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| “ | Mary: Montana... Big Sky Country... The Treasure State... People got a lot of names for it. I just... call it home. Pastor Jeffries: Lived here my whole life. Still amazed at how beautiful it is. Nick: Maybe that's what blinded us to how ugly the people were gettin'. Pastor Jeffries: You don't understand. No-one took these groups seriously. Nick: They were different. Religious. Millitant. It was a goddamn cult. Mary: They started buying up every farm for miles. Then the radio station. Not long after that, they even had the f-ckin' cops. Pastor Jeffries: Their own sovereign religious state. Built right here, under our noses. Nick: Ain't no one comin' to help us. Government can't do sh-t. We're on our own. Mary: People don't want to believe groups like this exist. Nick: People are scared, man. Pastor Jeffries: We don't know what he's capable of... Who? Their leader. Nick: Joseph Seed. Mary: They call him "The Father." |
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| ~ Pastor Jerome Jeffries, Mary May Fairgrave and Nick Rye about the Project at Eden's Gate in Far Cry 5's opening. |
| “ | I am your father, and you are my children. And together, we will march to Eden's Gate. | „ |
| ~ Joseph Seed to his followers. |
The Project at Eden's Gate are the main antagonists of the 2018 video game Far Cry 5 and the overarching antagonists of its 2019 standalone sequel Far Cry New Dawn. The Project are a militaristic doomsday cult founded by religious preacher Joseph Seed, and led by him and his family. They believe that the end of the world, which they dub "The Collapse", is quickly approaching, and have taken it upon themselves to prepare what people they can to survive underground. The cult achieves their aims using weaponry, torture tactics, the use of a drug called "the Bliss", and even murder for those who refuse to join.
Each enemy man/woman is voiced by many different types of voice, but some are the same.
History[]
Past[]
According to Dutch, Joseph and his brothers John and Jacob arrived in Hope County very suddenly and began amassing followers using their fanaticism and specifically Joseph Seed's incredible charisma. Many of the cultists appeared to come from working-class backgrounds and broken homes while others were implied to have lead overall depressing personal lives, which would make them more impressionable to join the Project.
Increasing in power and followers through his own religious organization - the Project at Eden's Gate (the members pejoratively referred to as "Peggies" by locals), Seed claimed dominance of Hope County which is run by him and his Heralds - his siblings. Seed's iron-fisted rule sparked the attention of the authorities, none of whom could do anything to stop him as he had informants in the law enforcement and National Guard which made it impossible to arrest him or help the locals.
With their firepower and powerful influence over the Montana government, the police were eliminated and all outside help was cut off when Eden's Gate took control of the radio towers. In addition, the cult manage to locate missile silos and repurpose them into bunkers to wait out the Collapse. There are documents in the game that reveal the US government is actually aware of the Cult Activities and has a plan in place to bring them down. This is further proved by speaking with Willis Huntley who also says The Cult has popped up on the government radar. Although multiple federal agencies like the FBI and the US Marshals kept an eye on Eden's Gate, with no evidence of anything illegal going on, they were powerless to stop Joseph Seed who was protected by the 1st Amendment. With no help coming for them, the inhabitants of Hope County began to lose spirit under Joseph's dominion.
Far Cry 5[]
In 2018, a video surfaces online of a sermon by Joseph Seed being recorded but Seed notices the recording and kills the attendee. However, the video manages to make it to the wider world which allows the US Government to file a federal warrant Joseph Seed's arrest for kidnapping with intent to kill so Officers Hudson, Pratt, Sheriff Whitehorse, a US Marshal named Burke and a Junior Deputy deploy to Fall's End in chopper to arrest him. Upon landing, they are confronted with hundreds of well-armed cultists, although the cultists make no initial attempt to stop them.
They enter a church where a shirtless Seed is in the middle of a passionate sermon where he forewarns his followers of the oncoming "Collapse". He stops, however, when he realizes the police with the intent to arrest him. Despite the hostility of his followers who also realize this, Seed calmly allows himself to be handcuffed and marched to the helicopter, though he claims that God will not let them take him, and warns them that sometimes the best thing to do is to walk away. As the officers bring Joseph to the helicopter, the cultists become much more aggressive - one desperately clings onto the leg of the chopper and even allows himself to be sucked into the spinning blades to stop the Father being arrested. After the chopper crashes, Jospeh awakens and escapes, and interprets the attempt at arrest as the first sign of the Collapse, and initiates a full-takeover of Hope County. Although the Deputy manages to escape the Project and is saved by Richard "Dutch" Roosevelt, Hudson, Whitehorse and Pratt are pulled from the chopper and captured, while Burke is captured after helping the Deputy escape; Whitehorse and Burke fall under Faith's control, Pratt is indoctrinated by Jacob, and Hudson is imprisoned in John's bunker.
Over time, the Deputy is able to rally the entirety of the reluctant members of Hope County into a Resistance by rescuing hostages, helping locals out, and destroying cult property such as silos, wolf beacons, shrines, and cult outposts. In addition, the Deputy manages to kill John, Jacob, and Faith, each of whom warns the Deputy of the futility of their actions before dying. With his entire family dead and Eden's Gate crippled, Joseph tells the Deputy to meet him where it began; the Church of Eden's Gate in Joseph's Compound. Waiting for the Deputy, The Father reveals he has brainwashed the Deputy's allies, who have kidnapped Hudson, Pratt and Whitehorse and hold them at gunpoint. When the Deputy arrives, Joseph offers the Deputy a final chance to walk away with his friends unharmed if they leave him and Eden's Gate alone.
One of two possible endings then play but the canonical one has a nuclear bomb detonate and utterly destroy Hope County; turning it into a wasteland and killing almost all of its residents. With the destruction of Hope County, the Project at Eden's Gate is no more but the remnants of the cult, including Joseph, founded a new group known as New Eden.
- Walk Away: With the Deputy’s departure, Joseph remains in charge with the brainwashed leaders of the Resistance. Even though a massive amount of his cult were killed and defeated it is likely he managed to strengthen his cause again with brainwashing what is left of the resistance. Some time after however, the National Guard is likely deployed but it’s likely Joseph and his remaining followers went underground in their remaining bunkers to await the collapse together.
- Resist: As revealed in Far Cry New Dawn, the remnants of the Cult took shelter in the remains of John Seed's bunker in the Holland Valley after The Collapse. Starvation, disease, and a constant threat of flooding nearly destroyed the Cult completely. Years later, Joseph returned with The Junior Deputy and rallied the survivors of Eden's Gate. Together, they all set out North and founded a new group, New Eden.
Far Cry 6[]
The world including the US were not destroyed in 2018, and the waves of sectarian violence incited by the cult did not happen, or at least nowhere near the level seen in Far Cry 5, as the Seed Family are still alive with public online presence as of late 2021, likely because they and their cult are not breaking the laws, at least not to the point of being confronted by US law enforcements, as the US government is not distracted by WW3 in this case. As a result, it is unclear as to Far Cry 5's canonicity and thus the fate of the Project at Eden's Gate is dubious.
Structure[]
The Project at Eden's Gate is an immense and extremely varied organisation that is organized as it is radicalized. At the very top of the structure is Joseph "The Father" Seed who is worshipped as a Jesus-like figure by the Peggies. Beneath him are his Heralds; John, Jacob and Faith with The Cook ranking somewhere below them. The rest of the cult is made up of a number of cultists of differing ranks. Recently converted members are referred to as "Followers" and are only armed and armored very basically, with some only armed with baseball bats or other melee weapons. The Project's security forces are better equipped and trained than the Followers, and wear heavier clothing and body armor. The most elite are the Chosen, who usually appear in weaponized planes but are also occasionally found supporting other members on the ground. The Project is surprisingly wealthy as they were able to buy multiple properties, arm every follower, and obtain multiple grounds and air vehicles.
The Project's followers exhibit an immense amount of devotion to Joseph Seed, seemingly refusing to allow him to surrender, despite his willingness to do so, as evident when followers climbed aboard the police helicopter in an effort to save their Father, with one follower sacrificing himself by jumping into the helicopter's rotor blades in an attempt to disable the vehicle. It is only hinted what the Project's stance with children since some of the members who joined were parents. It can be safe to assume Faith and her Priestesses take care of the children, teaching them about Joseph and the Project. It is also mentioned on a note in the Holmes Residence that Jacob has a training program, which he presumably uses to teach minors to fight for Eden’s Gate, as long as they meet the proper age requirements.
Having taken over the three regions of Hope County, the Peggies have divided the county into three clear areas of control. Any new members of the cult were broken by John in the Holland Valley who forces them to confess and atone their sins through torture. They are then trained and brainwashed further by Jacob in the Whitetail Mountains with resistance further being destroyed by Faith who supplies the inhabitants with "Bliss", a euphoric drug that keeps the user zombie-like and obedient.
Members[]
The Father[]
Heralds[]
- John Seed
- Faith Seed
- Jacob Seed
- The Chosen
Cult VIPs[]
- Priestesses
- Chemists
- Feeney
- Butcher
- Baptists
- Trainers
- Scientists
Followers[]
- Pistolero: Eden’s Gate Pistoleros are the most basic footsoldiers; inexperienced and ill-disciplined in combat, using constant gunfire and support to make up for their shortcomings.
- Assaulter: Eden’s Gate Assaulters are inexperienced, but fight with passion and are quickly learning their way on the battlefield.
- Holly
- Dimitri (defected)
- Deputy Nancy
Animals[]
- Bulldogs
- Judges
Trivia[]
- The Cult logo heavily resembles the Church Of Scientology cross.
- When engaging the Project, the lower ranked cultists show fear when they are fighting against the Deputy or any Resistance member, while The Chosen/Security are more battle-hardened and professional when engaging the Deputy or Resistance.
- The name is a reference to the Heaven's Gate Away Team, a real-life cult that committed mass suicide because they believed that Comet Hale-Bopp was followed by a spaceship designed to take them away.
- Almost male Project members have beards. According to Far Cry Absolution, all male members have beards and tattoos while female members have long unkempt hair. It is unclear if all women have tattoos.'
- The Cult logo is slightly different per region, in Joseph's Compound it is a black cross on a white background, in John's region it is a white cross on a black background, in Faith's region it is a black cross on a pale green background, and in Jacob's region it is a white cross on a red background. The selection of background colors is interesting because they are the same as the colors of the horses of the Four Horsemen (white (Joseph) is the conqueror (he sends his people to conquer Hope County and, after the Collapse, the New World), black (John who bought the farmers' land and took their produce) is famine, red (Jacob) is the bringer of war who makes men kill each other, and pale green is Death (or plague) (Faith) who is followed by Hades (the land of the dead - Faith is indeed followed by a legion of Angels who are, for all intents and purposes, zombies or living dead). This is further supported by a key image depicting Joseph, Jacob, John, and Faith riding on a white, red, black, and pale horse respectively.
- The Cult also has two variations of the American Flag, One where the stars are replaced with small Cult Logos and another the same however a large cross in the middle of the smaller crosses.
- The Cult's militancy is very similar to that of the real-life Peoples Temple cult, the Peoples Temple had trained soldiers who would attack cult members trying to leave and even outsiders. U.S Congressman Leo Ryan was one of the victims of these armed cultists.
- The game’s “Throbber” is the cult’s logo spinning around.
- While in outposts, some of the cultists will sing along on the songs playing from the speakers. In each region the song that is made for the herald ruling the region, they will say "This one is my favourite". Also when holding hostages, they will sing the songs without a radio playing it. Some will also trail off and forget some of the lyrics.
- In Far Cry 6's secret ending, one can spot the cult's logo on the US flag hanging on the beach in Miami. However, in order to spot the easter egg, you need to turn the Depth of Field graphics setting off, otherwise the cult's logo will be too blurred to be recognizable.
- While listening to dialogue spoken by cult members to one another, many of them state they have had no experience with firearms before joining the Project.
- While listening to dialogue spoken by cult members to hostages, many of them state that they take no pleasure in torturing them, implying that they only do so out of fear that they would be judged otherwise.
- According to Joseph, the Voice is the Voice of the Creator.
[]
 Villains
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Krieger Corporation Alliance for Popular Resistance United Front for Liberation and Labour Hoyt's Privateers Omega Force Royal Army The Golden Path The Disciples Project at Eden's Gate Fuerzas Nacionales de Defensa Shadow Place Others | ||