Survivor Notes Lore (spoilers)

Survivor note

Survivor Notes Lore


Note 1 - Maszyny

Maszyny
Dear Basse,

I hope you find this. I was out scavenging when I spotted the big old maszyna, I mean the big, four-legged ones. All of them carrying crates, but to where? Moving heavy equipment. Possibly supplies? I wonder if they’re done hunting us and starting to build forts for the Russians? That would be Just our luck. I’m not sure I could stomach pulling the trigger on a real person instead of a robot… Let’s hope it doesn’t come to that.

If they’re getting ready for something, I have to know. One way or another, I know they’re up to no good.

Stay safe. Good luck!
Janek

Extra Info: Note1 is found in truck on road west of Angerås Church at -4357, 1688.


Note 2 - Valuable Cargo

Valuable Cargo
Dear Basse,

In case you’re reading this, I need to let you know what I found. Share it with the others if I don’t come back… I hate to be so grim, but it pays to be a pragmatist in these times.

So the big old machines were carting cargo about. The big ones move real slow, so I spent hours Just observing them.

Luck dropped on my lap. After a while I realized they stashed some of their valuable cargo here, and if you’re careful not to get caught, there’s good ammunition inside. The rounds that Karin likes. Grab some extra. Don’t weigh yourself down though.

The wiring on them is unlike any I’ve ever seen. I’ve always been good at being patient and watching… it came useful for my old job. Now I guess it’s useful when fighting killer robots.

I’m going to keep monitoring the machines to see what other supplies the machines drop. Restock everything then get your tail back to base. Don’t worry about me, I’ll be fine. I made it through Ostervik alone when the maszyna dropped out of the sky and opened fire on all of us. Consider me your big brother; it’s my job to watch after you. Not the other way around.

Your friend,
Janek

Extra info: Note 2 is found in shed at Brevekins Camping -3552, 2428.


Note 3 - "Engineer" mode

“Engineer” mode
December 19, 1989

Dear Basse (if you’re reading this)

If you found this note, please make sure the others know where I am. At this point I’m beginning to think I might not be home for a while. I started following one of the big four-legged maszyna because it looks like they’re gathering supplies for another invasion. Also every so often I can steal something good off them.

That’s when I found these strange powerlines. Dozens of them, all leading south. They look so much like ours that I almost didn’t notice them. But when I realized the machines were building them, I immediately went into “engineer” mode and started trying to puzzle them out.

By all accounts they look like normal overhead power lines. There’s no other function they could serve. That might put a hole in the ‘alien invader’ theory. But what are they powering? My first instinct is to destroy it and sabotage them. But I don’t want to notify them of my position and risk leading them to you.

I’m going to follow this trail and see where it leads. Surely it leads somewhere?

As always, stay safe.

Your friend,
Janek

Extra info: Note 3 is found on the base of a FNIX power pole North of Kalleby at -2790, 2427.


Note 4 - Four Walls and a Roof

Four Walls and a Roof
December 21, 1989

Dear Basse,

I don’t really think you’re reading this. In fact, I hope you’re not, because we’re deep in enemy territory. (We’re always in enemy territory, but you know what I mean.)
At this point, I think I’m just starting the notes like this out of habit. I’ve always been accused of being too polite for my own good. Calle says he likes it, at least. Marta always liked it too, said I was a good influence on her son. when all else fails, good manners can still remind us of what civilization ought to be. Or something. I was just raised right, I think.

The maszyny are building forts. They look almost like those rushed camps the Swedish army were erecting every other day, when the invasion first started. Maybe Freddie really is right, and the Russians are coming to wipe us out for good. I know Uncle Calle thinks it’s aliens, or our own government. When he gets REALLY into it, he insists it’s “aliens created by our government.” Good old Uncle Calle.

After seeing the kind of destruction the machines can wreck, I’m not sure what to believe anymore…

One thing I know for sure, the machines are our enemies. But why would machines need four walls and a roof? Hmm? They don’t! So there must be something inside they are protecting. What could it be? Russian soldiers? A new weapon? Whatever it is, they’re using human tactics to try and keep us out.

Maybe we have them scared?

Your friend,
Janek

Extra info: Note 4 is found on a picknick table south of Kalleby at -2940, 2918.


Note 5 - Useful Information

Useful Information
December 23, 1989

Dear Basse,

While out stalking the machines to gather more information, I discovered some horrible furnace they built, larger than the Devil and twice as ugly.


Janek must have seen the Knarrebo Generators and describes it as a furnace, the 5th letter is found close-by to it.

The machines often go and offer it sticks, trees. Fuel. That kind of thing. Puts a wrench in my old notes, though. I thought the machines were solar-powered, or perhaps even wind-powered. I know that sounds like something out of sci-fi, but… well… look at us. I’ll have to go revise my old notes… gotta go back to the drawing board.

So… the machines use wood, or maybe coal, to power the generator… that means maybe they aren’t that much more advanced than us. That’s good news, I think.

Then they use the generator to power their other structures. And also to power… themselves? Do I have this right? Ahhh, I still don’t know exactly how they work! If only I could get my hands on one intact and take it apart! A more clever man would have found a solution by now, I bet.

Still, this is all useful information to have. I’ll do my best to get this Intel to the others. Perhaps from there we can form a plan. Calle is crazy, but crazy like a fox. Maybe he’ll know what to do.

Better to know than not know; better to be prepared than to be caught off guard again.

Your friend,
Janek

Extra info: Note 5 is found on counter in Knarrebo at -3526, 3279.


Note 6 - Smoke on the Horizon

Smoke on the Horizon
December 24, 1989

Dear Marta,

I keep thinking about that first summer in Sweden. We were still trying to learn the language so we wrote notes to each other every day. We’d sit at the table with a dictionary and a grammar book and do corrections on each other’s papers. You were always better at that sort of thing. I worked better with my hands. Guess that’s why I got a job in construction while you got your education.

While out stalking the machines, I saw something that left me filled with this awful, stomach-eating dread… the kind of dread that has you writing letters to your missing sister, I guess. The kind of sadness that makes you want to sit in silence and wait for the leaves and snow to cover you.

Smoke rises on the horizon from where the home camp is. I don’t want to think about what it means that I can still see the glow of embers here in the dead of night.

It took me a while to realize it, at first. All I heard was a distant pop.

When I clambered a tree to take a look around, I saw that thin pillar of smoke from far away… it was so thin, it was like I’d drawn it in the sky with my pencil.

But that smoke is coming from my camp where all my friends are. I know it is. I know in my heart it is. And I want to be sick.

It’s still smoking as I write this. Måsskär is up in smoke.

I wish I could have run right towards that smoke. Even though it is several day’s journey on foot, and there’s no solid proof the home camp is in danger. I shouldn’t have ventured this far out. I should be there with them now. I promised Kenneth I’d help him build the new walls next weekend. But I decided to play investigator instead, and follow those strange cables the machines had built.

Stupid. I’m so stupid. My friends are in danger… injured, or worse. The only other people I’ve seen since this whole calamity began, and I don’t even know if they’re alive.
You might be dead, too, Marta. I’ve been looking for you everywhere and I can’t find you anywhere. It’s so lonely out here.

I wish I was with you and your children. I miss my nieces and my nephew.

Please forgive me, moya myszka. I’m so afraid.

Always yours,
Janek

Extra info: Note 6 is found in hut on small island south of Sillavik at -3068, 4077.


Note 7 - Hunting Mammoths

Hunting Mammoths
December 27/28, 1989

Dear Basse, if you are still alive. Dear Marta, if you aren’t. Who am I even writing these for? “To whom it may concern”? Let’s go with that.

Lost track of time. I think I’ve made camp three times since the last note. I didn’t know what else to do, so I kept following those powerlines I found. The ones leading south. This might not have been the best idea. But it was better than sitting around biting my nails. Unfortunately, the machines were out scouting for more survivors to scoop up. God only knows what they do with the people they take.

Even from this far away I can still see the smoke… surely if Calle and the others were still there they would have put it out by now.

Am I all alone? Am I writing these letters to no one?

In any case, they spotted me when I got too close to their fort, and tripped an alarm.


Janek sees Sillavik dumping station and calls it a fort. The 7th note is found where I took photo.

The maszyna chased me all the way down the hills, and I’d lost all but one when I tripped and sprained my ankle. So careless… I’d never forgive myself if that were the end of me, but I didn’t want to attract attention with gunfire.

So I lured it by a little hidey-hole I had, waited for it to run past… and jumped it like it owed me money! I HAMMERED THE HELL OUT OF IT!!! Ever since that first day when the machines dropped on my construction site, I held onto my sledgehammer. It takes up a lot of space, but there’s nothing like slamming a maszyna until it crumples like a tin can.

After that I limped away to lick my wounds. I still came out the victor in the end, even though I’m still shaking as I write this. I can’t think about it or I start shaking even harder. When did it become normal to smash killer machines!? It’s got to be some kind of poetry. I feel as though I’ve hunted a mammoth! I feel as though I’ve invented fire! I’m alive! I’m alive and I’m so, so high on pain meds! Christ my ankle hurts! I think I should stop writing now.

Good night,
Janek

Extra info: Note 7 is found west of Sillavik on the ground near a dead runner at -3670, 3652.


Note 8 - Demolition

Demolition
Dear Whoever,

Happy New Year?

This town is so quiet… Almost peaceful. It reminds me of that one winter I spent with my sister Marta, when a blizzard hit. Everyone warned us to stay inside, but we were so stir-crazy we went out for a walk the moment it looked clear.

The snow ate up all the noise, until it felt like we were the only humans left on Earth.

Now it really feels like I’m the only person left alive. It’s so lonely. I can still see the smoke in the distance of my old camp. Poor Freddie and Basse and Calle… I really hope they’re okay. But I’ve come this far to gather information on the machines; if I don’t get any answers, then what was I even doing out here? What was the point?

I found two large craters in the ground where a building had stood. All that manmade structure turned into black ash. Probably only took seconds. Back in my old job we’d level buildings sometimes. But it was never anything like this.

I’m safe for now, safe enough to write down these letters to whoever might read them. The cables running south must be important. I’m going to find out what they’re for, even if it kills me.

If you can, follow the cables south, and join me where they end. I don’t want to believe I’m the last man on Earth.

We have to survive. It can’t end like this. Generations from now there has to be record that we existed.

Keep existing,
Your friend, Janek

Extra Info: The 8th note is found on a round table in Fiskebäck at -4569, 3681, and we can safely assume that Janek wrote it in Fiskebäck. So the quiet town is Fiskebäck. And it is possible from there to see a big smoke stack coming from Måsskär, after it was attacked.


Note 9 - A New Decade

A New Decade
Dear Whoever,

It’s either late in December of 1989… or early January 1990, the first few weeks of a new decade.

I’ve been keeping detailed notes on the machines ever since the very first day they dropped. Those maszyny felt like a thunderbolt. I actually thought it was a thunderstorm, at first. The rumbles in the ground… then the gunfire.

I’ve always been teased for being too eager and curious. Always asking questions. Always needing answers. I hope you’re a little bit like me, whoever you are, reading these. I hope curiosity burns bright in you too, and my notes shed some light on the answer. If these notes are of use to anyone, then they are worth it.

The maszyny have erected a gigantic… furnace? core? shrine? near the town. I’ve been trying to sketch it, but nothing does it justice. It glows bright blue and hums at all hours of the night.

For days I have been limping along, following these cables all the way south. All the way here.

What is it? What is this machine? A bomb? A signal-carrier? Some kind of hub? A mother-port for the machines to recharge, or pass along information?

Whatever it is, they protect it with a devotion that borders on reverence.

Everything leads here. But the final answer slips out of my fingers every time.
I’ll keep watching, looking, and taking notes. It’s what I’m best at.

Your friend,
Janek

Extra info: Between note 8 and 9, Janek moved from Fiskebäck to Hällabacken High Security Prison and note 9 is found near the Prison at Hällabacken Farm on a bucket at -5015, 4181. However, he did pass FNIX Central Nervous System and most likely saw FNIX’es cannon/artillery. Here Janek probably refers to the cannon as being the “gigantic… thing”. Since it’s very big. And is also located close to Fiskebäck town.


Note 10 - Dear Survivor and Fellow Friend

Dear Survivor and Fellow Friend

I can only assume whoever is reading this is human. If so, that makes us allies.
If you’ve found this note or any of the others I’ve left, then you should know this will be the last one. I’ve run out of writing material. I need to keep some for my own personal research notes.

Before all of this happened, my job was wiring. Electricity. Things like that. I fancied myself a little bit of an engineer. Cables, you know?

We were out on a new build site up north when the first evacuation orders came out. Those never reached where we were doing construction, so when the machines arrived, we were caught by surprise…

I tried finding my sister and her family in Ostervik only to find it abandoned. After that, I grouped up with fellow survivors on the archipelago, figuring it would be easier to defend.
For the past few days I’ve been trying to figure out what the machines are planning to do next. It might be a fruitless quest, but it’s what has driven me this far. I’m exhausted, and my ankle is so swollen it looks like a damn grapefruit. This might be the end of my journey on foot.

I’m going to see if any of these old boats are seaworthy. Even if they aren’t, by hell or highwater, I’m gonna get my way back to dig up what’s left of the Måsskär camp. If the others are still alive, they need to know about what I found out here.

It is my sincerest hope to find you there too, whoever you are. Keep hope. One day we will be together again with our families and our friends. One day we’ll be safe again, and we can walk without fear.

Humans are very good at surviving; it’s what we do best.

Stay alive.

Your friend, as always,
Janek

Extra info: Note 10 is found east of Lysehamn on a table in a cabin at -4873, 4798.


Extra Info: Survivor notes were found in June '20 DLC FNIX Rising.
Extra Info: Timeline map with dates and location of each Note.
(not all notes were dated)

Map with locations of the Survivor Notes

(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.)




To Return to the top Click here.
For Resistance Newsletters Lore Click here.
For Russian Doll’s Lore Click here.
For Signs of a Resistance Lore Click here.
For War Figurine Notes Click here.


For The Survivor Notes Picture locations Click here.


Other important lore resources
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

7 Likes

I’m still wondering about this passage that machines abduct humans. And the FNIX entity stating his (human) assets he had there was moved to safety.

  • Where are the humans?
  • Why are they abducted?

I imagine humans can have been moved to something like ‘The Hive’ underground bunkers (as in Resident Evil) or just transported by underground train to one of the other islands that we don’t have access to yet.

Why are they being abducted? For safety of some other danger? For use as resource, organic or labour or something entirely different?

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Have you ever been at Bunker 666?
Listen…

(Relating to text from Note 7)

I haven’t read all the texts yet, but I think that there are as of yet no clues where Fnix moved the humans to.

In the “Good Night” mission this conversation took place:

Veronika: “All the data say there should be a lot of survivors here. Where did they all go?”
FNIX: “Worry not. I moved my precious resources somewhere you will never harm them.”

As for why they were abducted, wasn’t it so that it seemed that Fnix wanted or is using human resources (via brain interfacing) and to use the brainpower to remotely control all the human-made machines?

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A keen eye will spot all those people on screens during the mission “Behind the Curtain” :wink:

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Ah, so a keen eye probably made screenshots of those screens, yes? :sunglasses:

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Bugs-Bunny-No-No

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Yes, it would be logical for FNIX to physically instancing itself and thus need human brains. FNIX also claimed it can never be destroyed so I recon every human interfaced with have FNIX are not human anymore. That could mean Elsa is FNIX too.

In Good Night end mission dialogue:
FNIX: “You may kill me as many times as you wish. But I will spring forth again from my backup memories.”

Veronika: “There’s someone I love out there who I need to find before it’s too late. I’m sorry, I wish I could stay, but I can’t lose Elsa, too. But I’ll keep in touch. Promise. Stay safe out there.”

[Edit: Inserted dialogue texts from Good Night mission for clarification.]

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Janek describe how FNIX works by his findings of what he can observe through the machines behaviour. Machines work to produce electricity, powerlines and the construction of bases we assume of some strategic plan by FNIX.

In Note 2 he didn’t mention the powerlines at that site that goes into the water, Janek could only observe what was going on on the surface. Those powerlines may also have been a later addition in the game?

From these notes comes the question if machines are remote controlled as designed by the FOA and thus are forcing FNIX to comply with time-sharing processing in a real-time based system. This could be a vulnerability where attacking hoards of robots or the Reaper will distract FNIX’s defences reducing processing power and open up for Veronika to hack the mainframes in future missions. If FNIX instead utilize multiprocessing and multithreading with human brains then this won’t work.

There are no similar notes on Himfjallet Island. I suggest some Iron Church Notes leading to FOA2 would be needed in the game to complete the understanding of how FNIX operates and find it’s vulnerabilities.

2 Likes

It is not clear to me who Veronika is talking to when she says:

It would be strange if it was FNIX, even if she thought she was talking to the Svante part. No she must have been talking to us, the players.

But she said it because she lost Svante and Calle her friends, and she doesn’t want to lose Elsa too, because she loves her romantically.

I don’t think that FNIX uses humans who are still able to interact with others. The humans the FNIX uses are connected to an interface, somewhere safe from the resistance.

Not sure I can follow your thoughts. It seem to me that when Janek wrote Note 2 to Basse, he hadn’t yet seen the powerlines or just did not mentioned them, because he was writing about the machines’ caches (red vaults), and the resources they could get from. In his third note however, he did mention them.

1 Like

Some questions someone might answer…

  • Note 5: While out stalking the machines to gather more information, Janek discovered some horrible furnace they built, larger than the Devil and twice as ugly. Where would that be?

  • Note 7: In any case, they spotted Janek when he got too close to their fort, and tripped an alarm. What FNIX fort is Janek talking about?

  • Note 8: This town is so quiet… …I can still see the smoke in the distance of my old camp. (Måsskär?) What town do you think?

  • Note 9: The maszyny have erected a gigantic… furnace? core? shrine? near the town. What did Janek mean with that Furnace?

1 Like

I played through all missions and covered most areas before installing Alpine and FNIX Rising, I haven’t noticed any of these things too. It is like furnace-things have been moved or he is exaggerating things, but to what end? I don’t think FNIX missions destroyed those things any way. Smoke however should have vanished if letter were written some time ago so that one is understandable.

@Madchaser yes that closed bunker is creepy with or without the funny glasses.

(Off topic: Have you been to the haunted barn on top of the Norrmyra Artillery base? I just got there today and also noticed that bunker below the barn have a lot of locked doors. No weird sound though, just silent. But lots of rooms to keep prisoners? -2508,-2755)

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Just to know which notice belongs to which place…

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There is a prison with some dead bodies in a cage at the fnix outpost next to Stenungsnäs.

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True, that fnix prison is a better fit to where people were taken. That Norrmyra bunker better fits an Iron Church hideout.

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So what do you see?

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A bunch of people dreaming they are machines :robot:

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Added Janek’s timeline of his journey.

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I had some private discussion about who Veronika is talking to in that instance, and the consensus was that she was talking to us, the player.

In “We are the Resistance” mission
Elsa Khorsandi left half of her military identity badge in the cellar, in the hope that Veronika would come back and find it. That was her way to say: "I’m outta here, but I’m not dead."
On a piece of paper found next to it, she wrote: “Veronika, remember, we are the Resistance!”

It also seems that Veronika and Elsa, who both shared the same shelter at Ängsnäs Manor, had developed some romantic relation. That would be a reason why Veronika did not want to lose her.

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