fallout

The men folk would say good old-fashion elbow grease keeps Covenant as the prettiest place in the Commonwealth, but between you and me, I think shrewd trading may play a big part.— Penny Fitzgerald

Covenant is a location and possible settlement in the Commonwealth in 2287.

Background

A small village boasting pre-War architecture founded by a group of settlers who've made the site their home. The friendly inhabitants of the settlement are responsible for the overall pristine condition of the town's infrastructure. They attempt to attract traders to the settlement to keep it running and allow it to grow.[Non-game 1]

Sometime following the Broken Mask incident, Doctor Roslyn Chambers and her scientific team arrived at Covenant with the intention to turn the settlement into a refuge for people who have suffered at the hands of the Institute's synths.[2][3][4] She convinced the residents of the town to help with her work and subsequently set up a lab with her personnel inside a utility area in the nearby sewers, locally known as the Compound. From there, Chambers and her scientists attempt to discover and flush out the secret Institute agents widely feared and despised by the inhabitants of the Commonwealth.[5]

Following the doctor's arrival, the town of Covenant's reputation and splendor were tainted by the development of a strong anti-synth sentiment within the community, and it became a trap for outsiders unlucky enough to become part of Chambers' experiments.

The settlers support the Compound's mission of validating a psychological assessment that is meant to identify synths.[6] This assessment is called the SAFE test and is the focus of a continuous experiment whereby visitors to Covenant are screened and are possibly later kidnapped, interrogated, and killed in order to discover how effective the SAFE test is at identifying synths. Those who the SAFE test designates "probable synths" are also subject to interrogation and torture in an attempt to further refine their assessment.[7]

Any belongings, goods, or junk left behind by kidnapped travelers are looted by Dr. Chambers' men and turned over to Penny for sale. Despite these ill-gotten gains, the low prices deliberately set in order to attract travelers mean her shop is unable to make an overall profit. As a result, the town has a deficit of 250 caps.[8]

Layout

Covenant is a small settlement along the eastern shore of Mystic Lake, inhabited by nine people, one visitor, a Mister Handy named Deezer and a house cat named Dora. There is a large wall surrounding the whole settlement with nine heavy machine gun turrets on small wooden platforms. Inside the wall are four houses and a small garden. The houses are intact as if they had barely been touched by the Great War. The Sole Survivor may comment on this by saying that all the buildings look almost pre-War.

There is a workbench in a shack near the garden. Three of the buildings will be locked at various times, but the inhabitants will occasionally go in and out the doors of every building and they can then be followed without needing to resort to lockpicking. They do not leave the room while they are aware the Sole Survivor is inside, but they may still close the door behind them and lock the Sole Survivor in if the player character is hidden.

The guesthouse (last house on the left when entering from the main gate) contains a bed that can be freely used by the player. The containers in this house can be used for storage without the items becoming owned by the settlement and the items in this house can be freely taken even if one is not allied to the settlement. There are a few other unowned junk items up for grabs, mostly around the backs and sides of the houses, and some near the workshop. The cabinet under the toolbox in the workshop shack can also be freely used as a container. There is a farm plot with 7 corn, 5 tato, and several mutfruit (including an owned wild mutfruit), which are cultivated by the settlers and will respawn. Apart from the "owned" wild mutfruit these can be freely harvested by the player. There is a water pump beside the main gate.

Inhabitants

Notable loot

Related quest

Notes

Companion comments

Location comments
Character Comment
Cait "This place kind of reminds me of home... it's just missin' the abusive parents and the years of psychological torment."
Codsworth "This place is actually quite quaint. Minus the prison walls of course!"
Curie "Oh, what a pleasant little place. We should go in, yes?"
Danse "Looks suspiciously like a prison camp. We should proceed with caution."
Deacon "Covenant. For a new settlement, it's looking pretty good. I've been meaning to pay a visit."
John Hancock "What kinda place you gotta take a test to enter?"
Nick Valentine "Covenant. Never did feel terribly welcome here."
Piper Wright "Always thought something was a bit... off, about Covenant. I mean, what good's an entry exam against Raiders?"
Preston Garvey "This place seems to be doing all right on it's own. Makes you wonder what kind of deals they've made."
Robert MacCready "If paranoia started to fall like rain, this place would need to build an ark."
X6-88 "This is the place with the so-called synth detector test. That's almost funny."

Appearances

Covenant appears in Fallout 4. It also appears in Fallout Shelter during the multi-stage quest line Major Players.

Bugs

Covenant is a particularly buggy location, in many cases due to internal logic errors in how the settlement, and its related quests, were designed and coded.

Gallery

See also

References

  1. The Sole Survivor: "I'd like to help further if I can."
    Jacob Orden: "Actually, I was wanting to help you. We'd be honored to fly the Minuteman flag and contribute further to the safety and welfare of the Commonwealth."
    (Jacob Orden's dialogue)
  2. The Sole Survivor: "What happened to you?"
    Roslyn Chambers: "In Diamond City, a lifetime ago, my parents and eight others were massacred by someone. At first we thought the maniac was human. But that was the day we learned of the Institute's latest creations. The synths. As long as the Institute walks invisibly amongst us, they strike without warning and control us from the shadows."
    (Roslyn Chambers' dialogue)
  3. The Sole Survivor: "There's nothing you can say that can excuse what I've seen here."
    Roslyn Chambers: "Everything we've done has been to stop the suffering of more innocents at the hands of the Institute and their synth menace."
    (Roslyn Chambers' dialogue)
  4. Roslyn Chambers: "Covenant is many things. A refuge for the broken people left in the wake of the Institute's rampages. A place of safety and healing. But most importantly it is our one chance to end this age of paranoia."
    (Roslyn Chambers' dialogue)
  5. Roslyn Chambers: "I've dedicated my life to devising a test to detect these hidden synths.To root them out, so they can be extinguished. Isn't that a goal worth fighting for?"
    (Roslyn Chamber's dialogue)
  6. Roslyn Chambers: "A living synth is indistinguishable from a human by any medical test yet devised. But, it turns out, psychology can detect a difference. Enter the SAFE test. The test is in its infancy, but through sacrifice and perseverance our success rate is improving."
    (Roslyn Chambers' dialogue)
  7. The Sole Survivor: "But your methods are barbaric. It's torture."
    Roslyn Chambers: "To improve the SAFE test intense psychological pressure must be applied to our test subjects. It is distasteful but necessary."
    (Roslyn Chambers' dialogue)
  8. Compound terminal entries; terminal, RE: Dr. Rogers' rant
  9. Settler: "A couple people from Covenant fought with the Minutemen in the Institute. Uh... General."
    (Settlers' dialogue in Covenant)
  10. Settler: "I'm so proud our Minutemen beat the Institute."
    (Settlers' dialogue in Covenant)

Non-game

  1. Fallout 4 Vault Dweller's Survival Guide Collector's Edition p. 290: "[2.25] COVENANT
    Covenant is an impressively defended and seemingly prosperous community of settlers. The people are friendly, the amenities are quaint, and it appears to be safe. All you have to do is pass a simple test to enter. Many of the settlers at this location have keys to their own houses and the office establishments. The Covenant also have commandeered a sewer tunnel area across the lake to the west, just below a lake lookout east of Mystic Pines. To progress farther into the Covenant's secret headquarters, open the door from the initial chamber (Master) or use the compound key that Manny or one of the compound guards is carrying."
    (Fallout 4 Vault Dweller's Survival Guide Map)