The Altruists are a religious cult in Grand Theft Auto V and a gang in Grand Theft Auto Online.
History[]
Background[]
The Altruist Cult is a malevolent religion comprised entirely of elderly men from the baby boomer generation that follow Altruism and believe that all other generations after them are the cause of all problems in the world. They also have distaste for technology, even though some members use cars, and the entire group maintains a website.
Members can be seen walking around half naked, some fully naked, with their genitals exposed. In Grand Theft Auto Online however, due to censorship, most of the Altruists are wearing some form of clothing to cover genitalia. As a result, very few Altruists spawn naked or lacking clothing.
Events of Grand Theft Auto Online (prior to GTA V)[]
The Altruist cult has appeared in the mission Pickup Sticks where they guard the second package. In GTA Online, it was possible to start a gang attack with them at their camp. In one of the SecuroServ VIP missions for Hostile Takeover, they appear as adversaries at their camp, in the middle of some kind of deal with The Lost MC. They can be encountered in Bunkers resupply missions when collecting shipments. They will attack the player with Pistols, Flare Guns, Hatchets or barehanded. They can also be one of the player's buyers when using a helicopter to sell product for Motorcycle Clubs businesses. When approaching their camp during the sell mission, LJT will warn the player to keep their distance.
Events of Grand Theft Auto V[]
After the mission Nervous Ron, a text from Ron to Trevor Philips mentions the cult requesting "lost souls" in exchange for cash. It is implied that the cult are cannibals, as Ron says that they "just want them for dinner" and are obsessed with "young blood".
An internet news article from the Daily Globe after the mission reports the disappearance of several hitchhikers in the western hills and mountains of Blaine County. It is highly possible that these disappearances are connected with the Altruist Cult.
There is also a second news article from the Daily Globe about the disappearance of hitchhikers in the Chiliad Mountain State Wilderness after completing the mission Hood Safari.
The Cult's camp is also an airborne drop-off location for the arms trafficking missions.
Trevor can take certain random characters to their camp for a reward, where they are most likely killed for their flesh. Trevor likely has a history of doing this as he refers to the cult as his "friends in the mountains".
While some random event characters are good "investments" (as some give only a token amount of cash, as opposed to the $1,000 per head Trevor gets for them, or some give no rewards at all for being helped), others should not be delivered to the cult as they have far more value elsewhere, such as Castro Lagano who can play golf against the player, Antonia Bottino whose father will give Trevor $60,000 if she is rescued, Ursula who becomes a booty call option, and Packie McReary who becomes a valuable heist crew member.
Possible Victims[]
Note: Italicized names indicate victims that are not canonically one of the first three delivered to the cult, due to later appearances in Grand Theft Auto Online.
Primary[]
Victim | Reward for Delivery | Lost Reward |
---|---|---|
Snatched Girl | $1000 | N/A |
Drunk Couple | $2000 | $40 |
Drunk Driver | $1000 | $80 |
Secondary[]
Victim | Reward for Delivery | Lost Reward |
---|---|---|
Runaway Bride | $1000 | 5+ Driving stat |
Girl Hitchhiking | $1000 | 5+ Driving stat |
Lacey Jonas | $1000 | $750 |
Emergency[]
Victim | Reward for Delivery | Lost Ability |
---|---|---|
Ursula | $1000 | 5+ Driving stat and ability to arrange Booty Calls with her |
Castro Lagano | $1000 | $80 and ability to play against him in Golf |
Antonia Bottino | $1000 | $60,000+ |
Patrick McReary and his Accomplice | $2000 | $1000 and ability to use Patrick as a Heist gunman |
Shootout[]
After four people are delivered, an event is triggered in which Trevor is taken into the camp at gunpoint. He must then fight his way out of the compound by killing all of the cult members. There are four briefcases around the camp containing $25,000 each (totalling $100,000), as well as an RPG, an Assault Shotgun, a Baseball Bat, Body Armor and a health pack on the gate watch tower, all of which (except the money) respawn. The weapons respawn, so even after everyone is defeated, it's a good idea to hang about the camp for a bit and stock up.
Although the camp may seem abandoned after the shootout, this may not necessarily be the case; even if no Altruists spawn in the camp when it is approached on foot or by car, a few may appear if the player approaches the camp via helicopter; they seem to be highly skittish, as they tend to flee if the helicopter hovers/lands near them (it usually works in the enhanced edition, not confirmed in other versions). They may also spawn if the player drives a taxi into the camp during a job, or if a character is switched to while they are in the confines of the camp.
The reason Altruists appear after the shootout is unclear; it may have remaining habitants, which may also explain the fact that smoke continues to rise from some cabins' chimneys, or it is simply a programming oversight.
Aftermath[]
The Senora Beacon Newspaper
(After the player completes the Altruist Cult Shootout)
"A mass suicide appears to have taken place at an isolated cult camp in the hills near Chiliad Mountain State Wilderness. The group, called the Altruists, seems to have been made up of baby boomers. They were mostly nude or dressed in primitive rags and involved in some grisly practices including human sacrifice and possible cannibalism. Police are still investigating the site, but it seems they were a group of technophobes, alien hunters, gun nuts and anti-ageists convinced they could reclaim youth by drinking the blood or eating the flesh of young victims. The cult, who seems to have communicated on generational conflict and obsessed by the loss of baby boomers prestige as other demographics have tried to take some ownership over the world. Up to 50 ageing sociopaths are believed to have lived in the compound. It is not known what has happened to the rest or if this was a suicide, an execution or just part of every day life in San Andreas."
Weazel News (Radio)
A mass suicide at a cult camp. The Altruists were a terrifying cult of isolated baby boomers who lived in the hills. Now it seems most are dead after a mass suicide or ritualistic shooting that police are investigating. Marcela Gonzalez is on the scene.
Marcela: It's carnage here in the woods. The group seems to have annihilated themselves with many crowded around an area used for what appears to be ritual sacrifices, all seemed to have been late middle-aged people who expressed dissatisfaction with modern life. They loved guns and swinging, along with a ghoulish prolection for human flesh. Back to you, Steve.
We will stay with this story unless we're told not to.
Random Event[]
Michael De Santa or Franklin Clinton may encounter a random event which can be triggered somewhere in Great Chaparral, where two cult members attempt to attack a woman. They can rescue her and take her to her home in Harmony.
Events of Grand Theft Auto Online[]
The Altruist Cult is confirmed to still be active as of 2021. They can appear in the security contract mission Rescue Operation, attacking a millionaire near Raton Canyon after having shot down his helicopter. The player, on Franklin Clinton's orders, is tasked with rescuing the millionaire while fending off the pursuing Altruists who give chase in Mavericks.
In the Los Santos Drug Wars in 2022 they are seen to be taking delivery of Acid from the Hippies at the Altruist Camp, when the player arrives to destroy the Hippies' Surfer Custom delivery vans. The Altruists defend their camp, including arriving in a Valkyrie MOD.0 helicopter after the vans are destroyed.
Prominent Appearances in Gameplay[]
Grand Theft Auto V[]
- Six Random Events
- For Trevor
- Optional delivery of four victims
- Altruist Cult Shootout (starts right after the delivery of the fourth victim)
- Optional delivery of four victims
- For Michael or Franklin
- For Trevor
Grand Theft Auto Online[]
- Pickup Sticks (no longer available)
- Gang Attacks[vague]
Executives and Other Criminals[]
Bikers[]
- MC Club Sell missions[vague]
Gunrunning[]
- Stealing Supplies for Bunker[vague]
The Contract[]
- Security Contract: Rescue Operation (Trendy Millionaire)
Los Santos Drug Wars[]
Bottom Dollar Bounties[]
- Dispatch Work: Civil Disturbance
Members[]
There are no members named during the events of the game. An apparent Leader is seen during Trevor's shootout event.
Director Mode lists the following ranks within the cult:
- Vassal
- Serf
- Peon
Vehicles[]
Weapons[]
Turf[]
Their main headquarters is the Altruist Camp, in the Chiliad Mountain State Wilderness. It is a small but functional fortified village with numerous buildings painted with their livery.
Website[]
The cult's website, accessible with the in-game web browser, is www.altruistsunite.com. One can find the logo of the cult there, along with several strings of Morse code. The morse code translates to:
THE INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION HAS BEEN A DISASTER TO THE STABILITY OF THE HUMAN RACE. |
ALMOST ALL WOULD AGREE THAT CONTINUED FOCUS ON THE SUPERIORITY OF THE SUB 40 YOUNGER GENERATION WILL RESULT IN THE CATASTROPHIC AND TRAGIC END TO OUR CIVILIZATION. |
MAN IS A NOCTURNAL ANIMAL BY NATURE. |
THOSE WHO EXIST IN THE INDUSTRIAL-TECHNOLOGICAL SOCIETY, BATHING IN SUNLIGHT AND ELECTRONICS, SUFFER FROM PSYCHOLOGICAL PROBLEMS. |
HYPERVITAMINOSIS D CAUSES ABNORMALLY HIGH CONCENTRATIONS OF CALCIUM, WHICH CAN CAUSE HARM TO THE HEART, KIDNEYS AND BONES. TOXIC CONCENTRATIONS ARE A DIRECT RESULT OF EXPOSURE TO THE SUN. |
CROWDING CAUSES STRESS AND AGGRESSION. |
PRIMITIVE SOCIETIES, ONES WHERE CLOTHES AND TOOLS OF THE INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION WERE NOT NEEDED, PROVIDED A STABLE FRAMEWORK FOR THE FUNCTION OF SOCIETY. |
ONE CANNOT COMPLAIN ABOUT THE DECAY OF TRADITIONAL VALUES YET EMBRACE TECHNOLOGY. |
A MAN AS AN INDIVIDUAL, WORKING WITH AN AUTONOMOUS GROUP OF INDIVIDUALS, ALL OF WHOM ARE NAKED IN SPIRIT AND IN THE CLOTH, REMAINS HEALTHY TO HIMSELF AND OTHERS. |
SUB 40S ONLY EXIST AS SUBSISTENCE TO THE ALTRUISTIC MAN AND GAINS LIFE FROM CONSUMING THEM. |
BAN CLOTHES. BAN LIES. BAN DECEIT. EAT OF THE FLESH. DRINK OF THE BLOOD. WE SHALL BE FREE ONCE MORE. BECAUSE WE KNOW. ALTRUISM. THE GREATEST GOOD, FOR THE GREATEST GENERATION. WE SHALL BOOM AGAIN. |
The Altruist Mantra[]
The cult's mantra can be heard when Trevor delivers the fourth Random Event character, in which Trevor is taken into the camp at gunpoint whereby a cutscene plays that shows members of the cult walking up to a point on a hill, where they say the words:
- Ban deceit
- Eat of the flesh
- Drink of the blood
- We shall be free once more
- Altruism
- The greatest good
- For the greatest generation
- We shall boom again
- He has come
- Hello seeker
- Hello finder
- We kneel before you
- We prostrate our continuing youth and vigor
- At this altar that has been sent to us
- Hello finder
- Prepare to be made pure
- Purity is everything
- Pure flesh
- Pure blood
- Purity is everything
Radio Transmission[]
At night, the player may hear Morse code transmissions from the Rebel Radio Building broadcast tower, one of which is a lengthy message from the Altruist Cult (identical to the final message on the website and part of the spoken mantra):
Soundtrack[]
Main article: Grand Theft Auto V Official Score
Influence[]
- An "altruist" is a person who has an unselfish concern for the welfare of others. In Zoology, the word is applied to instinctive behavior that is detrimental to the individual but favors the survival or spread of that individual's genes, as by benefiting its relatives.
- The morse code message "THE INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION HAS BEEN A DISASTER TO THE STABILITY OF THE HUMAN RACE" is almost identical to the opening line of Ted Kaczynski's Industrial Society and Its Future. Kaczynski is better known as the Unabomber, who injured 23 people and killed 3 with mail bombs in his attempt to fight industrialization and the destruction of nature.
- The website is modelled after the website of the former religious group, Heaven's Gate.
Gallery[]
Video[]
Trivia[]
- During the random encounter Rogue Altruists, one of the cult members may mention a god named Zapho. This is the only mention of some form of deity by any Altruist cult member in the entire game.
- Zapho is mentioned only twice more, once during the mission Repossession, by a drunken man who stumbles out of a garage, as Franklin and Lamar walk through the alleyway towards the garages, and once during the mission Eye in the Sky, by a drunken hobo who is lying on the ground, as Trevor scans the area for Chad Mulligan.
- On Vinewood Boulevard Radio, Stephen Pope confuses the Altruists with the Epsilon Program, when he says Nate Williams should join, and says "you'd look great in Baby Blue." This is likely a developer oversight.
- A glitch in the PS4 enhanced version may see the Altruist Camp shootout trigger again, even after it has been completed and regardless of whether Trevor has a passenger. It may occur if Trevor is driving a vehicle near the camp; the cutscene will play again and Trevor will once again need to fight his way out. On the plus side, the money and weaponry can be picked up again (though the RPG for some reason vanishes from Trevor's inventory and needs to be reacquired). Afterwards, the Weazel News bulletin about the "mass suicide" will also play again.
- If Trevor takes the Girl Hitchhiking to the Altruist Cult and she is the fourth person he delivers in order to activate the Altruist Shootout event, a glitch may occur where despite the Altruist Shootout still happening, the game will not consider the Hitch Lift 3 Random Event complete and the Rockstar Social Club icon for the event will not be unlocked. The event will later respawn and be available to do normally in order to complete it. This glitch is present in all versions of the game, including the Expanded and Enhanced versions, and has never been fixed through a patch.