Black Isle/Obsidian Era:
15 September 2073 – West Tek Research Facility FEV projects begin in Southern California
March-November 2075 – FEV research progresses to insects and small mammals
3 January 2076 – Colonel Robert Spindel’s detachment is moved to West Tek to prevent espionage, infiltration, etc. – Roger Maxson is in this detachment
January-April 2076 – FEV is tested on dogs, raccoons, etc. and goes poorly by all accounts
4 October 2076 – FEV is tested on chimpanzees
7 January 2077 – FEV research is moved to the Mariposa Military Base
February 2077 – FEV research is leaked to the press, people collectively lose their shit briefly before forgetting and moving on to the next crisis (sounds familiar, right?)
10 October 2077 – Shit officially hits the fan and the fundamental basis for the formation of the Brotherhood of Steel occurs when the aforementioned Spindel detachment discovers human FEV testing on “volunteers,” resulting in Spindel’s mental breakdown and Roger Maxson’s assumption of command over the detachment
13 October 2077 – Maxson kills the lead West Tek Scientist
15 October 2077 – Spindel commits suicide, making Maxson’s leadership role permanent
20-21 October 2077 – Maxson officially deserts and orders the families of his detachment to move into the Mariposa base
23 October 2077 – The Great War/everything gets bombed to shit. The West Tek facility FEV vats are ruptured so now we have Super Mutants.
27 October-sometime November 2077 – The Mariposa detachment under Maxson relocates to the Lost Hills Bunker
23 June 2102 – Richard Grey is exposed to FEV, over the coming weeks becomes The Master
2134 – A Brotherhood splinter group leaves Lost Hills to scout, promptly gets rekt exploring the West Tek ruins
2135 – Roger Maxson dies
2155 – The Brotherhood sends out a party to fuck up some Vipers, Maxson II (Roger’s son) dies via poisoning/hubris, John Maxson (Roger’s grandson) assumes the role of Elder
October 2161 – A super mutant corpse is discovered and taken back to the Brotherhood bunker for analysis
2161 Fallout 1 begins
23 May 2162 – The Master invades the Lost Hills Bunker, is defeated. Following the invasion the Brotherhood drives out The Master’s forces from the immediate surrounding area; this is their first real interaction with non-Brotherhood survivor society that doesn’t involve killing said society.
2174 Fallout 1 ends
2185 – In a series of unlikely events, Brotherhood Paladin Jacob and a former member of The Master’s army, Marcus, become bros
2189 – The NCR establishes the state of Maxson (I’m not entirely clear if Lost Hills is even in the state since it’s riiiight near the border and there’s not an official map with clear state lines, but regardless it’s under NCR control not BoS anyway)
2197 (late 2196) Fallout Tactics begins*
2197 – A detachment is sent East to assess any remaining Super Mutant threat. This detachment is comprised of the Elders who felt opening the BoS to recruitment and sharing technology accordingly was necessary for survival*
2198 Fallout Tactics ends*
Some time before 2208 – Head Paladin Rhombus defects, creating a splinter BoS group that goes to Texas to continue pursuit of remnants of The Master’s army*
2208 Fallout: Brotherhood of Steel begins*
2209 Fallout: Brotherhood of Steel ends with the Texas expedition complete*
2231 – High Elder Jeremy Maxson agrees that prior complaints about the Brotherhood’s lack of genetic diversity are probably pretty on point and agrees to expand territory eastward while aggressively pursuing the collection/commandeering of technology from non-Brotherhood persons, including the formation of new bases (including Mojave)+
July-August 2236 – The Enclave scouts the Mariposa Base ruins and finds FEV, begins experimentation
2237 – The Enclave finishes collecting FEV data, goes “lol, j/k” and abandons the site as well as all the Super Mutants they made there
May-July 2241 Fallout 2 begins
2242 Jeremy Maxson installs Andrea Brixley as elder of the newly-established Maxson bunker+
Fall 2242 The Chosen One, with support of the NCR and BoS, destroys the Enclave oil rig – this kind of smooths things over between the NCR and Brotherhood but only very temporarily
2242 Fallout 2 ends
Some time in between 2243 and 2252 the NCR and BoS declare war on one another – the exact year, who fired first, etc. is not known or established definitively in any game, though the expansion actions of Jeremy Maxson in 2231 are considered to be antagonistic.+
2253 – The Brotherhood of Steel comes into possession of Stealth Boy technology, but discover the tech causes mental instability and it’s use is banned. A splinter faction, the Circle of Steel, attempts to assassinate Elder Brixley to continue to use the Stealth Boy technology in order to gain the upper hand over NCR in the ongoing conflict between the two factions+
2253 – The Mojave Brotherhood of Steel leaves the Hidden Valley bunker to establish control of the HELIOS 1 solar array
2271-2274 – NCR moves into the New Vegas-Mojave region, encroaching on Brotherhood territory in the Mojave and reaching a truce with Mr. House regarding the Hoover Dam
2275 – NCR establishes Camp McCarran, conflict with Mojave BoS officially begins; Caesar’s Legion begins preparing to invade New Vegas to take control from the NCR
2276 – NCR takes control of the HELIOS facility, BoS forces retreat to the Hidden Valley bunker site
2277 – Caesar’s Legion is defeated by NCR at Hoover Dam
11 October 2281 Fallout New Vegas Begins
2281 – The Courier enters an abandoned BoS bunker, were he/she is taken captive by the missing Elder Elijah
Indeterminable year, likely 2282, Fallout New Vegas ends and the fate of the Mojave BoS is contingent on player action
* = denotes that the source is now considered “non-canon” content from Fallout: Tactics and/or Fallout: Brotherhood of Steel
+ = denotes that the source is Van Buren, the cancelled Black Isle game that largely but not wholly became parts of New Vegas
Bethesda Softworks Era:
Same as the above with the removal of all Tactics, FO: BoS, and Van Buren timelines, plus…
Some mystery time before 2093 – Roger Maxson starts a radio station with a functioning satellite and an Appalachian chapter of the Brotherhood is formed
2095 – The Appalachian BoS is nearly destroyed by Scorched
2102 – The Appalachian BoS and Bethesda’s last shred of lore credibility are completely destroyed
2254 – Owyn Lyons and a detachment of Brotherhood soldiers and scribes are sent to Washington, DC to collect technology from the devastated Capital and investigate reports of Super Mutant activity – on the way they are to look for the Midwestern contingent that isn’t canon anymore anyway except for when it’s plot convenient
2255 – The Eastern BoS faction encounters raiders in The Pitt, leaves behind a Paladin they believe to be dead (spoiler: he was not); The Citadel base is established in the Capital Wasteland
2258 – Fallout 3 begins, Paladin Cross escorts James to Vault 101
2276 – Paladin Casdin defects, creating the splinter group the Brotherhood Outcasts, citing Elder Lyons’ derivation from their stated mission and BoS code
2277 – The Lone Wanderer leaves Vault 101, encounters the Outcasts, who require use of the Wanderer’s Pip Boy to access the Anchorage Reclamation module; to challenge the Enclave and regain control of Project Purity the Wanderer seeks help from the Eastern Brotherhood, who with the assistance of Doctor Li use the Liberty Prime mech to defeat Enclave forces at the Jefferson Memorial facility
Some time late 2277, early 2278, Fallout 3 ends, Doctor Li departs the Commonwealth
2278 – Elder Lyons dies, Sarah Lyons becomes Elder, also dies shortly after leading to a succession crisis
2280 – A reconnaissance squad is sent to the Commonwealth and returns with significant intel and tech
2283 – Arthur Maxson, who is 16, is elected Elder – Arthur is the son of Jonathan, their respective relation to Jeremy is unknown/the existence of Jeremy in this timeline is unknown as his history is in non-canon sources only, but Arthur is stated to be a direct descendant of Roger; Elder Maxson reunites the Eastern BoS with the Outcasts
2284 – A second reconnaissance squad, Artemis, is sent to the Commonwealth, and dies save for Paladin Brandeis, who is not seen for several years
Early 2287 – A third reconnaissance squad, Gladius, is sent to the Commonwealth. They establish an outpost after heavy casualties.
23 October 2287 – Fallout 4 begins
late 2287-early 2288 – A large scale Eastern BoS contingent arrives in the Commonwealth, including Elder Maxson
2288 – Fallout 4 ends, the status of the Eastern BoS is contingent on player actions
Verbrennen's Place 