The Brotherhood of Light

When the bombs first fell, there were six priests who sought shelter in God's House - The Cathedral Church of Saint Peter in Exeter. As the days turned to weeks, and the weeks to months - all six priests became sick. Very sick. One of them, Father Clayton - the leader, was sicker than the rest. His hair had begun to fall out, and in some places his skin had turned red, and blotchy. They had been seeking shelter for 40 days and 40 nights exactly when Father Clayton finally came out of his room.

His arms had split down the middle, split into two pairs of two - the top with two fingers, and the bottom with three. Father Clayton had become the first mutant that the other five had seen. It was clear what they needed to do.

They assembled a great crucifix of oak, with an additional beam laying underneath for the grim task that they were about to undertake. Despite his protests, Father Clayton was hoisted up onto the cross, where he lay for three days and three nights before perishing, his lips never ceasing movement in prayer. The remaining five knew where Clayton had gone wrong - he must have sinned. Thus, the conclusion was drawn that as they - naturally - were free from sin, they had been spared from mutation by an act of God. Naturally, this meant that all mutants were sinners.

The First Church of the Brotherhood of Light was established in The Cathedral Church of Saint Peter in Exeter. Their turnout was tremendous - many risking traversing the irradiated ruins to come and hear the sermons of Father Chapman, Father Gregory, Father Lewis, Father Watney and Father Thompson - but their number was still incomplete. They lacked the sixth member, and every day they prayed that the leader of their congregation would come.

Their prayers were answered in 2052 - 11 years after the bombs fell. A man, naming himself Reverend Moone, soaked in blood, and with a wild look in his eyes burst in one late night - expecting the place to be abandoned. He was brought inside, heralded as the leader that they had been searching for, and was made such. After all - how else could The Reverend have known where the various secret compartments and passages inside the Cathedral were?

Moone demanded - with the fear of a man possessed - that they move. That they leave all they had built up here and come with him - where he had seen visions of where they were to build. They did so immediately.

They found their new home in a town known as Taunton - which prior to their arrival was a collection of farmers attempting to survive in the ruins of their destroyed suburbia. The Brotherhood of Light assimilated the villages, and formed the first major town in the region - New Eden.