Brotherhood of Steel

“The only salvation this tortured planet and its people have. Without us, humanity is sure to perish.” — Vree
The Brotherhood of Steel (commonly abbreviated to BoS) is a post-War paramilitary organization devoted to the preservation of technology and knowledge with chapters operating across the ruins of America.
Background The Brotherhood has its roots in the United States Armed Forces, founded by a United States Army security team stationed at Mariposa Military Base before the Great War. While the goals of the Brotherhood vary from chapter to chapter, they share a core mission centered on seizing and regulating pre-War technology throughout the wasteland. Though small, the Brotherhood has been an influential group in the history of the wasteland, first as a survivalist group, then a major research and development house, then finally as an enemy of the New California Republic, fighting a war against the New California Republic on the west coast. Their motto is "Ad Victoriam".
Maxson negotiated a treaty with the Brotherhood Outcasts, bringing them back into the fold and reforming the entire organization. While some members found this distasteful and left, the overwhelming majority remained, proud to serve a refocused Brotherhood. Maxson became leader of the Brotherhood's Eastern branch, effectively leading to its rebirth. The Prydwen, a large airship, allowed them to send long-range recon teams to scout regions and recover technologies. One of these, Recon Squad Gladius, was sent to the Commonwealth to investigate the region after the disappearance of Recon Squad Artemis. Their findings prompted the Brotherhood to deploy in the Commonwealth aboard the Prydwen and strike against the Institute. Once they arrived, the Brotherhood conducted an air assault on the feral ghouls occupying Boston Airport and established their main base of operations there.
Society “Let us forge together something new. Something strong. Something we can be proud of. Something we can build upon. We'll preserve what's best of what's come before and use it. And one day, we will reclaim what was lost. Let us forge a Brotherhood of Steel.” — Roger Maxson
The Brotherhood has several distinct ranks that define a member's standing in the Brotherhood social structure, distinguishing each member's position. At the foundation of the hierarchy lies the Chain That Binds doctrine. It mandates obedience to one's superiors and forbids circumventing ranks when giving orders. Superiors may only give orders to their direct subordinates, but not their subordinate's subordinates. Although intended to ensure the cohesion of command, the doctrine has been generally interpreted as a simple mandate of obedience within the order, with the order flow requirements ignored, abandoned, or altered in practice. However, it does provide a technicality that can be invoked to relieve members of their rank - up to and including elders.
Roger Maxson's goals in inventing a new tradition and mythology for the Brotherhood were two-fold. First, they would ensure that members of the Brotherhood would be stripped of their ties to the pre-War military and government, ensuring that any surviving general or politician would not be able to invoke their oaths and use them to unleash nuclear devastation on the world again (as was the case with Secretary of Agriculture Thomas Eckhart in Appalachia). Second, it would give the survivors an idea to believe in, something they could dedicate themselves to, and finding meaning in their lives after the nuclear war. The inspiration came from the fall of the western Roman Empire when knights and scribes kept the fire of civilization going after the empire imploded. Leila Rahmani believes the elders of the Brotherhood to be comprised of "fearful conservatism," remarking that she had tried to steer them away from this ideal. Groups vary in their choice of greetings, some using "brother" while others use "brother" and "sister."
Property and trade Necessary operations, supplies, and other amenities are provided free of charge to working members of the Brotherhood at Lost Hills (though in case of new initiates coming from the outside, they must serve for ten years before the Brotherhood will provide its most advanced services without charge). Every member receives an allotment of rations to maintain their health and they may be traded between members. All equipment beyond personal items is issued by the Brotherhood and issued items, especially weapons, are carefully tracked by serial number.
The Mojave chapter will not sell any equipment to any outsider unless the elder gives permission. Under Elder Lyons' rule, the Brotherhood was known to trade with outsiders, but as of 2277, there were many incidents that dissuaded the Brotherhood from such activities. As of 2287, the Eastern division has resumed trade relations in the Capital Wasteland and established new ones in the Commonwealth. While standard-issue gear and weapons are available for free to members, more specialized weapons and equipment must be purchased from the quartermasters.
Belief system The beliefs of the Brotherhood were shaped by the experiences of Roger Maxson at Mariposa Military Base and in the aftermath of the Great War. At first, the Brotherhood focused on aiding survivors to the best of its ability, acting as an armed fighting force, rather than the military order it would become. The change came with the realization that the collective knowledge of humanity was in danger of being lost for generations to come. To keep the secrets of the past alive, Maxson decided to dedicate the Brotherhood to the preservation of technology and human knowledge, collecting it in order that the Brotherhood might become the catalyst for humanity's rebirth. As the guardians of civilization, the Brotherhood would focus on the big picture, with direct aid considered a secondary concern.
Major changes were introduced under Elder Arthur Maxson in the 2280s. Like the Brotherhood of the 22nd century, the Eastern division dedicated itself to the advancement of humanity. Beyond taking an active role in wasteland politics, the Brotherhood embraced Elder Lyons' policies of eradicating abominations, combining them with a new approach to controlling technology. Abominations of nature brought about by mankind's meddling are viewed as a scourge that needs to be destroyed in order for humanity to prosper. The list typically involves super mutants and feral ghouls, although the Brotherhood also eliminates raiders and other threats as a matter of course.
Control of technology is seen as a means to an end. As a result, the Brotherhood seeks to understand the nature of technology, its power and meaning to humans, and fights those who would abuse said power for their own ends, endangering mankind in the process. The most noticeable way in which this policy is implemented is the collection of technology from pre-War sites, to prevent its abuse.
Chapters Several chapters of the group exist, utilizing similar logos to mark their equipment and territory. The logo is comprised of gears, representing their engineering knowledge, a sword representing their will to defend themselves, and wings representing uplifting hope.
Technology The group focuses on secrecy and preserving technology, due to the belief that people of the wasteland are not responsible enough to use all of the technology the Brotherhood has at their disposal. They are known for trading some of their technologies with frontier communities and the states of the New California Republic in exchange for food and other resources, but they keep the more sensitive and advanced technologies to themselves. Destroying technology results in consequences for all members, including elders. Caesar refers to them as hoarders, stating that after 200 years, the group still has the mentality of scavengers. Robert House refers to them as "bulging-eyed fanatics" that believe all pre-War technology belongs to them.
Weapons Military technology is the Brotherhood's main priority, and their efforts over the centuries have equipped them with a powerful array of power armor, energy weapons, defense turrets, combat implants, and computers. Their focus allowed them to amass sizable stockpiles of power armor (T-60, T-51 and T-45 variants, though they lack the ability to manufacture new units) and energy weapons. Apart from applied combat technologies, the Brotherhood also has access to advanced medical technologies such as cybernetics, combat implants and virtual reality training systems, which allow personnel to maintain their combat prowess even under lockdown. Some chapters have also supplemented their combat force with recovered robots, like robobrains, sentry bots, and Liberty Prime.
Vehicles The Brotherhood does not possess working ground vehicles. The Brotherhood did have access to an entire fleet of airships in the mid-22nd century, used for exploration and recon. However, over the years the fleet was either destroyed or dismantled for spare parts. By the 23rd century, none of the airships remained, with one notable vessel crashing in the Midwest on a long-range exploration mission. It was not until the acquisition of Pride One, a captured Enclave Vertibird, at the end of the Brotherhood-Enclave War, that the Brotherhood returned to the skies. Eight years later the Brotherhood built a new, more advanced, airship at Adams Air Force Base which they christened The Prydwen. The Prydwen's construction was carried out alongside a brand new Vertibird fleet. This fleet would be made up of captured and restored Enclave Vertibirds, as well as brand new ones built from scratch. By 2287, the size of this new air force was so significant that the Brotherhood created an entirely new caste, known as lancers, in order to pilot them.
Research and manufacturing While the overall devotion to research has decayed over the course of centuries, the Brotherhood was once at the forefront of research in the wasteland. In the 22nd century, for example, research topics ranged from redeveloping laser weapons, through physics, to astronomy and theories on time travel. In terms of manufacturing capacity, the west coast Brotherhood relies on items hand-made by the knights. Although limited supplies pose a challenge, the real problems come from the actual manufacturing and prototyping process, especially when the reality doesn't seem to match the Knights' expectations.
Foreign relations By 2281, the Brotherhood fought against the NCR in the Brotherhood War. One of the campaigns of the war played out in the Mojave Wasteland, where during Operation: Sunburst, more than half the chapter perished, forcing Elder McNamara to retreat to a nearby bunker and declare lockdown. All members left outside the bunker are cut loose if this protocol is enacted. If a bunker is invaded, the group will initiate a self-destruct. In four out of six instances of successful invasion by NCR forces, this was carried out. By 2287, the Brotherhood has radicalized its policy towards mutants, with standing orders to exterminate any post-War abominations. In practice, the Brotherhood usually doesn't shoot on sight unless targets are confirmed as hostile - even if they are a synth in a critical location.
Outside recruitment For most of its existence, the Brotherhood did not recruit outsiders as a general rule. When it did, they required the recruits to be very young, so that the proper relationship with technology could be cultivated. Adults have an approach that the Brotherhood considers perverted. However, exceptional individuals may conditionally join the Brotherhood.
As Elder Arthur Maxson became the leader of the Brotherhood's Eastern branch, he retained Elder Owyn Lyons' practice of recruiting wastelanders sponsored by existing Brotherhood members and expanded it. As it was under Lyons, the sponsor would travel with their charges and teach them the ideals of the Brotherhood and train them in combat. To this end, active members can field promote recruits to Initiate rank, but the rank and subsequent promotions have to be confirmed by the Elder at the earliest possible opportunity. However, while the member can retract their sponsorship, once the rank is confirmed by the Elder, only the Elder can dismiss the sponsored party from the organization.