The Badlands in Cyberpunk 2077: Nomads, Wraiths and the Desert Around Night City

What the Badlands are#

The Badlands are the dry, polluted wasteland outside Night City. They make the city look glamorous by comparison, and the city likes it that way. Oil fields in the north, chemical landfills in the east, and farms and a power plant in the south.

The Badlands first appeared in Cyberpunk RED and 2077. Cyberpunk 2020 does not mention them. See Night City districts for what is inside the city limits.

The regions#

The database entry splits the area bordering the city into eight zones.

• North: Unchecked resource extraction and derelict oil fields.
• East: Wastelands and landfills, soaked in chemicals and acid rain, where nothing will grow. The Sierra Sonora landfill sends its stench into the city.
• Red Peaks and Rocky Ridge: A trailer park and a stretch of plains among the eastern zones.
• South: Mostly desert, softened by Biotechnica protein farms and the Jackson Plains power plant. Laguna Bend offers the best sunset in the Badlands. Do not touch the water.

Who lives out there#

Nomads, mostly. The clans cross the desert in large, well-protected caravans and hire themselves out as guides and transport. During the Time of the Red, the Aldecaldos ran a trade and transport network from a camp near Santo Domingo. Refugees from the Fourth Corporate War also reclaimed abandoned towns not far from the city.

The other residents are less friendly. The Wraiths, a gang of exiled nomads, are responsible for corporate transport disappearances. Anyone entering their territory without an armed escort probably doesn't make it out. In 2077 Saul Bright's family of Aldecaldos, which includes Panam Palmer, camps on the city's outskirts looking for work.

Where the desert came from#

The Badlands formed in the 2020s because of a persistent drought that turned much of Northern California into desert. Few Night Citizens have ever willingly ventured out into it, which left the desert to the nomads and the gangs.

A few things are older than the sand. Laguna Bend was a small suburb until 2062, when a new reservoir flooded it. Sunset Motel, on Interstate 9 in the eastern Badlands, is a two-story motel run by a man named Noah.

Landmarks#

Jackson Plains is a stretch of arid land on the southern Badlands, with a power plant and a field of solar panels. Sunset Motel stands along Interstate 9 in the east. Laguna Bend was a township until 2062, when the new Laguna Bend Reservoir flooded it.

In Cyberpunk RED the surrounding area also holds farms, a cement factory, a mine and a Union railroad station, which gives you an idea of how industrial the desert already was before 2077. Biotechnica's protein farms in the south are the other piece of the economy.

The nomad angle is covered at Nomads and in the Panam Palmer page.

Fixer's notes#

Where to go first: the south, because it is the least apocalyptic part, and Laguna Bend at sunset is the best view the region offers. Then head east if you want to see what the city produces and where it dumps it.

What players miss: the Badlands are an industrial map, not just a desert. Solar panels, windmills, greenhouses and open-pit oil fields stretch to the horizon. Our read: this is the other half of the city, the part that pays for the towers. The art book calls the natural world undead, which is a fair summary.

Tabletop tip: an armed escort is a real job. Run it with the Wraiths in the background and let the players decide how much to charge.

Who knows who#