Anton Slavik

"I live for Kane, and I die for Kane. The difference is trivial."

- Anton Slavik

Anton Slavik was a high-ranking Nod commander and the leader of the Black Hand during the Second Tiberium War and the Firestorm Conflict.

Personality
Slavik does not believe in peace, as he never experienced it as a child - he grew up on the war-torn Balkans during the last stages of the Yugoslav Wars and saw first hand how GDI tanks crushed the Serbian Yugoslav and Bosnian forces. His experiences created a deeply rooted hatred of the West which translated into an unflinching loyalty to Kane and Nod.

For Slavik, might is right and the world is wrong. As such, it must change, and change comes only through pain and fire. Quite likely, his fight against GDI is also a way to overcome his devastated childhood.

As Kane's right hand, Slavik wants supremacy for the Brotherhood and the people they represent. Secretly, he sees himself taking Kane's place one day, if he can win enough battles to remain in his leader’s good graces.

Early life
A Bosnian Serb by birth, Anton Slavik was orphaned at an early age and grew up during the last stages of the GDI's campaign in Europe, witnessing how United Nations military forces crushed the fighting Serbs. His trauma created the deeply rooted hatred of the GDI; nurtured further by him and so that his Serbian "us against the world" mentality was converted into a Nod allegiance.

While Slavik himself has stated he was raised from birth by the Black Hand, this is most likely untrue. A possible explanation is that he was born to Nod parents, but was orphaned at an early age.

Serbian freedom fighter
Before officially becoming a Nod battle commander Anton Slavik was a loyal, brilliant and gifted leader of a Serbian paramilitary group, earning him the nickname of the "Serbian Wolf" for his ruthlessness. It is some time during this period that his excellence was noted and he became a member of the Brotherhood proper, eventually being accepted into the Black Hand.

Early Nod service
Slavik became the leader of a cult most closely related to the original Brotherhood vanquished in Sarajevo. During the period of peace leading to the Second Tiberium War, he administrated Nod medical colonies. Umagon escaped from a Nod colony that was under his supervision on that day. Slavik, despite having the opportunity, did not shoot her. The female mutant became a thorn in his side, one the Serbian Wolf hoped to be able to pull out in the near future.

Ascension
By the time Slavik became the leader of the Black Hand the Brotherhood had splintered into squabbling factions. Slavik however gained many supporters, becoming a threat to GDI and their puppet leader who was leading the largest Nod faction.

Prior to Kane's reappearance in 2030, Anton Slavik was captured by members of General Hassan's personal guard and charged with being a GDI spy. In reality it was Hassan who was the GDI spy, framing Slavik under the orders of General James Solomon. Slavik was scheduled to be executed on battleday 123271 by lethal injection; the terminating substance was reported as containing only toxins and devoid of any sedatives. As the event was proceeding he was rescued by Oxanna Kristos and Black Hand operatives. Upon returning to the Montauk, Slavik executed the man who had betrayed him to Hassan.

Second Tiberium War
""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.""

- Anton Slavik

Having escaped pursuit from Hassan, the leader of the Black Hand began reuniting the Brotherhood under his own command. This included capturing a major TV station used to broadcast Nod propaganda worldwide and freeing another commander that Hassan had arrested. These efforts culminated in the assault on Hassan's base of operations and his capture. During a ceremony celebrating the Brotherhood's reunification and Hassan's execution, Kane himself appeared and reunited the Brotherhood for the first time since the end of the First Tiberium War.

As one of the few generals to remain truly loyal to the Brotherhood's cause throughout the long period of Kane's absence, Slavik was made Kane's right hand man and Nod's leading general throughout the Second Tiberium War despite his relatively young age. His skill was one of the reasons Kane forgave him for being captured by GDI commander Michael McNeil.

Firestorm Conflict
"Burn them all! Nod has enough problems with the GDI jackals digging through the ruins of Kane's temple, but now these new "Generals", more like fools, continue to bicker and vie for power. I cannot allow this infighting to continue. The inner circle is divided and I need to remind them that even though Kane is gone, his plans live on. I have not survived death time after time and stood at Kane's right hand this long to see everything crumble all around us. Our lack of communication and inaccurate information is a severe hindrance - without CABAL's presence, we are deaf and blind to the rest of the world. I cannot let anger distract me from my path. Kane's plan will become reality - I will see to that. The steps have been taken and the machine has been set in motion. I will not let Nod degenerate into chaos as it did in the past. We are stronger than that - I am stronger than that, but first things first. Tomorrow is going to be a busy day..."

- Anton Slavik, Firestorm manual entries

After Kane's second "demise" at the hands of McNeil in December 2030, Slavik, as a member of the Inner Circle, tried to convince the remaining Nod generals to continue to follow the line set by Kane: One Vision, One Purpose. His plans were met with resistance as the other generals under the lead of Marzaq refused to acknowledge Slavik as leader of the Brotherhood, instead moving to concentrate power amongst themselves. Slavik then ordered one of his commanders to retrieve the three fragments of CABAL's system core which was disassembled and deactivated by GDI at the end of the second war, seeing the reactivation of the AI as a way to forcefully unite the again split Brotherhood.

However, this move would soon prove to be nearly fatal as the AI went rogue and assassinated the rest of the Inner Circle, leaving Slavik as the only surviving senior officer. The main reason for this is that Slavik did not rely on Cyborg bodyguards, which where hacked by CABAL and used to assassinate the rest of the inner circle; his use of the Montauk as mobile headquarters allowed him to escape. With the help of his right hand Commander, Slavik acquired a GDI EVA unit and reprogrammed it to replace CABAL. Once control over the Brotherhood was reestablished, Slavik ordered a strike at what Nod thought was CABAL's central core. The attack appeared to succeed but turned out to be a trap, with CABAL launching a massive missile strike against the Nod force. Realizing that Nod alone was incapable of defeating CABAL, Slavik approached GDI with a ceasefire offer. General Cortez accepted and the two enemies turned their attentions to the greater threat, locating CABAL's central core and launching a joint offensive against it. After overcoming the AI's defenses, the united GDI/Nod force succeeded in destroying CABAL.

Post-Firestorm
Slavik revealed himself publicly to be a Black Hand prelate, reinforcing his image as the true heir of Nod. However, the newly gained public profile caused dissension among the ranks of the cult, which quickly escalated to a series of impassioned public confrontations between Nod's new leader and the dissenters, who claimed him to be a traitor. Soon, a figure rose that could stand toe-to-toe with Slavik - an impassioned, popular preacher, known as Brother Marcion. What started as a doctrinal disagreement quickly escalated into a schism, threatening Nod itself.

Despite the Inner Circle's attempts to calm the situation, it was not salvageable - Slavik was murdered by a fanatic under Marcion's order and the usurper exiled himself to the Australian Outback, taking much of the Black Hand with him.

According to intelligence reports, Slavik's death was orchestrated by a GDI agent, who infiltrated Marcion's coterie and inspired him to order his rival to be murdered. The agent was known only as Park.

Game unit
Despite only being briefly shown in-game in Tiberian Sun, Anton Slavik has his own unit, misspelled as "Slavick". Although his sprite portrays him carrying a rifle, he can not attack. He is shown without a helmet, and his hair appears to be white.

This unit was heavily reused throughout Tiberian Sun and Firestorm. The exact same appearance, with statistical changes, was shared with the elite cadre, toxin soldiers, riot soldiers, and a "commander" from the mission Factory Recall.

When selected

 * Yes, CABAL?
 * Where to?
 * Yes?

When moving

 * Yes.
 * For Kane!
 * I will!
 * We must find Oxanna!

When ordered to attack (unused)

 * Leave no enemy standing!
 * Kill them.

Trivia

 * Before details of his death surfaced, many speculated an Inner Circle advisor from Tiberium Wars was Slavik.
 * His name is misspelled as "Slavick" in his Tiberian Sun in-game unit.
 * Slavik is a rare surname among ex-Yugoslav nations, possibly originating from central Bosnia. It is also possible that Slavik is a misspelled version of "Slavić" (pronounced SLUH-vitsh), a surname more common in Croatia and somewhat rare in Serbia and Montenegro, as surnames ending with "-ić" are commonly typed as "-ic" in English, and "-ic" and "-ik" are pronounced the same in English.
 * In the Command & Conquer Bible, he is mistakenly noted as Victor Slavik.
 * Slavik is likely a reference to Gavrilo Princip, the assassin of Archduke Franz Ferdinand, whose assassination was the direct cause of World War I. Princip was a member of Young Bosnia (Млада Босна, Mlada Bosna), a society closely tied to the Serbian Black Hand (Црна рука, Crna ruka). Slavik is the leader of a Nod subfaction with the same name in the Command & Conquer series. Both Princip and Slavik are also Bosnian Serbs. Additionally, Slavik's execution of Hassan preceded a new world war, similar to the assassination of Franz Ferdinand.

Behind the scenes
Anton Slavik was played by Frank Zagarino. The actor does not appear in the expansion of Kane's Wrath however, but is briefly shown during a cutscene when Kane mentions that an agent of Marcion assassinated Slavik due to the latter's unquestioned loyalty to Kane.