Earth Glowing Green: A Tiberium Wars - XCOM Crossover

The Year is 2029.

It has been 10 years since the Etherals have established a puppet government of humanity in the form of ADVENT, and their hold shows no sign of weakening. Holding back Tiberium and offering a quality of living at the price of subservience, these aliens and traitors command the vast majority of the remaining population of humanity, currently estimated to be around 5 billion souls. GDI and The Brotherhood of Nod, once vying for domination of Earth, now exist on the edges. Brought together during their failed war against the invasion, they have slowly drifted apart due to desperation and old grudges. Yet now, in a desire to reforge the ties that allowed them to fight the Etherals before, XCOM has been re-established.

Originally an organization predating GDI, it was resurrected during the Ethereal Invasion and acted as the joint command structure coordinating the defense of Earth. While winning some battles and achieving limited success, it was ground down over 4 years by a combination of Ethereal control of the orbitals and attrition. Fractured further by Ethereal stooking of internal divisions, GDI and Nod both walked away from XCOM to fight the aliens independently, leading to a collapse of the effort in the final year.

As XCOM burned itself out in its final hours as Nod and GDI fought alone, Humanity lost hope. Surrenders by warlords and regions slowly snowballed until only fractions, and predominantly the most brutalized, of Nod and GDI remained. Slinking off the edges hoping to one day reignite the cause, they established what bases and enclaves they could while the Etherals settled into the subjugation of humanity.

Raising planned cities over the ruins of the old, with food and shelter from Tiberium, the Etherals concentrated the human population under their control. At first managed predominantly by GDI and Nod traitors, both have been steadily replaced by ADVENT in the years after the invasion. Cowed by the terror attacks and fearful of Tiberium, humanity now lives off what the Etherals deign to give. The average human is now reliant upon them forthem for for food, shelter, protection from tiberium and monitored extensively. Acting against ADVENT or indicating support for those outside their control is met with a reduction of rations, social ostracization, or simple violence. Many have simply decided to attempt to survive in this new world and accept alien control.

But the fight is not yet over.

While GDI and The Brotherhood were broken by the invasion and continually under pressure from the invaders, they have rebuilt. Not to their previous heights, but throughout the world hidden bases have been established. A combination of old stockpiles, reverse engineered technology, and new developments have led both factions to shift their perspective from survival to fighting back once more. And they are not the alone.

The Forgotten, seemingly so by both humanity and the Etherals, have made contact with the two factions. Consisting of those changed by Tiberium and lead by Tratos, they hold strengths no other can command: the ability to operate freely in the Tiberium scarred Earth or wield psionic power unique to that of the Etherals and their puppets. Yet they still cannot fight alone. Lacking in industry and resources, they sell their services to survive.

All three factions of free humanity, seeking a means to drive back the invaders but individually lacking the ability, have joined in a new endeavor.

The resurrection of XCOM. Initiated by the Councilor of old through old back channels, personal connections, and favor trading amongst the three factions, he has managed to obtain the support to remake XCOM. Acting as the primary source of intelligence on the goals and disposition of ADVENT, the Counselor's primary role in XCOM will be in the background. And while able to find the means to remake XCOM, his efforts have not been able to repair the damaged ties between GDI and Nod, or to fully connect either with the Forgotten.

The new XCOM is to be reborn as a fully independent command intending to hopefully avoid the fracturing that broke the previous form, it's commander once selected by the three factions will have total freedom of action. While they will be responsible for delivering results and need to balance requests and influence of their creators, the Commander of XCOM will have ultimate authority over all forces under its banner. With these forces, its objectives are as follows: Strike back against the Ethereals. Spearhead research and development of new equipment and tactics. And Liberate Humanity.

Good luck, Commander.

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Commander Vote
[] Name: Write In
[] Gender: Write In

Age: This is mainly for writing character.
[] Age: Young. You were born after 1995. You have never known a world without Tibierum.
[] Age: Old. You were born long enough before 95' that you know what the world once was.

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Faction Vote:
The commander of XCOM has a place they call theirs, a faction that shaped who they are and how they will fight ADVENT and their Ethereal puppet masters. The following three selections cover the basic history since the Tiberium War, as well as how it has molded the commander.

[] Faction: GDI
The Global Defense Initiative. Formed in 1995 and the victor of the first Tiberium war, the GDI of today is a pale imitation. Ascendant after their victory in the Tiberium War and faced with an apparently broken Nod, they turned to containing Tiberium as their utmost priority. Using the resulting Tiberium income to fuel a growing industry, they were the most militarily prepared for the arrival of the Ethereals.

During the Ethereal Invasion, they attempted to fight the alien forces in open battle and for a time, were successful. Initially still possessing the largest industrial system on the earth, they fought the invaders under a shield of metal. UFO after UFO was downed by flights of Orcas, air defense networks, or in the case of one Battleship, a prototype Ground-to-Orbit Ion Cannon.
While GDI was capable of defeating the Etherals attacks at a cost, that increasing cost slowly began to form cracks in the public support for GDI. As the quality of living for those best off in GDI continued to drop under rationing and alien terror attacks, some politicians in GDI began pressing for making a peace deal with the aliens on the grounds that the war was unwinnable.
And as their industry was slowly destroyed by attack after attack, GDI was forced to fight increasingly lopsided attacks. Even with the assistance of Nod and coordinating through XCOM, units were worn down until they shattered. Their prime hope of resisting the invaders, the Elerium powered Ground to Orbit Ion Cannon, was eventually destroyed by an attack of three battleship and two assault carrier class UFOS. Without any industry, means to combat UFOs, and units ground down to nubs, the steel wall of GDI cracked.
Command broke down as units went radio dark to try and live to fight another day. Civilian and business elements brokered surrenders with the Ethereals for protection from Tiberium and a return to a standard of living not impacted by total war.
What remains of GDI now is scattered units slowly being reconnected and rebuilt under the ostensible command of General James Solomon. They draw support from the GDI populations in ADVENT cities and resources from what Tiberium based industry they have rebuilt. Small in numbers but heavily equipped, they one day hope to fight the aliens in the field without fear once more.

GDI Starting Traits
Heavy Metal: Building on the intensive effort invested by GDI, you have access to some of the expertise and tooling for maintaining armored units. Reduced recruit and maintenance cost of armored units.
Blue Zone Legacy: While relatively few in number, there are still a meaningful number of sympathetic engineers that have volunteered to lend their expertise. Plus 2 Engineering points at game start.
The Weary Few: GDI still tries to be a professional military, and with the limited manpower pool outside of ADVENTS cities and the need for armored or maintenance personnel, raising infantry units is a hard task. Increased infantry recruitment cost.

[] Faction: The Brotherhood of Nod
The Brotherhood was born long before GDI. Organized by the enigmatic and presumed dead Messiah Kane in the year 1800 BC. Or so it is claimed. Nod accepts this legacy, and at the latest connects itself to the Serbian Black Hand which ignited the first World War. Made up of a collection of mystics, radical scientists, and others all loyal to Kane, what is indisputable is that they have always commanded an understanding of Tiberium that GDI could not match.
Adrift after their loss in the first Tiberium War with the apparent loss of their Messiah, they were barely held together by General Hassan. Considered a weak leader by a vast proportion of Nod such as Anton Slavik, he still managed to maintain power by the time the Etherals arrived over earth.

Leveraging or being leveraged by his connection to GDI, he was instrumental to the formation of the first incarnation of XCOM and managed to secure his position in the Brotherhood by supplying warlords and internal factions with captured alien technology and salvage. Bolstering the Brotherhood's effort against the aliens through this, he oversaw a campaign of rapid strikes and ambushes against the alien invaders wherever they landed. How much can be attributed to his leadership is debatable, but the campaign was nonetheless successful enough to repeatedly capture landed UFOs, which helped spur on Brotherhood developments.

After a series of costly defeats and growing discontent amongst the warlords and other members of Nod, Hassan betrayed humanity. Claiming that it was Kane's will to stop the fighting for the betterment of humanity and the Brotherhood, he abandoned XCOM. While a large number of warlords surrendered alongside him as a result of either exhaustion from fighting or being offered a good deal by ADVENT, a small remainder under Anton Slavik broke off to the fringes to continue the fight.

After a decade of hiding from ADVENT and husbanding resources, the Brotherhood of Nod has still not recovered to its power of the Tiberium war. Their known forces consist of large yet disparate militias and leftovers from the Tiberium War bolstered by small numbers of alien derived technology such as Cyborg Commandos, Banshees, and the Obelisk of Light. Their most critical technology however is their command of stealth technology.

United by professed loyalty to Kane, a hatred of the invaders and a desire to extract revenge upon the traitor Hassan, the Brotherhood of Nod under Commander Slavik prepare to continue the fight against the invaders and those that betrayed them.

Nod Starting Traits:
Fighters, Arm Up!: Nod draws a large portion of its combat force from refugees as well as those living under ADVENT. While not elite, they are numerous. Reduced Infantry cost.
Technologies of Peace: Nod has always had a strong background in applications of advanced technology and has managed to maintain that edge. Plus 2 Research points at game start.
An Irregular Military: After the Tiberium War, Nod has struggled with maintaining a professional military. Suffer slightly increased losses during combat.

[] Faction: The Forgotten
The Forgotten are those that were left behind to Tiberium during and after the Tiberium War and the Alien Invasion. With many slowly dying to Tiberium poisoning or worse, some survived. Changed by Tiberium until they could survive its presence in their bodies, they display a variety of new abilities and appearances.
Some bear marks of the crystal on their skin, others great protrusions and some none at all. Individual Forgotten can receive benefits ranging from the ability to draw energy from Tiberium crystals, to greater speed, strength, and resilience, or even the ability to demonstrate psionic powers similar to those demonstrated by the Ethereals. The only universal fact of Forgotten is that they have all reached a state of balance with Tiberium such that they either die much slower than most or not all from Tiberium exposure.
Organized even more haphazardly than GDI or Nod, the Forgotten are a network of mutually supportive clans, settlements, and individual families that exist predominantly in deep Yellow or the edge of Red Zones. There they survive by salvaging what they can from ruins of the old world, old battlefields, or crashed UFOs and trading to others what they cannot use. They also mine Tiberium for supplying the other two factions but do not have much refining capability at this time.
The leader of the Forgotten is known as Tratos. Highly knowledgeable about the happenings across the world and deeply empathetic, he has wielded his charisma to weld the Forgotten together into a faction peer to GDI or Nod. While lacking in industry, their unique powers and tolerance of Tiberium results in an ability to muster considerable military power.
And now having come to the table with the other factions of humanity, Tratos is committed to ensuring the Forgotten are not left behind by XCOM and perhaps, to take a new name in the future.

Starting Traits
Mutare ad custodiam: Mutated by Tiberium, the Forgotten possess abilities that elevate the untrained to powerful combatants. Unlocks recruitment of additional Forgotten units.
Tiberian Birthright: Able to extract Tiberium much more safely than any other, the Forgotten are adept at harvesting the crystal. +25% Tiberium harvest income
Forgotten Wealth: The Forgotten have no great source of industry or science to draw upon to sustain themselves. -25% income, -25% Tiberium processing capacity

Traits: Traits are the result of the Commander coming from one of the three Factions. Traits from factions not chosen can be gotten in the future, or possibly upgraded. Though both will require effort on the part of XCOM.

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Background: This covers both some mechanics as well as flavor for how I write the commander. I'm going to be upfront and say that these are somewhat open ended in specifics of what you have done in the past to let me write an interesting and hopefully compelling character no matter what combination of options is picked. For this vote, you should be answering the question of "who were you" before you got the Commander's chair.

[] Background: A Fighter.
Wherever you were, you fought. You fought against those who would keep you down or take what you had earned. You fought against the Aliens, personally. You have watched the steamy breath of a Muton slowly begin to cool, smelt the burning ozone of lasers and plasma. You have been wounded too, and it shows. You may not be on the frontline anymore, but people around you know you have done what you are asking them to do. They fight just that little bit harder. Just like you have always had.
Don't Stop Fighting: If a combat roll results in a tie, instead of a stalemate, your forces just barely manage to eke out the win.

[] Background: A Leader
You coordinated those around you, found whatever had to happen to let others shine and then found a way to get it done. Obstacles turned to advantages, or avoided, or just blasted through if it had to be done. You got your team to accomplish the objective not by carrying them on your back but by fostering bonds and supporting them to make sure they could do it with or without you.
Together or Never: Faction requests take longer to timeout and give increased bonuses.

[] Background: A Builder
During the war, you built defenses or weapons or found ways to engineer a solution, no matter what. Whether it was working on taking apart alien salvage or developing mundane solutions to the problems you encountered, you found some way to cut corners. A bridge doesn't have to be built to spec if you need it for a single night. A weapon doesn't need a safety if it won't kill you. Some might call it slapdash or risky, but it always worked.
Make Do Attitude: You know what it really costs to get something done. Reduced engineering and research points needed per project.

Author's Note: After this first vote, the next vote will cover where on the earth you start operations as well as what units you will be able to recruit while there.

So this was the result of a brain wave on Poptart's Discord, so if you wanna watch me ramble about this there, follow that link. Additionally, feedback and spelling/grammar checking is appreciated. Finally, feel free to ask questions regarding cannon or other things about the quest, I will do my best to answer.

XCOM Status as of January 2029

Alert: 1/20

GDI Support: 0/5 (Current Benefits: None)
Nod Support: 1/5 (Current Benefits: Attack Bike, Attack Buggy)
Forgotten Support: 0/5 (Current Benefits: None)
Council Requests: Zone Data. Timeout: N/A Rewards: +65 Supplies
Faction Requests: None.

Supplies: 100 + 15 per turn (Tiberium Refining) - 5 per turn (Maintenance)

Tiberium: 25 + 15 per turn (Harvesting) - 15 per turn (Refining)
Tiberium Refining Capacity: 15 (15 in use)
Engineering Points: 2 per turn
Science Points: 4 per turn

Active Forces:
Ant Queen Modified MCV (Maintenance: 0) [UNASSIGNABLE]
Black Hand Bodyguards (Maintenance: 0) [UNASSIGNABLE]
3 Sky Ranger High-Speed Transports (Maintenance: 0) [UNASSIGNABLE]
6 Light Infantry Squads (Maintenance: 3 Supplies per turn)
2 Missile Infantry Squads (Maintenance: 2 Supplies per turn)