Charles Conwyn

Charles Conwyn is a General of the Enclave and its de facto leader in 2294. Commanding his faction from Facility: Rust, Conwyn is hellbent on reconquering the Chicago Wasteland and purifying its inhabitants in the name of America.

Early Life
Charles Conwyn was born during the Enclave's flight eastward in 2248 to Marius Conwyn, an Enclave Captain, and his wife. Captain Conwyn had fought during the Enclave's defense of Navarro from the New California Republic, and was widely-respected amongst the Enclave ranks.

In 2250, President John Henry Eden, who had assumed command of the Enclave, ordered the majority of Enclave forces to rendezvous at Raven Rock, but mandated that a small detachment, including Conwyn and his family, relocate to Chicago. Arriving in the city around 2251, the Enclave forces settled in an abandoned military complex, Facility: Rust, where Charles Conwyn grew up.

Displaying intellectual and strategical aptitude from an early age, Charles was trained to be an Enclave officer, and by 2266 was serving as the leader of a security squadron. Charles' father, Marius, was killed by Copperhead raiders during a scouting mission, and Charles was promoted to fill his place. The newly-minted Captain Conwyn swore vengeance on the thugs who had slain his father, and personally led countless expeditions into the Wasteland in search of them.

In 2269, after years of searching, Charles and his men happened upon the camp of the Copperheads. After personally executing every last man, woman, and child belonging to the tribe that had killed his father, Conwyn returned to Facility: Rust with the news of a secret pre-war laboratory, Facility: Moss.

Promoted to Major, Charles led an attack on Facility: Moss in 2270, and successfully secured in for the Enclave. Elevated to the rank of Lieutenant Colonel, Conwyn became second-in-command of the Enclave forces in Chicago, under Colonel James Webber.

The next few years passed uneventfully, as the Enclave forces in Chicago were ordered to lay low and not alert the local chapter of the Brotherhood of Steel and other enemy factions to their presence. In 2275, Colonel Webber died of natural causes, and Conwyn was promoted by the President to the rank of Colonel, as well as given command of the Enclave forces in Chicago. President Eden launched his campaign against the Capital Wasteland in 2277, but was ultimately defeated that same year by the Brotherhood.

Leader of the Enclave
In the aftermath of Eden's defeat, Conwyn found himself to be the highest ranking officer the Enclave had left, and, seizing the opportunity, ordered all surviving forces to regroup in Chicago. Though many were killed, deserted, or refused to abandon the capital, a steady stream of Enclave personnel flooded to Facility: Rust from 2277 to 2280. That year, Charles named himself commander-in-chief of the Enclave and promoted himself to the rank of General.

As commander, Conwyn immediately began rebuilding the Enclave in preparation for its next attack. He ordered eyebots to patrol the Wasteland and gather information about Chicago's various rival factions. Meanwhile, he mustered what was left of the Enclave's brilliant science division, placing Dr. Cronin in charge of a research team at Facility: Moss. He directed Cronin to pick up where his predecessors had left off by experimenting with genetics and the Forced Evolutionary Virus (F.E.V.) on animals and captured humans. By 2283, however, Cronin's test subjects had become uncontrollable; they revolted, slaughtered the research team, and escaped from containment.

Disappointed with the results of genetic experimentation, the General instead named Dr. Thomas Bohun as Chief Scientist, and ordered him to prototype new weapons. Bohun, with the help of wunderkind Steven Stratford, developed the X-02 power armor and the Basilisk tank, weapons that would prove instrumental in the Enclave's war against the wastes. By 2291, the machine plants within Facility: Rust where producing power armor and military vehicles to feed the Enclave war machine.

Meanwhile, in 2287, a rival to Conwyn's power emerged. Robert Quinn, Sr., a venerable old man who had been the Secretary of Veterans' Affairs under Enclave President Dick Richardson, arrived in Chicago. Although he did not explicitly want to be commander of the Enclave, Quinn was directly in line to succeed the office of the presidency and thus supersede Charles' position. Thus, the General's political rivals, such as CIA Director Calvin Crawford, seized the opportunity to usurp Conwyn. It was announced in 2290 that Quinn would soon assume the presidency.

Unwilling to give up power, General Conwyn decided to declare a state of war in 2290 in the hopes that it would allow him to cling to power long enough for Quinn to be dealt with. Conwyn dispatched Enclave scouting teams across the Chicago Wasteland, and then ordered assaults on key locations across it, such as the Chicago Military Academy and Lake Michigan Naval Base. Additionally, he ordered Enclave forces to lay siege to several nearby Vaults, including Vault 59 and Vault 72, with the hopes that the population of Pure Human vault dwellers would join the Enclave.

Meanwhile, Charles debated what to do about Quinn. Quinn himself agreed that Conwyn should remain in command until a more peaceful situation was achieved, but it would only be a matter of time before the General's rivals found a way to oust him. Conwyn considered having Quinn killed, but ruled that it would be too suspicious. Eventually, he came to the conclusion that if he subjugated Chicago entirely and restored the Enclave to greatness, his people would support him as President regardless. Thus, Conwyn decided not to worry about Quinn and, instead, to focus on reconquering Chicago for America.