Anachorite/Mirrors/Fallout and the Occult/Vol I: The Children of Atom/Wherein there is the Glow (2024)

under construction

INTRODUCTION

The Church of the Children of Atom is a cult from Fallout 3. They appear to be inspired by the Servants of the Mushroom Cloud from Wasteland, a trait they share with FO1’s Children of the Cathedral. The Church worship Atom, an all-powerful avatar of radiation. Americans who might otherwise hesitate to engage in rad-worship may find this familiar, vague, ostensibly patriarchal mythology to be an approachable alternative to Christianity. The Faith spreads and mutates rapidly, spawning many conflicting gospels, each championed by distinct prophets who may work in tandem or witness against one another.

This is the first in a series of six essays and indexes on the subject of Atom, and aspires to exhaustively document and analyze the origins and present state of the Faith. The final section of this chapter is a preview of the upcoming Winter of Atom book. I was present at an unrecorded AMA and will briefly describe the purported content of the book and how it reflects on existing lore.The lore of Far Harbor is relegated to Chapter 2. We will analyze every testimony of Division and the metaphysical body of Atom, as well as heretic testimonies which resemble Division. In an Atom wrap-up, we’ll assess the hypothetical parameters of the scope of the cult, as well as their metaphysical claims.

Afterward, we’ll approach Moth cults through the same lens, followed by Ug-Qualtoth, time travel, Unity, Wasteland’s radiation cult, and other occult concerns. The full aspirational outline is roughly 25 chapters with indexes of relevant text.

 A ragged Confessor stands ankle-deep in a pool of radioactive water at the center of the Capital Wasteland’s only noteworthy trade settlement. He calls out in joyous exultance to his god, Atom, in the shadow of an undetonated megaton bomb, the namesake of His sacred village.

HISTORICAL CONTEXT

From Wikipedia:“The linguist Thomas Sebeok proposed the creation of an atomic priesthood, a panel of experts where members would be replaced through nominations by a council. █

Similar to the Catholic church – which has preserved and authorized its message for almost 2,000 years – the atomic priesthood would have to preserve the knowledge about locations and dangers of radioactive waste by creating rituals and myths. █

The priesthood would indicate off-limits areas and the consequences of disobedience. █

This approach has a number of critical problems: █

1.An atomic priesthood would gain political influence based on the contingencies that it would oversee. █

2.This system of information favors the creation of hierarchies. █

3.The message could be split into independent parts. █

4.Information about waste sites would grant power to a privileged class. People from outside this group might attempt to seize this information by force.” █

☢

THE FIRST BOMB-WORSHIPPERS

 Manya Vargas, the elder of Megaton, recites a brief history of the settlement, explaining how the crater was created by the impact of an entire aircraft, not a properly-deployed bomb. The plane or jet itself was stripped away to form the walls around the crater, but the Church insisted that the bomb remain undisturbed where it fell. Megaton needed the bomb-worshippers’ help to survive, and capitulated. Under the direction of her papi, the people of Megaton went on to dismantle planes at a nearby airport for additional materials.

 Manya goes on to say that her papi claimed his father hid with the earliest refugees in the crater, among them, “people trying to get into the vault, people worshipping the bomb, and a few other refugees.” After the dust storms settled, many left the crater, then returned to trade. By the time Papi Vargas was born, the town was a burgeoning trade hub.

 After traveling much in his youth, Cromwell arrived at Megaton in his 20s. He is now 44, placing his arrival in the mid 2250s. He was selected to lead the Church by his predecessor.

 According to V101’s scouting reports, the wall began construction no later than 2241. The scout Agnes left as an ambassador to Megaton. The player encounters her in the vault, as “Grandma Agnes”. We can extrapolate further by noting Manya is 64. Assuming her grandfather would be born around 2150 at the earliest, he and the earliest crater-dwellers would have settled around 2170-2200. 

 Incidentally, Colin Moriarty notes on his terminal that James first came to town around 2257. At Tenpenny Tower, the elderly Mr. Dashwood recalls that Megaton was far less “fortified” when he was a younger man.

 By this timeline, it would seem those “trying to get into the vault” were pounding at a door that had been sealed for a century. It’s tempting, however, to operate under the interpretation that Manya meant to describe an ancestor in the immediate postwar period, one contemporary with both bomb-worshippers and would-be Vault Dwellers. Lucas Simms’ testimony supports this read, as he claims Megaton was founded by people rejected from Vault 101, who then began worshipping the bomb. 

 Because of his relative status and the supporting details, we will default to the strictest read of Manya’s account for now while keeping Simms’ version of events in mind. 

 In short, we can be sure that people were worshipping the bomb by 2200, and the Megaton Church of Atom was formally founded by 2240. It remains plausible that vault refugees had been worshipping the bomb for many decades at that point. This leaves over a hundred years of primordial chaos between the War and the settlers who counted Manya’s grandfather among them, which ultimately comports with the rest of Fallout 3’s fiction.

 The text of FO3 offers no clear answer to the question of the group’s origins, or even its understood history. This muddy information is probably symptomatic of the writers’ hesitation to put a fine point on the primordial history of their wasteland, which isn’t a bad impulse, in and of itself.

 Strangely, FO4 seems to suggest that Cromwell was the original confessor, and all existing CoA can be traced back to him. While this is not outright stated anywhere, it has nonetheless become many fans’ impression of the matter. This model struggles to account for what we see in FO4, and outright contradicts the text of FO3. It’s not even stated that the Faith itself was founded during the construction of Megaton, only that “the church was getting its start” at that time. It’s quite unclear if “the church” formed organically or arrived with radpilgrims who saw Megaton as a natural holy site. Cromwell makes the offhand claim that “[Atom] has chosen this place for the site of his shrine and we have been called.”

 Follow-up depictions offer two more apparent clues. Mother Curie III styles herself as third in a lineage of ministres of Atom. Brother Henri mentions that the location of his nuclear temple has been passed down in secret for generations. While the cult’s internal narrative shouldn’t be taken at face value, we have no particular reason to doubt these claims.

 As a rather separate concern, it may be possible for multiple people to create this religion independently. Prophets outside of the faith have arrived at very similar terms, ideas, and imagery, allegedly divined from Voices. It’s possible that these revelations are so specific and so consistent that multiple prophets could “discover” the name of Atom. 

 Divine inspiration aside, it’s also a fairly obvious way of selling rad-worship to Christians, who already revere a figure named Adam. 

 Further, my research leads me to suspect there was a radcult presence on The Island before the events of Fallout 3, but Atom was probably not the primary deity of their mythology. The furtive hermit who serves the Mother of the Fog is likely the only surviving member of that group.

 Additionally, fusion core candles can be found in Fallout 76, encircling the altar of a corrupted moth church. These candle assets were originally developed for Children of Atom locations in Far Harbor. Moth cultists also use the glowing bottle assets from the same shrines, but non-cultists are also seen using these bio-luminescent bottles to light their homes. Various other details have connected the Cult of the Mothman to possible radiation worship, which will be discussed at length in its own volume.

THE BOMB ITSELF

 When the War struck, an American bomber crashed in the Capital Wasteland, just southeast of Vault 101. The plane was dismantled to form the basis of a wall around the crater. 

The origin and destination of the bomber are unknown, though it may have departed from the now-buried airstrip near Megaton. It was knocked out of the sky by the EMPs inherent to nuclear war, like every other plane in the world, as Mz. Vargas notes.

 Assuming the bomb did not fall this way naturally (because there was a plane around it) we can infer it was planted vertically as a spiritual choice by the Church, in service of an aesthetic choice by the developers (possibly concept artist Adam Adamowicz).

 The bomb has no fusion charge by the time the Wanderer opens it. Without one, the bomb cannot detonate. While it’s possible this bomb was an accidental dud or deliberate blank, it’s far simpler to assume someone covertly disarmed the bomb, perhaps decades ago.

 The bomb bears a strange logo similar to Vault-Tec’s, but it’s a distinct design resembling the DC Lantern symbol, with a misaligned center giving the impression of a looming eye. Given its rusty coloring, it was likely applied in the expected Vault-Tec yellow. 

 Identical bombs appear at Fort Constantine, bearing the same sigil.

 I believe this was always an esoteric red herring, pointing towards an aborted twist from Interplay’s Fallout movie treatment. Indeed, many fans leapt to the conclusion that “Vault-Tec dropped the bombs on America,” and while that’s an understandable read of the environmental storytelling here, it was never a valid interpretation of the setting. 

 There’s no particular reason to assume this bomb was deliberately allowed to fall where it did, or that this bomb is special.

It would be weird if Vault-Tec were not involved in the manufacture of nuclear armaments. It would be weird if some disabled bombers didn’t fall on American soil.

Vault-Tec had nothing to gain by bombing Vault 101 directly, thereby endangering unirradiated (“pure”/”prime”) human assets, and laying waste to the region upriver of Raven Rock and the Pentagon.

Furthermore, if Vault-Tec had triggered armageddon on purpose, it would have been the kick-off of a highly-coordinated plan to cement their position as the dominant power of the American Wasteland. No such scenario ever came to pass. Even the greater Enclave was scarcely seen for over a century. Vaults were left unfinished, and the corporation itself all but disappeared from the world.

 In my assessment, the only meaningful conspiratorial element here is the symbol painted on all the megaton bombs. I’m confident it corresponds to the precursor cult that existed within RobCo, and was intended to function as a sigil. It was probably the logo of some shadowy subcorporation, on paper. In the real world, corporations have been known to treat logos as sigils, and have paid occultists as consultants on the subject.

 I don’t think this symbol directly relates to the events discussed in this chapter. I do think it’s obtusely related to the ominous eye motif seen in Fallout 4 and Far Harbor. Despite my read on the creative intent here, I wouldn’t be surprised if this plot point is aborted and this sigil does not appear again.

 I would attempt to model the narrative that this bomb was dropped here intentionally, but it doesn’t hold enough water to function without egregious conjecture, and I see no reason to pursue that conclusion.

 Similar ‘dud sites’ can be found as a random encounter in Fallout 76. Those bombs are smaller, painted green, and bear no noteworthy markings. One such site is depicted in concept art for the plane crash in the Mire, but no bomb is present there in-game.

CROMWELL’S FLOCK

 The year is 2277. Confessor Cromwell lives in a humble shanty-church directly in front of the bomb, nestled unremarkably among similar shacks. His wife (and self-described prophetess) Mother Maya can usually be seen orbiting him. Ages 44 and 41, respectively, their friendly faces are withered and grey well beyond their years. Their congregation is depicted here as four unnamed acolytes, who live in the cramped, undecorated church.

 The good Confessor raves of Division, a metaphor for dying in an atomic blast. According to him, in this process, every one of the atoms which comprise our bodies will explode into vibrant new universes, each teeming with the potential to bring about a new race capable of Division, and so on. The Children interpret the Big Bang as the splitting of an atom, and therefore reason that every molecule burned by Atom’s bombs shall, in turn, become Big Bangs of their own.

 While friendly enough, Cromwell places troubling emphasis on the wretched, fallible nature of human flesh. He seems more preoccupied with this nihilistic sentiment than any future depiction of Atom’s servants.

 Maya has experienced visions of Atom in the past, through dreams. Recently, these visions have crossed over into her waking life. Going forward, each Atom cult will attest to vivid hallucinations and waking visions, which they believe grant them divine insight.

 The FO3 guide claims Cromwell and Maya revere Gob for his condition, though there’s nothing in-game indicating their attitude towards ghouls.

 The guide also purports Cromwell and Maya to be in their early 40s, but they appear to be at least 50 and 60 years of age, respectively. This may imply some kind of physical deterioration correlated with their Faith. However, this mismatch is common among apparently-elderly characters. For instance, Abraham Washington appears to be roughly 80, but the guide purports his age to be 45.

 Cromwell introduces himself as a “father of the glow.” The player can trade caps for good karma by donating to the Church through Cromwell. The same is true of Saint Monica’s Church, a Catholic church in Rivet City, who believe their namesake was a post-War saint born to ghoul parents. Curiously, their Father Clifford insistently reminds the player that Monica is the patron saint of “lost children,” a phrase deployed twice by Confessor Cromwell to refer to the unsaved masses. Cromwell mentions the “lost children of Atom” while introducing himself, and in his pamphlet, he addresses the “Lost Children of the Wastes” and “wayward Children of the Wastes.” The phrase “Children of the Wastes” constitutes a proper noun to him. We can infer Cromwell considers the Children of the Wasteland “lost” until they are Children of Atom, echoing the colloquial Christian euphemism of “finding god.” In Fallout 4, cultists allude to heretics as ‘lost children of Atom,’ in passing. While Cromwell’s sentiment was meant to be inviting, these later sects wield the concept resentfully, deepening their isolation & justifying their aggression.

 Monica is a real Catholic saint. In our world, she is the patron saint of disappointing children.

 Mother Maya identifies herself as “Prophet of the Atom.” This is the only time the article is used before Atom’s name. Probably just a quirk of their debut appearance, but may be indicative of their current level of scientific understanding. This sect appear to understand the concept of an atom, which is no longer true of their direct successors in Far Harbor. Cromwell’s deployment of the phrases “each particle” and “atomic mass” in his proselytizing further supports this read. Perhaps most tellingly, a large scrap-metal sculpture of a molecule looms over the shanty church, which contrasts interestingly with the more stylized Atom-inspired tapestries of the Island sect (as seen below), which evoke radiation, orbits, and eyes more directly than molecules.

 Cromwell and his wife gossip in hushed tones of an imminent Division. He journals about this in barely-euphemistic terms, conflicted about his right to make this decision for the town. He writes as if it were an imminently achievable goal. It’s ambiguous if he’s actually equipped to do such a thing, or if he’s simply naive enough to expect the task to be self-explanatory. He clearly doesn’t know the bomb has already been disarmed, and will not notice when the player permanently neutralizes it.

 Rather than attempt to accelerate the Cromwell situation, Burke trusts the Wanderer with his fusion charge, and the task of arming the bomb. This makes a certain sense, given how poorly Cromwell hides his internal turmoil. The Confessor’s empathic, whimsical nature would make him unlikely to follow through with an act of mass murder, and his integrity (for lack of a better word) as a sincere spiritual leader would make him difficult to coerce.

 If Megaton is detonated by the player, Moira muses that the cultists got exactly what they always wanted.

 Further notes and observations:

 -Three lamps have been mounted on the wall behind their pulpit in an arrangement that suggests the nuclear hazard symbol. While generic Children of Atom will sit in the makeshift pews, there is no content where someone gives a sermon here.

 -Mother Maya insists that the player ask Cromwell to explain their faith. In real cults, the leader’s lieutenants are often imbued with spiritual significance but taught not to speak freely, lest they offhandedly contradict or misconstrue the leader’s narrative. -Both of them use the phrase “it saddens me to think how quickly we resort to violence,” verbatim. This may be an oversight, or it may imply Maya has affected his speech patterns, another phenomenon commonly seen in cults. -In a hamfisted lie, Maya hesitates to direct the player to a bar, then nervously claims she only drinks for medical reasons. While this lands as a gesture towards cynical humor typical of FO3’s incidental dialogue, it’s worth noting that the Church make a point of stigmatizing mind-altering substances. -While the above line is in the script, it doesn’t always play when Maya directs the player to the inn. Probably triggered by a conversation flag in the town. -Alcoholism seems to have a particularly strong hold on Megaton in general. 

 -Cromwell alludes to leading a very different life before finding Atom, making it clear he’s not willing to discuss the topic further. -Cromwell’s emphasis on the inherent disharmony between soul and body resembles rhetoric commonly seen in suicide cults. -On that note, he’s generally quite comparable to Marshall Applewhite. -He mentions those who died in the Great Division were “very fortunate.” -He has “Good” karma, as does his wife. They also have identical SPECIAL and tag skills, though Cromwell is a level higher than Maya. -They each carry a key to the church. -When asked for “news,” Cromwell prides himself on being disconnected from worldly affairs, which distract from Atom. -Cromwell’s script instructs his actor to emphasize “Light” as a proper noun. -Cromwell uses the phrase “second Division” to refer to the potential detonation of Megaton, which conflicts with the cut FO4 scripture’s assertion that the War was the “second great division.”

 -Among Megaton’s signposts, one arrow reads LOCAL CULT. Likely Moira joking that a loathsome congregation of death-worshippers is a basic amenity travellers might seek upon arriving in a postapoc town, the way one might seek an inn. -Maya seems to think highly of the sheriff, but she’s rightfully suspicious he’s considering disarming the bomb. She blames pressure from the community, but Simms is openly anxious about the matter, and discusses it freely with strangers. -This is the first and last time we’ll see an Atom cult integrated into a larger community, although Martin’s flock lived at Far Harbor for some time before being banished. -Upon witnessing death, settlers in Megaton may quote the Bhagavad Gita, the Torah, or the Koran. This suggests the people of this settlement have some kind of multicultural or academic background. It’s not clear why this specific settlement would be so metropolitan. Perhaps this relates to its history as a place where refugees congregated, or a local culture interested in reading historical texts. In another line, a settler expresses overwhelming excitement at having found a single book among the ruins of Springvale. -Manya Vargas is a member of the Railroad. It’s possible some of Cromell’s congregants were synths in hiding. It’s not outrageous to suggest most of them were. -The Apostles do not appear until the main quest is completed. Given MCIII’s glowing son, we can safely assume she’s already left to form her sect as of August 2277, and they moved into the bunker several months thereafter.

☢

THE APOSTLES OF THE HOLY LIGHT

aka: Eternal Light Monastery, Children of the Light

 As part of the Broken Steel DLC, after completing the main quest of Fallout 3, the player will encounter a woman named Rosa giving water to the beggar outside Megaton, who immediately dies. Shocked, she passes along the pamphlet for this “holy water.” The same invitation has been nailed to the doors of every residence in the village.

Good people of Megaton, your salvation is at hand!We are the Apostles of Eternal Light. To heal this wounded city, we are willing to provide any and all supplicants with cleansing holy water.Come to our monastery in Springvale, and Brother Gerard will minister to your every need.We will give unto him that is athirst of the fountain of the Water of Light.

 The final line is a direct invocation of Revelation 21:6, the cryptic omen which the plot of FO3 clumsily orbits.

"I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end. I will give unto him that is athirst of the fountain of the water of life freely."

 The pamphlet leads us to a ruined house in Springvale, which conceals a bunker. Deemed the Holy Light Monastery by its door guard, Brother Gerard, nobody is allowed to enter until they’ve imbibed enough “holy water” to be sufficiently irradiated. Like Cromwell, Gerard can assess the player’s “glow” at a glance, suggesting some unnatural ability to sense radiation on a person, though it’s also possible they’ve devised some subtle, mundane way of telling. 

 Gerard even insists that the Wanderer drink holy water before speaking at length, “that our tongues might be purified for discourse.” Though initially coy about the nature of their holy water, he isn’t shy when confronted. A twinkle in his eye, Brother Gerard describes it as “brighter and warmer than any water I’ve ever seen before.”

 Should the player refer to the water as ‘aqua pura,’ Gerard spits the name “Project Purity” with a great deal of contempt. Presumably, he was present in Megaton at the same time as the original Project Purity, around 2260. It’s very likely he and Cromwell (like Moriarty) encountered the Lone Wanderer as a small child, who accompanied James to the surface when they were too young to remember.

 Brother Gerard invites the player to irradiate themself at the “tabernacle,” referring to the nearby bathtub. Styled as a baptismal altar, the tub is brazenly framed by electrical radiation traps, controlled by a switch at a corresponding pulpit.

 Disturbingly, whiskey and a flashbulb camera can be found in the pulpit, conjuring the image of a drunken zealot raving and irradiating naive wastelanders to death. Then, for whatever reason, photographing their bodies. I wouldn’t put this past Gerard or his leader, who calls herself Mother Curie III.

 Curie is a frail and unpleasant old woman, quaint and averse to profane secular terms like “radiation.” She explains, with excruciating naivete, that she was listening to one of Cromwell’s sermons when she fell asleep and received a vision. She saw a messenger, “the Prophet of Atom, ablaze in Holy Light.” The messenger warned her that Division is a false gospel. 

 Gerard specifies that the founding Apostles were brought to the Faith by Cromwell, and describes them as “content” in his church, so we can assume they were mobilized by Curie’s revelation. 

 She goes on to reveal that she recently mistook 4 soldiers (presumably Brotherhood, plausibly Enclave) for armored angels, and saw their instruction to distribute the water as an obvious message from Atom. 

 Divinely inspired, MCIII is tricking people into becoming feral ghouls and glowing ones, rationalizing this violation of bodily autonomy by reasoning that the feral no longer feel negative emotion. This claim contradicts everything we know about feral ghouls. Reminding us of this, her deformed son groans with confusion nearby.

 This glowing “Sun of Atom” serves as the cult’s triumphant proof of concept. Said to be Curie’s own flesh and blood, he was deliberately irradiated until he became a glowing one. The cult also boasts the Champion of Atom, a feral ghoul made tranquil by the Apostles, and the Novice, a mysterious ghoul with exposed brain matter and vertebrae. The Novice shares his single line with the remaining generic Apostles, all of whom are ghouls: “Our veins flow with Atom's Eternal Glow.”

 While the player can ask MCIII how she makes her holy water, doing so only prompts her to explain her motives. 

 A large chemistry set in the dining hall would suggest Curie actually has some kind of scientific background, and she’s doing something more complicated than irradiating containers of water. Whatever her process is, it also neutralizes the modified FEV, if present. I would be inclined to write this off as a glaring oversight if it weren’t lampshaded in the text.

 In another quirk of the streamlined nature of her content, she does react if the player gains entry by murdering Gerard, but her demeanor won’t change past her intro lines. This isn’t presented as if it implies something about their relationship, and it’s plainly a matter of keeping the scene as simple as possible. If there’s an in-fiction take-away here, it’s that MCIII is accustomed to her followers dying unceremoniously. She seems sincerely saddened at his death, but doesn’t dwell on it.

 It would seem that Gerard was entirely unfamiliar with his prophet’s doctrine. MCIII cites the ideological difference between her and Cromwell as their stance on Division, here specifically referring to the detonation of the Megaton bomb. She’s harrowed by the suggestion. And yet, Gerard is fascinated by the Wanderer’s threat to do just that, and openly encourages them to follow through. As these are our only two points of reference, one might read this cult as remarkably incohesive, a loose association of outcast fanatics.

 Therefor, rather than their leader’s rejection of Division, the Apostles are perhaps more accurately defined by their shared belief that their holy water has the power to purify the body and absolve one of sin. Mother Curie espouses that her concoction will warm and nourish the “dry, icy hearts of our people,” and charges her followers with the duty of “saving” them. “Our people” here refers to all wastelanders.

 The Wanderer may irradiate themself enough that she sees them as a messenger of Atom. They can either shame her into retiring her deceptive strategy or encourage her to continue. 

 Alternatively, Curie can be shamed with one of two speech checks. You can describe the optics of what she’s doing from an outside perspective, evoking a shocked reaction, or you can appeal to her religious philosophy by reasoning that it’s unjust to make this decision for the souls of others.

 If the Megaton bomb is detonated, MCIII will go feral in the blast. Gerard, also ghoulified, muses that she saw the face of Atom and went mad. He celebrates his rebirth, having been touched by Atom, and begins raving in a strange, cyclical manner about his renewed passion for prayer.

 Further notes and observations: 

 -MCIII is said to “meditate” by wandering in a trance. -There is a hardbound book on the pulpit, though it only manifests as the generic “burned book” item. -MCIII refers to the figure in her visions as the Prophet of Atom. This may hint that she dissociated while staring at a highly-irradiated Mother Maya or Confessor Cromwell, depending on the player’s gender, each of whom introduces themself as a Prophet. -When describing her vision, she uses the player’s gender pronoun for the entity. -MCIII conspicuously describes the Prophet of Atom as having bright, searing eyes.

 -Brother Gerard is named for the first protagonist of A Canticle for Leibowitz, Brother Francis Gerard. -Sister Francis, a Cathedral cultist from FO1, shares his namesake.

 -The FO3 guide refers to this sect as ‘evangelical,’ apparently referring to their aggressive tactics. While this may allude to something deeper about their beliefs, I hesitate to interpret it that way, because the Apostles appear to be distinctly faux-Catholic in comparison to Cromwell’s church. -I believe this Catholic angle represents something that was already present in the greater Faith and was not a wholecloth invention of this group.

 -MCIII promises that Atom will soon “enlighten your eyes,” which is probably less metaphorical than it sounds. -This sect repeatedly invoke radiation as “warm,” a sentiment shared by a glowing one in FO76 who left a similar terminal message. Perhaps they, too, feel physical discomfort in the absence of radiation. -It’s likely some among her all-ghoul congregation aren’t true believers. Curie seems to be an ineffective spiritual leader, having failed to accurately impress her doctrine upon her only vocal supporter. It’s easy to imagine a ghoul quietly staying here for the protection and abundance of spicy water. -MCIII may have taken a vow of pacifism. She repeatedly emphasizes that she refuses to engage in violence. Indeed, despite carrying a weapon, she will flee if attacked, relying on her ghoul congregation for protection. However, I imagine this “vow” was primarily about her understandable fear of physical confrontation. -MCIII seems to directly invoke New Testament scripture, or at least Christian colloquialism– ”Forgive me, for I knew not what I was doing…”

 -Mother Curie III’s title is odd. It appears to denote that she is the third in a lineage of ministres of the Glow. It seems strange, then, that she would not be Megaton’s Confessor, but any number of explanations would account for this. Perhaps the previous cult leader saw a more reliable or relatable successor in young Cromwell. Perhaps he had some notion of her ghoul obsession. Perhaps her lineage or personal legacy was marked by shame. I believe she was simply a transplant from another Atom cult in the first place. -Just as curious is her son who gave himself to the Light. The Sun of Atom’s 4-generation lineage is the only confirmed example of a family unit participating in the cult. It stands to reason that fertility is rare among the faithful. -Assuming the Sun is positioned as the son of Atom, this frames MCIII as a Virgin Mary figure, having borne the son of God. -It’s not clear if Mother Curie III understands the significance of her own name. I find it very easy to imagine a trajectory in which nuclear scientists were sainted by a previous iteration of the Church, and the idea fell out of use as the cult naturally progressed from faux-catholicism to faux-evangelism.

 -MCIII notes that she resisted the feeling that she was special, in a way that oddly implies her birth was of no particular importance. This seems incongruous with her given legacy name. It’s possible she took on the name “Curie III” when she, presumably, promoted herself to the rank of Mother, styling herself after some other priestess in doing so. These details aren’t developed enough for us to piece together what her claimed background is, much less her actual background. -However, I take this line with a grain of salt because its purpose is clearly to imply, through delivery, that she is a liar and an idiot. In some ways, she’s a fairly well-observed caricature of a modern pop cult leader.

 -Curie’s use of the word ‘pilgrim’ implies she may be expecting Atom worshippers to pass through her monastery as part of a holy journey. Possibly related to the pilgrimage mentioned at Crater House in FO4. -She refers to Division as an act of destruction. The script notes describe this line as “asserting a basic truth.” -This is not the first faction in the setting which amounts to “Ghoul Church,” and will not be the last.

 The Apostles take pride in their exaggerated biblical affect. The following vocabulary is only deployed here: 

sundering (Division), Enlightenment (radiation, “the warmth which feeds us”), “Atom’s supreme and total Enlightenment” (ghoulification), Luminescence, Eternal Light, Eternal Glow (radiation (note FO4 generics’ use of ‘eternal fire’)), The Eternal/the undying (ghouls), Atom’s transmuting fire (a ghoulifying detonation), reborn (ghoulified), monastery, tabernacle, order (as in “our Order”), supplicants, goodwill, meditate, Atom’s [Radiant] Heat, smite (righteous murder), this vessel (the physical body), holy water/Waters of Light (elsewhere “water(s) of the glow”), thirsty (un-irradiated), sacrament, angels, pestilence

 Other typical religious terms like “heathen,” “sanctuary,” and “pilgrim” are established here, and will later see casual use by cultists in FO4, Far Harbor, and Shelter. 

THE EXPEDITION

 Far Harbor characters Tektus and Martin were once members of the Megaton Church of Atom, and formed an expedition under the blessing of Confessor Cromwell. As I see it, they probably set out in the late 2260s, but you could theoretically argue anywhere between 2250 and 2280. Fans seem to commonly assert that the cultists in Fallout 4 can all be traced back to this expedition, but this is never outright said, and it’s not a particularly convincing read of the information we have.

 I could not substantiate a connection between Isolde and Megaton whatsoever, past the fact that all CoA use the same voice set and quote Cromwell’s sermon in combat. Edmund has no apparent connection to the expedition, either. 

 While the Kingsport group also lack text connecting them to Cromwell, it’s almost certain that the settlement was founded by the expedition, as Crater House appears to have been built in the image of Megaton. 

 It is worth exploring the possibility that a FO4 CoA character may correspond to an unnamed FO3 CoA. Of course, this is inconclusive, as these four are an abstraction of a slightly larger population. Entertaining this, regardless, none of the four generic CoA in Megaton fit the description of Isolde or Tektus. The old man could plausibly represent Martin, given that we don’t know what he looks like. Edmund, also faceless, could theoretically be the younger man. 

 I don’t see any creative intent here, and I strongly believe the expedition had already set out by 2077, so I don’t think there are any intentional clues to be discovered by squinting at these NPCs

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ALVARADO’S APOSTLES

 Author’s Note: This is an exhaustive research document. Shelter contains a depiction of the Atom cult developed in-house at Bethesda, from which we will glean some non-essential context. The only “official canon” is the unique body of fiction each fan adheres to. If you’re inclined to reject this information, simply do so. Don’t be weird.

 Fallout Shelter’s “Springtime for Atom” questline begins when the player responds to a vault’s distress signal. Children of Atom under command of one Confessor Alvarado are seen spraying irradiated water on vault-dwellers, successfully ghoulifying several of them. This took them by surprise, because in their experience, the CoA are usually harmless.

 The dwellers approach Alvarado, who agrees to stop spraying people with lethal waste. As a show of good will, the dwellers agree to retrieve a sacred circuit board (probably another Leibowitz allusion) for the cult, under guidance of Brother Thaddeus and Sister Olivia. They mention that the site was the last known location of Brother Will.

 When Will is found, he warns the player of Alvarado’s plan to detonate a nuke to reignite the sun. The player attends the “E-ster Deathclaw Egg Hunt,” where they find the bomb. They then return to Alvarado’s lair and kill him, as he still intended to somehow enact his plan.

 This sect have learned of “the Time when the Daylight is Saved” and “E-Ster” from some unclear scrap of text, and concluded they must detonate a large nuclear bomb to reignite the sun, thus “saving Daylight.” They refer to this coming detonation as the “Sixth Sun,” which would seem to align them with the Apostles. While Solar invocations aren’t uncommon in Atom gospel, these terms are conspicuously similar. This sect’s apparent reverence for ghoulification & aggressive rad-evangelism also fit the Apostles’ MO.

 Alvarado does not use the word “Division,” but his followers describe a miracle very close to the alleged phenomenon: they believe the bomb will work as a portal, and that is why they have no fear. However, where Division typically involves a blast transporting people to Atom’s realm, the power of Daylight Savings is to be sent one hour into the future, arriving harmlessly at the heart of the crater. Perhaps their interest in exploding would be considered heretical by MCIII, but it seems consistent with the views of Gerard the Apostle. It’s possible MCIII was only opposed to detonating the Megaton bomb in particular, which she and Cromwell both revere as the Symbol of Atom’s sacred village.

 Alvarado’s flock invoke Cromwell’s rhetoric closely enough that we can be sure the two groups are not entirely unrelated. Most notable is the direct quotation “He is coming with the clouds.” 

 Their fixation on the phrase “E-Ster” connects them directly to a Christian tradition. Additionally, their corruption of the term evokes EsThEr, which I strongly believe to be the name of the Fog hermit. The vault-dwellers speculate that E-Ster may be “some god or goddess.”

 During the E-Ster egg hunt, one of the Children remarks that eggs are a suitable symbol of Atom, because they symbolize potential.

 In a flavor text event, a dweller may encounter a ‘bustling Children of Atom settlement’ while exploring, offering some sense of scale. Rounding all the way up, we could conclude that such a settlement could be found anywhere in the gamespace of Shelter, which seems to take place in the north-east in the early 2280s (given that it’s based nigh-exclusively on Fallout 3/４). This settlement is hostile to the dweller.

 While blunt, this depiction is compliant with everything else I know about the Children of Atom. This content was released at some point between July and November of 2017, making it their most recent Bethesda-developed appearance.

ISOLDE’S QUEST

 Fallout Shelter Online contains small personal questlines for many characters, Isolde among them. I’m not close to unlocking this content, but as I do, this section will be updated.

 Isolde’s trinket description tells the story of a young man named Russel who goes hunting in the Green Sea only to wake up ghoulified under the care of Mother Isolde. This ostensibly fits her character, but there is no link between Isolde and ghouls whatsoever in Fallout 4. Between her all-human congregation and her loose association with Tektus’s sect, I’m inclined to assume her flock do not revere ghouls, but this event remains plausible, regardless.

 Isolde and other unnamed Children appear in the final level of FSO. Their greeting is translated as “Blessings of the Atom be upon you.” Nick Valentine delivers it confidently and unprompted, revealing that he’s familiar with them. In speaking about them afterward, his demeanor is respectful. Oddly, her settlement is referred to as the “Pit of Atom” and “Portal of Atom.”

 Each character in FSO has three portraits. Isolde’s final portrait depicts her in some dark interior, standing in a pool of radioactive waste, letting it run through her fingers. She’s dressed in an opulent, revealing corset and hooded cloak, strikingly embodying the witch archetype. She wears exposed electronics on her hip and back, which arc green electricity. A bald cultist kneels in the foreground with his hands raised in praise. A scrap sculpture of a molecule is suspended by chains from the ceiling above her, resembling the one on the Megaton church. This stands out as a detail connecting her directly to Megaton. 

 FSO’s portraits are widely criticized for reducing female characters to pinup designs, and Isolde is no exception. She barely resembles the Fallout 4 NPC she’s meant to represent. She seems to be a dev favorite, appearing prominently in promotional art, wielding a gamma gun, as she did in FO4. 

 Information from FSO is unlikely to be considered at all, much less considered canon. That said, I appreciate the implication that Isolde continues to amass power and develop her mythology. It’s fun to imagine that she’ll go on to be worshipped directly as an ambitious prophet. 

 It’s almost certain this was merely greenlit for style. However, other portraits are harder to write off as sheer stylization, such as Lorenzo’s, which enthusiastically connects him to the face at Dunwich. As far as I know, this is all creative license by ShengQu Games, motivated by the developers’ own interest in occult lore. But it’s theoretically possible they were privy to internal materials we don’t know about.

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KINGSPORT CRATER HOUSE

 Directly south of the Salem Witchcraft Museum stands the Kingsport Lighthouse, in which a contingency of the Faith have captured a glowing one. They’re worshipping it as the “Beacon” of Atom’s Light. When curious heretics are caught wandering near the Lighthouse, they are fed to the Light. Likely bound or dead, for its safety.

Only generic Children of Atom dwell here. These cultists are hostile, and share their combat barks with Isolde’s followers, but never speak otherwise. Conversely, it’s very difficult to get Isolde’s followers to play their combat dialogue. I don’t think this voiceline split is exactly intentional, but it’s hard to say.

 “Crater House” refers to the boardwalk immediately north of the Lighthouse. Like Megaton, it’s a village built into a crater left by a felled plane, which was stripped and incorporated into the structure. Crater House is a circular dock built over a tiny cove on the coast, much like how Megaton centered around a small pool of irradiated water.

 When not standing vigil, the Children lean over the rails and gaze into the waters. 

 At the center, a floating walkway leads to a small platform. 

 This turns the dock into a circular venue for a Confessor, and provides a vantage from which one can closely inspect the sunken plane wreck.

 Up the hill to the south, CoA bustle around a quaint home in the shadow of the Lighthouse, where they play relaxed animations. A recently-killed trader lies on the floor of the kitchen. 

 Down the cliff, several of them appear to be working a small dock warehouse. A well-maintained ship is docked here, with a cultist standing at the helm.

 The glowing one is locked at the top of the tower, devouring the remains of an unfortunate traveller with its bare hands. A mini-nuke can be found in its chamber.

 Once the glowing one is killed, Kingsport can be claimed as a player settlement. At this time, Children of Atom will periodically spawn in the boat below. This suggests an organized sect of CoA have noticed the Lighthouse go dark, and they’re dispatching agents to reclaim it. Tektus loathes ghouls, and I don’t see Isolde having some secret port under her immediate command, so we can confidently infer they’re being mobilized by some other leader, dispatched from some CoA port we know nothing about.

 The terminals found here provide the only textual lore pertaining to this group. They tell us the Lighthouse was founded to serve “the Crater.” Let’s examine the exact wording:

Crater House terminal█_We have sent our faithful to the tower on the cliff. They will create a beacon to call forth Atoms[sic] children to rejoin us in the glow.

Kingsport Lighthouse terminal█_We have been charged by our brothers and sisters at the Crater to lead others to bask in the glow. [...] The faithful should pray at the tower, then continue their pilgrimage to the crater.

 This presents the following parameters of possibility:

The origins of this sect are ambiguous, and Crater House is the Crater mentioned on the Lighthouse terminal.This is Isolde’s sect, and Crater House is a stop on the pilgrimage south to the Crater of Atom.This is a distinct sect originating from Cromwell’s expedition, and Crater House is a stop on the pilgrimage south to the Megaton Crater.

 I lean towards the third model because of the resemblance between Crater House and Megaton. It could be any combination of these factors. None among them seems particularly unlikely to me. Whatever the case, this place functions as a hostel for radpilgrims travelling across the Commonwealth, and as the Church’s only known naval port. Compelling evidence to suggest the Children of Atom are considerably more numerous and organized than we once thought.

EDMUND THE SCRIBE

 A small band of the Faithful settled at a dump site called Jalbert Brothers Disposal. On a terminal in the northern shack, a “humble scribe” calling himself Brother Edmund has written a foreword vowing the truth of the subsequent entries, which inarticulately chronicle his group’s decision to found a shrine at the dumpyard, their murder of a merchant caravan, and how they collected waste in this “shrine,” referring to the bins in the same room. 

 The original Jalbert Brothers Waste Disposal was a location near Megaton in FO3. This is a chain dump. Edmond rejoices in finding this place, christening it “the holy resting place of the Brothers Jalbert.” These figures have been sainted for their association with nuclear waste, and their quaint business name has been used to frame them as Brothers of the Church. Incidentally, the original Jalbert Brothers location was attached to an unmarked area called the “Wasteland G**** Village” in the FO3 guide, inhabited only by hostile non-feral ghouls. As far as I know, this location has no further context.

 Edmund is particularly unhinged. He likens the travelling merchants to “philistines,” pridefully touting their wares “like whor*s.” He kills them on some unclear charge of “trading lies,” obviously completely deranged. The specifics of whatever scenario he meant to communicate are lost in his raving. Likely a conscious omission of detail, as he would rather not confront or disclose the damning truth of the matter.

 “We collect Atom's power in barrels and the machines that once propelled the Old World's autos!” his terminal purports. As billed, the bins are stuffed not only with waste drums, but nuclear engines, which became standard in prewar cars after oil became prohibitively expensive. This is common knowledge in the Wasteland, where these faulty old engines are still seen to spectacularly detonate at the slightest provocation. These particular engines are inert, however.

 Piper mentions being captured by a contingency of the cult near Bunker Hill. They were preparing to throw her down a sewer pipe when she unfortunately escaped by pretending to have a vision. For geographic reasons, their incompetence, and their association with filth, I assume she was dealing with Edmund’s group, or some similar band of petty fanatics.

 By October of 2287, Edmund’s group has died or disbanded. At this time their camp is overrun by wild animals. There are five bodies here, all of them plausibly CoA. Debris smolders nearby, suggesting they may have died in a recent attack.

ADALIA’S APOSTLES

 The Church of Atom activity in the northern Commonwealth may represent a sect distinct from Isolde’s current followers. As far as I can tell, there is no direct connection between the northern groups and the group at the Glowing Sea. 

 Even if “the Crater” of Crater House is referring to the Glowing Sea camp, the timeframe of this is completely unclear. The terminal could have been written over a decade ago, for all we know. It’s even possible that their apparent quotations of Cromwell are actually citing the scripture his predecessor was working from, or the gospel of a missionary who influenced Cromwell.

 I suspect the cut NPC Confessor Adalia would have established some of this context. Perhaps she was a figure comparable to MCIII. If she were intended to be Isolde’s superior, some scrap of her conceptual development probably would have survived past her mute, always-hostile NPC. She also could have been a beta incarnation of the elements that ultimately became Isolde. Another possibility is that she may have been the Confessor of Diamond City, as there was meant to be an Atom presence there at some point in development. Of course, these associations are pure speculation.

 Notably, Adalia would have been the only mention of a female Confessor.

 Also note that the Crater House terminal was to be the location of the cut Division scripture. This would have furthered the impression that this northern population are particularly violent. 

 For unknown reasons, it’s extremely difficult to aggro the Children at the Crater, as they don’t seem to care when a fellow cultist is murdered in front of them. They immediately reset to peaceful status, if they register the attack at all. This feels like a bug, but I’m not sure what to make of it. It may be a limitation unique to Isolde’s flock as the only NPCs in the Glowing Sea. So, while all CoA NPCs (including Isolde, Henri, and Ogden) share a generic CoA voice type, this unusual behavior renders combat lines exclusive to those outside the Crater, and greeting lines exclusive to those within it, barring unusual circ*mstances. In fact, the greeting lines are internally demarcated DialogueGlowingSeaAtom, indicating the northern group were never meant to say those lines.

 Henri is an exception, as he can be engaged in combat, though he seems to lack some generic greeting/idle dialogue.

 This distinction is worth considering because FO4’s Children of Atom have extensive, scriptural combat barks. In perhaps the most striking illustration of the cult’s development, they quote the impactful lines from Division according to Cromwell as they swing melee weapons, having internalized the beats of his euphoric raving as a combat mantra. They implore their foes to “suffer for Atom,” and upon being wounded, they have several strange lines crying out in religious ecstasy, celebrating their own pain.

 They affect a biblical vocabulary without comprehending it, evidenced in lines like “Beset them from all sides!”--It would be easy to wield this for hamfisted comedy, as Cult of the Holy Detonation did throughout, but it shines here as a realistic consequence of what they are.

 Visions and hallucinations seem to be normalized, even expected, across these groups. They call out to Atom and the “whispers from the Glow” while the player is sneaking around, then chastise themselves for chasing “illusions, no doubt put in my head by the faithless,” for “Atom will reveal all in time.” Cross-referenced with Piper’s anecdote, we can plainly see that this is an environment where people are pressured to engage in public revelation. This inevitably leads to insincere spiritual experiences being internalized by the group. They’ve also been conditioned to doubt their own perceptions and avoid complex thought. 

 Even if a sect were “on to something,” even if they are having legitimate supernatural experiences, these people are tragically sick with groupthink and fear. Every Child of Atom in base Fallout 4 is characterized as a dangerous zealot incapable of socializing straightforwardly with people outside the cult. 

 Further notes and observations: -The generics refer to feral ghouls as “those embraced by Atom’s glow,” but only acknowledge them as a potential danger, in a set of lines where they make some flowery mention of each type of enemy. -”Light” and “Glow” are almost always capitalized in their subtitles, which is inconsistent elsewhere. -They decry the player’s radiation weapons as “false Glow.” Probably an entirely circ*mstantial charge, given that these same weapons are used by the cult.

 -At some point in development, there were interiors called “Children of Atom” and “Atom’s Divide,” associated with Diamond City and Henri’s Temple respectively. There are references to these cells in the files, but the interiors they were meant to point to either got removed or were cut early in development. -A small sculpture of an atom serves as the sign for the “Science! Building” in Diamond City. However, given that it’s designated as such in the files, I have no evidence this asset was originally associated with the cut Church.

 -“Kingsport” is an allusion to a fictional town in Massachusetts from the Lovecraft mythos. Pickman, a serial killer and impressionistic horror illustrator, lives very close to the Kingsport group. Dunwich Borers is also adjacent. These names are also direct Lovecraft references.

THE CRATER OF ATOM

 Far, far in the southwest corner of the Commonwealth-—well outside the given boundary of the map-—a collection of small lean-tos and overhangs marks the Crater of Atom, the barren village of Mother Isolde. She addresses an approaching wanderer softly as her congregation stare in hostile silence. 

 Isolde has agreed to harbor Vergil, a former Institute scientist seeking to reverse his transformation into a super mutant. His presence has caused tension at the camp, as her faithful protest that he offends Atom by dwelling on holy ground. She claims he “sought refuge with Atom,” but it’s not entirely clear if they’ve actually spoken, or respectfully keep their distance entirely. Projection, either way.

 Brother Henri was the last survivor of a war party sent by the Mother to claim nuclear WMDs at an industrial pyramid south of the Crater. She sent him a note by courier instructing him to guard the temple until he is called upon, either by the cult or by “Atom Himself.”

 Isolde briefly explains her faith, and may divulge the locations of Vergil and/or Henri. There is no more unique content here aside from the interchangeable NPCs’ greeting lines and the trader’s pleasantries.

 The Crater was ground zero for the nuke that hit the Commonwealth. It surrounds a shallow pool of radiant orange water, stagnant and strewn with trash and debris. In the center of this pool is a workshop, accessible by several scrap bridges. In the workshop, a ham radio is set up on a table with several chairs pulled near.

 Five metal shanty abodes have been built along the south-western wall of the Crater, notable for being meticulously riveted and welded, in contrast to the more improvised and dilapidated structures of their northern counterparts. Congregants use these homes interchangeably, save for the central building, where Isolde lives. Two stories high with a notable sitting area, even the leader’s space is cramped and humble. The other buildings are all unremarkable one–room abodes, though the fine wooden dresser in the rightmost trailer suggests some coordinated effort to gather suitable furniture.

 The entire area is strewn with miscellaneous trash and heavy debris, including the central pool. There are no decorations here. It’s as if these minimal scrap shelters were built specifically to avoid disturbing the rubble. Nearby, one of these structures has somehow become buried, raising the question of how long the flock has been here. Isolde implies the cult built the structures themselves, but it’s not clear if she means they were built under her direction or that of a previous leader. Theoretically, it’s also plausible these structures were originally built by ghouls, and later settled by the cult. Isolde can occasionally be seen leaning over her balcony, overseeing her flock and gazing into the pool. The rest of the Faithful are usually kneeling and praying towards the spring, occasionally going into the workshop alone and praying towards the center of the room. One or two may sporadically mill about during the day, sometimes taking naps. They retire to random mattresses at night. 

 Further notes and observations:

 -The Children do most of their praying in the space directly in front of their homes, but may kneel elsewhere along the edge of the pool or in the workshop. -The grouping of the buildings along the south-west of the crater seems deliberate. I don’t see any apparent reason to choose that corner of this barren clearing, though it does place them opposite of ground zero from the rest of the Commonwealth. -There is one teddy bear in the bottom-left house, and another floating in the pool. Toys can be found on the shelves of the workshop. There are no children here. -Empty beer and liquor bottles near beds imply alcoholism among this sect, but it’s very possible these are just what they use as cups. -The body of an Atom cultist can be found in a pile of bones at the Decayed Reactor Site, apparently killed by a deathclaw who nests there. This could be the mentioned-only Brother Hoberman, though I see no particular reason to invest in that conclusion. -There’s another airliner crash southeast of the Crater of Atom. While there’s no obvious evidence of cult activity here, there is evidence of a major chronal anomaly. More on this in Chapter 13. -Elsewhere, crowds of feral ghouls can be seen endlessly wallowing in similar radioactive pools, the most notable of which is another unmarked plane crash. -There is no food to be found here, nor any obvious place for one to sit and eat.

 -The ham radio set-up is very close to the center of the crater itself. It’s very likely they commune with Atom via radio. It’s possible they were interested in the feral ghoul signal, or were listening for meaning in static. -It’s also possible this was how Isolde coordinates with other groups, though there’s no clear evidence of Isolde having outside contacts in the cult.

ISOLDE’S FLOCK

 Mother Isolde’s known living followers are all named:

Brother Henri resides to the south, guarding the pyramid, the location of which has allegedly been passed down through generations of the cult. Accompanied by an unremarkable assaultron named Atom's Wrath, Henri is the last survivor of a group sent by Isolde to secure the site. The rest of his party were killed by the automated defenses.Brother Foster, Brother Griffith, Sister Layla, Sister Verena, and Brother Ward are interchangeable generic NPCs, as far as I can tell. Brother Ogden is the trader, and lacks the others’ generic greeting lines. He comes off as comparatively pleasant and socially aware, but no less zealous. His NPC behavior is consistent with the rest of the flock.Brother Hoberman is mentioned only in his signature, which would be on a note on Isolde’s body, were the note not torn in half. He only pledges to refrain from attacking Vergil until given permission. The note is torn such that ‘until’ is the final visible word in-game, leaving his name (and his exact plans) present only in the files.

 The guidebook claims “Children of Atom congregate in the Crater of Atom, but smaller groups can be found throughout the Commonwealth.” Here, an out-of-game source arguably implies that the northern groups are affiliated with this one. While perfectly plausible, little such evidence ultimately exists.

 Isolde makes no mention of a Confessor, nor any higher human authority at all. However, what little we can glean of her methods suggests her group may be more organized than they appear at a glance. While it’s likely Isolde is the highest living authority on the Glow in the Commonwealth, I suspect she either corresponds with a higher clergyman, or claims to do so, a la MHB’s ‘hidden masters’.

 Her doctrine asserts that Atom “gave birth to this world, and all worlds,” a strikingly matriarchal presentation of Division, and one which may be unique to her. Her note to Brother Henri indicates that she speaks directly to Atom in prayer, and somehow receives clear answers to her prayers. In a moment of agitation, she dismisses outsiders as ‘mortals’.

 When Isolde negotiates with the player, there is a pride, warmth, and sincerity in her voice, barely masking a baseline of anxiety and resentment. She does not rave in a ridiculous euphoria like the ministres before her, but urgently appeals to your sensibilities, and struggles to express her relationship with Atom. She’s also setting an example for those around her. Through her single scene and her minimal context, she’s characterized as a controlling, ambitious woman who doesn’t realize how dangerous she’s become. 

 To my mind, she is depicted as the most sympathetic member of the cult we’ve discussed so far, if not the most harmless. Where previous testimonies of Atom were given by charlatans and imbeciles, nothing about Isolde is presented as funny or insincere. She appears to be a passionate individual with natural leadership skills who has become very lost, trying to lead others to the beauty she has found in something dark and indescribable.

 Particularly charming is her conviction to harbor Vergil, a pariah twice over, simply because he is in need of sanctuary. Despite his trespass and the prejudice of her congregation, Isolde acknowledges a spiritual obligation to protect him. It’s worth considering, however, that she may have some use for him, or simply finds him intriguing and non-threatening. 

 Should the player mention their association with the Far Harbor sect, Isolde is surprised, and honored to help. Henri reacts similarly. The two sects have some kind of distant, positive relationship. It’s possible they’ve simply heard of each other by reputation, both being Churches of Atom immune to radiation. Mother Isolde refers to the Fog as “Atom’s veil,” as the cult on the Island do. After this dialogue, Isolde will address the player as “our Brother/Sister from Far Harbor.”

 Grand Zealot Richter is phased when the player mentions hailing from the Commonwealth, but makes no mention of the Church presence there.

 Additionally, talking to Mother Isolde or Brother Ogden will slowly heal the player’s radiation damage.

 Further notes and observations: -Isolde was named after the ISOLDE infrastructure within the CERN particle accelerator complex, which stands for Isotope Separator On Line DEvice. This could be the in-fiction etymology of her name. Isolde is also a Germanic name which may mean “she who is gazed upon.” -Isolde’s followers believe that “in the end, all of us are Children of Atom,” an idea that continues to be universal among CoA. -Fleeing CoA may cry out to Atom, begging for merciful intervention. -They liken themselves to “Brahmin in Atom’s Herd.” -Nobody mentions Isolde in their dialogue whatsoever. -Brother Ward’s is probably another Lovecraft allusion, this time to The Case of Charles Dexter Ward. The ghoul found at Ug-Qualtoth’s spire in FO3 is named Jaime Dexter Palabras, his middle name being a reference to the same story. -The name “Ward” as an abbreviation of “Howard” has also been used in Lovecraft-inspired fiction to allude to the author. -Henri does not share combat dialogue with the CoA in the north. -He also wields his affected vocabulary strangely, such as saying ”Now leave, or I will invoke him upon you,” in regards to ordering his robot to attack. -Their assaultron has no unique dialogue or even a unique texture.

RADIATION IMMUNITY

 Isolde’s followers can live in the Glowing Sea because they’re immune to radiation. Previous rad-immune human characters include Lumpy from Fallout 2 (misleading name) and the baby from The Pitt. The FO4 guide textually suggests that CoA are generally more durable than normal humans due to their lifestyle.

 There’s a lot of context to consider here, and little actual evidence. We’ll discuss it further in analyzing Far Harbor, and the various possibilities will be addressed in a subsequent essay as part of our conclusions. For now, suffice it to say that the writers have signaled rad-immunity as a matter of natural selection from birth (possibly catalyzed by a traumatic nuclear incident, much like ghouls). Far Harbor’s Zealot Ware even mentions, quite offhandedly, that the ability is inherited at birth. It could be a series of red herrings, but most of the subtext points in this direction. 

This is thematically consistent with their cut scripture, which concerns evolution.

THE GREAT DIVISION, ANNOTATED

 The Great Division is a cut 25-line scripture which is compiled twice in the files of FO4, as a text holotape and as an entry on the Crater House terminal. In-game, this terminal’s only entry pertains to the Lighthouse. A silent NPC stands at the center stage of the Crater House. It’s possible that at some point there was some kind of sermon scene at this otherwise uneventful location.

 The scripture is more-or-less compatible with Cromwell’s testimony, but doesn’t read like it was penned by him.

 For our purposes, the scripture will be treated as creatively relevant, if not directly representative of the beliefs of any particular contingency.

[These annotations are outdated and need to be revised]

 𝔇𝔦𝔳𝔦𝔰𝔦𝔬𝔫 1

In the beginning Atom created the first division[1] of light from darkness[2], and the name of the first is Fission[3]It is that which compassath the whole kingdom of Atom, wherein there is the glow[4]And the stars cast His glow upon the firmament[5], and through it creatures were divided[6] from the earth and made with eyes to perceive His glory[7]And for a time the great division continued and created all manner of creature which tested[8] themselves to be worthy[9] of Atom

[1] The big bang was, itself, the splitting of an atom. Conversely, every nuclear detonation is an act of creation.[2] Fission and fusion are self-explanatory as binary forces of destruction and creation, respectively.[3] The CoA associate destruction with light.[4] “The Glow”–Radiation, so dubbed by the Churches of Atom, the M.A.D. Monks, and the Enlightened. This may also serve to invoke The Glow visited by the Vault Dweller, now the NCR state of Dayglow.[5] The Glow came from the heavens.[6] Implicit comparison of postwar mutation to the genesis of life[7] Eyes are a focal point of the study of evolution, and developed in several stages. Eyes are a primary CoA motif.[8] Directly mythologizing evolution, continuing the secular creation myth.[9] “worthy of Atom”–Able to create nuclear detonations.

𝔇𝔦𝔳𝔦𝔰𝔦𝔬𝔫 2

5. Thus came forth man, who had the potential to understand the true form of Atom[10]6. But man was weak and, swayed by false gods, sought to enslave Atom wrapping his mortal gifts in the coils of a great copper wyrm[11][12]7. But His prophets[13] were not swayed, and through them Atom’s bonds were broken[14] and His trumpets soundeth[15] as the breaking of the world8. And where His shackles were loosed[16] a tree of light[17][18][19] grew upon the earth and in its blooming, cast forth a cleansing fire[20][21]

[10] Humanity was the animal who had the potential to ascend through division.[11] The CoA abhor the use of nuclear power, when that power could be loosed upon Christendom. Perhaps why Fusion is cast as darkness[12] Perhaps in the author’s visions, they saw the same terrible worm as the Mad Preacher, and did not recognize it.[13] Prewar wielders of atomic weapons. Almost certainly alluding to the Atomic Priestood, vastly inflating their importance.[14] Likening the breaking of subatomic nuclear bonds to the breaking of the chains which bound their death god[15] Heraldic imagery recalling nuclear alert sirens. Note the misused faux Olde English–”soundeth” would denote a subject acting in the present tense, where this is simply substituting the word “sounded”[16] Craters and disaster zones[17] ”a tree of light”–Mushroom clouds, perhaps regionally alluding to the West Tek or New York detonations[18] Perhaps prophesying or recalling Harold or Tanagra[19] More Mad Preacher overlap[20] Ditto[21] The Children of the Cathedral also explicitly view the War as a cleansing, unifying fire.

𝔇𝔦𝔳𝔦𝔰𝔦𝔬𝔫 3

9. The faithful[22] knew that they still had His love; for where the tree bloomed His seal was placed upon the earth wherein they might drink the waters of the glow[23][24]10. Still the wicked did not believe and so stars of heaven fell upon the earth carried by winged chariots and his trumpets sounded for 40 days[25]11. Thus the land was cleansed and a second great division began[26]

[22] The Children believe they already existed, in some form, on the day the bombs fell.[23] “He is the one who came before. The Firstborn of the Wood. Blood wept from his branches and he shared with all His believers.” - His Birth, corrupted Moth scripture[24] As with the first division, the creatures must be tested to be worthy of the glow, this time through radiation immunity, and/or ghoulification[25] Reverent mythologization of the bombing of America, comparing the War to the apocalyptic deluge endured by Noah.[26] Equating the War to the Big Bang, necessitating a second period of evolution

𝔇𝔦𝔳𝔦𝔰𝔦𝔬𝔫 4

12. But as with the wyrm, the unbelievers[27] hid below the earth from the Eye of Atom, trapped in their ignorance13. To they He has delivered new prophets[28] and said unto them[29]14. I have sent forth thy prisoners out of the pit[30] wherein is no water of the glow[31]15. And you shall weild[sic] the arrow of my judgement[sic] upon them[32]

[27] All who reside in bunkers, but especially Vault-dwellers[28] Postwar wielders of atomic weapons. [29] Whispered or suggested in visions[30] Atom has made the vaults uninhabitable, forcing their residents topside[31] They offend Atom with their unirradiated lifestyle[32] Atom has sentenced them to trial by invisible fire, and it is each Child’s duty to manifest that sentence through combat, coercion, or subterfuge.

𝔇𝔦𝔳𝔦𝔰𝔦𝔬𝔫 5

16. Pity not the wailing of heretics, for their tears shall be dried in the flames[33]17. And their flesh shall consume away while they stand upon their feet in the division[34]18. And their eyes shall consume away in their holes to behold the glory of Atom[35][36]19. And their tongue shall consume away in their mouth to better speak His name[37]20. And so shall you[38] do my works upon the earth

[33] The joy of Division outweighs the sorrow of impending death[34] Division will physically transport them to Atom’s realm[35] Conflation of the ascendant state with ghoulification or death[36] In this instant, they will see Atom.[37] G’yeth, G'yeth.[38] This could be read as “And thusly shall you” or “And you, too, shall”

ON THE SCRIPTURE

 [The initial questions here are authorship and timeframe. This doesn’t seem to fit Cromwell’s personal philosophy or character, but it does comport with his mythology and passions. This may very well have been the scripture he was working from, or it may have been written by one of his disciples. I’d like to entertain the completely unsubstantiated idea that the FO4 scripts were written under the assumption that this was considered canon, especially as it reflects on Isolde’s script. I do reckon Confessor Adalia was originally meant to stand at the middle of Crater House and give a sermon, or that something like this was considered. Its structure suggests it was intended as a stage for some kind of setpiece, but it’s just an environment and a small terminal.]

 Let’s briefly digest its implications as a cultural myth and a foundational text.

 Consider the following: As Dr. Danny R. Faulkner observes in The Book of Enoch and the Flat Earth, “God exemplified his wisdom in not endorsing any of man’s cosmologies in his Word. If God had done otherwise, it would have needlessly exposed the Bible to ridicule in nearly every age, for man’s cosmologies have changed continually over time.” He supposes Enoch was unfit for biblical canon because it proclaims such an explicit model of reality—which, while beautiful, has proven thoroughly incompatible with modern science. Genesis, by comparison, is vague enough to withstand this kind of critique. 

 This in mind, consider how Division retells Genesis in a way that completely accounts for the modern secular model of space, time, and biology, which is unlikely to change. It’s cleverly designed to be future-proof.

 Philosophically, this creation myth, while not physically geocentric, positions Earth as the center stage of this realm. The cultists’ repeated mention of other “worlds” confirms that they believe infinite parallel realms already exist. It’s possible they believe the Great Division was the first of its cycle and the Second Great Division created the realmscape, but Cromwell seems to believe this world was just one of billions divided in a previous universe. Surely, there exist adherents of both interpretations.

 The concept of Division positions humanity as the most important beings in this universe, given the stated purpose of each universe to produce a race capable of further Grand Division, across infinite diverging paths, in perpetuity. This model manages to display an archetypically Christian deification of mankind mixed with an archetypically Eastern/New Age emphasis on mankind as one participant in a recursive, infinite reality.

 In mythologizing evolution, they suggest the possibility of failing to achieve Division. Within the “Infinite Worlds” model of Fallout's reality suggested by Isolde, one could reason that each realm, too, must test itself to be worthy of Atom. Continuing this train of thought, one could conceptualize the religion itself as an organism which must adapt and survive to serve Atom, each cultist a cell of an intangible force of one sort or another. This would bring the allegory in line with the way the word “division” is deployed in the Bible. Perhaps evolving through petty warfare is the philosophical purpose of the Second Great Division, a sort of spiritual social darwinism. Perhaps the ongoing mutation of their gospel is an implicit feature of the Faith, not a bug. 

☢

SPREADING THE WORD

-[information relating to the first 2d20 tabletop book]

THE WINTER OF ATOM

-Winter of Atom is a sourcebook for the Fallout 2d20 line by Modiphius. -Set in the Commonwealth the year before the events of Fallout 4, Winter of Atom details a schism of the Church surrounding the arrival of the Last Son of Atom, a disciple of Cromwell.-The book contains a quest which humanizes Isolde’s flock and presents a sympathetic interpretation of her. -Modiphius worked with Bethesda to create an internal lore bible. They wrote a manuscript based on this bible, anticipating a round of revisions, and were only asked to alter one piece of language.-Materials from Fallout Shelter and Fallout Shelter Online were not considered.-The book coins the term “Atomites” to refer to Children of Atom, which will be used henceforth because Children of Atom is unwieldly.

MOVING ON

-INDEX A - Compilation of relevant source texts, excluding materials from Far Harbor

The second essay, concerning Far Harbor, will be published eventually.