Command and Conquer - Post War

All your life, you've been taught that there was nothing outside of where you lived, safe from the horrors of the Tiberium Wastelands.

The town of Crossroads was your whole existence. Navigating the cold, gray, featureless hallways of metal had become second-nature to you, as were the sudden flips of the day into night, bright white lights turning dim red, and being forced back to your quarters as the Mayor's Men enforced curfew.

Up until that moment, you were always working. If you wanted to live in Crossroads, you had to work for the Mayor, who, in addition to owning the town also owned all the businesses within it. His power was limitless, and if you didn't want to work the way he wanted you to work for him, you wouldn't last long.

Of all the Mayor's employees, you were the lowest of them, a worker. Under the glaring eyes of the Mayor's Men, you worked tirelessly. You handled rice in the indoor farms, repaired the town walls, and even harvested Tiberium, savior and bane of Mankind.

The last was dangerous work. Even with protective suits on, direct contact with Tiberium would see the green, lightly glowing crystals spreading all over your body. The suits mainly filtered the air, preventing you from getting microscopic Tiberium crystals in your lungs and condemning you to a slow, painful death as Tiberium grew and quickly replaced all your internal organs.

It was necessary, though. Harvested Tiberium could be converted into a variety of materials, which were safe to use and essential for the continued operation of Crossroads. Only thing that it couldn't be turned into was food, but Crossroads was mostly made up of indoor farms anyway, so that wasn't much of an issue.

While most of the people in Crossroads were workers, there were a few other jobs. A few of the people got cushy jobs as the Mayor's assistants, and they spent their days watching you, making notes and reporting back to the Mayor. There were the Mayor's Men, who were the only ones allowed to carry weapons in the town and enforced his rules. There were also servants, who cooked, cleaned, and in general played housekeeper for the entire town.

The ones you envied the most, however, were the ones that ran the businesses. The town had a few services for Outsiders, two standing out most in your mind. First was the Assembler, which processed Tiberium into material and assembled it into items and objects. Outsiders with a few credits could pay the Mayor a few to use it for a while. The second was the Inn, where they sold food, drink, and a place to stay a night or two. Most of the Outsiders stood around there.

One of the jobs you had as a worker was delivering food and water to the Inn when they were running low. It was your favorite job, since it meant you got to see all the Outsiders. You mainly saw three groups: Haulers, who were stopping in Crossroads to trade before moving on to the next town, Travelers, who would quickly grow bored of Crossroads and want to leave as soon as they could, and most of all, the Soldiers.

Whenever they walked in, you couldn't help but look at them. When you walked into a room with them in it, they commanded your attention. They always wore armor, tough stuff that could protect them from small-arms fire (something that made the Mayor's Men very nervous whenever they came around,) as well as protecting them from the Tiberium Wasteland. They always carried guns, too, bigger, meaner looking ones than the Mayor's Men had.

You've seen them enough to recognize them by sight: The Allies in their blue, the Communists in their red, GDI in their yellow, and the Brotherhood in their black. You also saw Contractors, Soldiers who weren't underneath one of the Four and instead were hired out by them in their wars. There was always a sort of tension, whenever they were all in the Inn together: The Four had their issues with each other, some more than most.

You remember a time when the Mayor's Men had to try and break up an escalating argument between the Brotherhood and GDI. Eventually, they got them to calm back down, only after they agreed to settle it outside.

Even through the walls, you could hear the gunfire later during the day.

However, you knew you weren't ever going to see them since you didn't run the businesses. The Mayor liked to fill those with pretty girls and handsome boys. Not that you weren't ugly, you felt, but just not as good looking. If you didn't look good, there wasn't much room for a…

[][Gender] Man
[][Gender] Woman

In Crossroads, unless you liked digging for vegetables, scrubbing walls, or harvesting the most lethal substance in the history of mankind.

And you couldn't leave. The Mayor made sure that you wouldn't. Instead of paying you in credits, he made sure to pay you in food, water, and a bed to sleep in. While it kept you alive, day-to-day, it also chained you to your work. Without any credits, you couldn't get a proper suit to survive the Tiberium Wastelands in. Or buy weapons. Or ammo. Or anything at all.

From what you heard from the Soldiers, they would have been happy to pay for that – if you joined up with them. Even that wasn't an option, the Mayor forbidding the Soldiers from recruiting in town, saying that it was a violation of the town's neutrality. The Soldiers always grumbled about that, but they weren't angry enough to do anything.
It would have looked like that…

[][Name]

Would be stuck at Crossroads. You almost accepted that, almost believing that you would be working on the farms and the fields of Tiberium for the rest of your life.

Then, you got a lucky break. You had just finished delivering a load of apples to the Inn. They were packaged carefully, since fruit was valuable: in your life, you've never been allowed to harvest fruit, and the section they grew in was carefully guarded by the Mayor's Men. On your way back, someone stopped you.

They were an old Soldier, one that decided Crossroads was a nice, out of the way backwater with nothing going on - a good place to retire, in their mind. You saw them around before, but you didn't speak before then: you didn't even know their name. The Mayor tried to get them on his side, working for him, but the Soldier always turned him down.

As they grew in age, though, it got harder and harder for them to keep the small room they had together. Something about you, though, made them think you would be a good housekeeper for them. More importantly, they were willing to pay you in credits, actual credits, for you to do their work for them. They even let you sleep on a small bedroll in their room, provided you did your job.

As soon as you could, you quit your job as a worker. The Mayor was upset about that, though the Old Soldier refused to budge on the issue and, so you kept working for them. It was simple work, at first: clean up this, tidy up that, exactly what you had expected. As time went on, though, you realized the Old Soldier had different plans in mind. They didn't just want someone to clean up their place, they wanted someone to mentor. As they began to, you learned more about their past. Starting with the army they fought for.

[][Faction] Allies (Rangers)
Of the Four, the Allies are a balanced, well-organized group. Not as underground as the Brotherhood, not as numerous as the Communists, and not as strong as GDI, they occupy a middle ground between all of them, strong in no area but weak in none. No matter what happens, the Allies are never out of options, always having a surprise ready.

While the Allies loudly proclaim their democratic ideals, a subset of theme is known to radically follow them. The Rangers claim descent from the defunct United States of America, who were an influential power in the Allies until the very end. The Rangers have a heavy emphasis on Drone Warfare, using semi-autonomous war machines to bolster their forces in service to the Allies.

Their main rival are the Communists.

[][Faction] Brotherhood of Nod (CABAL)
Unique among the Four, the Brotherhood of Nod has additional, religious motivation for their actions, not just secular reasons. They continue to place their hopes on Kane, their Messiah, who they believe will one day return to rule the new world. Despite their distinctive appearance, the Brotherhood if a master of unconventional warfare, employing powerful stealth techniques and technologies.

Should the Brotherhood need be more direct, however, they turn to Kane's creation, CABAL. An Artificial Intelligence, CABAL, is said to maintain an army of powerful cyborgs, ready to fight for the Brotherhood of Nod. With only these cyborgs acting as it's proxy, however, some wonder if CABAL is just a myth, an elaborate ruse by the Brotherhood to further their own goals.

Their main rival is GDI.

[][Faction] Communists (Psi-Corps)
Among the Four, the Communists never ran into the recruitment problems the others did. Their numbers are legion: only the other three combined would have comparable manpower. However, this incredible power is hampered by their command structure, filled with bickering and feuding. Even with this inefficiency, the Communists remain as equals to the other Four.

Deep within the Communists are a secretive group known as the Psi-Corps. Powerful psychics, they are rumored to possess all manner of exotic abilities, from controlling bursts of flame to telepathy, to complete mind control. Little is known about these warriors, and even the Communists speak little of them, with some whispering that they are the true leaders of the Communists, dominating the minds of their official leaders.

Their main rival are the Allies.

[][Faction] GDI (Mutants)
Among the Four, GDI has fought the hardest to maintain the technological edge it had over it's rivals. While it was not immune to the technological degradation that set in amongst the Four, GDI was perhaps the least affected, fielding technological marvels as a faint reminder of their past glories.

The result of an old Alliance, the Mutants found in the Tiberium Wastelands are officially part of GDI. Unlike regular humans, the Mutants do not fear Tiberium. Rather than harm them, it only serves to heal them instead. While a part of GDI, Mutants are not trusted and despised outside of their ranks, and some feel that the Mutants have lost a part of their humanity in becoming corrupted by Tiberium.

Their main rival is the Brotherhood of Nod.

Instructor Roman, as you later learned, had seen much in his time as a GDI soldier. He had a calm, relaxed demeanor that always hung around him as he led you through the training and the exercises he said were needed to make you into a soldier. Right now, you were practicing equipment maintenance.

As your hands ran the ever-dirtying cloth over a mechanical part, you looked over to the man, sitting in his chair. Instructor Roman's green eyes stared back, impassively, as if they were staring through you then at you. It didn't seem you were doing anything wrong, though: otherwise he would have stopped you. And if you made the same mistake again, he would have dropped you for Corrective Training. No matter how rested you were before you started, your muscles would always end up screaming and sore by the end.

The thought makes you turn your attention back to your – his, gear. Today was looking to be a good day, you didn't want to mess that up.

"Set that down." He said, suddenly, and you stiffened. What I mess up?

"Yes, Instructor." You responded, placing the part carefully on the towel before you, where the rest of the weapon was completely disassembled. Damn it, it was looking like a good day. You braced yourself, already feeling the strain on your muscles from a marathon PT session.

"Relax Private." The Instructor said. "Why're you acting like you fucked up?"

You frown. "I…expected that I did, Instructor."

"Don't anticipate it," Roman replied. "Don't anticipate my commands, understand?

"Yes, Instructor." You intoned, mentally filing it in with the rest of the lessons he taught you.

"Good. Now, reason I wanted you to stop what you were doing was to give you a break," he began, and your mind froze. Instructor Roman giving you a break? What the- "And a lesson on military rank structure." He finished, and your mind unfroze itself. Oh good, Instructor Roman hadn't gone crazy.

As you breathed in a quiet sigh of relief, Instructor Roman carried on with the lesson, standing up as he did so. "In the old days," he began, "Rank was given out by a superior officer as enlisted men and women were promoted based on seniority, experience, and ambition." He paced to the left of you, staring at the wall. "These days, any soldier can promote themselves and no one gives a damn about that."

"Private Lazić requesting permission to speak." You cut in, a question popping into your mind, and you ran through the protocol the Instructor drilled into you.

Instructor Roman stopped pacing, and turned to look at you. "What?" He asked.

"Why did that change, Instructor?" You asked.

"There wasn't much of an Upper Command left after the war. Whoever wasn't killed by Brotherhood cultists and cowards ended up getting torn up by the Scrin." You stiffened at the mention of the Alien monsters. Mayor Saylor (now you could say his name since you weren't working for the bastard,) always told stories about the invaders, how they were all over the world and the only safe place was Crossroads. Your reaction didn't go unnoticed by Instructor Roman. "Cut that out." He said, his voice stern. "You'll see plenty of the bugs in the Wasteland, be happy they're all just dumb animals now. You wouldn't have lasted a minute against them back in the day."

That was another thing you learned from Roman: he was an old soldier. Long enough to remember the times before Tiberium, if you could believe it.

"Anyway," he continued, "With their death, GDI became a hell of a lot more decentralized. Every army did, even the Noddies did, somehow. Now, if you want to claim a rank, you just need enough men under you to claim it."


"Something that Independent Lieutenants like to do:" Instructor Roman continued. "They like to call themselves Captains, because they think they're the top dogs around. Typically if you see someone be called a Lieutenant, it means they have a captain above 'em, somewhere." He turned to look at you. "I see you got something to say." He said, "Go ahead then, what is it?"

"So, if you have enough men, you could make yourself any rank you want?" You ask.

"If people don't like it, then they can argue with all the soldiers you have." Instructor Roman replied. "Rank's really become more of a dick-measuring contest now, way to establish dominance then anything pertaining to actual skill or talent. No way a bunch of civvies are going to argue with you, but another commander, like you would be?" He shook his head. "That little lesson is so you don't make a fool of yourself, go around calling yourself a damn General just because a squad decided to follow you around for a while."

You nod. "Yes Instructor."

"Good." He said. "Now, let's get back to proper training."

Over the past few weeks, Instructor Roman had been training you how to be a Soldier. He was getting sicker, you could tell, though he fought to hide it well. A little more slower, a little weaker day by day. Still, he made sure to train you the best he could, to be a…

[][Training] GDI Rifleman
The Rifleman was the core of the GDI military, and served as their primary infantry fighting force since it's founding. While Riflemen train extensively with their rifles, your training has also covered how to use other personal weapons systems such as grenade launchers, missile launchers (though you were unable to fire either of those, a result of the frugality of your training.)

[][Training] GDI Disc Thrower
Instead of using a gun, Disc Throwers are use explosive discs, which you've been trained to throw with incredible accuracy. However, Disc Throwers are more than just glorified Grenade-lobbers, according to the Instructor. The explosive discs they use can also function as proximity mines, breaching charges, and with the right equipment, remotely-detonated explosives.

[][Training] GDI (Combat) Engineer
The pistol Combat Engineers carry isn't their main weapon. It is a sidearm, meant to protect them while they use their true weapon: their Toolkit. You can just easily hack open a door as you could repair one that's been ripped apart, and you can keep any vehicle running just by yourself if you had your toolkit with you. You could even pilot them, at least if the control scheme wasn't too out there.

[][Training] GDI Jump Trooper
The Jump Trooper doesn't need destructive weapons: they are one. With their lightweight SMGs, Jump Troopers can easily scale obstacles and cliff sides, using the powerful jetpack to fly for a brief time. In addition to flight, however, the equipment also allows Jump Troopers to be incredibly nimble in combat, dashing forward or to the side to avoid fire and to race from cover to cover.

[][Training] Mutant Auxiliary
Like you, Instructor Roman kept his true nature hidden: you were surprised to find out you weren't the only one out there, and Roman inducted you into the Mutant Auxiliary Corps. Unhindered by a suit, you learned to stalk through the Tiberium Wasteland, able to understand it on a level the Blun- regular humans couldn't. Armed with your Designated Marksman's Rifle, you'll be the first to shoot in any engagement.

---

Even now, as you sit looking at Instructor Roman's body, laying quiet and still in his bed, the training couldn't help but come back to you.

He must have passed away sometime in the night, peacefully, at least. Some part of you hoped that everything would be okay: that it would be a bad episode before he returned to normal (as normal as he had become, at least) but it became more and more apparent that he wasn't going to make it. Not this time.

You think that he knew it too. He grew quieter, those days, and lost the hard edge that defined your relationship with him as your Instructor. You even managed to share a few laughs, something you would have ever thought hard-ass Instructor Roman could ever do.

Now, though, you had to come to a decision.

You couldn't stay here. The Mayor is going to try sooner and later to talk to Roman again, and this time Roman's not going to tell them to go away. And while you were well-trained, you didn't just have the reputation or the presence the old soldier had to force the Mayor off.

So, you had to leave. You walked throughout the room, grabbing whatever you could find. It wasn't much, honestly: Instructor Roman preferred a very frugal lifestyle, with little else save the essentials. You pocketed whatever credits the man had left, though. There were also a few training manuals and guides in chip form. You grabbed those too.

You looked around the room for anything else, but nothing. Instructor Roman was very frugal as you had said before. All that was left was the equipment.

You walked over to the large chest, punching in the access code that made the top unlock and slowly slide upwards, letting you see the military gear within. When it was finished, you looked over each piece of equipment one by one, pleased to see that it was functional, ready to be used.

A though occurs to you then. The equipment is very clearly GDI's, either with their iconic eagle painted on the surface, or if it read "PROPERTY OF GDI." Instructor Roman was GDI, through and through, but were you? He talked about Contractors, independent soldiers who were hired on by the Four to fill out niche roles and offer support. While you would be looked down upon by the Four, none of them would outright hate you. You could pass off being a member of GDI easily, Roman taught you well, but you don't know enough about how the others behave to align yourself with them.

[][Allegiance] Keep Markings – GDI
If it wasn't for Instructor Roman, you would still be working for the Mayor. Even if you have no contact with GDI prior to that, you should join to honor his memory for that, if nothing else.

[][Allegiance] Erase Markings – Contractor
You aren't going to risk your neck like that. Maybe in the future, you'll pick a side, but right now? You don't know what the modern day GDI is like, you want more information before you make a choice.

With that, you don your gear, walking straight to the door. You stared at the gray metal for a moment, before you turned around to look at the room. Your eyes flickered over the gray walls made darker by the dim light, the two beds on opposite sides of the room, one of which held the body of Instructor Roman. You drank it all in: it wasn't likely you were going to be here again.

Now, you had business to do. Where to?

[][Location] Chapel
You don't know if Instructor Roman was a religious man or not, but it bothers you that you're just leaving his corpse here. Go to the Chapel, see if there's some way for you to pay your respects before you head out?

[][Location] Inn
You need to get out of here. And the best way to do that would be with signing on with a squad of Soldiers at the Inn. Mayor said that the Soldiers couldn't recruit while they were here, but you're already a Soldier, aren't you?

[][Location] Assembler
With the credits you have, you can buy some time and resources as the Assembler to make something. Maybe some ammo, raw materials, or whatever else they have there. Couldn't hurt to be more prepared before you head out.

[][Location] Gate
You're leaving. Now. Walk straight from here to the Gate, walk outside, and just get out of here. You don't want to be here another minute.

[][Location] Mayor's Office
You have some unfinished business to take care of.