ZATON
Photo by: Project Chornobyl Zone - Radioactive Team
For a hundred years before the Zone was born, Chornobyl was one of the key ports on the Prypiat River. Its convenient channel and calm flow enhanced the town’s trade and crafts. The shipbuilding traditions stood the test of time. In the XXth century, “Chornobyl Repair&Maintenance River Fleet Base” was operating near Nuclear Power Plant, with its natural backwater serving as a harboring port.
After the 2nd Catastrophe, the area known as ”Zaton” began to slowly drain, turning into a swampy wasteland full of abandoned, rusty, radioactive barges and ships. From the very beginning of the stalkers’ arrival, this place was at the epicenter of conflict between neutrals and bandits. In which the latter eventually won. Since then, the stalkers’ dry cargo base, formerly known as “Skadovsk”, changed the name to “Sultansk” by the resident leader's personal order.
DUGA
Photo: from GSC Game World team archive
A spawn of the Cold War, the over-the-horizon radar Duga, is a top-secret military project whose cost was even higher than the one of CNPP construction. Designed to detect air strikes early, this titanic antenna complex is approximately 150 meters high and is almost always visible in the western region of the Zone.
Since the Exclusion Zone turned into the Anomalous Zone, Duga became one of the highest priority objects for the Military and IPSF. Unlike its near-Prypiat “sister”, called Rainbow, also known as the Brain Scorcher, Duga remained under the control of official forces for years and was practically unreachable.
RED FORTRESS
Photo by: Ihor Khomych
Near the Cooling Towers placed the reason for their creation — the half-build 5th and 6th Reactor Core blocks. Originally planned to launch in 1987, this now rusted and hollow monument mirrors the design of the destroyed block. However, it was never equipped with electronics, furniture, or finished interior surfaces. Even before the 2nd Catastrophe, this place was dangerous to explore: jagged rebar, yawning gaps, and annoying Geiger counter clicks could hurt, or even worse. Surrounded by support workshops and a radioactive waste disposal site, this complex resembles a vast, grim industrial fortress.
When the voice of the Monolith was gone and stalkers cautiously began to chart the surroundings of the Nuclear Station, they discovered the Red Fortress. All the evidence inside, and information from the rare interrogations of ex-fanatics were pointing that their major base was here. Perhaps, even the main one.
PRYPIAT
Photo by: Ihor Khomych
“Atomic city” construction on the banks of Prypiat started simultaneously with CNPP. In April 1986, its life froze, and “Atomic city” turned into the most infamous ghost town. Mirror-like neighborhoods and abandoned flats are forever stuck into the memories of those who met the most terrifying man-made disaster just a few kilometers from its epicenter.
The first expeditions sent by Duty and Freedom entered Prypiat immediately after Brain Scorcher had been deactivated. They were shortly followed by neutrals pursuing untouched anomalies and hidden Monolith stashes. Once the quietest place in the Zone turned into the battlefield… Until it gained its own defenders who protect Prypiat from outsiders and shield the outside world from what this city hides.
