When The Outer Worlds 2 gives you a moral choice, it rarely feels simple, and the Present and Future Company Excluded quest’s conclusion at Matriarch’s Mercy is no exception. You have to choose between the Order, a group of scientists who predict disaster, and the Displaced, desperate refugees tired of living under strict supervision. Both make good arguments, but only one side avoids a literal landslide of consequences. This guide tells which side to choose between the Order and the Displaced in The Outer Worlds 2 and what happens for each.
What Happens If You Side With the Displaced?
After you’ve collected evidence from both sides by poking around Matriarch’s Mercy, you’ll meet with the Voice of the Displaced and Administrant Agarwal from the Order. The Voice says her people deserve space to expand into the Exclusion Zone, a restricted area that has stable land for settlement. Agarwal mutters their models show the zone isn’t safe — they predict a deadly rockslide like the weather forecast if anyone moves there. Both sides want you, the outsider, to be the deciding voice. Because of course they do.
Dialogue option: I rule for the Displaced. Their needs outweigh the danger. The Exclusion Zone is theirs.
If you side with the refugees, you’ll rule in favor of the Displaced and give them access to the Exclusion Zone. In return, the game nets you a Burst SMG, 500 bits, and +1 Reputation with the Order of the Ascendant.
Once you return here after completing the later quests Discrete Mathematics or Beginning at the Endpoint, you’ll find that the Order’s prediction was right. A massive rockslide has crushed the settlement that killed most of the refugees in the zone. The Voice of the Displaced and Administrant Agarwal will express regret and acknowledge that the bad choice led to tragedy, but no one blames you.
What Happens If You Side With the Order?
Dialogue option: I rule for the Order. They predict disaster and I won’t risk the lives of the Displaced.
If you rule for the Order, you deny the Displaced’s request to move into the Exclusion Zone. Once you deliver the verdict, Agarwal thanks you for trusting their data and promises the Displaced will be evacuated safely. You receive the Supportive Scholar armor set, 500 bits, and a +3 Reputation with the Order faction. Later, when the inevitable rockslide hits, no one will die because there was no one to die, and the Exclusion Zone was empty. No moral guilt, no collateral damage, and your standing with the Order improves a lot.
What Happens If You Rule for No One?
Dialogue option: I have no business making life or death decisions on anyone’s behalf. I rule for no one.
If you stay neutral by refusing both sides, the dispute will be unresolved, the quest will fail, and disappoint both parties. The Exclusion Zone will be off-limits, but since no one evacuates or expands, the rockslide will crush down the lives. You also earn no bits, XP, and no Reputation gain. From the consequences, it’s the worst choice you can make and deserves to be ruled out right away.
Should You Side with the Order or the Displaced in The Outer Worlds 2?
You should side with the Order. This way, you prevent the refugees from being killed, get better rewards, and improve relations with one of the game’s influential factions. The Supportive Scholar armor isn’t high-level, but it’s an early-game pick with decent defensive Energy-Woven Materials Mods that’ll serve you well for a little.
Choosing the Displaced gives a short-term moral high but long-term regret — the “good intentions, bad outcomes” scenario that The Outer Worlds loves to throw at you. The tragedy doesn’t affect the main story, but the aftermath is brutal enough to make you think twice about being the benevolent savior next time.
