The Outskirts

The Outskirts (외곽, Oegwak) are a grand, empty expanse lying outside of the City. It is said to be an ungoverned, exceptionally dangerous territory, and City dwellers are largely advised to stay away from it.

Overview

Outside of the 25 visible districts lies the Outskirts, a no man's land known mostly by citizens of the City as somewhere they should never go to. It is said to be primarily populated by Sweepers and abandoned children, however is also known to possess a variety of dangerous Monsters not dissimilar to Abnormalities. This includes cryptic creatures known as Clockwork Teeth. Few people know more about the Outskirts than this, and even fewer desire to ever see it for themselves, although some, like Demian, claim it to be a better, freer place than the City altogether. Furthermore, surveying the Outskirts is not unheard of. R Corp. feathers often refer to it as a threatening area of exploration for them, alongside the Ruins.

A map of the City, and the Outskirts lying beyond it.

A woodland by the name of the Black Forest is said to be located somewhere within the Outskirts. Additionally, the Outskirts overlaps with the Great Lake, allowing creatures such as the Pallid Whale to swim between the two. A large train also runs along the edge between it and the City.

The major known use of the Outskirts is by the Head themselves, as it appears to be used as a dump where they drive out anything they deem to be impurities. Beyond the Head's use, the Wings and its citizens will sometimes use it as a depot for unwanted children. It is not uncommon for children to be left in the Outskirts after being experimented on by a Wing, while taking in children from the Outskirts into the City requires an extremely complicated procedure. Others may find the Outskirts an alluring place to set up camp specifically due to its distance from the Head's watchful eye.

Outskirts Denizens

Human Natives

• Demian (implied)
• Crayon
• Domino
• Lisa (abandoned in the Outskirts, later picked up by Carmen's group)
• Enoch (abandoned in the Outskirts, later picked up by Carmen's group)

Non-human Natives

• The Tearful Thing (taken to K Corp.)
• Pallid Whale (swam to U Corp.'s section of the Great Lake)
• Dodoru
• Santata

Niaojia-ren

Niaojia-ren, or Cuckoospawn Humans, are bird-like non-humans native to the Outskirts. They take a fairly humanoid shape, with talons instead of legs, and are covered with black feathers above grayish skin. Their heads are avian, with piercing yellow and black eyes that take up the majority of their faces. Niaojia-ren are described as incredibly violent creatures with high levels of fertility. They seem to reproduce by planting their young into the abdomens of other creatures.

One had spawned in the womb of Kong Sihui via a bolus made by Jia Mu, and the subsequent young produced by it had slaughtered many residents of the Kong Family Building before being exterminated by The Head.

Outskirts Locations

Carmen's Lab

A small laboratory founded by Carmen on the edge of the Outskirts for the sake of avoiding the Head's surveillance and conducting research on Cogito. Following Enoch's death and her suicide, continuous catastrophe struck the lab, until it was eventually desecrated by the Arbiter Garion and the Abnormalities she ordered to be released. During its prime, it was occupied by Carmen, Ayin, and the original forms of the Sephirah (excluding Garion). It is home to the original experiments and tragedy which ultimately led to the events of Lobotomy Corporation.

The Library

The Outskirts as seen by Roland and Angela at the end of Library of Ruina.

The new home Angela made for herself in order to quench her thirst for knowledge following the ending of Lobotomy Corporation. Due to Angela's position as an Artificial Intelligence and the the great power and influence the Library managed to amass via its system of invitations and books, it was ultimately deemed unfit for the City and exiled to the Outskirts by the Head at the end of Library of Ruina. Its last-known residents include Angela, Roland, the Sephirah, and the assistant librarians. As of current, no one else other than themselves and the Head responsible for the exile is aware of their location. Characters such as Dante and Don Quixote simply refer to it as having suddenly disappeared.

Santata's Gift Factory

A workshop run by Gnomes and Giants, raiding human settlements in the Outskirts and converting captured humans into toys. Prior to the events of Limbus Company it used to raid on a predictable schedule, but eventually became more erratic, resulting in the destruction of Cloud Town at their hands. The factory's leader, Santata, has since been killed, and it likely no longer operates.

Cloud Town

Cloud Town (구름마을, Gureummaeul) was a village in the northern section of the Outskirts that was consistently raided by the Gnomes of Santata's Gift Factory just before Christmas every year, until it was at one point raided early in a surprise attack and destroyed. It was the hometown of Crayon and Domino, who now make up the village's only surviving residents. Cloud Town, as well as other villages in the Outskirts, have "Hunters" who specialize in killing monsters and protecting the town from threats.

Beyond the Outskirts (Stars)

What lies beyond the Outskirts is unclear, but has been alluded to on several occasions. It is associated with stars, with both The Tearful Thing and Hubert having "wished upon a star" at the outer edge, where something is said to live and grant wishes to those who are earnest. Hubert suggests that this is achieved through "linking" to the star. His talk of the star he had wished on also reminds Dante of the star they saw upon forming a pact with the Sinners.

The old K Corp. tale endorses the idea that there are stars that grant wishes, also stating stars to be "nameless" representations of stories, a notion which is later corroborated by Stephanette and Faust respectively. It is also implied that these stars may be found by anyone, and embodied.

Additionally, in Canto VII: The Dream Ending, Bari references these outer stars by stating that "The war against the nebulae beyond the Outskirts is all but written", mentioning humanity's inability to find satisfaction as a cause. This idea of greed in relation to stars is similar to what Demian mentions at the end of Canto IV.