So obviously this is heavy with spoilers if you have not completed the MQ where the Institute falls.

I am currently playing a raider like character. She is rather mean, uses scare and intimidation tactics. Is absolutely brutal in combat with her Gauss Rifle and assortment of deadly melee weapons. She chose the Brotherhood of Steel faction to support. Somehow it's military rules and regulations reminded her of Nate's career. plus it sort of toned her down some... but not much. if anything she just takes responsibilities a little more seriously now.

So to the point. During the battle against the Institute she convinced her real son Shaun to give her the override codes for the synths and used his terminal to shut as many of them down as she could. She turned on the evacuation alarm so as many innocent families as possible could get away.

When confronted with the synth child Shaun she agreed to take him with her. After all he was programmed to believe she was his real mother... not even in her twisted chem jacked brain did leaving him behind seem like a good idea.

But now what to do with him? He is on the airship standing outside her quarters. I have the option for her to select a settlement to send him to... but I am not sure if that is a good idea.

Sanctuary Hills is her home base but not at her old house. Would he know to hang out at her new fortress? Or would he just wander around aimlessly near her old house? I thought maybe I would send him to Kingsport Lighthouse. Well fortified and out of danger. But no one lives there. maybe Covenant? Then I thought maybe the Coastal Cottage where the exiled Danse is living. He could be like a synth father for the synth child.

But then I decided to leave him on the airship. Its got good clean filtered air. There are children for him to play with. Lots of food. Its safe.

If I do send him somewhere at some point in the game can I change that location later?

Where do you guys send the child Shaun?

Do you have the option to send him to a settlement if you side with the Institute? I don't remember seebgbjst as an option on my first play through?

I'd send him to live with his new mom, Curie, at either our beachouse on Spectacle Island or at Sanctuary Hills.

It would be great if if he, Curie and I could live at Homeplate in DC so he could attend school.

I left him at my airport settlement along with Codsworth, Curie and Piper since its where I keep my weapons, clothing and power armor.....also I do get a certain pleasure from having two Synths right under the Brotherhood's nose.

Since Bethesda totally neglected young Shaun, at most settlements I have found he will stand in one spot and stare into space. Day and night, in all weather.

Can hardly wait until someone mods a fix for this.

I did the Minute Men ending. There seems to be no choice where he gets sent. He goes to the Castle and stands at that center area with the dude on the radio. I can talk to him and got one small quest from him to give him some mats to make something. But I don't see any dialog to move him anywhere else. So I also hope a modder will step in where Bethesda left off as I would like to send him to Santuary.

I got a weapon of him by bringing him stuff....actually I had everything he asked for in the workbench storage.

well as I mentioned with the BoS ending I get the choice of where to send him when I talk to him. but I don't want him standing around outside by himself all day.

So I think for now he will just have to hang out in the airship. But I will burn that to the ground should I find him missing or worse. yes Elder Max I am looking at you.

Ah yes, the Open Minded weapon.

Since ive killed houndreds of synths already at that point i told him he shall burn. He isnt your son anyway and one more or less synth walking around doesnt matter that much. Preston wasnt happy with it, but lets be honest who cares what preston is thinking...?

The airship is terrible. If you listen to the tape, they said it smells horrible, no one showers, and there are a bunch of dead radioactive creatures and mole rats around that stink up the place.

I've only gotten that far with my first character, also a BoS Sentinel, and she ended up sending him to Sanctuary in order to be around Preston's group of people. Whenever my character visits Sanctuary, she often finds Shaun setting on the patio of the building with the workbench. I had designated that building as Sturges's home and assigned the bed there to him. Mama Murphy lives in the SS's old house.

This character's home base is currently Red Rocket, but it's not set up for children and there is no room for a second bed. The only ones living there are Dogmeat, Codsworth, and Danse.

However, in talking to Shaun he made a comment to the tone of how he hated it underground and really liked the open space and being under the sky. Since he said something like that, I would never put him back in any isolated covered space like the Prydwen when there are other places he could be. He seems very happy to be out of the Institute.

At some point, I plan to have this character move to a different area where her, Danse, Dogmeat, Codsworth, and Shaun can live together more like a family (I just can't decide where yet), but for now, Preston's little group is Shaun's second family and he seems pretty happy there with them.

I leave him in the Institute when it goes Boom!

My first character sent him to The Castle. Not really any children there, but there were lots of people, a trader and a brahmin, as well as several vendors he had set up . Place had lots of food, water, and electricity, and well defended. BOS was history, as was The Institute. An all around good place for the child, I only wish there were some kids there.

My current character is not a nice person (that's putting it mildly), and was extremely cruel and mean to his wife and child prior to the bombs falling. He regretted ever marrying that wench, and having that infernal snot nosed brat of a child. He's a greedy, self absorbed, wife beating POS. He extorts people for more money than what the job is worth, and when it comes time to help out those in need, he let's them fend for themselves. He's recently joined the BOS in hopes of rekindling some of that camaraderie he felt while he was in the military. He despises synths, and when he finally finds his son, he's going to fulfill a promise he made to himself a few centuries earlier, to eliminate the problem of fatherhood once and for all.

As far as the synth child...he gets blown sky high with the rest of those filthy synths. And the civilians there? Collateral damage is perfectly acceptable to him. They did, after all, align themselves with the enemy.

Yep me too, just another synth in the nuclear fire.

my character just didn't have the heart when someone who looked like the son she lost ran up to her begging her "momma don't leave me here!" He is programmed to believe she is his mother. She's killed people for sneezing on her but something about Shaun... she couldn't leave him there.

I thought of Sanctuary but well no one lives there. Preston is still with his group in Concord, oblivious to the fact its been safe to go outside for months.

as far as the smells on the Prydwen, I believe there are vents in place for the mole rats and other stinky things in the lab. And its not like he can't go out on deck and see the world below. I'll take him there... just not yet.

Nah, all the people up there must smell pretty bad since the soldiers stationed up there don't shower (It's not like they can), there is a tape where they complained about that. People there don't shower and stay in power armor with a confined space all day. You can't expect them to smell like roses.

But he isn't your son. There is even a conversation you have have with Father about how Synth Shaun didn't give the appropriate emotional response. Basically Father wants to mess with your head. To give you back your son. Even after you learn your son is a now 60 years old and has lived those 60 years without you.

Synth Shaun is a novelty, nothing more.

More like a slap in the face, that's why even on my first (good guy) character, he had to think long and hard before he accepted him at The Castle. My newest character has no intentions of falling for that.

He's be programmed with Shaun's personality matrix. Father's not really trying to mess with you, he's doing it out of a desire on his own part to relive his child-hood. To take back the years he never had. He can't do that on his own, so he replicates himself in Synth form.

In order words, he's trying to be sincere and give you something to hold onto. He's just doing it in his usual odd sheltered way.

But in conversation with him I believe the question of "well why didn't you just unfreeze me so I could live with you" came up. So why didn't he?

Need the dialogue files to see what was actually said.

Shaun (Father) is a screwed up character. From what I can tell the bad things the Institute does are because of him. What I took from the game is that my son grew up to be monster. His little project doesn't interest me and won't change things. Synth Shaun is a machine nothing more.

I actually don't recall being able to ask that. I could be wrong though.

I mean he's a guy with ethical issues. No question about that. But I'm very much a "blood is still blood" type of guy. Regardless of who he became, he's still my son etc. And by the end he does show genuine feeling. I thought the Nuclear Family scene was pretty touching actually. He's a sheltered guy who's grown up with sheltered people his whole life, and he believes the above ground world is basically just full of monsters and savages.

My character views SynthShaun as more of a grandson than a son. Since he's the closest thing "Shaun" had to an offspring.

That is an interesting way to look at it. Is there a way to get Synth Shaun to call you his Grandfather? If so that would be great. Does he age or was Father's plan to have us make a new body for Synth Shaun every could of years or so?

I am pretty sure we can have some conversation about why Shaun didn't just unfreeze us years ago. Once he figured out that we were his Father. I recall he tells us he knew the truth for a very long time.

At the moment, no unfortunately. I'm kind of hoping they'll be a mod that'll come along and do just that though. Or something similar. Little tricky though since it would require deleting or recording some of his dialogue.

Right now that's just how I've got it set-up in my head. RealShaun was his son, and SynthShaun is the closest thing he'll have to a grandson (from Shaun).

Not exactly sure really. Some of the comments by the Institute scientists about how "astounding" this project is make me almost think SynthShaun could age. But I've no idea how that would work.

My assumption is that he'll remain a perpetual ten year old though, unless his personality matrix is transferred to older and older bodies as time goes on like you said.

That kind of makes him a dike, to be honest. If he knew this whole time that we were his mom/dad, this whole time he could've unfrozen us and had us escorted to the Institute...at any time.

My guess it was one of those adopted vs. biological parents situations that happen all the time in real life, and similar questions were probably asked. No doubt Shaun was raised by someone in The Institute. And when he finally found out who his biological parents actually were and, more importantly, where they were it took him awhile to decide whether or not he should meet them.

Would meeting his parent, now younger than him, cause them both more problems than it would solve? Would it be better if they never knew each other? What if his parent wanted nothing to do with him? etc. etc.

Part of the reason he releases you and watches what you do is because he's unsure of the type of person you are.