Zone (STALKER: Oblivion Lost)

In the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone, the most brutal and endless battle is waged between two powerful factions—Duty and Freedom. This isn't just a war for territory or loot. It's a war between two opposing ideas that cannot be reconciled.

🟥 "Debt": The Zone must be destroyed!
• Who they are: Former military personnel, disciplined soldiers and stalkers tired of chaos. They have a strict army code, iron discipline, and a clear hierarchy.
• Idea: They see the Zone as a deadly ulcer on the body of the Earth. The Zone gives birth to monsters, anomalies and threats that will sooner or later break out and destroy the planet.
• Objective: To contain the expansion of the Zone, exterminate mutants and completely eliminate this hellish region.
• Why they hate the enemy: For them, “Freedom” is irresponsible anarchists, accomplices of the Zone and traitors to humanity, who interfere with saving the world and flirt with the infection.

🟩 "Freedom": The Zone must be saved!
• Who they are: Stalkers-anarchists, rebels, freelancers and adventurers. They hate orders, bosses and any laws.
• Idea: They believe the Zone is a unique gift of evolution and a miracle of nature. Anomalies and artifacts can cure all the world's ills and advance science for hundreds of years.
• Objective: Protect the Zone from the military, study its secrets and ensure that its treasures belong to all people, not just the government.
• Why they hate the enemy: For them, "Duty" is a fascist army of soldiers and the watchdogs of the authorities. The "Svoboda" members are sure that if "Duty" is given free rein, they will fill the entire Zone with concrete, destroying the greatest miracle in history simply out of fear of the unknown.
💥 Conflict outcome
Compromise is impossible. In Oblivion Lost, fighters from these factions shoot each other on sight. An outside Stalker can't befriend either side. By choosing one side, you automatically become a target for the other.

10. The last day
    The Last Day is a small, half-forgotten faction of radical scientists studying anomalies in the Swamps. They believe the Zone is constantly expanding and will soon engulf the entire planet. They are neutral towards the player.
    • Enemies: Mercenaries, Monolith, Bandits.

11. Clear Sky
    Clear Sky—in the 2003 design docs, a small group of scientists and researchers controlled Rostock and Agroprom. Peaceful, they exclusively study the noosphere.
    • Enemies: Monolith, Bandits, Military.

12. Zombified stalkers
    Zombified ones are stalkers driven mad by psi-emitters. They roam in groups, shooting randomly and muttering fragments of phrases.
    • Enemies: All living and intelligent stalkers (except the Monolith, which does not touch them).

13. "Awareness"
    The Awareness is a secret group of scientists in capsules on the Generators who created the Zone itself. They don't directly fight, but rather control the Monolith cult and use defense systems.
    • Enemies: Anyone trying to get to the Generators

Location Eleven: Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant
The Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant (Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant) is the final frontier, the monumental and highly dangerous heart of the Zone. The location is colossal in size and completely seamless: the station's exterior, the interior of the power unit, and the underground halls are directly connected. The area is scorched by radiation, littered with concrete debris, and controlled by Monolith fanatics, heavy armored military vehicles, and attack helicopters.
• Map:
• Above-ground: Enormous cooling ponds, a giant unfinished cooling tower, railroad tracks with abandoned trains, the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant courtyard, and massive entrance gates being stormed by the army. Mysterious spherical metal structures ("balls") are scattered throughout.
• Sarcophagus (Unit 4): A gloomy, dark, reinforced concrete labyrinth within the ruined reactor. Light shines only through rare gaps in the roof, radioactive debris crackles underfoot, and at the very center lies the Wish Granter—a huge, glowing Monolith crystal.
• Control Bunker (Secret Laboratory): High-tech underground halls beneath the Sarcophagus with computing machines, life support capsules, and a hologram of the Awareness representatives. From here, through hermetic doors, one can directly access the secret paths to the Generators.

The eighth location: Silent Hills—a rolling area dotted with dense forests that appears relatively untouched. It's much quieter here than in the south of the Zone.
• Map: Abandoned military base (occupied by the Freedom group), an old village on the outskirts (in which bloodsuckers have settled), a farmstead with a second merchant’s bunker, a checkpoint at the exit to the Radar.

Ninth location: (Brain Scorcher). Radar – a mountainous, snow-covered, or scorched forest road leading north of the Zone, toward Pripyat.
• Map: PSI antennas on top of a mountain, a dead “red” forest, rocks, broken equipment, a network of underground bunkers (X-10 Laboratory) and Monolith fanatics who shoot at anyone who tries to get through the Scorcher.

The tenth location: Generators—the northernmost, eerie location, the heart of the Zone, located even further than the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant. The ground here is pockmarked with craters, and in the center stand enormous metal spheres, generating anomalous weather.
• Map: A ring of gigantic generators, the secret underground complex Varlab (Laboratory X-2), a hidden base of the "Awareness" group, anomalous fields and constant, powerful emissions. There are no mutants here; the entire area has been cleared by robots and the elite special forces of the "Monolith."

The fourth location: Dead City—an abandoned Soviet ghost town (the prototype for Chernobyl-2), surrounded by dense forests and swamps. The name speaks for itself: the streets are empty, and the atmosphere is permeated with death. The city has become a battlefield between well-equipped Mercenary forces and hordes of mindless zombies.
• Map: Central square with a dilapidated monument to Lenin, the building of the City Committee of the CPSU (the main headquarters of the Mercenaries), an abandoned school and kindergarten, five-story Khrushchev-era buildings, an old motor depot, a network of underground collectors and sewers, as well as hidden paths leading back to the Dump, to the Bar or further to Yantar.

Fifth location: Dark Valley – an abandoned, damp industrial area where the sky is always covered with leaden clouds and it rains frequently. The terrain is hilly, covered with rusty grass and dead trees.
• Map: Bandit base in an unfinished workshop, an old gas station, a camp of surviving stalkers (hiding on a pig farm), an abandoned factory with large underground utilities, a swamp in the east teeming with bloodsuckers, and an entrance to the secret Laboratory X-18. This is a favorite habitat of chimeras and dwarfs.

Sixth location: MedPribor is a large research institute consisting of two huge complexes surrounded by swamps.
• Map: The central institute itself (occupied by the military), a dilapidated research and production complex to the west, abandoned barracks, broken roads, and dense reeds along the edges of the location. A huge layer of gameplay is occupied by the MedPribor catacombs - a creepy underground laboratory beneath the entire research institute, filled with rat-wolves and zombified creatures.

The sixth location: Yantar—a drying, radioactive swamp surrounded by hills. The atmosphere weighs heavily on the psyche due to the constant hum of psionic radiation.
• Map: A mobile bunker for scientists (where the Professor is based), a huge dried-up lake with dead reeds and rotting soil, an old factory complex in the north, the plants of which hide the passage to Laboratory X-16. The location is being stormed by crowds of zombies and controllers.

Description from stalkers: A domineering, overweight man with bulging eyes. He lives in the cellar of an abandoned house. He has a very nasty and vile character. He wears a T-shirt and pants, and the stump of his left arm is wrapped in black leather. He walks with difficulty due to his broken legs. Rumors circulate about the rookie stalkers he killed, sending them on a deadly mission. But he's the only trader in the region, so you have to go to him. He disrespects stalkers and is openly rude to them. He keeps a shotgun with him just in case, and his mood is as foul as ever.

1. Emission - This is a dissemination of anomalous energy along with low-intensity psi-radiation. Emissions typically occur at intervals ranging from 3-4 days to 2-3 months.

How to escape? - Hide in the house, or take some black pill that will save you from the emission, but your sanity will decline.

2. A military helicopter crash - the name speaks for itself, a very rare event, but from which you can take a lot of valuable things, mainly the following can be taken from a helicopter: a logbook, binoculars, an AKS-74, an AK-74, an AKMS, a Fort-12

Cordon:

Toad is a merchant with a difficult character: he's greedy, always in a bad mood, and rude. He bribes the military and has trade connections with them. He gives stalkers assignments from various clients.
Assortment: PM, PMM, PB, AKS-74U, MP5, AK-74, Vodka, Water, Bread, Canned Food, Bandages, First Aid Kits, Guitars, Harmonicas, Anomaly Dischargers, Jackets (FOR BEGINNERS), Knives, Hats, Helmets (SSh-68, STSh-81).

Rat - A merchant in a bar guarded by "Duty." He runs the bar "100 Roentgen," where Zhorik, a security guard, stands guard. The bartender always stands behind the counter, with Garik guarding the entrance. He has a close friend named Anna—he has "ANNA" tattooed on the fingers of his left hand.
He works closely with Duty, in particular with General Voronin, sometimes offering stalkers assignments.
Assortment: AK-74, OTs-12 Tiss, L85A3, M4A1, VSS Vintorez, Armored suit "ZARYA" and "SEVA", but otherwise everything is the same as at Toad, but the prices are slightly lower, but it also sells cars: UAZ-469, VAZ-2121, ZAZ-965

1. Singles
   Loners—freelance stalkers, diggers, and just ordinary people who came to the Zone for loot, freedom, or romance. They search for artifacts and explore the territory.
   • Enemies: Bandits, Military, Monolith, Zombies, Sin.

2. Military (Ukrainian Armed Forces)
   The military is a regular army guarding checkpoints. They are the strongest and most heavily armed group in the Zone (they have helicopters and armored vehicles). They shoot all illegal immigrants without warning.
   • Enemies: Everyone except Scientists and Duty (Loners, Freedom, Bandits, Mercenaries, Monolith, Sin).

3. Debt
   The Duty is a militant group organized according to military regulations. They resemble soldiers, but wear a distinctive black and red uniform. They want to completely destroy the Zone and protect the world from it.
   • Enemies: Freedom, Bandits, Mercenaries, Monolith, Sin.

4. Freedom
   Freedom is a peace-loving group of anarchist stalkers, yet willing to fight back against Duty. They wear green camouflage uniforms. They consider the Zone a common heritage of humanity and wish to explore it.
   • Enemies: Debt, Military, Mercenaries, Monolith.

5. Bandits
   Bandits are criminals, marauders, and street thugs in the Zone. They have no clear goal: sometimes they simply pass by, and sometimes they set up ambushes to rob stalkers for easy money.
   • Enemies: Duty, Military, Loners, Mercenaries, Monolith.

6. Scientists (Ecologists)
   Scientists are government scientific expeditions studying the Zone (based in Yantar). They don't engage in territorial conflicts; they hire stalkers for security.
   • Enemies: Bandits, Mercenaries, Monolith, Zombies, Sin.

7. Mercenaries
   Mercenaries are professional killers and soldiers of fortune. They are well-armed, brutal, and stealthy. They fight only for money, carrying out contracts to assassinate targets or retrieve documents.
   • Enemies: Military, Duty, Bandits, Freedom, Monolith.

8. Monolith
   The Monolith is a semi-religious fanatical sect based in the north (Radar, Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant). They worship a crystal and fiercely defend the Zone's center. They refuse to negotiate.
   • Enemies: Everyone without exception (absolute hostility to all factions).

The first location (where {{user}} appears): Cordon—the starting level, the "anteroom" of the Zone. It's a hilly, gloomy border zone, completely cut off from the outside world by barbed wire. Beyond the railway embankment, the terrain levels out and becomes a flat plain.
• Map: Newbie Village (where the Toad trader is sitting in an underground bunker), an abandoned coal factory with a tall brick chimney (instead of an ATP), a railway bridge and an embankment underneath it, a fortified southern military checkpoint, an abandoned village on the outskirts, the ruins of a “death truck” and a checkpoint at the northern exit leading to the Dump.

The second location: The Dump—a vast open-air cemetery of radioactive waste and rusty Soviet iron. The area is heavily contaminated with radiation, the air is saturated with metallic dust, and the sky is perpetually clouded with smog.
• Map: Huge mountains of garbage (along the roads and in the lowlands), a giant dump of abandoned military equipment, an old railway depot (bandit base), ruins of buildings where stalkers are hiding, an old bridge, dilapidated houses, a main pipeline running through the entire location towards the Bar, as well as a checkpoint of the Dog group, guarding the passages further north - to the Bar or to the Dead City.

Third location: Bar.
The bar is the Zone's central transit point, established on the grounds of the old abandoned Rostok factory. It's the only relatively safe place where stalkers of all factions can lay down their arms, relax, and have a drink. The area is tightly controlled by paramilitary units of the "Duty" faction.
• Map: The underground bar itself in a former bomb shelter, where the trader Rat stands behind the counter instead of a bartender, checkpoints and patrols of the "Duty" at the entrances, repair hangars, abandoned factory warehouses, an arena for stalker battles and a fork in the road that opens the way to the Wild Territory, Army warehouses or directly to the Dead City