Stalker 2 factions.

These are the currently known factions in the upcoming Stalker 2 game from GSC.

Below is a translated version.

There are quite a lot of factions in the Stalker 2 universe, of course there are traders and Monolith, but also other factions that have cropped up. Such as the Spark faction, that are related to the Ecologists and are studying the zone. They might have a lot of tasks for the player to perform in the game, with commensurate awards as well. The Stalkers that split from Monolith, led by Strider as seen in Call of Pripyat, make an appearance in Stalker 2.

We will have to wait and see what they are up to.

Stalker characters.

Here is some information about the Stalker characters.

Strelok. (Стрелок)

Настоящее имя - Стрелецкий Павел Константинович. Старожил Зоны, в прошлом - опытный сталкер, теперь - главный научный консультант НИИЧАЗ. Чувствуя неладное в действиях руководства НИИЧАЗ, сотрудничает с Доктором и Барменом, пытаясь выяснить правду о разрабатывающемся в стенах института проекте.

Real name - Pavel Konstantinovich Streletsky. An old resident of the Zone, formerly an experienced stalker, now the chief scientific consultant of NIIChAZ. Sensing something wrong in the actions of the NIIChAZ management, he cooperates with the Doctor and the Bartender, trying to find out the truth about the project being developed within the walls of the Institute.

Barman. (Бармен)

Старожил Зоны, владелец бара "100 рентген". За долгие годы приобрёл массу связей, знает многое из происходящего в Зоне. Считается "папой и мамой" сталкеров; большая их часть не помнит Зоны без Бармена. Пользуется большим уважением. Поддерживает связь с Доктором и Стрелком.

An old-timer of the Zone, owner of the bar "100 X-rads". Over the years he has acquired a lot of connections, knows a lot of what is going on in the Zone. He is considered to be the "father and mother" of stalkers; most of them do not remember the Zone without the bartender. He is highly respected. Keeps in touch with the Doctor and Strelok.

Doctor. (Доктор)

"Друид" Зоны, один из первых сталкеров, как никто другой понимает Зону. Считает, что Зона - живой организм с хрупкими взаимосвязями, частью которых являются и люди. Пытается доступными средствами защитить Зону от воздействия извне. За годы присутствия в Зоне стал местной легендой. Поддерживает связь со Стрелком и Барменом.

"Druid" of the Zone, one of the first stalkers, understands the Zone like no one else. He believes that the Zone is a living organism with fragile interrelationships, of which humans are a part. He tries to protect the Zone from outside influence by available means. Over the years of his presence in the Zone he has become a local legend. Keeps in touch with Strelok and the Bartender.

Stalker dreams.

Dream No. 1 (start of game)

Cloudy day. A man in stalker clothes walks leisurely past old, neglected buildings. He approaches the sluggishly flickering anomaly "springboard", which has made a hole in the wall of one of the buildings. An artifact glowing in the dark is visible through a hole in the wall. The man removes the anomaly detector from his belt, and, looking at its readings, takes several steps around the anomaly. He stops, looks at the anomaly, shakes his head, looks back at the detector and goes in the opposite direction. Suddenly he raises his head, listening to something. We see his face - the face of a very tired man of 40-45 years old. Gradually, we begin to hear strange sounds, strongly distorted by the echo. The person looks at the artifact, then at the sound source, then back at the artifact. He takes out a PDA, displays a map of the Zone, makes a note, hides both the PDA and the detector. He listens to the sound again and turns into the passage between the houses, skirting the anomaly. The sounds are becoming clearer, and the squeak of a living being is discernible in them. A man walks out onto the landing between the houses. In the middle of the playground, a chick sits on the ground, from time to time making a plaintive squeak. The man slowly approaches him, crouches down and carefully holds out his hand. When the hand is very close, the chick jumps into the open palm itself. The man brings the chick to his face, examining it. At this moment, a loud noise is heard. The man raises his head in alarm. On both sides of one of the buildings facing the site, the cracked asphalt begins to smooth out, as if melting. A crack runs along the wall of the building. After a few seconds, the wall melts into "liquid" asphalt, sending waves over it. The man looks around sharply – a fire truck standing next to him falls sideways, scattering rusty dust. The man jumps to his feet, clutching the chick with both hands, and runs back into the passage between the houses. When he reaches the end of the alley, the "springboard" increases dramatically in size. The wall around the anomaly explodes with fragments of bricks and glass. The man abruptly turns sideways to the danger, throws up his arms, protecting the chick and his face.

Dream No. 2 (after receiving a blow during arrest)

We hear the sound of broken glass, we look out of the eyes of a man who abruptly opens them. We are on our knees, the asphalt around is strewn with shards of glass and bricks. We look at the near end of the alley – it was blocked by an enlarged "springboard". We look down: a bird is sitting unharmed in our palms. She raises her head and looks at us, then jerks her head to the far end of the alley. We look at the same place. The camera shows the man from the side again: he jumps to his feet and runs down the alley. When he almost reaches the exit, the alley begins to "melt". The man backs away. The walls of the buildings in front of him are distorted, "floating", window panes burst one after another in fountains of fragments. The artifact we saw flies out of one of the windows, thrown by an unknown force, hits the opposite wall and falls on the still hard asphalt, only to dive into it a few seconds later, starting circles. Man is retreating further and further away from the approaching destruction. We look out of his eyes again. We turn around – behind us, almost closely, is the "springboard". Looking ahead, the glass is bursting closer and closer. The gaze falls on the bird on the palms. She looks into our eyes, our face is reflected in her pupils. The bird opens its beak, making a plaintive cry.

(the dream turns into the creaking of the door opening in the VOHRa building, which immediately repeats when the door closes)

Dream No. 3 (based on stalkers outside the City)

The abnormal "melting" of the alley is approaching, the windows are already bursting ten meters away from us. His gaze jerks from side to side. Suddenly we hear a shout – someone is standing on the roof of the building above us. Lightning flashes behind a silhouette that is barely distinguishable against the background of clouds, and a downpour begins. The end of a long plank falls down from the roof. We put the bird on our left shoulder, grab the board and start climbing. When we reach the middle of the board, another window bursts behind it – fragments fly past without hitting us. At the very roof, a silhouette holds out his hand to us. We see the face of the savior, a man of about 45 years old – pockmarked, covered with long-standing stubble, with gray at the temples. This is a seasoned stalker with whom we rode on the bus. We grab each other's hand, at the same time losing our footing. The look goes down: against the background of a plank falling into the asphalt, a bird is hanging by the edge of our sleeve. Time slows down. For a few seconds we watch the bird clinging to our sleeve; in the background, the board finally falls into the "liquid" asphalt, disappearing under its surface. Time accelerates – we make a dash, throwing our hand up – to slow down again. The bird flies up in a black lump, spreads its wings, and plans on the shoulder of a seasoned stalker. He looks at her for a second, turns his head towards us and jerks us onto the flat roof. The camera shows us from the side. After making sure that we are standing on our feet, the savior pulls us by the shoulder and shouts something. The voice is drowned out by a clap of thunder. Realizing that we can't hear, the man points to the far end of the roof with a wave of his hand, taking the bird off his shoulder with the other hand. We nod. Our savior begins to run. We run after him, catching up with him almost immediately. Suddenly, the roof between us begins to fall down like thin dough, dividing the building in half. The seasoned stalker accelerates, trying to make it to the far edge of the roof, but at the very goal, half of the house under him sharply swells into a bubble. The camera jumps over to him, showing him from above, time slows down. The stalker is thrown up, at the top point he breaks up with the bird, which immediately spreads its wings. We hover for a few seconds with a bird, under which a stalker falls on a "floating" building. The bird leaves the frame, the camera rushes after the stalker. Time returns to its normal pace. The part of the house under the stalker pulls sharply to the side, like a burst bubble gum. The stalker falls backwards onto the asphalt, screaming loudly upon impact.

(the dream turns into the awakening voice of the stalker who saved us from the mercenaries)

Dream No. 4 (after being stunned by mercenaries in the swamps)

It's raining. On the asphalt, in a puddle of water, lies the motionless body of a seasoned stalker. His head, turned to one side, lies on an area that has not yet been flooded. A large pseudopod is slowly approaching the body. Stopping at the stalker, the mutant sniffs him, and takes a couple of steps along the body, shifting towards the white unprotected neck. The pseudo-dog opens its mouth, as if about to bite off a piece of meat, lightning flashes on its wet fangs. The mutant takes the stalker by the belt around his neck and begins to pull him out onto a relatively dry area. The body moves limply on the asphalt.

Suddenly, a foot in an army boot appears in the frame, followed by the edge of a leather raincoat. A hand rests on the back of the dog's neck. The pseudo-dog lets go of the body and, sticking out his tongue, looks up at the person. The newcomer squats down by the body and puts his hand on its neck. The camera follows the hand. After checking the pulse, the person understands the hand, catches a few drops of rain in the palm of his hand, rubs moisture on his fingers. He lifts one eyelid, then the other. We see the strongly dilated pupils of a person in a deep faint.

On the edge of the rusty dust spot there is a fire truck with a seemingly cut-off side. It has fallen on its side in such a way that the preserved white cabin door is almost horizontally at the level of a person's waist. The camera shows the door on the roof side of the car. The stalker's body, thrown off his shoulder, falls with his back to the door, his head to the camera. The same man is bending over him. In a flash of lightning, his face is clearly visible – a man of about 55 years old, with a neat salt-and-pepper beard and intelligent, all-understanding eyes gleaming among the wrinkles.

There are excerpts of accelerated action one to two seconds long: a man abruptly unbuttons the fasteners on the wounded man's clothes; jerks open his clothes; feels his ribs; tightens a tight bandage on the right side of his chest; injects some kind of drug into a vein in his neck; presses with two hands on the left side of his chest. Lightning flashes behind the doctor's back, a pseudo-dog begins to howl. The wounded man shudders, arches, and opens his eyes. A bird sitting on a retractable spotlight is reflected in the pupils.

(the dream turns into the distant howl of a pseudodog in the swamps)

Dream No. 5 (ambushed by an unknown customer)

Moonlit night, a cemetery of abandoned vehicles. In the frame is a truck without wheels with a spotlight mounted on it. The spotlight looking at the camera is turned off. We see ourselves sleeping sitting with our backs against the side of a truck under a spotlight. The camera arcs around the stage, ending up behind the spotlight. In the foreground is the silhouette of a spotlight with some dark object on top, and the outline of our bowed head. On both sides of the camera are rows of old cars stretching into the distance with a dirt road between them. In the background is the moon illuminating the area in a gap of clouds. Two silhouettes come out of the row of cars on the right. We can't make out the faces or the colors of the clothes, only the outlines are visible: a broad-shouldered, stocky man in an army-type uniform with a shotgun and a tall, ungainly man in civilian clothes, with a pistol in his hand. From the row on the left, they are joined by a man in an exoskeleton with a machine gun. The trio moves towards the truck to the sound of disturbing music. When their shadows touch us sleeping, they stop and raise their weapons. At this moment, the dark object on the spotlight spreads its wings – it's a bird. The spotlight flashes with a bright light. The camera jumps behind the backs of the trio: against the background of a beating beam of light, three silhouettes cover their eyes with their hands. A silhouette of a bird flies out of the center of the light spot and flies over the central silhouette. Time slows down for a second, you can see how the silhouette recoils. The bird flies into the camera, completely obscuring what is happening. A second later, we see the scene again. Silhouettes are still hiding from the light. Obscuring the spotlight, our figure stands in a halo of light, directing weapons at enemies. A shot is heard.

(the dream turns into the claps of the muffler of an approaching bus with mercenaries)

Dream No. 6 (before being sent to the laboratory of the CHAZ Research Institute)

An ordinary dry tree stands against the background of the Sarcophagus. A bird descends onto one of the branches. She tilts her head to one side, to the other, as if examining a tree. The bird claws at the dry bark, under which a young shoot is found. A wave of changes begins to spread from the bird along the tree: the old bark bursts, falls in pieces down, new branches with young leaves break out from under it. The new growth is replete with growths, it is curved, it does not look like ordinary trees, but it looks healthy and viable. The wave of changes is ending its run. Both the old branches and the trunk of the tree look the same as the new branches. The bird once again examines the result of its work and takes off from the mutant tree, which now looks typical for the trees in the center of the Zone.

The camera follows the bird, which rises higher and higher. She lays a circle over the Sarcophagus, flies over the third stage, the cooling towers. The meteorologists' station, distorted by anomalies, flashes below – the place where we once found a bird. Suddenly, a fountain of blood, flesh and feathers rises on the bird's left wing. Time is slowing down. After half a second, the sound of a gunshot comes, the cry of a bird is superimposed on it. Time is speeding up. With one wing open, in a tailspin, the bird falls down. The camera dives behind her. A bird crashes into the crown of a tree, its body hits branches, leaves flutter past. There are sounds of something breaking, either small branches or bones.

(the dream turns into the crunch of brushwood, which the Bartender breaks and throws into the camp stove)

Dream No. 7 (before being sent to the laboratory of C-Consciousness)

A bird with a broken wing is sitting on the ground, among the roots of a tree, looking at the camera. The camera, continuing to look in the direction of the bird, jumps to a sprout emerging from the ground twenty meters from the tree. An army boot drops sharply onto the sprout. The camera jumps to the bird, which hastily turns around, dragging its wounded wing. The camera jumps over a man in army trousers and boots walking towards the bird. A shotgun barrel stretches along his right leg. The camera jumps to a bird that is trying to crawl away from a man walking towards it. The camera jumps behind the man's back: on the arm with which he holds a shotgun, the sleeve is rolled up and a tattoo in the form of a blood group in a cartridge wrapped with a ribbon is visible. The camera jumps over: a bird is trying to climb over the root of a tree. The camera jumps over: a man takes out a missing cartridge from a belt bag and drives it into a shotgun. The camera jumps: the bird slides off the root. The camera jumps over: a man pulls a bandana off his bald head with his left hand. An amber keychain is visible in his hand. The camera jumps: it is huddled in a gap between two roots and looks at an approaching person. His laughter is heard.

(the dream turns into the laughter of the security guard standing in the doorway of the room and talking to someone in the hallway)

Dream No. 8 (before sending to Installation)

In the middle of the darkness, we see a lighted birdcage. A hand is lying on top of the bars of the cage. There was a black lump at the far end of the cage. The hand rises from the cage, goes into the darkness, and returns with a key on which hangs an amber keychain. When the hand approaches the cage, the lump suddenly turns around, turning out to be a wounded bird, and hits the bars of the cage not far from the hand. The hand jerks away. The bird falls to the bottom of the cage, raises its head and intently watches the hand. The hand hesitates for a few seconds, then inserts the key into the lock of the cage and turns it. The parts of the cage begin to move like an ingenious mechanism: the bars move more tightly, new parts come out from somewhere, connecting with each other, gradually forming a solid structure. The bird is rushing around the bars, trying to get out. New elements are added to the details of the cell, gradually closing all the gaps. The bird beats against the walls at the only remaining window, but the last detail falls into place, closing it too. The structure calms down. The camera moves away, and rows of spotlights turn on one by one, aimed at the structure. In place of the cage, we see a working, low-humming Installation.

(the dream turns into the sound of a motorboat carrying the player with the team to the Installation)