Scrin



The Scrin, or Visitors, are a powerful and technologically advanced alien race that created the Tacitus. They are one of the main antagonists in Command & Conquer 3: Tiberium Wars. Calling Tiberium "Ichor", the Scrin have a dependence on the substance and will die if they do not receive Tiberium infusion or radiation from a Relay Node. While the Scrin are implied to be insectiod in appearance, as they employ purpose-engineered cybernetic organisms as infantry, no confirmed member of the original Scrin race has been directly observed by humans.

The Scrin are suspected to have been the ones who originally seeded Earth with Tiberium using a meteor, intending to harvest the mineral after it had reached a sufficient concentration by extracting it with Threshold Towers. However, Kane tricked GDI into causing a premature liquid Tiberium explosion, luring the Scrin mining force to Earth. Commanded by Foreman 371 and his AI assistant, they were unprepared for the military resistance of the native humans, expecting a dying populace in disarray. Eventually, GDI pushed them back and destroyed the Relay Node, killing all their forces, while the Foreman retreated through the last remaining Threshold.

Military
The Scrin military is highly technologically advanced, to a level far beyond that of the Global Defense Initiative or the Brotherhood of Nod. The Scrin military employ mostly directed energy weapons, including lasers and weapons known as plasma discs or plasma missiles- highly deadly guided projectiles made of superheated plasma. Indeed, the only more conventional weapons are Tiberium-based, including Tiberium shards or sprays of liquid Tiberium. The most devastating weapons in the Scrin arsenal are the rift generator and the catalyst cannon mounted on the mothership. The rift generator creates a short-lived portal into the vacuum of space, which will suck through any military units and all but the most heavily fortified structures. The Scrin mothership carries the even more devastating catalyst cannon, a weapon capable of destroying not only the target, but causing a chain reaction which causes nearby structures and vehicles to spontaneously explode. The catalyst cannon is capable of leveling entire cities in a single shot, however, it is not without its weaknesses- namely that the slow-moving mothership that carries it proved easy prey for anti-aircraft weapons and fighters such as GDI's Firehawk.

Scrin military units are complex cybernetic organisms which appear to have been engineered specifically for battle. Their vehicles are unmanned war machines, at least some of which may have organic as well as mechanical parts. Scrin ground vehicles are either mounted on mechanical legs, such as the Gun Walker and Annihilator Tripod, or else use an unknown technology to hover a about 1–2 meters off the ground, as seen in the Seeker and Devouerer Tanks. Scrin aircraft fly using an unknown technology, and include massive flying warships and even aircraft carriers which would not be possible using conventional aviation technologies.

For all their advanced weapons, the Scrin are far from invincible and have been defeated in battle by both GDI and Nod during their failed invasion of Earth. However, it this was merely a relatively lightly armed escort for a harvesting operation. It is implied that the full force of the Scrin military possesses even more devastating weapons, which also focuses in biological warfare and weapons of mass destruction, though they do not use nuclear warheads.

Economy
Like GDI and Nod, the Scrin also rely on Tiberium, which they call "Ichor". They require most of its highly advanced but valuable technology to gather many Tiberium as they can to build structures of their own design. Though it requires resources to make these structures, they are too vital to be protected. Though their defenses are only composed of infantry in heavy numbers, these defenses are not able to overcome heavy aggression from both GDI and Nod military forces. The Scrin are believed to possess a wide interplanetary network of Tiberium seeding, harvesting, and refining operations.

Government and Society
Little is known about Scrin society, save that the highest ranking known Scrin entity is the Overlord. While little is known about the Overlord, the entity is assumed to be the commander-in-chief of the Scrin military and harvesting operations, and likely possesses final authority over all matters of Scrin government.

Based on transmissions about an organization known as the Cult of the Reaper, it can be assumed that the Scrin possess some sort of religion. The Cult of the Reaper, the 17th unit of which took part in the invasion of Earth, certainly gather and utilize Tiberium with a religious fervor, to the point that even fellow Scrin seem to consider them wasteful.

Strategy
Unlike the highly tactical GDI and the religious fanatical Nod, the Scrin can rely on heavy numbers to conduct brute force. Like the Soviet Union in Red Alert, the Scrin can use these tactics to destroy enemy defenses and bases but do not use weak points and flank routes to defeat the enemy as the Scrin are not intelligent enough to use these kind of tactics to defeat the enemy.