Everyone who’s played through the main story knows the basics: Mimeosomes were designed to bridge the unknown amount of time it would take humanity to find a new habitable planet. This way, people wouldn’t grow old and be able to maintain the White Whale and protect the Lifehold. We know that they are artificial in nature and that they are controlled from the consciousness stored within the Lifehold.
Elma mentions in one of the chapters (l can’t remember which one rn, but if someone requests it I will look it up) that the Lifehold cannot be too far, since they would otherwise feel the lag. Considering how the player can move freely all around Mira it is suffice to say that while the Lifeholds transmission range is limited, it is nonetheless still huge. Like, encompassing a whole planet huge.
(Though, this observation might be futile since the endgame reveals that humanity would have been dead all along, so Mira Magic prevents us from making a sensible estimate as to how far this range could have been.)
What the main story chapters don’t tell us are the little details: can mimeosomes get sick, do they need food, etc.
Right off the bat: Mimeosomes have organic components. It is why in the sidequest “Lakeside Getaway” the cantors are able to exterminate the workers there, as they had laid eggs inside their bodies. We also see symptoms of sickness in Ajoa (the NPC who either dies or survives depending on your choices) because of that.
Despite that, other NPCs tell us that a mimesome doesn’t experience allergies and that they keep the humans safe from germs and contaminations which means they can’t get sick.
I’ve seen other speech bubble dialogue pop up when you walk past NPCs, talking about the ration bars BLADE use when they are out in the field (unfortunately I didn’t take screenshots at the time because I didn’t think I’d make a blog with all that neat trivia. They didn’t say anything important, just talked about the taste of these things).
If they didn’t need to eat at all, I figure they’d just pass on eating while they are on a mission since it’s just additional hassle – which is why I believe that (part, if not all) those organic components make up the digestive system. A lot of parasites do settle in the intestines, so I feel this is most likely the case.
Other neat things I found:
We know that mimeosomes are supposed to mimic the actual human as close as possible when it comes to looks, but there are a few NPCs that tell us that there is a bit of leeway included when it comes to outer appearance.
Hair, for example, can be easily swapped out (or in Felice’s case replaced), so there don’t seem to be any restrictions on hairstyle and color. Used to have straight hair and want curls now? Apparently no problem.
In the same dialogue Dorothy tells us that ‘bells and whistles’ is stuff like less weight, get rid of scars, beer bellies, etc. (I really wish I had screenshotted that latter part too, but again, I didn’t think I’d make a blog with this. I tried talking to her again, but I had cleared a chapter or the main story even and the dialogue didn’t pop up again.)
So from how I understand it: As long as it doesn’t concern one’s facial features (you know, that thing that makes a person actually recognizable, like eyes, nose, mouth, jawline, etc. you are good to go. Height, I assume, is one of them. Not sure on eye color, since technically there do exist contact lenses that change eye color) one is free to do whatever they want. Make oneself skinnier, get rid of wrinkles, whatever comes to mind.
And it kinda makes sense, really. The higher-ups would know that people would never get their old bodies back and start over with newly created ones, so things like scars or overweight and other stuff one did to their body (surgeries and tattoos included) wouldn’t carry over anyway. The new body would be a blank slate in regards to that.
Another NPC says that one can regulate the growth of their hair and nails, even shut it off completely if they so wish.
(Unfortunately I do not have a screenshot and I don’t remember which NPC that was, so until I go through the game again and actually find it, take this one with a grain of salt.)
One of the NPCs in front of the mimeosome maintenance center (Kent D. Carr) says that sensory impressions like taste are just data that one could easily recreate by uploading them in the mimeosome maintenance center. Which means that any kind of sensation can be recreated as long as it is in the database. (I assume this doesn’t only apply to the taste of say, chocolate cake, but also touch or maybe even visual recreation of something.)
I find it very interesting that this is even possible to do, since mimeosomes can eat and taste well enough to differentiate tastes (if they didn’t why would fellow BLADEs gush about Lin’s food or complain about the taste of the ration bars. And Lin has this whole thing in one of the official short stories where she complains about the canteen food on the White Whale). I guess it is still different from the real thing. Or maybe this is to preserve the taste of food one can’t get on Mira anymore. All human food is synthesized after all and in no way ‘natural’, so it wouldn’t possibly taste the same.
(I actually do have a screenshot of this buuuuuut it’s in German and I took it with my phone because I couldn’t connect the Wii U with the internet at the time. If anyone wishes to see it, I will gladly upload it though.)
The blood substitute is called “biocirculatory plasma”
This is said by Lin in Ch. 5 after Cross gets their arm blown off (screenshot available, but I didn’t deem it necessary to add as it’s a mainstory cutscene). Not exactly missable, but thought I’d throw it in here in case someone needs it for fanfiction or anything. The plasma is also blue, not red, as implicated by the following things:
a.) Mimeosomes are called Blue Bloods in Japanese
b.) After the attack on NLA (Ch. 8) there are NPC who do express their surprise at the humans being blue blooded/mimeosomes.
The plasma also has to circulate somehow inside the body so it’s not a stretch to assume that mimeosomes have an artificial heart that acts as pump.
Ch. 5 also shows that mimeosomes can be shut down to prevent pain or further plasma loss. It is also possible to just turn off the pain response and stay conscious (I think this was said in the Sylvalum mission “Predator and Prey”).
Mimeosomes are able to feel some sort of “reverse phantom pain”, i.e. feeling the (partial) lack of a body part even though it’s connected and up and running.
This is also part of Ch. 5 after the player awakens in the maintenance center and is asked if they feel okay. One of the options leads to this bit of trivia.
Okay, I think that was all I had for now. Thanks for reading :D
If anyone can provide missing screenshots or has found other bits of trivia regarding mimesomes do tell – or even better, submit!
The name mimeosome may come from the Greek μνήμη (mnimi, pronounced as mnee-mee)) and σώμα (soma). Minimi means memory and soma body so the word would basically translate to memory body. And that’s kina dope.
Not sure if this is right, obviously, the “mimeo” might be latin or some shit (or ancient Greek which is NOT the same, lemme tell you, as a native Greek speaker) and just mean mimic (as in mimic the human body), but, oh well.
So, someone in the tags said that “Blue Bloods” is a term used in Japan to describe the rich and exempt (makes sense, here in Germany the nobility used to be referred to as such as well because the veins look blueish against pale skin. And back then pale skin meant you didn’t bust your ass open working in the fields), so basically sth among the lines of “rich and lucky ones” which is a neat bit of foreshadowing that got lost in translation.
(I know who you are but since this was just tag-rambling I figured you might wanna keep your name outta this - if not, I can edit your name into the post.)
They also wondered how tf this mix of organic and mechanic components would even work; now, I don’t think the game is ever going to give us an actually coherent and scientifically sound explanation for that - I think they most likely settled on bullet points of what mims can/can’t do to keep things consistent (bc one would need not only a medical, but also a scientific and engineering degree to have a good grasp of everything and I’m sure af the developers didn’t study up THAT meticulously on this), but I was thinking about it, bc ya know, I studied biophysics and find this kinda stuff interesting af.
And then I remembered that one of the research groups at my university studies the interaction between organic molecules and solid surfaces.
This kind of research can be used to get new insights on how those molecules function, and also helps developing better prostheses (in regards to biocompatibility) - obviously they aren’t trying to make artificial organs or anything related to mimeosomes, but it IS a pretty big field afaik.
Organic molecules can be viruses or bacteria for examples - and bacteria are a very important part of our intestinal flora.
So, what if a mimeosomes intestinal tract is made out of a material that those kinda bacteria can thrive on?
(It can’t be cells imo, bc human cells have to replace themselves very regulary. Intestinal cells get replaced every 2 - 4 days for example - and making use of life cells that need renewal seems to defeat the puprpose of almost-immortal machines since the point was to live in and with them as long as possible as it was unclear when they’d find a new planet to settle on.)
Gut flora can digest carbohydrates and certain sugars, so there is a starting point as to how mims could digest food. These bacteria can’t break down everything, but it is common practice in life sciences to use bacteria as hosts to express certain enzymes (even though they weren’t native in that bacterium before), so engineering bacteria that could digest all kinds of food doesn’t seem like too much of a stretch to me.
