History of the Fellowship is a narrated history of the Harmonic Fellowship, narrated from the perspective of an unknown member.
These in-game tapes can only be found in the junctions of the Whispers in the Woods DLC, but otherwise are found in a similar way to Frequency File, with Zone Receivers having a chance to spawn when loading into a junction. They can be stored in the Fax Machine.
Whispers In The Woods DLC Content
This page contains content from the Whispers in the Woods DLC
History of the Fellowship #1
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I was initiated into the Harmonic Fellowship in 1982. I gave thirteen years in service to the Wave and in the Steward's name, I carried out horrible acts that I will never atone for.
My penance is this record of the Harmonic Fellowship's early history, to the best of my knowledge. I hope it's of use to someone someday.
The Original Six met in 1958. They were early members of ARDA's Harmonic Disruption Research Laboratory. The group was created by Dr. Ophelia Turner to research ways to contain and prevent Anomalies.
History of the Fellowship #2
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On April 22nd, 1959, there was a LIM frequency experiment. As LIM waves were being generated in a controlled environment, a completely separate lab station across the room produced unexpected results.
As the LIM waves passed through a typical double-slit experiment setup, it projected a series of shifting patterns onto the wall.
The Original Six saw it only for a moment. It would've been written off as a trick of the light on tired eyes, if the Anomalies housed in that lab had not turned simultaneously to face the patterns on the walls.
History of the Fellowship #3
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That day in the Anomaly Lab, the Wave pulsed and the Anomalies clustered.
Those short few seconds were enough to convince the Original Six that anomalies weren't mindless beings. That they were something more. That they could perceive things that humans could not.
The Original Six fell headfirst into researching what the Anomalies responded to. Their suspicions turned into belief, which turned into fixation.
For two years, they conducted their research in secret in ARDA's labs. They might've continued on a peaceful path, if not for the events in 1961 that led to the Second Growth Event.
History of the Fellowship #4
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In 1961, the conditions were ripe for a massive ecological destabilization. The race to develop LIM technology outpaced common sense safety protocols, and the Olympic Peninsula was suffering for it.
In an effort to stop the Zone from expanding outward, ARDA evacuated the areas outside its borders, and deployed their first attempts at Stabilizers.
The Original Six took offense to that. They made cultivating the Zone their mission, and anything that stopped the Zone from freely growing and changing the environment was sacrilegious. So each one of the Six tied themselves to an ARDA Stabilizer, putting their lives on the line to stop ARDA's plan.
I've no love for ARDA, but six lives versus the thousands on native residents on the Olympic Peninsula? There was no choice. They turned on the Stabilizers.
It was a brave attempt, but ultimately useless. The Original Six couldn't step ARDA. And ARDA couldn't stop the Second Growth Event. Everyone lost.
History of the Fellowship #5
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Only one of the Original Six survived their brave attempt to stop ARDA in 1961. He is the man we know as the Founder.
In his grief he became adrift. His only mooring was to carry out the research that the Originals had begun. He threw himself into attempts to recreate the original wave pulse they saw in the lab, the one that made the Anomalies cluster and started it all.
Perhaps the Founder would've given up eventually, had Dr. Ophelia Turner not discovered his appropriation of ARDA lab equipment and fired him on the spot.
Without access to ARDA's equipment, the Founder recruited assistants. He needed people to barter, to steal, to act as soldiers and specimens to continue his work. That was the true birth of the Harmonic Fellowship.
History of the Fellowship #6
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The Founder emerged from his grief with a newfound fanaticism.
To his credit, he did develop a way to to provoke the Wave and create a Ritual around it's appearances. Within the Ritual's circle, at the center of the Wave's summoning point, he tested everything: first basic everyday objects, then Anomalies, then people.
His methods were inconsistent. The results even more so. That never deterred the Founder. And he made sure it never phased his followers. If they wanted to stay a follower, you couldn't question him. So even if the Rituals didn't produce any observable effect, everyone learned to act as if they did.
That became even more of the case when the Founder died in Ritual and the Steward took over in 1975.
The Steward ushered in a new era for the Harmonic Fellowship. A sharper focus on it's goals. An unwavering commitment to doing what was necessary, no matter how unpleasant.
You see, the Steward-the Wave spoke directly to him. He advanced the Fellowships mission to channel the Zone's chaos into living beings and objects alike ten-fold. Under his leadership, I saw more wonders and horrors than I've ever thought possible in this world.
This was the Fellowship into which I was inducted. This was the Fellowship that I committed horrors for. The things the Steward made me do, are the things I will never forgive myself for.
History of the Fellowship #7
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I'm certain the fanaticism the Fellowship evoked in people made them see things, whether or not they were really there. I'm guilty of it myself.
I just wanted so much to believe in what the Fellowship offered. I hate that it's pure, original mission has been corrupted by the hands of the Founder and the Steward. I hate what they're doing to people-what they did to me.
Even so, after thirteen years in their service, I still believe something special's happening in the Zone. We should be studying it. We could be sitting on some new understanding of physics that advances our technology a thousand-fold.
I mean, look at this blade of grass. Everything about it tell you its normal grass. But tomorrow, it'll be a rock, a drop of water, or the bark on a tree. We've only scratched the surface of how to harness this.
So yeah, I'm gonna miss this place. It might seem weird to say, after twenty-five miserable years living here. But I do believe in the Zone's magic. Always have.
And hopefully someone cracks this code before humanity abandons this place altogether. This place really could by the key to the future that LIM technology promised us.
But for now, I'm getting the hell out of here. Away from the Zone, away from the Fellowship, and most of all, away from the Steward.