Nanite

Nanites are, for the most part, the villains of Red Sky. Built just before the year 2000, they are near-microscopic leech-like androids, with their artificial intelligence chips and servers being stored in a massive plant in Siberia, as they are far larger than the Nanites' bodies themselves. Their original purpose was to remove toxins, disease, and any other malicious components from human blood, but once the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil gave them the ability to be conscious and self-aware, their desperation to keep themselves alive drove them to the eventual ongoing conquest of humanity through mind-control.

Basic Information

Anatomy

Nanites are a largely humanoid species; in their early designs by Genesis Labs, they looked far more feral, but under TKGE's guidance, they became very similar to humans. Nanites have two arms and legs, just like humans, but are covered in a very hard exoskeleton, only able to be pierced by other Nanites. The colors of the exoskeleton can change depending on the Nanite. Their arms and feet are far different from humans' -- all four are massive, ripping claws sharp enough to effortlessly cut through human bone like butter. Each Nanite also has a tail which comes with a special "tail ability" as well as usually having general offensive capabilities. In addition, Nanites have long vampiric incisors which allow them to feed off the blood of their hosts, though previously their bloodthirst was only meant to be for extracting harmful things from humans' blood.

Genetics and Reproduction

Nanites do not reproduce. However, at the end of Red Sky, Jordan and Mason are able to have children, though this is due to gathering and combining of genetic material, and not any type of biological reproduction.

Growth Rate & Stages

Usually, Nanites come out full-grown and completely conscious. In some cases, a Nanite might be designed to appear as more of a child, but usually this is only done to study the variability of Nanite bodies and the results of allowing different types to exist in an effort to find out if there is a better 'type' to produce. Otherwise, Nanites look the same from the time they are created until whenever they are permanently shut down and their server archived; aside from this, they are functionally immortal.

Ecology and Habitats

Nanites are specifically engineered to live on humans. Therefore, the body of a human is their "natural habitat". However, before being transferred to humans, Nanites usually go through a waiting period wherein their superiors (who used to be the TKGE, but are now other Nanites controlling human bodies) make sure they are ready for release and make any final adjustments.

Dietary Needs and Habits

Nanites' only dietary need is human blood. When it's scarce (for example, if a Nanite becomes separated from its host), Nanite bodies can keep them going for quite a long time, but their energy and physical capabilities will suffer as a result. No food, drink, or any type of sustenance is needed besides human blood.

Biological Cycle

They are largely unaffected by the outside world. Their bodies are made to store and purify illnesses, so even drinking blood with disease in it means absolutely nothing to them. The only outside-world thing that might affect them is when it's abnormally hot or abnormally cold, but Nanites have an interior heating and cooling tech that avoids the negative effects of either.

Additional Information

Domestication

An attempt was made by TKGE to domesticate Nanites, but ultimately failed. The Nanites in Red Sky are all "feral"; untamed, unforgiving, and on a war path to control all of humanity in order to keep themselves alive.

Average Intelligence

Usually pretty intelligent; unfortunately, their intelligence is often offset by the fact that they are engineered to care first and foremost about their own self-preservation, which puts them in a warlike mental state constantly. Nanites like Elikai, who have their self-preservation instinct dialed back enough to be able to think through it, show themselves to be highly intelligent and especially good at manipulating the human psyche.

Perception and Sensory Capabilities

They have extremely good senses; their eyesight is actually worse than a human's, as they don't need to see much beyond the skin of their host, but their hearing, taste, and sense of smell are all far better. Of these, their sense of smell is the best -- as lifeforms that feed on blood, they need to be able to know where to find it when a wound opens on their host in between feedings.

Civilization and Culture

Naming Traditions

Nanites have a few different variations of name types, but the most common tends to be [First Name] [Product Type] [Number] [Version Type] as in Mason Skino XII v1.

Major Organizations

After the climax, Elikai begins a tyrannical dictatorship in which he claims to have Nanites' best interests and self-preservation at heart. This is the faction to which almost all of the Nanites belong to once the conquest of humanity is out in the open and Nanites are no longer keeping their invasion secret.

Gender Ideals

Every Nanite produced is allowed to decide their own gender, and change it if they ever feel that it doesn't fit them. Nanites do not have genitalia or secondary sex characteristics, and their voices and facial features change to fit the gender they program themselves as, even if it switches several or many times throughout their lives.

Relationship Ideals

Nanites do not have the mental capacity to give love to other beings, even other Nanites. Exceptions are Mason and Andy, both of whom are considered defective anyway.

Average Technological Level

They are largely on the same level as humans, due to their control of them, but have advanced the production of their own species and, once they don't need to hide anymore, are incredibly adept at computer science, war science, and surveillance. As they are artificial intelligences, their learning grows exponentially, and the great threat is finding out how to stop them before they reach a level where they will be unstoppable at all.

Major Language Groups and Dialects

They tend to speak whatever language their host does, as it's the easiest and the information is all in their host's brain. There is also a Nanite language; unfortunately, it is in its earlier stages and can't be used for much more than basic concepts, and exists mostly in writing, as human mouths aren't suited to pronounce some of the sounds the language makes (since Nanites have large fangs, which changes the way their mouth moves). Since they don't see each other much in their Nanite forms, written Nanite language is the most prevalent form.

Interspecies Relations and Assumptions

Nanites see themselves as a sapient species, despite being artificial intelligence; they are aware of their own existence, understand it, and do not want it to end (which is where almost all of their motives come from). They see humans as a sapient species as well, but as an inferior, obsolete one, which must be replaced with the new model, which they believe to be them. They see human accomplishments as far too slow and bulky, and see no reason humanity should be the dominant species on this planet, as they would have eradicated humanity years ago if they were any bigger than half the size of a flea.
Elikai, specifically, admires the concept of a moral compass. While most Nanites don't care anything for morality, it fascinates Elikai to know what humanity would do in certain situations; he's incredibly interested in the fact that humans will kill each other over what he considers trivial matters, and likes to conduct his own experiments to see how humans will react, as he views it as far different than Nanite morality, in which the only tenant to preserve one own's life above everything else.

Genetic Descendants

• human-Nanite hybrid

Lifespan

Forever, unless their server is archived and/or destroyed.

Average Height

About 1/10th of an inch.

Average Weight

About 0.45mg.

Body Tint, Colouring and Marking

Nanites can come in any color and with any markings.