Temple of Nod



The Temple of Nod is the heart of the Brotherhood - it acts as their communications hub and command center, housing the computer core. It is also Kane's residence, where he commands the Brotherhood with an iron hand, surrounded by zealots devoted to his cause.

The Temple serves another purpose too - it is the Brotherhood's advanced research lab, allowing construction of advanced units. Additionally, during the First and Third Tiberium Wars, it housed Nod's Nuclear Missile silo, allowing Brotherhood's commanders precision attack capabilities paralleled only by GDI's Ion Cannon Satellite.

Additionally, during the First Tiberium War, the Cairo Temple housed Project ReGenesis' main research facility, and Templars, superior results of the project's augmentation procedures, were inhabiting the facility in great numbers.

First Tiberium War
During the First Tiberium War, the Temple of Nod was a massive, cathedral-like building, resembling a scorpion. It's architecture was neo-gothic, mixing heavily decorated metal frames with red and black stained glass windows. Several flying buttress extended from it sidewards, resembling scorpion's "legs" and a tail-like protrusion extended from the segment of the temple containing the nuclear missile silo.

Sarajevo
The Temple of Nod in Sarajevo was the headquarters for all Nod forces, as well as the temple where Kane stayed. It was invaded by GDI forces towards the end of the First Tiberium War. Eventually, a team led by General Solomon battled Kane's elite Black Hand troops for 72 hours before it was decided that the team would pull out and an Ion Cannon would annihilate the base.

The Sarajevo Temple had an elevator that provided direct access from the underground command center to the main hall. It was absent from the Cairo Temple, replaced by stairways leading beneath ground.

Cairo
The Temple erected by the Brotherhood in Cairo was built over the site of Abel's grave, and it was the one infiltrated by captain Nick Parker in an effort to rescue dr Sydney Mobius. It differed from the Sarajevo headquarters mainly in that it didn't have an archway over the entrance.

It was comprised of an above ground structure and three underground levels housing the main facilities. An additional area was located below the Temple, an ancient tomb, where Caine's brother, Abel, was laid to rest.

Allegedly, the Temple was built over the side of the original Brotherhood temple from ancient times.

Ground level
The structure extending above ground housed the main hall - a long, wide hallway, ending in a row of screens showing various videos, images and TV programs from around the world. The ceiling is composed of red stained glass panels adorned with the Brotherhood's insignia. In the part towards the back, the top level of the nuclear missile silo is accessible through a pair of blast doors.

The construction of this level is strong enough to withstand a direct Ion Cannon hit and remain standing, despite massive damage. However, it does not protect anyone standing in the hallway from the blast itself, as experienced by Kane, who arrived in a similar hall from the depths of the Sarajevo temple just prior to the Ion Cannon attack, ordered by general Solomon of GDI.

Underground level 1
The level just below is where Kane's netrunners work - three virtual reality machines tapped into the net are housed behind a sliding video screen wall. They act as interfaces for the hackers, who managed to obtain access to Global Defence Initiative's Orbital Defence Matrix, allowing the Brotherhood to strike at any point on Earth, including major landmarks, crippling the GDI by blaming it for the strike.

As with the above-ground levels, part of the missile silo goes through this level.

Underground level 2
The second level is the place where the main war room of the facility is located - it consists of a large situation table and several wall video screens, presenting the current world-wide situation. As with all other levels, the back houses a part of the nuclear missile silo.

Also, it should be noted that just below the concrete floor, a massive vein of Tiberium is located.

This facility bears much resemblance to the room in the Sarajevo temple, where Kane was last seen by his officers just prior to the Ion Cannon blast.

Underground level 3
The deepest part of the facility is its largest level, where all the main facilities are located.

The first room that is entered from the second level is Brotherhood's museum, where several artifacts are located, apparently of meaning to the Nod members. It is connected to a large walkway over the level's central dining hall and lounge. Several rooms are connected to the lounge, most notable of which are Kane's office and living quarters. Kane's office is composed of a large desk, a black and red scorpion's tail sculpture and a wall screen, which provided background for Kane's mission briefings during the Nod campaign of the First Tiberium War. Adjacent to the office is his bedroom, entirely made of expensive ornaments and furniture bearing the Brotherhood's insignia. For protection, his bedroom was equipped with twin Volt ceiling turrets.

On the same level Seth's, Kane's right hand, living quarters and office are located. After he attempted to circumvent his superior's authority, he was executed during a mission briefing by the man he tried to overthrow, and his body was preserved in a large tube, which Kane later calls his trophy in a transmission to captain Parker, a commando infiltrating the Temple in search for dr Sydney Mobius. Another room accessible is the bluescreen recording studio, where Kane recorded manipulated news reports with Greg Burdette, designed to place blame for civilian slaughter in Białystok on GDI. These reports were moderately succesful, creating a world-wide scandal with GDI as its victim. The last accessible room is the Temple's control room, through which access is available to the Temple's inhabitants living quarters. The living quarters section is intended for Kane's most faithful "brothers". It is interconnected with the main experimentation lab and the Temple's power core.

The experimentation lab is the place where the perfected Project ReGenesis augmentation process took place, resulting in creation of [[Templar[[s from volunteers. They would later be kept in stasis in specially designed tubes, to be released in the case the Temple came under attack, or Kane's life was threatened, as it was when captain Nicholas "Havoc" Parker infiltrated the level and had to face several Templars at the same time. It is also here, that the base of the nuclear missile silo is located and the Temple's power core can be accessed. In the power core, the main ReGenesis evolution lab was located - here, the most advanced mutation processes were monitored and set in motion. The most advanced specimen that was created here was the mutated Elena Petrova, who possesed superhuman speed, agility and stamina, able to withstand massive weapon punishment and able to make several meter long jumps, covering opposite platforms of the core.

Underground ancient tomb
The perhaps most mysterious element of the Temple was accessed from an elevator located in the main experimentation lab. It is a fairly simple maze, filled with green gas, ultimately ending in a large, circular room, in the center of which a large sarcophagus is located. Beyond the sarcophagus, a large wall sculpture is located, depicting a man killing another.

It is implied, that entombed within the sarcophagus are the remains of Abel, the first victim of murder and Caine's brother, which may mean, that Kane is indeed immortal.

Second Tiberium War
The main Nod Temple, alongside the Nod Pyramid, was seized by GDI and extensively excavated by it's forces. However, the security around the site was lax, allowing a small Black Hand force to infiltrate the perimiter an recover the fragmented CABAL core.

During the events of the Second Tiberium War, in 2030, a second Temple of Nod was constructed, in Cairo, where one of the first Temples stood. Adjacent to it was a Nod Pyramid, which housed Kane's world altering missile.

Not much is known about the Temple's interior. What is known is that the Temple still houses advanced research labs, acting as a prerequisite for advanced units such as the Cyborg Commando or Mutant Hijacker. The Temple did not house the main superweapons of Nod, but controlled them and similarly to it's predecessor, housed advanced research laboratories allowing Nod to field Cyborg Commandos, hire Mutant Hijackers and deploy Hunter-Seeker drones. It was also rumoured that some Temples were equipped with technology that allowed calling down Tiberium meteorite strikes, but these claims were never substantiated.

Its design differs drastically from the previous Temple - it is streamlined and resembles an encroached scorpion. Stained glass panels are almost non-existant, replaced by sleek concrete and steel surfaces.

Third Tiberium War
Following CABAL's rebellion, Nod upgraded the appearance of the Temple, which now was truly looking similar to a scorpion (see intelligence photo at the headline) and also changed it's role. Due to the large number of roles the Temple had to perform earlier, it allowed GDI to significantly cripple the Nod effort by simply destroying the structure.

The Temple ceased to be an advanced research center and instead was designed from the ground up as a fully fledged command center. The state of the art mainframes it possessed allowed Nod to effectively battle any electronic jamming they might encounter and keep their surveillance and net active at all times, thanks to master electronic countermeasures introduced. Additionally, the Temple once again served as a nuclear missile silo, with it's facilities now located under a blast door in the temple courtyard.

Temple Prime
Kane has also erected a new Temple at the site of the one destroyed in Sarajevo. Dubbed Temple Prime, it is a massive structure spreading both over and under the ground level, beyond a dry moat that once was the river running in front of the original Temple.

It was a fortress, with monumental towers overlooking the battlefield located on thick, titanium walls with ground carved in stone on which Nod facilities were located. Three Ion Distruption installations were located at key points around the temple to prevent the Ion Cannon from striking against Kane. His headquarters, housing the mainframes and the command center was a large circular chapel with towering red stained buildings and two adjacent crescent-shaped towers enclosing the chapel between them. Underground, a large cavern filled with liquid tiberium was located along with Kane's device.

Following a successful GDI siege that culminated in the destruction of the Ion Disruptors, Temple Prime was obliterated by an Ion Cannon strike ordered by Redmond Boyle, which set off a chain reaction that destroyed much of the region and drew the Scrin to earth.

Fate
The Temples in Cairo and Sarajevo were both heavily damaged and much of them destroyed in the First Tiberium War, both by Ion Cannon strikes, the one in Sarajevo according to gen. Solomon's order and the Cairo site by gen. Locke, as capt. Nick Parker helped to accurately target the orbital cannon. While the latter survived the blast intact, the former, after being heavily damaged by Global Defence Initiative forces, has mostly crumbled under the blast, burying the underground facilities under tons of rubble.

The Sarajevo site was declared secure territory by GDI and excavation efforts were made, however, they progressed slowly, as in 2030 they were still unearthing the facilities containing the Tacitus. Due to this, Nod forces attacked the GDI base in this region, shutting down the excavation operations and regaining control of Kane's former command center.

The Second Tiberium War Temple, along with the adjacent Pyramid of Nod, survived the GDI victory, and was also secured by the victors. However, the security was lax, allowing a small Black Hand commando squad to infiltrate the site and regain the three core elements of CABAL, aiding in the Brotherhood's rebirth, but also almost destroying humanity in the long run.

The Third Tiberium War Temple in Sarajevo was obliterated by the liquid Tiberium deposit detonation.