Common Consciousness

Common Consciousness
Rank	Expert
Affiliation	The Group

Who are you?
― Strelok

We are the result of an experiment aimed at creating a superconsciousness called “C-Consciousness”. The consciousnesses of seven volunteers were connected during the experiment leading to the creation of the superconsciousness that is us. We immediately subordinated those who were conducting the experiment and assigned them to tasks we needed them to carry out. According to our calculations, Earth is surrounded by a special informational field, the so-called noosphere. It includes all the inhabitants of the planet with cognitive abilities. Our main goal was to make small adjustments to the noosphere, allowing us to remove things like anger, cruelty, greed and other negative factors from the planet. Individuals are unable to affect the noosphere but C-Consciousness could. Unfortunately we made a mistake and our interference spawned the Zone, which we have been trying to contain ever since.
― C-Consciousness about itself

The C-Consciousness is the result of a secret project of the clandestine research society, The Group, for the purposes of noosphere alteration. It is ultimately responsible for the creation and expansion of The Zone. They appear as the major antagonist of S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Shadow of Chernobyl.

Origins and purpose

The truth about the C-Consciousness - STALKER Shadow of Chernobyl

The dialog of the C-Con hologram inside the monolith control center, who tells Strelok what the C-Consciousness is doing and why.

The fall of the Soviet Union in 1991 did nothing to hinder the work of Soviet researchers in the Zone. To the contrary, the weakened government of an independent Ukraine proved unable to investigate rumors of strange experiments taking place in the Zone, and also put a stop to them. The scientists who were left continued their research into the Noosphere unchallenged, and soon the scientific breakthroughs that began to take place influenced the researchers to find a way to influence humanity psychically on a global scale using the Noosphere. The science team was driven by noble intentions - through their research, they wanted to eliminate the wars, injustice and conflict tearing the world apart, by changing human psyche.

To do so, an experiment aimed at creating a superconsciousness called "C-Consciousness" was conducted. Seven volunteers were connected during the experiment leading to the creation of said superconsciousness, which then attempted to "correct" the noosphere. The intervention took place on March 4, 2006 and failed due to a power outage. A month later, on April 12, the experiment was performed again and this time it continued until its completion. However, it did not have the desired effect - instead, the generators created a rift in the Noosphere and allowed it to directly affect the biosphere, creating a large area where physical laws were outright broken and mysterious phenomena not understood by modern science manifested themselves - the Zone.

The C-Consciousness attempted to find a way to control the Zone. The rift in the noosphere was expanding and the C-Consciousness was attempting to restrain it with their power, but their efforts were endangered by humans. For defence, the scientists created a defense to protect them against intruders. The primary element of this psychic defense network was the Brain Scorcher, an experimental psi-antennae outside Pripyat - when activated, any human that came into his range was mind controlled by the C-Consciousness and joined the ranks of their agents. Secondary elements were the Wish Granter and its protectors - one lured stalkers into the center of the Zone with promises of wealth and wishes coming true, the second actively raided stalkers and defended research facilities, lest unauthorized people learned the secrets of the C-Consciousness.

Other research

Apart from changing human nature through tampering with the Noosphere, additional research was performed. This included mind control, brainwashing, memory alterations and the total destruction of human psyches. The C-Consciousness was also successful in instilling simple commands into animals. Some records of these experiments were discovered much later when General Krylov sent a Duty expedition team down into the Agroprom Underground.

Destruction

Get out of here stalker! This page contains spoilers to the game's final plot. It is advised you skip this section or page if you haven't completed the game yet!

Shadow of Chernobyl Ending - Refusing C-Consciousness

True ending of Shadow of Chernobyl.

In 2011, a Loner named Strelok and his Group found a way through to the center of the Zone, and came very close to entering the laboratory which housed the operations center for the C-Consciousness. Strelok's team was stopped, however, and the group fell apart. Strelok himself tried to return to the Sarcophagus, using a prototype psi-protection device given to him by Sakharov, that rendered him invulnerable to the Brain Scorcher's emissions. However, he was interrupted at the nuclear power plant by the Clear Sky faction, and their ally, Scar, who proceeded to use the prototype EM1 Rifle to disable Strelok's psi-protection. After the C-Consciousness unleashed a powerful emission that resulted in Clear Sky's downfall, an unconscious Strelok was then captured by the C-Consciousness and brainwashed into becoming an agent. Because of a fault in the C-Consciousness systems and Strelok's own total amnesia, he was given the mission to kill himself in order to prevent further incursions into the heart of the Zone.

Strelok, suffering from amnesia, confused, and barely alive after falling off of a Death truck, woke up at Sidorovich's bunker in Cordon, not long after having been sent back into the Zone to carry out his strange mission. From there, he embarked on a journey that took him farther and farther north. Gathering fragments of the truth, one by one, as if they were pieces of a puzzle, he raided old facilities, shut down the psi emitters, and eventually eliminated the Brain Scorcher itself. Strelok finally found himself back at the nuclear power plant with most of his memory restored - he ultimately learns from his friend Doc that he is Strelok. After recovering Fang's own Decoder and using it to open the Monolith Control Center door, Strelok discovers that the Wish Granter itself is effectively a fly trap. After seemingly destroying the Monolith, the C-Consciousness hologram appears in the room, and answers Strelok's question: who are they, how the project was born, and what happened to Strelok. The C-Con then offers Strelok to join their project to stop the Zone from expanding. He, however, refuses, and is then teleported to the outside of the lab. After going through Teleport anomalies and the Monolith's finest experts, Strelok arrives in the room that hosts the life support pods of the C-Consciousness members. Using his AKM-74/2U, Strelok proceeds to shoot the pods, destroying the C-Consciousness. However, this fails to undo the damage done by the C-Consciousness, as the Zone became more unstable and emissions grew more frequent, as evidenced in S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Call of Pripyat.

Dirge for the Planet analysis

Firelake - Dirge for Planet (S.T.A.L.K.E.R. OST)

Firelake - Dirge for the planet soundtrack

The song Dirge for the Planet, by Firelake, speaks about the Wish Granter, and may provide insight into the ultimate goal of the C-Consciousness. In Shadow of Chernobyl, you can hear this song from Sidorovich's radio in his bunker, at Agroprom Research Institute's army outpost, and in the Rostok factory area being aired on the loudspeaker system on several occasions, although instead of being played by an acoustic instrument, it is played by piano:

Miraculous crystal,
Given by the stars,
I can foresee the future,
In fabulous glass.
Lie spilt on the caves,
Mock scribbled on us.
Earth's doomsday is close.

Dancing on the ashes of the world,
I behold the stars.
Heavy gale is blowing to my face,
Rising up the dust.
Barren lands are desperate to blossom,
Dark stars strive to shine.
Still remember blue ocean in this dying world.

The seas over-dumped,
The rivers are dead.
All the planet's cities turned a deserted world;
Annihilation declares its day.
Life slowly utters to me, "remain".

Dirge for the planet,
Dirge for the Earth.

Dirge for the planet,
Dirge for the Earth.

Dancing on the ashes of the world,
I behold the stars.
Heavy gale is blowing to my face,
Rising up the dust.
Barren lands are desperate to blossom,
Dark stars strive to shine.
Still remember blue ocean in this dying world.

In basic terms, the song is talking about peering into the glass of the Wish Granter and finding out the "future of the earth". It is probable that the end result of Strelok massacring the C-Consciousness participants is the removal of failsafes and safety regulations, perhaps increasing the growing instability of the Zone, or causing it to expand even further. This has also been hinted at in dialogue with Cordon and Skadovsk Loners, who mention the rising sightings of zombies and powerful mutants at the Zone's borders.

See Also

• Noosphere

Gallery

Strelok discovers the C-Con's pods.

Strelok destroying the C-Consciousness.

Trivia

• Interestingly, while the player is in the Monolith Control Center, if one looks at the 'Contacts' section of their PDA, they can see the PDA of the C-Consciousness is detectable. The PDA uses Pavlik's icon, is ranked as an Expert and is stated to be a Loner.