Nora

### Affiliation

Commonwealth Minutemen Vault 111Brotherhood of Steel (neutral)The Institute (neutral)

## Appearances

### Debut

Book One

Nora, also known as the Sole Survivor, is the current General and Commander of the Commonwealth Minutemen, and one of the four Legends of the Wastelands. Born before the Great War, she was a relatively successful lawyer working in the Boston area, and was married to her husband Nate, with one child, Shaun. She lived in Sanctuary Hills until October 23rd, 2077, where she and her family were forced to evacuate to Vault 111 due to the breaking of nuclear war. Nora was cryogenically frozen for over 200 years, during which she was thawed out only briefly to witness the kidnapping of her son and the murder of her husband at the hands of the Institute.

## Background

### Pre-War

Nora spent most of her time working at the legal firm she was partnered at, working as an expert lawyer. Her husband, a war veteran, mainly remained at home, taking care of their child, Shaun, with help from their Mr. Handy, Codsworth. It was implied that the family took regular vacations. Nora remained unaffected by the growing conflict of the United States simply due to the fact that no US mainland incursions had occurred yet. Still, she did express concern over the growing hostility between multiple countries, especially given Nate's prior service.

### The Great War

On October 23, 2077, Nora was getting herself ready to join Nate for a speech at the local Veterans Affairs office, which was hosting a large ceremony dedicated to the communities veterans. While catching up on the news, a representative of Vault-Tec arrived at their door, offering them a reserved place in the local vault, Vault 111. Although they had ignored his calls in the past, Nora eventually caves and signs all necessary paperwork, which is rushed back to the vault.

Shortly afterwards, Codsworth alerts Nora and Nate to a grim news broadcast: Nuclear war has erupted, and several cities in the United States have been struck by bombs, destroying them entirely. The broadcast is cut off, and air raid sirens fill the air, prompting Nora and her family to flee their home and head for Vault 111. Amazingly, the rep had managed to deliver their paperwork in time, and their places were assigned. Nora's family stepped onto the loading platform for the vault, which lowered just as a nuclear bomb struck Boston, destroying nearly everything in sight. Inside the vault, Nora and her family were immediately processed, told to put on their issued Vault suits, and were told to step into a pod for decontamination. Unbeknownst to all, the pods were actually a cryogenic storage pods, and upon entering them, they quickly froze the inhabitants into a deep frozen sleep.

### Awakening

Nora awoke approximately 200 years after the vault's sealing by Kellogg and various Institute agents, who attempted to take Shaun from Nate, to his protests. Kellogg warned Nate to release the boy, and when he refuse, Kellogg shot him point blank with his .44 magnum revolver, killing him instantly. The Institute recovers Shaun, and quickly refreezes Nora, leaving her to gaze upon her dead husband. Sixty years after that, a malfunction in the vault causes Nora to unfreeze once more. She frantically rushed over to check on Nate, only to confirm that he'd been killed. She then takes his wedding ring, and vows to find the person that did this, before securing a Vault-Tec PipBoy and fleeing the vault.

### The Minutemen

Shortly after leaving the Vault, Nora found herself caught in a firefight between a few members of the Commonwealth Minutemen, and a group of Raiders. Taking a rifle from a fallen Minuteman, Nora assists the group with fighting off the raiders, ultimately taking over a suit of T-45 Power Armor and facing off against a Deathclaw that had been lurking in the sewers below. The group then returned to Sanctuary, where she was reunited with Codsworth. Deciding to turn Sanctuary into a safe haven for herself and her new associates, Nora began helping with building beds, food resources, and water purifiers to ensure that the settlement could run, before heading to Diamond City, believing that someone there could help her track down Shaun. After a series of events involving private detective Nick Valentine, and Diamond City news journalist Piper Wright, Nora was able to track down Kellogg, the man responsible for killing Nate and kidnapping Shaun. Believing that ten years had passed since the abduction, Nora then focused her attention on the Institute itself.

Nora dedicated herself towards building up the Minutemen, taking on the role of General, bestowed upon her by Preston Garvey, who was essentially the last remaining Minuteman. Assisting a wide number of local farms and settlements, Nora was able to amass enough faith and support for the Minutemen to reopen The Castle, located in Fort Independence. With a military base active once more, the Minutemen's numbers soared, spreading across the Commonwealth as fast as news traveled that there was finally a force returning to protect the innocent from Raiders, Feral Ghouls, and Super Mutants. While serving as the General, Nora was even able to retrieve the schematics for artillery cannons, and began placing a number of artillery stations across the Commonwealth. It was at this point that Nora first came into contact with Deathwave, who was operating as a lone mercenary, along with banished Brotherhood of Steel Sentinel Kairune and Institute-escapee Rayne. Although not much was passed along to her in terms of their histories, the group openly offered assistance to the Minutemen for caps, establishing a rather strong relationship with the organization.

### Infiltrating The Institute

Nora was eventually able to track down another escaped Institute scientist, Brian Virgil, who informed her of what she needed in order to gain access to the Institute. Nora used this information to track down and kill an Institute Courser, extracting his Courser chip, which held the codes that would allow her to hijack the Institute's RF transmission frequency, which is how personnel teleport in and out of the facility. Nora and the Minutemen were successful in replicating this technology, allowing her to enter the Institute. Upon her arrival, she was alarmed to find out that her arrival was anticipated, and the leader of the Institute personally greeted her after her entry, inviting her to meet him face-to-face. She continued through the pristine facility, finally coming to her goal as she spotted Shaun inside a room, behind a thick plastic window. Despite her pleading with Shaun to remember her, the boy began calling out to the Institute Director, Father, alarmed that she was there to 'take' him. Father entered the room, and used a synth recall code to 'disable' the boy, enraging Nora. Her rage was short lived, however, when Father revealed that it was not ten years since Shaun's abduction, but sixty. He then reintroduced himself as the true Shaun, her son. Nora, disbelieving at first, soon found this to be true, taking a moment to reconnect with her taken son. Although she still saw the loss of her husband and Shaun as a recent event due to her cryosleep, Shaun had had over sixty years to process this information, finally accepting it and taking the reins of the Institute as the Director and personally overseeing the synth program. Shaun invited Nora to join him in the Institute, to the disagreement of the other scientists, but Nora refused, citing the damage that the Institute had caused above ground, to the people that gave what little they had to help her on her journey. Despite her aggression towards the Institute, and reluctance to join, Nora was still given the ability and permission to enter and exit the Institute as she pleased. Nora left, reporting her findings to the Minutemen. Now knowing the true fate of Shaun, Nora rededicated herself towards protecting the Commonwealth through the Minutemen, growing them even further.

### Present Day

Nora still carries her title as General. A regular provider of work for the Ragnarök Mercenary Company, she typically will pass on contracts to them that could jeopardize her neutrality with other organizations. A major project that she offered the RMC was the liberation of Nuka-World. Due to a lack of manpower and resources for the Minutemen to simultaneously assault Nuka-World AND maintain a presence in the Commonwealth prompted her to recruit the RMC to handle the operation. The RMC proved successful, retaking Nuka-World and bequeathing it back to the merchants residing there. In exchange, on top of their large payment, the RMC was also granted exclusive control over an emergency evacuation Vault located North of Nuka-World, which they turned into their main base of operations.

Nora is most commonly found either in The Castle, or Sanctuary Hills. Vault 111, the vault she originated from, has been marked as a restricted site to all, as it contains the body of Nate.

## Relationships

### Ragnarök Mercenary Company

Nora maintains a friendly relationship with the RMC, despite concerns of their expansive levels of equipment and rather destructive means. Although she is aware of them and their activities, Nora primarily deals with them through her executive officer, Preston Garvey. Nora provides the RMC with a majority of their highest paying jobs, such as the Nuka-World operation, as well as performs smaller favors, such as allowing them the use of the Starlight Drive-In to construct and retrofit their warplane, the Valkyrie. Nora also will dispatch Garvey to speak to the RMC in the event their activities raise concerns throughout the Commonwealth.

### Brotherhood Of Steel

The BoS and Nora hold a very tense neutrality agreement, primarily due to their unexpected arrival in the Commonwealth, as well as the betrayal and actions of RMC mercenary Kairune, who Nora extends protection to. Nora issued a warning to the BoS after their repeated attempts to capture the RMC, advising them that should any harm come to anyone affiliated with the Minutemen, a sizable and swift response would be mobilized. Although Elder Maxson doesn't formally recognize Nora's rank and title, seeing the Minutemen as an illegitimate military force, he ultimately agreed to her terms, ceasing the campaign to hunt and execute Kairune and her teammates. Apart from Boston Airport, where the Prydwyn is moored, the Brotherhood has been restricted from laying a legitimate claim on any settlement or territory in the Commonwealth, something that Elder Maxson has threatened to ignore on several occasions.

### The Institute

It is common knowledge that the Institute is run by Shaun, Nora's abducted son, and as such, many hold mixed feelings regarding Nora and her relationship with the Institute. Nora has publicly condemned the Institute and their actions, believing that they have no right to replace humans with synths, and that their operations should be limited to the confines of their facility. Regardless, Nora has not actively taken action against synth patrols or courser activity within the Commonwealth, provided that they stay away from Minutemen protected areas. Like the Brotherhood, the Institute is also barred from claiming any legitimate territory on the surface.

### The Railroad

Nora's focus on the Minutemen has left her and the Railroad in a state of distrust. Railroad leader Desdemona is wary of the contacts Nora has, which include the RMC, the BoS, and the Institute. Nora has also declined the Railroad's requests for her to join them, upsetting them, despite them having assisted her in decoding the Courser chip to allow her access into the Institute. Nora has officially been 'shunned' from the Railroad, although they regular keep intel on her movements at all times, usually through Deacon. Deacon and Nora remain on friendly terms, with Nora knowing full well that everything she says to Deacon is documented for the Railroad.

### The Gunners

Nora and the Gunners are on hostile terms, with Minutemen being authorized to engage Gunner squads that stray outside of their allowed area of operations. The Gunners have openly called for Nora's death, and have offered large amounts of caps for her head. However, most of the Commonwealth fears her far more then they do the Gunners, and also know of the Gunners tendency to refuse paying out for completed jobs, opting to kill the mercenary and take the spoils for themselves. Despite the constant conflict between the Gunners and the Minutemen, the Gunners are continuously increasing their numbers, most likely from the local Raider populations.

### The Raiders of the Commonwealth

Nora is firmly sickened by the presence of the Raiders, and has regulars deployed the Minutemen to engage and destroy encampments that threaten local settlements. Nora also employs the RMC to act against Raider camps, with a substantial reward paid out for each encampment discovered and neutralized.

## Appearance

Nora is a lean, pale woman, no older then 35. With frost white medium length hair, and bright blue eyes, Nora is an easy sight to spot. Most often clad in the General's uniform of the Minutemen, she is an imposing sight for anyone aware of her accomplishments. Nora is mild mannered in most occasions, usually opting for a peaceful resolution to conflicts. However, when provoked, Nora is ruthless in combat, willing to use destructive weapons to ensure that the threat is destroyed permanently. While negotiating the truce between the Minutemen and the Brotherhood, Nora had ordered the nearby Minutemen installations to train their artillery cannons on the Prydwyn in the event that the negotiations went south. Nora has also put certain conditions on her contracts to the RMC. For example, her contract to exterminate the Nuka-World Raiders, Nora stated that no terms of surrender or peace was to be offered, and that any Raider found in the park was to be eliminated.