The Origin

MAYAK – THE ORIGIN The Zone is not a place. The Zone is a world. In 1957, a catastrophe near a secret Soviet research city changed the region forever. Authorities sealed off the area; soldiers erected walls, checkpoints appeared, and the Special Military Zone was born. Its codename: MAYAK. Decades passed. Yet, the sealed-off territory did not die. Villages sprang up. Communities formed. Stalkers roamed the forgotten roads. Soldiers, researchers, traders, bandits, and peculiar groups sought their place in a world where the old laws no longer always applied. And all the while, the Zone itself was changing. That is why the MAYAK book series centers not on a single story or a single character. The storylines are gateways. Through them, the reader can enter the Mayak Universe and discover the Zone's past, present, and possible future—its settlements, factions, inhabitants, dangers, legends, and everyday life. How do those live for whom the anomalous has become natural? How does a settlement function on the edge of civilization? What rules do people create where state laws hold little sway? What becomes of a child born within the Zone? What does it mean to call "home" a place from which any sane person would flee? And what will MAYAK be like in ten, fifty, or a hundred years? The Origin is the first gateway to this world. It does not tell stories to bring them to a close. It tells them to reveal, through them, a much greater story: the story of the Zone itself. Step inside. Discover how it came to be. Get to know those who dwell within it. And remember: in the Zone, every story may come to an end— but the story of MAYAK lives on.