Why do companions dislike Covenant?

[Charlemagne]

Many Companions dislike when you pass the SAFE test and enter Covenant. Nick, Preston, Deacon, Piper and John Hancock. It isn't a big deal, although a bit disconcerting (you wonder where did that come from) but what can be behind this? The synth thing is secret, Covenant seems nice enough, why would it have a bad rep in the Commonwealth? Even if there are rumors out of the synth thing, that would cause sympathy in most people since they are generally distrusted.

[WC4L420]

I never pay much attention to that crap. But if I had to guess I'd say its because your playing into their scheme and nobody likes a pawn.

[Charlemagne]

I can make out explanations for it, for example "it is rumored that people go missing here", but that would just be a theory, I wondered if there might be some in-game info or lore about it.
With most companion reactions one can see a certain logic. Cait is a junkie, therefore likes if you take a chem. Later on she's a reformed junkie, therefore hates that you do it. The Covenant affinity hit is mystifying though.

[Duke Flapjack]

A bit of a spoiler: Covenant does some rather cruel "research" on people they think are synths. It's a bit of an open secret.

Also the pre-war vibe is really weird.

[Grendalcat]

Nick is a Synth

Preston would rather help than hurt people

Deacon works to free and help Synths blend in

Hancock and Piper are harder to explain.

[Charlemagne]

I know, but the question is, supposedly the world does not know. Mr Dan is still investigating the disappearance of Amelia but nothing for certain. The dislike of the Companions is a little precognitive (instinctive?), not justified IMO. Some people who really don't like Institute synths of the replacing type (like Piper) still dislike Covenant. Well I guess the devs didn't think it out too well, or maybe in a prior stage of design Covenant had more of a bad rep in the Commonwealth and they changed that. I guess we'll never know and it's one of those open questions. Like Saadia in Skyrim. Was she a traitor, was she innocent... no proof one way or the other really.

[Von Faustien]

Originally posted by Charlemagne:

I know, but the question is, supposedly the world does not know. Mr Dan is still investigating the disappearance of Amelia but nothing for certain. The dislike of the Companions is a little precognitive (instinctive?), not justified IMO. Some people who really don't like Institute synths of the replacing type (like Piper) still dislike Covenant. Well I guess the devs didn't think it out too well, or maybe in a prior stage of design Covenant had more of a bad rep in the Commonwealth and they changed that. I guess we'll never know and it's one of those open questions. Like Saadia in Skyrim. Was she a traitor, was she innocent... no proof one way or the other really.

lore wise the alikir are a resoected military division in hammerfall Saadia is almost 100% the guilty party

[DouglasGrave]

Originally posted by Grendalcat:

Hancock and Piper are harder to explain.

It could be that they don't like the idea of using a personality test to arbitrarily decide who is worthy to be in a community.

[Charlemagne]

Originally posted by DouglasGrave:

Originally posted by Grendalcat:

Hancock and Piper are harder to explain.

It could be that they don't like the idea of using a personality test to arbitrarily decide who is worthy to be in a community.

You know this one is good. The SAFE test could be repulsive to some.

[The Inept European]

Originally posted by DouglasGrave:

Originally posted by Grendalcat:

Hancock and Piper are harder to explain.

It could be that they don't like the idea of using a personality test to arbitrarily decide who is worthy to be in a community.

I think this is the only explanation that is internally consistent.

I suspect the real answer is that the writers are telegraphing their value system and assume that all the "good" (and even "chaotic") NPCs share their value system enough to see the SAFE test as a symptom of fascism. Basically that's the same explanation as the first one, but also explains why the SAFE test is "self-evidently" bad.

Looking at the companions affinity to synths is a poor explanation, since that aspect of Covenant is secret from the general population.

[Jurassic Fart 1]

The residents of Covenant are xenophobic, paranoid, manipulative, scheming, sneaky, and they have spies of their own everywhere. If you allow the captive synth girl to live, aid in her escape, even if you kill EVERYONE that could possibly rat you out to those Covenant freaks, they find out, and become permanently alienated from you, attacking you each time your presence is detected.

I've have tried all the [published] "proven" ways to free the girl without earning that settlements' enmity, but they're all unsubstantiated garbage. So, I say to the citizens of Covenant, "Y'all wanna be so gawdamned hateful? All right; let's see how you like it when the table has been turned, and you're forced to choke down your own vile medicine!" I kill 'em all, and let The Mechanist sort 'em out later.

The other factions of the Commonwealth may all be single-minded fanatics (the criminal thugs of Nuka-World excepted; they're just murderous and larcenous sociopaths), but they do faithfully follow their own societal codes. The citizens of Covenant are disturbingly McCarthyesque in their outlook, and the folks inhabiting Diamond City aren't far behind.

In real life, I've seen up close and personally how easily, and with such little provocation mob mentality can turn into a bloodthirsty monster ripping to shreds anyone and anything in their collective way. I have also witnessed how hate groups, like the KKK in Vidor, Texas operates, committing murder with literal impunity. It makes it rather difficult for me to view even fictional characters like the citizens of Covenant with a positive or a compassionate light.

Kill 'em all.

[The Inept European]

It's not paranoid when the synths actually are trying to kill people and replace them with replicas.

Arguably Covenant's is the only rational response to G3 synth threat from the Institute. Brutal and horrific though it is.

In my view the Covenant story is a failure of the writers viewpoints to remain morally neutral/grey as is supposed to be the norm in Fallout writing. They show their hand: it's E-Vil to be mean to the poor misunderstood widdle synths. It's E-Vil to take harsh measures to resist being infiltrated and subverted.

For the McCarthy parallel to work, the game would need to establish that the synth replacement threat is fictitious. Instead the game does the exact opposite. The result is a narrative that is confused rather than complex, stupid rather than subtle.

[Jurassic Fart 1]

I beg to differ on one significant point (and this is where they are like the KKK): They view as acceptable the murder of those merely SUSPECTED of being synthetic; hard and incontrovertible proof is not required. In this way, they are like the Puritans of Salem, another rabidly dogmatic people; all it takes is an accusation. You wanna screw some tasty woman and she rebuffs you? Cry "Synth!" and the mob will surely kill her. Owe some rat-bastid a few caps? Problem solved: Call him a synth, et voila!

That is not rational; that's the antithesis of rational. Maybe you could do with a little historical review of the democratic civilization that you currently enjoy, see just how that freedom and the liberties and protections that you now enjoy came to be reasonably guaranteed.

Freedom is NOT free.

I'm a little prejudiced on these matters as I was military most of my life, as were my ancestors.

[trey]

I don't want to throw spoilers out there but if you play through covenant you'll know why they hate the place

Originally posted by Grendalcat:

Hancock and Piper are harder to explain.

I notice Piper dislikes it if you tell Desdemona you won't risk your life to help a synth so she supports synths, probably thinks they're sentient. Not sure about hancock. Covenant doesn't have any Jet that's probably why he hates the place

[WC4L420]

Originally posted by eMp4th:

I don't want to throw spoilers out there but if you play through covenant you'll know why they hate the place

Originally posted by Grendalcat:

Hancock and Piper are harder to explain.

I notice Piper dislikes it if you tell Desdemona you won't risk your life to help a synth so she supports synths, probably thinks they're sentient. Not sure about hancock. Covenant doesn't have any Jet that's probably why he hates the place

Hancock is part of the underworld, he would have probably heard more about that place then anyone. He probably know whats up but his priorities are not spreading the word.

Piper being a journalist again probably already knows about that place but her priority is making news and caps. Not starting a feud between diamond city and covenant. Which reporting in the paper probably would bring retaliation from them.

[The Inept European]

@Jurassic

Undoubtedly they are brutal and horrific, as I acknowledged.

You are right that they are willing to sacrifice innocent individuals. You are not quite right to say they're killing people on suspicion of being synths. It's more that they're sacrificing individuals for the benefit of the collective. They're killing innocent people to try to identify a method that in future will allow them to kill only the guilty and save the innocent. Now that's not an ethical experiment by our standards. But Covenant see themselves in a survival situation where the only ethics are the ethics of survival and it's kill or be killed not just at individual level but at species level.

McCarthyism is similar in that it imagined there was an existential threat to the whole collective. But the Fallout writing drops the ball by demonstrating to us that the threat is real and not imagined. If the threat was imagined, or even unproven, the McCarthy parallel would work. But they break it by making the threat real.

The old movie "Invasion of The Body Snatchers" is interpreted now as being some kind of allegory of "Red threat" paranoia. But as Fallout 4 is written, body snatching is real and the body snatchers are real. So whatever clever allegory they may have been trying to make, they broke it.