A signal needs someone at the other end
The city campaign is built around reconnecting Hallvik’s power and communications. The Wasteland chapter starts with the consequence of that work: a station beyond the transmission ridge answers Nila’s broadcast. Its people are alive, organised and running out of clean drinking water. The next journey grows out of a connection the player has already earned.
A place people live in
The Wasteland is a settled quarry basin, not a separate desert apocalypse. Kammwacht is the maintenance post at the saddle and the first view into the basin. Below it, Schrottnest is a terraced settlement with homes, a workshop, a distribution counter and a shared tap. Iva maintains the water system; Tarek handles logistics. Their problems belong to a community, not an empty combat arena.
Two problems, one supply
The planned main quest separates the work into two branches. At Trockenrinne, the player checks a walking route and retrieves a replacement coupling. At Grünbecken, they isolate a contaminated inlet and inspect a clean draw-off point. Neither branch needs a key from the other. Both must be resolved before the elevated tank can feed a verified supply line.
What is actually ready
This chapter is documented as design content dated 29 October 2026. Its quests, locations, characters and progression rules are specified; that does not mean the region is built or playable. The current playable-section priority remains the Blackout District. The Wasteland gives that first local story somewhere meaningful to lead.