Master

The Master of the Supermutants (? – 2162) was the founder and leader of the Unity, a super mutant organization dedicated to the transhumanist transformation of mankind in post-nuclear New California. By the time he was encountered by the Vault Dweller, the Master was an amalgam of dozens of humans and mutants, integrated into the Cathedral's computer network, speaking in multiple voices and switching between them on the fly.

Alternative names include the Master's birth name, Richard Moreau, the pseudonym adopted after his exile from Vault 8, Richard Grey, and a variety of names used to refer to him by his followers, including Holy Flame, Dark God, Father Hope and others.

The Master is the antagonist of Fallout, encountered at the Cathedral. Destroying him is required to eliminate the mutant threat, although meeting the Master in person is entirely optional.

Biography
Richard Moreau was born before the Great War. Little is known about his past, except for the fact that he was one of the lucky few who found shelter in Vault 8 during the Great War. One year after the Vault opened, in 2092, Moreau had the dubious distinction of being one of the first dwellers to be exiled. The accusation was murder, although the circumstances are unknown. Moreau changed his last name to Grey and headed south, towards the coast. He eventually reached the newly-founded Hub, more than four hundred miles to the south, and established himself as a doctor there. He became popular, especially with one of the caravan masters by the name of Harold, who considered him a brilliant doctor and philosopher.

His story could end here, if it wasn't for his ill-fated expedition to Mariposa Military Base, undertaken by himself, Harold, Francine, and Mark in 2102. On June 23, the party was routed by mutants inhabiting the base. Grey was knocked into one of the Vats. His wounded state combined with extreme long-term exposure to the FEV precipitated his evolution into the Master. After he regained consciousness and dragged himself from the Vats, he continued to mutate after the weeks-long immersion. The mutation eventually stabilized enough for him to notice his greatly increased mental capacity, capable of resolving the most complex of philosophical questions. He began experimenting on animals infesting the military base by exposing them to the Virus. When he dipped a rat and a dog into the Virus at the same time, the resulting fusion inspired him to begin formulating a philosophy of unification, laying the groundwork for the Unity. However, experiments were frustrated by a lack of subjects or understanding of the virus.

In December 2102, following a series of directed mutations by injecting doses of the virus into various areas of his mutated body, Grey gained the ability to neurolink with computers, allowing him to access the base's databanks. Aided by the data, he began experiments on humans who strayed into the facilities, without much luck. Finally, in January 2103, he finally isolated radiation exposure as the crucial factor affecting transformation success. The first successful super mutant was assimilated by Grey as a fellow mind, creating the Master hive mind. The Unity began in earnest, as the Master began to gather test subjects from local human communities. The process was slow, hampered by their scarcity, but over the next thirty years he built up a small force of super mutants, until the Great Winter of 2130 convinced the Master that it is no longer feasible.

In 2131, the Master decided to focus on acquiring subjects from caravans that crossed the wasteland in ever increasing numbers. The human settlements were blissfully unaware of the raids, blaming them on monsters, allowing the army to grow tremendously. By 2137, there were enough super mutants to sustain mass production. While the success rate was between 15-20%, with a half going on to join the Master's army, it grew rapidly into a potent military force. The resulting army was named Unity by the Master, becoming the foundation of his vision for humanity and the world. For the next fifteen years, the Unity would expand over New California, striking from the shadows. In 2152, the Master enlisted the aid of Morpheus and his doomsday cultists, creating the Children of the Cathedral to act as the Unity's public face and maintain secrecy.

Just three years later, in 2155, the Unity experienced a breakthrough in its operations. After apprehending a caravan of Vault dwellers from the Los Angeles Vault, the Master transferred his command there and ordered Morpheus' cultists to renovate the building above the Vault, establishing the Cathedral and its Children. The Vault provided a wealth of information to the Master and the Unity, most importantly the locations of other Vaults. Super mutants began searching their suspected locations, gathering prime subjects for super mutant conversion. Not all operations were successful: The detachment sent to investigate Bakersfield and Vault 12 wound up engaging the ghouls living among the ruins, with fighting only ceasing when Set brokered a ceasefire, explaining that the ghouls were what remained of Vault 12's dwellers. A garrison was left behind to ensure Set's cooperation and apprehend the occasional human passing through.

The steady expansion of Unity operations and preparation for the attack on New California, spearheaded by the Children of the Cathedral seemed impossible to prevent. However, the Master did not account for the Vault Dweller's interference, who managed to uncover the plan while retrieving a water chip for Vault 13. Spurred into action by Overseer Jacoren, on March 3, 2162, he infiltrated the Cathedral and destroyed it with a nuclear weapon, killing the Master. The Unity retaliated by attacking Necropolis, trying to locate the Vault Dweller, but it was too late. On April 20, less than two months after the death of the Master, the Dweller delivered the killing blow to the Unity by destroying the Mariposa Military Base. Although he disappeared into the wasteland, the Brotherhood of Steel picked up where he left off, driving the super mutants away with minimal loss of life, on both sides of the conflict, establishing itself as a major power in the wasteland, but wisely remaining out of the power structure. Surviving super mutants would attempt to integrate into society or find a new life for themselves, with one of the most notable attempts being Broken Hills, founded by Marcus and Paladin Jacob in 2185, as a place where regular and mutated humans could live side by side. Yet other groups migrated away from New California, north and east, looking for new places to settle.

Power and abilities
The Master began his life as an intelligent, but ordinary human. It wasn't until the expedition into Mariposa that he began to evolve - randomly at first and then by modifying himself with additional doses of the Forced Evolution Virus. The Virus increased his naturally high intelligence many times over, allowing him to understand complex philosophical questions with ease, while slowly warping and twisting his body. Not all the changes were for the worse, however: As his body changed, the Master gained the ability to neurolink with computers and robotics.

Although humans found his appearance repulsive, the evolution provided a countermeasure: It increased the Master's natural charisma and unlocked his latent psionic talent. Already gifted with a silver tongue, Moreau became able to persuade others with impeccable reason, logic, and in-depth understanding of psychology. The few capable of withstanding the strength of his argument would have to concede in the face of the argument of strength: His growing army of super mutants, made possible by resolving the problems of the pre-War FEV.

However, it was the psychic powers that were the most powerful asset the Master had. Long-term exposure to FEV gave him the ability to penetrate the mental defenses of others, preying on their greatest fears and breaking them. His control over them was limited and those members of the Unity or the Children who were granted an audience with him were required to wear psychic nullifiers to pass through the Corridor of Revulsion and the passive psychic field he generated - otherwise they risked physical damage.

Finally, the Master was integrated into the Los Angeles Vault ever since the move there from Mariposa. As the biomass and the number of humans and mutants he assimilated increased, the Master integrated himself into the Vault, with tendrils spreading throughout the facilities and burrowing themselves into the underlying technology. The most stunning display was, of course, in the Overseer's chamber, where he grew in and into the command chair. However, the Master neglected to distribute his nervous system in a similar way and the primary brain was still located within the body that assimilated the post and the Vault's main computer.

Quests

 * Destroy the Mutant leader.: The Master is the mutant leader and the player has to confront him. This can occur in three primary ways:
 * Combat includes facing the Master directly. He has 500 hit points, a Gatling laser, and thick armor. Furthermore, he will spawn a super mutant in the corridor every two turns (four at the lowest combat difficulty), up to a maximum of twelve. Hardened power armor and high damaging weapons are a necessity to withstand the damage output, however, the Master will not attack companions or his Floating Eyes. In fact, the robots are not aggressive towards the player and if splash damage hits them, they will turn on the Master. He is also vulnerable to pulse grenades. Saving and reloading will also cause the spawned mutants to disappear, but still count towards the maximum of twelve.
 * Diplomacy requires the player to have read Vree's autopsy report and have at least 7 Intelligence and good Speech. Then it's a matter of asking him about the plan, pointing out a problem with it and either giving the disk or telling him to ask his female mutants.
 * Stealth involves no confrontation and infiltrating the lowest level via the barracks in the command center. The doors are locked and require a good Lockpick. The player can activate the bomb after killing the guards (they don't take kindly to tampering) by using Science (70% required), Lockpick (70% required; the test was intended to be for Repair, but the game checks for Lockpick) or the bomb key looted from Mariposa.
 * Finally, it is possible to join his cause simply by talking to him and agreeing to his demands or persuasion. Doing so triggers the dipping ending and the raid on Vault 13, but grants no end slides.

Appearances
The Master appears only in Fallout as a talking head.

Although he only appears in the first game of the series, the Master is mentioned in all Fallout games except for Fallout 4 and Fallout 76.
 * In Fallout 2, it was revealed that he was previously called Richard Moreau and was exiled from Vault City. He is also mentioned by several characters like Dr. Fung Marcus and Lenny.
 * In Fallout 3, Harold states that he remembers a friend who fell into the FEV vats at Mariposa, but does not explicitly state any names.
 * In Fallout: New Vegas, the Master is frequently mentioned by several characters:
 * Tabitha and Rhonda, the two hosts of Black Mountain Radio.
 * Lily Bowen, Marcus, along with some of his fellow super mutants and nightkin in Jacobstown.
 * Davison, leader of a small band of nightkin in the REPCONN test site.
 * Dog and God, Dean Domino and Elijah reference him in the Sierra Madre (Dead Money).
 * Klamath Bob also mentions that Mean Sonofabitch is from Unity.
 * In Fallout Tactics, Toccamatta mentions his name before dying in Osceolla and Latham references him in one of his holodisks also in Osceolla.
 * In Fallout: Brotherhood of Steel, Attis references him during one of his dialogues in the Secret Vault.
 * In the Project V13 web-page introduction, the phrase "The Master Lives" is scratched into the desk.

Behind the scenes

 * The Master has a total of four voices: Three male and one female.
 * His birth name is a nod to The Island of Doctor Moreau, an 1896 science-fiction novel about a scientist attempting to uplift imported animals through surgery and medical experiments.
 * Finally, the Master would have been the villain of the abortive Fallout movie.
 * The Master's phrase "We need one race. Race! Race! One goal. Goal! Goal! One people..." is reference to Adolf Hitler's famous propaganda slogan "Ein Reich, Ein Volk, Ein Fuhrer" translated: "One Empire, One People One Leader"