| “ | I'm Slag, and we are the Forged. And you, stranger - you're somebody with some guts. I like that.
— Slag
|
” |
The Forged are an enemy faction featured in the video game Fallout 4. They are a cult of raiders obsessed with metal and fire, seeming to view them as sacred. Their main base of operations is Saugus Ironworks in the Commonwealth. They are led and founded by Slag.
Slag founded the Forged around 2287. Initially, the cult suffered from a recruitment problem as aspiring members tended to during their initiation ritual, which involved withstanding high temperatures and molten metal. Because of this, Slag considered leaving the Commonwealth to start elsewhere, though this changed when he managed to convince members of the Gunners mercenary band who had taken residence in the nearby Hub City Auto Wreckers to undergo the initiation ritual. Being tougher than most raiders, the Gunners survived the ritual, bolstering the Forged's numbers. This angered the Gunners' leaders, who attacked Saugus Ironworks, though the two factions eventually came to an agreement. Once word spread that the Forged were capable of withstanding a technologically advanced and organized faction like the Gunners, many raiders flocked to the cult, greatly bolstering their numbers and convincing Slag to remain in the Commonwealth.
At some point, a farmer by the name Jake Finch attempted to join the Forged after a falling out with his father Abraham in the hopes of earning their favor and convincing Slag to raid outside the Commonwealth and leave their farm alone. If the Sole Survivor joined the Minutemen, he can pursue Jake at the request of Abraham to get his family's Shishkabab sword back, which Jake took with him as a peace offering. The Survivor killed many of the Forged stationed in Saugus Ironworks in their mission, including Slag, ending the Forged as a threat to the Commonwealth and either failed or was successful in convincing Jake to leave the Forged and return to his family's farm.
Battle vs. Followers of Yermak (by SPARTAN 119)[]
Forged: 
x8, Technical x1
Followers of Yermak: 
x8, Power Armor x1
A squad of Followers of Yermak walked down a highway towards an abandoned town, as a technical armed with a DShK machine gun slowly drove alongside them, having been sent out on a raiding party. Near the edge of the town was an old steelworks, which, little did they know, had been taken over by the Forged, looking to expand their operation.
Five Forged guard stood on the catwalks on the exterior of the steel mill, keeping watch over the approach. As they spotted the Followers approaching, one of Forged guards raised an assault rifle and fired at the gunner on the Yermak technical.
As soon as the gunner fell from the technical, one of the Followers of Yermak mounted up on the gun, while the rest lay down suppressing fire with their AKs. As soon as the new gunner mounted up on the technical, he lay down a hail of 12.7mm rounds in the direction of the Forged. The rounds blew right through the improvised scrap metal barricades the Forged had placed on the catwalks and the scrap metal barrier outside the steelworks, cutting down two members of the Forged.
The Followers of Yermak advanced towards the steel mill, the fire from the machine gun on the technical forcing the Forged to retreat behind cover or into the steel mill itself, allowing the Followers to advance to barricade outside the entrance of the steel mill. As they did, however, two Forged Cultists threw Molotov cocktails at the technical, one of them setting fire to the vehicle. Two Yermak cultists were engulfed in flames as the vehicle burned.
Both of the Forged cultists that threw the Molotov cocktails ran, one of them making it into the steel mill, but the other was not so lucky, being hit by three rounds from an AK-74 and falling face down on the ground. After making sure that there were no forged left outside the mill, the Followers of Yermak prepared to enter the building. One of them tossed an RGD-5 grenade into the interior of the building.
The grenade exploded, killing one of the Forged, however, the others survived the explosion by taking cover behind piles of scrap metal waiting to be loaded into the vats of molten steel. The Followers of Yermak burst into the room to be greeted by a jet for fire from a flamethrower. Two of the Followers of Yermak were immolated by blast.
One of the soldiers Yermak retaliated, firing his AA-12 automatic shotgun at the Forged with the flamethrower. The man's chest was perforated by several buckshot. If that didn't kill him, the explosion of his fuel tank certainly did. The fireball from the exploding flamethrower also ignited a second Forged, who flailed about wildly, trying to extinguish the flames. As he did, he accidentally fell into a vat of molten steel and was instantly incinerated.
Having cleared the main floor of the mill, the Followers of Yermak burst into room containing the blast furnace. The lead Follower fired a three-round burst from his AA-12, killing a Forged cultist on the catwalks above the furnace. As soon as the Yermak cultist took down his Forged counterpart, however, he was struck several shots from an N-99 10mm pistol.
The next Yermak cultist turned just in time to see the Forged leader, a man clad in power armor known as Slag, lunge at him, swinging a sword modified to emit flames from what looked like a modified blowtorch. The Yermak cultist raised his AK in front of the strike, only barely blocking it. The enhanced strength provided by his power armor allowed Slag to knock the Yermak Follower of his feet. Slag raised his flaming sword, which he called "Shishkebab" to finish off the Fallen Yermak cultist, but the strike never fell. Instead, the last Yermak cultist in the stack fired his Makarov pistol, scoring a perfect head shot, killing Slag instantly.
The cultist walked over to his fellow and helped him to his feet. "It is not the will of Yermak that you die today, brother", the second Follower said. After helping his comrade up, the cultist takes Slag's sword for himself as a trophy.
WINNER: Followers of Yermak
Expert's Opinion[]
The experts believed that the the Followers would win this battle because of the firepower of their technical and their superior AA-12 and grenade, which were more effective weapons than the flamethrower and Molotovs used by the Forged. Also of note was the superior logistics- existing soon after the apocalypse than the Forged.