Brotherhood of Steel

The Brotherhood are heavily featured in the Steel Dawn update to Fallout 76, as part of an expansion pack called Fractured Steel.[1] In that game, it is led by Paladin Leila Rahmani, who "arrived from California" with her troops "to establish a new Appalachian chapter".[2]

The Brotherhood was created by R. Scott Campbell, who stated that he "simply wanted a group exactly like the monks from the Guardian Citadel in Wasteland". He stated that he "really wanted the player to be able to befriend and join up with this group (and grab all of their awesome gear, of course)". He added that while "this did make them similar to concepts in Gamma World and Warhammer 40K, he professed that he "just loved the idea of high-tech knights in power-armor", calling their creation "total fan service to me."[3]

Patricia Hernandez of Kotaku called the Brotherhood in Fallout 4 "giant dicks", saying that she refrained from stealing until she met them. Saying that they are "overzealous assholes" who "just stormed into the Commonwealth, acting like they own the place", she also states that "they feel that they are entitled to every significant piece of technology out in the wasteland".[4] She criticizes their fictional ideology as not even "making any sense", saying that while it is "supposed to be about the preservation and protection of technology", "their leader, Elder Maxson, takes this to mean that the Brotherhood must destroy all synths". She also criticizes the fact that the player must destroy the Institute if they side with the Brotherhood despite their seemingly similar goals.[4] Citing the "distasteful things they have you do during their faction quests", she singles out Proctor Teagan, who sends you on a "revolting quest where you have to force farmers to give crops to the Brotherhood, regardless of whether or not they want to".[4]

Brendan Lowry of Windows Central called the Brotherhood's quest line in Fallout 4 morally grey, saying that while "The Minutemen are the "good guys" [...] and the Institute are unquestionably evil", "the Brotherhood is the only faction [...] that makes you critically think." Saying that "when the Brotherhood arrives in the Commonwealth, they make a promise to defend the people living there", things start to change later, and the Brotherhood "shows its enemies no mercy" regardless of whether they are hostile. Lowry states that "there's a strong argument to be made both for and against the Brotherhood's ideology".[5]

Controversy arose among fans due to a retcon of the Brotherhood in the plot of Fallout 76. Despite established Fallout lore stating that "first recorded activity from the Brotherhood of Steel was in California in the year 2134," Fallout 76 establishes a Brotherhood presence "in West Virginia in the year 2102", something that "should be downright implausible if not impossible".[6] Bethesda explained this discrepancy with the use of a "functioning satellite" that allowed the Brotherhood of Steel to extend their reach to Appalachia.[7]

• Knights Templar
• Space marine