Brotherhood of Nod

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The Brotherhood of Nod, often simply referred to as Nod or The Brotherhood, is one of three prominent fictional factions in the Tiberian series of Westwood Studios' and Electronic Arts' Command & Conquer real-time strategy video games. An ancient and secret society that allegedly predates all but the earliest of civilization's history, the Brotherhood of Nod began to represent a globalized as well as a highly militant Abrahamic cult in modern times, showing the combined characteristics of a vast religious movement, a multi-national corporation and a boundaryless nation-state, while being none of the three in itself. The society is led by a mysterious and charismatic man who is known only as Kane. Their emblem is a chamfered triangle enclosing a curved scorpion tail, with black and red as the main color elements.

Historical overview

Founding

The ancient tomb seen in Renegade.

Exact date unknown; the manual of the original Command & Conquer game mentions "exaggerated" reports that place the Brotherhood's founding prior to 1800 BC^[1]. Throughout the C&C series, however, various snippets of evidence are uncovered which seem to suggest this given date to be accurate, among them:

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

• In Command & Conquer: Renegade, the Cairo Temple of Nod, which Kane himself states is built on holy ground, is shown to house what is apparently the tomb of Abel, evinced by ancient epitaphs containing the Hebrew word "Abel" (הבל).
• Also in Renegade, a display of medieval swords, armour and shields can be found inside a Black Hand mansion, all of which bear the Brotherhood's emblem.
• Kane's apparent agelessness or immortality; his appearance has remained largely unchanged over the series' span of nearly 100 years, not to mention surviving several seemingly fatal incidents.

Background

Before the outbreak of the First Tiberium War, the most accepted idea was that it was just simply another minor terrorist faction. However, when a scandal broke out involving major American defense contractors, it was discovered that Nod had substantial military air, sea, and land power. Nod is headed by Kane, known as Jacob Caine by Interpol in the Western world, and as Amir al-Quayym by MI6 in the Middle East^[1]. Nod forces are composed of guerrillas from other allied organizations, mercenaries and conscripts from the territories Nod controls, as well as Nod-indoctrinated religious fanatics. Before the Sarajevo central headquarters was identified, Nod was believed to have no central command base, instead operating from multiple individual locations, with posts previously identified in Kuantan, Malaysia; the Ar-Rub' al-Khali desert, Saudi Arabia; Tokyo, Japan and Caen, France^[1]. Also during Tiberian Dawn, Nod is believed to back a number of officially-recognized political parties. Among the ones mentioned are the Fist 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 others. Additionally, they are also affiliated with the Irish Republican Party, Islamic Jihad, Khmer Rouge and others^[1]. Nod's chief asset is its near monopoly on the Tiberium harvesting industry. Due partially to chance, the alien organism arrived via meteor impact near the Tiber river in Italy and thus the genesis of the name Tiberium. Kane, the self-appointed leader of the Brotherhood of Nod, claims that it was the Brotherhood who first discovered the organism and that he named it after Tiberius Caesar Augustus. Tiberium spreads quickly and thrives in temperate to warm conditions. Many of the poorer countries straddling the equatorial regions were hit hardest by the rapidly-spreading substance. The Brotherhood, being anti-Western, tapped into these suddenly-rich nations for substantial control of the Tiberium market. At the time of Command & Conquer: Tiberian Dawn, Nod controlled almost half the world's Tiberium supply at 49%^[2]; compared with the lackluster 27% controlled by the G8 nations (sponsors of GDI), and the remaining 24% in the hands of unaffiliated nations. Nod looks at Tiberium very differently than its main enemy, the Global Defense Initiative. Whereas GDI treats Tiberium as a dangerous but economically valuable product as well as a scientific anomaly, the Brotherhood sees it as the dawn of a new age entirely^[3]. As such, they are much more willing to directly use Tiberium in potentially unsafe ways, such as use in weaponry.

Command and Conquer

Further information: Command & Conquer (video game)

Before Tiberian Dawn is played out, it is believed that Nod's fiscal assets were in the range of 255.2 billion US dollars based on audits of seized financial records. Because Nod controls a large portion of the world's supply and they are at the forefront of Tiberium research, they possess incredible leverage in financial operations such as on the London Gold Exchange. According to the canonical storyline, Nod took over Africa but later was defeated by the GDI when the GDI exploited the weak points of Nod's strategy. To gain more support, Kane then devised a plan to blame GDI for the slaughtering of everyone in Białystok. Afterwards, Nod broadcast a fake news report claiming the GDI razed the whole town on suspicions of Tiberium smuggling, although the GDI was not responsible.

GDI's ion cannon strike against the Temple of Nod, the event which marked the end of the First Tiberium War.

The broadcast created a scandal that forced the Security Council to cut GDI funding pending an investigation, causing the GDI to virtually shut down. Whenever it left an area, Nod quickly arrived to take over. Kane was however unaware that this 'scandal' had been planned by GDI and the UN, so when Nod forces arrived they encountered heavy resistance from "abandoned" bases. Since the incursions into GDI territory caused Nod forces to be spread very thin, GDI not only repelled the attacks, but took large areas of Nod territory.

Kane himself was believed to have been killed at the final stand of the Brotherhood near Sarajevo. With GDI forces swarming in, Kane calmly attempted to escape his 'Temple of Nod'. At the exit, however, the entire Temple was bathed in the light of GDI's Ion Cannon. Kane was seemingly vaporised by the light, holding his arms out wide. If the GDI player in the game destroys Kane's Temple without using the Ion Cannon, Kane is buried under large piles of rubble as he attempts to escape. Contrary to most expectations, it is the 'Ion Cannon Ending' that is considered to have occurred - indeed, the sight, shown in a security video, haunts the GDI leader, James Solomon, throughout Nod's 'interregnum'.

Command & Conquer: Tiberian Sun

Further information: Command & Conquer: Tiberian Sun

Following the First Tiberium War, the death of Kane caused the Brotherhood to factionalize into small armies, ruled by random generals. For several decades, they fought more against themselves than against GDI. When Kane resurfaced 30 years later they reunited and once again faced off against GDI forces. According to the official C&C storyline, Nod is again defeated by the Global Defense Initiative. It is discovered that Kane did not survive unharmed. Large portions of his face were hidden under metal, covering what appeared to be massive burns. This was particularly surprising, as all transmissions from Kane to both Nod and GDI showed a flawless face; a possible explanation is that the images were digitally-altered, which is partially confirmed by a GDI technician. In Firestorm, it is revealed in the end of the Nod campaign shows that here is a hidden lab with stasis tubes; one of them had Kane inside. By Command & Conquer 3, Kane once again appears unscarred; however, in the Tiberium Wars novelization, he suffers from occasional chest pains, due to being stabbed by McNeil^[4].

Tiberian Sun: Firestorm

Further information: Command & Conquer: Tiberian Sun#Firestorm

The Firestorm Crisis starts with Slavik arguing with the inner circle of the Brotherhood over leadership issues now that Kane has disappeared. Slavik orders his men to recapture CABAL, a Nod artificial intelligence computer which had aided Nod but later rebelled against it, a move which he believes will help reunite Nod while at the same time allowing Nod to compete with GDI. Slavik's men recover the device, but after CABAL's reactivation the computer seizes control of all Nod cyborg units, and assassinates the inner circle members. Slavik, who alone managed to escape the death that claimed the other generals, orders all Nod forces to evacuate from CABAL's cyborgs. Slavik assists in this evacuation by maneuvering the Montauk to a Nod installation and recovering the survivors. Slavik then orders a surgical strike against a massive GDI air force base to recover an EVA unit, which is reprogrammed to assist Nod forces. Unable to beat CABAL on his own, Slavik approaches GDI general Cortez with a cease-fire offer so that they can work together against CABAL. GDI agrees, and both sides begin attacking CABALs auxiliary bases, in Nod's case a Tiberium harvesting facility and civilian settlement. With CABALs auxiliary bases down Nod forces deploy members of the elite cadre to clear out a patrolling CABAL cyborg team before establishing a base and launching an offensive against CABAL. Ultimately, Nod forces were able to destroy the CABAL Core, thus eliminating CABAL as a credible threat to the Brotherhood. This, however, was not the end, as CABAL's face was once again displayed on a screen within a room, overseeing several human bodies hooked up to life support systems and in cryogenic sleep, with Kane being one of the bodies.

Command and Conquer 3: Tiberium Wars

Further information: Command & Conquer 3: Tiberium Wars

The Third Tiberium War begins with the Brotherhood of Nod again emerging from the shadows to battle GDI. In the very early stages of the Third Tiberium War, Nod launches a successful attack on GDI's Goddard Space Center, rendering all of GDI's anti-missile capabilities useless. GDI is caught off guard, with all its senior directors up in the Philadelphia for the annual energy summit. Due to the loss of its anti-missile defences, the Philadelphia becomes vulnerable to attack and is quickly destroyed by a Nod nuclear missile. Nod uses the confusion to attack all major GDI installations. However, GDI rallied its forces and drove Nod out of the regions they had captured. It quickly became apparent that Kane and his leading scientists were working on a liquid tiberium bomb which would be strong enough to wipe GDI from the face of the planet. While GDI was in Africa, destroying what it believed to be Nod's chemical weapons factories, Nod was transporting its new weapon from the real chemical factories in South America to their reconstructed temple in Sarajevo. After GDI finished their campaign in Africa, they turned their attention to Nod's stronghold. What GDI did not know, however, was that they had been lured into a trap. GDI flocked to Sarajevo in hopes that this would be the final encounter with the Brotherhood of Nod. During the attacks, Kane stealthly slipped away, knowing that his work there was complete. When GDI was successful in neutralizing Nod's ion disruption towers, they fired upon the temple with their ion cannon. When the ion cannon was fired, the ion particles broke through the layers of the temple until it reached the lowest lying part, wherein the liquid Tiberium Bomb was located. The device detonated; the GDI forces sent to Sarajevo, and millions of people in Eastern Europe were feared dead, Kane included. Kane's second in command, General Killian Qatar, took over control of the Brotherhood. Unbeknownst to them, the liquid tiberium blast caused an alien species known as the Scrin to invade Earth. The Scrin landed in Red Zones and began annihilating any resistance they encountered. In Australia, Killian Qatar made a desperate alliance with GDI to fight off the new threat. Kane resurfaced however, and was furious at Killian for allying herself with GDI and killed her. The Scrin began to construct giant towers in the Red Zones. After GDI fought off the initial Scrin invasion, it noticed the existence of the towers. They subsequently launched co-ordinated attacks on every tower across the globe. Kane realised that at least one tower had to remain standing for his plans to be successful and ordered Nod's energy to be focused on defending the tower nearest to completion. GDI assaults the tower but is held back by Nod and is eventually pushed from the area. All other towers across the globe were destroyed and the tower in southern Italy was the last one standing. Kane's plan was an apparent success.

Abrahamic references

Cain commits the first murder. Detail of the Ghent Altarpiece (1432) at Saint Bavo Cathedral.

Throughout the titles of the Command & Conquer series, Brotherhood of Nod loyalists of different generations alike have alluded that Kane is none other than the Abrahamic figure of Cain^[5] -- allegedly the first man in Earth's history to have committed murder according to the scriptures of Judaism, Christianity and Islam. Cain and Abel were the two sons of Adam and Eve, born after the Fall of Man when Adam and Eve had been tempted into eating the forbidden fruit from the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil. The story is told in the Bible at Genesis 4:1-16, the Qur'an at 5:26-32 and in Moses at 5:16-41. In all versions, Cain, a farmer, commits the first murder by killing his own brother Abel, a shepherd, after God rejected Cain's sacrifice yet accepted that of Abel. God sought out Cain to ask him where his brother might be, to which Cain replied: "I know not; Am I my brother's keeper?". Upon this answer, God cursed Cain to wander the Earth forever, unable to die of old age. In his fear, Cain pleaded with God, who then placed a mark upon him. Cain then began his wandering of the lands. Early translations of Hebrew text described these alleged events, stating that: "Cain departed to the Land of Nod. And Adam had another son, whose name was Seth." In a direct correlation, the manual of the original Command & Conquer game lists a quote by Kane with the source cited as a file designated "#GEN4:16"^[1]. This again is a reference to Genesis 4:16, which reads; "And Cain went out from the presence of the Lord, and dwelt in the Land of Nod, on the east of Eden." Additionally, in the title of Command & Conquer: Renegade, the player discovers an ancient underground tomb located in Cairo, its epitaph depicting and describing the slaying of Abel, and with Kane stating that the coffin contained Abel's remains. No other reference to the tomb has ever been made since however, as it was destroyed along with Nod's Cairo temple by GDI forces. Kane also appears to be either immortal or ageless, as his actions span over 100 years (as of the latest installment in the C&C franchise), yet he seems to have not aged a day since his first canonical appearance as Joseph Stalin's mysterious advisor in Command & Conquer: Red Alert.

Nod philosophy and ideology

The parable of Cain and Abel has been explored in many different scriptures and literary works over the course of history, which according to Joseph D. Kucan served as a partial inspiration for Eydie Laramore in creating the world views of the "Brotherhood of Nod"^[6]. In line with the fate of the figure of Cain within the parable of the three Abrahamic religions, Nod political rhetoric has tended to closely identify the fictional quasi-cult, quasi-state organization with the downtrodden and impoverished peoples of the world^[7][8].

The Brotherhood of Nod was discovered to maintain strong ties with most global radicalist, extremist and terrorist organizations^[9], gradually rallying the disillusioned and disenfranchised from across racial, social, cultural and ideological spectrums into one religious to quasi-religious Abrahamic order, which stands in highly militant opposition to the democratic and industrialized modern world^[10].

Throughout the games of the Tiberium story arc, Nod has been shown as viewing the aggressive exploration and application of the alien Tiberium substance as the key to achieving its goals and ideals in this endeavour^[11].

The precise nature of the Brotherhood of Nod's long-term goals has however never been truly revealed^[12], and has remained consistently shrouded in mysterious religious reference related to the concepts of "ascension" and "transformation"^[13][14]. From the point of view of the international community, which typically is represented by the Global Defense Initiative in the games of the Tiberium story arc, the Brotherhood of Nod constitutes "a quasi-state, quasi-terrorist organization", seeking to "unite the third-world nations under a pseudo-religious political platform with imperialist tendencies"^[1]. This profile further states that GDI holds the Brotherhood of Nod to be "a popular neo-fascist, anti-West movement vying for total domination of the world's peoples and resources"^[1]. This is further expanded upon by Electronic Arts in Command & Conquer 3: Tiberium Wars, where it is mentioned that GDI views Nod as "a dangerous, virulent and inexplicably self-sustaining terrorist group obsessed with accelerating the worst ecological catastrophe in history"^[15].

Organization and hierarchy

The Brotherhood of Nod initially constituted a religious to quasi-religious secret society^[9], the core organization of which is very sophisticated and high-tech in nature^[16]. After its emergence from the shadows however, as portrayed in the events of the original Command & Conquer game, the society began to grow exponentially in its membership and available infrastructure, and started exhibiting the combined characteristics of a vast religious movement, a multi-national corporation, and a nation-state that is decentralized and spread across all continents, in ways reminiscent of Christian Christendom or an Islamic Caliphate^[10]. By the era portrayed in Command & 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 parts of the world designated as "Yellow Zones"^[17], which still contained most of the world's population. The highest leader of the Brotherhood has always been Kane himself, with directly beneath him those who form the Inner Circle of Nod. An elite branch within the Brotherhood is a shadowy group known only as the "Black Hand", who constitute Nod loyalist specialists tasked with accomplishing the Brotherhood's most important objectives both in and out of war time. A direct connection between real-life historical events and the Black Hand exists as well -- on June 28, 1914, at Sarajevo in Bosnia and Herzegovina, then part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, a Serb nationalist belonging to a group called the Black Hand assassinated Archduke Francis Ferdinand, heir to the Austro-Hungarian throne, an event often attributed with having triggered World War I. Coincidentally, the temple of the Brotherhood of Nod is found to reside in Sarajevo throughout all games in the Tiberian series, and, additionally, the leader of the Black Hand throughout the Second Tiberium War is a former freedom fighter of Serbian origin named Anton Slavik.

Military doctrines

Black Hand Special Forces (Kane's, Slavik's and Gen. Raveshaw's command)

It is more important for us to employ intelligent combined-arms tactics than it is for GDI because it is the Pen that is mightier than the Sword. And we are both the Pen and the Sword when skilled modern armies are commanded by intelligent strategies brought upon by a true military strategist...

– Nod Commander Anton Slavik

The Brotherhood's rites of warfare typically are centered around the concepts of mobility and stealth, preferring outmaneuvering their enemies, guerrilla warfare, highly advanced hit-and-run tactics and subterfuge over direct confrontations^[10][18]. The armory of the Brotherhood tends to consist of lightly armored and fast vehicles with average firepower, which are adept at either outmaneuvering or flanking the opposition. Nod forces utilize a deceptively dangerous combination of low-tech, poorly trained yet numerous militia troops with elite and highly trained forces, which in turn are equipped with state of the art communications gear and the most advanced weapon systems available^[10]. Nod vehicles often mirror this doctrine; large numbers of light and maneuverable vehicles tend to draw attention and enemy fire away from powerful and lethal higher tier equipment^[18]. Long-range weaponry is also prevalent, executing surprise attacks and hit-and-run strategies on unprotected parts of enemy infrastructure, or long range bombardment with ballistic missiles^[18]. Civilian casualties are not a concern. Nod's disregard for international ethics guidelines has also led to the extensive usage of napalm, cybernetic and eugenic enhancements to troops, a nuclear arsenal and radically advanced Tiberium-based equipment and weaponry^[10]. On defense, the Brotherhood's technological prowess has been equally well established. The hub-based "Shredder Turrets" can kill any type of enemy infantry in seconds, while "Laser Turrets" are a powerful asset for base defense against vehicles. SAM sites and the "Obelisk of Light" are the longest serving base defense systems in the Nod arsenal, their continued use throughout the conflicts a testament to their lethality. SAM sites have been upgraded to the hub system as of the third conflict, making them considerably more effective at intercepting aircraft. Nod's air power has historically been of significance, although not as prevailing as GDI. Like other Nod forces, its aircraft focus largely on hit and run assaults^[18]. During the First Tiberium War, this air force was incomparably less developed than GDI's, however by the Second Tiberium War Nod managed to develop the "Banshee" fighter-bomber for air support. As of the Third Tiberium War, Nod's air force developed a true rival to GDI's Orca line, a light patrol and assault aircraft known as the "Venom". Also, "Vertigo" stealth bombers make up for their lackluster AA abilities with a powerful payload^[18]. Finally, the Armageddon bomber, as its name would suggest, is a powerful airborn delivery system for a variety of Tiberium-based chemical WMDs. Another way in which Nod engages the enemy is through mass media. For example, the Brotherhood was able to obstruct and fight GDI indirectly by triggering a massive scandal concerning the massacre of civilians in Białystok, Poland during the first war; supposedly committed by GDI soldiers. This scandal resulted in the United Nations cutting off funding for the GDI for an extended period of time. Another example of Nod misinformation warfare is when Nod operatives attacked the central base of The Forgotten while posing as GDI forces; rallying thousands of mutants to Nod's cause through the subsequent media reports.

Technological level

In certain fields, the Brotherhood of Nod was portrayed as being technologically superior to GDI^[18], an organization backed by and effectively operated on behalf of the United Nations, and more specifically the G8 economically and technologically developed nations. It is not fully revealed how Nod achieved such a state of unique technological prowess, though it is implied to be in part because of their initial monopoly and monopsony on Tiberium, which provided them with vast amounts of wealth, both financially and scientifically, and alleged access to and study of Scrin technology. During the course of the series, the Brotherhood is revealed to have constructed, to own, and to operate many state-of-the-art research institutes, and to hire out research teams globally. Often, these institutes and related facilities are kept highly secret, and are hidden from academia and especially from national and international bioethics committees. It is revealed that routinely speculative and occasionally unsafe human experimentation, generally performed upon Nod volunteers, prisoners of war, and occupied civilian populations, is commonplace at Nod research facilities. Some technologies Nod has devoted particular attention to include: weaponisation of LASERs, directed energy weaponry, bioweapons, chemical weapons, nuclear weapons, advanced robotics, artificial intelligence, various theoretical possibilities for antigravity, stealth technologies such as light-bending electromagnetic fields, advanced and sustainable power generation, reprogenetics, cybernetics and its offshoot, brain-machine interfaces^[18]. Research into the last two seems to have heavily stagnated however, given its experiences with CABAL in Tiberian Sun: Firestorm as the AI assassinated most of the high ranking Nod officers and assumed control over Nod's cyborg troops. This is in addition to a great deal of research into Tiberium and alleged extraterrestrial technology, which was often crossed-over with the aforementioned fields for various purposes.

References

See also

• Kane (Command & Conquer)
• Cain and Abel
• Land of Nod
• Tiberium
• Characters of the Brotherhood of Nod

External links

• C&C Database Project on Wikipedia
• http://www.kanelives.org/ - Official fansite of the Kane character, sponsored by Electronic Arts
• PlanetCnC Encyclopedia - C&C storyline compilation detailing the initial rise of the Brotherhood of Nod to the world scene.