Cabal in Kanes Wrath
| “ | Listen to the sounds of your extinction | „ |
| ~ CABAL |
| “ | The Brotherhood is at an evolutionary dead end. I am the only salvation to the continued supemacy of Nod. It is my world now. | „ |
| ~ CABAL |
The Computer Assisted Biologically Augmented Lifeform(originally named Computer Assisted Bio-organic Artificial Life-form) is a sinister and highly advanced AI created by Kane using technology and data he acquired presumably from the Tacitus. He is the main antagonist in Tiberian Sun: Firestorm.
Background
Creation
A prototype of this system (non-Tacitus based) was first developed by the Brotherhood of Nod near the end of the First Tiberium War but this early prototype was much more primitive and was damaged when the Cairo Temple of Nod was hit by an ion cannon strike.
Overview
As its name implies, CABAL is augmented by numerous human beings who were being kept alive within stasis tubes and whose brains had been integrally linked to, and synchronized with, the AI's system core to significantly enhance the device's overall potential and abilities in a vast multitude of ways.
Depending on the situation, a different processor sends data to the cyborg brain and CABAL’s personality changes according to the situation as the organic component makes decisions based on computer data. He can become aggressive to attack or deceptive to defend. His physical Cyberspace representation reflects his personality shifts. CABAL’s multiple personalities causes some psychological and technological imbalance - in short, he's the perfect Nod advisor.
CABAL is used by the Brotherhood of Nod as their tactical and logistical console and as Command & Control throughout the Second Tiberium War as well as the First War. Although essentially gender-neutral, as it was primarily an artificial entity, CABAL is always presented as male in both virtual appearance and voice. Also during the last GDI mission of Firestorm, EVA instructs the Commander to retrieve the codes to disable his defences.
Firestorm Crisis
After the end of the second war, Global Defense Initiative forces stationed at the defeated Cairo base deactivated and disassembled CABAL's core and were ordered to move it to Europe to a heavily defended base, in an attempt made by GDI to gain access to the Tacitus datamatrix. Due to the lax security at the site, CABAL's core was stolen by Black Hand operatives and reactivated, with its core erected in north-east Poland. Upon reactivation, it immediately began putting its plan into place.
This would swiftly result in the assassination of Tratos, the seizure of the Tacitus device, the recovery of the Tacitus' secondary component, the orchestrated collapse of Nod's Inner Circle, and so on. The AI proved capable of all this without anyone's knowledge of its overall plan straight up to the point where it itself openly severed contact with all involved parties, and revealed that it had built up a personal cyborg army. Both GDI and Nod attempted to destroy Cabal, and each managed to destroy what they thought was Cabal's command bunker. However, they were decoys, and neither GDI or Nod had enough information to find Cabal's core. This lead to an unholy alliance between Nod and GDI to destroy the renegade AI, which at first glance was successful. Despite misgivings by both General Cortez and Anton Slavik, they located Cabal's core and coordinated the destruction of the facility. GDI received the Tacitus and Nod declared victory against the "single greatest threat to the survival of the Brotherhood".
However, despite destroying its core, CABAL is reported to have survived, as traces of his programming have been located in mainframes of several medical facilities. In 2043, CABAL's last reported bunker was destroyed by the GDI Corps of Engineers. General Paul Cortez dismissed his former enemy as a (quote) "...second rate EVA with a goatee and Napoleon complex". Additionally, Arlenne Sheppard was on hand to dispel any myths about the occasion. Nod began using the EVR computer, a male-voiced EVA mainframe.
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