History Fridge / TheOuterWorlds

* The Halcyon system is not a Capitalist system. It's somewhat dressed up to look like one, but it's more akin to a Communist system, down to the Soviet style propaganda posters. Even an amoral Capitalist knows that it's profitable to keep humans happy and alive for as long as possible. The longer a human maintains their health, the longer they will live, and the more money they will earn and spend. In a Capitalist system, Auntie Cleo would be using their labs on Roseway to either develop crossbreeds of plants and animals with more nutrition, or to make better nutritional supplements, which of course they could sell at a high markup. In a Capitalist system, you would not have a fashion designer killed because of their ideas. You'd treat her like the goose that lays the golden eggs and do everything you could to keep her productive. And in a Capitalist system, the Raptidons on Monarch would be hunted, possibly to extinction, and the planet turned into farmland. and that's in the worst case scenario of a Capitalist system.

* Just how many people were killed by taking "Early Retirement" in Byzantium?

* Why is Ellie a NominalHero only out for number one? [[spoiler:She grew up on Byzantium where everyone is encouraged to be a RichIdiotWithNoDayJob SpoiledBrat with FantasticRacism to the poor. The irony is that Ellie is actually nicer than the average member of her society and considerably less bigoted even if everything she's doing is an elaborate five year-long teen rebellion.]]

* [[HumansAreMorons Why is everyone so gorram stupid in the system?]] That's because the two colony ships were segregated with the geniuses, engineers, and scientists being located on one of the ships (Hope) while the corporate leaders, laborers, and middle managers were on the latter. There was some overlap but the loss of the Hope meant that the colonists were left with roughly seventy years of corporate rule as well as minimum education outside of Byzantium. Even the best educated people also were encouraged to pursue what was profitable and pleasing to the Board, rather than what was genuinely helpful to the Halcyon colony as a whole.

* Since this is an AlternateHistory where William McKinley never got assassinated, thus Theodore Roosevelt never succeeded him and formed the trust busters, it only makes sense that getting the best ending in the game involves going by his most famous philosophy: Speak softly and carry a big stick. Sure, you're free to pump the other guys full of iron, but doing so too much might leave you without friends in high places when you need them. You're also free to just talk your way out of any situation, but getting the best ending means killing at least one person ([[spoiler:Graham]]), which is easier to do if you're packing some serious heat. Thus, it only makes sense that getting the best ending in the game means speaking softly when you can and putting that big stick to use when you should.

* Why is Ellie a NominalHero only out for number one? She grew up on Byzantium where everyone is encouraged to be a RichIdiotWithNoDayJob SpoiledBrat with FantasticRacism to the poor. The irony is that Ellie is actually nicer than the average member of her society and considerably less bigoted even if everything she's doing is an elaborate five year-long teen rebellion.
* Felix's chip on his shoulder regarding the Board makes a lot more sense when finding out that he's Chairman Rockwell's abandoned illegitimate son.

* Why are you a WorkingClassHero with such lame backgrounds in character creation? Why not someone awesome from the start versus a convenience store clerk or bartender? Phineas said that there are a lot of great minds but didn’t say all of them are. And he also was quite unsure if the thing he used on us worked. [[spoiler: We also find out a lot of previous subjects died. So he chose us for the experiment because he was like, “Oh, a tossball team mascot, saving colony won’t fail that much if we lose him, right?“]]
* [[HumansAreMorons Why is everyone so gorram stupid in the system?]] That's because the two colony ships were segregated with the geniuses, engineers, and scientists being located on one of the ships (Hope) while the corporate leaders, laborers, and middle managers were on the latter. There was some overlap but the loss of the Hope meant that the colonists were left with roughly seventy years of corporate rule as well as minimum education outside of Byzantium. Even the best educated people also were encouraged to pursue what was profitable and pleasing to the Board rather than what was genuinely helpful to the Halcyon colony as a whole.
* Why is Ellie a NominalHero only out for number one? [[spoiler: She grew up on Byzantium where everyone is encouraged to be a RichIdiotWithNoDayJob SpoiledBrat with FantasticRacism to the poor.]] The irony is that Ellie is actually nicer than the average member of her society and considerably less bigoted even if [[spoiler: everything she's doing is an elaborate five year-long teen rebellion.]]
* Felix's chip on his shoulder regarding the Board makes a lot more sense [[spoiler: finding out that he's Chairman Rockwell's abandoned illegitimate son.]]
* Even before Max realizes what an ass he's been, he can give Felix advice on how to have a better mean left hook quite earnestly. Max has said before that his parents called his poorly masked penchant for violence "violent enthusiasm" (which he admits to not having controlled very well during his youth), and the first weapon that he mentions being good with when you recluit him is a tossball stick. Tossball is one heck of a violent sport. As if that wasn't clear enough, if you head over to Byzantium with Max at your side two Byzantines will comment on how your friend seemed familiar...Perhaps an old tossball player? Yeah, Max also said he played tossball in prison, but from the sound of it he was probably a tossball player during his youth! There's a reason he's got a "mean left hook". And it's pretty cool that this becomes his bond with Felix.

* How many people died on the colony due to sheer ''stupidity'' that would have been avoided had [[spoiler: the Board not diverted the smartest and brightest of the ''Hope'' ship?]]
* This is also the case that ThePlague in Edgewater [[spoiler: was just due to malnutrition.]] Massive amounts of suffering occurred because apparently nobody had a [Medicine 1] or [Science 1] score.

* Nyoka's best friends [[spoiler: committed suicide possibly a couple of days away from rescue.]]
* Just how many people were killed by [[spoiler: taking "Early Retirement" in Byzantium?]]

* Even before Max realizes what an ass he's been, he can give Felix advice on how to have a better mean left hook quite earnestly. Max has said before that his parents called Max's poorly masked penchant for violence "violent enthusiasm", and the first weapon that he mentions being good with when you recluit him is a tossball stick. As if that wasn't clear enough, if you head over to Byzantium with Max at your side two Byzantines will comment on how your friend seemed familiar...Perhaps an old tossball player? Yeah, Max played tossball in prison. There's a reason he's got a mean left hook.

* This is also the case that ThePlague in Edgewater [[spoiler: was just due to malnutrition.]] Massive amounts of suffering was lost because someone didn't apparently have a [Medicine 1] or [Science 1] score.

* Why are you a WorkingClassHero with such lame backgrounds in character creation? Why not someone awesome from the start versus a convenience store clerk or bartender? Phineas said that there are a lot of great minds but didn’t say all of them are. And he also was quite unsure if the thing he used on us worked. [[spoiler: We also find out a lot of previous subjects died. So he chose us for experiment because he was like “oh , a tossball team mascot , saving colony won’t fail that much if we lose him , right?“]]

* Scientism versus Philosophists is a fairly decent description of people who believe in a Determinalist universe versus one government by Chaos Theory. They are both scientific models of the universe that have been sometimes used by (and explained with) religious models. The irony being that quantum physics means that ''both'' are right to an extent.

* Why are the worlds of the Halcyon colony so half-assedly terraformed? Because they only have half the terraformers they were supposed to get, because the ''Hope'' got lost in transit with the other half of the allotment. The combination of this and the ''Hope'' also having the scientifically-minded people who would know where best to drop the monolithic machines also means you have nonsensical things like dropping one on an ''asteroid''.

* [[HumansAreMorons Why is everyone so gorram stupid in the system?]] That's because the two colony ships were segregated with the geniuses, engineers, and scientists being located on one of the ships (Hope) while the corporate leaders, laborers, and middle managers were on the latter. There was some overlap but the loss of the Hope meant that the colonists were left with roughly seventy years of corporate rule as well as minimum education outside of Byzantium. Even the best educated people also were encouraged to pursue what was profitable and pleasing to the Board rather than what was genuinely helpful.

* Why are the worlds of the Halcyon colony so half-assedly terraformed? Because they only have half the terraformers they were supposed to get, because the ''Hope'' got lost in transit with the other half of the allotment. The combination of this and the ''Hope'' also having the scientifically-minded people who would know where best to drop one of the monolithic machines also means you have nonsensical things like dropping one on an ''asteroid''.

* Why are the worlds of the Halcyon colony so half-assedly terraformed? Because they only have half the terraformers they were supposed to get, because the ''Hope'' got lost in transit with the other half of the allotment.

* Why are the worlds of the Halcyon colony so half-assedly terraformed? Because they only have half the terraformers they were supposed to get, because the ''Hope'' got lost in transit.

* Nyoko's best friends [[spoiler: committed suicide possibly a couple of days away from rescue.]]

* During Vicar Max's VisionQuest, you meet his mother's ghost and she explains there is no Architect and she made herself happy with her faith (that is making Max miserable). [[UnreliableNarrator While this could all just be the drugs talking]], [[DevilButNoGod what kind of universe is it that there's spirits of the dead but no God?]]

* This is also the case that ThePlague [[spoiler: was just due to malnutrition.]]