Far Cry 5 - Story Behind The Project At Eden's Gate (LORE)

Summarized background of the Cult. To help new and old players understand the history behind the Cult, it's followers, and its goals.

Introduction:

The Project at Eden's Gate is a doomsday cult and armed terrorist paramilitary group, led by Joseph Seed and his siblings during the events of Inside Eden's Gate and Far Cry 5. Locals refer to members of the cult as "Peggies", which stands for Project at Eden's Gate.

They are highly militaristic with a large arsenal of weaponry to oppress non-believers. However, unlike the past enemy factions of the Far Cry series, they are not as well-armed or well-trained in formal military training as a traditional paramilitary groups like the Privateers, Royal Army (Guards), or Mercenaries.

Despite their lack of military-grade weapons, they are the first enemy to own attack aircraft. However, their aircraft are either modified WWII-era fighters or agricultural planes outfitted with machine gun hardpoints. They are also known to utilize scorched-earth tactics as well as terror/demoralization strategies, destroying farms and other potential supplies of the Resistance, taking hostages, as well as desecrating the cemeteries and graves belonging to the community.

Joseph's siblings all seem to utilize some form of Mind Control to mentally subvert them. Faith uses a drug called Bliss to brainwash prisoners and people who resist the cult she calls "Angels" (who are used as cannon fodder and charge at the cult's opponents with melee weapons), while Jacob uses Mind-Control Music to activate Sleeper Agents. In the prequel, John pours a neon blue liquid that may or may not be Bliss into the river used to baptize new converts to the cult, and Faith adds the same liquid into the tea she gives Sara.

History Of Eden's Gate:

According to The Book of Joseph, the Project at Eden's Gate was started in Rome, Georgia by Joseph after hearing the Voice and recruiting his brothers. After a police accusation over their role in the disappearance of a man, Joseph decided to move the congregation to a rural part of the country, settling on Hope County on accounts of its name and defensibility.

Along the way, Eden's Gate continued to build up a large congregation, though being constantly monitored by the police and FBI. By the time they arrived, they were numbering in the hundreds. After arriving, John was able to use his fortune in acquiring land for the Project, and his legal skills in defending the Project. In the time since, more people joined the project due to its moral code and support system, Faith being one of them.

By the events of Far Cry 5, Joseph had declared the apocalypse imminent, and the Project has moved towards seizing land and forcibly recruiting people to reach its goals.

Enemy Ranks:

The Project 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 three basic ranks of the Project are Pistolero, Assault, and Defender.

⭐ The Pistolero is armed with the 1911 and is the weakest enemy in the game, rarely taking cover and dealing very little damage with their pistols.

⭐ The Assaulter is the most basic and common enemy in the game, using the AR-C and grenades.

⭐ The Defender is similar to the Assaulter but wears body armor that gives them more durability and prefers to stay at a distance and use suppressive fire.

The Seed Family:

According to The Word of Joseph, the Seed siblings came from a broken household, with an alcoholic and highly religious father whom the public referred to as "Old Man Seed". They lived in a poor neighborhood in Rome, Georgia. He would later pull Joseph and Jacob out to be home-schooled. Their mother did little to act, seemingly turning a deaf ear to what was happening, apparently having been crushed by her marriage to her husband.

After teachers discovered that John had been beaten, the Seed siblings were placed into social services. Old Man Seed would die in a federal prison in Atlanta towards the end of his sentence, having apparently fallen down stairs, while their mother would never be seen again.

The Seed siblings would be sent to an orphanage first, and then to foster parents in a small town not far from Rome, where they would be beaten, forced to work in the fields, care for themselves and live in a barn. One night, Jacob set fire to the farm, killing their adoptive parents. Afterward, the Seeds would be diagnosed by psychiatrists as dangerous, and who needed to be separated. Jacob was placed in a juvenile detention center, John was adopted by the Duncan family, and Joseph was left alone at the orphanage, passing through several foster families throughout his adolescence.

Joseph Seed - The Founder:

According to The Book of Joseph, Joseph first heard from the Voice while he was being beaten by his father for reading a Spider-Man comic. Afterwards, when his father started beating John too, the teachers in the school took notice of his scars, alerted the authorities, and the Seed family was separated. The siblings were placed into foster care. Joseph passed through several foster families during his adolescence and found it difficult to connect with his classmates and siblings, living life as a lonely orphan. The Voice's message would accompany Joseph during this period.

As a young man, Joseph squatted in an old packing plant in his hometown as he searched for his brothers, working as a bellhop in the meantime. During this time, he would also become deeply interested in religion in an attempt to understand the Voice. Later, he would move to Atlanta in search for John and found work as a garbage collector.

In many of his jobs, he was fired for talking about the Voice. Later on, he took on the position as a caretaker in a psychiatric hospital. One night as he went to the hospital for the late shift, he was mugged by three men and it was then that the Voice contacted him for the final time. The Voice gave him a vision of the apocalypse and the "punishment" that would be inflicted upon the world.

After recruiting his two brothers into his Vision, Joseph began to preach out of a former slaughterhouse in Rome, Georgia, eventually building up a considerable congregation of the marginalized in society. However, following the disappearance of a man who had been kicked out of Eden's Gate, the police interrogated and accused the Seeds of being behind the man's disappearance. After that, the Seeds then moved to Hope County with their following.

He had a wife and a daughter, both of which were involved in some type of car accident while traveling to see a friend. During the accident his wife was killed, leaving him with only his infant daughter. When he was in the hospital he says they handed him a pink bundle filled with tubes (his daughter).

While in a room alone with his daughter Joseph believes that that's when God told him about the end of the world and to start Eden's Gate. He then killed his daughter by pinching the plastic tube attached to her face; shutting off his daughter's life support to prove his willingness to "serve God no matter what he asks.”

Jacob Seed - Head Of Security:

A 44-year-old veteran of the U.S. Army, in which he served as a marksman as a part of the 82nd Airborne Division. He is responsible for maintaining the security of his family and training new soldiers for Eden's Gate.

According to The Book of Joseph, Jacob deliberately set fire to their foster parent's farm and was sent to a juvenile detention center. There, he continued to be rebellious, and constantly clashed with the correctional system.

Despite this, reports praised him for his sense of honor and leadership skills. After serving out his sentence, he joined the Army, serving several tours on the front lines of Iraq and Afghanistan. He was wounded and decorated multiple times.

However, a later medical report warned Jacob's superiors that he was suffering from PTSD. He was declared unfit for service and sent to a military hospital. After running out of money, he was discharged and ended up in a homeless shelter in his hometown of Rome, where Joseph and John would later find him, and recruit him into their ranks as their main soldier.

John Seed - Head Of Indoctrination:

John is a cult lawyer prepared to defend his family through the legal system. After the separation of the Seed family, he was adopted by the Duncan family, a wealthy and highly religious family from Atlanta. According to The Book of Joseph, the Duncan's considered John's soul to be tainted, and they psychologically tortured John in confessing all and any sins through interrogation and a series of fundamentalist pastors.

John came to understand that even if he had nothing to hide, he would need to make something up, and became extraordinarily skilled at disguising himself with what others wanted to see. As a result, he became skilled at psychological manipulation and used this skill to acquire secrets about others to his own advantage.

After attending a prestigious East Coast University and graduating at the top of his class, John became one of the fastest rising lawyers in Atlanta, inheriting a small fortune upon the death of his parents. He became extremely wealthy and well-connected, apparently portraying himself as a physical sign of success.

Despite this, he disliked himself and society for what it had done to his childhood and wished for its destruction. By the time Joseph had contacted him, John was an associate at a major law firm undertaking the redevelopment of his childhood neighborhood in his hometown of Rome. After their meeting, John joined Joseph in his Vision under the role of the confessor of Eden's Gate.

Upon arriving at Hope County, John was able to use his fortune in acquiring land and farms without hassle, and quickly became acquainted with the county political and legal system.

Faith Seed/Rachel Jessop - Head Of Production:

Faith is one of Joseph Seed's Lieutenants and is in charge of the Henbane River area of Hope County. She is in charge of the manufacturing of Bliss, which keeps the cult in a state of euphoria. She was born Rachel Jessop to the affluent Jessop family that owned a conservatory in the eastern part of Hope County.

Faith's father was a doctor who experimented with plants as part of an altruistic effort to save people. Before the atrium was converted into a Bliss research facility, Faith's mother grew orchids in one of the greenhouses.

Due to her personality and naivety Faith suffered a lot of abuse and, as a result, turned to drugs for comfort. She left her family and searched for a new home and found the Project at Eden's Gate.

Additional Lore:

⭐ According to Joseph, the Voice is the Voice of the Creator.
​
⭐ The Project at Eden's Gate recruits largely from the marginalized in society.

⭐ ​By the time of the events of Far Cry 5, the Project has amassed to several thousand followers.

⭐ Many of the cultists appear to come from working-class backgrounds and broken homes while others are implied to have lead overall depressing personal lives, which would make them more impressionable to join the Project.

⭐ Most of the cultists are not Hope County residents. Joseph has recruited members from all across the country to join the project. It is presumed he has recruiters in every state convincing worthy members to move to Hope County.

⭐ When engaging the Project, the lower ranked cultists show fear when they are fighting against the Deputy or any Resistance member, while The Chosen are more battle-hardened and professional when engaging the Deputy or Resistance.

⭐ The Project at Eden's Gate largely preaches an isolationist stance from society, considering it irredeemable, with isolation and a simple lifestyle and strict moral code necessary for survival.

⭐ 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.

⭐ The Project is surprisingly wealthy as they were able to buy multiple properties, arm every follower, and obtain multiple ground and air vehicles.

⭐ The Project at Eden's Gate and plot for Far Cry 5 is very similar to the Waco siege when the Branch Davidians led by David Koresh locked themselves inside the compound to fight against the ATF and FBI.

⭐The name is a reference to the Heaven's Gate Away Team, a real-life cult that committed suicide because they believed that Comet Hale-Bopp was followed by a spaceship designed to take them away.

⭐ 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.

Final Thoughts:

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Extracts From:
⭐ Far Cry Playlist: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLmgoMocRMZKsRfBjIDgWkx7IxC5WX7tBx&si=I5Nfvl70utp8Wk77

Thank you!

[Simon McAllister]

A little correction. Jacob was a veteran of Desert Storm/ First Gulf War. Not Iraq and Afghanistan aka War on Terror. He states this before he tells the Deputy about his squadmate and himself getting lost in the desert of Iraq during the First Persian Gulf War.

[Desertdog7]

I had a hunch, the murders at Waco were in part, inspiration for this game. There needs to be a mod that ads certain fed bois to the game as NPCs that are hostile to the Resistance, as well as an option to join the Seeds against them.

[ᶜʰᵉᵉˢᵉCheese]

Well put together summary of the lore. Though I have wondered, when the nukes were dropped, maybe Joseph had already converted the government and they were never actually going to exterminate Josephs cult?

[Uve beendoogied]

Types of enemies didn't include sniper?

[S7R1D3R]

Not to necro this post but you forgot that there has been multiple Faith's and that the current one is a bit of a Drug addict

[McALEER GAMES]

@reyshiva098, thank you for the comment mate, much appreciated

[Rey^SHIVA^@619]

Nice LORE

[Mr. Plague Doc]

oh im fuckin stupid

[McALEER GAMES]

https://farcry.fandom.com/wiki/Project_at_Eden%27s_Gate

[Mr. Plague Doc]

Slight nitpick, its Project Eden's Gate. Not Project at Edens Gate