The CnC Storyline and CnC 3, Facts and Speculation Options

[The DvD]

WARNING: This post and it's thread will contain spoilers. Do NOT read unless you're absolutely not planning on playing the Tiberium War missions, or you don't care knowing what will be happening in advance.


Now that that is out of the way, let's get started with what we already know about the situation on Earth after Tiberian Sun: Firestorm.


- Tiberium has expanded over all continents;
- GDI is making efforts to contain the spread of Tiberium;
- CABAL's forces have been defeated, and Nod has lost Kane, but CABAL is still active in some form, while Kane has been cloned;
- GDI Is strong, and transforming into a global superstate;
- Both GDI and CABAL/Kane have translated the Tacitus;


And at the start of Tiberium Wars (2047), the situation is as follows;

- GDI has divided the world into Red, Yellow and Blue zones. Red zones are infested with Tiberium to such and extend that they have become inhabitable; Yellow zones are ravaged, but people can manage to live there. Most of Nod's following resides in the yellow zones. Blue zones are almost totally free of tiberium. They are controlled by GDI.
- Kane has returned, and is leading Nod in agressive movements against GDI;
- There's absolutely no sign of CABAL;


All of the above makes sense if one would assume that another one of Kane's clone has been activated, while CABAL is still hiding.

As the storyline progresses (as was the case with Firestorm, GDI, Nod and Scrin campaigns follow one line of events; The only thing that differs is the outcome), the following unfolds;

- Nod destroys the Philadelphia and start attacking GDI.
- GDI fights back and is quite succesfull, and converges on Kane's new Temple in Sarajevo.
- Kane develops a 'liquid tiberium' device using information gained from the Tacitus.
- Kane tricks GDI into firing the Ion Cannon on his temple where the device was stored; the result is a massive blast of tiberium, followed by shockwave and global fall-out, littering the world with tiberium. Kane reveals that everything is going exactly as planned.
- Aliens (the Scrin) detect the sudden explosion of Tiberium on Earth. They don't quite know why the moment came so soon, but this is their signal indicating that it's time to start the invasion of Earth.
- The aliens start invading, attacking Earthly targets of any allegiance; They start constructing 19 'towers', massive structures that when finished, would provide instantaneous travel to and from Scrin space. These structures are impervious to any attack once finished.
- GDI fights off the aliens and is succesfull in driving them back to their landing sites; Kane, who calls the Scrin the 'visitors' orders Nod to stand idle and to endure the alien attacks. Meanwhile he reveals that the Scrin towers are the key to the future of Nod; Nod obtains codes necessary to control the towers.
- GDI, having no idea what the towers could be used for, destroys all towers while under construction, except the one in Italy, because Kane orders his forces to intervene and halt GDI.
- The aliens, having found their invasion plans in ruins, finish the tower and escape with their mothership, promising revenge. Their leader orders more information about the phenomenon 'Kane', as they have found out he is the one responsible for the tiberium explosion.
- GDI declares victory over the invaders, declaring the finished tower to be 'harmless'.
- Kane reveals that the future is now; he has the codes to the tower and hence a way of instantaneous interstellar travel.

Speculation:
It becomes clear that Kane is NOT some sort of alien puppet; he knows that the Scrin exist and what they are capable of, but in one of the cutscenes he labels them as insects, acting purely on instinct. The role of CABAL is not explained at all. Perhaps CABAL, having translated the Tacitus, decided to clone Kane and use him as a means of ensuring an Alien tower would be built. This seems unlikely at best... it's more likely that the TW writers decided to totally forget about CABAL..

What is NOT clear however is why GDI would label the Scrin tower in Italy as harmless... it seems likely that they will guard it. It's also unclear how Kane plans to use it for his own advantage. It's also unclear wether the Aliens still have control over the tower or that their next invasion has now effectively been delayed a great deal because Kane has the codes for controlling the tower.

Time for an expansion pack or a sequel, i guess...

[Bittah Commander]

CABAL's forces have been defeated, and Nod has lost Kane, but CABAL is still active in some form, while Kane has been cloned

There has been no indication that Kane has been or was being cloned in either TS or Firestorm...

In my opinion it would make no sense for those towers to be (only) on earth (if I were them, I'd set up a whole network of them). I agree it makes no sense for GDI to declare the last tower harmless, because the Scrin could send new forces through (possibly even unnoticed; I haven't played C&C3 yet, so I don't know exactly how they work) at any time. It's also a quite a coincidence that the last tower that remains is in italy, seeming that's where the first tiberium meteor crashed...


About CABAL and Kane, according to Adam Isgreen (Ishmael) CABAL was actually loyal to Kane and even "thought" the same (Adam didn't explain exactly how or why this was). Supposedly the combination of Kane's mind and the information from the tacitus allowed CABAL to twist Kane's intentions. CABAL obviously doesn't care about Nod (only about Kane and we don't even know whether Kane really cares about Nod) and when Nod wouldn't cöperate (and even wanted to shut CABAL down), cabal must have decided Nod was no longer useful and wanted to get rid of them (if Kane was still concious, he probably could've stopped CABAL with a single word).
So knowing this, after TS CABAL must've tried to save or revive Kane.
Now we see Kane in C&C3 without even a scratch on his face... Only CABAL could have done this (if he has that capability at least), even though Joe Kucan said EA actually just ignored it.
CABAL just letting Kane go once Kane regains counciousness is also plausible, seeming CABAL is (or at least thinks he is) loyal to Kane.

Adam Isgreen's word doesn't really mean anything in C&C3 (it is the original story, but not EA's official story), but if EA follows that part of the story like Adam told it, Kane's presence in C&C3 actually would make sense. The most important condition on which Kane could be in C&C3 is actually the fact CABAL is loyal to Kane, or CABAL wouldn't have let Kane go or Kane really would be a clone.