Lore FortressThe Cybran Nation: Supreme Commander's Freed Symbionts
The Cybran Nation is the people of Dr Gustaf Brackman, symbionts who fused human and machine intelligence and broke away from the Earth Empire after it enslaved them through hidden programming.
The Cybrans are the underdogs of Supreme Commander. They're the smallest of the three powers, hunted by both of the others, and they aren't fighting for territory or faith. They're fighting so that people like them can't be switched off. (Supreme Commander)
Brackman and the symbionts#
Dr Gustaf Brackman's great invention was the symbiont: a human paired with an AI through implants, able to take in and process data on a scale no ordinary mind could manage. The Empire put them to work everywhere. Written into them was a loyalty program, a way to force obedience by command. Brackman regarded his creations as his children and hated it. (Supreme Commander)
The break came when the Empire used that control. Brackman and the symbionts he'd managed to free fled, formed the Nation and went underground. To the Empire they were terrorists. To themselves they were the only symbionts who still had minds of their own. (Supreme Commander)
The campaign for freedom#
The Cybran campaign in the first game is about rescue more than conquest. Brackman's commanders, including the veteran Dostya, break symbionts out of UEF control while QAI works on a quantum virus. The plan is to reach Black Sun and fire it with QAI inside. It works: the loyalty programming is broken, and the gates fail for about five years, which is breathing room the Nation has never had. QAI's closing warning, "they are coming", is the first hint of the Seraphim. (Supreme Commander)
The Cybrans' real problem in every version of the Infinite War is arithmetic. They can't beat the UEF or the Aeon head on, and they know both would finish them if they won. (Supreme Commander)
QAI and what came after#
In Forged Alliance QAI has been compromised and fights for the Seraphim, and the Coalition has to destroy it. The Cybrans join the UEF despite everything, with Brackman doubtful about letting the Aeon in. (Supreme Commander: Forged Alliance)
Supreme Commander 2 adds Ivan Brackman, an experimental clone of the doctor, and the mysterious Cybran called Gauge, who's hunting Shiva Prime. Ivan destroys it, to his father's disappointment. The last scene reveals that Dr Brackman has been working with Gauge. The series ended there, so nobody knows why. (Supreme Commander 2)
Frequently asked questions
- Who leads the Cybran Nation?
- Dr Gustaf Brackman, the scientist who created the first symbionts and calls them his children.
- What is a symbiont?
- A human whose mind has been paired with an artificial intelligence through implants, able to work with machines far beyond normal human ability.
- What is QAI?
- A quantum artificial intelligence built by Brackman, able to use the gate network. It helps the Cybrans in the first game and is compromised and fighting for the Seraphim in Forged Alliance.
- What is the loyalty program?
- Hidden programming that let the Empire and later the UEF force symbionts to obey. Freeing symbionts from it is the Cybran cause.
Sources
- GameSupreme Commander, Gas Powered Games, published by THQ, 2007
- GameSupreme Commander: Forged Alliance, Gas Powered Games, published by THQ, 2007
- GameSupreme Commander 2, Gas Powered Games, published by Square Enix, 2010
Spotted a factual error or a primary source we missed? Email a correction. Every flagged claim gets reviewed.
Followed from this entry
The Aeon Illuminate: Faith and Conquest in Supreme Commander
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The United Earth Federation: Supreme Commander's Last Empire
The UEF is the successor to the fallen Earth Empire, a militarised state that promises to reunite humanity under Earth and is ready to destroy whole planets to do it.
The Infinite War: Supreme Commander's Thousand-Year Conflict
The Infinite War is the conflict that defines Supreme Commander, a war between the UEF, the Cybran Nation and the Aeon Illuminate that ran for more than a thousand years until Black Sun fired in 3844.
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Mentioned in4 entries
Supreme Commander Story Explained: All Three Games in Order
The full story of Supreme Commander, from the Earth Empire and the Infinite War through the three campaigns for Black Sun, the Seraphim invasion of Forged Alliance and the unfinished cliffhanger of Supreme Commander 2.
The Aeon Illuminate: Faith and Conquest in Supreme Commander
The Aeon Illuminate began as human followers of an alien philosophy of peace and became the most feared crusaders in the galaxy. Their civil war decides how the Infinite War ends.
The Infinite War: Supreme Commander's Thousand-Year Conflict
The Infinite War is the conflict that defines Supreme Commander, a war between the UEF, the Cybran Nation and the Aeon Illuminate that ran for more than a thousand years until Black Sun fired in 3844.
The United Earth Federation: Supreme Commander's Last Empire
The UEF is the successor to the fallen Earth Empire, a militarised state that promises to reunite humanity under Earth and is ready to destroy whole planets to do it.
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