However, to adherents of the faith, Cromwell was the great prophet of Atom. By 2277, the 44 -year-old Confessor Cromwell became an eccentric distraction to most of the citizens, with church attendance steadily dwindling. A young wastelander named Cromwell benefited from this and became a fervent adherent of the faith, eventually succeeding the Confessor. The Children of Atom became a permanent element of the town and by the mid-2250s, the Confessor of the Church had enough clout to vouch for newcomers in Megaton. As it seemed to be a pile of harmless scrap, the town acquiesced. The fledgling religion's only condition was that the holy bomb remained undisturbed. As the crater was settled, the zealots aided in building the walls and clearing the wreckage to make way for the future town. The founders of the religion were part of the refugees that took shelter in the crater in the 23rd century, worshipping the bomb that lay at its center.
The history of the Children of Atom is tied closely to the history of Megaton.
