According to my experience, it's vaguely related to how drugs are smuggled into the wasteland, probably more a private joke from the devs than anything else.

And I think it's meant to remain cryptic. :)

Yes, I believe you are right about the drug smuggling. It's implied elsewhere that some of the mailmen have some kind of smuggling network.

Also of interest is the way the mailman in Krasnoznmeny all of a sudden shifted his persona from confused and distressed to grim and confident when you tell him the news. At one point he stands up straight and smooths out his hair as you are talking to him.

Furthermore, if you tell the BBQ guys that you got tipped off from the mailman, they start to panic. Also, one of the BBQ guy's notes says something about people wanting to get revenge on them.

Perhaps the BBQ guys were moving in on the drug smuggling business and this angered the mailmen? And one of the mailmen decided to recruit a hitman (me, the player) but did so in a sympathetic, conspiratorial way? Dang, ATOM has some dark stuff.

Indeed, and there are more and most disturbing things happening out there (in the Dead City metro).

They're smuggling network is more than implied - in the mountain pass you can meet another mailman who wants you to deliver a package, the guy you delivery it to basically shits his pants and runs off - but before that he tells you a bit about it.

As to the BBQ place - they were moving in on their business, but it wasn't their drug smuggling business... So, yeah, pretty dark...

Dead City, as others have mentioned, shows an equally (or even more) messed up operation of theirs.

If you get Trudograd, there's a little side-quest that probably doesn't make sense unless you've played ATOM and discovered this.

Yes, you are correct. I noticed that there a certain symbol on the package in the mountain pass - a trumpet with a plug. This same symbol was on the wad of 3,000 rubles the first mailman gave me. So, the mailmen definitely have some kind of shadowy human/drug trafficking going on. What's more, they emotionally manipulated me into doing their dirty work!

Yeah, they're pieces of work all right. Not that I'm complaining since we DID rid the world of snuff porn manufacturers AND got paid for it.

The Dead City quest mentioned allows you to take some of them down though. After what is easily the toughest fight in the game. Definitely glad they added this in with the massive Dead City patch (it wasn't there at launch - actually Dead City was pretty much dead at first).

I really like how they wrote these guys - the info about them comes about in bits and pieces here and there, and you can slowly build up a better idea about them throughout the game, but one has to pay careful attention to all the details throughout.

!Spoilers!

Absolutely. The Secret Cartel is so well hidden that for the first ten or fifteen hours I questioned my own deductive abilities because of the various instances where you can happen upon them or their signs.

I think there is even one instance (could have been the Bearded Lady, or maybe the Possessed in Otradnoye after 'curing' him?) where they quite explicitly call them the Devil while warning you expressly to never-ever deal with anyone using the muted bugle as sign.

And, I mean, the quest in the Dead City in particular has its Cartel liaison called Satanovsky, and he describes the silent bugle as their way of saying that they are indeed the most silent of postmen. Can't wait for more info with Trudograd.


...Also, I love that this is kind of the MO of the game where not much is actually spelled out for you, and everything is just individuals talking about their interpretation of it; It starts out as a zany rumour, and then you recognize something familiar a few hours later, and when you realize the thing may be closer than comfortable, it may be too late. Alas, poor Alexander!

Yeah the worm plot sprinkled throughout definitely falls into that line - when I first met those three guys (who want you to find out "who has the worm") I wasn't sure whether it existed or whether they were all crazy. At least not till Alexander. ;)

Krasnov's syndrome is another one - after the gate guard tried to fleece me, I thought it sounded like a made-up disease, but then you meet that guy who supposedly has it.