As much as I loved Fallout 4, the story was terrible in many ways. The Railroad was flat, the Institute was boring and left tons of plotholes and missing answers, and the Brotherhood...don't get me started on the Brotherhood. Do they really have to be in every single Fallout game? Comon Bethesda, be original for once in your life!

However, it gets even worse. The only reason I felt a connection to the story is because I myself am married with four kids. This was the main problem with the story. Instead of playing your way, you were playing a character that Bethesda made for you. Sure, you had "choices" but you can't be evil, you can't screw everyone over, and you sure as day cannot play as a psychopathic killer. Everytime you try, your character laments that fact that he can't find Shaun. It's railroading (see what I did there, huh ) in the worst possible way. I feel bad for everyone else.. it's really hard to feel motivated in the main story when you really want to do other things, such as blow up cities and slaughter towns wholesale.

For these reasons, I decided to do a complete re-write of the main story in Belated Media's "What if the prequels were good," format. I'm a busy man, so I'll make these in chunks, first beginning with the factions and backstory of the Commonwealth as a whole. Once I get that out of the way, I can get started on the story itself. Let's begin.

Big Change 1: No Brotherhood/Gunners! I like the concept (repeat, the concept) of the Railroad and Institute, but the Brotherhood has no reason to be in Boston. The Gunners were a total rush-job. Here's a faction with leaders, insane amounts of weapons and verti-birds, and yet they don't even play a role in the story. Instead, I will replace these two with the Vault Republic. They are an integral part of the backstory of my Commonwealth.

Vault Republic

I envision the Vault Republic (VP) as exactly that, a republic consisting of Vault Dwellers. Essentially, the VP began as a loose confederation of Vaults inside of the post-war Commonwealth that sort of banded together for defense and safety. Began by Vault 81 when they discovered the locations of other Vaults in the area, the Vaults sort of stayed to themselves, and sent representatives to the other Vaults during meeting times. All traded goods and protected eachother to the best of their abilities.

Vault 95 was the "drug" vault, but for more of a sinister purpose. The USA/Enclave wanted a stock of warriors for the post-war period. So, they created a highly addictive drug akin to Buffout, and flooded the Vault with it. The dwellers of Vault 95 are thus some of the most physically imposing human specimens on the planet. These guys are tough and it takes a lot of ammo to take then down they are fully drugged up. Vault 81 was the research and development Vault. They began the union and are much more diplomatic in their approach. Vault 81 created the medicine and most of the food for the union. Vault 114 originally meant to house the elites of Boston. Vault 114 didn't really produce anything, so the other two vaults sort of took it under it's wing.

The VP gained in power over time, and eventually began to swallow smaller surface towns in the area. This alarmed the Institute, which was gaining in power at this point. The Institute delivered an ultimatum, surrender or die essentially. The VP felt no reason to be alarmed and disregarded the message. When an army of synths arrived at their doors, it was too late. The majority of the Vault Dwellers are either killed or enslaved, the vaults gutted, and memories of the union quickly erased.

The few remaining survivors banded together and began a long arduous exodus to the south. This event, known as to the VP society as "The Great Trek" is sort of the national epic of the people. Eventually finding themselves in Northern Pennsylvania and South Western New York, the Vault Dwellers , in around a century, carved a mighty empire out of the ruins of the old world. Due to their pre-war tech and knowledge, countess communities were forced to submit. By the year 2277, much of Pennsylvania and New York was under the dominion of the Vault Republic. They even came into contact and fought several battles with the Capital Wasteland Brotherhood of Steel.

The VP never forgot their origins, however, Now led by the Charismatic John Fairfield, the VP is ready to re-enter the Commonwealth, retake their holy vaults, and get the ultimate revenge on the Institute for their misery.

Society

The VP is a unique mix of apartheid, tribalism, and modern technology. Those descended from pre-war stock, IE the vaults, were the highest echelons of government. Only "pure" humans can vote, hold large property, and hold office. All generals, skilled warriors, scientists, doctors, and other important positions are held by those descended from Vaults. Anyone else is deemed a "mutant" and has rights based only on their genes. A human that is normal but not from the vaults has more rights than say, someone who has a mutation. Ghouls have no rights at all, but make a decent portion of the Republics population. Vault Dwellers make up less than 5% of the population

The Vault Dwellers take their Vault epics very seriously. They take pride in being from either Vault 95, 81, or 114. Every few years, elections are held, and each vault can nominate a "president" to lead the union. This can lead to shady backroom deals and corruption as each vault tries to get their nominee in power. The current president is from Vault 114, the first 114 dweller to lead the union since its conception.

Real World anologue: Being an Afrikaner/Zimbawean myself, I feel as if the VP is almost like the Boer States of Transvaal and the Orange Free State.

Position in-game

The VP ingame has just moved from the south, and has recently occupied Vault 95 for the first time in over a century and a half. Their goal is to move into the center of the Commonwealth and utterly destroy the Institute. Nothing less than a smoldering wreck will appease the bloodthirsty society.

Morals

Now, any player can certainly agree with their anger. They were nearly wiped out by the Institute, and want revenge. However, their overt bigotry and apartheid state will throw many off. They cannot be compromised with, and will seek the total destruction of the Institute as a whole.

I will continue with the Institute and Railroad next. In the mean time, gimme feedback and ideas! I like everything

Ehh, I enjoyed the Brotherhood and they have more of a reason for being in the commonwealth then you seem to give off.

I'd be happy to see more.


I found four lacking and while I kind of liked the Gunners I'd have rather seen BoS left off until a DLC or even entirely. Not every Fallout game has to have them.

Today was the first day I did a certain quest about a certain sea monster and it got me thinking.

BTW I really like the idea of a Vault Republic. Reminds me of the highly reverred VaultCity (never actually played 1 and 2 to have actually experienced it).

You can get 1, 2, and Tactics for a pretty good price.


I'd recommend doing that and playing a bit to see if you like it. If you don't just download a trainer and you can turn on Easy Mode to explore the wastes while being a combat ace. Vault City isn't as big as you seem to imagine it, but it's one of the cooler areas in Fallout 2

Thanks for the advice, I might give it a go.

My plans are to finish all of FO4s sidequests and explore every inch, go back to Wasteland 2 which I dropped (surprised me how good it was as far as I had gotten), after which I wont have any RPGs to play.

Hmm. I felt like the Institute and Railroad were both well done, so I disagree with you there.


You're right that the Brotherhood doesn't have to be in every game, but I liked them in FO4. They're continuing the overarching story from FO3.

That was a lot of why I personally didn't like the BoS in F4. There was so much stuff that just wasnt addressed. How did a certain person end up in The Institute? How did Sarah/Owyns die? What happened to the LW?


There was little to no carry over from F3 despite the single biggest faction from 3 reappearing

It literally doesn't matter how they died, only that they did. How did Madison Li get into the Institute? Clearly because the Institute needed a genius when it comes to nuclear physics which Doctor Li is. What happened to the LW is also irrelevant.

Now onto the thread

OP everything you said has been covered. Can't be evil? That's full of bullcrap. Just because some pointless point system isn't judging you doesn't mean you can't be evil. The Brotherhood has numerous reasons to be in the Commonwealth, the BoS know of the Institute, the BoS know of synths and the Commonwealth is an untapped potential for research and the acquisition of tech. Sure if you don't pay attention it may seem they have no reason but if you actually do pay attention you can see that.

Why does every group with weapons and military gear need to be present in the story? They had no reason to get involved in any of the factions. They had no stake in the ongoing conflict if anything it's good to see a group that organized and not have them shoe-horned into being another choice for the main story.

Personally I feel that Fallout 4's story is way better then what you gave us, OP. It's not that good.

I agree.

Why explain things? Why have backstory? Why put thought into it? Sounds boring to me.

Nice try making a bad point. Owens wasn't exactly a healthy young man, Sarah was a warrior that probably died in combat, Madison Li is easy to guess why she was recruited if you pay even the slightest attention to the game and LW fades into obscurity just like all the other fallout protags. Even the Vault Dweller faded into obscurity after Arroyo was settled.

There is plenty of backstory if you pay attention.

Not going to be dragged into this with you. It's not enough story for me, but that's cool that you are satisfied.

I'd like to see more about your rewrite OP. Curious about Institute and Railroad, but more so about BoS and Minutemen. Particularly Minutemen.

Would they be allies with this Vault Republic? Rivals? Adversaries?

Same questions for the BoS.

Fallout 4 story wasn't prefect but it was better than F3 likewise we still haven't had the DLC yet so perhaps some of our questions will be answered in them although doing the institute quest line has you invite an scientist to the institute so I reckon they did the same with Dr.Li

I think the gunners stole the Vetibirds from the Brotherhood (might be wrong but for me they only started using them after the BOS showed up) but otherwise I agree they where seemlying rushed and whilst they don't necessary need to apart of the main story they could of had some side-mission and perhaps some more background lore, perhaps they where revenants of the US. Army?

Interesting the Wiki states that the Gunner plaza is the "regional HQ" so it's possible we might learn more about them or perhaps visit their main base in one of the DLC

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Beth has an Habit of killing off/disappearing Pervious elder scroll game characters so they might be doing the same with fallout although compared to elder scroll character the fate of the LW does seem to be more vague... perhaps purposely done so we can decide what happened?

I also feel as if there were other problems. How the heck did they manage to get that massive fricking airship without anyone knowing across thousands of miles of hostile terrain, how are the supplying so many troops, how did they even get recon squads into the commonwealth, how do they find fuel for the verti-birds? Heck, how can the BOS move this far North when there are clearly threats down South to take care of? Shouldn't there be resistance? Destroying all your enemies in ten years just makes no sense.

And really, I felt as if the Lone Wanderer was in the position to either marry or become close friends with Lyons (she said she wanted to get to know him/her better) and take over the BOS. He literally saved them.

I'm only getting started

No need to be salty, I've played the game many times and I've beaten it over and over. I just don't understand why the BOS has to be in every single game. Fallout 3 was fan service in the worst possible way. Be original Bethesda!

I will go into details! I will write about my Insitute and Railroad next. Both are quite intertwined in my version.

BIG CHANGE 2:

Minutemen are no more!

Really, screw those guys. They have the potential in-game to go from one guy (Preston) with a laser musket to a full blown army with artillery, ready to take on factions that can literally mow them down with robots. It makes no sense at all. Even if I can suspend disbelief for a bit, how can Preston get so many men from these poor podunk towns and turn them into a professional army with modern weapons and ammunition? Even if they re-take the Castle, the Institute can spam synth hordes and decimate them in an instant. I feel as if they were just a lazy way for a psychopath character to have a way to beat the game.

Now, for big change number 3

The Minutemen are now part of the Railroad.

Yes, you heard me right. Let me explain:

The Railroad in my version are more than just a synth-freeing organization. Synths are a certainly a component, but the Railroad is now more focused about liberty and freedom in general. The leaders are no longer these pie-in-the-sky social justice warriors, but are intellectuals like Thomas Jefferson and Ben Franklin. The Railroad is primarily focused with securing personal freedom and security for the people of the commonwealth, whatever that means in any case.

The army of the Railroad are the common people who agree with the cause of the faction. Regular people band band together, and then call to arms is made, they form into squads. These people are known as the minutemen, due to the fact that the leaders of the faction can levy them at just about anytime.

As for synths, not everyone in the Railroad will agree that synths will need to be saved, In fact, many think that synths are simply machines, and not worthy of human rights. This can lead to a interesting faction dynamic. Many want synths to be free and have rights, and are actively fighting for them, while others (usually those profiting from synth labor such as farmers) are vehemently opposed to synth rights, and will do whatever it takes to prevent abolition from occurring.

This, in my opinion, makes the Railroad kind of like the early United States. Freedom was the goal of the revolution, but rights for Africans was the hot button issue.

Backstory

The Railroad has been around as long as the people of the Commonwealth can remember. While certainly not a "visible" faction, the Railroad's reach is everywhere. People from all walks of life belong to the faction, from poor beggars to high ranking Institute officials, from tradesman to plantation owners. Many agree with the Railroads ideals, which are plastered on billboards all over the Commonwealth. Others want safety. Whatever the case, the Railroad is one of the biggest factions in the Commonwealth.

The leaders of the Railroad pull many strings, and will do whatever it takes to keep the Commonwealth free. Very few people have seen the leaders of the Railroad in person, and many believe that don't even exist. Whatever the case, whenever the call to arms is issued, all who profess loyalty join together to battle.

The relationship with other factions is complicated. The Institute has tried many times to destroy the Railroad, but has never been able to find their leaders. At times, the Railroad has engaged in open war with the Institute. An uneasy peace exists at the present time, but this can change at a moments notice. Both factions have become sort of intertwined at this point, with many rich Institute farmers being part of the Railroad, but fighting the faction that wishes to see Synths free. Many in the Railroad want to see the Institute destroyed, however.

Most of the regular members do not understand just how divided the faction is. The main issues are with the leadership, but generally, the leaders agree just enough to keep the faction from full blown civil war.

The Vault Republic has now entered the Commonwealth, sparking fear within the Railroad leadership. Many are calling for the levies to be summoned for war.

Ideals

This is where it gets sort of fun. The Leaders of the Railroad will be revealed to be a diverse crew, all in it for various reasons. Some actually agree with "freedom," while others, such as plantation owners, only want to enrich themselves and keep their station in society intact. Many love the Institute, while others vehemently oppose it.

Generally, the members of the Railroad believe in the ideals of the American Revolution. What that actually looks like is very subjective.

In-game

The Railroad is everywhere, and they are spying on you from the get-go. I see this faction as highly "moldable." They are not really set in stone at all, and player choice will affect the entire course of the faction. You could turn the Railroad into an Institute loving synth hating machine that profits off of slave labor, or destroy the Institute and free the synths, or variations of the two.

Next up, I will do the Institute. I will have fun with them, trust me ! Please give me feedback and suggestions. I can take it, believe me. I've seen worse!