The Brotherhood of Nod: Kane's Army of Believers

The Brotherhood of Nod isn't an army with a cause. It's a cause with an army, plus a media network, a banking empire and a leader people will die for. Critics of the series have noted it works more as a personality cult around Kane than a coherent faith, and that's as good a description as any. (Command & Conquer)

How Nod fights#

From the very first game, Nod's army is built around stealth, speed and cheap, nasty tools, while GDI brings heavy armour. Its weapons are the sort a guerrilla movement would dream up, including flame tanks and stealth tanks, and its signature defence, the Obelisk of Light, is a tower that cuts through armour with a laser. Its real weapon, though, is information. Kane fights through broadcasts, fake atrocities and bought politicians. (Command & Conquer)

Tiberium is the other half of it. Nod reads the crystal as a gift, not a catastrophe, and treats mutation and transformation as progress. In the third war its forces use Tiberium-based weapons directly, and hold most of the contaminated Yellow Zones where the bulk of the population lives. (Command & Conquer 3: Tiberium Wars)

The cycle of collapse#

Nod's history is a loop. After the First Tiberium War it breaks into factions. General Hassan takes control from Cairo, and he's actually working for GDI to keep the Brotherhood weak. Slavik of the Black Hand escapes Hassan's execution with help from Oxanna Kristos and the AI CABAL, captures Hassan and reunites the factions. Kane then walks back in. (Command & Conquer: Tiberian Sun)

After Kane falls at Cairo it happens again. CABAL turns on its masters and kills most of the inner circle, and the survivors have to work with GDI to destroy it. Then Brother Marcion has Slavik assassinated and pulls the Black Hand away to Australia. Kane, of course, is still alive. In Kane's Wrath he crushes Marcion's stronghold, takes him back and starts the next cycle. (Command & Conquer 3: Kane's Wrath)

The end of the Brotherhood#

The saga's last war is partly a Nod civil war, with separatists opposing Kane's alliance with GDI. It ends with Kane opening the portal at Threshold 19. Reports at the end say Nod's followers have entered the Scrin tower and disappeared. Whatever the Brotherhood was for, it seems to have got there. (Command & Conquer 4: Tiberian Twilight)