Fanatics

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The Fanatics are a faction in the ruins of the Pitt. They are a group of raiders who are in constant conflict with the Union.

For a list of Fanatic variants, see this article.

Background[]

The Fanatics originated from various disorganized gangs which once prowled the Pitt, unable to do any significant damage on their own. The situation changed dramatically with the arrival of a single, mysterious leader who forced the gangs to heel and united them, setting out on a warpath to put the whole of the Pitt under their boot.^[1] The war with the Union entered a new stage when the Fanatics secured the services of the Hellcat Company in the first half of 2103. Although some of the mercenaries did not trust their new employers,^[2] they stuck to the letter of the contract and spent 18 months fighting in the Pitt. While hired ostensibly to help secure control over the tip, the Hellcats were used as roving death squads, storming Union bases, gunning everyone down, and moving on to the next target. Friendly fire was common, as the Fanatics were untrained and violent.^[3]

The Hellcats' help was instrumental in securing Fanatic dominance over the Pitt. Without them, the Fanatics would have trouble rooting out Union safehouses. However, the Fanatics also had some capable people on their side: a Fanatic tracker, D, exposed the Union safehouse of the Sanctum, hidden among the devastation of the Trench. Around February 2104,^[4] after navigating the rad pits, the Fanatics seized the church.^[5] It was turned into a torture center for storing captures and breaking them into slaves. The catacombs provided for ready-made cells and security, due to the trog infestation. Soon, it was churning out slaves to labor for the Fanatics, and began chewing through the Fanatics' numbers due to "The Foreman's" brutal rule. Even after he was ousted and fed to the trogs, little changed.^[6]

The Hellcats pulled out of the Pitt in late 2104, after their contract expired. They had suffered horrific casualties (estimated at 50% of their number) and aside from a few holdouts, most were fed up with working for the Fanatics.^[7] Without the Hellcats to fall back on, the Fanatics struggled to deal with the determined resistance of Union remnants, and turned to manufacturing chemical weapons. The Foundry's crucibles were turned to giant brewing vats.^[8] The Fanatics were ordered to mix day and night, in return for two slaves of their choice and credits for every kill made with the weapons.^[9] This was not supported by everyone, particularly the warden of the slave pens. Weapons testing was burning through his slave stock, and without the ability to restore slave numbers, he was looking at being demoted to slave himself.^[10]

In the long run the Fanatics would fail to truly secure the Pitt, as it had fully devolved an anarchic hellhole by 2255 (in some part due to the radiation and industrial toxins causing mutations and neurological damage to the city's residents). Any possible remnants of the Fanatics were likely wiped out by a scouting force of the Brotherhood under Owyn Lyons during the Scourge that killed off most of the Pitt's population. However, the resulting power vacuum would be filled by another army of raiders, this time under the rule of former Brotherhood initiate Ishmael Ashur, who had a vision for a new, industrialized post-War nation that he would forge from the Pitt's ruins.

Organization[]

The Fanatics are comparable to the Blood Eagles, except with more organization. Under the leadership of their mysterious leader, they became a unified raider army compared by Skippy Roerich to Genghis Khan, sweeping over the Pitt, crushing any resistance, and enslaving the rest for forced labor.^[11] However, while the Fanatics projected the appearance of a monolithic raider organization, they were actually made up of countless independent cells, each staking out its fief around some piece of pre-War infrastructure they barely know how to operate.^[12] Theft and internecine violence were common, and position largely depends on how much violence can be spent to defend the claim.^[13]

Cells had specialized roles, including labor (slaves and exploitation), recon, and combat.^[10] These roles were flexible and could change depending on circumstances: A recon group could be "promoted" to slavers, especially after the decision to begin testing chemical weapons on slaves caused labor shortages.^[14]

The primary weakness of the Fanatics is that for all their brutality, they lack basic survival skills, including the ability to provide proper rations for their fighters. The only recourse for most is to steal.^[15] Some do not even have the most basic grasp of medicine, for example, wasting antibiotics in vain attempts to score a high.^[4][16] Even among the saner members, greed and egoism take priority, hoarding supplies that could otherwise help the fight against the Union.^[17] Some members tried to impose some semblance of order on the violence, including cutting down on the use of body parts to "decorate" fortifications at the Sanctum, but were in a minority.^[18]

This disorganization was identified by the Union as their greatest weakness: the Fanatics were more numerous, but they could not use the facilities they seized to their fullest, and certainly would not be able to restart industrial production the same way the Union did. Most of the infrastructure was turned into war posts and torture chambers, rather than being used for their intended purpose.^[12] Furthermore, the usual punishment for failure was slavery or death, and rather than take responsibility, Fanatics preferred to move to different jobs.^[10]

Some Fanatics are acutely aware and remorseful over the horrific nature of the atrocities they commit, but have no choice but to continue them in order to survive.^[19]

Known warbands[]

• Manhunters, specializing in raiding and killing high value targets, were particularly feared even among the Fanatics due to their viciousness and combat skills. An added benefit of this fear was that nobody disagreed with them claiming war loot by right of conquest.^[13]
• Harrowers, specializing in torture and abuse, stationed at The Sanctum.

Technology[]

Despite their savage nature, the Fanatics have been shown to be quite skilled with technology, with their engineers being able to reprogram both Turrets and Steel worker Protectrons, with some being repurposed into automated suicide bombers.

Trogs[]

The Fanatics and trogs have a parasitic, dysfunctional relationship. The violence and disregard for their own lives mean the Fanatics can assert dominance over smaller trogs, through screaming or violence.^[20] This does not guarantee safety however, as trogs could and would drag away any vulnerable Fanatics - a favourite tactic of warlords to get rid of unruly subordinates.^[21] Many slaves have trouble distinguishing between Fanatic and trog.^[22]

Slavery[]

The Fanatics rely on a large number of slaves to carry out physical labor and other tasks necessary to prop up their faction: construction, scavenging, and even acting as meat shields during attacks.^[6] Most are captured Pittsburgh survivors or Union members, herded into underground pens (the Sanctum was the most infamous) and subjected to vicious abuse until they break and obey.^[23] Any who defy are treated to horrible punishments, including live burial.^[24] Despite this abuse, most pens are not locked, as the trogs act as an effective deterrent. Any slave who tries to escape will usually get caught in a trap, screams bringing a trog pack down on them.^[25] Others tried escaping by tunnelling with whatever meager tools they can scrounge up. Few were successful.^[26]

As a result, the enslaved are trapped in a vicious circle with no escape. The Foremen of Sanctum deliberately set impossible work quotas,^[27] which result in one of the unfortunate workers being slowly tortured to death every night in a perverse "midnight" show.^[28] Passing out on the job is also considered a gross violation, and leads one straight into the clutches of the Harrowers.^[29] Most Fanatics don't actually have a choice in the matter, as a lack of deaths is considered a sign they're growing soft and may result in them being punished.^[30]

Most perversely, if someone actually manages to show they are fit to work for the Fanatics,^[31] they might be given a chance to become one of them, changing from the abused into an abuser.^[32]

Members[]

• Fanatic skeptic
• Jerry Morris
• Knuckles
• Mia
• Zimmerman

Appearances[]

The Fanatics appear in Fallout 76, introduced in the Expeditions: The Pitt update.

Behind the scenes[]

• According to Christopher Marshall and Joshua Moretto, the design of the Fanatics was rooted in "sports hooliganism." The name Fanatics is derived from being "super fans." This was then fleshed out to the Fanatics being several groups that were forcibly unified. The overall inspiration was a "conquering" group of raiders who want to run the Pitt, as opposed to the Crater Raiders (who are more passive) or the Blood Eagles (who have few overarching goals).^{[Non-game 1]}
• One of the Fanatics' generic combat taunts is "Careful! You'll shoot your eye out!". This is a reference to the 1983 holiday film A Christmas Story, in which main character Ralphie Parker is frequently told the same thing when he asks for a BB gun for Christmas.

Gallery[]

Player icon

Player icon

Scrapper outfit

Striker outfit

Scrapper helmet

Striker helmet

References[]

Non-game