The Brotherhood of Nod
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The Brotherhood of Nod, often known simply as Nod, is one of the two primary factions in the of Westwood Studios' popular Command & Conquer computer and video games. The Brotherhood is a quasi-terrorist religious organization led by a mysterious leader known as Kane. Their insignia is a black-rimmed irregular red hexagon enclosing an unusual scorpion tail (A normal one has six segments, the Nod one has eight).
Aliases of the Brotherhood
Commonly, The Brotherhood, The Ways of Nod, and ShaÆSeer among the tribes of Godan. The name 'Brotherhood of Nod' may have come from the Hebrew word Noded (נודד) which means wanderer, and is also the verb of the word Nod.
Origins
While they claim to have been around since before 1800 BC, it is believed to be an exaggeration and the most accepted idea is that it was simply yet another recent, minor terrorist faction (Interestingly, what appears to be a red-and-black artifact depicting Cain killing Abel is in Dawn's ending credits, and what appears to be the Tomb of Abel is in Renegade). When a scandal broke involving major American defence contractors however, 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 Amir al-Quayym by MI6 in the Middle East.
Nod forces are composed of freedom fighters from other organizations, mercenaries and conscripts from the territories Nod controls. 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.
Also during 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 following: Irish Republican Party, Islamic Jihad, Khmer Rouge and others.
In Tiberian Dawn, most Nod personnel wear uniforms resembling urban camouflage while officers wear black with berets that has the Nod insignia pinned to it. In Renegade they all wear red bodysuits and vests with masks. In Tiberian Sun they continue to wear red vests and armour, and the officers still wear black.
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 found it first 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 , Nod controlled almost half the world's Tiberium supply at 49%. Compare with the lacklustre 27% controlled by the G7 nations (sponsors of GDI), and the remaining 24% in the hands of unaffiliated nations.
Nod looks at Tiberium very differently than its main enemy, GDI. 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. As such, they are much more willing to directly use Tiberium in potentially unsafe ways.
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 is defeated by the Global Defense Initiative. The blame for this lies squarely on Kane's shoulders. Kane devised a plan to blame GDI for the slaughtering of Białystok, by claiming GDI razed the whole town on suspicions of Tiberium smuggling, in a broadcast produced solely for propaganda purposes.
The broadcast created a scandal that forced the Security Council to cut GDI funding pending an investigation, causing 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 a bright light—the light of GDI's Ion Cannon. Kane was seemingly vaporised by the light, holding his arms out wide. Some claim that Kane was unaware that it was an Ion Cannon, only that he thought it was God's light.
If the GDI player 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'.
Following the first Tiberian War, the death of Kane caused the Brotherhood to factionalize into small armies, ruled by random generals. For quite a long time, 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 appear 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.
Details of Nod Philosophy
During the the Brotherhood of Nod was widely regarded by its detractors and opponents to be a quasi-terrorist group seeking to unite the third-world nations under a religious political platform with imperialist tendencies. According to the group's own claim they were a religious Brotherhood of ancient origin which strived for a world of peace, unity and eternal brotherhood in which all the peoples of the world could 'face the struggles of life as one', and that embracing the alien substance of Tiberium was the ultimate key to this revolution. In official statements, Nod specifically stated that it wished to unify the poor developing countries of the world that have been ignored, abused and neglected by the richer nations. Nod's modus operandi during the First Tiberium War however revealed it to be a highly-aggressive and popular neo-fascist, anti-west movement vying for total domination of the world's peoples and resources.
During the , Nod's religious viewpoints began to place a much larger emphasis on the spiritual concept of 'Divination', a process through which all followers of Kane were promised the means to embrace the 'Tiberian future of Humanity' and subsequently flourish in every imaginable aspect. At the end of the Second Tiberium War the true nature of the Brotherhood of Nod's 'Great Plan' eventually revealed itself to be the complete transformation of all carbon-based life on Earth to Tiberium-based life.
"It is time you saw the future, while you still have human eyes." - Kane in a cutscene during the GDI campaign of Tiberian Sun.
"The end... is the beginning." - Kane's final words to the world, just prior to the launch of the world-altering Tiberium missile in Nod's ending sequence in Tiberian Sun.
Nod military doctrine
"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 styles itself as a highly-mobile military force. Its inventory consists mostly of light-armor vehicles, long-range weapons such as surface-to-surface missile launchers and high-caliber artillery, as well as a significant number of fast and stealthy scout units.
They are reliant mostly on unconventional methods such as guerilla warfare, attrition warfare and maneuver warfare; they are simply unsuited to a formal war. For instance, their light-armor vehicles can only match GDI's own armor corps if either well-supported by long-range weapons, fighting with vastly-superior numbers, or both. For this reason, Nod prefers surprise attacks to direct confrontations.
Due to their advanced research on the Tiberium substance Nod is typically portrayed as more technologically-advanced than the GDI, who prefer the power of direct and more conventional military force and warfare. Nod's core technological advances and advantages include:
- Tiberium - some units can "heal" in tiberium (Nod uses the "Divination" process to enhance some of its units), and Nod employs chemical weapons based on tiberium's mutagenic properties. Nod's understanding of tiberium probably exceeds that of any other parties.
- Stealth - Nod's "Lazarus shield" cloaking device renders near-perfect invisibility and is undetectable on enemy radar. Its name probably derives from the Lazarus effect (The reappearance of something that was thought to be gone).
- Lasers - Nod has extensive military laser technology, with most if not all of their defensive technology based around it. The most obvious manifestation of this is their signature defensive structure, the Obelisk of Light. While effective, the technology consumes vast amounts of power.
- Subterranean units - some units can move underground; this aids the surprise element Nod requires to succeed. There is no terrain obstacle that such units cannot cross, including large bodies of water. Only an EMP can disrupt a tunneling unit while underground.
- Scrin technology - although unclear whether stolen by or given freely to Nod, it is used in the form of Banshee fighters and complements the theory that extraterrestrials aided ancient peoples (see Biblical reference) to create their incredible technologies.
Biblical reference
In the Old Testament Book of Genesis, Cain, son of Adam and brother to Abel and Seth, is exiled to the Land of Nod after murdering his brother Abel; the names Cain (Kane), Nod, and Seth return in the C&C series.
See also
- Characters of the Brotherhood of Nod
- Brotherhood of Nod storyline
- Technology of the Brotherhood of Nod
- Structures of the Brotherhood of Nod
- Infantry units of the Brotherhood of Nod
- Armoured units of the Brotherhood of Nod
- Aerial units of the Brotherhood of Nod
- Kane (Command & Conquer)
- Tiberium
External links
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