[youtube]https://youtu.be/ac86cyo7Ef8[/youtube]




[hider=Midwestern Brotherhood of Steel][u]Name:[/u] Midwestern Brotherhood of Steel

[u]Flag:[/u] [img]http://www.fototime.com/2FFD3478CAD19C7/standard.jpg[/img]

[u]Territory:[/u] Controls all of IL, MO, KS, and the bulk of IA and NE as well as Cheyenne, WY and the surrounding area. the Capital is Vault Zero, at the old Offut AFB just outside Omaha.    

[u]History:[/u] For decades after Paladin-General Barnaky merged with the Calculator, the Brotherhood found itself simultaneously trying to stabilize the area it was now the [i]de facto[/i] government of, while waging a pitiless war against the Mutant Liberation Army and it's human allies. Eventually, Barnaky lured the MLA into a trap, and at the Battle of Lincoln, annihilated the main MLA Army. As the tide of war shifted in the Brotherhood's favor irrevocably, the Brotherhood began to slowly push the MLA West, back towards the Pacific, meeting it's attempts at turning the struggle into a guerilla war with uncompromising violence. As the battle lines moved inexorably into Colorado, a new player emerged, Caesar's Legion, who did not appreciate the Brotherhood dumping it's refuse in their new lands. A few minor skirmishes yielded a handful of prisoners. While next to nothing of tactical use was learned...which the Brotherhood found impressive....they did learn enough to get a sense of the mettle of their new neighbor. Intrigued by the way the Legion exhibited the influence of both ancient Rome and 20th Century Totalitarian Dictatorships, Barnaky withdrew and offered to parlay. A border was quickly agreed on and together, the shattered remnants of the MLA were forced North into the Wastes. The insurrection having finally been crushed, the Brotherhood turned it's attention inward, and under the vigilant eyes of the Brotherhood's Armies (and the Inquisition), focused on alleviating the suffering of the people the Order now ruled. After years of relative peace, the Brotherhood began to slowly expand again, moving Eastward. Soon, they began hearing rumors of a Cult, based in Pennsylvania, that was feared and hated far and wide for it's blasphemous and obscene practices. Wastelanders in what was Indiana spoke of robed figures, barely human, who raided their settlements and dragged people of, never to be seen again. A decision was launched to investigate. A expedition was launched marching along the shore of Lake Michigan, where it could be supported by the Brotherhood's small fleet operating in the lake. Barnaky and his Lieutenants believed that the only real threat to them in the area was the Canadians in Ronto, who were known to send expeditions into Michigan searching or Pre-War equipment and scrap to bolster their own small but growing Empire. 

They were wrong. 

In 2280, a full Battalion of Infantry, supported by a company of Knights entered Cleveland, over 600 men. Six days later, thirty-nine men...all wounded...fought their way North to the docks, and safety and were evacuated by the waiting ships. Between them, they had less than two hundred rounds of ammunition. The stories they told, of endless waves of feral ghouls, robed figures committing unspeakable acts on both the living and dead....and even each other....and more shook Barnaky and his advisors to their core. In one disastrous week, the Brotherhood had suffered it's greatest military defeat in nearly half a century, and proven that their worst fears had come to pass. They Mutants really were intent on destroying them. To Barnaky, the greatest challenge he had ever faced was before him, and he decided to meet it head on. Immediately, preparations began for the war that would determine the fate of an entire continent, if not Mankind itself. Operations in Indiana and Michigan were stepped up, aggressively patrolling and bringing to battle any cultists they found (or found them). Back in Omaha, the survivors of the Cleveland disaster were fully debriefed, and their successes and failures against the Cult were identified and tactics and strategy were revised as necessary. It was learned that the men had held their own until the ammunition supplies were exhausted. A solution was found, the long neglected aviation technology they had brought with them from the West, and acquired from the Calculator's files. Resources were plowed into Vertibird technology, and in 2287, the first Vertibird emerged from the assembly line in the rebuilt Boeing factory in Wichita. Though production is at a snail's pace, four air-frames a year on average, as long forgotten skills and production techniques are re-learned, slowly the production rate is increasing. In addition, the long forgotten Hellion prototype was rediscovered, repaired, and then finished and successfully test flown in 2288. It was decided to establish a parallel assembly line and put it into limited production as well...just in case. Projects to increase firepower and support of infantry were begun in the strictest secrecy, by 2290, some of the most promising are nearly ready for field testing or production.

In 2285, the Hoover War began. At first, the struggle between the Legion and the NCR did not concern Barnaky, as the real threat lay to his east. Soon though, after their stinging defeat at the hands of Robert House and his Securitron Army led to a full-scale attempt by the NCR to salve it's wounded pride by destroying the Legion once and for all. Soon, Inquisition reports made it clear that an NCR victory, and the Legion's subsequent removal from the strategic chessboard, was inevitable. In a matter of weeks, the Legion would be finished and the greedy, materialistic, corrupt and expansionist NCR would then become their unwelcome neighbor. Given the scattered reports they were receiving of the NCR's war with their estranged brethren to the West, war would be inevitable. 

That was unacceptable.            

Barnaky decided that since war was inevitable, he would strike first. Sending his elite unit, the Brimstone Guard Brigade, three full battalions of power armored Knights and an elite Battalion of Mounted Rifles, West, they swept into Legion territory, brushing aside the few Legion troops that would not answer their call to march with them to the aid of their new Caesar, Lucius, as they advanced into Legion territory. Just west of Albuquerque, where Lucius was preparing to make his Last Stand, they joined the battle and snatched victory from General Moore's very jaws. Taken completely by surprise, the massed might of Brotherhood knights sent the NCR reeling. Making contact with the surprised and elated Lucius, together they pushed the NCR  Expeditionary Force towards the Colorado River, forcing them to cross back over the scorched earth Lucius had left them in his retreat. When General Moore retreated across the Colorado, to face disgrace and forced retirement, she only had just over a third of her Command left. With Shady Sands in a uproar over the steep losses Moore had taken, and nothing to show for it, Kimball...facing Impeachment...was forced to ask for terms. With some persuasion from the Secretary-General of State, Lucius agreed to a cease fire and the Hoover War was over. 

In the wake of the War, the Order and the Legion established full diplomatic relations and trade routes were established, with the new Legion capital of Santa Fe linked to the Order's rail network. To the North, in Wyoming, a new Tribe appeared, the Khans. Having fled Caesar during the opening battles of the Hoover War, they had chosen Wyoming as their new home. Though they were  not receptive to the message Barnaky's missionaries offered, they also did not molest them so Barnaky let them be. To the south, the Texans staged a few border provocations, but as they were not considered to be a major threat at this time, the normal punitive Expedition was stayed and they merely responded forcefully against any Texas formations forced to battle in Order lands. Rumors of aircraft in remote areas of the Wastes, and multiple attempted intrusions into the old pre-war military command and control network the Order had inherited at the SAC HQ bunker and Vault Zero hinted at a potential threat that was far more sophisticated than any they had faced since the Robot War. As a precaution, Vault Zero was physically disconnected from the wider network entirely and the network nodes at the SAC HQ bunker and other control facilities watched ceaselessly.

As the expiration date for the cease fire approaches, preparations for the drive East are nearly complete. But to the West, the NCR's new President seems to have learned nothing from the mistakes of his father. House, now ruler of an Independent Mojave, has called for a conference to discuss the political situation and naturally the Order was invited. Barnaky has dispatched a delegation led by his Secretary-General of State and the Inquisitor-General to represent the Order's interests in New Vegas. If the meetings prove productive he may participate directly...or at least as directly as possible for him).       

[u]Population:[/u] ~800,000 Citizens, ~50,000 mutants (mostly ghouls but a significant number of Super-Mutants) held as laborers

[u]Government/Domestic Politics:[/u] Effectively a Military Dictatorship in quasi-ecclesiastical garb. At the top is Lord Paladin, Simon Barnaky, whose ultimate authority is unquestioned. His Will is implemented through the High Council, which is comprised of the heads of the Offices of the Midwestern Brotherhood; the War Office (Paladin-General), the Office of the Forge (Engineer-General), the Office of State (Secretary-General for State), the Office of the Inquisition (Inquisitor-General), and the Office of Administration (Administrator-General). As a group, the High Council is responsible to the Lord Paladin for the day to day governance of the Order and the lands it holds. With the Lord Paladin's indefinite lifespan, the High Council is the realistic summit of ambition for members of the Order and winning a seat on it requires great skill in politics as well as their chosen profession. While settlements are allowed to elect local officials (only those who completed their obligatory military service satisfactorily can vote or hold office), all civil positions above the local level are appointed under the authority of the Administrator-General. All levels of civil government are carefully watched by the Inquisition.  

[u]Military:[/u] 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. The Brotherhood also operates a small fleet on Lake Michigan based at Chicago as well as patrol craft along the Mississippi River. In wartime, can double it's size to ~80,000 using Reservists, at a cost to the economy. the Brotherhood's air assets are 10 Vertibirds, drones used for Reconnaissance and artillery spotting, and a moderate air transport fleet. However, the Hellion project has been completed, and a working prototype is available. Efforts are being made 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 four years of obligatory service. Admission to the Order is restricted to soldiers who served at least two years of honorable service. Competition for the limited openings is fierce, an exemplary service record is essential.       

[u]Economy:[/u] While free enterprise is allowed, and within limits encouraged, the Brotherhood has implemented what is basically a Command Economy, deliberately modeled on US economic policy during the Second World War. The top priority of the  Order is to ensure that the people have at minimum the base essentials of life, in exchange it is expected the people make the necessary sacrifices to ensure the Order can fulfill it's Duty to protect them from external threat, be it Mutant or Human. Displays of wealth and excessive consumption of luxury goods are frowned upon, and will draw the attention of the Inquisition if the subject holds civil or military authority at any level. Subscription drives by the citizens to pay for a war-bot, or a suit of power armor, or a battery of Field artillery, are encouraged and lauded in official propaganda. the Order does trade with many of it's neighbors, exporting food and finished goods and importing natural resources and other useful goods such as scrap metal and horses.

[u]Culture and Technology:[/u] While authoritarian in nature, there is due process and a Code of Law (the [i]Lex Barnaky[/i]) 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). 

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.          

[u]Religion:[/u] 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 Missionary's work to be a necessary evil, part of the burden he has assumed to protect Humanity. [/hider]