Brotherhood of Nod

The Brotherhood of Nod, often referred to simply as Nod or The Brotherhood, is a fictional faction which is featured prominently in the Command and Conquer franchise of real time strategy video games by Westwood Studios and Electronic Arts Los Angeles. Revealed within the series' lore to be an ancient and secret society that allegedly predates most of civilization's recorded history, the Brotherhood of Nod began to represent a globalized, as well as a highly militant cult during the futuristic era in which these games are set; showing the combined charcteristics of a vast religious movement, a multi-national corporation and a decentralized nation-state, while being none of the three in itself.

The society consistently is shown to be led by a mysterious and charismatic character who is known as "Kane". Their emblem is a chamfered triangle enclosing a curved scorpion tail, and featuring black and red as it's main core elements.

Storyline Overview

Founding of Nod

The Sarcophagus seen in Command and Conquer: Renagade, allegedly belonging to Cain's brother, Abel.

Exact date unknown; the Win95 manual to the original 1995 Command and Conquer game mentions "exagerated reports" that place the Brotherhood's founding prior to 1800BC -- an ancient origin of nod which the 2007 Tiberium Wars novel alludes to as well. Throughout the titles of the C&C series, various snippets of evidence are uncovered that cogently suggest this given to be accurate, among them:

• The ending credits to the original game show a large archaeological artefactgf made of rick being excavated from a former Nod site, which crudely depicts the scene of the first Abrahamic murder.

• In the prequel, Command and Conquer: Red Alert, the Brotherhood of Nod is revealed as the instigator of the Soviet's invasion of Europe, during the 1950s.

. With a brotherhood member of the period stating that the secret society had waited to emerge from the shadows "for centuries"

• Also in Renegade, tyhe cairo temple of the Brotherhood is shown to house what allegedly is the tomb of Cain's older brother Abel; its ancient epitaph displaying the hebrew word "Abel" (...) together with the 4th verse of the 4th chapter of the Book of Genesis

• Kane's apparent agelessness or imortality: the character's basic appearance has remained unchanged over the story's cumulated span of 100 years, and he has survived several seemingly fatal incidents.

Command and Conquer

Main article: Command and Conquer

Prior to the outbreak of the first war, the Brotherhood was considered a minor terrorist faction by the G7 intelligence agencies. When a scandal broke out involving major defense contractors however, it was confirmed Nod concealed a substantial military land, air and sea capability across the globe. Before the Sarajevo headquarters was first identified, Nod was believed to have no central command base, instead operating from multiple individual locations, with posts found in Kuantan, Malaysia; the Ar-Rub' al-Khali desert, Saudi Arabia; Tokyo, Japan and Caen, France. Also, before the first war, Nod backed a number of officially recognised political parties; among the ones mentioned as the Fists of Allah party in Jordan, the United We Stand America party in the united States, and the Albion First! party in the United Kingdom, among several others. Additionally, they are known to be affiliated with the Irish Republican Party, Islamic Jihad, Khmer Rouge and other groups.

According to the canonical C&C storyline, Nod was defeated at the hands of the Global Defence Initiative after a three-year lasting world war. To increase support, Kane had devised a plan to blame GDI for the slaughter of the population of Bialystok, Poland, with Nod broadcasting manipulated news reports claiming GDI soldiers razed the whole town on the grounds of its citizens being Tiberium smugglers.[6] This created a scandal that forced the United Nations to cut GDI funding pending an investigation, causing the organization to apparently almost shut down.[7] Kane however was unaware that this 'investigation' was in fact a hoax planned by the UN.[8] Since the incursions into GDI territory caused Nod forces to be spread thin, GDI took large areas of Nod territory during the counterstrikes, giving them a decisive advantage. Kane was believed to have been killed at the final stand of the Brotherhood near Sarajevo, semingly vaporized in the light of the GDI's final ion cannon discharge.[9]

Command and Conquer: Tiberian Sun

Main article: Command and Conquer: Tiberian Sun

Following the first war, the apparent death of Kane caused the Brotherhood of Nod to factionalize into numerous militia armies.[10] For several decades, they fought more against themselves, but when Kane revealed himselve to be alive thirty years later, Nod reunited and faced off against the Global Defence Initiative anew. Following the official C&C storyline, the Brotherhood suffers a secondary military defeat against the GDI, hours before the society would have launched a world-altering Tiberium warhead into the Earth's atmosphere. [11]

The Firestorm expansion portrays the leader of the Black Hand, Anton Slavik, arguing with the Inner Circle of Nod over leadership issues.[12] Slavik reactivates the "CABAL" AI believing it will prevent Nod from splintering,[13] but shortly afterwards the CABAl entitiy suddenly seizes control mof Nod's cybernetically enhanced forces and assassinates all of the Inner Circle's members, with the sole exception of Slavik. Ultimately, a desperate GDI and Nod joint assault destroys the CABAL core, eliminating the AI entity as a threat to both factions.[14] However, the ending cutscene shows the apparently still active AI being displayed in a large hall while overseeing numerous humans held in suspended animation tubes, with one of them holding Kane himself.

Command and Conquer: Tiberium Wars

Main articles: "Command and Conquer 3: Tiberium Wars" and "Command and Conquer 3: Kane's Wrath"

The third war begins with the Brotherhood of Nod emerging from the shadows without warning almost twenty years afterwards, disabling GDI's anti-missile capabilities.[15] The Space staion GDSS Philadelphia becomes vulnerable to attack and is soon after destroyed by a nuclear missile. Nod subsequently assaults all major GDI installations, yet GDI manages to rally its forces and drives Nod out of the regions.[16]

Kane and his scientists proved to be working on a liquid Tiberium bomb of unprecedented destructive power.[17] In response, the GDI turned their atention to Nod's stronghold in Sarajevo, and on the order of Acting Director Redmond Boyle the ion cannon is fired upon the temple complex, which detonates the liquid Tiberium and causes massive destruction throughout Eastern Europe.[18] This detonation prompts an alien species to invade, who lands in the earth's red zones and begin with the construction of monolithic towers within those areas. After GDI fights off the initial invasion of the "Scrin", they launch strikes on each of these towers. When GDI assaults the tower nearest to completion however, they are held back by Nod, leaving one such tower standing on Earth. Even with the tower standing GDI destroys the Scrin Control Hub, which causes all Scrin forces on Earth to die. Kane then claims the alien tower in the name of the brotherhood.[19]

Five years later after this third world war, an artificial intelligence named "LEGION" arises, with Kane promptly placing a secret army of cyborg soldiers known as the "Marked of Kane" under the entity's command, in order to recover the Tacitus device from GDI's Cheyenne Mountain facility. Soon after, the marked launch an unrelenting assault on the heavily fortified military research complex, overrunning GDI's finest defenses and reclaiming the object for Kane.[20] The final cutscene, titled "Ascendance" shows Kane inserting the Tacitus into LEGION while proclaiming: LEGION, my child, you are my greatest creation. It is time for you to take center stage; time for you to achieve the purpose for which you were created! With this, the story of Command & Conquer 3 concludes on a major cliffhanger.

Command and Conquer 4: Tiberian Twilight

Main article: Command and Conquer 4: Tiberian Twillight

Organization and Hierachy

Black Hand insignia during TWI.

The "Brotherhood of Nod" faction initially constituted a religious to quasi-religious secret society which, according to the franchise's lore, is estimated to be nearly four millennia of age, [25] [32] and of which the core organization is known to be very sophisticated and high-tech in nature.[28] After their emergence from the shadows, however, as portrayed in the original Command & Conquer game, the society began to grow exponentially in membership and available infrastructure, and started exhibiting the combined characteristics of a worldwide religious movement, a multi-national corporation and a large nation-state that is decentralized and scattered across continents, in ways reminiscent of Christian Christendom or the Islamic Caliphate.[26] By the era portrayed in Command and Conquer 3: Tiberium Wars, the continued spread of Tiberium and the industrialized world's subsequent retreat to the so-called "blue zone" territories caused Nod to operate virtually unchallenged in those regions of the world designated "yellow zones",[33] which still harboured most of the world's population.

Prominent Branches

Black Hand (faction)

A feared order of warrior priests within the Brotherhood of Nod, specialized in powerful and highly trained Black Hand Infantry. The Black Hand’s standard infantry is the "Confessor Cabal"; a squad of six Confessor units armed with hallucinogenic grenades (this time a manually activated ability), as well as anti-infantry Gatling guns which can be upgraded with "Charged Particle Beams" to increase their firepower (Charged Particle Beams are also applied to the Shredder Turret for increased firepower). Confessor Cabals also give other nearby allied infantry a buff that increases their rate of fire, their endurance on the battlefield and which renders them more resistant to almost any suppression. All Black Hand shock troops come with veteran status by default, and the Commando starts out at the heroic rank, with two such commandos being trainable at any given time, although the commando is not stealthed for this faction. The "Black Disciples" upgrade adds a Black Hand shock troop to all Confessor Cabals and Militant Rocket Squads, in similar fashion to how Confessors are added to the militia squads of Tiberium Wars. The Black Hand's warmechs, an earlier model of the Avatar warmech, are called "Purifiers" and automatically come equipped with flamethrowers, yet cannot be further upgraded. All flame weaponry of this sub-faction, whether infantry or vehicle-based, can be upgraded with Purifying Flame for much greater damage against all ground targets. In return for all this offensive and destructive prowess however, the Black Hand forgo stealthed or air units entirely - including the Call for Transport ability - and the Laser Capacitor is also unavailable to them. Since the Stealth Tank and Venom are both unavailable, a new vehicle called the "Mantis" serves as a specialized anti-aircraft vehicle for the faction - it is very powerful against aircraft, and can also detect stealth units, though it cannot attack targets on the ground. The new Specter artillery unit is still available to the Black Hand, but is not itself stealthed.

Marked of Kane

A sinister sub-faction which epitomizes both the Brotherhood of Nod's stealthy methods and reliance on radically advanced cybernetic and Tiberium-based technologies and weaponry. The Marked of Kane replace the militia squads of Tiberium Wars with the "Awakened" cyborgs; heavy infantry units that are devastating against enemy infantry and which come with the innate ability to disable vehicles through EMP charges. Their elite "Enlightened" cyborg infantry squads are comparable to GDI’s Zone Troopers, and are armed with particle beams and an EMP attack that has an even bigger radius than that of the Awakened. The Black Hand flame infantry are replaced by "Tiberium Troopers" within this sub-faction, which are capable of dealing damage over time, clear out garrisoned structures and slow the rate of movement of their targets. Tiberium Troopers do less damage per second than Black Hand shock troops do, but have increased range. The Enlightened, along with the sub-faction's Saboteur units and Tiberium Troopers, can be upgraded with cybernetic enhancements to greatly increase their rate of movement. Additionally, Enlightened cyborgs can be upgraded with Supercharged Particle Beams which are also applied to Shredder Turrets and Venom Aircraft. The Marked of Kane also receive deadly magnetic mines that slowly kill vehicles (unless removed by repair drones).

Military Doctrines

The military philosophy of the Brotherhood of Nod faction has typically been centered around the concepts of stealth and mobility; perferring outmanueuvering enemies, guerrilla warfare, highly advanced hit and run tactics and subterfuge over direct confrontations. [26] [43] [44] Nod's armies are infamous for deploying various forms of high technology in unique tandem with fanatical loyalty, and utilize a deceptively dangerouis combination of low-tech, poorly trained militant forces with relatively fewer but elite and highly trained troops, who in turn have been equipped with state of the art communications gear and the most advanced weaponry available. [26] [43] military hardware of the Brotherhood of Nod often mirrors their doctrine; maneuverable and expendable vehicles tend to be designed to draw attention and enemy fire away from powerful and high tech equipment. [43]

Long range weaponry is prevalent, executing surprise attacks and hit-and-run strategies on unprotected parts of enemy infrastructure, or long range bombardment with ballistic missiles. [43] Civilian casualties are not a concern. nod's disregard for international ethics guidelines have also led to the extensive usage of napalm varieties, eugenic and cybernetic enhancements to troops, a rogue nuclear arsenal and radically advanced Tiberium-based equipment and weaponry.[26]

Another notable way in which the Brother of Nod is shown to engage its enemies is through misinformation warfare and hatemongering.[29] For example, Nod was able to obstruct and fight the GDI indirectly during the original C&C title by triggering a massive public scandal regarding the massacre of civilians in Bialystok, Poland; supposedly committed by GDI soldiers.[6]