Cyberpunk 2077 Lore Nomad Life Path

Roaming the Badlands, looting scrapyards, raiding fuel depots, life on the road wasn’t easy. But growing up as a nomad has its perks. Honest, integrity, and a love of freedom, qualities that few in Night City possess, and no amount of money can buy. Nomad V has been living as a lone-wolf for a long time.

You may have heard of the various Nomad Nations that inhabit the Badlands. Afterall, there is safety in numbers if you are part of a herd, but that’s not for her. She has stayed off the grid for a while now, grifting to make ends meet. As fate would have it, one shot, one opportunity to seize everything she wants in Night City has presented itself.

Its time for V to make her move. This opportunity comes once in a lifetime. Just her luck, the rust bucket of a car she is driving breaks down on the way to the pick-up. The local mechanic is somewhat clueless, so V steps in and hotwires a bypass to get the car running.

Then the local sheriff decides to show up for a pissing contest. Yeah, a big fish, in a dirty little pond. He wants V out of town, but she needs the radio tower to connect with her contact. V has to climb to the tower to pick up the signal. It’s worth the risk.

On the comm, Willie informs her that her contact has changed location after she failed to turn up on time. The contact turns out to be a guy called Jackie Welles. V is not entirely sure what to make of him. He does not leave a great impression, if anything, he comes across as green.

Then again, everyone, even legends like Rogue or Blackhand were once rookies. Jackie has the goods. Something in cryo-freeze. At the crossing, Arasaka mooks are waiting, guns drawn. Money changes hands, but V feels uneasy about the situation. Something is not quite right.

She looks into the Corpo’s eyes, and feels a tingle on the back of her neck. She needs to get out of here as soon as possible. Sure enough, as soon as V and Jackie are at the crossing, Arasaka goons pull their vans into view. The Corpo rat had sold them out.

Things heat up. Jackie has the wheel while V starts shooting. The rust bucket they are driving isn’t exactly an armoured car, but V suspects the corpo’s were not expecting this much hassle, especially a high-speed chase. After weaving through some abandoned buildings, and a few unmarked vehicle explosions later, Jackie pulls into an old garage, and slams the door shut.

They are safe, for now. Jackie has impressed V. As for the job, V normally does not care about packages, but this one intrigues her. She looks at the box and pulls the lid. It’s an iguana. A living, breathing iguana. It kind of makes sense to V. Afterall, these are now rare, they can fetch a good price in Night City.

However, she thinks to herself, the lone wolf routine isn’t going to fly in Night City. There are worse options than teaming up with this Jackie guy. Growing up as a Nomad, V would have learnt about culture, respect and discipline. Young Nomads are taught reading, writing, math, mechanics and electronics.

The internal respect that is so prevalent in Nomad culture is a crucial factor in its success. The Nomad "policy" of acceptance has led an interesting group to its doors. Academic teachers, artists, lawyers, bankers, economists, ex-intelligence operatives, criminals, rockers; a cornucopia of very educated and experienced people have given Nomads like V the tools she needs to survive.