For the Fallout Shelter achievement, see Project Purity (achievement).

Project Purity is a collaborative engineering initiative devised by James and his wife Catherine, serving as the major story plotline in Fallout 3 and its add-on Broken Steel. Aiming to achieve large-scale water purification focused on the Tidal Basin in the Capital Wasteland, Project Purity also received support from Dr. Madison Li and the Capital Wasteland chapter of the Brotherhood of Steel led by Elder Owyn Lyons. The events surrounding the project acted as the catalyst for the Brotherhood-Enclave War (East Coast) in 2277.

Background

2250s

The brainchild of Dr. James and Catherine, Project Purity was founded long before 2257,^[1] the project's name having been inspired by Catherine's favorite Bible passage. Their ambitions led to an attempt to create a water purifier capable of purging the water stored in the sealed-off Tidal Basin of radiation, providing millions of gallons of drinkable water to the wasteland. After years of work and preparation, the project team selected the Jefferson Memorial as the optimal site for such a purifier, and the team quickly went to work on the site's modifications.^[1][2]

Creating a large-scale water purifier capable of processing the basin and filtering out the pervasive radiation proved challenging, as small-scale tests yielded consistent successes, yet James and his team were unable to scale it up to the desired output.^[3] Coupled with the presence of large numbers of super mutants, the project nearly failed; however, the situation was salvaged by a contingent of Brotherhood of Steel soldiers, all of whom were then established as a permanent garrison at the memorial around December 2257, thanks to James' negotiations with the newly promoted Elder Owyn Lyons.^[4] While their security and resources kept the project's lights on, Madison Li was not fond of the military presence, and refused to trust the Brotherhood.^[5]

During Catherine's pregnancy, she refused to slow down or even reduce her workload, inspiring other members of the project to continue their work and eventually discover a purification method that was horribly inefficient yet was considered a great success.^[6] Despite this apparent breakthrough, super mutant attacks intensified and put excruciating pressure upon both the science team and their security force, eventually leading to a monumental loss of morale and even the project's abandonment.^[7] Following Catherine's death on July 13, 2258, while giving birth, James completely withdrew from the project, deciding to abandon it entirely and flee with their surviving child to the safety of Vault 101, as super mutant attacks continued to escalate to the point that the Brotherhood was fighting off several attacks a day.^[8] As a token of their friendship, Elder Owyn Lyons permitted Star Paladin Cross to escort James and his child to the Vault,^[4] and then proceeded to pull all of his troops away from the memorial, leaving the scientists to fend for themselves.^[8] Betrayed,^{[Non-game 1]} Madison Li and what remained of the research team salvaged what they could, then moved their operations to Rivet City, focusing on hydroponics in a safe, sheltered environment.^[9]

2277

Having been completely abandoned and left to the elements, super mutants eventually took over the memorial and resettled it as both a home and a staging grounds for further attacks on nearby settlements. During this time, James continued to ponder on his ambitions even after becoming Vault 101's resident physician, even sneaking into restricted areas to go over Vault Tec's records, looking for a way to make his dream finally come to fruition. During one such drunken excursion, James discovered records mentioning Stanislaus Braun and the Garden of Eden Creation Kit, which was the missing element of the puzzle.^[7] After failing to produce any viable results using the technology available to him within Vault 101, he realized that he would have to find either the G.E.C.K. or Braun himself to make any actual progress.^[10]

After his child reached adulthood, James abandoned Vault 101, consequently allowing an infestation of radroaches to move in and butcher its inhabitants. This chaos forced the overseer to enact a brutal security lockdown in response that resulted in the death of Jonas Palmer, and the Lone Wanderer's persecution. After his escape, James first visited a derelict facility,^[11] rigging several fusion generators to activate emergency lighting and basic systems. Then he departed for Rivet City, to ask Li for help in powering the mainframe up and restarting the project.^[12] Li told him in no uncertain terms that she's not interested, feeling James betrayed her nearly two decades earlier and came begging for her help without anything to show for his efforts.^[13] This only strengthened James' resolve to find Braun and the G.E.C.K.,^[6] leaving the facility again, this time to look for Vault 112.^[14]

The Lone Wanderer followed in their father's footsteps, clearing the memorial, rescuing James, and aiding him in convincing Li to give the project another chance. However, as the facility was brought back online and the team prepared to restart their work, an Enclave detachment under the command of Colonel Autumn arrived at the memorial in force, subduing the team. Colonel Autumn then confronted James and demanded that he turn over the facility to the Enclave, together with all existing documentation, and aid Enclave scientists in bringing the project back online. Defiant to the end, James refused, which cost Janice Kaplinski her life after Autumn made an example of her by execution. James pretended to comply after the death of his colleague, only to disable the radiation shielding, flooding the control chamber with lethal levels of radiation. While Colonel Autumn managed to survive this act of sabotage, James did not, succumbing to the radiation as his child and surviving research team proceeded to safely retreat to the Citadel by going through the Taft Tunnel.^[15]

The Enclave then set up a defensive perimeter around the monument using forcefield technology, biding their time as they attempted to repair the purifier themselves, and eventually tracking down the Lone Wanderer as they made their way inside Vault 87 to procure its G.E.C.K. A striketeam led by Colonel Autumn himself subsequently captured the Lone Wanderer, securing the G.E.C.K. and having it successfully installed at the Jefferson Memorial.^[16] While the Enclave hoped to activate the purifier and leverage the clean water supply to establish their dominion over the wasteland, Lyons' Brotherhood of Steel activated their trump card, Liberty Prime, and in a last-ditch attempt at victory attacked the purifier using it as the spearhead. The desperate plan worked, with Prime carving a swathe through the defensive lines around the memorial and scattering the rallying Enclave units, allowing the Lone Wanderer and Sarah Lyons to infiltrate the purifier, confront Autumn, and activate it.^[17][18]

The Waters of Life

With the purifier online and performing as expected, the Brotherhood received a powerful economic asset, which Elder Lyons used to provide water to all major settlements in the wasteland, completely free of charge.^[19] This insistence on providing water for free made finding resources and funding for the operation incredibly draining, ultimately spreading the Brotherhood too thin to effectively handle the workload. So thin in fact, that it forced Scribe Bigsley, the scribe in charge of the entire venture, to go against his orders and sell water, in order to actually be able to accomplish what he's been ordered to do.^[20][21] Additional problems arose as well, as bottling water had to be done by hand, with the majority of the Brotherhood too preoccupied with reverse-engineering Enclave tech to automate the process by devising a bottling machine.^[22][23][24]

2287

By 2287, the Capital Wasteland has become known for its purified water, proving the success of Project Purity and even seeing an expansion of water being exported to lands outside of the Capital Wasteland.^[25][26]

Related quests

Notes

• A statue of Thomas Jefferson can be seen within the purifier, making a prominent appearance during its activation cutscene.^[27]
• The code to activate the purifier (216) is never explicitly told to the player, but it is hinted at and is revealed through the player character's dialogue when telling it to others.
• In Broken Steel, the purifier has been activated, with the Brotherhood of Steel, alongside the Rivet City security force, seen distributing Aqua Pura to various settlements across the Capital Wasteland during random events.
• Activating the purifier without the use of F.E.V. results in certain plants appearing green along the Tidal Basin during Broken Steel.^{[verification overdue]}
• The small body of water directly in front of the Jefferson Memorial, known as the Tidal Basin, will become free of radiation after the purifier's activation, but any water beyond the bridge is still irradiated. If the modified FEV was inserted into the purifier, then Aqua Pura will be infected with it.
• During Who Dares Wins, Project Purity's coordinates are available when accessing the Bradley-Hercules, but the site is unable to be targeted due to the satellite not being in the proper orbital path.^[28]
• Canonically, the Lone Wanderer does indeed purify the water, as characters such as Deacon in Fallout 4 comment on how the water is drinkable in the Capital Wasteland.^[26]

Appearances

Project Purity appears in Fallout 3 and its add-on Broken Steel, and is briefly mentioned by Deacon in Fallout 4 as well as a raider in Fallout Shelter during the quest Game Show Gauntlet.

Bugs

• Playstation 3 Xbox 360 Occasionally, (after activating Project Purity) the tidal basin water will still be irradiated, even though it is supposedly "clean".^[verified]
• PC On some occasions a dead mirelurk may appear to stand on water. If the bugged mirelurk is shot with any weapon it will fall into the water. Requires the Broken Steel add-on.^[verified]
• Xbox 360 Sarah Lyons will continue to say "Let's get this place locked down before we do anything else." After speaking into the intercom and will continue to do this even though all enemies are dead.^[verified]
• PC Playstation 3 Xbox 360 Occasionally, the GNR announcement that Project Purity has been taken from the Enclave will go out before the player has started the related quests.^[verified]

Gallery

Colonel Autumn confronts James at Project Purity

Magic: The Gathering card

Extended Art

Card art

References

Non-game