The Institute is the bogeyman of the Commonwealth. They’re built up to be the main antagonist inFallout 4, only to have the main storyline turn on its head when the player finally arrives in their underground lab.
The Massacre of CPG is one of the atrocities that took place at the hand of the Institute. It happened long before the events ofFallout 4, and despite Shaun’s promises that the Institute is doing what’s best for the Commonwealth, it’s hard to believe given everything that the shadow organization has done to the wastelanders above.
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The Fall of the Commonwealth Provisional Government
The Commonwealth Provisional Government (or CPG for short) was a post-war organization that wasfirst planned by the Minutemen. They called on representatives from the most notable settlements in the area and convened at the Castle. There, they engaged in talks, likely about how to unite the people of the Commonwealth and make it a safer place to live in. It’s unclear who exactly the representatives were, but one of them reportedly spoke for the Institute.
According to data in the game, the CPG persevered for four years. However, it doesn’t seem like it made much progress in regards tocleaning up the Commonwealth. This was most likely due to infighting and, overall, the inability to reach a compromise. By this point, the Institute was growing tired of the bickering. A holotape recording by one of the Director’s staff reveals that many within the organization wanted to cut off all contact between themselves and the Commonwealth.
Others, however, believed it to be a mistake, and thatthe Institute shouldn’t give upon the wastelanders. The same holotape hints that the Institute already had a sizable army of synths at their disposal at this time, and the person in the recording suggests using them to “maintain order,” whatever that might mean.
The Institute Turns on the People of the Commonwealth
Unfortunately, the Institute responded with violence despite the unnamed staff’s pleas. Sometime after the four-year mark, the organization sent a synth to the talks. The man wasone of the later synth modelsand, thus, looked exactly like a human would. Because of this, he was granted entrance to the meeting, where he reportedly shot every representative of the CPG. This is revealed to the Sole Survivor by Nick Valentine in one of his early affinity talks. Though he speaks of the event as if the talks hadn’t been going on for four years as he says, “The Commonwealth Provisional Government was over before it even got off the ground.”
Much later, the player can talk to Shaun about the incident. The Sole Survivor will insist that the people of the Commonwealthneed the Institute’s help, especially given their advanced technology. Shaun, however, will reply that the Institute already tried to cooperate with the wastelanders above but that “it was a disaster.” Ever since, the organization has focused on tending to their own. Interestingly enough, Shaun also holds that the Commonwealth has nothing to fear from the Institute, despite the harm they’ve caused.
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What Really Happened at the Massacre of the CPG?
There aren’t a lot of dialogue lines or texts that mention the Massacre of the CPG. However, what little the player can find are contradictory pieces of the same puzzle. On one hand, the unnamed Institute staff says that talks went on for four years, with the Institute having a representative attend to try and reach a compromise with the people of the Commonwealth. On the other hand, Nick seems to be hinting that the Institute shut down the CPG before it could even begin the talks. This discrepancy, however, may have been the result ofNick hearing biased accountsof the Massacre of the CPG.
Additionally, there’s Shaun’s strange note on how the Commonwealth shouldn’t fear the Institute. Hard to believe given that it was an Institute synth that put a stop to the CPG — not to mention all the kidnappings, assaults, and killings brought aboutby the rest of the synths. Granted, the Massacre of the CPG seems to have happened a long time before the events ofFallout 4. As such, it’s not a stretch to believe that it might have taken place long before Shaun was taken from Vault 111.
If this is the case, then the Institute was likely still being led by a different leader or even a different group of people. Perhaps the former leadership initially intended to help the Commonwealth, but then grew tired of the CPG’s inability to cooperate. Thus,ordering one of their synth operativesto kill them all. Then, when Shaun rose to power, he either was not aware of the violence that took place during the CPG incident, or he did and simply wanted to keep it under wraps.
Still, this doesn’t explain why the Institute ordered for the massacre of the CPG representatives. One possibility is that perhaps the Institute was onboard with the CPG at first but then later realized that it posed a threat to the organization. Maybe the other representatives wanted more transparency from their part as well as access to their resources — a request the Institute would not have liked. Alternatively, perhaps the Institute felt that the CPG would undermine their authority over the wasteland, which ultimately led to their decision of shutting it down.
Another theory that explains why the massacre happened holds that the synth representative malfunctioned during the talks. Given that the Institute’s humanlike synths were fairly new creations at this time, it isn’t a farfetched possibility. Moreover, it’s already happened once beforewith the Broken Mask incident. If this is the case, perhaps the Institute did intend to help the people of the Commonwealth, but after the Massacre of CPG, the wastelanders no longer trusted them.
While all these theories hold water, there is, unfortunately, no way to tell which one is correct. There’s too little information in the game about the Massacre of CPG, so all players can do is try to connect the dots themselves. One thing’s for sure, though: the event doesn’t make the Institute look good at all.
Fallout 4is available on PC, PS4, and Xbox One.
