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[synthedick]

Comments

[synthedick]

The trick is finding their suppliers and their sources when they seem to vanish into thin air every time we get a lead on where they might be. You'd think it'd be tough to move whole groups of people and synths around without leaving a trace, but that's been the case for years. Folks call them the Institute the 'The Boogeyman of the Commonwealth' for a reason.

[Except the Boogeyman scared mostly children; the Institute is a very real threat to everyone.]

[onlyanautomaton]

So until they are found, there is nothing left to do except fortify each town. There is an abiding military presence, I presume.

[synthedick]

If only.

[His tone says that's a resounding no.]

Most folks try to fortify themselves, but they aren't trained with weapons, and the ones they have can't stand up to the technology the Institute is packing. The Brotherhood of Steel could handle it, but they don't take kindly to anyone who doesn't fit their definition of human. They'd probably let a town of ghouls burn and think the world a better place because of it.

[onlyanautomaton]

[A technologically superior organization attacking settlements that are less advanced. Oscar doesn't much like the sound of this 'Brotherhood', either.]

What, or should I say who, are ghouls?

[synthedick]

[Right. Not everyone comes from a war-torn wasteland.]

I guess not everywhere has ghouls. They're what you get when you take one human, a heaping helping of radiation, and something in them that refuses to let the rads keep 'em down. Some lose their minds, their brains rotting away in their own skulls, but most are just odd-looking folks trying to get by. The Brotherhood, though, they don't see them as human anymore. Maybe they aren't. That doesn't mean they aren't worth protecting.

[onlyanautomaton]

Of course they're human.

[How ridiculous.]

Overexposure to radiation would do nothing to alter that.

[synthedick]

[Leave it to Oscar to make Nick feel just a little better about the world.]

It certainly changed their physiology, but they're more human than I am. Not that the Brotherhood would take kindly to a fella like me, either.

[onlyanautomaton]

It sounds to me like this 'Brotherhood' could stand to benefit from an extensive re-evaluation of their approach to public relations.

[synthedick]

If another one of their ranks shows up in town, I'll let them know.

[If only everyone could be as reasonable as the two guys who are more machine than man. Alas.]