Glowing Sea

The Glowing Sea is a region of the Commonwealth in Fallout 4 that contains several locations. As a whole, the Glowing Sea is the single largest highly irradiated area as a result of a single nuclear device included in any of the Fallout series.

Background
Originally the communities southwest of Boston proper, the area was ground zero of a massive nuclear detonation during the Great War. The Glowing Sea itself is a dangerously irradiated hotspot, with above-average radiation levels throughout its territory. It is located where the southern freeway connected to Mass Pike Interchange ends. This area was where the atomic bomb struck in 2077. It is not technically a "sea" but rather a large isolated patch of heavily irradiated landscape, ripped up and reshaped by the atomic blasts that carpeted the area. Much of the Glowing Sea consists of scorched earth spotted with radioactive ponds, charred trees, wrecked cars and heaps of rubble, with hardly any signs of a previous civilization. What few buildings remain that weren't outright reduced to thinly-spread debris are half-buried by landslides and sinkholes caused by the bombs. Rain clouds that pass over the Glowing Sea become irradiated and spread radiation into other parts of the Commonwealth wasteland in the form of rad storms.

Despite all these dangers and more, the Glowing Sea does harbor life, including humans. At the center of the Glowing Sea is a settlement known as the Crater of Atom, inhabited by humans from the Church of the Children of Atom. The sickly greenish-yellow glow emitting from the crater can be seen from far across the Commonwealth. Southwest of the Glowing Sea, outside the boundaries of the map, is also the rocky cave, inhabited by Virgil.

Hazards
The Glowing Sea is extremely dangerous and should not be explored at a low level or without adequate supplies and protection. The entirety of the Glowing Sea is heavily irradiated, normally causing at least 10+ Rads a second in most areas (60+ when standing in water), killing unprotected players in less than two minutes. To survive, one should bring along an ample supply of RadAway and Rad-X to minimize exposure. Further protection can be achieved by wearing rad-resistant armor, such as power armor or a hazmat suit (though the power armor gives better protection from enemy attacks). Completing the Cabot House questline by siding with Lorenzo Cabot, grants unlimited Mysterious serum - that heals 10 Rads per second for an hour.

More dangerous than the radiation is the local wildlife, as only the hardiest creatures can survive here: packs of deathclaws, radscorpions, and mutant insects such as bloatflies, bloodbugs and stingwings roam the wastes attacking anything in their path. Useful resources (food, chems, ammo, etc) are scarce in the open wastes of the Glowing Sea, although the various ruins and wrecked vehicles scattered about the area contain modest amounts of loot. These ruins hold their own dangers, however; namely in the form of large packs of feral ghouls and the occasional mole rat swarm.

Locations

 * Abandoned shack, northwest of the Atlantic Offices almost on the western map border. Provides access to federal surveillance center K-21B.
 * Atlantic Offices, northeast of the Crater of Atom and northwest of the capsized factory.
 * Capsized factory, northeast of the Crater of Atom and southeast of the Atlantic Offices.
 * Caves, two small, unremarkable caves underneath a road near a Red Rocket station. This cave is southwest of the vertibird wreckage.
 * Crater of Atom, just to the southeast of the southwest corner of the map, housing the Children of Atom.
 * Decayed reactor site, in the western end beyond the map, northwest of the decrepit factory.
 * Decrepit factory, at the southwest corner of the map.
 * Federal supply cache 84NE, northwest of the cave two squares east of the western borderline.
 * Forgotten church, west of the abandoned shack.
 * Hopesmarch Pentecostal church, north of the Vertibird wreckage.
 * O'Neill family manufacturing, southwest of Skylanes Flight 1665 and north of the Sentinel site.
 * Parking garage, an unmarked location just north of the southern cave, beneath a destroyed Super-Duper Mart.
 * Red Rocket, an unmarked location just northwest of the northern-most cave.
 * Relay tower 0DB-521, northeast of Skylanes Flight 1665 below the edge of the map.
 * Rocky cave, in the southwest end past the edge of the map.
 * Sentinel site, southeast of the Crater of Atom, directly south of O'Neill family manufacturing past the edge of the map.
 * Skylanes Flight 1665, northeast of O'Neill family manufacturing and Sentinel site; southwest of relay tower 0DB-521.
 * Vertibird wreckage, west of relay tower 0DB-521.

Notable loot

 * Level-generated set of power armor - Federal surveillance center K-21B.
 * Raider power armor - The southernmost cave.
 * Gamma gun
 * U.S. Covert Operations Manual - Federal surveillance center K-21B.
 * Gauss rifle - Skylanes Flight 1665. Must be level 32 or higher and have a level 3 Locksmith perk. Found in hidden compartment of the far most trunk under the cockpit. This cache contains leveled loot.
 * Tesla Science Magazine - Virgil's laboratory.
 * Astoundingly Awesome Tales #10 - Sentinel site.
 * Astoundingly Awesome Tales #13 -Crater of Atom.

Appearances
The Glowing Sea appears only in Fallout 4.