Cult of the Black Hand

**Dev. Status** | Conceptual

*"The world is yours my friend,*

*It's yours to begin or to end."*

- *"Eyes of the Dreamer"* by Charles Manson
In recent years there has been increasing coverage of a cult or series of cults that typically form on the borders of Allied and Soviet territories. Identified by use of scorpion tails, fists or hands in their iconography, and copious use of red, grey and black colours, these cults have been appearing, then often disappearing, repeatedly in the last decade. So little is known about them that they are considered by many to be an urban legend.

## Background

**The Waiting**

The common link in the philosophy of these cults is that they are waiting for someone, a glorious Messiah that will lead them to *"glory and a promise of new life"*. Apparently this promise is to be fulfilled by military means as the members of the Cult are usually uniformed, trained and armed. These cults spring up in urban and rural lands alike, and recruit effectively and aggressively from disillusioned former soldiers, freedom fighters, criminals and other desperate men.

Local security soon learns to leave such cults alone; they are willing to defend their newfound faith with a terrifying fanaticism, convinced that one day soon their Messiah will return and bring with him the fall of the unjust.

## Gameplay Mechanics

### Civilians

All Cult units and vehicles are disguised as civilians or civilian vehicles when not attacking and all Cult of the Black Hand units are immune from the monetary losses gained by killing civilians. Watch out!

### Reinforcement Replacement

As the Black Hand does not get reinforcements they have two halves of a replacement, the first half is creating unrests, special "upgrades" purchased with "Chaos", a secondary resource made by conducting attack on the enemy and civlians and getting away, that that effects all civilian area, turning them into enemies that attacks everyone (while still retaining their debuffs when killed), buffs Cult forces (using the chaos to their advantage), who can also direct them as disposable pawns. Forcing the opposing faction to fight hordes of mad civilians while the Cult sneaks in for the killing blow.

### Stolen Technology

The second half of their reinforcement replacement. Stolen tech units are, as its name suggests, units acquired from 'borrowing' enemy technologies after an Apothecary infiltrates an enemy Logistics building, allowing the Cult to create units that are built to specifically counter their foe's tactics and exploit their weaknesses by using their own weaponry against them. This can be done twice.

## Heralds of the Messiah

*"We believe that there is a group operating independently of the Mafia, though we have found no evidence of who they are. They're distributing drugs at a rapid rate, and handing guns to hundreds of poor Americans. They're not Continentals, because they're even less organised. They're not Soviet, because we've seen no propaganda to that effect. Whoever this group is, it is as though the propagation of disorder is their only goal. I would say that such a group could not sustain itself for more than a few months."*

-  Major Lydia Winters, in a report on the situation in the United States.

### Structures

 File:IconCult.png | Beam Turret | This deadly energy weapon is disguised as an inoffensive statue or piece of modern art.

## Deathmatch Reinforcement

### Inner Circle Manipulation

Due to Cultist secrecy. The Black Hands have no access to reinforcements. Instead in Minor Faction Deathmatch the Cults create unrests and chaos on the battlefield, that can only be accessed with a secondary resource known as Chaos, which is created by Black Hands conducting sudden raid and terror attacks on the enemy and civilians, creating unrests that makes it harder for the enemy to fight the Cult and manipulating the civlians to fight for them.

### Stolen Tech Units

Stolen tech units are, as its name suggests, units acquired from 'borrowing' enemy technologies after an Apothecary infiltrates an enemy Logistics building, allowing the Cult to create units that are built to specifically counter their foe's tactics and exploit their weaknesses by using their own weaponry against them.

#### ARVN

 File:IconCult.png | Erinys | "Prototype" Rascal bombers piloted by sleeper agents. The Erinys carpet bombs the area with modified napalm bombs mounted on its wings. Its payload is supplemented with dumping excess fuel that covers an area with oil that makes anyone in it more vulnerable to flame damage and can be ignited to create a field of flames.

#### Reservist

 File:IconCult.png | Aurora | Stealing the plans of an abandoned American jet project. The Aurora is a supersonic support jet that bombards its enemies with stolen Cryo bombs, leaving them as frozen pickings for the cult. And when surrounded the Aurora can fire its supersonic engines to make a mad dash, moving so fast it's impossible to damage while creating a sonic boom that stuns anyone unfortunate to be near it when it launches and stops, or simply shatter anyone frozen beforehand. Just be aware that it will horrifically explode when it crashes.

#### NRA

 File:IconCult.png | Abomination | A nightmarish hodgepodge of man and machine, the Abomination consists of a mechanical body made from NRA Necroscience research and a brain of a dying Avenger in a jar, the Abomination is equipped with a reverse-engineered scrambler gun that fires in pulses, warping anything it hits beyond recognition. When surrounded, an Abomination could fire a scrambling bubble around herself that fuses flesh and metal, instantly killing infantry and vehicles. However, the ability will temporarily put the Abomination out of commision, as her own body is scrambled and requires repair.

#### Vietcong

 File:IconCult.png | Venom Gunship | A relic from the last war, the Venom is a Hind armed with multiple machine guns that scythes through infantry and are a threat to light vehicles. It can release clouds of harmless but irritating chemicals that slows enemies and forces them to reveal themselves.

#### PLA

 File:IconCult.png | Inferno Cannon | Building off stolen plans of a rejected PLA vehicle. The Inferno Cannon Jade-infused shells bring a slow, painful, death to vehicles unfortunate enough to get hit, though it's too inaccurate and lacks the explosion to hit infantry. When ordered, the Inferno Cannon can also fire a shell made entirely out of Jade, and upon impact the shell leave a persistent field of radiation that melts infantry and vehicle crews dumb enough to enter until its destroyed.

#### GLA

 File:IconCult.png | Rocket Buggy | Dune buggies modified with GLA technology. The Rocket Buggy is a rapid hit-and-run artillery unit that easily destroys anything on the ground in a volley of high-explosive rockets before retreating to reload. On command, the Buggy crew can fire a salvo of missiles filled with rage-inducing gas.

#### II

 File:IconCult.png | Lazarus Cannon | Replacing the transport hold of a Skirmisher with repair cranes and an assault gun. The Lazarus Cannon can switch between shelling defenses to rubble or repair any damage their vehicle forces sustained in battle and, befitting its name, revive any vehicle wreckage back to full strength, often used to turn their enemies own vehicles against them.

#### Cult

 File:IconCult.png | Kane | Prototype tanks made by splicing various stolen blueprints. The Kane is a prototype stealth tank considered to be the magnum opus of the Cult with its state-of-the-art stealth generator making it invisible to even detectors and its incendiary missile launcher capable of razing anything it targets, though it can't maintain power to both its generator and launcher. Alternately the Kane can also deploy a strange device that shifts it to the PAWI dimension, making both invincible and letting it phase through anything, but activating the device overheats the Tank, forcing it to deactivate after some time where it needs a few seconds to reboot, and it's best advised that it doesn't deactivate while moving through a large obstacle such as buildings or over water.

## Deathmatch Protocols

Thanks to Cult Radio Stations, the Cult has access to more protocols than other factions.

## Behind the Scenes

* The Cult of the Black Hand is, you guessed it, based on the Brotherhood of Nod.
* And no, they're NOT Nod. Thats the Scavenger Temples.
* All of the Cult's infantry have names that begin with the letter "A".

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