Commonwealth

The Commonwealth is a geographic region largely encompassing the former state of Massachusetts in the New England Commonwealth. Among other locales, the Commonwealth includes the former state capital of Boston.

Background
Main: Commonwealth of Massachusetts on Wikipedia

A powerful force in the history, industry and culture of the United States, Massachusetts was a site originally inhabited by Algonquian tribes, and the name is, in fact, derived from the tribe of Massachusett, and European settlers didn't arrive until the early 1600s, settling at the Massachusetts Bay and forming friendly relations with the native Wampanoag people (survivors of the early 17th century plagues that killed approximately 90% native Americans in the region). Religious immigrants continued arriving from England, resulting in sustained growth and rising religious unrest, which included atrocities such as the Salem witch trials of 1691, which coincided with the arrival of the new province's first governor. Neither the governor nor England were popular in Massachusetts, which became a hotbed of secessionist sentiment. The conflict between colonists and the Crown was only aggravated by attempts to tax the colonies without giving them representation in the Parliament, the Boston Massacre, and the Boston Tea Party. The powder keg finally ignited in 1775, when the Thirteen Colonies openly rebelled against the Crown.

The battles of Lexington and Concord were the first engagements of the war, which spilled across the colonies. Massachusetts was a vital battleground in the Revolution and a major center of political thought. Not all influence was purely intellectual - the Shays' Rebellion of 1786 provided the impetus for drafting a stronger national constitution in place of the Articles of Confederation. Massachusetts was the sixth state to ratify the constitution in 1788. In the 19th century, Massachusetts' prominence increased, becoming one of the centers of the industrial revolution and abolitionist thought on American soil, thanks to a combination of robust infrastructure, coastal location, natural resources, and active immigration from Europe and Canada. Despite initial opposition to abolitionism, culminating in riots in 1835 and 1837, Massachusetts soon became a firm anti-slavery state. During the Civil War, it became the first state to allow African Americans to serve as soldiers (in the 54th Massachusetts Infantry Regiment).

Its industry continued to play a prominent role well into the 20th century, although the development of the South and Midwest led to a gradual decline that was turned into a freefall by the Great Depression. The 1920s saw the collapse of Massachusetts' principal industries: Textiles, shoemaking, and precision mechanics. The state began to change midway through the 20th century, most notably after the formation of the 13 Commonwealths in 1969.

21st century America
The evolution transformed the face of Massachusetts, with the state's economy supercharged by the emergence of a vibrant high technology sector spearheaded by the Commonwealth Institute of Technology. Located in Cambridge, the CIT was one of the foremost centers of higher learning in the nation, providing it with many great minds, including Robert House, who founded RobCo Industries in 2042, after graduating CIT, and turned it into one of the most profitable companies on the planet within five years. As private and public interests flocked to Massachusetts, the face of the state changed as well. Skyscrapers sprouted across the financial district, with cutting edge facilities established by every notable corporation on the market. To accommodate this boom, a sophisticated network of elevated superhighways and monorail lines was developed, all of which spanning from the 2040's up until 2077.

This mosaic of old and new was host to the most notable companies and government agencies in the United States, including Mass Fusion (the state's primary energy provider), Vault-Tec Corporation (which also established a number of its Vaults across the state), Poseidon Energy, General Atomics International, Galaxy News Network, HalluciGen, Inc., Nuka-Cola Corporation (setting up Nuka-World in the western part of the state) and many more. The ports of Massachusetts continued to bring in commerce and traffic, until the beginning of the Resource Wars and especially the Sino-American War in 2076. Boston shifted easily into its new role, providing the United States Army with technologies to fight communism on all fronts as the country slid towards authoritarianism. It's in Boston's Fort Strong that the fantastic T-51 power armor was perfected by the Army's Corps of Engineers, with Cambridge Polymer Labs developing nanotechnology to further refine the military's weapons. Sentinel site Prescott to the southwest of the state was erected as a deterrent against enemy nuclear weapons.

However, the erosion of civil rights and basic morality did not spare the state or its people. Corporations operated as if unhindered by labor or environmental regulations, especially those with exceptions by the state. The pollution eventually reaching such a degree that mutations started to occur in the marine wildlife. The Army, in cooperation with General Atomics, established the covert RB-2851 facility beneath East Boston, where prisoners would be harvested for use in Robobrain's. Proclamation of martial law, enacted by Lieutenant Governor Graham in the Massachusetts region due to paranoia, in 2076 confirmed the end of the United States as a democratic state. Military checkpoints proliferated across the United States, with Massachusetts no exception. The military routinely responded to food riots with violence, including the massacre at the Boston Police rationing site, where the 184th Infantry Regiment gunned down hungry Bostonians with impunity. The Defense Intelligence Agency operated unhindered across the state, operating The Switchboard and a network of hidden caches across the state, while the federal surveillance center K-21B monitored citizens for compliance. In spite of the violence, the Boston Bugle continued to distinguish itself as a voice of reason, with dissident, courageous journalists continuing to cover the atrocities of the regime regardless of risk to themselves.

The Great War
The nuclear conflagration that lasted only a brief two hours plunged the state into chaos. Short-range missiles launched from the Yangtze-31 that infiltrated the Bay bypassed missile defense systems, striking Cambridge and other locations in the state. The brief bombardment spared most of the city, with military units stationed in and around the city struggling to maintain order. To the southwest, the Glowing Sea was born in the nuclear fire, with a nuke in the megaton range detonating northwest of the sentinel site, turning a vast stretch of land into a radioactive hellscape that would persist for centuries, bolstered by the destroyed nuclear reactors seeping fuel into the atmosphere and the ground. Harsh crackdowns by the military only contributed to the chaos, with any semblance of order eventually collapsing in on itself.

The CIT was hit hard. Although the college survived intact, the staff had trouble surviving the conflagration, with the science staff taking refuge in the underground of the Institute, slowly carving out a subterranean habitat for themselves. The Institute was formally founded in 2110, as the children of the original survivors dug into the earth and built increasingly sophisticated habitats and laboratories, starting an ongoing process of expanding the Institute's facilities and infrastructure. Isolated from the outside world, the scientists continued their work, disregarding the mayhem and destruction occurring outside of its grounds. As they worked on creating synths, they attempted to work peacefully with the people of the Commonwealth using first generation synths, but mutual mistrust ended that relationship quickly and they returned to isolation.

The key element of the future Commonwealth was founded at the ruins of Fenway Park stadium in the mid 2130s, when Diamond City was established. The settlement greatly benefited from its central location and the natural protection afforded by the baseball stadium, gradually rising to the position of the Great, Green Jewel of the Commonwealth and becoming an integral part of the region's history and its many factions. It also became the site of many of the region's miseries, such as when the Commonwealth Provisional Government, the first and only attempt to form an unified government for the Commonwealth, was wiped out by a synth from the Institute. Whether it was deliberate sabotage or a play made by one of the factions within the Institute, the loss of the CPG doomed any future attempts at organizing a government, and led to the Institute sealing itself off from the surface permanently after developing the molecular relay in the 2180s,

The Minutemen came closest to becoming an organized army protecting the Commonwealth, rising to prominence after defending the City from a super mutant attack in 2180 - the mutants being the first experiments released by the Institute into the wild as part of their research into organic synths. Their rising star was snuffed out in the middle of the 23rd century, after the loss of The Castle to Mirelurks in 2240, after a queen mirelurk decided she fancies the location. The loss of their headquarters, radio station, and General McGann sent the Commonwealth Minutemen into disarray. Without artillery support and their resources, they were picked off one by one. The formation of Goodneighbor by exiled criminals from Diamond City that same year also signaled a shift in the Commonwealth, with it becoming a quagmire of violence and misery. The Broken Mask Incident of 2229 and the revelation of third generation synths to the general population established the Institute as a bogeyman and contributed to the mutual distrust and paranoia that kept the communities of the Commonwealth divided.

Since then the situation has remained miserable, but stable: The Institute continued to experiment on the surface and use it as a source of raw materials for the expansion of its underground habitats, raiders and Gunners preyed on the people of the wasteland, too numerous to be killed off, but too disorganized to take the Commonwealth over, while the Minutemen died a long death. The Railroad continued its guerrilla war against the Institute, desperately trying to stay one step ahead of the Institute's pursuit. However, the fertile soils of the region, its technological legacy and the ready availability of salvage meant that region remained a crucial source of trade and resources. Tobar has once included it in his trading circuit, while caravans from the north, south, and west continue to pass through the region, contributing to the wealth of Bunker Hill and especially Diamond City. Perhaps the single greatest upheaval came with 2287, when the War for the Commonwealth started with the arrival of the Brotherhood of Steel in the Commonwealth, setting its sights on the Institute and its atrocities perpetrated against humanity in general and the Commonwealth in particular.

Lexington and Northwest Commonwealth
This section of the Commonwealth is within the confines of Middlesex County. It borders are roughly from the rolling hills of Sanctuary in the north, to the west among the foothills of the Sudbury River, to the east and south this region ends at the elevated freeways – or at least what is left of them. In the southeast corner, at the congruity of the two freeways is Lexington; gateway to the Greater Boston Area.

Once a burgeoning landscape this region still has the remains of suburbs and cities alike. Among the ruins are several settlements, among them are Abernathy farm, Drumlin Diner, and Tenpines Bluff. Due to the high traffic and relative safety, thanks to relatively low background radiation compared to the rest of the Commonwealth, this region is home to several raider gangs who prey on the caravan traffic.
 * See also ''the locations of this region.

North Central Commonwealth
This section of the Commonwealth is also within the confines of Middlesex County. Its borders are roughly from the rolling foothills in the north, the south to the Mystic River, and the east and west by elevated freeways. This region is – or was – more developed the farther south traveled, at its center is the remains of city of Malden.

Although scarred by the war this region – such as the case with the rest of the known Commonwealth – was also environmentally scarred by the greed and casual disregard of its inhabitants. One of the worst disasters was the case with Lake Quannapowitt. Once a popular fishing and swimming hole this locale was used as a dumping ground by Mass Fusion. Its local containment shed dumping untold waste via pipeline directly into its waters. This was by no means an exception, as the lake bottom is strewn with detritus and safety barrels.

Despite the Lake and its tributary, the Saugus River, becoming dangerously contaminated, it remains one of the more hospitable regions surrounding Boston. With the settlements of The Slog and Greentop Nursery having become stops on the caravan routes. Settlers however are not this region's only inhabitants. Super mutants and raiders have made their homes in several landmarks, overrunning – such as the case with Breakheart Banks – and threatening nearby settlements such as the Forged at Saugus Ironworks. Another, and far more infamous locale exists here: Parsons State Insane Asylum.
 * See also ''the locations of this region.

Western Commonwealth
This region consists of foothills to the west descending into the suburban neighborhoods of the Greater Boston Area to the east. Mostly wilderness, even before the war, it is dominated by the remains of Fort Hagen township to the west. Once flowing directly northeast is the Charles River. A long deep natural navigational channel this waterway has been devastated by the cataclysmic destruction of the southern Commonwealth.

Along its riverfront lies the ruins of several townships and developments that have since been flooded by the change in water flow. Such as the case with the Forest Grove Marsh: once a burgeoning town on the waterway its locke stuck in the closed position. Not unlike the Weston water treatment plant, which as only flooded due to a failure in its machinery, despite it being constructed below the waterline. Another instance of environmental destruction is the site of Jalbert Brothers Disposal.

Despite this the region is not without successful settlements.Graygarden which was founded mere days before the war and Oberland Station. A recent farmstead built on the remains of a rail station, on the crest of the hillside east of the river. Among the ruins of the Mass Pike interchange the Gunners have made constructed a major encampment. To the west is the ruins of the Federal ration stockpile, once a place where the federal government stockpiled supplies, now its a raider encampment. To the east is Vault 81, constructed near Chestnut Hillock Reservoir
 * See also ''the locations of this region.

Coastal Commonwealth
The shores of the Atlantic Ocean to the northwest have been once a vacation destination, as well as a destination for military and commercial interests. Salem, Nahant, and Revere lay on the shore, mostly abandoned due to a combination of raiders, feral ghouls, and super mutants camped out at Revere satellite array.
 * See also ''the locations of this region.

Natick and the Glowing Sea
One of the most desolate stretches of the Commonwealth, the Glowing Sea sits south of the township of Natick, covered in centuries worth of radioactive fallout, pollution, and torn apart by radioactive storms. The nuclear detonation at the Crater of Atom has devastated much of the state, making it uninhabitable to all but the Children of Atom. Precious facilities can be found in the Glowing Sea, but require special gear and preparation outside the ability of most Commonwealth denizens. The town of Natick sitting on the northern edge of the Sea still has alive fauna and flora, but the mutants pouring out of the sea and geological upheavals have driven the denizens off.
 * See also ''the locations of this region.

Quincy and Southern Commonwealth
Anywhere south of the Greater Boston Neighborhoods that isn't glowing with radiation can be considered the Southern Commonwealth. Head southwest to follow the river to the treacherous marshlands and across to the Glowing Sea. It's a straight shot south to both West Roxbury and Jamaica Plain—two townships with their fair share of secrets. Journey southeast into Quincy, which, like much of this zone, is under Gunner control. Only those impressively grizzled enough to have eked out an existence for months should venture to the most dangerous places of all—the coastal area past Quincy and the strange ruins of Spectacle Island, perhaps the most idyllic place for a settlement...if the locals can be convinced.
 * See also ''the locations of this region.

Boston
The capital of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts and one of the most densely urbanized areas on the Eastern Seaboard. It is a mix of centuries-old colonial architecture, civic and public buildings from the heyday of the United States, and expensive, high technology skyscrapers from its latter days. A vast network of elevated highways and monorails connected the city to the towns and districts beyond. Most of the city is abandoned and lies in ruins, although extensive reinforcement work, redundant draining systems, and excellent engineering prevented it from being reclaimed by the ocean, despite the near-constant fighting going on throughout the city. It's also home to three oases of peace: Diamond City, Bunker Hill, and Goodneighbor, which also act as pillars of the region's economy.

Nuka-World
Located in a dammed valley west of the Commonwealth proper, Nuka-World is home to a derelict amusement park that once belonged to Nuka-Cola Corporation. The crown jewel of the soft drink giant has since slowly withered away, its treasures preserved by a combination of hostile robots, isolationist ghouls, and terrifying wildlife. Heavily altered by Nuka-Cola's work and the climate upheaval of the nuclear war, the valley has mostly dried up and supports little in the way of vegetation. However, the bounty of salvage and advantageous location have endeared a substantial population of traders to it, who have fallen prey to an army of raiders circa 2287.

Environment
Originally a humid continental climate, the Great War has altered the Commonwealth in subtle ways, most noticeably an elevated ambient radiation count that increased environmental pressures and selected for mutated versions of local flora and fauna.

The damage caused by the nuclear war and neglect caused much of the region's industrial facilities to deteriorate. However, while this has been a negative for much of the region, such as when the nuclear reactors in the Glowing Sea exploded, contributing to the desolation, it was a boon in other places: The derelict sewage treatment station at Warwick Homestead actually created the most fertile soil in the Commonwealth when it broke.

However, it should be noted that even before the Great War, Massachusetts was suffering from widespread environmental pollution and devastation. Pressure and payoffs from companies such as Poseidon Energy and General Atomics International ensured that this pollution would go unreported. In one notable case, the Nahant Oceanological society observed radiation and toxicity levels at Lake Quannapowitt that exceeded safe levels and showed a 1500% increase year over year. Exposure to such levels of pollution has resulted in rapidly increasing toxicity in marine species - including those fished for consumption - and increase in average mass by 14% in crabs and 12% in lobsters. The additional food necessary to sustain the shellfish population could lead to colony collapse and implosion of marine ecosystems. When the Oceanological society tried to bring their findings about the growth and mutations to the press, Galaxy News Network simply took their story, and spun it into a story about how great the shellfish season was going to be.

Flora
Like the rest of the United States, the changes in climate led to widespread alterations of the ecosystem. However, instead of reducing the amount of plant types that could be grown, it instead mutated existing ones, like the regionally extinct potato and tomato's aspects being seen in a Tato, or the growth of Razorgrain to compensate for the inability to grow wheat. Due to the Commonwealth basing itself on mainly agricultural towns, various other sorts of Pre-War flora continue to survive in the Commonwealth.

Compared to the Capital Wasteland, while the creation of the Glowing Sea contributed to the drastic shift of plant growth, the Commonwealth appears to not suffer the contamination that plagued the Capital Wasteland. Most towns are agriculturally stable, if not thriving, both due to trade, as well as various locations throughout the region suited to grow particular kinds of crops, from the Sunshine Tidings Co-op, to Graygarden, to The Slog.

Fauna
Like the Capital Wasteland, much of the wildlife inhabiting the Commonwealth has since mutated or died out. However, many new and varied forms of creatures exist, such as the Mirelurk queen, Mutant hound, Radstag. Two notable details about the Commonwealth's fauna are that synthetic wildlife exists, created by The Institute under the Watcher Initiative and efforts to reintroduce Pre-War wildlife to the surface to thrive. The other detail is that cats, regionally extinct on the West Coast, continue to live in the Commonwealth, both out in the wild, and protected ecosystems, such as Vault 81.

The ecosystem of the Commonwealth, while peaceful for the most part, is occasionally disturbed by the Institute super mutant. Like their Capital Wasteland "cousins", these giant green beasts have a level of intelligence comparable to that of the Mariposa strain super mutants and are capable of constructing simple structures and armors, having a chain of command, as well as operating tools of varying complexity. A fixture of the region since the Institute's FEV experimentation, beginning in 2178, they became a permanent nuisance, only stopping production sometime before 2287 due to Brian Virgil's sabotage of the FEV lab. Similarly to their D.C. brethren, they are considered pests, and are frequently hunted down.

Politics and economy
The Commonwealth lacks a centralized government unifying the various settlements that dot the region. The Institute is the hegemon of the region, directly or indirectly influencing the politics of the wasteland. The closest the region came to a stable government was with the Commonwealth Provisional Government (CPG) proposed in the 23rd century, a grassroots initiative that proposed an unified government for the region. The initiative was smothered in the crib when representatives sent to Diamond City were all murdered by a synth assassin. The Institute was blamed for the collapse, although it may well be that the destruction of the CPG was a deliberate sabotage by isolationist circles within the Institute itself, opposed to active involvement on the surface.

Since then, the various settlements across the Commonwealth have remained independent and forged their own path. Diamond City remained the biggest and most influential city thanks to a combination of effective governance by its democratically elected mayors, burgeoning economy, and a standing army, remaining a vital hub for trade. Under Mayor McDonough, elected in 2282, this pattern continued, albeit the City's politics took a sharp turn for the worse: Anti-ghoul rhetoric of the campaign culminated in the anti-ghoul decree of 2282 and a pogrom that drove all ghouls into the surrounding wasteland, with their wealth generating a windfall for the lower classes and boosting the city's economy.The Sole Survivor: "Thanks. You're not so bad yourself."

Hancock: "I never get many complaints. It's just real rare these days, find someone who's not just willing to take things the way they're handed to them. Too many good folks not willing to get their hands dirty and too many assholes taking advantage of it. Look at what happened to Diamond City. Before McDonough took over, it was a half-decent place to live. A little stricter than I usually go for, but not terrible. I thought he and I had a pretty happy childhood. But then he decides he's gonna try and get elected with his anti-Ghoul crusade - "Mankind for McDonough." Before ya know it, you got families with kids lining up to drag folks they called "neighbor" out of their homes and throw 'em to the ruins."

The Sole Survivor: "How could they do something like that?"

Hancock: "There'd always been a pretty big gulf between the folks living in the stands and folks down on the field. McDonough ran on it because he thought enough of those Upper Stands assholes would vote for him. Guess he was right."

The Sole Survivor: "It could have gone worse. At least they left with their lives."

Hancock: ''"And how long do you think those folks lasted in the ruins? The city condemned those Ghouls to die. Cowards just got someone else to pull the trigger. I remember storming into his office above the stands after the inauguration speech. He was just standing there, staring out the window, watching as the city turned on the Ghouls. He didn't even look at me, just said: "I did it, John. It's finally mine." Should have killed him right there, but I don't think it would have changed anything. Instead I pleaded with him, begged him to call it off. He said he couldn't. He had nothing against the Ghouls. He was just carrying out the will of the people. And he couldn't betray the voters. And then he smiled. That hideous, fucking mile-long smile. He never smiled like that when we were kids. I didn't even recognize him."''

(Hancock's dialogue) McDonough also adopted a hard anti-Minutemen stance, which only hastened the demise of the organization. It should come as no surprise that McDonough was actually a synth infiltrator, sent to monitor the City and ensure it would not grow powerful enough to threaten the Institute.

Beyond Diamond City, Bunker Hill formed the second pillar of the region's economy, sitting on top of coastal trade routes. The income from caravans passing through the settlement and merchants operating out of the Hill allowed it to pay off the raider gangs operating in the area. Finally, Goodneighbor was the third of Boston's major settlements, an anarchic haven for everyone who didn't fit in the Great Green Jewel or Bunker Hill. Various gangs proliferated in the town, kept in check by Hancock after his rise to power, while unrestricted trade in weapons, chems, and other vices grew. While neither Diamond City nor Bunker Hill had rules proscribing such trade, fees and taxes imposed by the mayor's office cut into profit margins, making trade in Goodneighbor (and smuggling into Diamond City) a profitable enterprise.

Beyond these three, various settlements and factions operated across the Commonwealth, with various degrees of success. One of the most well known were the Commonwealth Minutemen, a militia organized in 2180 and dedicated to the protection of the Commonwealth, which entered a period of steep decline after the loss of The Castle, their headquarters and main armory, to a mirelurk horde in 2240. The fall culminated in 2287, after the town of Quincy was sacked by the Gunners and the last remaining Minuteman, Preston Garvey, led the survivors in an exodus across the Commonwealth, ending up in Concord with just five survivors in tow, besieged by raiders. The Gunners, on the other hand, rose to be one of the most prominent factions of the Commonwealth thanks to a combination of military training and ruthlessness, prevented from exploiting their advantage by a lack of strategic vision.

As in many other regions, raiders continued to operate, forming a large number of uncoordinated warbands. Although various warlords such as Sinjin tried uniting them, these plans were universally stopped by character flaws, contractors hired by various major powers of the Commonwealth, or warring between raiders. The largest of these raider armies formed in the ruins of Nuka-World, after enslaving its original residents, formed of three distinct gangs: Operators, The Pack, and Disciples, briefly united under Overboss Colter, before he was removed by the machinations of Porter Gage.

Behind the scenes

 * The name Commonwealth is essentially a shortened version of the official name of the state of Massachusetts: Commonwealth of Massachusetts. It is one of four states that use this term, the other being Kentucky, Pennsylvania, and Virginia.

Appearances
The Commonwealth appears in Fallout 4 and is mentioned in Fallout 3, and its add-ons The Pitt, Broken Steel, and Point Lookout.