"What is a man against a synth other than the terribly pitiful excuse of not being without potential?"

"(to a female PC) Oh, yes you are. You are a man of mankind that is your race. We are synth, the next step of evolution. You brought us forth, as animalkind gave birth to you. You are the link."

-A0-A1



"Can you see her in the skies, the mother-that-birthes-herself? You cannot stand her gaze, can you? Neither can the synths. This is the base for an alliance. I probably don't need to tell you, but don't listen to that Anastasic-Catholic [censored] these bishops try to feed your head upon. Sounds nice, such a world in hands of a loving god, doesn't it? Well just look around yourself in this wasteland. God is not loving and caring. And yet she's not a man."

-Sister Louisiana



"I've given up on debating with imbeciles about the nature of technological marvels their minds would never have come close to grasp. I am 150 years old. ..or am I? I don't care for numbers anymore, I want Results."

-Doctor Zebed?us



"Well I was build an escort service, so the logical step was to become a prosttute. That was after the railroad finally managed to free me from the institute's influence. Bet you know 'bout freedom, darling. Folks lose themselves in philosophical gibberish, yet I remain best in what I do. So it's either coin right now, or you may blow this beautiful night goodbye."

-Daisy Delight (A4-04)



"Transcending humanity sounds like a nice concept? Yeah, Anastasic came up with nice ideas, too. Listen, the A3-series not only caused our prestige the most damage. They swallowed money, time, resources, lives. And possibly minds, considering Zimmer or Elkmann. People can become so obsessed with perfection, that not even flawlessness could satisfy them any longer."

"See, in marked contrast to the idealists who took over 2200, I don't like this job. This is no passion of mine, I was born into their structures and learned to adapt, just like the synths adapted to the wasteland. And the wasteland to them."

-Dr Covault



"Failroad mind your backyard!"

-Graffiti at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston




More dialogue with dumb ( ≤3 INT) PC:

PC: "Hubble. I come in peace and I love scien."
Doctor Zebed?us: "You've heard of me I'm sure. My science is clearly non-negotiable and so today, the whole world out there knows the name of the number one terrorist."
PC: "You meanin' Citizin Fighter? He's cool vows I'm supposed to think."
Doctor Zebed?us: "You're a human who might not be interested in science, am I right?"
PC: "(45 science) Heisenberg indeterminacy principle!"
Doctor Zebed?us: "All right, show me what you got."
PC: "(15 science) The Pythagorean theorem? U can'd spell Pythagorean wivout 'gore'."
Doctor Zebed?us: "This is as bitter as it'd be to finally get that taste back again. Do they fear saying my name out there?"
PC: "Well, anybodnz hasn't hurt from u, so why you askin? Oh, sorrowse, you wur actuenly finkince dad u's rriiialy an summybuddy out in wastelan'?"
Doctor Zebed?us: "My mind circuits run straight, thanks to the nonexistant god of science, so I'm proud to be capable of deciphering this garbage. So you say nobody knows who I am anymore, am I right?"
PC: "Well, you are very owle and many time is passing by every year. And now many winters were and you~ very old now. I mean like, reilley old, like, a fousan yearce owls. I'm aczuoelly deaf serioes rite now. Nobdoy is still alife to have seen ya, ixzep'd dees gouhliman's an wimance."
Doctor Zebed?us: "(see the above quote) And if nobody else wants results, nobody else will withstand me. And this is where you come into play. A dumb mercenary, a perfect tool. You'll BOMB my MOTHER[censored]IN' NAME RIGHT BACK INTO THE HEADS OF THESE LOWLIVES."
PC: "Better you givin' me many cool stimpax for payment or an very expensive weaponz for BOOM! Becuz I've many capz alreddy... and not like to alwaise count stupid money."

The New England Commonwealth will not feature any major factions known so far. No BoS, no enclave (of course, there is none anymore, 'cept the outposts in chicago, which might've been abandoned long ago), no MWBoS, no Legion, no Daughters of Hecate, no Mutant Liberation Army (no supermutants at all; Ghouls will appear, though, for obvious reasons). It is all new. Well except the few given things Fallout 3 laid out for us:

1. The Commonwealth itself is nothing but a war-ravaged quagmire of violence and despair. Inside the sealed environment of the Institute, however...
2. The Institute has created true artificial intelligence (A.I.) and is capable of manufacturing androids, also referred to as "synths" - short for "synthetic human" - the name by which they will go from now. Hardly makes them original, but it's a start.
3. A3-21 represents the pinnacle of artificial humanity, a being that would take years to replicate. He's also probably a creation of Dr. Zimmer himself.
4. Synths, according to Dr. Zimmer, have fake skin and blood, and are programmed to simulate human behaviors, such as sleeping and breathing. They can even eat and digest food realistically. The androids created in the Commonwealth have no rights, and are viewed as nothing more than machines, and they are often used as slaves.
5. Any synth that attempts to escape is hunted down by the Synth Retention Bureau, a special branch of the Commonwealth Police. A3-21 was part of this institution.
6. Another organization active against the Commonwealth, the Railroad, functions in direct opposition to the Institute. Named in honor of the Underground Railroad, the Railroad's mission is the rescue and salvation of synthetic humanoids primarily, though enslavement as a whole is also fought against.
7. A synth's mind is somewhat controllable, one can at least delete and restore their memory through software commands (even to the point of giving them false memories).

(parts are copypasted from nukapedia)

Now, what do we make of this given information?

1. We can assume that synths have made a lasting impression in the commonwealth. Everybody should know of them, they should be plentiful, history should be influenced heavily by their occurrence.
2. Many synths are no longer part of the Institute and should have (at first) followed the agenda of the railroad or similar opposing factions.
3. Synths are like humans, except artificial. Benefits and disadvantages come with this.
4. There has been sort of a technological ever-revolutionary process finally leading to the creation of A3-21 as the most valuable executed blueprint.


Now, I'm not a fan of retroactive continuity, so I don't intend to make any of Fo3's given lore non-canon. I'm a strong believer in that every aspect of this game, except Little Lamplight maybe, can be developed and elaborated to the point of logical inherent and overarching (regarding the series as whole) consistency. So I do not plan to retcon the synths as actually being mind-controlled humans, or some such ideas, although I'm not blind to the problems that arise from having super-SCIENCE!, that could eventually make everything possible.

Let's take a history lesson.

The Institute has a long history of research and development in robotics, seeing as Mr House, later the founder of RobCo Industries, attended the MIT in the years before the Great War. Now, Fo3 indicates that they have remained a boon of scientific progress even after fires of atomic warfare purged the world in 2077. Would they remain hidden inside their closed, vault-like environment? Maybe until 50 years after the bombs fell, or so. But they need non-robotic personnel, nourishment, resources, experimental playground. And maybe they're a little conceited and power-hungry. (I will later continue this)

I would strongly assume, that they emerged as a powerful force in the years after the heaviest radiation had vanished. Through their technological advantage, they could have purified the water, enforced law and even brought peace back into the wastes, that until then were primarily inhabited by savage tribes and raider gangs, that terrorized the few established settlements.

The Institute reintroduced technology into the wastes, securing their resources, while carefully and arrogantly retaining their predominant position in the commonwealth. And as they were soon confronted with opposing forces, who didn't want to accept the MIT's hegemony, they became even less merciful in flaunting their might. Enemies to the regime were silenced and brutally tortured. The Institute tried to conserve the image of benevolent rulers, who were given no other choice, but ever-growing parts of the population soon lost all trust in their sovereigns.

Cries for freedom became audible, the smell of revolution polluted the airways, expressing its face in (among others), the leader of a catholic clan by the name of Victor Anastasic (the name of the clan was Vis Anastasis, accordingly), who openly demonstrated against the regime and provided the rebellion an ideological matrix. The clan utilized forbidden EMP-weapons and destroyed many robots, whom they viewed as ungodly abominations, harmful to the position of man as God's final creation.

The situation became even worse for the Institute as they discovered that elements of their own had secretly worked against their interests, supplying the rebellion with weapons and blueprints, which in the end were their sole advantage over them. The Institute's elite soon came to perceive that the commonwealth had ultimately overcome the need of saviors like them and as they continuously lost soil and support, they fearfully realized their eventual and inevitable doom.

The head of MIT's internal hierarchy was formed by scientists who at this point in time had long since transcended humanity. Imagine brains in a jar, most of them alive since before the Great War. Unstable entities, that during their unnaturally long lives had stripped themselves of nearly everything that once had made them human, except the greed of breaking through any insurmountable obstacle that deemed to prove their cause wrong. As the rebellious hosts, composed of forces that decades ago had been foes, arrived before the gates of the institute, they found all doors impenetrably sealed. Only a few advanced robots and people had been left behind by the MIT. Easy prey. But war is a dirty business.
As the earth opened and nuclear devastation once again rained down on the Commonwealth, the screams of desperate people mixed with maniacal laughter, promising that no matter how high you set your hopes and how close victory might seem...

The hollow sun shone down on great America and appeared to not give a single [censored] this day.

Very drastic and multi-faceted events followed the second apocalypse, an incident that went down in history as the devil's work as opposed to the Great War, which was viewed as of divine will by Vis Anastasis (Anastasic had died a martyr during the civil war and was transformed into some kind of nearly-Jesus-like saint by his disciples - a man who, before finally ascending to heaven, had walked through purgatory to proselytize the lost souls that had been engulfed by nuclear fire; btw the mix of latin and greek in Vis Anastasis is intended as the catholics deliberately drew on any Christian-religious scriptures they could get hold of), that marked the beginning of the endtime. The area around the ruins of MIT were considered forbidden territory, anyone who would wander there would become cursed and shunned by the surviving populace, who in these desperate times evermore turned towards religion and faith. Charity was needed and the Christians, after waging a righteous war, were very altruistic, whereas lacking the uniformity of pre-war catholicism.

While the people on the surface of a scarred commonwealth struggled for survival, the Institute (as a faction) had sealed itself deep beneath the ruins of the MIT. Some among them, anxiously aware of the head-scientists plans, had also taken refuge inside two long since abandoned Vaults in the region namely Vault 68 and Vault 81. They had seen themselves on the losing end of a struggle against the madness of the institute's elite. Driven out of the MIT, they were trying to save as many of the ignorant populace as they could. Time had been scarce though and most people accounted the warnings of antagonistical doomsday-preachers insincere and insidiously harmful.

The head-scientists would meet their end nonetheless, as those who had stayed with them, seemingly supporting their objective, would seize the opportunity of the elite's triumph during the second nuking. They bloodily revolutionized the Institute from within, killing nearly all of their almost omnipotent elite in the least suspected moment, with the commonwealth already doomed to perdition. The Institute would prevail cleansed of the elements which had led them to their decay. This act of retaliation had (in their opinion) washed their slate clean, finally being free from the dictate of their oppressive sovereigns.

Newborn idealism, pride for their pre-war roots and thirst for scientific advance incited the Institute to reintroduce progress into the wasteland. But their image was blacker than black for the populace: the Institute was viewed as the devil incarnate after all. They quickly reconnected with their remaining allies in vault 81 (Vault 68 laid too far outside the forbidden territory around the MIT and was thus unreachable) and now organized democratically; collective thought-processes should bring about a solution for their unpleasant situation.
Military campaigns were quickly discarded as self-harming and unproductive to their ends - comprehension of and collaboration with the locals were desired, but unfortunately seemed unattainable.

The remnants in vault 68 developed a different approach, leaving behind their previous identities and forming a new confederation, the Alliance of Science (working title). Fed up with the way things had been going, but still aware of their exceptional position as scientists (as opposed to the uneducated populace), they determined to team up with indigent physicians, researchers and scientists of the wastes. Always carefully hiding their former allegiances, they were educating commoners and helping with agribusiness, medical treatment and reconstruction. Robotics or weapon technology on the other hand became a non-issue under the watchful eyes of Vis Anastasic and its zealous representatives. So as the Institute remained independent but destitute, the Alliance of Science lost their unrestrained autonomy, but regained influence.

"What do you feel when you drink a glass of water?
What is it that you feel when you take a shower? Whenever you hug or kiss or scream? When you bring home your children from school, if you know there was a time when parents had children in school? When you had a hard day at work? When you had a good day? When you make love, when you reach an orgism? What do you feel whenever you cut yourself while shaving? What does victory feel like? And shame and envy and pain? Curiosity? Rebellion? Taking things to the extreme, while regretfully forgetting other things? A normal day? Radioactivity damaging your brain until you run into the metro tunnels like the other freaks? What does it feel like to be a human?

Isn't it simply a cocktail of hormones and electrical signals, running through your brain? Emotional and mechanical becomes one?
Perhaps a much better question is this: Don't you also rely on them? Isn't your mere existence as a human being chained in unified boundary to them? Let's say you only lose some of them. Put your brain into a slumber between robotical shoulders, lose animalism, sensualism and buy immortality. Like they did before. Do you pay dearly for it? Is it possible for a technological standard to not only reach the level of humanity but to become harder, better, faster, stronger? (Sry for the pun, if this is a pun. A synth's intern data storage probably succeeds mine in efficiency. [censored] bastards are right. They are better than humanity. But unfortunately for them, they cost more money. ) But still human?

Perhaps your answer is yes, and I respect that, given the experiences you might've had here. Mine is no. I've seen and felt the truth. They no longer even fool themselves into believing that they need to be treated the same as humans. They are superior. And they make use of their superiority, just as we did in the realm of animals. And their act of replicating superceding that of humans? [censored] this [censored]! We cannot befriend them or even let them be. They'll take their rightful throne, so they all must die or we will be the animals of the future! There may be some who integrate well into our society, but what kind of society does humanity have here anyway? She will unite them and I only have but this one chance to ruin her plans. I will pay with my life if I'm caught here. Do we have a deal? I cannot kill you with my bare fists, but I swear that I'll try to if I can somehow coerce you to help us. To help us all."

-En Moettill, head slave to A0-A1


To be continued...

1. It Only Hurts for a Little While

This quest is about investigating the brahmin epidemy, that had befallen many local brahmin in last months.
As most investigative quests are, it's by definition mostly decisionless until a given point, when decisions are to be made.


2. Love Letters in the Sand




3. Sail Along Silvery Moon




4. He's Got The Whole World In His Hands

This is the questline that would bring about victory for Vis Anastasis. It's very complex and has several parts and equally possible decisions. The major faction questlines don't interfere as much with another as those in New Vegas. But just like with You'll Know It, When It Happens/Arizona Killer in that game, there'll be major events, that each faction witnesses. There will be option for certain truces between certain (even major) factions, also there'll be more than three/four.

The quests in the questline have the following titles:
He's Got The Whole World In His Hands - Genesis
He's Got The Whole World In His Hands - Exodus
He's Got The Whole World In His Hands - Leviticus
He's Got The Whole World In His Hands - Numbers
He's Got The Whole World In His Hands - Deuteronomy
He's Got The Whole World In His Hands - The Savior of The World



5. Into Each Life Some Rain Must Fall




6. G.I. Jive