Timeline

This the list of main events in the plot of S.T.A.L.K.E.R.:Lost Alpha. This article is subject to change.

1960s

 * Agroprom Research Institute|Institute of Crop Selection and Genetics is established as cover for Soviet research into consciousness control.

1981

 * The science center in what would become the Dark Valley begins construction.

1986

 * April 26: At around 1:23 in the morning, reactor number four of the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant explodes, releasing dangerous radioactive materials over a widespread area, and forcing the evacuation of the nearby city of Pripyat and other settlements. This event is known as the Chernobyl disaster.
 * After the accident, groups of workers called 'Liquidators' are hired by the Soviet Union to build a containment building around the remnants of the Reactor 4. It was later nicknamed the Sarcophagus.
 * Institute of Crop Selection and Genetics is shut down.

1987-1989

 * Agroprom Research Institute is re-established.
 * Vehicle factory set up in the vincinity of the Agroprom Research Institute to build vehicles fitted for removing and treating irradiated soil.

1989

 * The C-Consciousness Project begins, led by scientists from The Group. The presence of numerous high powered antennae in the area, coupled with a functioning nuclear power plant and the lack of people provide the perfect setting for clandestine research into fixing humanity's flaws.

1991

 * December 26: The collapse of the Soviet Union. Several republics break away from the USSR, declaring independence, many projects are discontinued, in particular funding for Soviet military labs in the Zone. However, several project leaders are unwilling to stop their research and continue their research into the noosphere. The Ukrainian government is unable to control the situation, in part due to fear of international sanctions.
 * Sidorovich enters the Zone.

1998
March 6: Engineers working for a local contractor claim that six field Generators were built deep in the center of the Zone. Speculation abounds as to their purpose, with some suggesting they are used for some bizarre psychic tests.

Strelok enters the zone

1999

 * February 22: Concerned by unsettling reports about illegal experiments carried out in the Zone, the Ukrainian government performs an official investigation. After examining accounts and intelligence service reports about the tests held in the underground complexes, the state security service made an attempt to take control of the situation by sending a special commission into the Zone. Reports uncover disturbing memos by one O. O. Dobrynin.

2001

 * The Zone begins to attract attention. Rumours about strange phenomena within c.a. 10 km radius of the NPP abound, the city of Pripyat is often mentioned as a hot spot for sightings of unusual phenomena and strange creatures. After a bus full of foreign tourists disappears the authorities seal off the Zone completely.

2003

 * The Agroprom Institute begins working for The Group under the lead of Petr Strizh.

2004

 * The top secret electromagnetic rifle project at Jupiter factory is cancelled.

2005

 * Unnatural forces within the Zone begin to have an influence over a wider area. Significant changes in weather patterns are noted, including hurricane winds and tremors.

2006

 * March 4: Blinding light illuminates the sky high above the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant. The incident lasted two full hours before subsiding, with witnesses reporting it disappeared as if power suddenly failed.
 * April 12 14:33 +2 GMT: Just over a month later, the skies are once again lit by intolerably bright light. The clouds evaporated from the sky, followed by a tremendous thunder crash, lasting far longer than normal. After the thunder faded away, there was an ominous silence, followed by a 6.9 Richter earthquake. The glow in the sky continued, spreading over the entire region, while deadly energy disturbances raged through the Zone, making any rescue effort impossible. Subsequent investigation turned up the fact, that the center of the explosion was a kilometer away from the nuclear plant itself, evidently the nuclear fuel dump going up.
 * June 10: The Zone abruptly grows five kilometers bigger after an emission which came to be known as the "Second Disaster". The zone today manifested, with the very laws of science being defied. Most of the military securing the perimeter perished, together with laboratories and their crews. Panic-stricken people from nearby villages were evacuated.

2007
Guide entered the Zone.

2009

 * September 28: A group of Kiev scientists succeeds in creating a special device for detecting anomalous activity at a distance of up to 10 meters. This winter, an expedition in protective suits and with detectors manages to penetrate the Zone 1 km deep and return without incident or injury.

2010

 * August 17: Expeditions further penetrate the Zone, one locates an abandoned camp of the first "stalker". They also locate first artifacts and observe the emergence of first blowouts.

2011

 * With news of the possibility to survive in the Zone leaked, amateur researchers, marauders and poachers begin to make their way into the zone, soon becoming known as stalkers, seeking artifacts in the dangerous environments. At first ignoring them, the government is soon forced to reevaluate their policies, as artifacts make their way into private hands.
 * According to one of the stalkers in Yantar one of his friends encountered some zombies who muttered what sounded like English, presumably remnants of a foreign tour group that disappeared in the Zone ten years earlier.
 * February 4: The government retaliates against illegal stalkers, during this campaign over 70 are arrested and ten trading posts closed down.
 * Early September: The Second Emission takes place as the Common Consciousness unleashes a massive blowout in order to destroy Strelok, Fang and Ghost as they retreat from the NPP. Faction wars begin when stalkers fight to redefine spheres of influence after the emission.
 * September 10: Clear Sky begins - Scar wakes up after being caught in the aforementioned blowout in the Clear Sky camp.
 * October 25: Inevitably, a skirmish takes place between a military patrol and a stalker group. Both sides suffer serious casualties, the army is authorized to shoot stalkers on sight.

2012
Possibility #1: Possibility #2: * The Zone is either gone, still existing, in the process of being destroyed or only existing in the eyes of Strelok, this is player determined.
 * July 1, 5:30 +2 GMT: The Lost Alpha begins - Marked One wakes up in Sidorovich's bunker after surviving a death truck crash.
 * May 12 until 25: Captain D. F. Maksimienko investigates the abandoned Agroprom Research Institute, revealing it as a front for The Group.
 * Strelok get's imprisoned in Dead City and the military comes in his rescue. He again meets his friends from the group including Doc, Fang, Guide and Ghost.
 * Strelok disables the Brain Scorcher and destroys the C-Consciousness.
 * Strelok disables the Generators which mark the end of the Zone.
 * For more information on that, head over to the Game Endings.