Ernest is a semi-deformed mirelurk farmer who lives in the dank swamps of the Commonwealth. As a child, he was lost in a radstorm when walking in the swamps with his mother. He was later found and raised by a mirelurk queen, spending his formative years huddled amongst her nest of mirelurk hatchlings. Ernest now spends his days helping to raise his adopted mirelurk family and worshiping the decaying corpse of his dead mirelurk mother he calls Ma, which he keeps in a shed behind his ruined house.