The Institute is a mysterious organization within the Commonwealth. It is known to possess advanced technology, including the ability to produce androids (also known as synths) of high enough quality to pass as humans.
Background
The Institute existed long before the Great War as the Commonwealth Institute of Technology, or CIT, a renowned university based in Boston, Massachusetts. Robert House attended it in his youth.[1] During the Great War, CIT personnel survived by taking refuge in a sealed underground facility beneath the campus. As the decades passed, the survivors continued their research, building on the pre-War technology they had protected. Eventually, CIT transformed into the shadowy Institute, an organization known for its highly advanced technology and unsurpassed scientific expertise, with the eventual goal of completely annihilating the pre-War culture they blame for the end of the world, and leading humanity into a brighter future. Prior to 2277, the Institute's advances resulted in the creation of true artificial intelligence (AI) and AI-equipped androids, which were employed as slave-labor. Periodically, androids seeking independence from the Institute attempted to escape with the help of the anti-slavery Railroad, but the Institute's Synth Retention Bureau doggedly pursued them.
By 2287, the Brotherhood of Steel had come to recognize the Institute as a major threat, and launched a campaign to eradicate it from the Commonwealth.
Structure
The Institute is divided into Departments, which operate largely independently from one another and focus on various scientific fields, such as Robotics and Biomechanics. Every Department answer directly to the Directorate.
The Directorate is the leading group of individuals who control and represent the Institute as a whole. It is composed by five persons, the four coordinators of the Departments plus the Director, which is the nominal leader of the organization. The Director doesn't need to directly control the work of the Departments, and its main occupation is to assure a proper cooperation between them, so that the goals of the Institute are properly met.
Society
The life inside the Institute is the one expected inside a scientific structure with such high technological capability: almost everyone inside is dedicated to various science related jobs, like medics, biologists and engineers, while the 'hard' work like cleaning and running the cafeteria are performed by the synths.
Military
While the Institute is primarily a scientific group, it has a powerful army at his disposal: the Synths.
Inside the main HQ of the Institute, the Robotics Department can produce very large numbers of synthetic organisms, which can be very efficient foot soldiers with enhanced strength and resilience. This, coupled with the advanced technology at their disposal, makes the Institute's Synths a serious threat to anyone who dares to oppose them.
Coursers are a particular type of Synth with higher military capability, used as special agents to pursue and recover lost Synths.
Technology
The Institute is home to the most advanced social structure and technology in the post-War wasteland, surpassing even the Brotherhood of Steel.
The main and most important technology of the Institute are the Synths. While the first and second generations of Synths are only very advanced machines, the third generation is completely indistinguishable from humans, making them perfect agents and soldiers.
Also, the Institute has many powerful energy weapons at its disposal, advanced AI, and other robotic technologies. Another powerful technology of the Institute is Teleportation, which scientists use to enter and exit the Institute, and can be used to relocate large numbers of troops and agent to almost any location instantly.
Members
2277
- Dr. Zimmer
- Armitage
- Harkness (former)
2287
Appearances
The Institute is mentioned in Fallout 3 in the quest The Replicated Man, and in Fallout: New Vegas in Mr. House's obituary. In Fallout 4 the Institute makes a full appearance as one of the major factions in the game.
Behind the scenes
The Institute's logo is based on Leonardo da Vinci's Vitruvian Man drawings and strongly resembles a Synth during production.