What would you think about a Super Mutant DLC?

[Warmaker01]

I have often wondered about where in the conversion process it was that the involuntary FEV subjects surrendered their human self-identity and embraced their newly acquired Supermutant identity wholeheartedly. There MUST be quite exceptions that cling to their human origins, like Fawkes in FO3 and Marcus in FO2 and FNV. It is "MUST" because EVERY Supermutant was derived from a human subject; Supermutants are incapable of normal reproduction. (I suppose cloning would become a possibility, IF there was ever someone that retained enough INT to perform the process.)

Well, look at the reality they are in.

 

Most come out of the FEV transformation either horribly mutated (not even a Super Mutant, but a mere monster) or a dumb Super Mutant. It was the rare few that we ended up having Nightkin or the even rarer ones that were still smart. You also are going to stick with your own kind. Or maybe walk over to some human settlement and say, "I come in peace" (if you were still an intelligent Super Mutant, but again, those are rare) and ended up getting shot at. Throughout Fallout, there has never been an integrated Human - Super Mutant settlement. There have been settlements with that less than a handful (FO2 comes to mind; Marcus). But more than those 1-3? No way. Super Mutants are hated and feared by humans for good reasons.

[CaptainPatch]

Most come out of the FEV transformation either horribly mutated (not even a Super Mutant, but a mere monster) or a dumb Super Mutant. It was the rare few that we ended up having Nightkin or the even rarer ones that were still smart. You also are going to stick with your own kind. Or maybe walk over to some human settlement and say, "I come in peace" (if you were still an intelligent Super Mutant, but again, those are rare) and ended up getting shot at. Throughout Fallout, there has never been an integrated Human - Super Mutant settlement. There have been settlements with that less than a handful (FO2 comes to mind; Marcus). But more than those 1-3? No way. Super Mutants are hated and feared by humans for good reasons.

Supermutants are hated and feared almost entirely because of what nearly all Supermutants have already done. I'm sure that some few recent FEV conversions will react as you describe. (Those being those that had been mostly puny and picked on by unjustly by others. Now that they are BIG and powerful, it's payback time!) I suppose if the majority of Supermutants had formerly been Raiders, that would also account for the nearly universal viciousness of Supermutants. But just given random sampling, a substantial number of involuntary converts were caring, loving individuals that would NOT jump to the conclusion that "Because I have suffered, then others that have not shared my fate MUST suffer!" Really, it's almost like with the FEV came a total personality rewrite. And if you take the time to study a large number of Supermutants by sneaking around and eavesdropping on their conversations, it seems like they all got the same personality. (The notable exceptions being Fawkes, Marcus, and some of the Supermutants in Jacobstown.)

Edited January 25, 2016 by CaptainPatch

[Warmaker01]

You also have to remember another thing.

The FEV transformation will likely change the Super Mutant's mind, especially over time. In FO4, Virgil is an excellent example. As a human, he was a smart scientist within the Institute. As he spent more time as a Super Mutant, he complains and confides to you, he KNOWS his coherent thinking is slipping. Which was why he asked you to hurry in your quest. Consider that most Super Mutants end up dumb and violent, that is the likely outcome of anyone becoming a Super Mutant.

 

Again, there are those exceedingly rare, smart ones like Marcus from FO2/FONV. But they are so rare and incidentally, Super Mutants like that... Smart, clear thinking, clear speech, on top of the physical capabilities of a Super Mutant body... are rare and have only occurred from The Master's creations in FO1 for his Super Mutant Army.

 

Also remember, The Master in FO1 had busted into sealed Vaults and hauled off its inhabitants to become Super Mutants for his army. And it's well established that Vault Dweallers that aren't the player character are in general, very soft and nowhere near as hard as the average Wastelander. Yet the final product is what we got: Violent, dumb Super Mutants with amazing physical prowess.

 

Edited January 25, 2016 by Warmaker01

[CaptainPatch]

You forgot to mention "...with illusions of grandeur." [Hmm. Sort of like a lot of jocks I knew in HS. Hmm. Is this some kind of Bethesda "Revenge of the Nerds" inside joke I wonder? Hmm.]

[Moraelin]

I think it's pretty canon that the FEV does rewrite personality.

 

And we have plenty of examples of real world illnesses and injuries which do just that. E.g., people with rabies exhibit not just extreme aggression -- no matter how loving or compassionate they were before -- but also weirdly specific stuff like a phobia of water that goes all the way to panic attack.

 

Other kinds of neurological damage include the relatively rare, but very well documented, Cotard syndrome, where people basically lose the connection between what they see/hear and the entity they should recognize. A Cotard sufferer may be convinced that the girl who sounds just like his wife, and looks just like his wife, and talks about the same things as his wife, is actually an imposter spying on him. Or even that all his friends and acquaintances have been replaced, and in some cases even objects have been replaced with identical copies. Because the link in the brain is no longer triggering.

 

That alone would stop a supermutant from feeling any connection to people they knew before, if the FEV causes that.

 

Etc.

 

And it probably also doesn't help that such people would have been not exactly welcome back in their communities even the first time around. People were rioting and even shot a soldier in Concord right after the bombs fell. As in, next day. How do you think they'd react to a big, green and aggressive guy?