Sawtooth

The Sawtooth is a machine found in North America. It is a medium-sized Combat Class machine, one of the first known machines of this class. It was developed by the artificial intelligence (AI) HEPHAESTUS as a graduation in its efforts to protect Zero Dawn terraforming machines from human predation.

Utility

Sawtooths are usually deployed singly or in groups of up to three to protect herds of terraforming machines such as Grazers and Lancehorns. While the terraformers are busy working, the Sawtooth patrols around the herd, on a constant lookout against perceived threats. The distinctive, heavy sound of its servomotors and its deep, fearsome growls are easily heard. Frequently they are deployed in tandem with Watchers as a primary threat response, immediately converging on the position of any Watcher that sounds an alarm. They may also be found patrolling circuitous paths near areas that humans use as travel routes, especially if herding terraformers are in these areas.

Complexity

HEPHAESTUS appears to have modeled the Sawtooth after Smilodon fatalis, an extinct feline apex predator of the Pleistocene epoch commonly called the saber-toothed cat. Like the saber-toothed cat, it is heavyset at the front, with a large, broad chest, neck, and shoulders, powerful legs, and no tail. Its mouth is equipped with a pair of curved, scimitar-like serrated spikes, like a saber-toothed cat's fangs. Two optical sensor arrays are located on its face, in the same position as a saber-toothed cat’s eyes. Each is composed of two sensors in a vertical configuration. A long, metal crest-like structure runs along the forward area of its back, and an array of three long antenna-like structures protrude from its back in a fan-like pattern, just behind the shoulders. Its paws are equipped with non-retractable claws. The shoulders, head, and neck are heavily armored. A power cell sits atop its hindquarters, and a canister of Blaze is ensconced in its chest.
Despite its size and heavyset chassis, a Sawtooth is highly agile and is capable of great speed. It is designed for rapid sprinting and pouncing, and will very quickly close the distance to an identified threat. Sawtooths carry no ranged weapons, but their speed and ferocious melee attacks effectively compensate for this. However, they are highly vulnerable to weapons that utilize fire. Their attacks center on lunging with violent claw slashes and bites, giving enemies little time to retaliate.

Discovery

Unlike the Zero Dawn terraforming machines, which were designed and controlled by Zero Dawn’s governing AI GAIA, the Sawtooth was designed by HEPHAESTUS, which had previously manufactured the machines under GAIA’s direction. When GAIA self-destructed, HEPHAESTUS gained absolute control over machine design and management as well as the manufacture of at least 11 known Zero Dawn Cauldrons. Hostile toward humans for their predations on the terraforming machines for parts and resources, HEPHAESTUS made the machines hostile to humans, a phenomenon the tribes call the Derangement, with Watchers as lookouts against hunters. It then began producing Sawtooths and other combat machines as the next logical step in protection. It produced Sawtooths at Cauldron SIGMA. Sawtooths, therefore, represented a significant escalation in the Derangement. Units proved to be far more dangerous than any other machine previously encountered by the tribes. Hunting of terraforming machine herds became far more perilous due to the presence of Sawtooths guarding them. Many previously safe trails and wildlife hunting areas such as forests became high-risk due to the presence of Sawtooths. In the Nora tribe's Sacred Land territory, they attacked villages and hunting lodges, killing and maiming many Braves, who worked diligently to eliminate them.