Flipping the Switch: Edgewater vs. the Deserters in The Outer Worlds (Comes Now the Power)

  SPOILER WARNING: The following occurs early into the main questline after the protagonist arrives on Terra 2.

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Game: The Outer Worlds

Quest: Comes Now the Power

Location: Edgewater, Botanical Lab, Terra 2

Summary: It's been a rough day in Halcyon for the Stranger. Hurled out of cryo sleep before crash landing on a savage planet overrun by militant corporations, our hero doesn't have time for a hot caffenoid before bursting into the fray for the renegade scientist who rescued them. If only the escape pod hadn't wiped out their contact at the rendezvous point to leave the Stranger short of a pilot and a ship... unless they can patch up the newly-deceased's vessel with one power-regulator, courtesy of Edgewater's Cannery or the Botanical Labs.

Simple, right? Wrong. Animosity stirs between Spacer's Choice and the Deserters as they vie for control over the local power plant and pitch the Stranger at the centre of conflict to gain an upper hand. Talk about a heck of a welcome - between wrangling political feuds and weighing up the ethics of competing ideologies, The Hope's most prodigal survivor would have been better off in the freezer.

More information: Comes Now the Power | The Outer Worlds Wiki | Fandom

Edgewater, the Emerald Vale. Photo credit: FetchQuester

Rude Awakening

Straddling a vast plateau in the wilds of Emerald Vale lies Edgewater, a sleepy industrial town brooding in a malaise of economic disparity from ill management and the recent pandemic. Disillusionment among its citizens runs rife as Administrator Reed Tobson has done little to quell the discontent in his zeal for securing quotas, supplementing the staple food with wood chips while refusing critical treatment for afflicted workers (what could possibly go wrong?)

The mother of one such victim has had enough. Rallying fellow labourers from the local Cannery, Adelaide McDevitt has staked out a self-sustaining settlement independent of commercial enterprise in the old Botanical Labs up north. They are called the Deserters - a ragtag band of frontiers folk whose unique skills were once an asset to Edgewater - and Reed Tobson wants them back home. His solution is to reroute geothermal power to Edgewater's grid and force their hand. Adelaide has the same idea. But with a little persuasive know-how, can a compromise be reached instead? 

Left: Reed Tobson. Right: The Board HQ on the Groundbreaker. 

Photo credit: FetchQuester

Passive Violence (Divert to Edgewater)

It certainly runs against the grain to do dirty work for an incompetent boot-licker with blood on his hands, but Reed isn't as cut and dry as most bureaucrats - and what he lacks in imagination he makes up for in a genuine attempt at diplomacy. Ruminating on his wrongdoings he vows to implement change while expressing a surprising sense of care for the people under his governance. "We must square our shoulders and carry on," he resolves - a bold stance for a man bought and paid for by his superiors for whom workplace accidents are debts owed to the same company that caused them.

"We belong to one community - the Spacer's Choice community," states the long-timer in his call for unity. "If we dissolve into factions, then we will all perish separately - Adelaide will understand that." There is an undeniable truth to Reed's PR-tainted words: Life outside the walls is deadly for those who choose to eke out their survival where it's open season for predators and marauders. 

The Saltuna Cannery, Edgewater. Photo credit: FetchQuester

Bastions of industry: Piraeus Spaceport, Eridanos. Photo credit: FetchQuester

The town vicar agrees. "Assuming your goal is to save as many as possible, then you should bring everyone together," Max DeSoto suggests. "Send the power to Edgewater and convince the Deserters to return to the fold." His reasoning is valid: If we follow the principle of utilitarianism and aspire to achieve the fairest outcome for the greatest number of people, the answer is keeping Edgewater afloat vs. condemning the "decent, hard-working folk just living their lives the only way they know how," as Parvati Holcomb points out - the same hard-working folk who may find themselves on the wrong side of Adelaide's contempt given her loathing for Reed's sympathizers.

But leaving the Botanical Labs in darkness doesn't have to entail caving to the status quo. If Edgewater can be prised from the vice-grip of its hyper-capitalist hellscape then the fate of the town may yet be salvageable: Adelaide and Reed can be persuaded into negotiating a transfer of power, giving the townsfolk a vantage point from which they can consolidate reparations and sow the foundation for a promising future. An idealistic vision perhaps, yes - but one worth pursuing given the current outlook.

"The Salvation of Emerald Vale". Photo credit: FetchQuester

Where the Grass is Greener (Reroute to the Botanical Labs)

"If you're hungry, there's meat turning on the spit outside. If you're bearin' illness, find a place to lay your head down and I'll fetch you a poultice. Whatever your troubles with Edgewater, leave them at the gates and be welcomed here." - Adelaide McDevitt

The repurposed Botanical Labs has become a refuge for the disenfranchised seeking a life free of corporate hegemony. Nestled in the northern crest of a basalt rock formation, the communal garden revitalized by their green-thumbed elder is the centrepiece of the sanctuary, yielding a plentiful bounty to meet the demands of frontier life. Adelaide has "talked the ground into giving life again," offering a tangible alternative to Edgewater that is effective in practice as it is in policy - a far cry from the hollow platitudes of that "cold-eyed reptile" Reed.

"To Mister Tobson, a person's a gear," Parvati remarks disdainfully when reflecting on her employer. "It does its job quiet-like. If it squeaks or shutters, it gets replaced." And certainly, the mechanics of exploitation are the name of the game with Reed whose path to "reconciliation" is nothing less than blackmail. "My hope is that by cutting off their power, you will convince the Deserters to come back to town," he proposes - although we could scrutinize Adelaide for harbouring similar ambitions: "Life in Edgewater grinds to a halt. The cannery shuts down. Workers desert in droves. And our own little community grows and thrives."

Fruits of the dead: The Botanical Labs. Photo credit: FetchQuester

The Groundbreaker. Photo credit: FetchQuester

The differentiating factor is that the Deserters have thrived in their independence where Edgewater has languished in its servitude. And while newcomers may balk at the use of Adelaide's "special fertilizer" (i.e. ground-up corpses) there is no denying the ingenuity that has ensured the settlement stays alive and healthy, or how deeply invested everyone is in their community - each playing a vital role while being at liberty to fulfil personal goals like the aspiring engineer, Thomas Kemp. They are not cogs in a machine in this little homestead: They are family, in ways Reed fails to comprehend beyond his usual corpo-blather.

But there is something more prevalent that drives the motive for our protagonist: The radical prospect of freedom. "Think about it," Adelaide preaches. "You'd be liberating an entire town from a lifetime of service to that odious cannery. Seems the sort of thing a hero would do." And she's right: To cement the Deserter's position by reinforcing their power supply is to take a defiant stance against the corporate feudalism eroding the land and relay a resounding signal throughout the colony - or at the very least, conjure up a plotline for the next gritty aetherwave drama.

The aptly-named Unreliable. Photo credit: FetchQuester

Spoilers affecting choice:

When sending the power to Edgewater's grid, the Stranger is met with a seething Adelaide who laments not roasting them alive while she had the chance. No refrigeration means spoiled food and a starving flock; it falls to the Stranger to break the news. She reveals the full scope of her son's tragic demise and refuses to return to Edgewater.

Reputation with the Deserters falls while it rises with Spacer's Choice.

In favouring the Deserters, the Stranger is confronted by Reed who expresses his dismay at Edgewater's downfall and orders the guards to shoot on site (mitigated by an intimidation check). Adelaide feels her son's death is only somewhat vindicated but looks towards the future, opening the doors for those eager to join. 

Reputation with the Deserters is elevated and declines with Spacer's Choice.

Diverting to Edgewater and initiating a change of leadership from Reed to Adelaide allows the vale to flourish under her guidance, with the cemetery at her disposal for sourcing fertilizer and the Cannery fitted into a greenhouse that results in improved health for the inhabitants. 

The success is seen as a threat to the Board, however, with Adjutant Sophia Akande accusing the Stranger of cultivating a hotbed of dissidents and ordering their massacre (which can be refused or accepted) later in the story. 

Reputation with Spacer's Choice increases, while it initially decreases then recovers with the Deserters.

A swashbuckling space hero gazes out into the ether. Photo credit: FetchQuester

- Lucy A.

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Sources: 

The Outer Worlds (Obsidian Entertainment/Private Division); fandom.com