Out here, in the endless snow and silence, there are no cities. There are no towns. There are only points of light — campfires in the dark where you can trade, rest, and probably get a knife in your back if you’re not careful. Don’t mistake them for sanctuaries. They’re just different kinds of traps, with different sets of rules.
Rust (The Border Town)
Rust isn’t a district of The Bastion; it’s the sprawling, chaotic shantytown that clings to its western wall like a parasite. The official corporate designation for the checkpoint is probably something sterile like “West Gate Sector,” but everyone just calls the chaotic mess of scrap-metal outposts, open-air markets, and smuggling dens “Rust.”
This is the primary airlock between the city and the Wastes. It’s a semi-permanent settlement where Outlanders set up shop to trade their scavenged tech and harvested hides for city-made goods. It’s also where the Civil Authority’s control is at its most tense. They patrol the gates heavily, shaking down anyone coming or going, but their authority frays the deeper you get into Rust’s maze of alleyways. You come here for the big trades, but you don’t linger. The law of the city is a disease, and Rust is where its symptoms are most obvious.
The Hollow Hearth (The Trader’s Truce)
Deep in the Wastes, built in the skeletal remains of some pre-Fall power station, is The Hollow Hearth. This place isn’t run by the CA or any single faction. It runs on a single, unspoken rule: don’t disrupt the trade. This is neutral ground, the true hub of the Wastes’ economy. It’s where hardened Outlanders hawking physical goods meet desperate Runners from the city looking to turn digital Cal into something real and tangible.
This is where you go to hear rumors that aren’t filtered through the corporate Interlink. It’s where you hire muscle for a dangerous salvage op or find a guide who knows the safe paths through the toxic zones. The only law here is mutual desperation. Everyone is dangerous, but everyone needs something. As long as the goods keep flowing, the peace holds. The moment it stops, the knives come out.
Charr Cache (The Alchemist’s Den)
This isn’t a settlement you stumble upon; it’s a place you find. A secretive, heavily guarded camp hidden in the deep Wastes, Charr Cache is the black market for the Blight itself. This is where the most experienced Outlanders trade in the forbidden fruits of the Pale: rare, Blighted herbs, refined creature parts, and raw alchemical ingredients that could kill a normal person with a single touch. It’s a place frequented by grizzled survivalists, Sanguine hunters looking for specific reagents, and even Zenith biotech agents in unmarked gear looking for deniable assets. You don’t come here for a friendly chat. You come here for the kind of stuff that can be weaponized, the kind of knowledge that is both a cure and a poison.
There are other, smaller camps, flickering fires that last a week or a season before the Blight or bandits snuff them out. These are the main ones you need to know. Use them to resupply, to trade, to heal. But never, ever let your guard down. The biggest predators in the Wastes are always drawn to the brightest lights.
