Machine lifeform — nier

Machines, also known as machine lifeforms and bio-machines, are a race of sentient robots that serve as the main antagonistic force in NieR:Automata.

Created by the aliens thousands of years ago when they invaded Earth, the final goal of the androids and YoRHa is to destroy all machines and retake Earth for humanity.

History

The machines were initially created on earth during the 1st Machine War by the aliens, and ever since have proven to be effective and efficient foot soldiers in the never ending war against the androids. According to 9S, the machines have a natural ability to develop better ways to wage wars, producing new machine variants or evolving the way they are able to utilize their weapons.

During the events of The Flame of Prometheus, P-33, a machine originally from Earth, teaches the machines about his friendship with Kalil and imparts to them "consciousness" and a variety of emotions to have them contemplate on their reason for living. Because of this encounter, the machines began to revere P-33 as a deity they referred to as "Prometheus," and began to think for themselves.

In the ~Year 7645, the machine lifeforms' invasive actions decline as a result of their developing emotions. The machine lifeforms' control of 80% of Earth does not increase further, but their numbers continue to grow. By ~11000, sightings of alien ships and the aliens themselves decreases, as the machines begin to rebel against their creators, now having surpassed them in intelligence and ambition. In 11306, the machine lifeforms have successfully driven their creators, the aliens, into extinction^[1]

In time, the machines begin developing their own cities. In 11502, near the former equator line in the Pacific Ocean, a large floating city made by machine lifeforms is discovered. It is given the codename "Atlantis" by the Army of Humanity. Two years later in 11504, it would suddenly disappear under the waves.^[1]

Around the 8th Machine War, the machine network would intentionally stage stalemates and losses for themselves to prolong the conflict and further their evolution, even intentionally creating deficiencies within itself to diversify the vectors of evolution for all machines, which causes units Ernst (and later, Pascal) to leave its network.^[2] In 11689, Ernst and his followers declares independence from the Machine Network and establishes the Forest Kingdom. Ernst annexes the region and becomes the first Forest King.^[1]

At an unspecified point in time, as a result of the machine network's intentional deficiencies, the machine unit Pascal would form his independent village of pacifist machine lifeforms.

Meanwhile, the deficient machine network began repeating the process of self-repair while incorporating surrounding information, until it finally reached a fixed state as a new form of network. It comes across and internalizes the old human quantum server's data, including information on Project Gestalt and the memory of the Original Gestalt, causing it to form its personified ego known as the Red Girls, codenamed "N2".^[2]

By the 14th Machine War, the machines had begun to grow less hostile and the war has reached a stalemate, due in part by the Red Girls' intervention. If they had been allowed to easily wipe out the remaining androids, it would halt their evolution and take away the only remaining purpose the machines had: their final order from their alien masters ordering them to destroy the enemy. As such, they do not attack their enemies' orbital bases and intentionally prolong the war.^[3]

As they continued to evolve, the machines built numerous pure-white cities and establishments composed of crystallized silicon and carbon, such as Copied City and Tower, both physically and virtually in their attempts to imitate humanity.^[4]^[5]

When the machines were backed into a corner, multiple units merged together, and formed the units Adam and Eve in the image of androids. However, Adam and Eve ultimately perish, leading YoRHa to form an all-out assault on the remaining machines. The Red Girls respond by exploiting the Bunker's backdoor, releasing a widespread Logic Virus outbreak that destroys YoRHa. By the end, the Red Girls clash in their interests, causing one to no longer wish to fight with androids and launches an Ark that would send the memory of machine lifeforms to other planets to inhabit, while the other is left behind on Earth to be later absorbed by Her. The Tower and machine network are destroyed and an armistice was formed between Pascal, who came to represent the remaining pacifist machines, and the Resistance, thus ending the war.^[6]^[7]

Characteristics

See also: Machine Research Report

Machines have been known to consume androids in order to assimilate them and further their own evolution. Inside the spherical heads of most machine lifeforms are a set of large teeth with which they can consume matter; in the original game, these teeth were stated in concept art to be pipes designed to resemble teeth by coincidence, but this appears to have been retconned in the anime series. Some machines have even shown the ability to use their heads as storage containers to hold similarly shaped objects for unclear reasons.

Despite the machine lifeforms' plain, rusted, and primitive appearances, the machines are incredibly complex and advanced beings. This is shown by their creation of Adam and Eve by fusing multiple machine lifeforms into a temporary factory, and using drastically different materials to make them look human even if they have the cores of machine lifeforms. NieR:Automata Ver1.1a has also shown that machine lifeforms are able to produce a gelatinous synthetic, flesh-like substance used to construct Adam and Eve's bodies, with one dead machine "melting" into a pinkish-grey puddle with large humanoid eyes, fingers, and hair.

Behaviorally, it is suggested by dialogue from 9S that machines were previously non-sentient or semi-sentient at best, as behavior such as speech or organized activities were considered unusual and out of character. An email from the Council of Humanity also suggests that the machine activity seen in game is considered irregular. All machines have the capacity to learn, grow and evolve, though it is more obvious in machines like Adam as being a "blank slate" allows him to evolve rapidly.^[8] The machine's in Pascal's Village are also shown to have developed enough to disconnect from the machine network, live peacefully, and even collaborate with the Resistance Camp, which is a surprise to 2B, 9S, and A2.

Because machines lack a parent, to fill their loneliness, they tend to form brotherly relationships with other machines.^[9]

Machines come in several basic models that adapt depending on their location, for example knight's armor while in the Forest Kingdom, circus style clothing while in the Amusement Park, or wearing masks in Desert Zone in imitation of Masked People.

In YoRHa: Pearl Harbor Descent Record, it is said that for certain machine lifeforms, the more "horns" they have, the stronger they are.

Because of the machine network and their cores, machines have achieved a type of networked immortality similar to that of YoRHa androids. So long as a machine remains connected to the network, they are effectively immortal. Examples of this concept include Adam and Eve, who were otherwise undefeatable until they were disconnected from the network.

Interestingly, machine cores are stated to be similar in composition to a plant cell.

Fish Machines

It is not clear when these machines were first manufactured or their purpose, as unlike land-based machines, these aquatic machines did little in the way of exterminating or out-competing the animals they were meant to mimic, and in some cases benefited the ecosystem.

Interestingly, by the time of Automata, manufacturing of these machines has completely halted, meaning that the number of these machines are slowly but gradually decreasing. These machines are also not connected to the network, and as such their intelligence and evolution remains stagnant.