How does V1 work from a biological perspective?
! Important !
The promised V1 biological dissection (sort of) post is here! However, I am only a big Ultrakill fan. I am NOT a doctor, not even a med student, or an engineer/robot technician. My only credentials are my molecular biology studies (that I’m not very good at) and my autism. All of the info here is taken from the game itself, the game and normal wiki, my textbooks, some articles and my own silly brain. There are most likely mistakes. If you are someone more educated on these topics and find something wrong, please let me know! Thank you and happy reading :)
Blood is fuel, we all know that. But what is blood and how does it work as fuel for the mechanical? I tried to answer some of my own questions I had about the game’s lore and its implications. I did my best to somehow structure it cohesively, but even so, it’s more like my own messy notes I decided to share.
While the game and even Hakita say that yes, Machines are biomechanical and have fleshy insides, I….don’t really like that to be honest. I find it a lot more interesting if they were powered by blood only and were otherwise inorganic. But for the sake of being objective, I always did 2 versions, one where they do have organs and one where they don’t. You’ll see that both have their own problems, but eh, this is not meant to be a factual post. With that out of the way, let’s get to the actual bio stuff.
Blood is made up of 4 key components. Plasma, red blood cells (erythrocytes), white blood cells (leukocytes) and platelets (thrombocytes).
Plasma is made up of water and dissolved proteins. Its main role is to transport nutrients and maintain the osmotic pressure between red blood cells and their surroundings. If there is too much water, the cells become puffy, and if there is too little, they shrivel (hypotonic and hypertonic solution, respectively - the cells basically try to stabilize the water concentration compared to its surroundings).
Erythrocytes’ main function is to carry oxygen around the body and supply it to other cells. They do not use it on their own. They live for approx. 3-4 months, then get recycled mainly in the spleen. They’re made up of hemoglobin, of which the hem part has iron that binds the oxygen, while the globin part surrounds and “supports it”.
Thrombocytes contribute to hemostasis, which is just stopping the bleed and healing the created wound. They’re made from torn off pieces of a megakaryocyte, which is made in the bone marrow. They live for about a week and then get sent off to the spleen and liver.
Leukocytes are the body’s immune system. Fending off the bad guys, cleaning up waste, all the useful stuff. Their lifespans vary depending on the type. Some live a few hours while others fuck around for years. But they all end up dead one day anyway and get thrown to the spleen, sometimes the liver.
Notice some organ repeats? Bone marrow, spleen, liver and also kidneys. They’ll be mentioned a LOT. Onto the questions now!
Do Machines need leukocytes?
Yes and no. They’d need monocytes, from which macrophages form. Those take care of dead cells, making the needed space for new ones. That applies whether or not they have organs. Luckily, macrophages live months to years, so even without a bone marrow to create them, they can get by easily with their starting blood.
However, I don’t see a reason for them needing the rest, meaning the -phils and lymphocytes. I don’t think the humans would have given them diseased blood, so even if they took blood from other Machines, there would be no exoantigens they’d be exposed to. Or maybe they would do that? As a way to sabotage the enemy’s Machines even after death…knowing they’d get the pathogens from the blood that would attack the Machine’s organs…hmmm. Some food for thought, but from a purely anatomical standpoint, there’s no way for them to keep the leukocyte level stable - not without the bone marrow to create more. Not to mention the need for a working thymus. One less organ to need, I guess.
Speaking of pathogens and stuff though, what about different blood types? That’s what caused me to think about this topic more in depth in the first place haha. Considering what I wrote above, the answer is an easy “doesn’t matter”. With no immune system, there is nothing to recognize differently presenting antibodies and attack them. Theoretically. Again, I’m not a doctor.
Do Machines need oxygen? If so, how do they breathe?
If Machines are indeed made up of organs, then yes. Oxygen is crucial for cell function. However, because of the underwater Wrath levels, I can’t just say that they have lungs and get on with it. I assume that in addition to that, they have something that functions the same way as gills. Fish Machines ahoy!
If Machines have no organs, then no. No organs means no cells, no cells means no need for oxygen - not even for the red or white blood cells, because they have no nucleus or organelles and therefore have nothing to use the oxygen on.
Can they get blood in other ways than killing?
Erythropoiesis, the creation of erythrocytes, takes place in the bone marrow, and is stimulated by erythropoietin. That is made naturally by kidneys, but man-made Erythropoiesis-stimulating agents (ESA) exist. There is also artificially made blood, but that’s used mainly to replace faulty oxygen-carriers. Well, too bad anyway. No bone marrow to be had means no erythropoiesis, so no, they need an outside source of blood.
How long can they stay without fresh blood?
Blood needs to be specifically contained, otherwise it begins to clot and oxidize when exposed to air. This is how scabs are made after we get hurt, but more on that later. Outside the body, blood begins to “spoil” in a matter of minutes, so obviously the Machine blood storages need to be specialised for that.
All of the blood components need to be stored in plastic blood bags made from PVC and DEHP or DINCH (plasticizers). This makes the bags a lot softer and more flexible. This plastic part can just be on the inside and then covered with normal metal. The inside of it would also need to be colder, approx. 2-6 degrees celsius and, obviously, coated with an anti-coagulant (like CPDA-1). This way, the blood inside can be stored for up to 35 days! Makes you wonder why V1 is speedrunning Hell like mad.
In circulation though, the blood needs to be filtered. This is tricky with the option of having organs, ironically. It can flow freely to the kidneys to be cleaned there, yes, but the waste taken from it (like bilirubin) needs to be expelled somehow. You hear me people. Machines need bathrooms too. (They probably don’t. I’m sure their filtration systems are so advanced it just gets recycled again.)
No organs means no proteins or amino acids, which means no waste in the blood. Excess water is either not a problem or is vented out as steam. The most important part of this option is the self-repair, which would most likely be done by the platelets. Those live only 7-10 days, but that’s still quite a long while for a Warmachine to need more.
How does V1 self-repair?
That depends on if the repairs are only internal, or external as well. That is, if V1 gets their metal dented in or scratched, is that repaired too, or does it only care about functionality? I’ll assume that it does both - let’s say that their leg gets cut off and they attach it back. An outside repair to get the plating back would make sense imo.
We know that V1 is the only one with this self-repair ability, or at least one that is a lot, lot quicker than the rest of the Machines have. Their plating is thinner and can absorb blood directly, at the cost of being more frail. Don’t ask me how this works, I have no idea. The point is, they take a blood sippy and are all healthy again, unlike the others who either have to wait or worse, be repaired manually.
I also assume that they do not need fresh blood specifically. If they’re in a fight and take damage at the start, their body automatically starts to repair itself with the blood already there. At least until it reaches a threshold where it would be detrimental to other functions.
If he has organs, then it’s normal coagulation, just incredibly sped up, probably due to an abundance of artificial/modified clotting factors. This also increases the risk of thrombosis though…so they must be very heavily regulated by anti-coagulants in turn. Again, either artificial or made from a modified liver that he’d have. Otherwise he’s kinda fucked. (Petition for Hakita to add a 1 % chance to drop dead because V1 gets a stroke)
The internal repairs are almost certainly done by platelets, no matter if he has organs or not. If he has, then awesome, normal coagulation cascade. If he doesn’t, it doesn’t matter. His blood vessels would most likely be ATEVs - Acellular Tissue Engineered Vessels. Basically artificially made vessels that can merge with the host’s body like normal cell tissue could, meaning platelets are able to heal it just fine. If they’d be from something like silicone or plastic…uh….let’s move on.
The external repairs being done with the iron from hemoglobin is unlikely due to the low amounts. There’s only about 2,5 grams of it in blood for an adult human, which is definitely not enough. This is only a problem with the external ones like I said, but I really can’t imagine “self-repair” to mean only the most basic of stuff. A bent leg isn’t all that great for combat. I just have to leave this to sci-fi bullshit lol. Maybe they have an internal supply? Maybe they can recycle the metal they find on the way?? Eh.
What about sentience and emotion?
All of what we do and experience - thoughts, emotions, actions - is by the input of our brain. Said inputs are just electrical signals, which can be easily replicated within the mechanical. So even without a proper fleshy brain, they can think and feel just like us! Even if it is “artificial”, considering that blood makes things come “alive”, I’d say this doesn’t really matter. If the Tree of Life has blessed you, you live. I assume the only difference in sentience/intelligence is based on the size of the Machine. It’s said that a Drone’s intelligence is very limited, but they’re curious by nature, which makes them more like animals than humans. But animals are sentient! Don’t mistake sentience for sapience or consciousness.
Conclusion:
If Machines have organs, then they function almost the same as us. For every organ to function, it needs enzymes and proteins and those are often made in another organ and it just becomes a loop of “I need this for this”. The main problem is the lack of bones and with it, bone marrow, and then the size of the Machines. A Drone definitely won’t fit as many organs as a Streetcleaner would. At the same time, an Earthmover is so giant, it has to be powered with sunlight too, not just blood. Even so, it makes you wonder about the logistics of it. Did the humans really have enough resources to make so much artificial blood and such big organs? Did they farm their own kin? Why continue with keeping the Machines blood-powered, knowing they operate at a loss the larger they are? Who knows. It’s cool game lore. :)
If they don’t have organs, then they just need to make sure their platelet count is high enough to be able to repair itself. I guess theoretically, if they never get hurt, they don’t need to do that and can go from a time limit of 10 days to 35. Quite the upgrade.
I made this at 2am, the quality reflects that. Still, I hope this made at least a little bit of sense and/or was interesting. I might do a part 2 if I think of more stuff, or maybe try to tackle our favorite Angel. Thank you for reading!
