[quote=@Orlan]
Lyons did a good job really but in 4 they're no better then a personality cult, haven't a clue about them before Lyons.
[/quote]

That depends on which chapter you look at, and the time period. The Brotherhood was probably at their most "likeable" during Fallout 1, but even then they were xenophobic, distrustful, and looked down on regular people. After all, they were founded on the idea that humanity's technology had evolved more quickly than their sense of morality, so it was the job of the Brotherhood to keep all of the "good toys" out of the hands of everyone else, which is how they believed they were protecting all people. Time passed and other factions began developing, which had far greater numbers, most notably the New California Republic. The NCR got people organized and actually developed something of an infrastructure, thus they were able to use good old world tech too... Something the BoS didn't like. That lead to the BoS attempting to enforce their Codex and wage war with the NCR, because they were too short-sighted to see the world changing around them. As it turns out, having better weapons, armor, and training doesn't mean jack when you're outnumbers 30 to 1. So the West Coast BoS ended up a shadow of its former self.

Before that though, the BoS sent two separate expeditions to the East. The first one left on airships, but due to complications ended up crashing in the Midwest, around the Chicago region. This chapter of the BoS had far more limited resources and manpower, in foreign territory, so they chose to ignore certain parts of the Codex in favor of survival, in order to bring law to the new land they found themselves in. So the Midwest BoS began recruiting from the local population, leaving behind their xenophobia as they welcomed tribals, super mutants, ghouls, and even trained some deathclaws. While they are the most accepting of different peoples, they're also very facist and rule over the midwest like feudal lords.

The second expedition sent East actually made it to their destination, and that was the Lyons chapter that you're familiar with. At first they were no different than their West Coast brothers, but Elder Lyons grew attached to the local populace and decided that in order to protect humanity, they should, you know, [i]actually protect humanity.[/i] Some members didn't like where this was going, so they split off into their own more fundamentalist group known as the Outcasts (ironic since they're infinitely more traditional to the original BoS than Lyons). Something that you don't actually see much in gameplay, but crops up in small bits here and there (supplemental materials, computer terminals, the rare piece of odd dialogue) is that while Lyons' chapter is devoted to helping the people of the Capitol Wasteland, they're still racist and bigoted against non-humans, which includes sapient ghouls. Anyway, after Fallout 3, Maxson takes control of the Lyons BoS at age 16. He's a direct descendant of Captain Roger Maxson, the founder of the BoS, so he's got some birthrights there, on top of having re-established contact with the elders on the West Coast and having earned his own chapter's respect. So once he takes over, he turns them back into a more fundamentalist group once again, the Outcasts rejoin because of this, and they lord over the Capitol Wasteland as its rulers. However, due to all the work that Lyons put into helping people before and being more welcoming to outsiders, they're still well liked, and their policy of recruiting outsiders remains.

And everything after that, you know. This has been "An Abridged History of the Brotherhood of Steel" by ProPro. Tune in next week to learn the specifics of the Brotherhood in its formation before the games take place! Same Rad-channel, same Rad-time!