Golbolco
It Wandered In From the Wastes
Roger Maxson knew exactly what he was doing when he compared himself to Jefferson Davis.
It is entirely incongruent that a military policeman would declare himself and his unit as seceding from the United States when they had just found out that the scientists they were guarding had been engaging in war crimes. He goes on to equate himself to Jefferson Davis, and then equates secession to desertion in the Army. Either it implies that Maxson had delusions of grandeur and saw himself as the tragic victim of everything happening at Mariposa, which reeks of narcissism...
Or he knew exactly what he was doing.
Let's review the facts: the scientists at Mariposa were conducting presumably-illegal experiments on prisoners of war. While the Fallout universe probably doesn't have these kinds of restrictions, these sort of experimentation is illegal in real life, and apparently the men and women stationed at Mariposa were not jackbooted-thuggish enough to overlook it. If it was legal, then they simply had their moral compasses dialed in.
On October 10, Maxson takes command of the base from Colonel Spindel and has his men round up the scientists--he does this explicitly to avoid his men killing them all. Three days later, he shoots the chief scientist himself. By October 18, all of the scientists are dead on his orders. Nobody left to interrogate. Then he makes his absurd declaration on October 20, gets no response for several days, and they evacuate the base's remaining personnel on October 27.
Nobody took Maxson's threat seriously not because the war was going badly; we've been told repeatedly in other sources that the United States had been engaged in a land invasion of China and that it was going quite well. Nobody took the threat seriously because he declares two things at once, one of which is absurd. You, an Army unit charged with protecting a top-secret base, don't secede from the United States. Senators and landowners secede from the United States, and unless they live in Key West they usually fail.
Nobody is sure how fast Maxson got his Brotherhood of Steel shtick going. Fallout 76 implies it was very early after the Great War, but that source doesn't hold much water around here. However, I'm inclined to agree that Maxson was probably drafting up his ideas for his knightly order for a while--maybe even before the bombs dropped.
The Knights of the Golden Circle were a secret society formed before the American Civil War that stockpiled gold to fund the creation of a new slavocratic empire centered on the Gulf of Mexico. While it might sound absurd, a lot of people you've probably heard of were members, Jefferson Davis among them. It's not uncommon for Neo-Confederate groups to name themselves after Knights and Templar-like terms; the Klan does it, for example.
I'd wager that Roger Maxson always had Anti-American leanings, agreed with the tenants technofeudalism keeping advanced technology out of the hands of the Untermensch, and really liked the sound of "Paladin Maxson" on his dog tags for a change.
But the Government gave those orders for FEV research at Mariposa! Maxson was seceding because the Government were the bad guys!
Captain Maxson and co. had no way of knowing that FEV research was doctrinal for the war effort. Their contacts with high command fell on deaf ears, and apparently the Government didn't take his threats seriously enough to send anyone in the three days before the Great War. What was Maxson's plan? Go to the press and say "Hi, I'm Grand Wizard Roger Maxson of the Brotherhood of Steel and the Government is creating supersoldiers to kill the Red Commies!" Go build a compound and get blown up by the Feds, Waco-style?
If Maxson did want to open up a legitimate investigation, he would have done so. He could have done so even after killing the scientists, although I think he did that precisely because he knew he couldn't be leaving any witnesses. I think that the narrative he gives in the holodisk is doctored to put him in a heroic light. Roger Maxson knew exactly what he was doing when he compared himself to Jefferson Davis: he was making a gambit for establishing his little technofeudal despot state right when the country had enough destabilization and troops overseas so that he could stake a claim over some Californian desert and get blown up once the boys came home from Beijing. He was never a hero, he was just a walking corpse.
By the way, anyone ever notice that Roger Maxson kind of sounds like Charles Manson? He must have been listening to Helter Skelter while they renovated Lost Hills.
It is entirely incongruent that a military policeman would declare himself and his unit as seceding from the United States when they had just found out that the scientists they were guarding had been engaging in war crimes. He goes on to equate himself to Jefferson Davis, and then equates secession to desertion in the Army. Either it implies that Maxson had delusions of grandeur and saw himself as the tragic victim of everything happening at Mariposa, which reeks of narcissism...
Or he knew exactly what he was doing.
Let's review the facts: the scientists at Mariposa were conducting presumably-illegal experiments on prisoners of war. While the Fallout universe probably doesn't have these kinds of restrictions, these sort of experimentation is illegal in real life, and apparently the men and women stationed at Mariposa were not jackbooted-thuggish enough to overlook it. If it was legal, then they simply had their moral compasses dialed in.
On October 10, Maxson takes command of the base from Colonel Spindel and has his men round up the scientists--he does this explicitly to avoid his men killing them all. Three days later, he shoots the chief scientist himself. By October 18, all of the scientists are dead on his orders. Nobody left to interrogate. Then he makes his absurd declaration on October 20, gets no response for several days, and they evacuate the base's remaining personnel on October 27.
Nobody took Maxson's threat seriously not because the war was going badly; we've been told repeatedly in other sources that the United States had been engaged in a land invasion of China and that it was going quite well. Nobody took the threat seriously because he declares two things at once, one of which is absurd. You, an Army unit charged with protecting a top-secret base, don't secede from the United States. Senators and landowners secede from the United States, and unless they live in Key West they usually fail.
Nobody is sure how fast Maxson got his Brotherhood of Steel shtick going. Fallout 76 implies it was very early after the Great War, but that source doesn't hold much water around here. However, I'm inclined to agree that Maxson was probably drafting up his ideas for his knightly order for a while--maybe even before the bombs dropped.
The Knights of the Golden Circle were a secret society formed before the American Civil War that stockpiled gold to fund the creation of a new slavocratic empire centered on the Gulf of Mexico. While it might sound absurd, a lot of people you've probably heard of were members, Jefferson Davis among them. It's not uncommon for Neo-Confederate groups to name themselves after Knights and Templar-like terms; the Klan does it, for example.
I'd wager that Roger Maxson always had Anti-American leanings, agreed with the tenants technofeudalism keeping advanced technology out of the hands of the Untermensch, and really liked the sound of "Paladin Maxson" on his dog tags for a change.
But the Government gave those orders for FEV research at Mariposa! Maxson was seceding because the Government were the bad guys!
Captain Maxson and co. had no way of knowing that FEV research was doctrinal for the war effort. Their contacts with high command fell on deaf ears, and apparently the Government didn't take his threats seriously enough to send anyone in the three days before the Great War. What was Maxson's plan? Go to the press and say "Hi, I'm Grand Wizard Roger Maxson of the Brotherhood of Steel and the Government is creating supersoldiers to kill the Red Commies!" Go build a compound and get blown up by the Feds, Waco-style?
If Maxson did want to open up a legitimate investigation, he would have done so. He could have done so even after killing the scientists, although I think he did that precisely because he knew he couldn't be leaving any witnesses. I think that the narrative he gives in the holodisk is doctored to put him in a heroic light. Roger Maxson knew exactly what he was doing when he compared himself to Jefferson Davis: he was making a gambit for establishing his little technofeudal despot state right when the country had enough destabilization and troops overseas so that he could stake a claim over some Californian desert and get blown up once the boys came home from Beijing. He was never a hero, he was just a walking corpse.
By the way, anyone ever notice that Roger Maxson kind of sounds like Charles Manson? He must have been listening to Helter Skelter while they renovated Lost Hills.
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