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The subject of this article appears in S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Shadow of Chernobyl. The subject of this article appears in S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Clear Sky.

Think of it as the Zone's antechamber - it's a good place for rookies to get their head around. You'll find a trader in the vaults at the back of the village, next to the army outpost. Don't miss the chance to talk to him. You'd be advised to steer clear of the outpost itself, however. You don't want the soldiers to catch a sight of you - most of them shoot first and don't bother asking questions later. Yet, as always, there are some who can be bribed as long as the top brass is looking the other way. Attacking the soldiers is not recommended, unless they pose a direct threat.
― Encyclopedia S.T.A.L.K.E.R

The Cordon is a location in both S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Shadow of Chernobyl and S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Clear Sky.

Overview[]

The Cordon is the outermost edge of the Zone, guarded by the Military and therefore quieter than most other areas. Stalkers often refer to the Cordon as the Zone's antechamber. Most rookies stay at the Rookie village north of the actual military cordon outpost until they have enough gear and experience to head deeper into the Zone.

The single defining characteristic of the Cordon, present in all revisions, is the railroad bridge in the center of the map, dividing it into two halves. Depending on the revision, however, it can be either collapsed or still intact.

Layout[]

The Cordon is a rather compact area centered around a single, main road that connects the northern and southern ends of the area. The surrounding area is comprised of various hills, abandoned buildings, farmsteads and industrial sites. From the main road stretches a smaller, dirt road which extends eastwards to a road tunnel leading to the Dark Valley.

The southern end of the Cordon is delimited by a military checkpoint which marks the boundary between the Zone and the outside world. At the northern end of the Cordon is another, smaller military checkpoint which connects to the Garbage. The area is divided into two parts by a railway line and its associated bridge, which collapsed some time after an emission[1]. The bridge serves as a military checkpoint during the events of Shadow of Chernobyl, but it can be bypassed through a tunnel that goes underneath the railway line in both games.

Appearances[]

The Cordon as a game location appears in both S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Shadow of Chernobyl and S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Clear Sky.

Shadow of Chernobyl[]

STALKER_Army_Outpost_Announcements

STALKER Army Outpost Announcements

Army Outpost Announcements

The Cordon serves as the starting location in Shadow of Chernobyl. It is where the Marked One awakens after being rescued by a unknown stalker from the wreckage of a death truck. The still unconscious Marked One is taken to Sidorovich's bunker where he comes back to his senses shortly afterwards.

Sidorovich instructs the Marked One to rescue a stalker named Nimble from a group of bandits with the help of a fellow stalker named Wolf. After successfully completing his mission, Sidorovich tells more about the stalker named Strelok and Barkeep's investigation into the Brain Scorcher, and asks him to steal documents from the military at the Agroprom Research Institute. He also tells the Marked One about a stalker named Fox, who might know more about Strelok.

Later in the story, Sidorovich instructs the Marked One to return to the Cordon after acquiring the Documents from Lab X18, part 4, as the military has taken control of the surrounding area. He can be shown the documents, and provides a new mission that requires the player to steal documents from the military checkpoint.

The Cordon doesn't play any further role in the storyline except if the player is still investigating Strelok's whereabouts, as the player is instructed to speak to Guide after their trip through Lab X-16, at the place where they initially found Fox.

In Shadow of Chernobyl, the Cordon is a relatively calm area. Mutant presence within the area is limited to mostly blind dogs, boars, fleshes, pseudodogs, and bloodsuckers after retrieving the Documents from Lab X16. Most of the area is under control of the military, which operates mainly from the southern checkpoint, but also from the collapsed bridge where Major Kuznetsov and his men are stationed. The Loners are present in the Rookie village and the Northern farm, while the Bandits establish a permanent presence at the Vehicle station. Mercenaries also briefly appear at the Cordon, during a side mission that requires the player to repel a mercenary attack on the rookie village.

Clear Sky[]

In Clear Sky, the Cordon is the second location visited by Scar in his search for Strelok. Lebedev instructs Scar to go there as Strelok might have visited Sidorovich for business. Upon Scar's arrival from the Great Swamps, he finds himself immediately under fire from the Military checkpoint's mounted machine gun which he narrowly avoids before making his way to the Rookie village.

At the Rookie village, Sidorovich informs him about the Cordon's current situation: certain events have caused Loners and the Military to turn on one another, after the military betrayed the Loners and sold out some of them to the rival Bandits faction. In retaliation, the Loners led by Father Valerian captured and held as hostage the military commander Major Khaletskiy. In the resulting fracas, a case of loot that the Loners were delivering to Sidorovich has gone missing. In return for Scar finding and returning the case, Sidorovich offers to share some information. However, Khaletskiy refuses to communicate the location of Sidorovich's case.

In order to force him to expose the location, Valerian asks Scar to assassinate General and another military commander, who are revealed to be two of Khaletskiy's closest friends - with their death, Valerian believes Khaletskiy will realize he's not going to be released soon. After doing so, Khaletskiy effectively reveals the location of the case. Scar finds the case and takes it back to Sidorovich, who then directs him towards the Garbage where Strelok and his group might have headed.

In Clear Sky, the Cordon, and more specifically the Northern farm, serves as the Loners' headquarters: it is where the Loners make their final stand in the Loners/Bandits faction war if the player took the Bandits' side in the war.

Call of Pripyat[]

The area does not appear in Call of Pripyat. It is, however, mentioned on several occasions:

  • When asking Beard about military presence in Zaton, he mentions the military checkpoint and its mounted machine gun[2].
  • Nimble also mentions the checkpoint, after ordering all possible assault weapons from him[3].
  • With the Tools mission active, some stalkers might mention Sidorovich's bunker when asking them about potential places to look for toolkits[4].
  • With the mission Pripyat 1 active, stalkers, when asked for potential companions for the trip, mention the Cordon when talking about Sokolov[5].
  • Shulga mentions the Cordon's dogs when asked about Duty's activities in Jupiter[6].
  • Snag mentions that his steel helmet came from a craftsman in the Cordon[7].
  • Sultan claims that the Bandits' robberies at the Garbage are to send unprepared stalkers back to the Cordon and save their lives[8].

Locations[]

Cordon Map
Military outpost
Rookie village
Car park
Mill
Railroad bridge
Northern farm
to Garbage
Cordon Map
Map of Cordon

Major[]

Minor[]

Notable characters[]

Development[]

Originally, the Cordon was supposed to be far larger and have more locations.

The Cordon was originally called the "Escape" but was renamed "the Cordon" in the release of the game. However in its script designations, and character designations it is still called "Escape" or "esc".

Build 1114[]

In this build the most noticeable difference is the scale – the Cordon feels about two times bigger than its original rendition in terms of raw area. In terms of content, though, it has less (it's an alpha, though, so nothing can be said about the intended content). It also feels more cramped, due to the fact it's set in a valley enclosed from all sides by cliff spaces, with two military checkpoints at each end. The palette of colours used is limited and very, very gloomy.

Build 1472[]

This revision retains the size of the predecessor, but is far more detailed and uses a more vibrant palette of colors. There are also several, minor tweaks to the environments (such as size of cliffs and placement of buildings), but overall, it's closer to the final version.

The Rookie village is present, as destroyed as it is in the release version, and includes the first version of Sidorovich's bunker, which is far smaller, with red walls and placed in a cellar of one of the village houses, not a bunker outside of it. The factory from 1114 is still there, except lower. A second military checkpoint has been added on the side leading out of the Zone, where it will stay (albeit revised) until Shadow of Chernobyl. There is also an additional village located on the other side of the ridge with the railway bridge.


References[]

  1. S.T.A.L.K.E.R Sidorovich: "That's just a couple of minutes North of here, you'll see it right away. There used to be a bridge over the road, but then it collapsed during one of the blowouts. The army guys built a checkpoint there and don't let anyone through... but if you grease the right palm, you'll pass with no problems. In general, you don't want to show your face there too much, unless you're badly wounded or got a heavy load on you."
  2. S.T.A.L.K.E.R Beard: "Think about it. What would those jarheads be doing in our camp? Trust me when I say that they prefer to steer well clear of this place. Too many of us here remember what it was like to crawl through dirt at the Cordon, under fire from their damn machine guns..."
  3. S.T.A.L.K.E.R Nimble: "Right now is a bad time... the military are making things hot at the Cordon. Someone attacked their outpost the other day, which made them even more difficult to deal with."
  4. S.T.A.L.K.E.R Random dialogue: "To be honest, the last place I saw decent tools was in Sidorovich's bunker at the Cordon. Sure, you have to pay for them, but they're new and not all that expensive either."
  5. S.T.A.L.K.E.R Random dialogue: "You heard about the jarhead who's with the scientists at the moment? I reckon he ain't got much to lose by going with you. The scientists are not leaving any time soon, he can't reach the Cordon on his own, so he just might be dumb enough to go to Pripyat with you!"
  6. S.T.A.L.K.E.R Shulga: "Same thing we always do. Protecting stalkers from all kinds of vermin. You've seen how many mutants there are around here and these ain't the cute little puppies you get at the Cordon. [...]"
  7. S.T.A.L.K.E.R Snag: "And last but not least... An excellent helmet, handmade. A while ago we got this new stalker at the Cordon, a real handyman. Made a bunch of real cool stuff before he croaked. This helmet is one of them. You won't find one like it anywhere!... I'm keeping it."
  8. S.T.A.L.K.E.R Sultan: "We watch over stalkers. You have to admit that a good half of you are more like little kids than men. You come to the Zone with some silly dreams, or to play heroes, or just because life's treating you badly. You don't realize all that's waiting for you in here - the grim reaper, mostly. That's the kind we look after. We find one at the Garbage, we take his gear and send 'im back to the Cordon. Some wise up and go back to the outside. Those with the stones to come back here, we put under our protection and we tax 'em. I'm tellin' ya, no one dares go on our territory - not the army, not the mercenaries, not even mutants."
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