Talon Company Explained

[PsyckoSama]

I've been thinking about Talon Company and how little there is on them. Right now they're just the Generic Evil Guys, but there is no explanation as to who they are, how they came about, and where they got access to all this Military hardware. My idea is maybe it might be a good idea to fix that. Here's a possible history.

 

200 years ago, an elite company of the 101st Airborn division, cycled back home from the war to rest, recover, and train replacements was on maneuvers in the mountains of West Virginia. When the bombs fell, the unit was cut off from command and lacking ordered, heroically made best speed for the Capitol. They found the immediate area around the city to be virtually uninhabitable due to radiation, but found the country side around the city to be mostly intact.

 

Unwilling to abandon their nations capitol, they hunkered down in the shattered remains of Fort Bannister, and when the level of the societal breakdown became apparent they decided to intervene. With the government and Army gone, they renamed themselves "Talon Company" after their unit nickname and started enacting a harsh martial law in order to keep some level of order. They brutally suppressed the raiders, suppressed the Super Mutants threat, and terrorized the Zombie Menace. When the slavers of Paradise Falls proved too difficult to hunt down and too entrenched to destroy in any form of frontal assault, they came to a mutually beneficial agreement that put limits on the slaver's behavior. This proved to be one of the first of many little capitulation that slowly changed them from a harsh but fair peacekeeping force to the brutal and self-serving Talon Company of today.

 

For over 100 years they were one of the strongest factions vying for control of the Capitol Wasteland. They were cruel, harsh, and self-serving, but still far superior to the Raiders and Super Mutants. They were the feudal lords of the Capitol Wasteland, slowly pushing deeper into the city as the Radiation faded, eventually claiming the Pentagon as their palace as they formulated plans to cement their control of the region. When the Brotherhood arrived from the West, they were at the height of their power, and while very hands off rulers, they extracted protection money from the wasteland communities... for protection from the wastes and from them.

 

When the Brotherhood arrived, Talon Company welcomed them with open arms. While they had managed to salvage a number of suits over the years, they lacked the technical expertise to maintain the durable but fussy power armor suits. In the brotherhood, they saw fellow decedents of the US Army who'd risen above the Wastes. Natural allies who if convinced to join them would give them a a cadre of power armored warriors and technicians that would allow them to finally cement their dominance over the Capitol Wasteland and beyond.

 

Elder Lyons on the other hand saw them as an abomination to everything he considered just. They were in business with slavers, they brutally suppressed the people of the wasteland, and they looked out only for themselves. Under the influence of one of Talon Company's rival groups, the Regulators, they decided to act. He bid his time, let them accept him into their fold, then stabbed them in the heart, capturing the Citadel and crushing the core of their forces with his superior arms and armor.

 

Unfortunately, with Talon Company broken the Raiders were free to reestablish themselves, the Slavers could throw off their age old limitations, and the Super Mutant population absolutely, soared locking the Brotherhood in a constant battle with the reborn menace while the remains of Talon Company retreated to their old redoubt of Fort Bannister to lick their wounds.

 

Now, if you're wondering what's the point.

 

Why not make an alternate version of the later parts of the main quest and of Broken Steel where an evil Lone Wanderer can side with Talon Company and help them rebuilt and avenge themselves upon the hated Brotherhood, as well as dealing with the Enclave.

 

Right now this is less a request and more a concept to discuss.

[Jecht67]

A very good story you got there! it would be great to see mods start up around this

[Cyberweasel89]

Hm... Pretty good! You've got some interesting ideas there.

 

Say, should we come up with a reason they don't accept women into their ranks?

 

Oh, I'm working on a bit of fleshing-out myself. I'm coming up with some fan-lore on the Aliens from Mothership Zeta. Ya know, their species, their culture, their mission, their home planet, etc. Might wanna check it out, yeah? No rough drafts yet, though. I'm letting other people pitch ideas (though no one has done so yet).

[PsyckoSama]

Hm... Pretty good! You've got some interesting ideas there.

 

Say, should we come up with a reason they don't accept women into their ranks?

 

I'd level out the gender balance a bit as thyere are a cople (dead) female talon company mercs, but have it so the female Talon company are back at their bases serving in noncombat technical rolls. Maybe make some black talon company mechanic coveralls and merc grunt outfits for off duty soldiers, recruits who have yet to earn their combat armor, and non-combat personnel. Maybe even a re-skinned chineese jumpsuit as a officer's duty uniform or a reskinned enslave officer's (or baseball) cap as alternate headgear for officers.

 

If we do this maybe building up Fort Bannister into a real base would be a good idea. Just put a collection of megaton like structures among the ruins mixed with ramshackle wooden building would work.

 

Getting back onto the roll of women, noncombat technical roles. They see woman as being better suited for non-combat roles and motherhood. The old "the man goes to work while the woman tends the house" applied to a militant lifestyle. There are exceptions, but they're just that.

 

Oh, I'm working on a bit of fleshing-out myself. I'm coming up with some fan-lore on the Aliens from Mothership Zeta. Ya know, their species, their culture, their mission, their home planet, etc. Might wanna check it out, yeah? No rough drafts yet, though. I'm letting other people pitch ideas (though no one has done so yet).

 

I personally think that the are better off as an unknown (or better yet, left out of the game entirely), but that's just me.

 

I'm about as "old school" a fan as you can get. I think Aliens worked in random encounters but as the focus of an entire expansion, I just say nay!