DOs and DON'Ts of a Fallout fanfiction

Know Your Enemy

Factions 101!

I'm not an authority in this by any means, because I'm very biased. But then again, aren't we all?

This chapter will not be me trying to diss the Ceasar's Legion or the Institute (as much as I'd like to do that). This will be me just busting some stereotypes and trying to prevent some stuff that happens in fanfiction.

The Enclave are not good. I don't care how much you hate the Brotherhood, I don't care how much cooler Tesla Armor looks than Power Armor, siding with them is not justified if you're a "good" character, and whatever way you describe Henry Eden, it will not be justified. You will just be lying to yourself and your readers. They're evil. Accept that.

The Brotherhood of Steel is not the Nazi Germany. They're not genocidal, they're just conservatists. Don't try to monsterize everything Arthur Maxson does, because you'll just end up looking as hateful as him. Trying to make the Brotherhood look like The Most Evil Guys™ is even worse than making them The Generic Good Guys™ like in Fo3. Neither of those is true. This is a volunteer military force that rose from the ashes of the US military. They want to preserve/destroy technology, but they wanna save people too (courtesy of Elder Lyons). And there are some (like Scribe Haylen or Paladin Hudson), who are in it only for the latter. Corruption be corruption, but not all of them are inherently evil - just as not all of them are completely good.

The Institute is not a good choice for humanity. Just because there's a choice to join them, doesn't mean it's the morally right one. They want to give up on humanity and just leave it to die while they're cozy in their little hole in the ground, and I don't care if your son is in there! They are not good people. Siding with them isn't wrong. What is wrong is describing the character's motives for doing so as noble.

Saying that the New California Republic is like a cowboy version of the Brotherhood of Steel is just plain stupid. They've got a government and everything. Don't mistake the two, and don't treat the NCR as cowboys. Don't patronize them, because that's wrong, but don't pretend they're more important than they are, either. I know they have many fanboys who'll kill me for this, but the NCR isn't the one and only faction you can support.

The Railroad is not just that stereotypical "toasters have feelings too" group of weirdos. I know a lot of people see them that way, but you should make your research before you describe them as shallow good-for-alls. One point for the Railroad: they may be few, but they're all very fleshed-out characters. You should remember that, if you ever happen to write about them. As Deacon put it, they're "like one big dysfunctional family", and that's what you should capture. There's definitely more of a friendly atmosphere than in the Brotherhood or the NCR there.

I know we all know the Minutemen as the repetitive settlement quests machine, but that's not how it looks in the Fallout world. For one, stop thinking about quests. If this was the real world, you wouldn't refer to your work/school as a repetitive quest. That's just what the Minutemen do *shrugs*. They're a bit naïve in their belief that they can change the world, but their strength is in number and their mojo. If you want to bring the Minutemen into your story, you should consider not being negative towards them just because your gameplay of them was boring.

So yeah. Here it is. I know there's a whole lot more of factions, especially in New Vegas, but you'll just have make do with what I wrote until now. (And New Vegas is the only Fallout game I haven't finished, so I'm still not comfortable writing about it.)