Tiberium



Tiberium (referred to as Ichor by the Scrin) is a mysterious crystal that was discovered on the planet in 1995. The poisonous mineral has been valued greatly for as long as it has existed on Earth, and has been used by both the Brotherhood of Nod and the Global Defense Initiative as a form of currency.

Typically green, Tiberium is named after the place of its initial discovery at the Tiber river in Italy (although Kane claims that he himself discovered it and named it after Emperor Tiberius). Tiberium leeches metals and other heavy minerals out of the soil, concentrating them in crystals which can be easily collected and processed. The leeching process leaves the landscape depleted, leaving the ground underneath effectively useless for agriculture.

It is a valuable resource. Harvesters (large, heavily armoured vehicles with specialised equipment) collect the crystal by sweeping it up from the ground. The crystal's growth speed and amounts of materials it contains depends on variables such as soil conditions, moisture, yearly-average temperature, and local weather.

Proliferation
Tiberium first reached Earth during a meteor shower in 1995. The first patch was discovered by Dr. Ignatio Mobius (although some would argue that it was actually Kane himself) by the Tiber river in Italy and has since spread all over the planet.

Tiberium can spread almost anywhere, with the rate of spread being influenced by soil density and ambient temperature. Only the polar caps show low levels of Tiberium infestation. Tiberium spreads through a variety of methods, depending on the local environment.

No matter how small, an isolated patch of Tiberium can spread to cover acres. The process is not entirely understood, but it is believed that a patch of Tiberium will release underground shoots in every direction, which will then grow into Tiberium proper. In this way, the amount of Tiberium in an area will increase exponentially. Tiberium patches can be completely de-'forested' temporarily, but will grow back even if the Tiberium is completely removed, due to it's underground "roots". Some of the immature Tiberium sprites are fairly non-descript, allowing the illusion that Tiberium is growing from out of nowhere. The ground from which Tiberium grows sounds like shattered glass when walked on- though the large crystals may be entirely harvested, smaller crystals will remain in the soil and become clusters for further cryssaline growth.

A more disturbing method of Tiberium growth is witnessed when the area Tiberium is in has any sort of foliage, such as trees or bushes. Through an unexplained mutagenic process, Tiberium alters these trees into "Blossom Trees". These "trees" are fleshy stalks with a large bulb at the top. The bulb regularly contracts and relaxes, releasing microscopic Tiberium crystals into the atmosphere. As long as there is a Blossom Tree in an area, Tiberium will constantly regrow around the tree. Most attempts at injuring or removing Blossom trees have been ineffective.

Tiberium Vinifera, the highly combustible blue-coloured Tiberium variant, has its own specific form of spread. If a large enough patch of Vinifera grows to maturity, the crystals will meld together into a massive blue crystal, roughly 10 meters high. These large Vinifera masses act similarly to Blossom Trees (it is unknown how), but at a much slower pace. These crystals are very volatile, and if a vehicle manages to be destroyed over a patch of Viniferia, it will start a slow chain reaction. The crystals will catch fire and then explode after a short time, and some small pieces of debris will land on other areas and catch them on fire and so on, until very little of the original patch remains.

Evolution
Following the Firestorm Crisis and the decontamination of the atmosphere, due to unknown factors, Tiberium began to rapidly evolve. While blue zones were largely unaffected, yellow zones and red zones suffered greatly, as the new Tiberium is capable of literally assimilating and fusing with organic matter.

The new Tiberium is a dense "dynamic proton lattice" held together by exotic heavy particles. When Tiberium comes into contact with other matter, the heavy particles randomly collide with the nuclei of the target matter, smashing it to pieces (in the case of smaller nuclei) or incrementally knocking off protons or neutrons (in the case of heavier nuclei). Tiberium captures a fraction of the protons that are ejected during this collision process and incorporates them into its own structure, thus transmuting matter into more Tiberium. Whenever one of the heavy particles — a muon or tauon — collides with an atomic nucleus, fission occurs, which results in the production of alpha, beta, and gamma radiation as well as other forms of electromagnetic radiation (like infra-red). During the transmutation process, nuclei that Tiberium has come into contact with may be changed into nuclei with different (usually fewer) numbers of protons or neutrons. The evolved Tiberium continues to form green (low mineral density) and blue (high mineral density) crystals, varying in worth.

Human Tibeirum poisoning has also became much more dangerous than in previous years: if a human comes into direct contact with Tiberium, the green matter will start to fuse with their skin within about 20 seconds. An intense burning sensation will be felt. A full infection will manifest if the victim isn't treated immediately. The flesh will begin to take on a glassy-greenish appearance as it begins to crystallize; eventually internal organs will shut down as Tiberium extends rigid crystalline runners throughout the body. If the crystal is breathed in, then it will become embedded in the lungs. The ability to process oxygen will be lost as the lung tissue crystallizes. Eventually the subject will hemorrhage to death.

It should be noted that the new Tiberium does not always kill it's victims, as due to unknown factors, a human can survive contact with it and mutate, eventually becoming a human with superior strength and endurance, but shunned by most regular humans. Usually, the mutants die or join the Forgotten in their exodus.

Harvesting

 * Main article: Harvester

It 'lives' and 'grows' by a particular way of sucking up nutrients from the ground, leaving it bare and unsuitable for agriculture. The end result of this unique leaching process is that the Tiberium crystals can be easily harvested for industrial means with the minimum of mining expense. It is as if the Tiberium performs the mining process for the harvester, with significantly greater efficiency than can currently be counted upon. It was the Brotherhood of Nod that pioneered the mining process, and consequentially, Nod became very wealthy which gave it the upper hand at the beginning of the First Tiberium War. On the world market it is very valuable, and it is the rich mineral wealth of these crystals that has allowed the GDI and the Brotherhood of Nod to amass such huge armies. Note that although Tiberium is relatively common, its extreme usefulness that drives the cost - demand for the compound is extreme.

Riparius
This is the most basic form of Tiberium. Its crystals are small and green in appearance, thus it is referred to as green Tiberium. This type of Tiberium has a low level of leeched minerals and is therefore the least valuable resource, albeit the most common. Generally not growing more than one foot off the ground. It is toxic to all known carbon-based lifeforms on earth, and produces very small amounts of the tiberium gas. The assault suit developed by the Mobius doctors will protect the wearer from 99% of the radiation and gas.

Chemical Composition: Green Tiberium was the basic form of Tiberium which came in the meteorites at the Tiber river and therefore given the name Riparius (meaning growing near a river). This was the first type of Tiberium extensively studied by Dr. Ignatio Mobius. Riparius grows and spreads very fast - about an acre a month in temperate climates. It would appear as if this is more accurately expressed as a formula of perimeter area of the field, size of the field, density of the field, etc, but the 1 acre per month figure is reasonable for medium sized, average density fields.
 * Phosphor: 42.5%
 * Iron: 32.5%
 * Calcium: 15.25%
 * Copper: 5.75%
 * Silica: 2.5%
 * Unknown: 1.5%

The most common proliferator of the Riparius was the blossom tree, which launches Tiberium spores (microscopic crystals) that eventually matured into Tiberium pods. The second means of spreading is the underground spread of roots.

More advanced research has been conducted that indicates that Tiberium affects matter on the molecular and possibly even smaller scales. It is advised that all biological lifeforms stay well away from Tiberium.

Tiberium continues to transform itself. By 2047, Tiberium has become a self-replicating proton lattice that turns any matter it touches into more of itself, giving off powerful radiation in the process.

Vinifera
As Vinifera did not spread noticeably until after the First Tiberium War, Doctor Ignatio Mobius did not manage to study it in great detail before he died. Extensive studying of this tricky crystal by scientists of the Global Defense Initiative has shown that after some time, developed Riparius crystals mature into Tiberium Vinifera, which is blue in appearance, and has crystals about the same size as Riparius. Vinifera is referred to as blue Tiberium for its color.

Vinifera has some special properties which distinguish it greatly from Riparius.
 * 1) It spreads much more slowly than Riparius.
 * 2) It has a much higher mineral density in a given volume, compared to the Riparius, and therefore has greater economic value.
 * 3) It is highly combustible and unstable. It explodes violently when brought into contact with fire or other explosives.

When it explodes, it does not blow up all at once. The crystals in a patch blow up randomly, often with gaps of up to 20 seconds between each explosion. The reason for this is as of yet unknown. Vinifera Monoliths began to appear as Vinifera fields spread further. This massive blue crystal form of Tiberium functions like a spore tree but rather than spreading Tiberium Riparius, it spreads Tiberium Vinifera.

Aboreus
Tiberium Aboreus is very similar in appearance to Vinifera, and shares many of the same properties. It is slightly more valuable in minerals and slightly more explosive, but this has not been conclusively scientifically proven yet. Apparently there were enough chemical differences for Dr. Mobius to put it in a class of its own. Not much is known about this. It is thought to be more valuable due to peaking chemical concentrations.

Cruentus
These are large crystals, similar in appearance to the above two strains of tiberium, except they grow in clumps of approximately 1 square metre to a height of one to two metres. They spread patches of Tiberium Vinifera and Aboreus around them. These crystals are extremely explosive and quite rare. When exploded they shower crystals around the landscape up to 600 metres. This is thought to be a method of spreading Tiberium. It is called 'Cruentus' meaning blood-red, even though the crystal itself is dark blue.

Tiberium Algae
Though this form of Tiberium is called Algae as if it was a form of mutated flora, it is actually Tiberium growing in water. It forms from Tiberium colonies that extended from either Riparius or Vinifera on the sea floor to the surface by strands. It poisons and clogs waterways. By the time of the Second Tiberium War, most of the oceans have been covered by this unhelpful variant of Tiberium which makes travel by ship impossible. This issue has been rectified, as GDI managed to partially decontaminate waters worldwide.

Tiberium "Creep"
A sludge/moss form of Tiberium which marginally slows down travel but is otherwise unobtrusive. Tiberium moss is green in color, while the "sludge" is light blue. It usually serves as a base for Tiberium flora growth.

Unknown Strain
This new strain of orange Tiberium appeared several times throughout the Firestorm Crisis. However, it hasn't been observed to spread or in any way effect the environment.

Liquid
While technically liquid Tiberium is not a new form, as the compound has to be melted down for processing, the liquid Tiberium developed by the Brotherhood of Nod is a completely new type of Tiberium altogether. It is an extremely potent form that stores large amounts of energy in itself. It was researched to become both a weapon and a tool.

The new form can be sprayed on a surface, and the microscopic Tiberium particles will embed themselves in the soil and rapidly develop into green Tiberium crystals. It is used as one of the methods of amplifying Tiberium spread. Another use is as a component of the Tiberium infusion or as a power core of Nod Power Plants.

Kane used the liquid tiberium to draw Scrin to earth, by provoking an Ion cannon strike on Temple Prime that triggered a catastrophic detonation that drew the harvester detachment of the Scrin to Earth.

Gases
This is a dangerous form of Tiberium which forms toxic clouds. It is often observed being emitted by Veinhole Monsters and Tiberium Floaters. Tiberium gas is highly corrosive in nature and will damage vehicles and buildings. Soldiers without a special suit will die as soon as the gas enters their lungs or when the gas is absorbed into the blood stream it may cause mutations, turning them into visceroids. Tiberium Gas Clouds also damage cyborgs and mutants. Fortunately, the concentrations of Tiberium during the First Tiberium War were relatively low compared to what followed.

Chemical Composition:
 * Methane: 22%
 * Sulfur: 19%
 * Naphthalene: 12%
 * Argon: 10%
 * Isobutane: 6%
 * Xylene: 2%
 * Unknown: 29%

Effect on organic matter
Outcroppings of Tiberium release odorless gasses as they appear. While Tiberium was originally considered harmless (and perhaps even beautiful to some due to its unearthly shimmering sparkles), these fumes will heavily poison any human that ventures through it.

Long-term low-level exposure to Tiberium causes illness of various systems amongst all terrestrial life. As the exact mutagenic means by which Tiberium affects terrestrial biology are largely unknown, treatment is generally restricted to alleviating the symptoms rather than curing the cause. Unfortunately, this means that victims of Tiberium poisoning almost uniformly experience a gradual decline over a number of years until eventually succumbing to the effects. A research study funded by GDI that was conducted during the First Tiberium War produced the following statistics:

Long-term mid- to high-level exposure to Tiberium can result in effects that reveal an alarming aspect of the mineral/life-form: Tiberium is a mutagen. Furthermore, it is unlike any terrestrial mutagen, it can cause quick evolution in the infected being.

Generally, exposure to Tiberium (either a single heavy exposure or a long-term light exposure) will cause death by some form of total system failure.

What was not initially apparent, however, were the intra-organism mutations that could cause subtle mutations seen only within a few generations of exposure. The growth of Tiberium crystals on the skin and flesh, increased resistance to the effects of Tiberium poisoning, and even the ability of tissues to achieve accelerated cellular regeneration when in the presence of Tiberium were only known to Nod researchers. (Source: C&C2)

When exposed to very high concentrations of Tiberium, such as while passing through an area of dense Tiberium growth without protective apparatus, the short-term effects of Tiberium poisoning are immediately experienced by individuals. If an individual dies from such exposure, irregular Tiberium mutation can sometimes result. This mutation causes the individual's body to literally break down into a somewhat inside-out, amoeboid organism. These are known as "visceroids", with the strange tendency to "bleed" fluids in both gaseous and liquid forms. Visceroids tend to feed upon nearby sources of Tiberium, or, if available, they will attempt to digest organic matter of vaguely similar genetic composition to the host organism that preceded them.

Interestingly, plants seemed more susceptible to viable mutations than animals and humans, with the 'blossom trees' being an early-recognised example of such mutation in plants.

In the 2040s, the planet was separated into three different zones showing the global impact of Tiberium: 30% of the Earth's surface ('Red Zones') has been rendered completely inhospitable to carbon-based life (though not to mutated, Tiberium-based life). A further 50% ('Yellow Zones') is severely afflicted and war torn, yet home to most of the world's population; while the remaining 20% ('Blue Zones') is relatively untouched. Much of GDI's efforts are focused toward the conversion of Yellow Zones into Blue Zones, and the complete sterilization of Red Zones.
 * Red Zone - The Red Zone, which covers up 30% of the planet's surface, are worst affected by Tiberium, making these areas uninhabitable. Australia seems to be the biggest Red Zone area. Southeast and central Asia, central Africa, and South America from Guatemala to Venezuela, as well as the European countries of Spain, Portugal, France, Italy, Austria, Greece and the former Yugoslavia, have also been turned into Red Zones.
 * Yellow Zone - The Yellow Zone, which covers up 50% of the planet's surface, have significant contamination levels of Tiberium, yet they contain the majority of the world's population. Much of the Americas, Asia, Africa, and Europe are contained in the Yellow Zone.
 * Blue Zone - The Blue Zone, which covers 20% of the planet's surface, remains untouched by Tiberium. Canada seems to be the largest Blue Zone area, followed by Argentina and Chile. Smaller Blue Zones include South Africa, Madagascar, Great Britain, Scandinavia, New Zealand, Japan, South Korea,The U.S. Eastcoast and parts of the Middle East and West Africa.

Fauna

 * Visceroid - As stated above, the amoeba-like visceroid is a pulsating glob of undeterminable flesh. It is often formed by the Tiberium-related death of a human-sized organism. Some variants of this organism spew Tiberium gasses at its enemies, whereas others attack with pseudopods.
 * Tiberian Fiend - The 'fiend' is a horse-sized animal, resembling a terran dog. The flesh is blackish or red, and the back is covered with Tiberium Crystals. It is believed Tiberium fiends were actually once dogs. The fiends can launch these crystals at enemies, causing both damage as well as Tiberium poisoning. Often, they bury themselves in Tiberium fields (the Tiberium on their backs concealing them) and lay in wait to attack Tiberium Harvesters. They do react to perceived acts of kindness, and The Forgotten have been able to actually "tame" a significant number of them for use as watchdogs.
 * Tiberian Floater - Looks like a large, hovering/floating, greenish/yellowish jellyfish. It can build up an electric charge in its tentacles to zap threats. The Tiberium floater can release Tiberium gas to propel itself, as a way for movement.
 * Tiberium Veins/Veinhole Monster - Perhaps the oddest Tiberium being, the Veinhole Monster is simply a massive mouth-like orifice in the ground, with many orange tendrils flowing outwardly from the mouth. These tendrils harm anything larger than a human being, and were harvested by Nod for use in chemical missiles.

Flora
Though limited in variety, Tiberian flora has been located:
 * Blossom Tree - Sometimes referred to as the Tiberium Spore Tree and officially called "Tiberium Riparius" by scientists. Blossom Trees are born when normal trees come into prolonged contact with Tiberium. Once contact is made, the tree will slowly die. When it is a withered husk, a blossom will move from the roots up to the top, bursting out from underneath. The tree will also develop fleshy organic parts over time. Blossom trees' main purpose are the proliferation of Tiberium through periodically releasing Tiberium spores to the surrounding area. When these spores land on the ground, a new Tiberium field will begin forming. Blossom trees can spread green Tiberium at an alarming rate, and are known to sprout from any type of tree species.


 * Tiberium Plants - These plants have not been given names. The scientific background is that they release Tiberium gas and add to the suspected terraforming process of Tiberium. These plants come in both blue and green variants and grow either on the Tiberium creep, or on terrain soil. Some of these plants can respond to their surroundings and threats.