An Abridged History of the Boogeymen of Fallout
We’ve covered the NCR, the Brotherhood of Steel, and Vault-Tec. However, one faction of the Wastelands remains that we have yet to cover: that of the Enclave. They may have had the shortest screen time in the recent Fallout TV show, but that belies their importance in the story of Fallout. If Vault-Tec is the worst of capitalism, then the Enclave is what conspiracy theorists fear the US government might be like. They’re the deep state made real, the boogeyman of the Wasteland.
I’m RJ Writing Ink. For our final look at factions in Fallout, we’re covering the Enclave, also known as the remnants of the United States government.
The Deep State Was Real in Fallout
Most Wastelanders believe that the United States of America died with the rest of the world in the Great War. In truth, though, the USA had been dead for a long time, hopelessly corrupt, and little better than the Communists they claimed to be fighting. Over the years, a cabal had formed between the highest echelons of the US government and captains of industry. Presidents, award-winning scientists, high-ranking officials, and military officers all joined together to create a deep state that ran the US from the shadows. And when it became apparent that a nuclear war was inevitable, rather than try to stop it, they chose to focus on saving their skins.
This cabal, later known as the Enclave, was the other half of the conspiracy behind the Vaults. In return for funding the Vaults and letting Vault-Tec run their twisted experiments, the Enclave would use the data to prepare themselves for a trip to another planet to start over. By the time of the Great War, the last President and most of the Enclave had already abandoned their people, taking shelter in hidden locations to ride out the apocalypse.
The Enclave, the Boogeyman
For 160 years, the Enclave hid in their secret bases, cut off from the world and the radioactive remnants they left behind. At some point, they gave up traveling to another world and focused on recolonizing the mainland and resurrecting the United States. Unfortunately, all that time in isolation made them worse than they already were. They now saw themselves as the only pure humans left alive and anyone else as mutants. Even those who survived in the Vaults were no longer considered human in their eyes. Thus, before they reclaimed America, they decided to kill everyone else in the world.
The Enclave worked from the shadows, sending teams to mainland California to gather weapons, resources, and slave labor. They rediscovered the F.E.V. virus that created the Super Mutants in the ruins of Mariposa Base, took samples, and modified it. After abducting the inhabitants of Vault 13 and Arroyo, founded by descendants of those who had left that Vault, they modified the F.E.V. to make it fatal to anyone with mutations in their DNA. By 2242, they were hours away from releasing the virus into the atmosphere to wipe out the rest of humanity. However, they made a big mistake.
One of the residents of Arroyo, their Chosen One, had been away when their people were abducted. Realizing the threat they posed, they and a group of companions stormed their oil rig base, rescued the prisoners, and then set the base to self-destruct. The Enclave’s genocidal plans went up in a ball of nuclear fire.
Failure in the East
Without their leaders or base, the Enclave members in California found themselves the most wanted in the Wasteland. Hunted as war criminals, they either gave up their identities or fled eastward to what was once Washington, D.C. There, they regrouped under a mysterious new President, John Henry Eden, who was actually a supercomputer. By 2277, they were able to move in force around DC.
Around this time, a group of scientists was finishing a plan to purify the water of the Capital Wasteland. Seeing an opportunity, Eden ordered the capture of the child of the project’s leader, a Vault Dweller known as the Lone Wanderer. Eden tried to persuade the Wanderer to sabotage the project, modifying the water to make it fatal for anyone with mutated DNA.
Thankfully, the Wanderer refused and brought the plan’s attention to the local Brotherhood chapter. They promptly declared war on the Enclave, raided their bases, and put an end to Eden’s genocidal plans. As for the plan to purify the water, the Wanderer may or may not have given their life to activate the machine. While the Enclave scattered once more, the Capital Wasteland had clean drinking water for the first time in centuries.
The Enclave Keeps Coming Back
For a long time, many people, both in the universe and in real life, hoped that the Enclave was gone for good. The ones who could escape abandoned their old lives and tried to blend into the new societies forming in the Wasteland to escape prosecution. As the Fallout show revealed, the Enclave remains active in some locations. However, whether or not they will play another significant role in the franchise in the future remains to be seen.
As brief as their return is in the show, the Enclave remains a significant threat to life in the Wasteland. Having worked with Vault-Tec in the past, I believe it could be disastrous for everyone if they worked together again. Even if they don’t appear in the show again, there’s always the chance they’ll show up in another Fallout game. Most of them are like evil radroaches that refuse to stay dead. Until that day, though, their legacy will live in stories people tell to frighten each other around the campfire. Such is their monument, and hopefully, it would displease them.
