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Vault ED-17

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Vault ED-17 is more than just a spot on the map — it’s the starting point of your story: a small concrete world underground from which your journey to the frozen surface begins. It’s also home to the faction of the same name, the only one in the entire game that greets a stranger neither as a friend nor as an enemy, but with cold caution.

What ED-17 Is

ED-17 is one of the commercial protective vaults built by the Karma Industries corporation. According to the lore, vaults like these were sold to anyone who could pay for them, and were built far from cities, near natural shelters — cliffs, canyons, mountains — so they could survive even a nuclear strike.

Karma Industries vaults are designed for 50 years of self-sufficient operation. Inside there are automated life-support systems, water and air filtration, a multi-level security system, and advanced medical equipment from the Renascence Inc. corporation. All of it is powered by a compact TEUS-1 atomic mini-reactor, capable of supplying energy to a small city.

In the game, ED-17 is a territorial faction with its own zone on the global map and its center in the “Vault ED-17” location. It’s a public vault, accessible from the global map, that the player can enter and walk through its halls — the living quarters, the medical bay, the workshop.

Inhabitants and Way of Life

According to the lore, the vault’s residents are assigned to specialization groups: starter, technical, medical, security, and command. Each group carries its own duties and privileges and wears standard-issue gear — the KS-series jumpsuits (KS-1, KS-1T for technicians, KS-1M for medics, and so on). This is canonical backstory for how the vault is structured, not an in-game rank system.

The ED-17 faction is led by Diana Gurieva, a Vault technician. It’s through dialogue with her that you join the faction. ED-17 is friendly with the Traders and New Gambell and, unlike all the other factions, has not a single enemy — which is very much in keeping with a commercial, trade-oriented vault.

Access: A Unique “Clearance” Model

ED-17 is the only faction that uses a special threshold called “Clearance Confirmed”. As long as your reputation is below 21, the guards keep you at arm’s length, and access stays limited (“Access Restricted”). Once your reputation climbs past 20, the vault begins to recognize you and let you in deeper.

The faction’s services open up in stages by reputation:

  • Clinic — available right from first contact (reputation 0 and up);
  • Restricted Archive — requires confirmed clearance (reputation 21 and up);
  • Technical Access — opens at the “Trusted” level (reputation 101 and up).

You can join the faction only after reaching the “Clearance Confirmed” level (reputation 21) — ED-17 doesn’t use open enrollment like the Traders or the towns. The base joining threshold here has already been passed by the time you gain clearance, so the reputation you’ve earned is kept when you join; and if you decide to leave, it costs you –5 reputation. For their accomplishments, a faction member advances through three ranks: Staff → Senior Specialist → Councilor.

ED-17 takes attacks noticeably more seriously than the rest: the faction reacts to aggression against its own, and killing one of its members costs –12 reputation.

Connection to the Player’s Start

The most important thing for a newcomer: the early game runs through ED-17 and out onto the surface. The vault has quest lines built into the medical bay and the workshop, and the climax is the exit scene: after it, the player ends up on the surface, and the baton is picked up by a surface “pointer” that leads onward.

This story beat draws directly on the canon. By Karma Industries’ rules, leaving the vault without authorization is strictly forbidden: you can only step outside the walls as part of an approved team, with an authorized plan and a full set of gear from the KS-2 Kit — a body-mounted lamp, spare batteries, a sturdy backpack, and a working air filtration system. So your first step onto the ice isn’t a reckless escape, but that rare “trip up top” that the whole early game is set up for.