Military storyline

Military storyline
Factions	Army Remnants Enclave Members of the SoB of the C.I.T. Various minor groups
Characters	Troy Bishop Dr. Earnest Flemmel Major Arthur Gannon HR-D4 Marcus Ischar Janus Dr. Richard Lerna The Survivor (canonical starting location)

The Military storyline is a storyline in Fallout: FROST.

Introduction

While Fallout: FROST does not provide quests as the base game does, it offers storylines of different lengths and narrative structure in the form of visual storytelling, notes, and terminal entries.

Many parts of these storylines are open to interpretation at the player's discretion.

This Wiki tries to make an effort to avoid speculation based on interpretation of available lore, unless clearly marked as such.

Storylines are not started, followed, or finished in the classical sense of a quest, and generally do not provide quest markers, rewards, or notifications about finished or failed quest stages. Rather, storylines are comparable to combining picked-up pages torn from a book into a cohesive picture at the discretion of the player, with the learning more being the main motivation.

The Military storyline is considered to be the most extensive of these, involving more locations, factions, and characters than any other storyline, in addition to providing the largest amount of connected narrative. It is, therefore, often considered to be the main storyline of FROST.

Picking up the storyline

Storylines are picked up by finding lore pertaining to them. The lore found may not be initially obvious as part of a storyline, but forms a connected, narrative structure as more information is gathered.

The Military storyline is no exception, as it can be picked up at any location providing connected lore. In contrast with many other storylines, the Military storyline has, at least in part, a chronological order defined by lore containing dates.

Unlike other storylines, the Military storyline has a canonical starting point: choosing the access tunnels as a starting location in The Beginning of Things.

Locations

Locations of a storyline contain lore pertaining to that particular storyline. Lore may be transported by notes, terminal entries or visual storytelling.

This section is meant to assist players in finding lore and locations deemed to be of importance to the Military storyline, not in piecing the storyline together.

Locations in alphabetical order. Note, that some of these locations may require keys or passwords to access them.

• Any starting location, with the canonical one in the access tunnels providing the most easily accessible lore
• Bunker Hill
• Coast Guard Pier
• C.I.T Concourse
• Fenway Park (surrounding area)
• FMS Columbia
• Fort Hagen Satellite Array
• Fort Strong
• Parsons State Insane Asylum
• Parsons State Insane Asylum labyrinth
• Recon Bunker Theta
• Spectacle Island
• Sunshine Tidings (ship) stranded on the coast of the the Island
• Surveillance Center K-21B
• Wreck of the Liberty VI

Storyline

This section narrates the storyline in detail. Click expand to reveal it.

Pre-War

At an unknown point in time prior to the Great War, Dr. Richard Lerna, then Head of the School of Biosciences of the Commonwealth Institute of Technology, either of his own motivation or tasked by unknown parties, starts researching into improving the regenerative capabilities of the human body.

The first reported testing subject of what he and his team designate "HR-D line" is an individual codenamed HR-D3, whose origins as well as motivations for taking part in Lerna's research are unknown.

HR-D3 is subject to genetic enhancements based on sequences extracted from Anolis carolinensis and Hydra Linnaeus, two species known to have exceptional regenerative capabilities.

Hoping that these genetic enhancements will allow HR-D3 to regenerate removed limbs, HR-D3 undergoes amputation by the team. But while HR-D3 quickly recovers from the operation, healing the resulting wounds, the removed limbs do not grow back.

Attempting to improve on the methods and technologies used, Lerna decides to augment his next testing subject, HR-D4, with Class 6-C Photonic Resonance Generator sub-cranial implants. These are hoped to increase recovery times even more and also decrease cell decay, potentially prolonging HR-D4s lifespan.

Shortly before the Great War, a fellow scholar of Lerna's at the SoB, Dr. Earnest Flemmel, becomes aware of the nature of the experiments. Concerned about the political and ethical implications, Flemmel starts interfering with the HR-D line research.

Despite his initial concerns, Flemmel starts participating as a testing subject in Lerna's research, and is designated "HR-D5". In contrast to HR-D3 and HR-D4, Flemmel is subject to both brain implants and genetic enhancements.

Flemmel's motivations for suddenly changing his mind are unclear, but it may be speculated that he came in contact with Lorenzo Cabot's developing telepathic capabilities and began to slowly spiral into delusional fantasies of becoming omniscient and finding the key to immortality due to Lorenzo's inability to fully control the impact of his capabilities.

Reaching the limits of his facilities, Lerna decides to have HR-D4 shipped to a sister lab in Oslo for further examination, and to have Flemmel transferred to Parsons State Insane Asylum for the same reasons in the days before the Great War.

Lerna, avoiding anticipated problems with border controls, tasks a band of smugglers lead by Troy Bishop with the transport. Bishop and his collaborators at this point are unaware of the nature of their contraband, which is only known as "the package" to them, but are told that it is of significant value to their employers.

At the asylum, Flemmel is subjected to joint experimentation of resident staff and Lerna's team. As the experiments are not yielding the desired results, Flemmel is injected with the FEV, the Forced Evolutionary Virus developed elsewhere, and originating from research related to the New Plague started in 2073.

Flemmel is subjected to not only to further experiments, but also to Lorenzo Cabot's now intensifying attempts to reach out into his mind, rapidly decreasing his already prevalent mental condition further and causing him to try and inform Lerna about what Lorenzo plants into his mind: Having found the key to immortality.

Ignoring Flemmel but concerned about the political situation possibly leading to a war subsequently cutting off his access to HR-D4 in Oslo, Lerna orders HR-D4 to be returned.

Troy Bishop, to whom HR-D4 is still only known as "the package", is tasked with transporting HR-D4 back to the Commonwealth aboard the FMS Columbia, and is ordered to unload his contraband at the wreck of the Liberty VI, prior to returning to the Boston docks.

During the journey back, Bishop learns of the nature of his contraband, a human being, and subsequently tries to blackmail Lerna into raising his pay without knowing the reasons for why this human being is of so much value to his employers.

The situation is complicated by Marcus Ischar, the smuggler group's accountant, becoming suspicious of Bishop not sharing all profit, gaining access to Bischop's cabin, and also learning of the existence of "the package" and its value. In contrast with Bishop, Ischar does not seem to be aware of the nature of their contraband.

With HR-D4 aboard the FMS Columbia, HR-D5 dwindling into insanity at Parsons, Lerna being under pressure from his accomplice (himself under suspicion from one of his collaborators and a nuclear war only hours away), the formerly secretive research project is about to become subject to a lot more interest than any of the current participants quite possibly want it to be.

The Great War

The war anticipated by Lerna, later termed the Great War, began and ended on the 23^th of October 2077, eradicating almost all of the Commonwealth's inhabitants, their social structures, and their engineering achievements.

The FMS Columbia, hit by the blastwaves of the nuclear detonations, capsized near Spectacle Island, taking most of her crew, Bishop's men and presumably also HR-D4 down with her.

Bishop, together with Al Duval and another, unnamed member of his group, manages to reach Spectacle Island, with Duval deserting them shortly thereafter. The remaining two then also head for the coast, leaving a message for other survivors of the shipwreck to regroup at the wreck of the Liberty VI.

Note: Choosing the left door as a starting location starts the survivor on Spectacle Island. The survivor finds himself on the island's north coast in 2082, five years after the Great War, and thus five years after the shipwrecked have left the island. Players are encouraged to draw their own conclusions from the situation they find themselves in.

HR-D5 escapes from Parsons, after almost all personnel leaves the premises. But this is another story.

Old friends

By mid-April 2082, Bishop, having lost "the package" and thus his leverage on Lerna (and presumably building up a new gang in the meantime), learns that survivors of the Columbia have gathered at the Liberty VI under the lead of Marcus Ischar.

With Ischar pretending to have "the package" in his possession, as well as a key required for accessing Lerna's hideout in the C.I.T. Concurse (presumed lost during the capsizing), Bishop and his crew head for the Liberty VI.

Upon arrival, instead of old friends, Bishop is met by a new gang formed by Ischar. Blinded by his fixation on regaining leverage on Lerna in addition to obtaining the access key, Bishop is ambushed by Ischar inside of the Libertalia VI and gets killed together with his men.

A new player: The Enclave

Unbeknownst to Lerna and all others involved with the package, another actor was about to enter the stage: The remains of the U.S. government, the Enclave.

While it is unknown how the Enclave learned of the existence of "the package", they seem to have been largely unaware of its exact nature and capabilities, or a least went for a very strict need-to-know policy for sharing whatever information they had.

Assuming it to be of strategic value, the Enclave assembled a recovery expedition to locate and retrieve "Hotel Romeo", as "the package" is codenamed for the expedition.

Gannon the drifter

Entrusting one of their most valued army officers, Major Arthur Gannon, with leading the expedition into the Commonwealth, the importance of the mission is underlined by the Enclave's president personally bidding farewell to the parting group.

Choosing Boston proper as initial injection point, Gannon and an unknown number of supporting troops make first base in what was possibly the location of earlier Enclave activities: "DIA site alpha" below the Old North Church. Securing the site in order to deploy additional research staff is hampered by inhabitants of the lower parts of the adjacent tunnels, and is thus delayed.

With Enclave intel supposedly unable to pick up any definitive initial leads, Gannon tries to involve local groups by setting out a bounty on the most prominent members of the smugglers: Troy Bishop, Marcus Ischar and Al "Six Nails" Duval. Despite his attempt at concealing the expeditions origins by choosing a pseudonym, "Gannon the Drifter", for this, at least some of the groups become suspicious, realizing, that whatever Gannon is looking for must be of great value, and thus might turn in a good profit.

Note: Choosing the right door as a starting location starts the survivor on an elevated highway in 2082, near a group of mercenaries who had been on their way to Fort Hagen. Players are encouraged to draw their own conclusions from the situation they find themselves in.

In September 2082, as hints to one of the smugglers involved, Troy Bishop, point to Nahant, Gannon is ordered to move there and capture him alive, if possible. Instead of Bishop, the major is able to get hold of Marcus Ischar and possibly other former members of Bishop's operation, whom he then transfers to Recon Bunker Theta for further interviews.

In a first slight deviation from his task, Gannon decides to uncover the true nature of "the package", as his commanding officer, General Eaton, does not share any information pertaining to it with his subordinate.

During the interviews conducted mid-October 2082, Gannon learns of Ischar's betrayal and that he knows no details of "Hotel Romeo" or "HR-D4", referring to "the package" as a mere tool in an extortion scheme. While Ischar seems to have no knowledge about the exact location of the FMS Columbia's wreck, Gannon is able to obtain this information from other interviewed captives. Ischar is subsequently executed near the bunker, with the fate of the other captives unknown.

Gannon also seems to have learned more detail about "Hotel Romeo", including its full designation "HR-D4", which he now assumes to be some form of biological weapon, and has documentation pertaining to its still largely unknown capabilities transferred to Surveillance Center K-21B.

In the previous month, September 2082, another group of the expedition made contact with the Themis Cult, describing them as "militant" and "highly organized" but lacking weaponry. A decision is made to not pursue them and maintain surveillance instead, returning fire if attacked.

Realizing that tensions between the factions that evolved in the Commonwealth might work to his advantage, Gannon also orders parts of his troops to take possession of Bunker Hill from the Metro Federation and "burn it to the foundations" in an attempt to prevent Boston proper from coming under the control of a single faction which might then hamper his mission.

The major, now being convinced that HR-D4 (while its true nature is still unknown) is still aboard the FMS Columbia resting on the seafloor near Spectacle Island and that it is "bigger than the Enclave knows", moves out towards the wreck accompanied by an unknown number of his troops.

The Sunshine boys

Formerly a trio operating out of Sunshine Tidings-coop busying themselves with their self-imposed mission of freeing robots (which they considered lifeforms in their own right) from their restrictive programming, were reduced them to a duo in events directly following the Great War: Sunshine Johnny and Sunshine Jack, known as Janus.

In 2077, Janus seems to have become aware by unknown means of the existence of HR-D4, but not necessarily by this codename assigned to him by Lerna. Referring to HR-D4 as "the snake", itself probably being a reference to Anguis fragilis (a reptile with regenerative capabilities), Janus and his remaining companion set out to find and free what they consider to be another victim restricted in its right to free development of its personality.

Following the breadcrumb trail left by those in temporary in control of "the package", and after interrogating an unknown trooper, Janus located and killed Dr. Lerna in his hideout in the C.I.T. Concourse, Janus also captures Major Gannon at the site of the FMS Columbia in addition to "a silly little snake".

Sunshine Johnny, having waited for Janus in their hideout to return and bring "new guests", since the "old guest doesn't talk anymore", does not want him to leave again. But Janus is convinced that "it all makes sense now" and heads out again for unknown purposes.

Beginning again

While Janus is away, Gannon dies from an overdose in his prison cell, leaving behind a locket and notes referring to the Gilgamesh epic. Sunshine Johnny also dies overdosing while guarding the last remaining captive, which the two assume to be "the snake", without Janus ever returning - their hideout now counts three corpses.

Note: Choosing the centre door as a starting location will start the the survivor in a cage in the access tunnels next to Gannon's corpse in 2082, with the corpse of an unknown individual in a nearby cage and Sunshine Johnny dead on an adjacent bed. This is the canonical starting location of FROST. Players are encouraged to draw their own conclusions from the situation they find themselves in.

Janus, leaving a trail of breadcrumbs with some of them directly addressing "the snake", challenges the survivor to Let Go in order to be able to Begin Again.

After the survivor has Let Go, Janus takes him aboard his ship, the Sunshine Tidings, to enable him to begin again on The Island. After reaching its shores, Janus is shot, presumably by the local inhabitants.

Mortally wounded and unable to speak, Janus is still convinced that the survivor is "the snake". He tries helplessly to communicate with the one he spent the last five years of his live finding, but ultimately fails to do so.