STALKER's Military and Mercenary Factions Explained
The factions of the STALKER series and the upcoming STALKER 2: Heart of Chornobyl are one of the games' greatest triumphs, with each group having their own understandable motivations and goals. While each faction has undergone changes in leadership and territory, only two have experienced real development: the Military and the Mercenaries.
Usually serving as mid or high-tier human enemies, members of these factions are a challenge to fight with loot to match. However, as is often the case in the Zone, GSC Game World has given these NPCs much more nuance and depth than simply being another target to shoot. In STALKER 2, their presence will likely have far-reaching implications not only for the Zone, but for the outside world.
Warning: The following contains spoilers for STALKER: Call of Pripyat.
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Before 2006 in the STALKER world, the Ukrainian State Security Service was a national army like any other. Nevertheless, no one could have been ready for this new Chornobyl; the first forces sent in were either lost to the mutants and anomalies of the Zone, abandoned to fight for their own survival, or routed to the edges of the perimeter. With the Zone now out of its control, the Ukrainian government locked down the exclusion zone and ordered that any mutants or unauthorized personnel be shot on sight.
By 2011 the Military was losing what ground it still had, not helped by rampant corruption as soldiers were easily bribed by Stalkers entering the Zone. Spetsnaz occasionally conducted missions in the Zone, but even these highly trained soldiers fared poorly. The military grew so distant that the sanctioned ecological teams stationed deep in the Zone started hiring Loner Stalkers skilled
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