Believing synths to be sentient, the Railroad began rescuing synths from the Institute and hiding them away across the Commonwealth and beyond, by either wiping their mind and giving them new identities, or by creating distance between the escaped synths and the Institute. Other events occurred that increased tensions further, such as the destruction of the settlement of University Point by the Institute in 2285.ĭue to the Institute's belief that synths are no more than tools, and that those that show emotion and try to escape the Institute are no more than malfunctioning tools, an organization known as the Railroad was founded sometime after the Broken Mask incident in order to liberate them. During a meeting in which a synth attended, all parties were killed by some party (possibly the Institute), and the Institute was subsequently blamed. This fear and paranoia was worsened by the CPG Massacre sometime in the 2230s, in which various settlements across the Commonwealth were attempting to band together and form the 'Commonwealth Provisional Government,' with the Institute trying to help with the planning. This served as the official introduction between the synths and the people of the Commonwealth, and ignited fear and paranoia across the wasteland over the possibility of being replaced or having a loved one replaced.

The existence of these synths became known to the people of the Commonwealth in an event known as the Broken Mask incident in 2229, where a synth malfunctioned, shot, and killed several people in the Diamond City marketplace. In the years following, the Institute began sending these synths out to infiltrate the Commonwealth, by either simply giving them false identities or 'replacing' wastelanders with synth copies of themselves. After years of development, the Institute succeeded in the creation of generation 3 synths, automatons almost completely identical to humans, in the late 2220s.

War of the commonwealth mod