Monolith (Crazed Religious Asshole-People)

Monolith Preacher wrote:

Onward, warriors of the Monolith. Avenge your fallen brothers. Blessed, as they are in their eternal union with the Monolith. Bring death to those who spurn the holy power of the Monolith.

The Monolith stalker clan is a xenophobic religious cult, hostile to all but their own.

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 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 fanatism 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.

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, and 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. However 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.

Monolithian speech is revealed to be highly ritualised, reffering 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 and 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.