All the major Fallout factions explained

Fallout’s wasteland stretches across the United States from the Pacific Ocean to the Atlantic, and as you might imagine, there’s a nearly endless supply of groups vying for control over bits of territory. 

Some Fallout factions have lengthy histories that explain how they’ve stretched across the US while others a local groups that only appear in one or two games. The Fallout TV show is giving some factions an overhaul, and it also seems to be getting ready to re-introduce Vault-Tec as fully fledged faction in the post-war era. The future of Fallout is still up for grabs, but here’s what the biggest factions to date have been up to.

The Brotherhood of Steel

The Brotherhood is the most iconic faction in all of Fallout, and, yes, that’s mostly because of the armor. Brotherhood Knights don power armor and patrol the wastes, but they aren’t usually viewed as heroes. The faction was originally formed with the intention of hoarding pre-war technology to defend the world from another Great War. Different subsects have popped up across the United States with different ideals, but in general, the Brotherhood views itself as above the rest of the wasteland. It’s more concerned with advancing its own interests rather than protecting the people of the wasteland. 

The NCR

The New California Republic is the largest post-war government that we’ve seen in the Fallout franchise. The NCR began in Shady Sands, a community built well after the bombs fell. Over more than a hundred years, it expanded to include other cities like the Boneyard, and eventually it moved into the Mojave Wasteland. The NCR is a fully functioning democracy that protects its territory, feeds its citizens, and even issues its own currency. After the events of the Fallout TV show, it seems like the NCR has lost quite a bit of power, but members of the faction are still out there trying to bring the nation back to full strength. 

The Enclave

The Enclave are often the villains of Fallout’s overarching story. Made from the remnants of the pre-war wealthy and political elite, the Enclave is supposed to be concerned with restoring America. Usually, the restoration takes the form of armed assault on wasteland cities and attempts at purging the wasteland of non-humans, like ghouls and super mutants. The Enclave has been defeated time and time again, and in Fallout 3 they were presumably destroyed for good. That said, the TV show seems like it’s setting up a return for Fallout’s most notorious faction. 

Caesar’s Legion

Fallout: New Vegas introduced us to Caesar’s Legion, a Roman-inspired faction led by an authoritarian who’s modeled himself after the famous dictator. The Legion formed in Colorado, but it led a bloody assault west, capturing as much territory as possible until it reached the Hoover Dam in the Mojave. The Legion isn’t afraid to literally crucify anyone who disagrees with its harsh rules and rigid culture, and were it not for the NCR’s presence in the Mojave, the Legion probably would have taken over the New Vegas Strip. 

The Followers of the Apocalypse 

First introduced in the original Fallout, the Followers of the Apocalypse are a do-gooder organization of doctors and scientists. The Followers are primarily concerned with helping wastelanders in need by giving out free medical care and spreading knowledge and education. Fallout: New Vegas followed the faction’s move east from central NCR territory into the Mojave Wasteland, where there was no shortage of people in need of its services.

The Institute

Located beneath the Commonwealth, The Institute is a secret organization of scientists living in an underground bunker that would put any Vault-Tec vault to shame. The Institute has advanced technology that could absolutely transform life in the wasteland, but as a faction, it’s more interested in hoarding tech to continue advanced research into human-like robots called Synths. 

The Railroad

The Railroad is an East Coast faction that tries to help Synths escape the Institute. When it finds runaway Synths, it offers to erase their memories, so they can easily hide away as a regular human inside one of the wasteland’s many settlements. The Railroad is vehemently opposed to the Institute, and players get a major say in which faction comes out on top during the events of Fallout 4. 

The Minutemen

Once upon a time, the Commonwealth almost had a unified government that was brought together by a citizen’s militia called the Minutemen. That fell apart, but all hope isn’t lost. In Fallout 4 we help rebuild the Minutemen to unite the smallest settlement throughout the Commonwealth into a collective that looks out for each other. 

The Raiders

There are too many distinct raider factions to list them all here. New raider groups like the Fiends and the Powder Gangers pop up everywhere people go in the wasteland, and the factions are linked mostly by shared experiences like imprisonment or lifestyle choices like, well, cannibalism. Some of the most powerful factions in the Mojave wasteland became the owners of the Strip’s casinos, and out on the East Coast a number of raider factions united over their common goal to take control of Nuka-World.