‘Fallout 76’: Bethesda Clarifies Brotherhood of Steel Confusion

We’ve been learning a lot about Fallout 76 in the past month and even more once we got our own hands on the game after talking to Bethesda during a recent event. Though overall we were impressed with what we saw, players couldn’t help but to point out that Bethesda seemed to be reworking the Brotherhood lore a bit – which makes sense, given that this faction technically came before Bethesda’s time. Still, the studio is now responding to all of the questions once and for all about the stance of the Brotherhood.

In an Instagram blog-style post, Bethesda provided context regarding the timeframe that had lore fans concerned:

For those that can’t see the text, it reads “”November 2077, a month after the Great War, army Captain Roger Maxson arrived with survivors at the Californian bunker of Lost Hills. There he formed the Brotherhood of Steel, who used a functioning satellite to extend their reach across America… all the way to Appalachia.”

Need a little backstory for where the confusion first began? You can read our full walkthrough right here, but it started with one Reddit post noted that all of the lore has stated that the Brotherhood of Steel was centered mostly – almost exclusively – in California. The original poster added, “with ranking leaders having to make petitions just to go on expeditions to facilities even within California, earliest known activity was only in California around 2134. The Brotherhood of Steel being in WEST VIRGINIA in the year 2102 should be downright implausible if not impossible – The implied canon is that they were still hibernating in their bunker in Lost Hills until 2150 after they went on an Exodus from Mariposa directly south to their new base in 2077.”

Since the Brotherhood of Steel was created before Bethesda took the reigns of the franchise, it seems that the studio decided to rewrite a bit of the Wasteland’s history.

He did add however, “And just to clarify, there are thousands of miles of desert, land, mountains, rockies, and rivers between California and West Virginia – It’s highly unlikely a few vertibirds would have the fuel required to make the distance and back even within the time frame of 25 years. Even then the Brotherhood shouldn’t have vertibirds at this point either, as they acquired them from the Enclave after the events of Fallout 2 in the 2200’s, and even if they did have them at this point, they would require fuel they didn’t have, as the vertibirds required frequent refueling and needed a station just to maintain them.”

So there you have it! Bethesda swoops in to save the day.

We’ve got tons of Fallout 76 coverage pouring in! To stay up to date on the latest news, check out our full community hub right here to stay in the know 24/7! As for the game itself, the next entry into the Fallout series debuts on November 14th on Xbox One, PS4, and PC.