The Global Defense Initiative The United Nations Global Defense Initiative (UNGDI), or Global Defense Initiative (GDI), is the global government of Earth. It was founded in accordance with the United Nations Global Defense Act (UNGDA), on the date of October 12, 1995, as a formalized military branch of the United Nations and evolved into a supra-national state in its own right. GDI's initial goal was to preserve world order by combating global terrorism, epitomized by its nemesis the Brotherhood of Nod, but eventually outgrew its original mandate to become a world government. GDI has the combined military strength of individual member nations around the world, though most of its assets come from the United States military during the First Tiberium War. GDI military doctrine centers on superior firepower and armor. GDI developed and expanded the ion cannon network as a better alternative to nuclear missiles to ensure dominance in space and developed the ORCA family of aircraft. The faction has also introduced mechanized walkers and railguns to their arsenal. GDI technological development has been brought about by the financial support of the G8 nations, the wealthiest economies of the world during the First Tiberium War. Developments in recent years include sonic weaponry and quickly specialized hovercraft. GDI has countered Nod's increasing arsenal of lasers with railguns, fielded by everything from Mammoth Tanks to Commandos, and has also researched into powered armour technologies. The pinnacle of GDI military technology, the Ion cannon, is a space-based energy weapon of mass destruction is capable of obliterating just about anything with pinpoint accuracy. GDI also pioneered the use of mechanized walkers and developed the ORCA aircraft series of VTOL aircraft, a unique design which incorporates VTOL technology into fast ground attack aircraft. Following the First Tiberium War, military research and development rapidly increased, with the development of a wide number of technologies. Space exploration, mechanized walkers, and HoverTech were some of the technological achievements of GDI by the Second Tiberium War. However, due to cuts in budget and new GDI policies after 2036, GDI has phased out its more expensive and exotic technologies, such as most of its Mechanized walkers and HoverTech, replacing them with cheaper, more reliable technologies. GDI hasn't forgone all of its more exotic technologies however. GDI still has some walkers, though they are mainly used by the Steel Talons experimental division. The Juggernaut is the only mainstream walker left in use while the Steel Talons used the Titan Mk. II, Wolverine Mk. II, and Behemoth in their forces. GDI also hasn't completely abandoned hover technology either. In the interbellum between the Firestorm Crisis and the Third Tiberium War, GDI developed a dedicated anti-aircraft vehicle, the Slingshot. GDI also retooled the Shatterer, another hovercraft which was originally developed for civilian use, but GDI realised their potential and confiscated them for military use in the opening stages of the Third Tiberium War. Plus, in the Ascension Conflict many units had hover technology; such as the Shockwave and Sandstorm, even engineers. GDI lags behind Nod in other areas, however. While GDI has a greater presence in outer space, and can afford larger, more expensive tanks, Nod has outpaced them in terms of optic camouflage and laser technology. Nod's disregard towards ethical guidelines means that Nod is the world's leader in Cybernetics and the military applications of Tiberium, two areas where GDI is reluctant to begin research. However, GDI is unrivalled in terms of Tiberium reclamation technology. Their global headquarters is the space station GDSS Philadelphia, and they also have orbital facilities to house, store and maintain military forces in preparation for a rapid deployment anywhere on Earth via dropships and drop pods. Of particular importance is their network of orbital Ion cannons which act as both tactical and strategic array of superweapons. All were used to their maximum potential throughout the wars. Their efforts to reverse the environmentally catastrophic effects of Tiberium has led to the development of several technologies against Tiberium infestation, a technological area in which Nod have traditionally shown little interest in. Most of these center around the breakthrough discovery of Tiberium's harmonic resonance frequency which, at least for a period of time, allowed GDI to contain and even push back Tiberium growth. Examples include the Sonic Emitters, which was also deployed as extremely effective base defense, the Sonic Repulsor Field and the Shatterer. Prior to the Third Tiberium War their efforts have had some success in converting some areas into Blue zones, such as New Eden. However, in the years following the next evolution of Tiberium rendered GDI's Harmonic Resonance technology became nearly useless and all of GDI's reclamation efforts were quickly negated. GDI research is carried out in a variety of specialized institutions worldwide. Futuretech Labs is a prominent example, and the research staff is located in New Eden. Australia hosts a prominent Tiberium research facility. Rumors are abound that the site is researching Liquid Tiberium and that a major detonation of Liquid Tiberium at the facility could cause the destruction and acceleration of growth for Tiberium throughout Australia, speeding up its transformation into a Red Zone.

The Brotherhood of Nod The Brotherhood of Nod (often shortened to "Nod" or the "Brotherhood") was a popular, global, religiously developed movement devoted to the guidance of the elusive and charismatic figure of Kane, and the extraterrestrial Tiberium substance that arrived on Earth in 1995. Although Nod surfaced in 1995 at the time of the substance's arrival, before this date, the Brotherhood was an ancient and secret society claiming to have originated prior to 1800 BC. Reported beliefs include that Kane is an immortal prophet whose guidance dates back through their alleged millennia of secrecy, and that Tiberium is the catalyst for the next stage of human evolution. Nod is linked to the three Abrahamic traditions of Christianity, Islam and Judaism, but its followers do not belong to any of these three traditions. While almost all Nod activity is concerned with complex economic, military and scientific foci, its religiously articulated ideology drives this. Sometime after the arrival of Tiberium, Nod was targeted as a terrorist group by the Global Defense Initiative, for actively using the dangerous tiberium substance to fund a military-industrial complex in impoverished regions, primarily Africa, and pursue total domination over the world's peoples and resources. Thereafter, Nod faced off against GDI in two Tiberium Wars and is now fighting a third, restoring itself after two successive defeats but is finally achieving their goals in the current war. During the First Tiberium War the Brotherhood of Nod was widely regarded by its detractors and opponents to be a quasi-state, quasi-terrorist organisation 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 human society's full embracement of the alien substance of Tiberium was the key to this revolution. In official statements, Nod specifically stated that it wished to unify the developing countries of the world that have been ignored, abused and neglected by the industrialised nations. Nod's modi operandi during the First Tiberium War however revealed it to be a highly-aggressive and popular, anti-West movement vying for total domination of the world's peoples and resources. During the Second Tiberium War, Nod's religious viewpoints began to place a much larger emphasis on the 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' would eventually reveal itself as the complete transformation of all carbon-based life on Earth to Tiberium-based life, through the launch and detonation of a world-altering Tiberium warhead within the planet's upper atmosphere. Their defeat at the end of the war and Kane's disappearance have brought a change in doctrine, further emphasizing Nod as a religion. The Ascension was defined as the final goal of the Great Plan, while religious dogmas began putting even greater emphasis on venerating Tiberium as divine. The Brotherhood releases numerous guidance files to help brothers learn the philosophy and Ways of Nod. They are part of the Nod religion and existed as far back as the First Tiberium War. Indeed, the quasi-religion of Nod was well developed back in 2002, as rituals and peculiar masses were all regular parts of a daily life of a Brother of Nod. At least part of Nod philosophy includes the idea of "Peace through Power," which is somewhat ironic considering this is precisely the mandate of their sworn enemy, GDI, at least in its original form, as the organization was founded essentially for the purpose of maintaining world peace through the use of force. The Brotherhood's military is centered around the concepts of stealth and speed, preferring outmaneuvering their enemies, hit-and-run attacks, guerrilla tactics and subterfuge. The armoury of the Brotherhood consists primarily of lightly armoured, fast vehicles with average firepower, which can outmaneuver and flank the opponent. Long-range weaponry is also prevalent, including the surface-to-surface missile launchers or large caliber artillery designed to deliver immense amounts of punishment to the opponent without exposing themselves. Because of a general lack of direct firepower compared to GDI, and GDI's ability to observe much of Earth's surface due to having space superiority, Nod recognizes that if it becomes necessary to defend their bases in a direct engagement their units will be generally outgunned; to counter this Nod makes extensive use of underground facilities, tunnel networks, and stealth technology to avoid detection. If a base is found, Nod can bring to bear strong base defenses, particularly their feared Obelisks of Light. The Brotherhood tends to avoid direct engagements, as their main battle units are significantly less powerful than their counterparts (the light tanks can challenge GDI medium tanks only with numerical superiority, this trend has continued throughout the Tiberium Wars), preferring fast, surprise attacks with packs of Recon bikes or Stealth tanks striking vulnerable, unprotected parts of enemy infrastructure or long range bombardment with artillery and ballistic missiles. Their Avatar Warmechs, however, have proven that they can fight direct confrontations if the need arises. Another way in which Nod engages the enemy is through the media. For example, the Brotherhood was able to fight GDI indirectly by triggering a massive scandal concerning the massacre of civilians in Białystok, Poland; supposedly done by GDI soldiers. This scandal resulted in UN cutting off funding for the GDI. Another example of Nod misinformation warfare was when Nod operatives attacked the central base of the Forgotten posing as GDI, rallying thousands of Mutants to Nod's cause by manipulating media reports. Nod is also bringing help to the people in the Yellow Zones. They bring water, food and medical supplies, along with providing education and job training to all the harmless people in the Yellow Zones, with soldiers for their army in trade. This tactic has formed the millions of willing yet poorly trained and equipped soldiers known as Militants. In various ways, the Brotherhood of Nod has always been technologically superior to GDI, an organization backed by and effectively operated on behalf of the United Nations, and, more specifically, economically and technologically developed nations. It is not fully known how Nod achieved such a state of unique technological superiority, though it is often linked to their access to and study of allegedly alien technology, and their monopoly on Tiberium, which provided them with vast amounts of wealth, both financially and scientifically. The Brotherhood has constructed, owned, and operated many state-of-the-art research institutes, and hired out research teams globally. Oftentimes, these institutes and related facilities were kept highly secret, and hidden from academia and especially from national and international bio-ethics committees. A contributing factor for Nod's lead in Tiberium research is that, in general contrast to GDI, whose research tends to focus on removing Tiberium from Earth or safely using it as a resource, Nod puts an emphasis on using Tiberium to improve humans biologically and technologically as much as possible, whether it is for military or industrial use. The general prevailing belief in Nod is that Tiberium exists as an extraordinary tool, not GDI's view that it is a biohazard and plague to Earth's ecosystem that threatens natural life. This is evidenced by technologies Nod developed such as a program to forcibly evolve humans using Tiberium. Routinely speculative and occasionally unsafe human experimentation, generally performed upon Nod scientists and "volunteers", 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 - subterranean vehicles and technologies - 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. This is in addition to a great deal of research of Tiberium and alleged extraterrestrial technology, which was often, though not necessarily, crossed-over with the aforementioned fields for various purposes.

The Forgotten The Forgotten is a loose confederation of humans who possess a rare genetic mutation that renders them able to survive Tiberium Toxemia, ending up as human/Tiberium hybrids. They are shunned by normal society due to their mutations and often horrifying appearance. With the arrival and proliferation of Tiberium, civilian population without access to shielding equipment of any sort were subject to contamination and irradiation by the element. Those who weren't killed developed physical and mental changes, becoming mutants. Those unaffected distrusted the mutants, making them outsiders and, as often happens in this situation, the outcasts banded together, and so, the Forgotten movement was born. A human who survives Tiberium contamination shouldn't be considered lucky - Tiberium crystals merge with their flesh, growing over time. Concentrations of crystallized tissue can develop to the point where they burst and excrete a thick, viscous liquid, which quickly hardens on the victim's skin, creating an exoskeleton of sorts. While it devours the mutant's exterior, Tiberium toxins continue to ravage the inside, changing large amounts of bone marrow and muscle tissue into crystal formations. Eventually, the victim turns into a distorted mass of crystal and flesh. Of course, the process is not instantaneous and can often take months or even years to complete. Before crippling disabilities (as seen above) set in, a Tiberian human will only become stronger with each passing day. They tend to be faster, stronger and more agile than pure humans, and the presence of Tiberium is not harmful to them, on the contrary, it actually accelerates their healing. The Forgotten use equipment which consists almost entirely of scavenged, hijacked or otherwise stolen weaponry and vehicles, which has been known to include anything from modified civilian vehicles outfitted with armor plating and weapons to equipment hijacked from both GDI and Nod depots, to disposed and former Mammoth Tanks to stolen experimental high-tech weaponry such as a portable railgun. The bases they operate from tend to be composed of old and abandoned military buildings and/or converted civilian ones (for instance, observation towers converted into sentry turrets), and are typically set either in deserted Tiberium-infested wastelands or former ghost towns (and cities) which The Forgotten settled in. Following the Exodus, they built organized camps with defenses. Interestingly, the Forgotten have managed to tame Tiberium Fiends and use them for combat.