//------------------------------// // Old Time Religion // Story: Student Six Watch Fallout Lore: The Storyteller Series // by Rated Ponystar //------------------------------// Chapter 13: Old Time Religion "So, are you going to complain about this?" Gallus asked Smolder upon seeing the title of this video. "I mean, you were kinda critical about religion and all while ago." "Look, just because I believe that there isn't a god in this universe, with these videos helping me believe that even more, doesn't mean I have a problem with people having such beliefs," Smolder answered, rolling her eyes. "Seriously, I'm not like those crazy snooty atheists who think all religious people are backward unenlightened plebians while acting as some big know it all jackass just to feel superior about myself." "You know, that does beg the question. What kind of worship did these humans have before the Great War and after? I imagine that with society going the way it is, a lot of people turned to religion and faith to find some kind of answer," Ocellus asked, scratching her head with her pencil.  "Well, we know the Legion worships Caesar like a deity, but that's because he has the ego of one," Sandbar answered.  "Doesn't the Brotherhood of Steel worship technology or at least that Maxton fella who started the organization?" Silverstream questioned. "I think they just revere him like some kind of great teacher rather than a messiah. They don't seem to be the technology worshiping type either despite their methods," Gallus theorized.  "Yona says we just watch and find out," the yak said as she made the video unpause. The video showed a series of black and white videos of various humans in fancy robes walking down a large aisle. The clothing reminded the six of different religious garments that their own priests had worn in service to the gods, with Sandbar even comparing them very close to the ones in Equestria. These were the servants of the ancient world religions that most sadly didn't survive the Great War. No time for praying when you were busy surviving so you didn't meet God instead. The following image showed a ruined church with a strange cross-like object on top next. Pretty much every old town and city had destroyed churches, but nobody attended the masses anymore. If the old world gods were ever going to come back, they were taking their time to do so. Instead, other religions appeared throughout the Wasteland due to man's need to believe in something other than himself. A lot of them were quite weird as well. Such as a town in the far east that worshiped a dud nuclear bomb in the middle of the town square. One that hadn't gone off ever since the Great War. "What in the name of all that is holy would cause someone to worship the very thing that destroyed their world in the first place?!" Gallus asked in disbelief. "What would cause anyone to even live near that thing is an even bigger question," Sandbar pointed out. "Maybe they think it was divine intervention, and they worship it for not going off?" Silverstream suggested until the announcer told them that it was spreading cancer among the residents due to the radiation leaking. "Or maybe they're just idiots." The name of these crazy bomb worshipers was known as The Children of Atom, and they were obsessed with not just the bomb but nuclear energy as a whole. They preach about the greatness of Atom, the Atomic God, and all those who ascend into a glowing earthly afterlife upon dying of radiation. The only reason the town even lets them evangelize is that they were fantastic engineers.  "Yona not sure if allowing death bomb worshipers in exchange for skills in machines a good trade." Of course, not all Children of Atom focused on bombs. Others, such as a group in a bunker not far from the bomb holding town, were focused more on radiation and its effects. This group, mostly consistent with ghouls listening to a preacher, believed that being ghoulified was a gift from Atom to help evolve humanity into the next stage of evolution. The Holy Glow was one to be embraced and not feared, according to them.  "So either you die of radiation, or you get turned into a living zombie-looking figure? That's some divine gift," Smolder snorted. "They must have tons of followers waiting to convert." The scene then changed to show a bunch of mole rats living in some underground cavern with a big one that looked to be the size of a Super Mutant that disgusted the six with how ugly it looked. This kind of Rat King was revered by the other mole rats as some kind of God-King while not worshiped by humans. They even managed to drive off the humans in an organized mass attack, but some adventures came around and killed the rats off. Strangely enough, that wasn't the only rodent 'god' known in the Wasteland. Many ghouls fell into the control of a giant yellow-looking mole rat who promised the poor turned souls to return to their humanity with their powers. Provided they got plenty of cheese-flavored treats for it. "You think Professor Fluttershy would ever worship a rat god? Or any animal god?" Ocellus asked, ending her latest note research. "You think she would be tricked into worshiping such a creature?" "Honestly, I think it's the other way around," Smolder said, smirking. "The way they all follow her around it's like she's a living goddess to them." "Save for Angel Bunny. He's just the devil," Sandbar muttered as he thought about that fluffy white demon which made him, and everyone else, shiver with both fear and anger at the thought. Fluttershy had once assigned them to watch over her precious bunny for a week for extra credit while she went off to visit her sick parents during flu season. Needless to say, the six of them had to be bailed out of jail by Fluttershy and Twilight since they almost destroyed half the town trying to kill the damn rabbit for all the horrors it inflicted on them. It made the six of them vow never to get any pets in the future or even for their future kids. Another cult that increased in power and influence was one known as The Church of the Cathedral. Many communities tolerated them due to their free medical practices, and they had churches all over the Wasteland with their headquarters in the Boneyard. Of course, this was just a cover for their sinister plans, for their Dark God was none other than The Master. The six all froze up and began to back away upon seeing the shadow of the abomination and hearing the sound of its half human and half machine mutated body. Yona quickly covered her eyes while trembling at the sight of the creature. Despite knowing that it was just a moving picture, Gallus and Smolder looked ready to launch themselves at it while Sandbar held Ocellus in a protective embrace. Neither cared about the embarrassing notion that the two were in, but secretly they both found themselves loving the touch. As for Silverstream, well, she went back to playing dead like before with her rear legs in the air and holding a flower. The Master might have been one of the most influential leaders with its dark cult along with its army of Super Mutants. However, perhaps the most potent weapon came from the mutation that it suffered from: telepathy. Its psychic powers enabled it to control massive amounts of people, and all the Super Mutants were able to move as a nearly invincible army thanks to its leadership. It was only another reminder of just how deadly the FEV was upon those unfortunate enough to get covered in it.  Everyone soon relaxed when the Master's shadow faded away, with Ocellus and Sandbar still holding each other as they stared into each other's blushing face before turning away. Maybe I should tell him/her how I feel later...both thought as they found themselves wishing they were still hugging. Once Gallus had awakened Silverstream with a bucket of water, they continued to watch.  Despite the hideous form that he had taken, The Master was fortunate in getting his gifts. Meanwhile, the human followers were all under his control that he manipulated into serving him. Some also joined for greed or out of sincere belief in his ideology, and they were willing to get their hands dirty to see his vision of a pure Super Mutant world come to fruition. Their hospitals were all secret bases for holding weapons, setting spies, and capturing essential survivors. It was all to pave the way for the Super Mutant army to come in and take over each of the areas they were operating in. "Pretty good strategy," Smolder nodded grimly. "Infiltrate the area with false promises and gifts, weaken it from the inside, and then send your main force to smash the place while it's weak." "Yaks would just smash. No need to infiltrate when you can bring walls down with horns," Yona proclaimed. However, that was just one of the many dangerous cults that existed in the Wasteland. Another sinister area in Maryland was known to carry shadowy figures that spoke insane and babbling words that meant nothing in any known human language. The group gulped as these shadowy figures who appeared to be glowing ghouls, yet off for some reason, sinisterly walked around near an abandoned building. Inside wasn't much better as there were blood splatters on the wall and skeletons lying in dark hallways. The narrator said that inside, one could hear the sounds of living sacrifices ritualistically murdered on a dark altar to summon the dead back to life. It could be just a bunch of feral ghouls, or maybe it was something else? "Maybe the humans do have access to magic?" Ocellus asked, nervously writing down her notes. "L-let just hopes it's not..." She gulped upon seeing an eldritch-looking location with a dark glowing pillar with strange symbols and designs. Along with some deformed human body sticking to it and a set of skulls. "N-N-Necromancery." Thankfully the dark setting changed into a more happy one. Or rather one that was confusing as it showed a man smiling as he stood on top of a large amount of money. This was the man behind the religion known as "Hubology." A pre-war belief that had managed to survive, much to the annoyance in the narrator's tone. A book titled "Scientific Spirituality by Dick Hubbell" was shown, and the narrator said that many people, both pre and post-war, knew that the religion was a hunk of junk. It was a made-up religion by a science fiction writer who claimed that the souls of undead aliens possessing humanity were the cause of all their problems. Or something to that nature. Of course, the Hubologists could get rid of those pesky ghost aliens for a price. A big one too. Even after surviving the Great War, they were still using the same tricks on poor suckers. "Wow," Gallus said with a snort. "Dicks." Thankfully, another old-time religion managed to survive this long that was a lot more helpful and spiritual: Mormonism.  "Hey, isn't that the group of people that help Joshua Graham?" Sandbar asked. "Yeah, and he used to be one of them before he joined Caesar too," Ocellus said with a smile. "Glad at least one human religion is helping people out." Mormonism was popular in the Mojave both before and after the war. It focused on helping people and evangelizing their faith to those who would listen. However, it soon caught the attention of Caesar, who seeks to wipe them out. Fortunately, as shown with them holding weapons proudly in the sunlight, they were more resilient than most and fighting back hard. "Thanks to Joshua helping them out. Go Mormons!" Silverstream said, cheering them on. "Eh, if they're kicking baldy's butt, then I guess they're okay," Smolder said with a smile. Ironically, there's a big Mormon fort in New Vegas, but there are no Mormons there. Instead, it's a base for a group known as the Followers of The Apocalypse. With a name like that, most people would assume that they were another doomsday cult, but this was far from the truth. In fact, they weren't even a religious group to begin with but were scientists, doctors, and educators focused on healing the world and its population from the effects of the Great War.  Everyone smiled upon seeing these generous unitarians heal and fed the oppressed and starving. "Finally, some honest to goodness people who are helping others with nothing more than simple kindness," Sandbar sighed in relief.  "It's good to know that there are such good people even in this dark world," Silverstream said with a bright smile. "Plus, they sound like a group I'd like to get involved with," Ocellus said with great enthusiasm, "Using science and knowledge to fix and educate the world. If we ever managed to find a way into this world, I think the Followers are the first group we should work with to help The Wasteland." Everyone nodded in agreement with her and made a mental note to suggest this to Princess Twilight should the occurrence ever happen.  The Followers started a while ago in a great big library and realized just how much humanity had lost in the Great War. To ensure that the Great War never happened again, they made a vow to share their knowledge, plus any other knowledge they found in the years since, to drag humanity out of the dark age they had created and prevent such a disaster from happening again. They even played a role in helping the Vault Dweller stop the Master, which earned them further awe in the six's eyes.  Ironically, this made them very similar to the Brotherhood of Steel. Both sides were interested in pre-war tech, but the Brotherhood's focus was just on weapons, and they refused to share what they learned with outsiders. The Followers looked into agriculture, medicine, engineering, and other helpful studies to keep a town fed, warm, and healthy. Plus, they were more than willing to not only show others how to do this but teach them as well—all in exchange for nothing in return. The Followers did their best to keep some of the more dangerous technologies hidden and locked away from other factions such as the Brotherhood, Legion, and the NCR. "Why the NCR? The Legion makes sense since they're all evil, and the Brotherhood of Steel I can understand because of their principles, but isn't the NCR...kinda okay?" Silverstream asked, tilting her head. It turns out that the NCR and Followers had a history together. Both sides did have a strong friendship at first, but the NCR's expansionist policies conflicted with the Follower's pacifistic beliefs. Eventually, the two sides had a falling out, but some of the Followers did join the NCR as a specialized scientific group known as the Office of Science and Industry. In a bitter twist of irony, Caesar himself was once a member of the Followers and was raised by them when he was a child. Only he used what he learned to destroy everything around him in a brazen effort to rebuild the world in his image. "Oh, yeah," Sandbar said, eyes widened. "I forgot about that." "Bet some of the Followers are kicking themselves in the rump for that fiasco," Gallus muttered. Still, despite such a bad apple, the Followers of the Apocalypse accepted outsiders regardless of their origins. Even a person, a blonde-haired man with glass, originally from the Enclave, much to the six's surprise, was a member. He took refuge with the Followers and saw their methods as a redemption path for his father's sins.  "Wow, I guess they really are the forgiving type," Smolder whispered. A photo showed these tired and yet smiling men and women of this helpful group playfully taking their picture as the narrator talked about how they carried such a burden yet determined goal to aid a world filled with suffering. It was proof that one didn't need a religious textbook to find the means to bring kindness to the world or seek some happy afterlife. They were just trying to make a shadowy world a bit brighter before they died. For the Followers, science was their key in trying to make the world better. Ironic due to the fact it was science that had ruined it in the first place. Primarily by those who took the pursuit of science a little to-SHSSHSHS! "What the?" Yona asked as the screen fizzled out for a second. "Is orb thing broken?" For it was these poindexters who, in their arrogance of trying to play god, would end up being more devil-like and- "What's going on?" Ocellus asked as it fizzled again. "Wait, did anyone see that?" "That thing that appeared and disappeared?" Smolder asked. "Yeah, what is it?" More and more images of scientists appeared along with strange other things like brains in jars or- "Okay, I'm getting freaked- A hidden field of science for out in the Wasteland had lobotomized zombies, robots, and other science-SHSSHSHS! "Are those robot scorpio-" SHSSHSHS! But that was a story for another day...