This distortion of the noosphere powered by C-Consciousness and the machinery it was connected to created the anomalies and many of the mutants that inhabit the Zone in 2012. Desperate to correct its mistake and in order to shield itself from outside interference, such as the meddlesome "Stalkers" looking for treasure and the Ukrainian military which was desperately trying to reassert control over The Zone, the C-Consciousness created a "Monolith" in the center of the gutted Reactor 4, and used its ability to take control of the minds of normal humans to create the Monolith cult, a group of heavily armed zealots whose tenets included worship of the Monolith and the prevention of "heretics" from approaching the Monolith.