Talk: Massacre of the CPG

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VDSG[]

This is the only mention in the VDSG for reference, it's on the Castle page:

“Historians have noted the original name for this settlement was Fort Independence, but the people of the Commonwealth now refer to it simply as the Castle. This place has a long and storied history; it is one of the first forts in America and predates the Revolutionary War. In recent times, it served as the base of operations for the Minutemen as they attempted (and failed) to establish a Provisional government. In 2240, the Castle was partly destroyed by gigantic Mirelurk, and most of the Minutemen leadership died.”— Page 516

Xa3 04:47, August 10, 2017 (UTC)

“"Oh, we've tried that. Surprised? The Institute once tried to help create a stabilized Commonwealth government. It ended in bickering, infighting... it was a disaster. No, we look after our own now."”— Father

Xa3 05:02, August 10, 2017 (UTC)

Recording #108[]

Dammit, Galton... What the hell is going on down there? I have to convene an emergency Directorate meeting because of this screw-up. That synth was a prototype. It was absolutely not ready for field testing! The mess it caused in Diamond City threatens decades of work to keep us out of the spotlight... I will be very clear: my legacy as Director will not be tarnished by your division's mistakes. I am going to find out exactly who approved any sort of operation above ground, and that person will be held fully accountable.

May hint that the synth malfunctioned at the CPG meeting but may as well be the Broken mask incident since not clearly stated.Xa3 05:12, August 10, 2017 (UTC)

Page overhaul[]

So, lately I've been looking into this article and I've honestly been questioning the content of this page. Namely, I've been trying to research the timeline and the actual circumstances behind the events. From what I found, the main sources for this event are Nick Valentine, the strategy guide, the Institute holotapes, and the Institute loading screens.

Wasteland's perspective[]

So first, we have this from the official strategy guide's section on the Castle:

“Historians have noted the original name for this settlement was Fort Independence, but the people of the Commonwealth now refer to it simply as the Castle. This place has a long and storied history; it is one of the first forts in America and predates the Revolutionary War. In recent times, it served as the base of operations for the Minutemen as they attempted (and failed) to establish a Provisional government. In 2240, the Castle was partly destroyed by gigantic Mirelurk, and most of the Minutemen leadership died.”

This quote would place the events of the CPG massacre between 2180 (when the Minutemen first rose to prominence) and 2240 (when the Castle was lost). Further, when asked about the CPG massacre, Nick Valentine tells us this:

“The Commonwealth Provisional Government. Years back a group of settlements tried to get together and form a coalition. Every settlement with even a hint of clout sent representatives to try and hash out an agreement. Only the Institute sent a representative of their own, a Synth. The man killed every rep at the talks. The Commonwealth Provisional Government was over before it even got off the ground. I took up in town not long after.”— Nick Valentine

This is a pretty simple version of the main massacre. Also, the part in bold is important, because if you ask him about the Broken Mask incident, he gives this as an answer.

“This was long before I'd moved to town, but apparently, some gentleman-type shows up in Diamond City, heads down to Power Noodles.”— Nick Valentine

These two quotes thus tell us that the CPG massacre seemingly occurred after the Broken Mask incident, which is confirmed to have occurred in 2229. Combined with the information from the strategy guide, that places the CPG massacre somewhere in the 2230s. However, this does not actually tell us when negotiations may have started, just when they ended in a bloody massacre.

Institute's perspective[]

Now everyone, including myself in the past and the article itself, says that the Institute's perspective clashes with the Wasteland's perspective, but I'm not 100% sure this is correct anymore.

“Look, Director, I'm going to make the same recommendation I did last time. We did everything we could. Four years dedicated to preserving this "Commonwealth Provisional Government." You've seen the same reports I have. It's falling apart, and fast. We need a plan for what happens when that fall is complete. I know some of the other Divisions have suggested we just cut off all contact; hide underground and pretend nobody's home. That would, in my opinion, be a mistake. We can't just give up on these people. And with the Android program, we don't have to. We'll soon have the capabilities to deploy androids to the surface in great enough numbers to maintain order. Just... Just think about it, all right? Keep it in mind moving forward.”— Director's recordings #52

Now first, despite popular belief, this recording makes zero mention of the CPG massacre itself. It does not say that the CPG massacre was caused by settlers fighting and killing each other. It just says that there were negotiations ongoing for four years, and that those negotiations were beginning to fail. But what's interesting about the part in bold is that it suggests that this recording is very old. It talks about the events of the CPG negotiations as if they were taking place before the Institute went underground. The usage of the term 'android', which was largely abandoned sometime after 3rd gen synths were created, further suggests that this recording is rather old.

“The Advanced Systems division is responsible for developing the original Molecular Relay, nearly one hundred years ago.”— Fallout 4 loading screen

“After developing the Molecular Relay, an advanced teleportation device, the Institute sealed off access to the surface and began their campaign of underground expansion.”— Fallout 4 loading screen

The combination of these three sources suggests that the Institute was originally part of the CPG negotiations, back in the late 22nd century, but they came to believe that the negotiations were doomed, leading them to leaving the government talks and finally sealing themselves off from the surface for good. This would mean that the CPG massacre and the failing negotiations are really two separate, but connected, events rather than two versions of the same event.

The main problems with this is 1) the Institute was already abducting people at the time of the negotiations (as super mutants were already a problem for the Commonwealth), which leaves the Institute's claims of wanting peace with others somewhat questionable, and 2) none of this is actually confirmed and is partially speculation, which means I would probably have to be more vague when adding it to the article.

Finale[]

TL;DR I believe that it's incorrect to state that these two point of views are contradicting. As the wasteland perspective talks about the CPG massacre alone, while the Institute perspective appears to talk about events leading up to the massacre, not the massacre itself. However, I wanted to see what others thought before editing the page, because I'm still rather uncertain about my Institute claims. Paladin117^{>>iff bored;} 23:18, February 17, 2018 (UTC)

Page rename[]

While I'm starting the discussion above, should we consider moving this page from 'Commonwealth Provisional Government' to 'CPG massacre'? The faction was never even created and the vast majority of the article talks about the massacre, not the faction. Paladin117^{>>iff bored;} 23:18, February 17, 2018 (UTC)

2230s?[]

I only just noticed the timeline claim that it happened after the Broken Mask Incident in 2229. Are we sure about that? I don't recall any in-game indication of when the massacre happened other than that it occurred prior to Shaun/Father's ascension to the position of Director. There seem to be some assumptions going on that I'm not sure are stated:

The synth representative the Institute sent was a Gen 3 (not really, it's just said that they "sent a synth", could have been a Gen 1 or 2)
The Broken Mask Incident occurred beforehand (I don't know that any of the logs indicate this; there's a tape of an unknown female Director who rails about how Broken Mask ruined years of secrecy, which I suppose you could tie to the CPG tape saying they were manipulating the surface into forming the CPG, but it's pretty vague)
The Broken Mask Incident was what made the surface aware of the Institute's existence (IIRC all it's said to have alerted the surface to is the existence of Gen 3s; The Synthetic Truth outright says that people were aware of their "combat androids" beforehand)

IDK, this seems like it needs a closer look to be sure we aren't just making a wild and potentially inaccurate assumption. I'm not saying it isn't a likely version of events but I'm not sure if it's the only one that can be interpreted from the existing lore. -- DirtyBlue929 (talk) 16:42, 15 September 2022 (UTC)