Retroactive continuity (Fallout 76)

With the release of Fallout 4, the fellow wastelander might stumble across some wasteland facts, that they believed were canon, only to learn that things in the Fallout universe may change.

Ever since the series' inception, such changes have been implemented with every new game in the series, as either additions or revisions. At times, they appear as complete contradictions of established lore. Some wastelanders might call these changes artistic license, some might consider them "retconning" the lore.

We, The Vault, as an encyclopedia for the Fallout universe, view these changes from an academic stance, and as such, records new knowledge and changes on to our articles, in an attempt to preserve history in the making.

Though speculation is not accepted on this encyclopedia, there will be questions about certain contradictions and changes to previously established facts. From a lore point of view, these can be explained by multiple circumstances.

Each game is set several years after its predecessor; knowledge, tradition, technology, and nature, are not static.

The wasteland consists of many, often isolated regions, and overall covers whole landmasses. Flora and fauna vary from region to region, as well as the impacts of the Great War. The grade of civilization depends on this, and cultural differences between north and south, east and west, existed already in the pre-War era. Communication nowadays often relies on folk memories, with all of their inaccuracies, personal interpretations, and recordings from the past, which have been affected by radiation and decay.

This article serves as a catalog for these changes to the lore, established with Fallout 76.

For more detailed information, please refer to each topic's gameplay article.

Brotherhood of Steel
Fallout 76 establishes that the Brotherhood of Steel extended their reach across the wasteland as early as 2102, with a sister chapter established in West Virginia by satellite communication with Roger Maxson in Lost Hills.

X-01 power armor
In the Fallout Bible, the Enclave was supposed to have conceived a new model of power armor, superior in every way to the power armor created from before the Great War between 2215 and 2220. This armor was exclusive to Enclave soldiers, as there were no similar pre-War models for wastelanders to obtain. However, no actual lore was presented in the game, with a single sentence in the Fallout 2 Official Strategies & Secrets stating it's a post-War creation.

In Fallout 4, various pre-War sets of earlier prototype models can be found scattered across the Commonwealth, with a fixed set being found underneath the Fort Hagen satellite array. Factions such as the Atom Cats have a consistent supply of these specific power armor components. Furthermore this prototype of advanced power armor has been given a designation, X-01 power armor. Placement of the armor at Starport Nuka, in a sealed exposition and with a Quantum armor coating, establishes it as a pre-War model distinct, but related to the Enclave advanced power armor.

In Fallout 76, this has been further expanded upon, with the group at the Whitespring Congressional Bunker making their own personal developments to the X-01 at the request of the Joint Chiefs, but nowhere near full scale development, then sending it to the Oil Rig, resulting in development that would lead to the further development into the creation of what would become known as Advanced Power Armor.