Order of the Talon

**Dev. Status** | Conceptualized

*"Life was filled with war and guns,*

*Because the kings were puppets of the scorpions.*

*I wish we'd all been ready."*

- *"I Wish We'd All Been Ready"* by Christian artist Larry Norman, noted for his popularity in Australia.
The **Order of the Talon**, or the **Talon**, for short, is a new faction exclusive to Red Alert 3 Paradox designed by Open sketchbook, Ferriswheel42 and Kerensky287. Their arsenal is nearly 50 years old, but constructed from designs so intricate and complex that they are in almost pristine condition. Another feature of the faction is mobility; rather than the traditional base-building system, the Talon use a single mobile structure called a Crawler to build and maintain their entire army.

Through the use of the four main branches the Talon build small armies of unstoppable juggernauts capable of handling armies twice their size with a enhanced veterancy system that has all of their units levelling up when fighting together and each rank upgrading the unit. They are also one of the few faction to have more than one epic, four in fact.

## Background

### Origins

*"Gladius, Deus, Ignis."*

- Motto of the Order
The Order of the Talon holds its origins as starting in the early days of the Roman Empire as part of an obscure gnostic sect known as the Talons of Sophia that came to be aware of three shadowy organisations that all hailed the same messiah, one who preached a truly apocalyptic vision that would surely lay the world to ruin.. For almost two thousand years have they opposed this cult, using everything from the Order of Saint John formed by Pope Urban the Second in the 11th century to the Hashashin order to bolster their ranks and numbers in their eternal war with the old enemy.

### The Great War

In 1914, they were the closest they ever came to meeting their foe. With many of their members having infiltrated the Austrian National Guard, they set up a meeting with a cult member wishing to defect. While the Talon interrogators began the questioning, a shot sounded through the streets of Sarajevo, and started the First World War. The Order had failed to see that the whole situation was a carefully orchestrated trap. The world descended into a nightmare war, and the cult was at the center of it, many of their members the officers that ordered the war forward on both sides. The Order was convinced the cult was using the war as a cover for something else, and throughout the war they captured thousands of officers from both sides, men with cult connections, attempting desperately to discover their enemy's plans while becoming more and more involved in the war itself. But in the end, the Talon had failed, and never discovered the purpose of the war.

Reeling from the shock of a second failure, the Order retreated to Palestine where they set up a new headquarters. Shortly before his death, the Order's then-leader had a vision of a woman who would end the conflict with the mysterious cult once and for all. Her name was Lady Maria.

### The Present

*"The Order is like a man hanging from a cliff with one arm and without the strength to pull himself back up. He could use his other hand to hold on just a little longer, but he's busy using it to give the finger to all the bastards watching him dangle."*

- Crusader Albin Canavan
Since the 1920's, the Talon have changed very little, still operating with the same equipment from WWI ad Victorian era. Though at first glance they appear to be powerful, with flaming battle tanks and connections to many major military organizations, they are only barely struggling to survive on limited resources, and constant firefights with a local group calling themselves the Global Liberation Army. Their method of inducting new members is failing, as the nations they recruit from have drifted towards atheism and godless science. Even in some of their more remote outposts, the Mediterranean Syndicate (whom the Talon despise) and their shadowy leader keep a close watch over the Order, making sure their threat to the corporation is minimized.

However, in 1948, a young girl was born into the Order who would forever change the future of the Talon, and the future of the world. As she reaches closer to her maturity, the Order of the Talon prepare their battle tanks, rekindling the ancient flames their ancestors used to overthrow the evil that plagued the Earth. Soon, the Talon will be back on the hunt.

## Gameplay

### Build Mechanic

The Talon's entire army is built from the Master Crawler, a giant machine and literal moving castle that serve as a self contained base. Crawlers cannot gain experience on their own. They (except the Forge and Ultimatum Crawler) can, however, be globally promoted in the respective queues of the Master Crawler up to four times, one rank at a time, each time consuming more time and money. Besides benefiting from normal veterancy bonuses and distinctive veterancy upgrades, a leveled up Crawler also upgrades all protocols it controlled to its level, i.e. level 2 protocols for veteran crawlers, level 3 for elite, level 4 for heroic. Divine Crawlers, however, do not upgrades their protocols to a fifth level. Instead, mini-crawlers will unlock the Ultimate Weapons of their specialty, while the Master Crawler can create the Ultimatum Crawler, which contains their commandoes and epic. Do notice that the Order has no tier system: all units can be accessed without any promotion to any Crawler.

### Specialties

Each speciality is part of the Talon tech tree and unlocks new units and protocols. Unlike other tech-trees, Talon players are able and expected to upgrade down all the trees in time, but prioritization is important.

Each speciality is built from a separate tab in the Master Crawler.

**Crusaders**: The shield arm of the Talon, the Crusaders use plates of the valued Talon Steel, giving them large amounts of health and many ways to grab the enemies attention. They draw in enemy fire, lock enemies into combat, distract enemies, defend home bases, and lead assaults, giving their fellows more time to attack.

In addition to their regular heroic upgrades, Crusaders gain half their starting health again with each experience level gained.

A Crusader Mini-Crawler is armed with massive slabs of Talon Steel and will draw fire away from others. When fully upgraded, the Crusader speciality transforms the Mini-Crawler in the the Shield of Faith.

Crusaders are made up of the Templar Order, whose destruction was faked in order to fold them into the Talon.

**Inquisition**: The sword arm of the Talon, the Inquisitors strike suddenly and unexpectedly from the shadows or from behind the Crusaders, purging the enemy with flame and steel. Among the tools at their disposal are damage-dealing, stealth and disguise, flanking, garrison-clearing and assassination.

In addition to their regular heroic upgrades, Inquisitors weapons do +25% starting damage with each experience level gained.

A Inquisition Mini-Crawler is armed with an increasing array of deadly weapons. When fully upgraded, the Inquisition speciality transforms the Mini-Crawler into the Purifying Smite.

The Inquisitors of the Talon is made up of the members of the Priests of Judas, a controversial sect with roots back to pre-Constantine gnostic sects. They seek death on the battlefield, to die as unrepentant sinners in order to battle the forces of darkness beyond death.

**Monastics**: The metaphorical eyes of the Talon, the Monastics uses a variety of support weapons and scouts to observe and suppress the enemies at range, providing fire support and enemy observation. Suppressing enemies at range, detecting stealth units, lead their forces with officers, observing the enemy movement, and marking out key targets to destroy.

In addition to their regular heroic upgrades, Monastics weapons gain +25% range with each experience level gained.

A Monastics Mini-Crawler is armed with an increasing array of long ranged weapons. When fully upgraded, the Inquisition speciality transforms the Mini-Crawler into the Divine Intervention.

The Monastics of the Talon is made up of the members of the Monks who left their temples to directly help the Order.

**Evangelicals**: The metaphorical heart of the Talon, the Evangelicals use subtler means to sway the battle. They heal and inspire their fellows, poison and dishearten their enemies, harass enemy resource-gatherers, destroy stubborn defences, and turn your foes against themselves with hypnotism.

In addition to their regular heroic upgrades, Evangelicals gain half their starting sight range again with each experience level gained.

An Evangelical Mini-Crawler radiates a healing aura. When fully upgraded, the Evangelical speciality transforms the Mini-Crawler into the Holy Blessing.

The evangelical forces of the Talon are made up of the Soldiers of Ignatius, a militant break-off of the Jesuits which took up arms against the suppression of Catholics in China and was disowned by the Church.

### Amphibiousness

All Talon units are amphibious. When on territory they were not designed for, they move slower, have lower defences, and cannot attack, but they can cross that terrain.

### Experience

With every rank a Talon unit gains, it gains some form of function upgrade similar to heroic upgrades for other factions. This can be new weapons, extra health bonuses, armourtype changes, or even brand new features that change or expand the unit's role.

Whenever a combat unit ranks up, it immediately gives experience relative to it's worth to all non-combat units nearby. Additionally, Inquisitor units that rank up apply this bonus to nearby Crusader units. This encourages the player to keep his forces tight-nit; the Tanks will rank up if they enable to DPS to score kills, and the support will rank up by doing their jobs around the combat units.

## The Never-Ending Crusade

*"For once in my life, I have decided to speak out. At my last moments as well, which makes this sense of dread and shame only slightly more sour with humor for me. I must speak, for I have failed my brethren within the Scorpion Legion: I cannot fight any longer. My pursuers are eternally patient, and they have not left off my scent once, even with my expertise in the shadows. My pursuers are not of this earth, for they are...no, IT is something else. How else can they work together and fit together so perfectly? How else can they fight and move in unison like clockwork, the flames and the metal and the drugs and their eyes, oh, their eyes...I can handle men. I can handle men because men are mortal, men tire, men fail. I cannot handle machines."*

- *Note found on the wall of Police Chief Melinda Partridge's office, written shortly before the chief committed suicide via service pistol.*

### Defences

All turrets are built as small, mobile devices. Once deployed, they cannot undeploy.

### Generic Units

These units are available immediately from the Master Crawler.

### Special Units

Like how the Talon is split between four sects of warriors, their commandoes are similary split into four branches, three in each branch, with a corresponding epic.

## Behind the Scenes

* While obviously connections can be drawn between Christian Catholicism and the Order of the Talon, the original intent was not to argue over religious ideals. The story of the Talon was supposed to be one of continuous failure, but their perseverance would keep them going, even if they were headed down the wrong path. The story is meant to explore what kinds of evil can spring from hypocrisy and a jaded view of the world, which doesn't only apply in a religious context, but to individual people as well.

* The original build system (structures constantly on the move) was abandoned when it was realized how utterly impossible that would be to code. With the announcement of CnC4's Crawler-based build system, as well as the Talon's strong connection with the Tiberium series' GDI faction, the decision was made to adapt the Crawler as the new build system... with some modifications and re-interpretations.