User:Deckiller/Technology of Xenosaga

Xenosaga takes places several thousands of years in the future; consequently, the series revolves around technology and pseudo-technology in several ways. This is influenced by numerous real-world sources and philosophies.

Vehicles and mechs
A number of Mechs &mdash; Japanese fighting robots &mdash; appear in the series and are based on previous RPGs and Anime series.

A.G.W.S.
A.G.W.S. (Anti-Gnosis Weapon System, pronounced "eggs" or "aggs" for short) mechs are a type of mobile weapon related to A.M.W.S. that are normally stationed onboard starships. Although due to a lack of explanation in Episode II and the disappearance of the model, it seemed that the A.G.W.S. were only the smaller models and that they had fallen into disuse, which is refuted in Episode III. The true distinction between an A.G.W.S. and an A.M.W.S. is that A.G.W.S. are equipped with special equipment to combat Gnosis, while A.M.W.S. are general purpose units which are designed to carry out a number of tasks, although they do appear to be generally much larger in size than A.G.W.S. units. A.G.W.S. were designed to respond quickly to Gnosis attacks, which tend to occur with very little warning. A.G.W.S. are powered by a Transmit Generator which draws energy from the powerplant of the starship the A.G.W.S. is stationed on. The mech uses no physical fuel, nor does it produce its own energy. It is constantly being fed energy by its mothership or home base. Therefore, as long as the A.G.W.S. does not stray from the Transmit Generator's area of influence it can remain operational indefinitely so long as the starship or base is still operating as well.

A.G.W.S come in various forms, which are dictated by their functions. The Federation military's standard issue A.G.W.S. are all fitted with standardized chassis which can be interchanged and customized with armaments and equipment depending the uniqueness of the situation. Military A.G.W.S. are normally built by the enigmatic Hyams Group. Vector Industries' A.G.W.S. are not mass produced and are only available to select buyers. Only certain government Special Ops. units, certain divisions of the military, and wealthy companies or organizations like the Kukai Foundation have access to these models. People like 1st Lieutenant Virgil, Mary and Shelley, and Jr. are seen piloting A.G.W.S. several times over the course of the game. Main character Shion Uzuki and others also have A.G.W.S. available to them in battle but are not seen piloting them in the actual storyline sections of Episode I with the exception of Junior who is shown piloting his first A.G.W.S. unit during his first appearance. A.G.W.S. are not used by the player in Episode II.

Although A.G.W.S. units are similar to the Gears from Xenogears, they are used in a fashion more similar to summoning Aeons from Final Fantasy X. Certain characters may summon customizable personal A.G.W.S. units which are teleported to their current location which may then be piloted and used as significantly more powerful incarnations of the characters at any point in the game.

A.M.W.S.
A.M.W.S. (Assault Maneuver Weapon System, pronounced "aims") mechs are larger than A.G.W.S. but not as powerful as E.S. units. The major difference between an A.M.W.S. and an E.S. is that the E.S. are equipped with Anima Relics. Two popular A.M.W.S. are the Scutum and Pilum, piloted by Ormus/U-TIC officers Herman and Richard respectively. Another popular A.M.W.S. was a machine piloted by Jin Uzuki during the Miltian Conflict. The green, agile mech closely resembled the gear Heimdal which was piloted by suspiciously familiar Citan Uzuki of Xenogears. Jin's A.M.W.S. was capable of slicing other mechs literally in two with its signature weapon, a massive sword. The unit is abandoned after sustaining heavy damage during a battle with multiple rogue Federation A.M.W.S.s and is not seen again. Some other A.M.W.S. use melee weapons, but many units are equipped with projectile or energy weapons.

A.M.W.S. units are similar to the "Gears" from Xenogears. In Xenogears, "Gears" received energy from the Zohar; however, in Xenosaga, only some A.M.W.S. units appear to use it as their source of power (i.e., chaos's statement in the opening of Episode II: "The U.R.T.Vs were sent in to sever the link between the U-TIC mobile weapons fleet and their source of power, the Zohar."). In Xenosaga Episode I, most of the mechs were merely of the A.G.W.S. variety. In Episode II, many antagonist factions used A.M.W.S. units to counter the E.S. robots piloted by the main characters.

In Episode III, both A.M.W.S. and A.G.W.S. are referred to by the term "mobile weapons"(which is reminiscent of anime such as Gundam). The units can be distinguished because A.M.W.S. are in fact units that are used for general purposes, but are not equipped to fight Gnosis, as they lack Gnosis combat equipment (such as D.S.S.S. sensors to "see" the Gnosis. Furthermore, A.M.W.S. units tend to be significantly larger than A.G.W.S., more on the scale of E.S. units.

E.S.
E.S. are massive mechs similar to A.M.W.S., equipped with Vessels of Anima, which draw power from the Zohar and grant greater power than the standard mobile weapons available in the Xenosaga universe. E.S. are primarily used by U-TIC and Vector Industries. Additionally, every E.S. is named after a child of Jacob in the book of Genesis. These mechs are similar to the Omnigears from Xenogears (see Xenogears terms), and their names correspond to the Anima Relics, which powered those units. The names of the E.S. units also correspond with the names of the children of Jacob, as mentioned in the Hebrew Bible. It has been officially announced that E.S. stands for Ein Sof. Each E.S. is at least above the achievable speed, strength and power of the A.M.W.S., several E.S. have been noted with teleportation abilities. They can only be piloted by people who resonate purely with Anima, otherwise the pilot will not be able to get the E.S. to operate at all. It is the pilot's will to operate the craft, that enable the Vessels of Anima to draw power from the Zohar. The following are the twelve E.S. units:


 * E.S. Asher — An E.S. Unit piloted by Canaan during the Miltian Conflict and Jr. during the events of Episode II. chaos co-piloted E.S. Asher during the Miltian Conflict. Initially equipped with a Shield Lancer system on one arm and a gatling cannon on the other. It can optionally equip a flight booster and a powerful energy cannon capable of destroying several AMWS units in one shot. In Xenosaga III, Asher is reconfigured toward Jr's combat style and is capable of being outfitted with the greater assortment of weapons out of all playable Mechs. It is installed with Erde Kaiser's power generator halfway through the game, and thus is the only E.S. still capable of operating after its Vessel of Anima is absorbed by Zarathustra.


 * E.S. Dan — The black disc-shaped mech piloted by Voyager, the Black Testament in Episode II and Episode III. Of all twelve E.S., Dan with its movable shield chassis is the largest and heaviest and is second only to Judah in terms of attack power. It has large fanned wings, and is accompanied by a series of black cannon drones. Due to its size, it can ram targets and cause heavy damage.


 * E.S. Dinah — A complex, high tech E.S. unit capable of transforming between a more traditional-looking craft and a more humanoid form that was constructed to work with KOS-MOS' systems. It is the only known craft in the Xenosaga universe capable of entering and exiting hyperspace without having to interact with the U.M.N. first. E.S. Dinah is capable of flying to anywhere in space from anywhere else in space without having to go to specific U.M.N. Column areas to initiate hyperspace gate-ins. Designed specifically for KOS-MOS, it interlinks with her space bike and primarily uses beam weapons. It can still perform the X-buster attack and utilize the D.S.S.S. sensory system. In Episode III the frame is altered, sporting a larger set of wings and additional energy weaponry. At the beginning of Episode III, the Dinah is in the possession of Shion Uzuki as her personal craft, though it is officially on loan to the Kukai Foundation from Vector.  Like KOS-MOS, Dinah is considered to be obsolete technology by this time, although it is actually still quite powerful.


 * E.S. Gad — It is revealed in Xenosaga I&II that E.S. Gad is a U-TIC Ein Sof that is undergoing restoration along with E.S. Joseph. While Gad is out of commission, its Anima Vessel is partially aligned with Richard's AMWS Pillum and codenamed P.S. Gad.  In Episode III Gad's Anima Vessel is fully aligned with Pillum and it becomes E.S. Gad.  Gad looks remarkably similar to Pillum, although has a taller headplate reminiscent of a Bishop's miter. Between it and its partner E.S. Joseph, Gad is geared for the offense role of the team, armed with rapier as its primary weapon and the ability to summon the Naglfar, a beam cannon nearly three times its height. In Xenosaga III, it gains a shield like the one used by Scutum/Joseph.


 * E.S. Issachar — An older E.S. Unit piloted by U-TIC Commander Pellegri under direct orders from Margulis. Uses the weapon system Aird, similar to the Vierge’s Aerods and the Crescens Claw which bears the name of the gear Crescens from Xenogears (see Xenogears terms). Issachar also appears in the anime adaptation of Episode I, Xenosaga: The Animation.  In the anime, Pellegri had been following Ziggy and MOMO since they left Pleroma. When the Kukai Foundation is surrounded by the Federation Fleet before arriving at Second Miltia, Margulis authorizes her to use Issachar to covertly break the blockade (which the U-TIC Organization orchestrated in the first place).  Her mission is to destroy the evidence clearing the Foundation of guilt in the sinking of the Woglinde by hacking into KOS-MOS' Encephalon and corrupting the data.  She is stopped when chaos and Jin Uzuki break into her Encephalon Dive and prevent her from accomplishing her mission.


 * E.S. Joseph — It is revealed in Xenosaga I&II that E.S. Joseph is a U-TIC Ein Sof that is undergoing restoration like E.S. Gad was. While Joseph is out of commission, its Anima Vessel is partially aligned with Hermann's AMWS Scutum and codenamed P.S. Joseph.  In Episode III Joseph's Anima Vessel is fully aligned with Scutum and it becomes E.S. Joseph.  Joseph looks remarkably similar to Scutum, although like its partner Gad, it has a taller headplate. Of the duo, Joseph is designed for the defensive role of the team, as it chassis holds heavy armor. Its main weapons are a large polearm in its right arm and a thin shield in its left arm.


 * E.S. Judah — The machine piloted by Kevin Winnicot, the Red Testament. Kevin's mech is red, much like his cloak and appears to be a humanoid mech similar in configuration to E.S. Dinah with spiky wings instead of solid ones and blades attached to its arms. It has appeared twice in Episode II, once on the Ω System and once in the epilogue and also appears in Episode III extensively.  Its flat horns are reminiscent of the villain Grahf from Xenogears, and its wings are similar to those of the Weltall-Id.  It, and the redesigned E.S. Simeon, is the only E.S. to not participate in a battle in either gameplay or the storyline.  The Episode III database describes E.S. Judah as a fierce fighting machine capable of striking targets through the U.M.N., making it nearly impossible to defend against.


 * E.S. Levi — The black mech piloted by Margulis in Episode III. Margulis' E.S. is quite similar to Pellegri's E.S. Issachar; a very dark black and orange mech that carries a giant-sized sword with two floating wing-like attachments similar to Issachar's Crescens Claw. These attachments also function as a logical drive. It was originally designed as a multi-role unit, but because its pilot prefers melee combat above everything else, it has been stripped of most of its longer-ranged weapons.  It is instead equipped with a long sword for close-range combat and kunai like objects which are thrown from the arms of the unit.


 * E.S. Naphtali — The blue machine piloted by Luis Virgil, the Blue Testament. It is briefly glimpsed in Episode I after Proto Merkabah appears. It next appears at the end of Episode II with the other E.S. of the Testaments and again in Episode III when Virgil confronts Shion and her friends on the landmass Rennes-le-Chatâeu.  It also appeared as a boss battle in Xenosaga I&II for the Nintendo DS. Naphtali was made primarily as a mobile gunnery platform, as it possesses a scorpion-like body with numerous built-in guns and a large rifle that can be teleported in.


 * E.S. Reuben — Reuben appears for the first time in The Missing Year, as an E.S. under the jurisdiction of the S.O.C.E. that is loaned to Jin Uzuki by Juli Mizrahi. E.S. Reuben is Jin Uzuki's new E.S. unit and in keeping with the tradition surrounding his character it is an agile mech wielding two katana and is painted dark green. Although it lacks long-range weaponry and is lightly armored, Jin's style of combat compensates those deficiencies. It bears a striking resemblance to Fenrir of Xenogears.


 * E.S. Simeon — Albedo’s E.S. Unit. Like the E.S. Issachar and E.S. Zebulun, Simeon uses the weapon system known as Aird. Along with Albedo, it dematerialized half-way through Episode II and while Albedo later reappeared, E.S. Simeon did not. E.S. Simeon's system is known as the Relic Drive. This drive fuels the E.S. by absorbing the 'Will' of living beings. In the Xenosaga: the Animation it directly absorbs a Kirschwasser seen bound to its Vessel of Anima and transforms into a giant bio-organic monster with hundreds of tentacles and a gaping maw. It is reduced to a pool of molten flesh and comments from chaos and Jr. suggest that it didn't have a proper Vessel to begin with. E.S. Simeon is later seen in the anime's epilogue restored to its original mechanical form. The mech seen piloted by Albedo as the White Testament at the end of Episode II and in Episode III is indeed E.S. Simeon, or more precisely Simeon's Vessel of Anima aligned to a new mech chassis. The new frame has no legs and a series of dragon-like extensions rising from the shoulders.  These extensions may be meant to resemble the many heads of the Hydra, which would be fitting considering the inborn ability of the pilot.  The new E.S. Simeon is not fought at any point in Episode III and only appears once at Rennes-le-Chatâeu.


 * E.S. Zebulun — An E.S. provided by Vector Industries constructed especially for use by MOMO as it is the only playable E.S. Unit capable of using Ether in Episode II. Like Issachar and Simeon, this unit makes use of the Aird system, a set of remote-controlled gun drones. Like Dinah, Simeon and to a lesser extent Issachar, Zebulun undergoes a remodeling for Episode III.  The bashing blades that encompass its arms and the blades on its heels (see above picture) are removed, its arms are connected to its shoulders instead of its head and a pair of small wings are attached to its hips.