Monolith [S.T.A.L.K.E.R]

Today let me present you the emblem of my favorite Stalker faction. Enjoy

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It is a religious cult, hostile to all but their own, which serves as a major antagonistic group, appearing in S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Shadow of Chernobyl, S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Call of Pripyat, and have a quasi-supporting role in S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Clear Sky. They are the main antagonists of the S.T.A.L.K.E.R. games.

A religious cult that is hostile to all but their own, the Monolithians believe in the power of the Wish Granter, rumored to be an alien artifact hidden in the center of the Zone. Members of this faction devote their lives to protecting the secret of the Great Crystal, ensuring that no one ever reaches the center of the Zone.

A typical Monolithian is a former stalker brainwashed by one of the psychic emitters throughout the Zone (namely the Brain Scorcher) into serving the will of the C-Consciousness, unflinchingly loyal and ready to sacrifice himself at a moment's notice. This extreme loyalty is achieved by creating intense religious fanaticism in the mind of the stalker, directed towards the Monolith.

While physically, they are on par with other stalkers, their religious fervor sets them apart and allows them to ignore wounds and continue to fight, even after they run out of ammo. Stories abound of fanatical Monolith Stalkers, after running out of ammo, ditch their weapons and attempt to kill the enemy with their bare hands, no matter how grievous their wounds . This same fervor also prevents others from capturing a Monolith member – if taken into custody, he will commit suicide in any way possible (even by smashing his head against the wall).

The Monolith can also uplink themselves to the C-Consciousness through something known as a Monolith statue, a radar antenna covered with garbage to form a statue. Monolithians kneel in front of it and enter a trance involving head nodding and swaying, and will ignore almost anything around them, even gunshots. The Monolith Fighter and, rarely, idle Monolith Stalkers can be found in the same trance, but without the use of the Statue, possibly attempting to call upon the Monolith for guidance.

The Monolith clan was originally a group of stalkers, united by their fascination with the Zone. Fascination turned to obsession and obsession turned to fanaticism; eventually, the stalkers became convinced that there was a massive artifact in the center of the Zone, a Monolith, and declared themselves its protectors, growing increasingly hostile to other stalkers.

The faction disappeared in 2011, just before the beginning of Clear Sky, simply picking up all of their belongings and marching through the Psy-Barrier towards the Brain Scorcher, shortly before an emission. No one has heard from them since... or so they thought, as later in 2011, very aggressive stalkers began storming the Barrier.

The fact is, Monolith soldiers were "recruited" as the guardians of the C-Consciousness to repel stalkers, as they (namely Strelok's Group) have and will find ways to reach the center of the zone. They are vastly superior guards than the Mutants or Zombified Stalkers, since they retain most of their intelligence and fighting skills, although they are completely under the control of the C-Consciousness and will gratefully give their lives without question.

Unfortunately, the same mind control that makes them fierce warriors also erodes their humanity. Strider and the Preacher both exhibit a completely flat personality and suffer from a monotone speech impediment, while Strider himself has a poor grasp of language. Other rogue Monolithians under Strider's command have difficulty communicating and tend to speak in halting, jerky sentences (although this is no longer the case once recruited). However, in the case of Strelok, who fully retained his personality and speech abilities even after being brainwashed by the Monolith, might imply that Monolith soldiers do not instantly lose their humanity on the spot, but slowly as the Monolith continues to control them, or that Strelok wasn't brainwashed as completely to better blend into the rest of the stalker population and to be able to use his wits (which the Monolith soldiers seem to lose partially) to better fulfill his assassin role.

It is interesting to note that all Monolith stalkers are immune to the zombifying effects of Psi-Emitters, like the Brain Scorcher, and still retain their combat skills. In addition, in Call of Pripyat, they are immune to emissions, even though they will still get to cover when one occurs.

In Call of Pripyat, Monolith Stalkers gain a new, unknown voice actor. Monolithic speech is revealed to be highly ritualized, referring to each other as "Brother", and relating most situations to the Monolith. Upon sighting an enemy, they remark to their Brothers about the presence of an "enemy of the Monolith", and do much the same upon killing them. Any idle talk revolves around the Monolith and is as disjointed or monotone as English-speaking Monolithians.

Their rank system and organization are almost completely unknown. What is known is that the Monolith is led by a single leader (Charon in 2012), while combat operations are overseen in the field by Preachers, who snipe from atop buildings while chanting phrases out to inspire their men and demoralize the enemy. Both the leader and Preachers take their orders directly from the C-Consciousness.

The only squad identified by name is Crystal, a unit whose sole task is protecting the Monolith and the Sarcophagus.

Cut game data points to two units known as the Left and Right hands of the Monolith, armed with FT-200M rifles and Black Kite pistols. These may have been ranks, honorifics, or titles among the Monolithians.

Further cut data shows an individual called the "Komandir", another Monolithian leader, separate from Charon, with his own model and equipped with a Gauss rifle and a Black Kite. Cut Monolith units also include fighters called "Regulars" and "Specnaz", of which there were several equipment variants.

It is suggested in dialogue with Clear Sky members in Limansk that the Monolith faction is extremely well equipped and have large numbers of individuals compared to the other factions, putting them on level footing with the Clear Sky faction. They use equipment developed by C-Consciousness or those acquired from the obliterated Clear Sky faction.

They use self-made armors such as the Monolith suit, the Scientific Monolith suit, along with a variant of the Radiation suit and the Exoskeleton. As evidenced in Shadow of Chernobyl, these armors are superior to the gear used by other stalkers from the Duty, Freedom and the Loners faction.

The Monolith throughout the series makes use of nearly every weapon available. This goes from common weaponry issued to rookies, to uncommon and high-end weaponry including the rare FT-200M that only Mercenaries, Clear Sky, and some Loners have access to. Finally, they produced the deadly Gauss rifle and are the only known user (besides the player) of this unique weapon.

It is unknown where Monoliths get their equipment from, although Kirillov suggests they have some agents who deal in smuggling with corrupt Military members.

In the final stages of Clear Sky, the primary opposition is the Monolith faction itself, having repelled all of the other factions attempting to break into the Zone center. They can be found in Limansk, the Limansk Hospital, and the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant, and serve as the main opposition for the rest of the game. It is here that it's first suggested (chronologically) that Monolith bolsters its numbers through the use of emissions, and later, via the Brain Scorcher. The ending shows the survivors of Clear Sky's raid being brainwashed via television screens, including Strelok.

Interestingly, what appears to be the corpses of dead Monolith soldiers can be found in various areas such as the Swamps and the Cordon.

Monolith forces in Clear Sky are comprised mostly of Veterans wearing Radiation suits and wielding SA Avalanche rifles and Kora-919 pistols as sidearms, backed up by Experienced soldiers wearing Monolith suits and wielding more conventional rifles loaded with armor-piercing ammo. The Radsuit-wearing Veterans are second only to Military Stalkers in terms of durability, while appearing in much greater numbers.

In Shadow of Chernobyl by 2012, the Monolith faction is considered to be the most powerful faction in the Zone by far, easily as numerous as the armies of Duty and Freedom, with advanced technology that not even the Military possesses. Their army is large enough to be military theater-sized as they regularly launch raids from the center of the Zone, attacking the Freedom Barrier with forces consisting of occasionally 20 men, a relatively expensive strategy in the sparsely populated Zone. Their grip has extended from beyond the NPP, and they have established a headquarters in Pripyat, led by a figurehead known as Charon.

In all likelihood, the vast majority of the Monolith faction's troops are in fact former Clear Sky members, as well as Duty, Freedom, Military, and Loners who supposedly lost their lives in the Second and Third emissions.

In Call of Pripyat Three months after the Brain Scorcher was disabled, the Monolith is slowly losing power – most of Monolith's outlying forces have either been destroyed or gained freedom from the influence of the C-Consciousness following its destruction at the end of Shadow of Chernobyl. One such squad, led by Strider, can be encountered by the player, and recruited into one of the other factions – supposedly a first in the history of the Zone. However, the remaining fanatics are still enough of a threat to decimate the survivors of Operation Fairway.

Live Monolithians can be encountered in Yanov as part of Strider's group. These are neutral to the player and Strider offers a quest that requires them to speak to either Shulga or Loki to have the survivors recruited into either Duty and Freedom, respectively.

Once the player arrives in Pripyat, it's revealed that the Monolith itself is slowly losing power, but is still a potent enough threat to have decimated the survivors of Operation Fairway. Of particular interest is a special weapon sighted in their possession, which Colonel Kovalsky sends a special ops team to confiscate. This mission is the first sighting of the Monolith Preacher, who make use of the rare and devastating Gauss rifle. With the Preacher dead, the player then takes part in another mission, destroying one of the Monolith outposts in a bookstore – gunning them down while they pray. Later, the player must wipe out their forces in the Yubileiny Service Center in order to gain access to Lab X-8. It becomes apparent that, while some of them maintain a connection to the Monolith (namely the Preacher and Monolith Fighter), the majority of them have lost this link and are left at the Preachers' command.

They serve as the main opposition during the finale, trying to prevent the survivors of Operation Fairway from evacuating.

In Call of Prypiat and Unlike Shadow of Chernobyl, Monolith no longers patrols the city, which is now controlled by Loners, mutants, and Mercenaries. They initially control the Hospital, the Book Store and the Yubileiny Service Center, though all three locations are later wiped out by the player. Afterward, they only respawn in small numbers (between 5 and 15) at the River Port and the Prometheus Theater.

In Call of Pripyat, the Monolith is actually neutral to the Ecologists in the game code. The reason for this is unknown since the Monolithians have no contact with the Scientists' Bunker. It may have been a glitch.

In early builds of Shadow of Chernobyl, the Monolith was going to be allied with the Bandits but was changed to Mercenary at the final production. The reasons why and what effect on the plot that would have had are unknown.

In Shadow of Chernobyl, Monolithians don't fight Zombified Stalkers.

Main Source Used: https://stalker.fandom.com/wiki/Monolith