Awakened

"We come in silence."

- Awakened cyborg activated by LEGION

An Awakened cyborg is a heavily armed and armoured cyborg created to fulfill Kane's will. The Awakened are of a more advanced design than the Second Tiberium War cyborg, and serve as the basic infantry of the Marked of Kane.

Background
While speculated to be the remnant of CABAL's forces, it has been confirmed that they are the result of a secret project conducted by Nod scientists in Central Asia, using human corpses as a base for heavy cybernetic enhancement. The Awakened lack any emotions, and are unquestioningly loyal to Kane. Originally meant to be used during the Second Tiberium War, their activation was delayed until 2052.

Awakened are armed with an EMP cannon implanted in their right arm, a heavy machine gun grafted onto their left, a rebreather unit and numerous other augmentations. Their armour, while its composition remains unknown, is the toughest used by any basic infantry force. For better control, their enhanced cyber-neurological implants are linked to a world-wide control network. These units can use their EMPs to disrupt enemy vehicles or structures for a short time. Awakened primarily use this to temporarily halt an armoured advance, while letting units better suited to anti-vehicle operations to destroy the immobilized vehicles. Meanwhile, their Enlightened brethren, possessing more potent EMPs, together with their powerful particle beams, can wreak havoc on an armoured column by themselves.

In-game
While stronger than regular infantry, the Awakened are more costly, making them poor scouts. Also, they lack any further upgrades from their subfaction (though in rare instances when the Marked of Kane and the Black Hand operate jointly, the Awakened can be upgraded by Black Hand charged particle beams). Deployed in squads of three, the Awakened are more susceptible to sniping and crushing than infantry deployed in larger formations; despite their large size and mechanical implants a sniper can still eliminate them in a single shot.

Their armour properties are different from most types of infantry; they are less vulnerable to small arms fire (though still fairly vulnerable) and more vulnerable to anti-vehicle weapons than normal infantry (though still less vulnerable than a vehicle would be), reflecting their cyborg nature.

The Awakened also have access to a secondary EMP ability which can be manually activated. It has a very small splash radius, making it possible, but not likely, to hit multiple targets. This can shut down vehicles or buildings for a few seconds. Their weapons are in no way adequate for dealing with hard targets, but this ability is helpful in that it lets them assist other units when fighting vehicles or buildings - or, at the very least - shutting them down and giving the Awakened a chance to get away.

Awakened, unlike previous Nod cyborgs, are not immune to Tiberium poisoning. This makes them less useful as guards against anti-harvesting operations. They are not affected by Electromagnetic pulse weaponry, making them less vulnerable than their predecessors to the weapon.

Regular Brotherhood forces do not produce these cyborgs conventionally. However, the Redemption ability allows them to resurrect deceased Militants into Awakened. The Black Hand do not have access to the Redemption ability and thus have no way of producing them. Such Awakened cyborgs can not enter a Redeemer.

EMP glitch
The EMP special ability has oftentimes been proven as prone to malfunction, likely due to a coding error. This has been fixed in community patches 1.02+ and 1.03.

Changelog

 * Kane's Wrath patch 1.01:
 * speed increased 11%, health reduced 25%
 * EMP cannon of the Awakened/Enlightened tuned for significantly faster responsiveness, squads will no longer perform a funky backwards walk-dance when attempting to get into EMP range
 * Kane's Wrath patch 1.02: Awakened are now much more resilient to missile and cannon fire

When created

 * Awakened.
 * We come in silence.

When selected

 * Yours to command.
 * Command uplink active.
 * Souls of steel.
 * Our will is Kane's.
 * Ready to serve.
 * Silent, devoted.
 * Awakened online.
 * We serve the Brotherhood.
 * Master!
 * Your wishes?

When moving

 * Altering destination.
 * Compliance.
 * Command received.
 * Moving out.
 * New destination received.
 * We obey!
 * New vector engaged.

When garrisoning a structure

 * Claiming for Nod!
 * We will take it!
 * It is ours!

When ordered to attack move

 * Leave no survivors!
 * Terminate them all!
 * Relentless!
 * Wiping the area!
 * High alert!

When attacking

 * Destroy them!
 * In Kane's name!
 * No survivors!
 * Target acquired!
 * Terminate!
 * They will suffer!
 * Clean them!
 * We will redeem them!
 * Target locked!

When ordered to fire an EMP blast

 * We will silence them!
 * They are powerless!
 * Command pulse blast!
 * EMP blast engaged!
 * Immobilize them!
 * Disable them!

In combat

 * Engaged!
 * We cannot fail!
 * We can taste their fear!
 * Their flesh is weak!

When retreating

 * Disengage!
 * Move back to base!
 * We shall return!
 * It is Kane's will!

When suppressed

 * Down!
 * To the ground!
 * Cover!

Trivia

 * Originally, the Awakened were supposed to be named Silent Ones.
 * The Awakened were also supposed to have the Supercharged particle beams upgrade, as seen in the concept art, but this was cut during development. However, for some reason, the Awakened are affected by the Black Hand Charged particle beams upgrade.
 * The basic design of Awakened somewhat humorously resemble one of the design of Robocop's replacements seen in Robocop 2 (albeit the Robocop's version separates manipulator and weapon).
 * The Redemption power works by deploying automated "meat processor" droids and Awakened robotic chassis' for quick "meat" swapping to the one being revived.
 * The Black Hand do not deploy Awakened because they believe them to be 'soulless machines'. This stance may be religious in nature, but may also be due to a wanted dissociation with technology that reminds them of CABAL.
 * Sometimes they will dance like robots when left idling.