest source of corrupt politicians, drugs, gambling, pornography, prostitution, all run by the Wright family, and laser weapons, thanks to the Van Graffs.
- Rangers: originally a small team of highly trained soldiers with the goal of wiping slavery off the face of the wasteland. In 2271, they were formally inducted into the NCR military, quickly becoming living legends renowned for both their unparalleled stealth and insurmountable valor. Teams of 2 or 3 are sent on any missions deemed to dangerous for a platoon of soldiers.
- Regulators: police-state protectors of the slave city Adytum, built out of the demonstration vault in the Los Angelis Boneyard. Destroyed by the Blades during the Vault Dweller’s lifetime.
- Shi: Originating from a wrecked Chinese submarine off the coast of California, the Shi-huang-ti, the Shi remain generally uninvolved in wasteland affairs. Their capitol, the Steel Palace, was built out of the wreckage of the submarine, and its mainframe, dubbed the Emperor, became their leader. By 2241, the Emperor became little more than a figurehead sealed behind closed doors, with the advisor acting as their leader. After a conflict with the Hubologists ending in their enemy’s destruction, they would become the de facto leaders of San Francisco.
- Vault City: created by the dwellers of Vault 8. Before its inclusion into the NCR, it consisted of a caste of “citizens” with lineage tracing back to the vault, a neglected caste of outsiders, and a subjugated caste of “workers”.
Brotherhood of Steel[edit]
In 2076, a platoon of soldiers under the command of Colonel Robert Spindel and Captain Roger Maxon were tasked with guarding Wes-Tek’s FEV research in the newly-constructed Mariposa military base. After learning that the company they were supposed to be protecting were preforming inhumane experiments on military prisoners, Colonel Spindel locked himself in his office in a nervous breakdown, leaving Maxon as the de facto head of command. In order to keep his soldiers from a complete anarchic bloodbath, and to maintain a sense of justice, Maxon ordered the interrogation of top researchers in the facility. After Chief Researcher Robert Anderson could not convince Maxon of the reality of the situation, that the whole project was sanctioned by the US government, he began to scream, claiming that he was just like Maxon, another soldier doing his job. In response, Maxon killed him with a single bullet from his sidearm, telling himself unconvincingly that it was to stop a mutiny. Two days later, Maxon and a small team of soldiers broke down the door of their unresponsive colonel’s office only to be greater with a short apology and a bullet through his head from his own gun. Three days before the bombs fell, Maxon seceded his unit from the United States Government and ordered his subordinate’s families to take shelter in Mariposa. Having made radio contact with a similar group in Appalachia lead by Lieutenant Elizabeth Taggerdy, a similer operation was formed there. After many years, Maxon created the Brotherhood of Steel.
Based off of stories of the knights of old, the Brotherhood’s main goal was to keep advanced technology out of the hands of those who could missuse it. This ultimately led to the distrust of most other cultures. Due to its military background, supplies are given freely to those who need it within the Brotherhood, but outsiders are given steep prices. There are 5 castes in Brotherhood society: Initiates, who are the most inexperienced within the Brotherhood who train to become Scrobes or Knights; Scribes, who research, reverse engineer, and chronicle advanced technology; Knights, who maintain and produce advanced technology as well as preforming patrols, scouting, and acting in combat support rolls wearing T-45 power armor; Paladins, who are armed with the most advanced armor and weaponry available, solely preforming combat roles and being the only caste traditionally eligible to become Elder; and Elders, of which there is only one at a time per chapter with one grand elder leading the Brotherhood, who oversee all important matters their chapter is involved in. Despite their powerful nature, an Elder is incredibly easy to dethrone should they violate any Brotherhood doctrine.
There are eight known Brotherhood of Steel Chapters: Founding Chapter, Lost Hills Bunker, NCR; Appalachian Chapter, Camp Venture and Fort Defiance, Appalachia; Mojave Chapter, Hidden Valley Bunker, Mojave; East Coast Brotherhood, The Citadel, Capital Wasteland; Montana Chapter, Montana Bunker, Montana; Eastern Brotherhood, Variable, Illinois and Kentucky; Texas Expedition, Prototype Vault, Texas; Grand Canyon Chapter, Maxon Bunker, Colorado.
Enclave[edit]
Forming out of the ashes of the United States federal government, the Enclave stylizes itself after the United States. Before the war, they acted as the shady parts of the government the public didn’t know about. Due to their incredibly advanced technology, they are able to enforce power far beyond their ranks, being easily the smallest. They believe that, due to the mutations seen in the rest of the wasteland, their preserved numbers represent the last of humanity. All others are on the same rank as super mutants and feral ghouls. They are, above all else, xenophobic isolationists. Wastelanders being kidnapped and enslaved is commonplace, though they are often killed after a few jobs. After the assassination of President Dick Richardson and the destruction of Control Station Enclave, an offshore oil rig containing the highest concentration of enclave citizens, in 2242, they were reduced to scattered teams of remnants. Some remnants even joined the NCR.
The Enclave’s ultimate goal was to leave Earth and colonize space. To this end, they initiated Project Safehouse and the construction of the vaults. Its true purpose was not to ensure the survival of the average American, but to test possible roadblocks on the road to space.
Free Economic Zone of New Vegas[edit]
Spreading across Nevada, the clans of New Vegas lie in an unstable form of peace. While the NCR was allowed to occupy the land in order to defend against the invasion of Caesar’s Legion, they remain a legally distinct entity.
New Vegas Subfactions[edit]
- Mr. House’s Vegas: In the walled fortress of the New Vegas Strip lies a tower: the Lucky 38. Within secretly lies the cryogenically sustained body of Robert House, founder of RobCo International. Having invited multiple tribes of wastelanders into his palace, he quickly reformed them into the casinos of New Vegas: the lust-ridden Omertas found in Gomorrah, the pompous “ex”-cannibal White Glove Society in their Ultralux, and the honorable and cool Chairmen in the Tops. Mr. House enforces his rule with an army of securitrons.
- Boomers: Formed out of the remnants of a vault filled with weapons, they quickly evacuated the vault following a disagreement that quickly turned violent. Settling at Nellis Air Force Base, they protect a wide berth of their territory with large amounts of artillery. Following the Second Battle of Hoover Dam, they added a B52 bomber to their ranks, making them all the more deadly.
- Kings: Formed out of an Elvis impersonation school just outside of the New Vegas Strip, the Kings act as the good natured protectors of the urban areas surrounding the strip. This headquarters informs their fashion and style of talking. They prioritize distribution of food and destruction of crime.
- Mojave Express: The primary source of couriers across the West Coast, the Mojave Express specializes in the speedy delivery of high priority messages and packages. They are a steady, but undeniably dangerous, source of caps for a wastelander in need, but know how to pick trustworthy clients.
Caesar’s Legion[edit]
In 2246, the Followers of the Apocalypse sent nine members to Arizona to study tribal communities. Follower Edward Sallow, traveling with New Canaanite missionary Joshua Graham, an expert on tribal dialects, was captured by the Blackfoot Tribe and held for ransom. The Blackfoot warred continuously against seven other tribes, but due to a lack of warfare skill on all sides, little progress was ever made. Against the wishes of most of his companions, Sallow taught his captors about gun maintenance, small unit tactics, explosive improvisation and military strategy. He quickly rose to becoming their leader, donning the name Caesar and organizing those under his command into an organized military under the flag of a golden bull in a red field; the Legion. Basing his military around the concepts of divide and conquer and total war, he waged war against his opponents from weakest to strongest. With Graham becoming his second in command, dubbed the Malpais Legate, the Legion conquered 86 tribes by 2271, with their western border sitting on the Colorado river focused on Fortification Hill. Under the Malpais Legate’s command, Legion troops marched on the NCR garrison at Hoover Dam, which acted as the primary power source for most of New Vegas. With a tactical retreat across the dam into Boulder City, the NCR 1st Recon Battalion and Rangers successfully assassinated key Legion commanders. Unable to adapt, the legate pushed his soldiers to take out the snipers. When the concrete structures of Boulder City collapsed due to NCR explosives, Legion forces were trapped. Those outside of the city were quickly pushed back beyond the dam. Angered by his failure Caesar had the Preatorian guard cover Graham in pitch, ignited, and thrown into the Grand Canyon. First hand accounts state that, he never made a sound. The most feared commander beyond Caesar in the Legion was gone. Outlawing speak of him, he remains a legend in the Legion, an unkillable nightmare known as the Burned Man.
The Legion operates as a slave army. Tribes in Legion territory are generally allowed to self govern, but must pay tribute in supplies and soldiers. The self-identity of tribes is insidiously destroyed, and any hint of rebellion against the Legion is crushed without mercy. As the name implies, they are heavily designed after Sallow’s obsession with Ancient Rome, specifically under the reign of Julius Caesar.
Institute[edit]
Formed by the greatest pre-war minds of the Commonwealth Institute of Technology, the Institute is a shadowy organization feared throughout the Commonwealth. Based out of a self-sufficient, hyper-sanitized, pristine bunker beneath their place of origin, they are capable of producing advanced androids and cloning unique individuals. Furthermore, when cloning, they are able to fit devices in their brains capable of controlling these “synths”. While they generally try to stay out of wasteland affairs, those they have gotten involved in have ended drastically for one of the involved parties.
Noncanon Factions[edit]
Idaho[edit]
Main Factions[edit]
Minor Factions[edit]
Twins Fall[edit]
Location: Twins Falls
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