The Navals

History
The Navals originally came from a group of surviving members of the navy forces in Yorktown in 2085. Originally, their goal was just to survive any way they could in the Virginia Wasteland, though over the years of existing they started to believe themselves to be superior to all others.

By 2152, when they started to gather a large group of children and new survivors into their developing faction, they started to move forward, through Yorktown and across the York River. They continued to move north, branching out of Yorktown and even capturing some parts of Newport News, however their eyes were on Port Richmond, to the north, as that was where they believed they would find the most people.

By 2264, they had conquered much of the east of York River, though they had yet to reach their goal of Port Richmond due to the various raider groups and mutants roaming the wastes. While they advanced toward their goal, their original purpose was lost, as well as the knowledge of the proper use of the equipment they had control of. Many of the naval and coast guard tools they had were turned into crude weapons, used inproperly but efficiently. It was around this time when the Newport Raiders were starting to gather in strength, though the York River might as well have been an ocean, as the two factions had very little interactions originally.

In 2268, however, the Navals had their first major conflict with the Newport Raiders at Fort Monroe. Fort Monroe was an important naval point to the faction, and, desperate to not lose it, they fought back bitterly, making a weak attempt to push the Newport Raiders out of Old Hampton, though they would not be moved. Cut off from the rest of the Navals, Fort Monroe sent distress calls once in a while, fueling the contempt in the Navals against the Newport Raiders.

In 2273, the Navals at Coast sent a medium sized division to venture south, past the York River. The first place they found was Hopewell, which was quickly founded as an outpost. However, Hopewell was soon cut off by the advance of the Newport Raiders, blocking their access.

In 2279, the Navals in Yorktown, who had been defending Naval territory from the Newport Raiders, were caught by surprise when the Virginia Brotherhood of Steel appeared and slaughtered the town, forcing the remainders of the Navals in Yorktown to flee north, to their territory east of York River, where they quickly set up a new capital, Rowes. At Victory Hill they fought a bitter war, known as the Brotherhood-Naval War. The war still continues, with the Brotherhood being pressured by the Newport Raiders to the southwest and the Navals to the northeast.

By 2280, the Navals had finally reached their end goal: Port Richmond. However, when they appeared there, they found little of use that hadn't already been picked clean. Frustrated and desperate to find some new goal, they quickly tried to move through Etham, but were barred entry by the Newport Raiders, who were also trying to spread through Etham. Thus started the Etham Standoff, where neither side gained the advantage over the destroyed town for very long.

Rowes
Rowes is the capital of the Navals, set up in 2279 after the fall of Yorktown and Coast, their previous capital. Here, the leaders of the faction send out orders and train troops, though Rowes is much less powerful than Coast was.

Fort Monroe
Fort Monroe is a struggling part of the Navals. The group there has very little connection to the main faction, and thus are only able to send rare messages and typically distress calls every time they are attacked by the Navals in Old Hampton. The stockpile of weapons and ammunition there would be useful to the main Naval force, if only they could get them from Fort Monroe to Rowes.

Port Richmond
Port Richmond was believed by the Navals to be a haven of technology for them, though in 2280 they found it ransacked, with nothing but broken down boats and raided buildings inside. Despite this, they cling to it desperately, as if hoping something will be discovered inside the ruins.

Hopewell
Hopewell was settled by a division of the Navals who ventured across the York River, finding James River and from it Hopewell. The division continued to spread over the city until in 2280, access to the main Naval territory was cut off, and so was the communication, due to the spread of the Newport Raiders across the James River. Now, the division at Hopewell has tried their best to send whatever they can over to the main force, though none of their missions through Newport territory have been successful.

Goodwin
Goodwin is based in the Gooodwin Islands, and is one of the few locations outside of the main territory that survived the Virginia Brotherhood of Steel attack on Yorktown. The Navals inhabiting Goodwin are weak and defensive, and neither the Newport Raiders or Brotherhood have seen them as an ample threat, leaving them alone until the real Navals are dealt with.

Admiral
Admirals are the highest ranking members in Naval society. They are typically the strongest and most experienced soldiers, as well as having fought for the Navals before.

The Admirals have control over all of the military and most of the political acts of the faction. They are given the duty of chosing the Captains, Lieutenants and Commanders, though many times this leads to corruption within the faction politically.

Commanders
Commanders are the second highest rank in Naval society. They are soldiers who have shown exceptional skill in tactics, and they can either be a soldier of the Navals or a member of a group the Navals either destroyed or assimilated. Typically they give out orders from the headquarters or forward military base.

The Commanders have a strong military control, and are in charge of sending out orders to the Naval soldiers in battle. The Commanders also take place in political life as the main law makers and judges, and are also in charge of deciding the fate of those who disobey a direct order. Commanders are assigned to separate Naval armies.

Captains
Captains are a lower rank of Commander, who take the place of the Commander in the midst of battle if communication is cut off. They show great tactics and skill, though they are more skilled with weaponry than the Commanders, thus their place in the battlefield. They are the counterpart of the Commander, and there are typically three Captains per Commander in an army.

The Captains have about equal power to the Commanders when it comes to military control, however they are only ever allowed to give orders to an army if the Commanders are either captured or communication between them and the army are cut off. This tactic has allowed the Navals to keep control of their armies even if disaster strikes and the Commander is killed.

Lieutenants
Lieutenants are in charge of training and disciplining Naval soldiers. They are skilled in fighting, though lack the ability to create useful tactics, and thus are sent to show recruits and lower soldiers how they should fight. They are typically put behind rows of lower soldiers in a battle.

The Lieutenants have little military and political control, though they have great influence over the soldiers fighting for the Navals. If one Lieutenant were to go rogue, much of the army of the Navals could be comprimised.

Soldiers
Soldiers are the basis of the Naval army. They are trained by Lieutenants and given orders by the Commanders and Captains, yet their skills are typically not anything special. Any soldiers who show special traits are then given higher ranks like Lieutenant, Captain, Commander, and even Admiral.

The Soldiers have little to no control over what they do or how they do it. The Commanders and Captains determine their tactics, the Admirals determine the location of battle and who goes where, and the Lieutenants determine how they are trained. Despite being the lowest rank in the Naval army, they are quite content with their position.

Naval Equipment
The Navals make use of equipment used by the US Navy before the war, though their use is inproper. Many of them use the tools as crude weapons, typically spears or clubs, though they are efficient with the crude weapons.

Small Boats
The Navals make use of small, non-military boats from Port Richmond and other locations to traverse the York River. The ships are useless when it comes to combat and fall under fire fairly quickly, though the ships are quick and agile, making perfect scouting vehicles. Often, if one sees a Naval boat zipping away from their settlement, they can expect an attack very quickly.

Relations
The Navals, while not being made up of raiders, aren't known for being friendly. They do sometimes accept wastelanders into their ranks, though this is very rare and typically those who enter Naval territory are quickly ushered out. They are isolated and if they encounter anyone with more advanced technology than their own, they tend to force the owner to give the technology up for their lives.

Their main foe is the Newport Raiders, who first came into conflict with them in 2268 at Fort Monroe, where the division there were separated from the main faction. Despite the isolated division at Fort Monroe, the Navals continued to go toward their goal, Port Richmond. However, in 2279, their capitol, Coast, which was a part of Yorktown, was taken over by the Virginia Brotherhood of Steel, who had been used by the Newport Raiders and then betrayed, known as the Brotherhood-Naval War. Their capital cut off, they were forced to create a new capital, in Rowes. Due to the separation of Yorktown, Goodwin was left cut off from the rest of the Navals, though they were able to connect somewhat across the river due to the small boats. When they reached Port Richmond in 2280, they came into conflict with the Newport Raiders once more in the town of Etham, where the two factions stood at a stand off for years.

The Virginia Brotherhood of Steel, who had taken Yorktown from the Navals, were in constant warring with the Navals. Both sides couldn't gain any ground past Victory Hill, which marked the point between their territories. The Brotherhood fended off the Navals with their technology, while the Navals pursued Yorktown, trying to recover their capitol, Coast. As well as the conflict in Goodwin and Yorktown, the Virginia Brotherhood of Steel threatened the Naval prescence in Hopewell, though no major conflicts had arisen at the time of 2281.

Technology
The Navals are known for using naval equipment, which they acquired from Yorktown, inproperly, typically using the tools as clubs or spears. While they might appear to be tribal, the Navals are anything but, being able to adapt to whatever weapon they find on the battlefield, be it a sword, spear or gun, even though most of the times they use it wrong and end up breaking it quickly.

From Port Richmond they gained multiple boats, which they used to scout out areas to attack. Few of them are ever used in battle, as most of the boats are poorly armored and fall under high caliber fire quickly. Despite the weaknesses, the scouting boats have aided them in several battles.