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The Patria Nihilus have secured a hidden base somewhere in the Mid-Rim. It is here that research has been done in fields the Terran officials would frown upon. Their first public reveal of their advances is with the resource Tylium. In another broadcast to all the Terran worlds The Wanderer showed the fruits of their labor with the mineral.



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.

Beware of Human Tibeirum poisoning, 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 __A victim of Tiberium assimilation
lost as the lung tissue crystallizes. Eventually the subject will hemorrhage to death.

Proliferation:
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 its 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 crystalline 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-colored 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.

GD-2:
The GD-2 is an automatic assault rifle with an integrated grenade launcher. It is cheap, reliable and fully customizable, allowing it to be employed by various soldiers, normally through the use of exchangeable barrels.

The basic weapon itself is a non-bullpup design, with a relatively short barrel, firing high caliber rounds. This made it an effective weapon on short and medium ranges but poor at long range. Given that most combat takes place on short ranges, this was deemed to be an acceptable trade-off. The integrated grenade launcher is breech loaded.

Saboteur:
These are Engineers loyal to Patria Nihilus.

Called Saboteurs, these highly qualified men are recruited from the most brilliant and loyal PN engineers and are equipped with state of the art HazMat (Hazardous Materials) suits (which protected from environmental hazards, but not Tiberium) as well as a supply of C4 charges for mining buildings and all necessary engineering tools, allowing them to perform all the duties regular engineers would. They are also equipped well enough to be able to reactivate fallen Mechs.

The Wanderer's Hand:
The Wanderer's Hand is the structure that trains and provides housing for Patria Nihilus's infantry corps. It is perhaps one of PN's most recognizable and distinct buildings, integrating the shape of a human hand into the architecture. This reflects Patria Nihilus's use of symbolism. In this case, the infantry produced are the "hands", doing The Wanderer's will. The structure also doubles as a place of learning for aspiring PN members, a sanctuary for fanatics and their departure rituals and a Confessor interrogation center.

Black Hand (Infantry):
The Black Hand is an elite group from before the public reveal of Patria Nihilus. Only they know of Patria Nihilus's true and ultimate goals. Even most Confessors worry when a Black Hand officer is snooping about.

They are extremely loyal, chosen brethren of PN, whose excellent training and inhuman stamina allow them to decimate enemy infantry, burn down buildings and clear garrisons.

They wear full powered armor with capes, cloaks masking their thermal signatures and helmets with three horizontal visors. This equipment allows them to use their advanced plasma and flamethrowers effectively without harming their health as well as effectively clear out garrisoned buildings and decimate infantry.

Avatar Warmech:
At 8 meters tall, the Avatar is a towering bipedal mech able to engage most targets with ease. It comes by default with a powerful laser cannon (based on the Obelisk laser), and possesses the ability to rip off weaponry and is equipped with a range of PN technological abilities. These are stealth detectors, a mobile stealth generator, powerful flamethrowers and a particle beam cannon. In addition, the Avatar Warmech is capable of crushing most things under foot when planetside.

Like most heavy mechs, it takes another heavy mech to take it down. However Commandos, who are capable of planting explosives on an Avatar's legs can take it out when planetside. Also, 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.

Venom:
The Venom is Patria Nihilus's primary fighter. Its primary tasks are recon and harassment assignments, as it is extremely fast and armed only with a single chaingun {or Terran equivalent} and laser cannon based on Obelisk technology.

The fighter possesses an extremely aerodynamic shape and two VTOL engines on articulate mounts on its sides for planetside fighting. It also has heatshilding for atmo enterences, but such enterences are discouraged. The pilot's cockpit is at the extreme front of the machine, allowing a large field of view, but also limiting his protection. Its chaingun is ideal for attacking infantry or harassing armour.

Another function of the Venom is deception - it can be equipped with signature generators, that interfere with the opponent's radar, fooling him into considering a few Venoms a whole army, thus making him scatter his forces.

((Edit. I couldn't think of how to make this ability of the Venom work on till now))
Venoms also can provide targeting data for the beam artillery units operating in the "field" and allowing them to bounce their beams off of mirrors the Venom carries on its underside, thus allowing them to strike targets otherwise immune to their damage. Also allow Obelisks not positioned to fire on targets on a particular side of a planet to aid the Obelisks that are due to the 30sec. cool down time need for each individual Obelisk.

Ezekiel Class Recon Ship:
The Ezekiel Stealth Recon ships are used mostly for surprise attacks or reconnaissance missions. It has twin missile launchers that are fitted over the pilot's cockpit and are capable of discharging deadly volleys of guided missiles, numbering up to 16 rockets per volley. The stealth generator is highly advanced and is capable of reactivating the stealth bubble almost instantly after the ship has fired its volley, making the ship both deadly and hard to locate. It also as stealth detection modules that allow the Ezekiels to detect other cloaked ships near by. However, it is highly vulnerable when it's cloak is down and firing it's rocket volley.

It has a little brother for planetside attacks, the Jeremiah class recon/attack bike. It does not have the stealth generator but does have the stealth detection modules to detect any cloaked ground facilitates and vehicles. Also, the bike can only fire two missiles per volley instead of 16.