Midwestern Brotherhood of Steel

History
The Midwestern Order was founded in 2190 by the survivors of a ill-fated Expedition sent East by the Council of Elders in Lost Hills, ostensibly to evaluate the extent of the threat presented by the remnants of the Master's Super-Mutant Army. It was lost on no one at the time, however, that the Expedition also effectively resolved a heated debate on whether the Brotherhood should recruit from, and share technology with, the Wastelanders around them, by sending the minority who favored those positions East.

Traveling East in giant airships, severe storms over the Midwest scattered the Expedition, with the largest group of survivors being forced down just outside the ruins of Chicago in 2185. The next few years were a constant struggle for survival, as the crash survivors, now based at Bunker Alpha, beneath the old Joliet Army Ammunition Plant, found themselves besieged on all sides by Raiders, hostile Tribes, and the Super-Mutants of Gammorin's Army. In 2190, after years of unsuccessful attempts to contact Lost Hills for aid, reinforcements, or evacuation, the survivors proclaimed themselves a independent Chapter, the Midwestern Order, and elected a Elder Council, comprised of Star-Paladins Barnaky, Decker, and Maximus, to govern the new Order. By 2198, a series of strategic alliances with friendly Tribes, as well as a program of introducing select technologies to their new Allies, the situation had largely stabilized and the Order began to recover it's strength. The Elders felt that a corner had finally been turned, but in fact they were about to face their greatest test, the Calculator War...a test the young Order barely survived.

The Calculator was and is a Cyborg, a AI networked with eight human brains. It was constructed to oversee Vault 0, a facility constructed deep underneath Offut AFB in Omaha, which also hosted the Headquarters of the US Air Force's Strategic Air Command. From there, the Old World's finest minds would coordinate with the other Vaults to restore America to it's Pre-War glory. Like most other Vault-Tec projects, the end result left much to be desired. A combination of shoddy workmanship, cutting corners, and probable Enclave sabotage resulted in irreversible brain damage to the human occupants in cryogenic suspension, as well as the human brains linked to the Calculator. This corrupted the Calculator, driving it mad. In 2198, Super Mutants serving Gammorin II, as former Star-Paladin Latham has come to be known, found Vault 0 and triggered it's outer defenses, inadvertently beginning the Calculator War.

The Calculator responded to the super-Mutant incursion by implementing it's "Pacification Protocol", reinterpreted by the now corrupted Calculator as a imperative to scour the Wasteland of all sentient life. Needing information to carry out it's directive, it sent out scouts to secure prisoners, as well as begin to implement it's perceived orders, as long dormant automated factories sprang to life, producing a robotic Army, using existing robot designs re-purposed as combat units. Soon, every faction in the Midwest was pulled into a fight for their very existence.

The Brotherhood, then embroiled in a War with Gammorin II and his Mutant Army, suddenly found itself fighting on two fronts. Star-Paladin Barnaky, leading the campaign against Gammorin II in person, escalated the offensive in the hopes of eliminating that threat so full attention could be turned onto the New threat of the Calculator. While his strategy was vindicated at the Battle of St Louis, a severe defeat for Gammorin's Army, Barnaky himself was ambushed and captured by a daring Nightkin raid behind the lines while traveling from one flank to the other. His mutant captors were themselves fallen upon by Calculator robots as they fled with their prize to Gammorin's capital of Osceola, MO. Now in the hands of the Calculator, Barnaky was taken to Scott City, where the Calculator kept prisoners for interrogation...and experimentation.

Believing that Barnaky was being held by Gammorin II, the Acting High Elder, Dekker, sent the famed hero The Warrior to rescue Barnaky and kill Gammorin. While the Warrior slew Gammorin II, or as he had been known, Star-Paladin Latham, in single combat, it was learned that Barnaky had never been brought to Osceola. Now...in the eyes of the remaining Mutants, at least....Gammorin III, the Warrior was petitioned to take control of Gammorin's Army. Electing not to do so, he formally dissolved Gammorin's Army and told the Mutants that any who wished could join the Brotherhood, otherwise live among them in peace so long as they obeyed the Brotherhood's laws. While the Warrior was sincere, and Dekker and Maximus upheld the agreement, Barnaky repudiated the agreement upon his resumption of power in 2199...a decision that would have consequences in the future.

Months of hard fighting followed. A raid on Scott City turned up the body of Star-Paladin Barnaky, his brain extracted. An alliance with the Reavers resulted in the deployment of the Pulse Rifle, which helped tturn the tide. Eventually, the Brotherhood and it's allies pushed the Calculator's Robots back into Nebraska and Dekker sent Star-Paladin Maximus and the Warrior on a do-or-die mission to breach Vault 0 itself and shut down the Calculator, winning the war. Successfully breaching the Vault through the old SAC HQ bunker, The Warrior and his men fought their way through Calculator robots and the brain damaged residents of Vault 0 to reach the Calculator, only to find it's last defense was....Barnaky. His brain extracted, and placed in a specially modified humanoid robot, the once (and future) leader of the Brotherhood had been brainwashed into protecting it's greatest foe. The Warrior was able to defeat Barnaky by showing him the locket of his late wife, Maria, which he had found on his body in Scott City. The sight of it, and the memories of his beloved wife it evoked, jarred him into remembering his duty and he withdrew, letting the Warrior and his soldiers proceed with their mission. Shortly thereafter, the remaining resistance was quelled and the Warrior stood face to face with the Calculator itself, where the machine revealed that it was dying, and needed a human brain to continue to function....pointing out the possibilities it opened for the Brotherhood. At that point Barnaky spoke, offering himself as a sacrifice to be interfaced with the Calculator. The Warrior agreed, and Barnaky's brain was installed in the Calculator. The Calculator, it's program corruptions now removed, recalled it's robots and the Calculator War was over.

Now part of the Calculator, and the dominant influence over it, Barnaky accessed the communication systems now at his disposal and looked out at the shattered world from the cameras and sensors of Eyebots, and even the dwindling constellation of Pre-war satellites and was horrified by what he saw....mutation, deprivation, and despair everywhere. Something had to be done, and as best as Barnaky could tell, he was one of the few that had the power to do something about it. Dedicating his existence to the goal of rescuing pure humans from the brink of extinction, Barnaky quickly reasserted his authority as High Elder of the Midwestern Order, and initiated far reaching changes in the Order to prepare it for it's new Mission.

The next few years were marked by great change in the Brotherhood. While acquiring and preserving the technology of the Old World was still important, it was now secondary to the primary goal of ensuring the long-term survival of Mankind. The Codex was revised and updated, and supplemented by a Code of Laws that applied to all in the Order's Lands, the Lex Barnaky, was written and proclaimed. Once suspicious of recruits from local Tribes, Barnaky now encouraged recruitment from Wastelanders and Tribals willing to work towards the new goals of the Brotherhood, while existing Brethren and Sisters were quietly encouraged to intermarry with the communities around them. Campaigns were launched to subdue and tame, drive out, or annihilate the Raiders that plagued the Wasteland. As order was restored for the first time in living memory in new areas, behind the advancing front lines came the first Missionaries, to teach and disseminate forgotten techniques as well as approved technologies designed to relieve the suffering Wastelanders....as well as learn from them lessons that could be taught to others....and to demonstrate the practical benefits of accepting Brotherhood rule.

While the Brotherhood was warmly welcomed by, or at least received the acquiescence of, the bulk of the human communities it annexed, it was far less popular amongst Mutants, Ghouls, and humans sympathetic towards them. Upon resuming his role as High Elder in 2199, he repudiated the agreement made with the remnants of Gammorin's Army, and expelled those Mutants that remained in the Brotherhood, as well as any ghouls that had not been humans that changed while in the Brotherhood. This was quickly followed by State sanctioned discrimination against both Ghouls and Mutants, followed by the mandatory registration of Ghouls and Mutants, and incarceration of all Mutants in Brotherhood lands in labor camps in 2218. The response to this was the formation of the Mutant Liberation Army in 2220. Initially, the MLA tried nonviolent protest, but incidents in Chicago and St Louis radicalized the MLA leadership and caused the situation to rapidly escalate to an armed insurrection. The successful MLA operation in 2225 to liberate the 8,000 Mutants and ghouls in Labor Camp 2 in the Missouri coal fields is considered the opening battle of the MLA War by most historians.

The MLA War was a full scale conflict for eight years, from 2225 to the destruction of the MLA's Southern Army at the Battle of Lincoln in 2233, beginning a period of vicious guerilla warfare that lasted for thirty years as the Brotherhood ruthlessly rooted out MLA cells in it's core while inexorably pushing the remaining MLA forces West, until the Legion Incident of 2261, a three week border "dispute" between the Brotherhood and the Legion, who were then just expanding into Colorado. Incensed by the increasing number of Mutants, ghouls, and human profligates spouting Marxism flowing into his new lands, Caesar (Edward Sallow at the time) sent several Legions into Eastern Colorado to keep the MLA, and their dangerous ideology, out of his lands, as well as assert his claim to Colorado. One of several tense confrontations between Legion and Brotherhood troops at the time escalated into fighting. Fighting was limited, though after the events of the Mojave War both sides actively began to downplay the Incident, the casualty total will probably remain classified. What is known that after a couple of minor battles were fought, a Cease fire was declared, then both sides began to actively work together against the MLA, pushing them north into Wyoming and south into the Oklahoma Panhandle. The 2261 Treaty of Omaha established peace and set the old Colorado-Nebraska/Kansas border as the formal border between the Legion and the MWBoS. By 2263, Western Nebraska and Kansas were declared secure, the effective end of the MLA War.

At peace again after years of warfare, the MWBoS continued consolidated it's rule over it's territories, and drew up plans for expansion into Wisconsin and Minnesota, to be followed by Indiana. The 2267 Treaty of Pawhuska set the border between the Osage Nation and the Brotherhood, as well as established a Military Alliance between them. This era of relatively peaceful expansion lasted for nearly twenty years, until the Cleveland Massacre in 2280.

By 2279, Missionaries and Inquisitors in the field, as well as traders on the Great Lakes, began picking up rumors of a powerful Raider group in Pittsburgh, that had laid much of Western Pennsylvania and as far south as Virginia to waste, and was raiding settlements along the shores of Lake Erie. In early 2280, an expedition was launched to investigate, a full Battalion of Infantry with a Company of Knights and artillery in support. Making it's way East, skirting the IRD's then border of Toledo, it entered Ohio along I-90, intent on a scheduled rendezvous in Cleveland with the naval squadron operating in Lake Erie for re-supply. What they found in Cleveland was the Cult. Six days later 39 wounded soldiers, all that remained of the force of six hundred men, were picked up under fire from the Cleveland Waterfront by the waiting ships. The tale they told was shocking, of endless waves of feral ghouls, Raiders screaming prayers to some obscene deity as they charged their lines head on over and over again, mutated creatures used as attack animals, and unspeakable atrocities committed by them on captured Brotherhood troops and even each other.

The debriefing of the survivors sent shockwaves throughout the Order. Whatever the Cult was, they were not mere Raiders, they were far more dangerous. While they had suffered defeats at the hands of the MLA, even the MLA had never managed a feat like Cleveland. What they were facing was the greatest threat the Order faced since the Calculator War...a threat that must be destroyed. Immediately, the Brotherhood began preparing a war in which Victory or oblivion were the only options. Doctrine and tactics were revised in light of lessons learned, and long neglected technologies, such as aviation, were dusted off and relearned. Plans were laid, and practiced, to enable the Brotherhood's growing industrial might to be quickly mobilized to support the needs of Total War when the time came. Meanwhile, operations in Indiana and Michigan were stepped up, and Missionaries and Inquisitors deployed.

The Mojave War of 2285 was not a welcome development in Omaha, but was not regarded as a serious issue until the NCR, smarting from defeat at the hands of House and his Securitron Army, invaded Legion territory with the stated intent of unseating the new Caesar, Lucius, and annexing the Legion's lands. To Barnaky and his advisors, that was unacceptable. They had grown to appreciate the Legion as a buffer between them and the expansionist NCR, and did not want them on their Western border....especially now that they had the Cult to deal with. And so the decision was made to send the elite Brimstone Brigade, 1500 Power Armored Knights and a Mounted infantry Battalion, West to Lucius's aid. the Brimstone Brigade's critical intervention in the Battle of Albuquerque turned the war around for Lucius, and after brief negotiations, together the Brotherhood and Legion pushed the NCR's Southeastern Expeditionary Force back across the Colorado river with ruinous losses, bringing down the Kimball administration, his political party, and most of the NCR Army High Command. Meanwhile, Texas Rangers and the Confederation Army staged raids along the southern border through Western Oklahoma. As an invasion was impractical for either the Texans or the Brotherhood, it was decided to merely repel the raids and not escalate the situation by reciprocating with raids into Texas.

During the Truce, the Brotherhood had limited diplomatic contact with the Texans and NCR, beyond exchanging prisoners in 2286. In the 2286 Treaty of Santa Fe, a de facto Military Alliance between the MWBoS and Legion was formed, provisions to connect Santa Fe to the Brotherhood's rail network were agreed to, and the respective staffs drew up mobilization plans in the event hostilities were resumed that would have a Brotherhood Brigade and all it's equipment deployed in Santa Fe by X-Day +7. Diplomatic relations were also established with the Great Khan, who along with his Tribe, relocated to Wyoming rather than take part in the Mojave War.

As the RP begins, Barnaky and his advisors are nearly ready to begin their offensive to the East, and attend the conference hoping to enlist more allies for that Cause, as well as avert a renewed War in the West. Kimball Jr's rhetoric is considered alarming, and Barnaky suspects he will attack the Legion after the conference, triggering his obligations under the Santa Fe treaty. Thawing the currently frigid relations with the Western Order is considered desirable, but unrealistic.

Claimed Territory
The Midwestern Order holds uncontested control the entirety of the former US States of Illinois, Iowa, Missouri, Kansas, and Nebraska, as well as parts of Minnesota, Wisconsin, Wyoming, and Indiana. Operations underway in The Upper Peninsula of Michigan and Kentucky are intended to bring those areas under Brotherhood control as well.

Culture and Religion
While authoritarian in nature, there is due process and a Code of Law (the Lex Barnaky) in the Order's domains and loyal and law-abiding Citizens have little to fear from the State...the Inquisition has enough real enemies to worry about that it doesn't have to justify it's existence by inventing them like 20th Century totalitarian Regimes were wont to do. Most people are fiercely loyal and grateful to the Lord Paladin for what he provides, reinforced by constant propaganda starting in childhood. Those who dissent too much tend to ~disappear~. Often, they come back a few days, or weeks, or months later with a quite different attitude, sometimes they end up tried publicly for Sedition or Treason, and occasionally they are never heard from again. It is illegal for a private person to own slaves on the Order's lands. Slavery, however, is a common punishment for certain Capital Crimes (Rape, Murder, Banditry, Public Corruption, multiple convictions for Sedition). Humans condemned to slavery are stripped of their Citizenship and retained in State labor camps, or sold to parties outside the Order's domain, such as the Legion, the proceeds being given to the criminal's victims as compensation. Mutants (ghouls and Super Mutants) are considered property of the State by default and registered and confined to labor camps....those who do not comply are summarily executed and the corpses crucified or tarred and displayed in cages as a public warning (execution by firing squad or hanging are the only permitted forms of execution per the Lex Barnaky).

The Midwestern Brotherhood has no State religion, though at times the official Cult of Personality around the Lord Paladin makes it seem that there is. Officially, any religion that does not threaten public order is permitted. Where possible around the borders of the Order's lands, 'Missionaries' dispatched by the Office of State work tirelessly to spread Barnaky's ideals, and attempt to sway Tribals and unaffiliated Wastelanders to the Order's cause, to varying degrees of success...some Tribes responded to the missionaries by worshiping Barnaky as a god, much to his distaste. So far their greatest success has been to the East, as Wastelanders and even whole tribes flee the Cult, though there is interest to the north, where the embattled Wastelanders, plagued with the Raider gangs that roam free outside of the Order's patrol areas, look to the safety of the area to the south with envy...and every year more decide the price of a more regimented life to have it for themselves is worth the cost. Barnaky himself is under no illusions about being more than a mortal man, and considers the cult of Personality that has formed around him to be a necessary evil, part of the burden he has assumed to protect Humanity.

Military
Standing Army of ~40,000, with 10,000 being Brotherhood Knights equipped with Power Armor. The remainder being a mix of Infantry and Dragoon (Mounted Infantry) Battalions as well as Field Artillery and robotic support, as well as armored vehicles and Tank Destroyers. While the Calculator's robotic Army still exists, the bulk of it is in storage, with units doled out as support weapons for the Army. The Brotherhood also operates a fleet of warships on Lake Michigan based at Chicago as well as another along the Mississippi River based out of St Louis. In wartime, can double it's size to ~80,000 using Reservists, if wartime automation plans are implemented. The Brotherhood's air assets are one squadron of 10 Vertibirds, with a second squadron preparing for activation, drones used for Reconnaissance and artillery spotting, and a moderate air transport fleet. The Calculator's Hellion ground attack aircraft has been re-purposed as a multi-role fighter, and two working prototypes are complete, with efforts underway to put the aircraft into series production. A program to select and train pilots is already underway. Soldiers are well trained and equipped, and conditioned to be fanatically loyal to the Order and it's Lord-Paladin...and to have a fierce hatred of Super Mutants and intolerance of ghouls, something memories of the MLA War and insurgency ( a popular topic of films and books produced in the Order's domain) makes relatively easy.

The bulk of the Order's armies are not actually members of the Brotherhood of Steel, they are either volunteers or conscripts serving their two years of obligatory service. Admission to the Order is restricted to soldiers who served at least four years of honorable service. Competition for the limited openings is fierce, an exemplary service record is essential.

Foreign Relations
The Midwestern Order has diplomatic relations with all of it's neighboring factions, though the Brotherhood is represented in Austin by a charge d'affaires. It has Military Alliances with The Legion (2286), The Free Economic Zone (2290), and the Osage Nation (2267). The Brotherhood has a Co-Belligerant status with the Integrated Republic of Detroit (2290), a more formal relationship is likely.

In 2290, the Lord-Paladin proclaimed a Scourge against the Cult, which automatically puts the Brotherhood at War with the Cult and any faction that supports it. High Elder Gladstone, of the Brotherhood's Western Order, has formally accepted the validity of the Scourge proclamation, which makes the Western and Midwestern Orders Allies against the Cult and it's Allies, but carries no further obligations.

Technology
Technologically, the MWBoS, thanks to it's access to the Calculator's database and new research derived from it, not to mention active efforts to recover and unitize pre-war knowledge, is superior to most factions in the former United States, though the Institute exceeds it by a significant degree. Unlike other branches of the Brotherhood, the MWBoS considers the well being of the people around them as not only important, but a matter of National Security, and has re-introduced some technologies with the intent of improving the lives of those it rules. While spartan, the quality of life in all but the most rural areas of Barnaky's domain is comparable to that in the NCR core, and even in the rural areas Citizens have access to clean water and adequate food, if not electricity. The pre-war rail lines linking the major cities have been repaired and put to use, enabling goods (and troops) to be rapidly moved across the Domain. While the Brotherhood does have some air transport (fueled by synthetic oil made from the still sizeable coal deposits in Illinois and Missouri) it is restricted to Military and other Order use only.

Appearance in the RP
The MWBoS is one of the major factions in the RP, and thus has been mentioned repeatedly since page 1. In addition, the Midwestern Order's intervention on behalf of the Legion in the Mojave War was a critical point in the series of events that led to the Treaty of Goodsprings (2285). __NEWSECTIONLINK__