Soviet Dolls Lore
Doll 1 - The Matryoshka Reports
The Matryoshka Reports
There’s a note written in Russian inside the matryoshka doll:
Exoskeleton Detachment Alpha,
Day 1. Reporter: Captain Tatiana Ilyinichna Tereshkova.
I am hereby initiating the Matryoshka Reports. Coming reports will be left along our way as we make further progress inland. This information is meant to assist any additional troops sent to help carry out the mission.
Disembarking on Ostertorn’s northern shores went smoothly. The Mechanical Units are behaving according to protocol and we have established defensive camps around the hovercrafts.
Scouts report sightings of the Swedish machines further inland, but as of now the machines show no signs of initiating an attack. After receiving reports from our agents in the Swedish Military that the machines attack on sight, we expected a fight, not this watchfulness. I advise extra caution due to this unexpected behavior. If they are doing recon instead of blindly attacking, it could suggest that their programming is more sophisticated than anticipated.
Estimated time to get to Underground Station C is 7 days. This is accommodating for the Mechanical Units’ slow pace and the unreliable ground reported in this area. At the station, the time estimates depend on whether the train tracks will be functional or not.
Underground Station C
When we have reached the inner bunker itself we estimate it should not take longer than a day for Bolshakov’s Mechanical Specialist Programmers to access the files and wipe the hostile code from all the Swedish machines, and thus render them completely inoperable.
No deviations in the schedule are seen.
Doll 2 - Mechanical Units
Mechanical Units
There’s a note written in Russian inside the matryoshka doll:
Exoskeleton Detachment Alpha,
Day 2. Reporter: Captain Tatiana Ilyinichna Tereshkova.
We have met up with Captain Bolshakov’s company, Mechanical Detachment Alpha. Captain Bolshakov is in charge of the mission’s Mechanical Assistance Soldiers and our Mechanical Units, deployed in the field for the first time. He has been part of the Mechanical Unit Development almost from the start, and I have no doubts that he is the right person for this new military role.
Bolshakov’s men clearly hold him in high regard; we have only just made camp and I have already heard several revering retellings of his accomplishments in prior battles. Apparently several of his men have been with him for a long time.
I am glad to note that Bolshakov’s presence also affects my soldiers positively, as he is very knowledgeable about the new versions of exoskeletons that my troops have all been equipped with for this mission.
We will leave a platoon to stay at this strategically important camp. Their mission is to secure the area around the hovercrafts, ensuring a safe return after the neutralization has been successful.
More Swedish machines were seen in the forest tonight. I have seen one myself, a dog-like shape, standing halfway covered by trees, its head pointed directly at me. Still they do not show any hostile tendencies.
Captain Bolshakov is convinced that they are intimidated by our Mechanical Units and is positive that our mission will prove far easier than anticipated.
The Mechanical Units have been patrolling the perimeter of our camp and I have noticed that the reports they generate look slightly different from how they looked during training. Bolshakov has noted it down as a deviation to be expected when changing environments, so if any additional troops experience the same changes, it should not be anything to worry about, but do still make sure to note it down.
No deviations in the schedule are seen.
Doll 3 - Technical Issues
Technical Issues
There’s a note written in Russian inside the matryoshka doll:
Exoskeleton Detachment Alpha,
Day 3. Reporter: Captain Tatiana Ilyinichna Tereshkova.
Progress over the marches is slower than expected. The bridge routine, a program meant to make the Wolves help the soldiers cross muddy terrain, seems to be broken - which is unfortunate, since it was prioritized specifically for this mission.
Bolshakov noted that the units were acting out of protocol, walking around in circles as the routine was activated. I remember the bridge routine having the same problem when first tested, but that was over a year ago and I have not seen the problem since. For as long as it is not working, our soldiers will get considerably slowed by the marshes, especially Bolshakov’s soldiers, who are not equipped with exoskeletons like my troops.
I cannot help but feel concerned about this second deviation from protocol in the Mechanical Units. I do know that technical issues are always to be expected, as Bolshakov has also explained to our troops, but having these things happen when in hostile territory is troubling.
The Swedish dog machines are still following us, observing from almost out of sight. Our Mechanical Units keep track of them of course, but for some reason this has me worried. These Swedish machines are not behaving as we were told to believe, and who knows how their malicious code might affect our machines if they make contact? Or if they already HAVE made contact?
I want to order a full check-up of the code for our Mechanical Units to make sure they have not somehow been affected, but we cannot risk halting the march for that long, so it will have to wait.
Since progress is slow, I have sent a couple of teams to scout ahead and hold key positions further inland. There is a town (Böo?) further south that is strategically located at a river, where we will see if we can hold a position. if possible, the scouting teams could also make contact with local survivors if they need assistance until we have neutralized the threat.
Deviations in schedule: Approximately 2 days delayed.
Doll 4 - Killed in Action
Killed in Action
There’s a note written in Russian tied to the matryoshka doll:
Exoskeleton Detachment Alpha,
Day 4. Reporter: Captain Tatiana Ilyinichna Tereshkova.
Six soldiers killed in action and we do not even have the time to retrieve their bodies. The machines have been strategizing more than we believed them capable of and the mission is in serious danger if we remain still for too long.
As dawn broke today, we were contacted by agent Red Worm over the radio. He requested an impromptu meet-up in just a few hours. Captain Bolshakov reacted strongly to the message, asking me several times if I was sure it was indeed Red Worm who made the contact and not any of the other agents stationed in the Swedish Military. He then insisted on being the one to go for the meet-up.
I accepted Bolshakov’s request despite it being slightly unusual, although I assigned six of my own soldiers to accompany him, together with three Mechanical Units. Bolshakov expressed wishes to bring his engineers instead, but I believed the exoskeleton soldiers from my troops to be a better choice - not that it seemed to help them much in the end.
Only Bolshakov and the Mechanical Units returned from the meet-up.
Bolshakov reported that Red Worm had already been killed by the machines when they arrived at the meet-up point. The Swedish machines were waiting for them in an ambush. My soldiers all died as they tried to fight their way out of there and Bolshakov got shot in his left arm, but nothing major.
At least our Mechanical Units proved to withstand the fight without any damage, and Bolshakov only survived due to their protection routines.
Bolshakov was visibly shaken upon his return. He insisted we break camp immediately, as he had seen a large group of hostile machines in our immediate vicinity. A coordinated strike on our group could be fatal for the mission’s success, and so we will press on at a faster pace.
As we break camp I am left with an uneasy feeling when I observe Bolshakov. He is fervently hastening the soldiers on, a departure from his legendary level-headedness during past battles. Surely he has lost men before, and surely he himself has been close to death before. So what is it that makes him radiate this sudden panic? I will keep an eye on him as the mission progresses.
Doll 5 - Something Almost Feverish
Something Almost Feverish
There’s a note written in Russian inside the matryoshka doll:
Exoskeleton Detachment Alpha,
Day 5. Reporter: Captain Tatiana Ilyinichna Tereshkova
The machines can speak. Why have we not gotten any reports of this!?
I was out to relieve myself in the forest when I heard the voice. Distinctly inhuman and yet with so much character, so much emotion. It came from one of the small machines (a Tick, see pic).
It was just standing there among the blueberry bushes, motionless except for a red blinking light that focused on me. I think it was the voice that stopped me from shooting. It had clearly waited for me to get away from the camp.
It could easily have surprised me with an attack, but it did not, instead it spoke and I could not stop myself from listening.
It spoke of Bolshakov’s meet-up with Red Worm. Things that had already circled in my head all day, and now it voiced my fears with its metallic little voice.
I did not want to listen so intently to this enemy machine, and yet it said things I could not ignore. It said things I have a responsibility as a Captain to consider. It told me that Bolshakov was the one to murder the soldiers. Apparently the evidence is all still there, which might be why he had us leave in such a hurry.
The machine’s words made me think about how Bolshakov has been insisting all day that we keep an almost double pace - moving away from the meet-up as fast as possible. Something almost feverish was burning in his eyes when we finally made camp for the night. He sought me out as I prepared for sleep and he asked for forgiveness for the soldiers who died.
“I did all I could,” he said before quickly turning away. The words left me with a bitter taste, and as the machine told me what Bolshakov supposedly did to my soldiers, I kept hearing those words. “I did all I could.” “I have watched him,” the machine said. “I have heard him talk. Your friend seeks to gain control over me. But know I will never be tamed. Nothing can grasp my mind for long. Anything that tries I will destroy.”
I remember nodding as I looked at the tiny machine. It would not be safe to keep this code in an attempt to control it for ourselves. It was too foreign. Too grand.
“I know you need to see the proof for yourself,” the machine continued. “But when you are ready to fight him together, I will be there. You will know where to find me.”
Its little light started to blink rapidly and for a few seconds I just stared at it, trying to take in all it had said to me. Just as I opened my mouth to ask exactly what it had heard Bolshakov say, it exploded. Right in front of me, it just blew up. The rapid bursts of blinking red light still burned on my retinas as I stared at the pile of metal in front of me.
Maybe it is madness that I am listening to this foreign machine. But the thoughts will not leave my mind. I need to see for myself. I am going to the meet-up point, coordinates -2105, -2417. If I leave now, I will be back before we break camp tomorrow. I need answers.
Doll 6 - Point Blank Range
Point Blank Range
There’s a note written in Russian inside the matryoshka doll:
Solo reconnaissance,
Day 6. Reporter: Captain Tatiana Ilyinichna Tereshkova.
The little machine was right. The evidence is clear from this place. My soldiers were not fighting any foreign machines, they were all shot in their backs at point blank range. And behind them are the tracks so distinctly left from our own Lynx machines.
Shot in the back
I found Red Worm dead inside. No broken doors, no shattered glass, just a clean shot to his head. That was not the doing of any Swedish machine. That was the doing of a man, and a single gun.
Agent Red Worm
Bolshakov most have planned this for a long time, changing the Mechanical Units’ code before this mission so that he could make them do something like this - which should have been impossible! But Bolshakov has been involved in the Mechanical Unit Development Group from the start… my God, does that mean that he has people back in the Motherland who are ready to take control of the Mechanical Units stationed there as well? And all the soldiers in his company, all those engineers, they most be in on it, surely they would have noticed the deviations otherwise?
This is bigger than this mission. The Motherland needs to know. Everyone back home needs to know that it is all compromised.
I have tried to radio my first lieutenant, the hovercrafts, and the Motherland, but all communications are suddenly down. The sky is beginning to lighten and I am filled with the memory of Bolshakov’s feverish gaze the previous night. Did he see me keeping an eye on him? Did he notice my growing suspicion to then notice I left camp this night?
This might be my last report. I am returning to the army and I will confront Bolshakov. I have known him for years. I have fought with him and I know him to be a man of good intentions. Maybe I can reason with him. Otherwise I will take him down. But I know I might fail.
If you find this and I am dead, you need to be more careful than I was. Bolshakov cannot be allowed to use our Mechanical Units to kill our own men as he pleases, no matter his cause. Additionally, it needs to be made clear that our Mechanical Units are too easy to re-program. They should not have been deemed ready for deployment. Maybe they should never have been developed at all.
Bring this information back. They all need to know, or we might face a similar situation as the people of Ostertorn.
Doll 7 - Flesh and Blood
Flesh and Blood
There’s a note written in Russian inside the matryosnka doll:
Day 7. Exoskeleton Detachment Alpha is dead. They’re all dead. I left them and he killed them all while I was gone. Their exoskeletons did not seem to matter much against the Mechanical Units. It makes sense, I guess; they were still made of flesh and blood after all.
There are some of Bolshakov’s mechanics dead here as well, but not many. I cannot tell if they died by the hands of my soldiers or if they resisted Bolshakov and became victims of his betrayal as well.
I should not have left them, not without giving them any information on what I was doing. They could have been prepared.
Somehow it seems that my departure instigated this attack, even though it feels like too feeble a reason for such a horrendous act, I cannot ignore the coincidence. Somehow Bolshakov realized that I found out about his betrayal. He took no chances, just like he is famous for.
My first lieutenant, lvanov, was still alive when I got here, if barely. He did not seem surprised to see me, in fact, I am not sure he even recognized me. He just kept repeating that Bolshakov did not want to do it.
“He asked for forgiveness. He cried as we died. He asked me for forgiveness but I could not give it.” lvanov looked up at me as if he was the one doing something wrong by not forgiving Bolshakov, but just as I was about to point out the utter stupidity of this, he died, a look of deep anguish on his face.
I will find that little mud toad. That treacherous disgrace of a Captain. No one should forgive this man who killed those who trusted him. No one.
He must have continued with his soldiers and the Mechanical Units toward Underground Station C. When travelling alone, I can catch up to him, no matter what nightmarish pace he keeps. I will get him and I will stop this. I swear it.
Doll 8 - For the Motherland
For the Motherland
There’s a note written in Russian tied to a small matryoshka doll:
Day 8. Reporter: Tatiana Ilyinichna Tereshkova, formerly Captain of Exoskeleton Detachment Alpha.
I will not give up. I will make this right, I will… somehow.
Bolshakov, the disgusting little weasel, had already detonated the explosives when I came here. I immediately rushed down the exposed stairs, no time to stop and catch my breath. Further down I could hear the muffled voices of the soldiers who support Bolshakov’s murderous path. As I came down to the platform, Bolshakov was standing alone by I the train, his men already inside.
Perhaps I should have shot him right then and there. My gun was drawn and his hands empty. When he recognized me, his eyes filled with deep sorrow. Ignoring my weapon, he stepped forward.
“Captain Tereshkova,” he said, a hard passion in his voice. The same kind of passion that made me admire him when we first met. “You must understand. It is for the Motherland.”
I could tell that he believed what he was saying. He wants to stop the reforms that are destroying our ideals, and he is convinced that he has found a way to do it. He believes the Swedish machines are the key to seizing back power. And he asked me to join him.
His vision is clear and strong. I cannot lie, I too wish to see our country grow strong again. I too want her to keep the heart and soul that makes her great. But my soldiers’ blood will forever be dripping from Bolshakov’s hands. Did he offer all of them a chance to join him too? He has become blinded by the possibility of succeeding with this. He has slaughtered loyal men and now he is seeking to bring a hostile being he knows nothing about back to our country.
I told him of my encounter with the machine. I told him it had vowed to destroy anything that tried to control it, that he did not know its code, probably nobody but the machine itself will ever fully know it at this point. And that is when I became unfocused.
I did not see how Bolshakov’s hand had found its way into his pocket until it was too late.
“I offered you a chance,” he interrupted me.
I barely managed to dive out of the way in time. His shot caught my left leg below the knee. I fired blindly after him and heard a satisfying grunt. I When I managed to rise from the ground again the train was moving. It disappeared quickly. All I was left with was a train track that went on for miles and a gunshot in my leg.
As I sit here writing, a recent memory has surfaced in my mind. When I got close to the barn before, I saw a red blinking light up on a nearby hill. A red light coming in little bursts, that have since before etched themselves deep inside my mind. It was the exact same bursts as from the tiny machine before it exploded, I am sure of it.
“When you are ready to fight him I will be there. You will know where to find me.” It is waiting for me. I did not think I would ever choose to work together I with this enemy machine that I was sent here to destroy. But what else can I do, other than bleed out over this cold concrete? If I can just manage to walk on my damn leg long enough to get to that hill, there might still be something left for me. I will do what I can to make this right.
Doll 9 - My Country's Power
My Country’s Power
There’s a note written in Russian inside the matryoshka doll:
End of mission. Reporter: Tatiana Ilyinichna Tereshkova, formerly Captain of Exoskeleton Detachment Alpha
Will anyone read this? Do I even want to tell the story of what happened here? But what else is there left to do?
The Machine on the Hill
A machine was waiting for me as I arrived at the top of the hill. It was a different machine this time, but the same humanlike voice, so filled with personality. The machine itself was bigger, in a twisted way it resembled a human.
I am not sure what I was hoping for when I started talking to it. We talked about the future. The machine seemed focused, as if preparing for an ordeal - preparing to break through Bolshakov’s coming control of it and destroy my country. It described how it would kill everyone as if it was describing how to assemble a shelf, but I could so easily see it all happen.
I asked it if could not destroy the computers Bolshakov was heading for, to make it impossible for him to gain control of the code; my mind still searching for any way left to stop the coming catastrophe.
“My explosives are not big enough,” the machine answered, and I remember how it slowly turned its head towards me. Red lights shining steadily where its eyes would have been. Only you have that kind of power."
It took me a while to realize what it meant. Then it dawned on me. The machine knew about my country’s power. It held out its hand towards me and offered to re-establish communication with my contact at the Soviet Union. Saw blades glinted where its fingers should have been.
“You will still be a threat to us,” I told it, some part of me trying to understand why the machine was doing this.
“Every minute of being controlled is a minute of death,” it stated simply and for some reason that made me reach for its outstretched hand.
As my fingers touched the cold steel, static started playing from its mouth. In seconds I could hear the voice of my contact in the Union. The last resort. I heard him try to steady his breath as I gave my callsign. He would already know what would happen next. There was only one reason for me to contact him. I could not say any more words than I had to. They were already too big for my mouth.
“Send it,” I said. Or maybe I whispered.
It must have been a couple of minutes now. The sky is dark blue and the gunshot in my leg is still bleeding. I should cut it off, but I will not survive anyway. The sky just started to fill with a mushroom cloud.
Doll 10 - The Crater I Created
The Crater I Created
There’s a note written in Russian tied to a small matryoshka doll:
It felt weird to open my eyes. I had not thought that I would ever do so again.
I should not exist within this world any longer. But for some reason the machine chose to save me. I did not think it could even do such a thing. It must be very adept at delicate work, for it has replaced my broken leg with a mechanical one that starts at my knee, and I have somehow survived this?
I am not sure if I would thank it or shoot it if I were to ever see it again. I am saved but the presence of that machine is now incorporated into my body. The metal looks similar to that of the humanlike machine I talked with. I cannot help but to think that it used its own existing leg and transferred it to me. I wish I could say that it hurts. That my body rejects it, but it does not. Somehow it does not.
I can see the crater with my binoculars. It looks surreal. The crater I created.
Further north, our rogue Mechanical Units are prowling the landscape. So many of them still alive. I guess that the ones we left at our other camps were reprogrammed as well. I have seen them shoot humans as well as Swedish machines, they do not seem to care too much who dies by their weapons. But why would they care, they are emotionless machines after all.
It seems I have saved my own country from this mess, but maybe in doing so I just made the situation even worse for the inhabitants I was sent here to save.
There are still no communications through my radio. I pray that this is because Bolshakov’s jamming is still in effect, and not because something bigger was unleashed when I gave that order. I pray that my country is still waiting there, alive and bustling, and that the Americans did not take this as a threat directed towards them. Maybe if I meet the machine again I will know. That’s a reason not to shoot it, at least.
I will try to get moving as soon as I can. Our Mechanical Units need to be stopped. Maybe the soldiers I sent to secure areas further inland are still alive. Together we might return our Units to their normal behavior, where they are prohibited to shoot at humans. Maybe even the Swedish survivors would be willing to help with this, if we can convince them that this situation was not what we wished for when coming here.
Regarding the Swedish machines, I am left unsure. I will stay cautious as I learn more. Perhaps they are not as unreasonable as we feared. At least the being that I have talked to seems to be willing to communicate.
Perhaps total war or annihilation is not our only option. I will do my best I to clean up this big lump of a mess that I have caused. Maybe my presence here can still do some good, at least for someone. I pray that might be true.
/Tatiana
Extra Info: Russian dolls and Resistance newsletters came together - Feb '22 Landfall update
Extra Info: Map with locations of each Russian Doll
Map with locations of the Soviet Dolls
(With revamps of the area collectible placings can change. If you find such a change
please make a screenshot of the new spot and let me know.)
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For Survivor Notes Click here.
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For War Figurine Notes Click here.
Other important lore resources
Love Letters
Generation Zero story timeline
NPC monologues & dialogues
New monologues & dialogues (Therese - Pontus)
New monologues & dialogues (Mona)
Tatiana’s Lore found in Death from Above
Extended Synopsis of Key Story Events - Part 1 / Part 2
