The Followers of the Apocalypse
This page is a part of the world information.
The Followers are neither a political party nor a religion and not an independent state. That alone makes them suspect to any organized party, religion or nation. By and large they are a group of good people, that tries to spread peace, progress and prosperity – which gives them not only friends.
History:
If one traces the history of the Followers to it's beginning, one arrives at a girl named Nicole. She came from a settlement called Dayglow that lay in the ruins of that, which once had been San Diego. She went northwards with her family and numerous others, after Dayglow was given up due to too high levels of radiation. The migrants had a rough time and many died on the way. After her parents were killed by raiders, Nicole had enough and founded the Followers of the Apocalypse. Dedicated to the lessening of the common suffering and to prevent a repetition of the numerous mistakes that led to the Great War.
The freshly christened group wandered further into the north and ultimately settled in the Angel's Boneyard. To be precise, they established their base of operations in the former communal library of Los Angeles. That gave them access to great amounts of information, from agriculture to history and science and cemented their reputation as guardians of knowledge.
Around 2161 the Followers of the Apocalypse began to suspect, that the Children of the Cathedral had not only charitable motives and began casting an eye on them. Talius, a mutant, partly mutated by FEV and similar in appearance to a Ghoul found shelter and protection with them and could explain in detail what it was about the Children and the 'dark God' they served. For a time the Followers concentrated on working against the Master. They were even ready to forget their pacifism and take up arms themselves to stop the Master and his minions and offered help to everyone that wanted to work against the Master. Among others of course, to the Vault Dweller, that stopped the Master once and for all and scattered the Army of the Master in all directions.
In 2211 the Angel's Boneyard joined the NCR. The Followers quickly became one of the most important factions in the south of the NCR and helped among other things, in founding the medical faculty there. In fact, they are working on expanding that faculty to a true, complete university.
Organization:
The Followers are said to be anarchists. People coming from a firmly structured community or organization will without a doubt agree. The organizational structure of the Followers is best compared with cells that are independent of each other – without the bombings that normally implies.
In principle, each bigger local group of the Followers creates it's own organizational structure. In the Angel's Boneyard itself they democratically vote an “executive committee”, that more or less corresponds to a ministers council and that itself votes one of it's number as chairman that “leads” the Followers in the Boneyard.
The smaller local groups that can be found here and there in the Wasteland, organize themselves how they see fit.
In the Angel's Boneyard:
In the Angel's Boneyard the Followers of the Apocalypse constitute the greatest political power – and that even without being a party. Nobody in an official position ignores their opinion and the common folk, of whom many owe their life or the life of a family member or friend to the medical knowledge of the Followers, hold them in extremely high regard. The doctors and scientists and engineers of the Followers are constantly working on turning the Boneyard into something like a paradise in the Wasteland.
In the rest of the republic:
Farther north, the Followers are regarded more negatively. Their “missionaries”, that is, the people that move out and explain how to build generators, help people organize themselves and teach Farmers better crop growing techniques, are not universally beloved. The great brahmin barons for example, don't approve of small farmers.
Outside the NCR:
Outside the NCR some see them like this and others like that. The ones are always happy to see Followers and to learn from them, others think them spys or even precursors of a pending NCR invasion. Vault-City has already arrested some Followers for spying and put them to hard work, until pressure by the government in Shady Sands (sparked by pressure by the local government in the Angel's Boneyard) got them released.