Latham

Latham was a Brotherhood of Steel Paladin that later became known as "Gammorin," leader of a super mutant army that fought against the Brotherhood of Steel.

Background
A powerful man, the barrel-chested Latham is one of the most important humans in the Midwest. As Paladin Latham, he was was a member of the Brotherhood of Steel force that departed New California in the 2190s to track the remnants of the Master's army that were fleeing the region eastwards. He was an influential member of the order, responsible for developing tactics and training procedures for the moving force. His personality is best described as confident, arrogant, but with a gentlemanly tone to his speech.

His life defining moment came during the Great Air Convoy. During the passage over the Rocky Mountains, Latham's air ship was badly damaged and crash landed near the pre-War city of Osceolla, where they were taken into custody by the very mutant force they were sent out to track down. Led by Gammorin, the super mutants managed to take less than a half of Latham's forces captive due to casualties sustained in the crash. While they were sentenced to be killed for Gammorin's amusement, Latham noticed the discontent at the decision in the mutant's group and challenged Gammorin to single combat to the death.

The duel took place on January 5th and was won by Latham, barely. The Paladin suffered numerous fractures, lacerations, and brain damage. Regardless, he firmly established himself as the leader of the super mutants. As their leader, he discovered that the super mutants are a simple, good people, with a loyalty stronger than that shown by regular humans. With the help of other crash survivors, he organized the mutants, creating a proper fighting force once more within six months. However, he began to notice symptoms of brain damage sustained in the duel: hallucinations and bouts of angers and depression.

Everything prospered and the group slowly made their way back west until April 9th, 2196. A scouting party sent out by Latham returned, with just one survivor. The super mutants breached the entrance to Vault 0, waking the Calculator from its slumber and triggering the pacification protocols. The lone survivor inadvertently led the robots to Latham's headquarters. After taking heavy losses, the group was forced to flee. Latham and his men eventually returned to Osceolla, where they finally had time to regroup.

However, the stress compounded the old brain injury, leading to even more vivid hallucinations. When Latham killed a fellow scribe, Nathan, in March 2197, he realized his grip on sanity was slipping. His progressively worsening mental state suffered further when his men and the forces of the Eastern Brotherhood finally clashed on April 6th, 2197. Witnessing tribal Brotherhood soldiers killing his adopted tribe, men who dedicated themselves to his banner, he suffered deep shock and engaged the Brotherhood. The combined physical and mental trauma caused him to discard his old identity as Paladin Latham and fully embrace the character of Gammorin, super mutant leader, sworn enemy of the Menace from the West.

Gammorin's Army proved to be a difficult foe for the Brotherhood. As Latham was responsible for laying down many of the procedures the Brotherhood used every day, the mutants were able to counter battle tactics and reconnaissance efforts with ease. As such, during the first large scale battle between the Army and the Brotherhood, at St. Louis, the mutants were able to rout the enemy forces and entirely destroy six out of eight veteran squads committed to the battle. General Simon Barnaky participated in the battle directly, but was captured in combat. Subsequent attacks included the death of most of Brotherhood's intelligence operatives, stunting the organization's reconnaissance records.

However, although the Brotherhood reeled from the super mutant attacks, suffering devastating losses, it did not surrender. With a much more powerful industrial base and source of man power, in the form of villages and towns annexed by the Brotherhood, they held the line and managed to secure several victories against the super mutants, including the successful defense of Kansas City and the recovery of a nuclear warhead in working condition and the conquest of Jefferson City, along with Latham's research project into curing super mutant sterility. The Brotherhood's key asset was a small, highly resourceful squad under the command of someone known simply as the Warrior, which was deployed to Osceolla when the Brotherhood learned that Gammorin was, in fact, Paladin Latham.

Due to his actions against the Brotherhood, the former Paladin was sentenced to death for treason and to cull the security risk he posed. When confronted by the squad in his bunker (a situation he expected), Latham remained defiant, though courteous. He saw the wisdom in sharing the technology with the wastelanders, embodied in the Warrior and his squad. Yet he also saw confirmation that the Elders were as blind as ever, leading the Brotherhood in the wrong direction, letting the Menace in the West grow in strength. Only he and his mutant army were standing in the way of the robotic monstrosities.

Paladin Latham, Gammorin, leader of Gammorin's Army, was slain by the Warrior's squad in honorable combat. His death evoked mixed feelings in the Brotherhood, as while he was the leader of a military force that caused it to sustain devastating losses, he remained a Paladin. His army disintegrated, splitting into warring factions, vying for control. A number of super mutants joined the Brotherhood, continuing to serve a higher cause. Latham's legacy was not forgotten.

Mission objective

 * As the head of the super mutant army, Gammorin is a powerful character as far as his stats are concerned. If he is permitted to engage in melee combat, he can be dangerous. However, the Tommy Gun he uses as default is largely ineffective against the armor at the player's disposal at this point in the game.

Appearances
Latham appears only in Fallout Tactics: Brotherhood of Steel.

Behind the scenes

 * Though not included in the actual game, the Journal of Sir Latham can be found in the game files and provides additional information on the backstory of the character. It was intended to be included in the game, but was apparently left behind when the development cycle was drawing to an end.
 * Latham/Gammorin was voiced by Dwight Schultz, who also voiced Hakunin in Fallout 2.