The Zone reveals a whole new world! We can stick with the old one, fearing change... But tell me, do you want our descendants to remember us as cowards? Or as those who dared to venture forward to a new, better humanity?
― Dr. Dalin during an interview.
The Scientific Institute for Research of the Chornobyl Anomalous Area, or SIRCAA (ukr. Науково-дослідний інститут Чорнобильської аномальної зони) is a scientific organization established to conduct research within the Zone. It appears as a major faction in S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: Heart of Chornobyl and was briefly mentioned in S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Call of Pripyat.
Overview[]
SIRCAA was established sometime after 2012 by the Ukrainian government after Strelok passed on the information he found at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant to the USS Commanders. Strelok immediately took up the position of chief scientific consultant. [1]
The institute is headed by Dr. Dalin. Professor Hermann is one of the senior researchers.
Leaked documents have implied that SIRCAA was involved in coverups of multiple disappearances in and around the Zone. One such case is of a student journalist Venyamin Aleksenko, who was looking into a group of students that went missing near the Chornobyl Exclusion Zone sometime between 2005 and 2010. On April 21, 2014, SIRCAA's security team gave Venyamin minimum clearance and resources for his investigation, while also setting up surveillance to track his movements. Many years later[2], Venyamin was found dead in a bunker near Yaniv. Furthermore, SIRCAA's security team has been actively eliminating "illegal elements", presumed to be stalkers. SIRCAA was seemingly engaged in a conflict with a group known as "Problesk".[3]
Sometime prior to November 2013, SIRCAA was involved in Operation Zenith. The catastrophic failure led to deteriorating relations with the stalker factions, and Professor Dalin's[4] punishment.
Notable members[]
Trivia[]
Half-Life References[]
SIRCAA, and the events that take place within it in Heart of Chornobyl, are an extended reference to the Black Mesa Research Facility and the Black Mesa Incident from Half-Life. Beyond SIRCAA and Black Mesa both being government-funded, militarized research complexes, the following similarities can be seen:
- Extensive appearance of lab coat-adorned scientists throughout the area.
- The female CG voice used in SIRCAA announcement system resembles the Black Mesa Transit System announcement system.
- Skif visits Sector C in SIRCAA. Sector C is the site of the Resonance Cascade in Half-Life.
- The SIRCAA Cryptobiology Labs resemble Black Mesa's Advanced Biological Research Lab.
- The Alpha Artifact plays a very similar role in the SIRCAA experiment as the Xen Crystal "GG-3883" does in Half-Life.
- Skif traverses the SIRCAA ventilation system, a video game trope popularized by Half-Life.
- SIRCAA's "Guardian Program" resembles Black Mesa's Hazard Course
- The experimental device within Lab X-11 resembles the Anti-Mass Spectrometer, and the disastrous result of Dalin's experiment is visually and narratively similar to the Resonance Cascade.
Gallery[]
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Other groups | |
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Cut from the game |