Obelisk of Light (Tiberian Twilight)/Profile

==Obelisk of Light==
* Designation: DS-7 (Defense Structure)
* Affiliation: Nod
* Role: Heavy Base Defense
* Introduced: 2074
* Class: Defense
* Armament: "Anubis" Class VII Military Laser (100kW)
* Type: Reinforced Structure
* Speed: N/A
==Background==
The Obelisk of Light has long been the Brotherhood's foremost symbol of "Peace Through Power." Standing at an imposing twenty meters tall and tipped with a red focusing crystal, the black monolith exists to protect Nod installations from ground assault. The Obelisk has been continuously upgraded over its long and distinguished history, culminating in the TW3-era "Isis" iteration, powerful enough to cut through Mammoth Tanks while also demonstrating the flexibility required to sweep across waves of infantry. Combined with its ability to link with Nod Beam Cannons for extended range and firepower, the "Isis" Obelisk was the most deadly defensive structure of the Third Tiberium War.
Despite its overwhelming firepower, the Obelisk has always suffered from a key weakness - an inability to fire at airborne targets. Interference with targeting sensors, difficulties with the refraction arrays and problematic atmospheric conditions have made the powerful laser unwieldy against aircraft, causing it to diffract harmlessly into the atmosphere. Although attempts have been made over the past several decades to correct the problems, many scientists conclude it is impossible without decreasing the power of the beam significantly.
This weakness to aircraft led to the phasing out of Obelisks in the late 2060's with the rise of more advanced stratospheric transports and capital ships. While Obelisks could crush any ground offensive and Venoms could safeguard them from Orcas and Firehawks, new capital ships such as the Kodiak-class cruiser could avoid the deadly laser of the Obelisk and bombard the structure from the sky. As the separatist attacks on the TCN intensified in 2070, Nod commanders, both Separatist and Loyalist, began to replace their Obelisks with the cheaper and more versatile Flame Column, and the Obelisk appeared to be headed for the scrapheap... until a Nod operative by the name of Henry Liu discovered a 40 year old GDI secret.
Liu had been posing as a TCN construction worker for nearly a decade, gathering intel on both his GDI employers and the Separatists who had nearly killed him in a raid years before. In 2072, he was tasked with repairing a remote GDI storage facility that had taken damage from a Separatist attack. After some investigation, Liu discovered the storage facility was actually the home of Echo, a secret GDI research project attempting to duplicate and improve upon Nod's weaponry. Their primary object of study was a 40 year old artifact taken from Central Africa - a functional Obelisk of Darkness.
This relic of the Second Tiberium War was the only known Obelisk that could accurately target and destroy enemy aircraft, and the Inner Council knew that this technology must be reacquired by the Brotherhood. Fully aware that any sort of attack would break his alliance with GDI, Kane personally dispatched a lone agent, codenamed White Lady, to infiltrate the facility, retrieve all data on the project, and stop GDI without casting suspicion on Kane. Shortly thereafter, GDI reported that one of its facilities had been overrun by Separatist forces and destroyed. Strangely, no distress calls were ever received from the installation and, even more bizarre, no bodies were found amongst the wreckage. GDI had dispatched several nearby recon teams to locate the Separatists responsible, but none were found in the area.
Two years later, Nod announced a breakthrough, the new "Anubis" Class VII laser, fully capable of firing skyward against heavy capital ships. With its greatest weakness a thing of the past, the "Anubis" Obelisk achieved what its ancestors could not - complete battlefield supremacy over land and sky.
==Battlefield Specifications==
===Learned Its Lesson===
The Obelisk of Light is no longer an easy target for enemy aircraft; with its improved surface-to-air capabilities, the Obelisk can now defend itself from a variety of sky borne threats, from bombers to VTOL aircraft. Additionally the new "Anubis" laser is easily the most powerful beam weapon in Nod's arsenal, specifically designed to punch through the heavy armor of capital ships, tanks, and Crawlers. This power comes at a price however, as the ability to sweep across infantry has been lost with the redesigned targeting system and laser mounting.
===A Whole New Way To Amplify===
The Obelisk's newfound surface-to-air capability is not the only improvement over the previous model. Borrowing technology from the Beam Cannon, the new Obelisk is equipped with a secondary array that can fire at nearby Obelisks, increasing their range and firepower. Unlike the Beam Cannon, this secondary array is completely independent and does not hinder the Obelisk's main weapon, which can continue to fire normally. This makes a defensive network of Obelisks a field of death for any foolhardy enough to attack.
===Overwhelm This===
The Anubis laser is extremely powerful, but has a relatively slow rate of fire, leaving the monolith vulnerable to large masses of smaller units. Though most Obelisks are protected by infantry or other defensive structures, the introduction of Crawlers and mobile warfare has led to some Obelisks being deployed in fewer numbers or without support. To afford these Obelisks some protection from enemy swarms, Nod commanders can replace the standard focusing crystal with a specially crafted prism crystal that allows the laser to "prism" upon contact and strike other nearby enemy troops. The crystal is not standard issue however; the new crystal draws quite a bit more power than normal and the upgrade itself takes some time to complete.
==See also==
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