BLAME! characters and structures
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The universe of the manga (and OVA) BLAME! created by Tsutomu Nihei is a home to the following fictional characters & locations.
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[edit] Main characters
- Killy - the main character of the series. His task of finding a human with the Net Terminal Gene is the basis of the manga's plot.
- Cibo - The head scientist of the corporation in the Capitol, Cibo joins Killy on his quest for the Net Terminal Gene.
[edit] Other characters
[edit] Safeguard
The Safeguard are a program independent of the netsphere. The netsphere was designed as a means of providing service to those who could logon. However the netsphere was thrown into chaos (the actual reason is not exactly known, but in NOiSE shows that a small group of humans is at fault) and the Safeguard ignored their previous function (prevent unauthorized users from entering the netsphere) to killing off anyone who does not possess Net Terminal Genes. The Safeguard have nine levels of hierarchy, Level 9 being the most powerful. However their Exterminator (originally the lowest level safeguard) system has a different form of hierarchy where "First Class" is the most powerful.
- Sanakan - A level six agent of the Safeguard who first appears as a short, young girl with black hair and finds Killy and Cibo in a tunnel after they pierce the impenetrable Megastructure layer with the Gravitational Beam Emitter.
- Dhomochevsky: Domochevsky is a Special Safeguard; the type that is not hostile to humans making him very similar to Killy. His body's capabilities also seem to be on a similar level to Killy's as well. He has a distinctive scar on his left eye where Schiff stabbed him. Alongside with Iko, they were recruited to protect a provisional level of the megastructure. A group of Silicon Life have invaded this level led by Davinel. Dhomo and Iko are insistent on the level's defence because only normal human genes are required for access to the netsphere. He is armed with a quad-barrel gun with many different projectile types.
- Iko: Iko appears as the thin, white whisp of a facial image. However, in the manga, it is suggested in a flashback of Dhomochevsky's that he had a corporeal shape once, but how he lost it, was never explained. He acts as a guardian for Dhomochevsky, predicts the behaviour of his opponents, healing him if possible. He transfers all his power to Dhomochevsky in a last ditch effort to stop Davinel as well as Cibo's transformation.
[edit] Silicon Life (Cyborgs)
- Ivy - Ivy is the leader of the contingent of Cyborgs attacking Toha Heavy Industries. He/she/it carries a massive weapon, which is essentially four swords, with two of them spring-loaded to swing out from the middle to bludgeon enemies. He is eventually defeated in a swordfight between him and Seu.
- Maeve - Maeve is Ivy's sidekick. More obviously female. She gets the lower half of her body sliced off by Seu in a fight. Later on, Ivy and some of his contingent discover the 'advanced' cyborg fused to a wall. They cut it out, wrench the cyborg's original head out and implant Maeve into the body. Maeve is killed by Killy with the GBE before the teleportation of Toha Heavy Industries.
- Blon - One of Davine Lu Linvega's henchmen. Blon is capable of creating wormlike creatures, possibly with the same way the Safeguard use to 'download' common safeguards to any location. He can also release leechlike creatures, about a foot and a half long, which attach to a target's spine and renders them unconscious. Blon is the first of Davine Lu Linvega's group to be killed by Killy, and his death allows Pcell to detect the 70-kilometer long holes left by Killy's GBE.
- Schiff - Schiff is another of Davine Lu Linvega's lieutenants. He seems to be a more humanoid version of the 'armored cyborgs', as he is clad in full armor. He wields two rectangular black blades Wolverine-style on his arms. Schiff is the first cyborg to attack Killy after Killy loses his GBE (and is forced to use more conventional safeguard weaponry). After a short hand-to-hand fight, Killy gains the upper hand and lands several punches which essentially mangle Schiff's armored face. While Schiff is clawing at his broken face, Killy administers the coup de grace.
- Davine lu Linvega - Leader of a contingent of cyborgs who Killy encounters late in the series. The level on which he's present allows provisional access to the Net Sphere to any person having normal human DNA. Davinel wants to access the Net Sphere and tries to obtain the DNA sample which is in Cibo's possession. Afterwards he is able to infiltrate the netsphere in Seu's form. However, he fatally underestimates the GA's agent who cleverly slows the connection speed. Giving enough time for him to be unaware during the attack on him. However, he manages to steal the level nine safeguard data just before death via Dhomochevsky. Linvega's gender has been something of debate, Iko first refers to him/her as male. However the sidecomic BLAME! Academy depicts Linvega as a girl.
- Pcell - Davinel's subordinate who's body is female in appearance. She is very skilled in combat. According to Iko she is the most dangerous of the invading silicon life. Pcell uses a 'Safeguard Sword', the weapon that features as Musubi's new weapon in NOiSE, as being the main weapon of the 'armored cyborgs'. Further more, she also makes use of an odd ability to withdraw herself from danger. There seems to be a very short-lived 'love affair' between Pcell and Dhomochevsky. However, after Cibo transforms into the Level-9 Safeguard, she kills Pcell.
[edit] Humans
- The Fishermen - People descended from the Planters, people who used to live inside Toha Heavy Industries. They have been locked out for many generations, and have forgotten everything about why they are there and what Toha is. They fight the Safeguard using powerful bolt-shooting rifles. They wear armor similar to that of Seu, and the armor suits of the Planters that Cibo and Killy find shortly after they follow the Fishermen into Toha Heavy Industries. They aren't really fishermen, and the methods they use to survive is unknown. The Fishermen are a short-heighted race of humans, unlike Cibo who comes from a race with tall heights.
[edit] Minor characters
- Mensab - Mensab is the AI Controller for Cave 8 inside Toha Heavy Industries. She is expelled from the collective AI, although the reason is not exactly clear. She normally acts and appears quite calm, but her appearance also mirrors her mood.
- Seu - A human, who wears armor similar to that of the Fishermen. He is a powerful swordsman, and acts as Mensab's protector. He fights for her. Whenever he is injured severely, Mensab takes him to be restored by equipment which can heal any damage and also synthesize any substance. But he loses memory each time he is healed in this way. As only Mensab's people survived the silicon creature invasion, and they were likely killed in the destruction of Toha Heavy Industries, Seu could possibly be the last Planter alive. He eventually withdraws with Mensab.
- Mori - a person whose mind was downloaded into an emergency preservation pack resembling a USB drive. His/her/its corpse sat undisturbed for a long time before Killy stumbled on him. Interestingly, Mori is not his name; we never learn this character's real name. Mori was the name of the manufacturer of the emergency preservation pack, and was printed on the device itself. Killy, acting as a Good Samaritan, takes him along his quest. Mori's main task is seems, is to do most of the talking for Killy in Cibo's absence. Shortly after Killy obtains Cibo's 'child', Mori is taken by the Governing Agency to a storage area. Here, Mori takes the form of a young girl who may or may not be her original form since she states that the pack was overwritten many times.
[edit] Factions or groups of note
- Safeguard - It is the completely independent defense system of the Net Sphere. The Safeguards original purpose was to prevent unauthorized access to the Netsphere by those without Net Terminal Genes. However due to inactivity by humans for so long, the Safeguard have taken to destroying all humans without the Net Terminal Gene. It can also transform humans into its soldiers by shooting them with needles that inject nanomachines. And it has more powerful agents, like Sanakan, and the monster which attacks the Fishermen. They are similar to "The Agents" in "The Matrix."
- Governing Agency or Authority - The ruling level of the Net Sphere. It tries at times to assist Killy and Cibo, against the Cyborgs, and against the Safeguard. It has powers identical to the Safeguard, but cannot itself control the Safeguard. It wants a human with the Net Terminal Gene to be found to stop the Builders which are the cause of the runaway growth of the City.
- Builders (originally Kensetsusha (建設者?), meaning Architect) - Robots which construct the City. They are not connected directly to The Net Sphere or Safeguard. They come in a wide variety of shapes and sizes. Killy remembers their language in the village of the Fishermen, and Cibo uses his knowledge about them to learn to control them completely. It's possible that only a human with the Net Terminal Gene would be able to override their programming at the source.
[edit] Structures
- The Megastructure - A large plate that lies between levels of The City. It is neigh impenetrable. The closer to the plate, the stronger the Safeguard's influence is.
- The Netsphere - A possible future incarnation of the internet available only to those with the Net Terminal Gene and guarded by the Safeguard. According to the opening of Net Sphere Engineer, it was meant as a new world order, and could fulfill the desires of the people. It is posited in Noise that it was in fact a New Social Order designed to exclude the infected. It can only be accessed by those possessing Net Terminal Genes.
- The City - A structure maintained and continuously expanded by Builders. The actual size is debatable but it is said to have encompassed the moon long ago.
- Toha Heavy Industries - A massive edifice or possibly vehical separate from the megastructure. Toha Heavy Industries was mentioned as the benevelont organization in Biomega. It is inhabited by humans known only as the 'planters', and is the origin of the splinter group, the 'fishers'. It is controlled by a central AI, and has a collective of thirteen other AI; one controlling each cave. the Collective AI was created in an effort to prevent insanity, however that in the end it didn't work out. The central AI shows increasingly irrational behavior with its use of teleportation technology, and its gravity furnace. The AI isolated itself from the outside using a treaty from the Governing Agency because of the seriousness of the Silicon Creature's disease, and excommunicated those who did. Toha Heavy Industries is crucial because the planters may be netgene carriers.
- Structure conversion towers - These buildings appear to be autonomous energy reserves and/or producers which are independent of the Megastructure. They're apparently capable of synthesising any form of matter, mainly Safeguard units.
| Tsutomu Nihei |
|---|
| Works |
| Blame! | NOiSE | Biomega | Net Sphere Engineer | Abara | Digimortal |
| BLAME! characters and structures |
| Killy| Cibo | Sanakan | Graviton Beam Emitter | Net Terminal Genes | |
