Fascist Detected on American Soil.

apocolypse nazis.

This is gonna be a bit long but I reckon I'll reuse it in various threads so I'm gonna write my very own 'In Defense of the Brotherhood'


In regards to the non-tolerance of Ghouls.

Far as we've seen the Brotherhood do not dedicate much resources to pursuing and destroying intelligent ghoul communities which means they don't rank them highly as a threat, but we do know is that had they a lot of resources they would likely pursue them.

Their reasoning is pretty sound, all but one glowing one in the Fallout universe has gone feral, there's a pretty good reason for this and that's the fact that prolonged exposure to radiation causes deterioration of brain matter.

Everyone is exposed to this stuff over time, we humans from the side effects of this aswell (Cancer is an example) and whilst ghouls don't suffer the same side effects that does not mean they suffer no effect, it might just take more time but at some point, every ghoul will become a feral ghoul unless you had a way to put them in a zero-rads environment which in the post-nuclear apocalypse is not easy. Whether it be next week or a lifetime its difficult to say- Brotherhood aren't the type to take risks so its unlikely they'll become tolerant of ghouls.


In regards to the non-tolerance of Artificial General Intelligence (Or Synthetics) the Institutes 'learning machines'

We don't know what the institute has hidden away in their heads- frankly the institute themselves don't seem to entirely know how or why they came to create and utilize synthetics abandoning the cybernetics in favor of AI developement.

But if it is true that they've achieved this level of intelligence and the mix with biological matter is seems like they are just superior humans- the synth components in their heads can communicate information internally a lot faster than our neurons, they are likely incredible limited only by the code installed on them by the institute. Who knows what the hell information lies hidden on the hardware of each and every synth? Is there some synth running about with the blueprint for the machine to make synths?

What we do know is that they can think themselves completely innocent then -BAM- turn out to be a sleeper agent and just killed a whole settlement.

This is hidden programing that the Insitutes installs on them using a- (drumroll) computer.

We also know that the programming can fail, it can change due to an error and not neccesarily outside help either- just on its own. This means that nomatter how benevolent the programmer was in attempting to prevent the death of humans at the hands of the machine it can just, well, fail... With the failsafe removed you now have an incredibly smart AI which, unlike humans, isn't going to die of old age and who knows what is wants to do*, skys the limitt really- except its just straight up a thousand times more dangerous than raiders.

*Jezebel in the Machanist DLC is an example of benevolent programming gone wrong as saving humans turned into wanting to destroy humanity.

The institute knows the programming can fail, they've no idea what information is stored on some of these synths- frankly they lose track of them very often. They don't really know why they're using them or when you ask the information contradicts- if you try to find information on yourself on the terminals in the institute its incredibly limited even on the most secure and hidden away terminals... It appears as if (Ignoring potential of it just being shallow writing) the institute is just plain irresponsible. Like, really really irresponsible.. Like potentially destroy all of humanity because they couldn't be bothered to do the proper paperwork to keep track of what information they've installed on various synths and where they are irresponsible.

Dangerous intelligent AI weapons best case that worst case can selfreplicate- created by irresponsbile scientists is not something humanity can allow to run about freely.


In regards to the non-tolerance of Super Mutants.

First Generation super mutants who were created by 'The Father' were intelligent being who mostly followed Unity and the idea that everyone should be assimilated and become super mutants or just die.

Those mutants are mostly dead and no more are being made, they are exceedingly rare and we can't have the Brotherhood base an entire policy based on- first of all- exceedingly rare cases of the super mutant encountered being a first gen and second of all the exceedingly rare case of the first generation mutant actually being nice. 'cause most of those who survived still revere the father, the idea of unity and the idea of Super Mutant superiority.

The Other Generations.

Not counting the nightkin which were just a failed experiment by Father that turned an otherwise pretty stable idea unstable with them always being insane- these were created by the Enclave and are just straight up monsters like orcs from Warhammer. I don't think you'd be too hard on the dwarves for killing orcs on sight, I'm gonna hold the same opinion of the Brotherhood here.


In regards to the opposition to the 'democratic' NCR.

Lets get this out of the way first-

2142—2196 - First President of the NCR ruled for 54 years. 2196—2248 - Second President of the NCR ruled for 52 years- child of the former president btw. 2248-Now - We've had four presidents and the NCR has turned into a mess which congress is dominated by interests of politicians with ties to the New Reno gangsters and the Robber Barons who demand ever-increasing expansion despite limiting spending in the areas actually allowing for expansion. The republic is incredibly unstable and further expansion could mean collapse.

The NCR, for most of its history up until pretty recently in fallout-lore, was not really a democracy, it was more of a de-facto Republican Dictatorship. The NCR-BOS got along decently (or at least ignored one another) until the Brotherhood took some tech (Enclave) that the NCR wanted.

Now 'can' we actually trust the NCR with dangerous superweapons? I'd say no. For centuries the Brotherhood has at various points controlled superweapons they knew how to use like ARCHIMEDES or heck even just dumping the Enclave FEV waste into some rivers- did they ever use it despite losing wars with the NCR? No. No they did not, their tradition prevents them from destroying the world to win petty conflicts.

Meanwhile what can we tell of the NCR? Well from the Lonesome Road DLC we can tell you that not only don't they give a shit about nukes being used against Ceasars Legion, they downright idolize it. Can the NCR be trusted with superweapons? Fuck, no.

What I'm saying here is that the Brotherhood keeping dangerous technology out of the 'Democratic' Republics hands is for the best for humanity.


Brotherhood Military Dictatorship.

Brotherhood Dictatorship is often used as the reason to oppose them over say, the pro-synth railroad or the bumbling scientists of the institute. The roots of the Brotherhood of Steel lies in the US military where there is such a thing as rank, they even have very strong traditions surrounding this such as The Chain that Binds which in essence is the idea that the superior of your superior shouldn't give you orders and especially cannot give you orders contradicting those of your direct superior. This is something that's gotten maybe even two elders removed and they pretty much serve for life otherwise.

Why is this relevant? Well it goes to show that there's a reason for the Brotherhood to have the system they have and that is their incredibly strong tie to tradition, the same tie that makes them zealous defenders of humanity and 'anti-technology' (Preventing the other humans from ruining humanity more than it already has been using dangerous tech)

The Dictatorship is simply another aspect of the whole package that comes with their centuries old very principled order of 'knights' that defend humanity, they don't see it a dictator as much as they see it as a superior officer. Which makes sense considering they're supposed to be an army.

Is life in the Brotherhood of Steel compatible with your average wastelander? Hell no. They are not suited to rule over civilian populations, at best they can be considered something like 'The Nights Watch' from A Song of Ice and Fire where everyone that can contributes some taxes and manpower to them so they can keep on their quest of protecting humanity but them actually ruling well? I can't see it. You can organize an army like an army but you'll be hard pressed to organize wasteland settlements and farmers and such like an army, not that it hasn't been tried before it just doesn't work.


Final note.

No, I wouldn't want to live under the Brotherhood of Steels rule- same as I wouldn't want to live under any military dictatorship. But I wouldn't call them nazis. Neither the fact they want to eradicate mutants, ghouls or synths nor the fact they're a military dictatorship with rigid discipline makes them nazis.

/r/fo76 Thread Parent