Fallout 4: Elder Maxson

Each Brotherhood Chapter or Division is run by an Elder or set of Elders, depending on the size of the organization.  In the Mojave the Brotherhood of Steel (BoS) had a single Elder though it did have a Senior Paladin and Scribe.  When Elder Maxson shows up he has a retinue of Senior staff, though the old way of accounting for job roles seems to have blurred.

In the BoS there are three organizations or groups: Scribes, Knights and Paladins.

Scribes work to record the information of the old world, take in technical documents, do research into documents and generally decide on what information can be used and what must be withheld to safeguard mankind.  Being a Scribe is not a major combat role, though all members of the BoS are trained in combat.  In FO4 this function continues as it was in prior games.

Knights are the rank that actually produce the weapons, armor, ammunition and consumables for the BoS.  These are the engineers and engineering researchers, and their function goes beyond production to refurbishing and maintaining the infrastructure of the BoS in the way of facilities beyond simple supplies.  Knights take in documents from the Scribes and deliver newly found ones to them, although that is a role all members have it is the Knights that tend to get into the nitty-gritty of discovered sites from the old world.  The Knights are major combatants wearing Power Armor for hazardous exploration and while they are not marksmen they are more than capable of holding their own in combat.

Paladins are the highly trained combatants of the BoS.  Their role is to oversee the training of all individuals, ensure that the logistics needs of the Knights are met, and they are the ones that lead missions and patrols, learning how to utilize the strengths of Knights and Scribes to navigate the horrors of newly discovered emplacements.  Paladins are also the enforcers of order in the BoS and the the Senior Paladin is the one who decides which jobs go to which Paladins and they, in turn, apply to Senior Knights and Scribes to get the proper mix of personnel for new missions.  Simple patrols are normally delegated to those needing more combat experience, but for those missions going to really bad places, the input of the Senior members is sought out to protect the personnel going and the BoS as a whole.

Part of the way the BoS operates is through what is known as The Chains That Bind.  This is a chain of command structure in which the Elder consults with Senior members about what needs to be done, and then delegates responsibilities to them.  These Senior members then go to the next rank down and further delegate roles and missions, which, in turn, can also be delegated if that member is granted the authority to do so.  This is an important point in Fallout: New Vegas (FNV) as a plot line for the BoS Mojave Chapter can turn on this very point.  What has happened is that this methodology has been broken by Elder McNamara in directly ordering patrols to get information for him, and did not consult with Senior staff and gave it as a direct order.  Even if he did consult with Senior staff, it is not the role of an Elder, any Elder, to hand out missions to subordinates further down the chain of command than Senior members.  Elder McNamara can be peacefully replaced for violating this axiom of the BoS by Senior Paladin Hardin.

This is a core and non-negotiable part of the BoS: if the organization is to function properly with safeguards, then Elders do not give missions to subordinates directly as that is the role of Senior members.  Lack of coordination, protection and documentation means that BoS members can get killed by not being properly prepared for a mission.  Running the organization as a whole, making sure it works as a whole and safeguarding it as a whole is the primary job of an Elder in the BoS.

In Fallout 4, every single time the Sole Survivor is ordered to do something directly by Elder Maxson, he is violating the core concept of The Chains That Bind.

In fact I thought this was going to be a major plot line for the BoS, because Elder Maxson has violated so much of the Codex (by what we know of it at least) and the Founder's Axioms (what we know of them) that it isn't funny.  The man cannot be reasoned with by an underling and you cannot send complaints up the chain of command, either.  In fact telling a Paladin, like Paladin Danse, that you are getting orders from Elder Maxson directly should get some major response out of him.  Yet the Sole Survivor isn't given that chance.

To bring the Brotherhood Outcasts and the Lyon's Pride BoS together after the death of the last Lyon's family member, would require giving in something to the Outcasts and they should have sticking by the Axioms and Founder's Principles as their major source of contention with the way things were under Lyons.  That is the reason they LEFT to become the Outcasts, after all.  The Chains That Bind are a core part of how the BoS operates and maintains itself so that all parts of the Brotherhood function properly as an organization.  Many things can be given a hand-waving pass, or negotiated, but this direct ordering by an Elder to someone two, three or more ranks down without going through the proper chain of command is a way to get dismissed by a Senior member.  One suspects that the Outcasts actually tried that and were denied the ability to present their case, and thus they walked as the deviations from the very principles that let the BoS survive were being grossly violated in their view.

To get them back in there would need to be a reaffirmation of The Chains That Bind so that any upper level member of the BoS handing out commands to someone not directly under them and skipping a level or two of command could be called on it and dismissed.  When brought on-board the Prydwen Elder Maxson confirms that PC is under Paladin Danse, and this is something that Danse confirms.  Thus the Chain of Command is from Elder Maxson to a Senior Paladin or Danse if he is the Senior Paladin for this contingent sent from DC, although that would mean that Danse wouldn't personally be overseeing the PC.  Thus there is a link in the chain missing as this is what Danse is instructed to do, and that is NOT the job of a Senior Paladin.  So where is the Senior Paladin under Maxson?  Was this position abolished to give Elder Maxson direct say over the Paladins?

The position of Proctor appears as designating a Senior member of the BoS and it is worth considering each in turn.

Proctor Teagan is the man who runs the store on the Prydwen that keeps the troops supplied with food, weapons, armor, mods and chems.  This is typically the position of a Knight as they are the ones who do the scavenging of sites, repair of equipment and production of new items.  This is an important position for logistics, as well, and that is the purview of the Knights.  His armor is appropriate to that of an engineer, and that is also the realm of Knights in the BoS.

Proctor Ingram is in charge of the maintenance bay for Power Armor on the Prydwen, and has the appearance of being an engineer.  That puts her in the Knights of the BoS as this is the repair and maintenance duties which are in control of the Knights.

Proctor Quinlan is in charge of document gathering, organizing research patrols, cataloging of documents and assisting in research on the Prydwen.  These are all duties of a Scribe and he is the Head Scribe on-board the Prydwen.  While this is a high ranking position it is not one of being a Senior Scribe.

Thus what can be derived from this is that the command structure of the Eastern Division varies from the Western Division, which is due to the changes brought about by Elder Lyons.  The old order of Knights now falls directly in the combat section under the Paladins.  All of the logistics, maintenance and other duties that were typically those of Knights has been shifted to the Scribes, which makes the Scribes the most important group in the Eastern Division as seen on the Prydwen.  In fact this may be a necessity due to lack of space on the Prydwen with the emphasis placed on combat more than logistics.

A new branch, that of Lancer, has been formed and it appears to be a separate one that is charged with duties for the Prydwen and Vertibirds.  Thus there is a set of three branches in the Eastern Division as seen on the Prydwen:  Scribes, Paladins and Lancers.

Within the Paladins there is a hierarchy that has a few missing positions.  Under Elder Maxson there is a vacant slot for a Sentinel, then vacancies for Star Paladin, then Paladin-Commander, Paladin, Knight-Commander, Knight-Captain, Knight-Sergeant, and then Knight.

At the bottom ranks for each of these groups are Initiates who are just getting used to being a member of the BoS and then Aspirants who are trying to earn a full position in their groups.

With all of that taken into consideration, is this power structure something that the ex-Outcasts would put up with even for an expedition as seen in FO4?  This is an expedition with a goal and by the standards of the BoS, a worthy goal.  They carry Liberty Prime's parts to help make this a success.  The concept that the abuse of knowledge must be ended is laudable by those standards.  Yet the sacrifices in power structure, checks on authority and over-reach, and adhering to the Founder's Principles and Axioms are ones that must be incorporated for their relevant purposes.  Those are designed to stop unchecked abuse of power by an Elder, and they have a real and important purpose.  As shown Elder Maxson has done away with these checks to power, and taken with him one of the most powerful artifacts of the pre-war era with him.  As players we do not see who the Senior Paladin is that orders are supposed to go through.  Without a Sentinel, Star-Paladin or Paladin-Commander to put a proper chain of command in place, Elder Maxson is free to abuse his power and directly order underlings even those under the tutelage of Paladins instead of going through the proper chain of command.  These are things the ex-Outcasts would rail against and the argument of 'necessity' is one that has been used in the past to cover power grabs in history.

Even if his leadership as Elder is acknowledged by the Western Division, the differences in organization and accountability would still trouble Outcasts.  Varying so far from the way the Brotherhood operates in the West has its limits, and this wholesale change and direct command style is one of the very reasons the Outcasts left in the first place.