Avatar (Tiberium Wars)

In the wake of the destruction caused by GDI walkers to Nod armed forces during the Second Tiberium War, the Brotherhood became interested in the technology, perceiving it as an interesting way to expand their forces. While GDI abandoned the technology, deeming it a dead end of development, the Brotherhood Black Hand began its own research, basing it in part on GDI designs and taking advantage of its own research in other areas to accelerate the development of the Avatar. Regardless of the origin of Nod’s technology, they invested years of research and development at a ruthlessly fast pace. The first result of this research was the Purifier.

The result of years of development and refining the technology is a powerful Avatar, a towering bipedal mech able to engage most targets with ease and even annihilate the Mammoth 27 of GDI or the Annihilator Tripod of the Scrin, making this war machine the most powerful one-on-one unit in a showdown situation (even while the Mammoth and the Tripod have clear advantages in other battle situations).

The Avatar uses a "virtual sensory pod", in which the pilot is linked to an on board Ai to operate the walker. It comes by default with a powerful laser cannon (based on the Obelisk laser), and possesses the ability to rip off weaponry and equipment from certain other Nod units, augmenting its own battle capability. The list of acquirable equipment includes the Attack Bike's stealth detectors, the stealth tank's mobile stealth generator, the Flame Tank's powerful flamethrowers and the Beam cannon's particle beam cannon. The unit in question is rather brutally destroyed, with the welfare of the vehicle's crew apparently not of concern (the Brotherhood considering the sacrifice of the crew justified for the greater good of the cause).

In addition, the Avatar Warmech is capable of crushing most other vehicles under its feet, similar to the Mammoth 27 or Annihilator Tripod. In form, it bears similarity to CABAL's Core Defender, although it is unclear if Nod reverse-engineered its technology.

While unable to steal components from GDI or Scrin units, in instances where Nod forces have fought each other, an Avatar can upgrade itself using the opposing force's weapons; gaining power while destroying an enemy unit.

Weakness
The primary weakness of the Avatar is its susceptibility to aerial assaults and Commandos, who are capable of planting explosives on an Avatar's legs. Also, although powerful, Avatars are only capable of using their laser weaponry while stationary, a drawback against mobile targets.

Fallen Avatars are repairable by capable engineers, who can reactivate the pilot's virtual sensory pod and rebuild the walker, adding it to the armed forces of the side the engineer was on. The only requirement is that the engineer reaches the fallen walker before either its power core finally dies down, or a coup de grace is delivered, destroying the fragile husk.

Service History
Avatars were rarely seen during the early stages of the Third Tiberium War, as their high cost forced Nod to keep them in reserve for important missions. Nod attached a number of Avatars to the defense of the captured White House in the initial stages of the Third Tiberium War, but these were destroyed in a carpet bombing strike by Firehawk jets. During a mission to recover bomb components from Slovenia, Kane reinforced his commander's troops with Avatars, allowing the forces to break through GDI lines. They became standard to major Nod forces worldwide shortly afterwards. Also of note, during a mission to capture the alleged traitor Kilian Qatar, the Nod Commander was granted access to only a single heroic Avatar and four saboteurs initially, but after capturing an auxiliary base, managed to amass sufficient forces to capture Ayers Rock.

Purifier Model
The Purifier is the significantly more primitive predecessor to the Avatar Warmech, and is used exclusively by the Marcion-led Black Hand.It is fitted with a subliminal message device that boosts the morale of nearby infantry, and comes pre-equipped with a flamethrower in addition to the laser.

It's development was commenced after brother Marcion, in a pitched Second Tiberium War urban battle against GDI forces, noted how his presence on the battlefield (along with the improvised flamethrower he used to clear GDI trenches) had an inspiring effect on the brothers that fought alongside him. The Purifier was created to recreate Marcion's iconic feat, a giant walking humanoid spouting flames, with a subliminal messaging system inspiring infantry near it.

Black Hand's expertise with flame weapons allow Purifiers to be upgraded with more powerful fuel for their flamethrowers, giving them the purifying flame effect. Unlike the Avatar, the Purifier doesn't need to stop or turn to use its flamethrower and will automatically burn any enemy unit in its radius. However, it lacks its successors ability to upgrade itself with components from allied units, making it somewhat less adaptable.

The Purifier's introduction into the Black Hand originally caused dissent within the organization; as many viewed the machine as incompatible with the religious purpose of the Black Hand. To avoid further problems, Brother Marcion mandated that prior to deployment, all Purifiers had to be consecrated by Black Hand abbots.