Would'nt There Be a Bigger Religious Presence in a Post Apocolyptic World?

[SaturnVII]

I do feel as though it's a bit of a missed opportunity in the series that it isn't recognized further. But Fallout 3 and Fallout New Vegas definitely had their moments. I think one thing to take from this is that anyone who's taking humanities classes or history classes will recognize that religion has existed in one way or another throughout human society. We tend to be fairly spiritual beings, even those of us who proclaim themselves as atheists can become spiritual in times of great crisis, and especially the agnostics among us. It should be noted as well that religion, mostly in the West, was not always a 100% of the population thing. There were always those who shied away from it.

 

We can draw back on the closest thing to the apocalypse happening in our history to the fall of Rome for instance. Not so much in the whole 'everyone was annihilated' part, which is unprecedented except for very early man, but for the vacuum that exists after the fall of civilization. Nobody could replace the role that Rome played in the West, just like how in the event of WWIII, nobody will be able to replace the role that, well, the civilized world plays. The times after Rome fell were called the Dark Ages, and we plunged into them for almost 1000 years. It will take at least that long for us to bounce back from an apocalypse of this format. Religion thrived in these days. Christianity was gaining power, but not exclusively. The pagan gods of the Saxons, the Norse, the Slavs, they may have peaked and valleyed, but they didn't really go away until, well, Christianity drove them out.

 

That being said, let's get back on topic. There is religion in Fallout, it's just few and far between for some reason. Mormonism exists. Joshua Graham and his flock. Daniel as well. An offshoot of Catholicism exists in the Abbey of the Road which Marsela in Point Lookout was a representative from. That's a monastery just west of the Commonwealth. Saint Monica's Church in Rivet City was also a Catholicism offshoot. Other than that, there are the tribal guys (more of which should honestly exist) who presumably have their own religions and cults. The Followers of the Apocalypse, many assumed they were types of Mormons. The Oasis tribals, they worshipped Harold. Some of Ashur's men were pious towards him. Caesar's Legion use the old Roman mythology to some extent because Caesar in the likeness of those before him, claims a tree from divinity.

 

So it does exist, but based on what we know from human history, it doesn't exist enough. Especially in Bethesda's games. Our survival instinct has to be pretty damn high on the chart for us to forego religion, and I mean high, as in, we're down to the last couple of thousands high. Even then it may persist. It should be fluid. The fact that it's mostly gone in Fallout 4, well that might be Bethesda just erring on the side of caution like how they (unrelated to religion) made every follower bisexual, it could also just be their laziness. In all honesty, as much as I love them, I kind of question Bethesda's ability anymore to actually make an interesting lore and story. Is it an oversight or a feature? It's both.

 

If I had to guess, I'd say Bethesda just didn't care about it fearing people could get upset about it, which is a shame. It's things like this, an almost complete absence of religion aside from a group of nuts cultists and one DC preacher who just preaches spirituality, that make the world of Fallout 4 just feel a tad bit emptier.

[kitcat81]

 

I totally agree. Even nowdays many non believes start to pray if they get in some really dangerous situation. I imagine that in Post Apocalypse world there would be not only religions but also many weird cults. There are almost no schools, no educatuion and this should rise different supernatual beliefes. There could be more interesting scary/mysterious quests related to this. Can`t remember anything significant apart from Far Harbour DLC. I don`t understand what is the problem with existing religions. I think that slightly changing the name of the religion or any god should be enough to avoid problems with real life believers. I have seen it in books. And this is not even necessary to use any existing religion. There could be any weird religion ...like deathclaws cult or even Mama Murthy cult :smile:

The game lacks things like this that makes the world more alive and more human.

Or due to the nature of the world people will believe god has abandoned them or would primarily focus on survival in a harsh world. Having no schools or education won't mean much when temples served as schools before modern education became a thing.

 

Some people would believe so , yes. But the world is all broken into pieces. No law, no hospitals, no phones and lots of hungly , ill , suffering, irradiated people who have no chance to get well and who`s only hope is a miracle or afterlife. On the other hand different crazy people and criminals can freely propagandize any crazy ideas. Some of them would just use the situation to get in charge. History shows that almost any crazy idea can find it`s followers.

 

Another intersting thing is related to ghouls. Non ferral ghouls. They live so long and it should allow them to collect much more knowledge and experience and to make them one of the smartest group in the Commonwealth.

Someone mentioned Hubologists. I have found that little quest quite funny and enjoyable. And sending ghouls to the moon was one of my favorite quests ...Can`t remember if it was in FO3 or NV.

[montky]

@fkemman11

re post #49 Super Mutants that practice pre-war Christianity etc...

"bless you meat bag" hahah that's even creepier if they're nightkin.

"oh my? I've really lost my mind this time. Momma always said, lay off the Jet and Med-X, it'll rot your brains out. Is that you lord?"

"no meatbag. I am your guardian angel..." <--- an alternative to the Mysterious Stranger

a Christopher Walken sounding Super Mutant...

 

 

 

I'd probably have shot first and asked questions later, BoS instinct and all...

though, if they're not harming anyone, those SuperMutants can do whatever they'd like.

heck, Marcus was in the Master's Army, and he pops up in FONV. You don't have to blast Marcus.

a lot of BoS players didn't blast Marcus, despite FO1.

Fawkes, that supermutant from Freeside in FONV, Grandma Bowen, Virgil, Strong...

If those supermutants don't want to have Virgil's cure,

they don't have to.

I'd like to think the BoS would have lifeforms of all sorts serving in the uniform. If a supermutant wanted to enlist, and would be prepared to potentially have to pull the trigger on other involuntary mutants in the wasteland... Supermutants'd be a great asset to the BoS.

they might have to permanently wear modified powerarmor suits though... so as not to be mistaken in the field for stuff...

 

Swan from Swan's Pond would be a good case of involuntary cure...

Lorenzo is about the only being in the commonwealth who could restrain Swan non-lethally for long enough,

it could be an olive branch for Lorenzo, to prove he's not evil..

 

They're not harming anyone, and the BoS would merely request they wear an identifier tag,

so as folks don't blast them on sight. A lot of folks in the wasteland would understandably have a fear about Super Mutants.

some factions would shoot first - Enclave especially.

maybe settlements would ask that SuperMutants stay beyond the city limits...

there's a lot there that can be explored.

 

 

 

 

 

I mean, that's the same kind of paranoia they'd have about synths.

that scene in SWEpIV at the cantina "we don't serve their kind here" and "the beeps, creeps and sweeps" from SpaceBalls -

you go to a 'bar' at a settlement, and they get a patented Vault Tec 'synth deteckter E-Meter-o-matic" and start making beeping noises...

"We have definite synth activity here..." or "you're cleared... so, what'll it be?"

The bio-scanner doesn't work, of course. Rads make the bulbs flicker and sputter...

but, the bar-keep can make the beeping sound and kick out anyone who

racks up too much of a tab that the bar-keep doesn't like... maybe the Regulators will come and blast them or whatever.

 

If there was a bar-keep doing that to folks, and Followers of the Apocalypse or

Children of Atom etc put a tip-off in to Nick Valentine or the BoS,

that'd make for an interesting ambient quest.

 

 

[Moksha8088]

If any of the true believers achieve immortality, they could always be locked up in Parson's State Hospital for safe keeping.

[Ethreon]

There are plenty of religions and they are mentioned and used enough. What's this need to push religion in more?

[Morgwynn]

Charles View Amphitheater is the base for the cult-like Pillars Of The Community and it makes me wonder what they might become in another 100 years. It seems to me that religions often start out as small cult-like organizations and grow in influence until the become more and more recognized by the greater populace around them.

[PoorlyAged]

There are plenty of religions and they are mentioned and used enough. What's this need to push religion in more?

Maybe the 'right' religion isn't represented.

[kitcat81]

There are plenty of religions and they are mentioned and used enough. What's this need to push religion in more?

Why not? For fun and to make the game world less primitive...More alive and realistic. And to add mistery and secrets . It`s always fun to discover some secret community or to see npc doing something but farming and killing . Without dlc-s there are not many such things there. Children of Atom is the only significant religion in the game, but you meet the best of them only once during the main quest. Without that they are just one more raider faction who attack on sight. Maybe the Covenant story can be viewed as a kind of cult too and this was one of the best quests on my view. But what about good people? Settlers are just like robots...they only care about carrots and muttfruits. Though there might be some people like this in reality, but most people are not that primitive. I have built some churches for settlers to make them not so boring. Have not seen a mod for this so used some vanilla assets and light boxes.

[Moraelin]

Ideology is not the same as religion. And this is one of my pet peeves. Not everything is another religion. If you look at actual world religions, past and present, there are key elements that are NOT present in Covenant or BOS or whatever. Neither of them involves a cosmic Santa bending the rules of the universe based on whether you obeyed the prescribed morals or not, for a start.

 

The Covenant guys don't believe that the universe will send a Synth to kill your family if you, say, commit adultery. The BOS don't believe that you'll get nuked if you covet the neighbour's ass.

 

Yes, religion INCLUDES an ideology, but saying that any ideology is a religion is like saying that any wheel is a car.

[kitcat81]

Ideology is not the same as religion. And this is one of my pet peeves. Not everything is another religion. If you look at actual world religions, past and present, there are key elements that are NOT present in Covenant or BOS or whatever. Neither of them involves a cosmic Santa bending the rules of the universe based on whether you obeyed the prescribed morals or not.

 

The Covenant guys don't believe that the universe will send a Synth to kill your family if you, say, commit adultery. The BOS don't believe that you'll get nuked if you covet the neighbour's ass.

 

Yes, religion INCLUDES an ideology, but saying that any ideology is a religion is like saying that any wheel is a car.

A cult is not necessary a religious cult. And a religion is also not necessary a cult. What I meant can be also called a sect. The Covenant is a sect. They don`t believe in any gods, but they are fanatics of some irrational idea and their community is functioning like a destructive sect. Though I agree that it can`t be called a religion , but it`s still very similar to a religious sect.