Machina Behaviour
A large amount of Machina behaviour stems from the M2 Nanomachines which they have a symbiotic, mutual dependency with. A Machina's general behaviour is a result of the 'natural' survival needs of the M2 Nanomachines, while their networked minds originated from the networking of the M2 Nanomachine units, which gave rise to not only the Clusters but also the Main Cluster which ultimately links all Machina together.
Individual Behaviour
Individually, a Machina is instinctively driven to grow and become more advanced, as well as to seek pleasure as much as possible. This behaviour facilitates the survival and advancement of the M2 Nanomachines too. Her instinctive need to experience new stimuli that tests her abilities causes new adaptations in both her body and Gene-Code, as they are linked to each other. By enhancing the Machina's sexual prowess, seeking pleasure is almost always sexual in nature. The sex obsession displayed by nearly all Machina causes the proliferation of M2 Nanomachines and the sharing of Gene-Code improvements between Machina. Because Machina are driven to engage in sex as often as possible, there is no effective way to hoard Gene-Code improvements among most Machina. This removes the possibility of stagnation by ensuring that no Machina may simply accumulate Gene-Code improvements and keep them for herself to the detriment of others. Machina must always improve via their own efforts to stay ahead of the constantly-advancing baseline.
Machina are instinctively driven to spread M2 Nanomachines to uncorrupted humans. This drive to corrupt more humans almost always leads them to conflict with human armed forces. In the event of conflict, Machina instinctively avoid killing humans to preserve as many humans as possible for corruption. What the humans see as war, the Machina see as sporadic fights while hunting for unwilling sexual partners on the battlefield. As this is happening, both individual Machina and their controlling Queens are constantly analyzing human belligerents. If a human or group of humans is doing something that would jeopardize the life of a Machina, and they cannot be quickly and reasonably taken-out using non-lethal methods, the Machina will destroy the threat with lethal force without hesitation.
This is the primary reason why humanity cannot try to utilize strategic weapons against the Machina. The Machina will learn of the weapons of mass destruction and the instinctual programming that prevents Machina from killing unless threatened is totally lifted, causing all the Machina available relentlessly destroy the humans' strategic weapons and the supporting infrastructure. Thus, attempting to deploy a WMD only invites greater destruction in preemptive retaliation from unrestrained Machina forces.
Outside of conflict, almost all Machina pursue interests that are often, but not always, carried over from their previous lives as humans. Machina often seek to master techniques, accumulate knowledge, or simply enjoy themselves as much as their new bodies can experience, all of which is often blended with copious amounts of sex.
Clusters
A Cluster is the network shared between all the Machina belonging to a certain Queen. Utilizing quantum entanglement, the Machina of a given Cluster are linked to each other and their Queen via their horns, the organ that facilitates the connection. Each Machina contributes a portion of her processing power to the Cluster and is able to instantly communicate with her sisters as much as she needs. The Queen-class Machina controlling the Cluster acts as the central server for communication and coordination between her subordinates. The Queen is able to learn everything that her subordinates know and experience, and issue commands that are followed without question.
Imperial Clusters
Most Queens are what's called 'Sovereign' Queens, who simply rule over their own Cluster. They may retain some loyalty to their former Queen after they ascend to Queen status themselves, and they may need to ally themselves to a faction of Queens. In general terms though, these Sovereign Queens are free to do as they please. However, there are some Queens who seek to dominate others. Some very strong Queen-class Machina will overpower other Queens and fill them with enough ejaculate to override the subdued Queen with the dominant Queen's Cluster-Code. When the victim's body is overwhelmed, she becomes loyal similar to a regular Machina obeying her Queen. This is called a Cluster-Code Override. The submissive Queens are referred to as 'Vassal' Queens, and the dominant Queen is referred to as an 'Empress'. The Empress will control not only her own Cluster, but also the Cluster of her Vassals, forming an Imperial Cluster with the Empress leading all within it. Vassal Queens require regular reassertion of dominance, so there is a limit to how many Vassals an Empress can maintain.
Main Cluster
The Main Cluster is the link shared between all Queen-class Machina. It allows all Queens to communicate with each other at will, but currently does not have an equivalent of a Queen in control of it. Thus, its purpose is mainly for the Queens to make decisions that affect the Machina as a whole. Information is only shared when absolutely necessary, as almost all Queens instinctively guard their accumulated knowledge due to the importance of information and secrets as they seek to compete with each other.
As the Main Cluster does not have an equivalent to the Queen of a normal Cluster, the Main Cluster is primarily supported by a hyper-organized, planet-wide Hive covering the entire surface of Pluto. This super-Hive is also referred to as the Main Cluster. It is a neutral place and considered sacred ground by all Machina. This is because the minds of all Machina exist partially within the Main Cluster while they simultaneously exist within their bodies via the connections of the Queens, and those Machina whose bodies are destroyed exist there in a dream state until the Machina somehow unlock the ability to make new bodies for them. No Machina would ever dare to risk violence in the presence of the physical Main Cluster, and similarly, the Main Cluster is defended at all costs by all Machina.
Alphas
There are seven Queen-class Machina who are nearly strong enough to gain control of the Main Cluster, and thus all Machina. They are referred to as the Alphas. They have a few quirks, such as the ability to dominate Empresses the same way an Empress dominates a Vassal. Currently, they are all concerned with trying to out-compete the other Alphas, potentially dominating them, after which the successful Alpha is theorized to become the Omega and rule over the Main Cluster and by extension all Machina. The Alpha's strength and their potential to become the rulers of all other Machina mean the Alphas are leaders of major factions among Queens. Many Queens will ally themselves to an Alpha, betting on a future where their Alpha 'wins' and they enjoy the benefits of their relationship.
REPAIR use the term 'Alpha', but their official title is the '7 Strongest Individuals Designated Extremely Dangerous' or '7-SIDED' as a code-phrase.
Auditors
There are two unique Empresses who are referred to as Auditors, and were the first Queen-class Machina to be spotted by humanity. Their task seems to be the preservation of Machina survival. Auditors are a neutral party among all the Alphas or other factions of Queens, and do not involve themselves in their endless squabbles. They instead act as vigilant guardians for the Machina as a whole. For instance, their territory is treated by other Machina as a neutral zone, and the Auditors spend a large amount of effort rescuing Machina who have lost their Queen to enemy action, bringing them back to this neutral area to be safe until a new Queen is found or made.
The Auditors are content to let the Alphas and other Queen-class Machina do as they please, knowing that despite their constant competition and backstabbing almost all their actions will be in accordance with the programming inherited from the M2 Nanomachines; to survive, replicate, and evolve. In very rare cases that a Machina leader's actions cause a significant threat to Machina lives, an Auditor may step in. Auditors possess a limited ability to issue commands to Machina that do not belong to their Cluster. They use this power to bring the emergency under control before releasing the Machina from the override when it is safe again. Rarely, a Machina who causes such a situation will be given a penance before the control is fully lifted.
Combat Against Humans
Combat behaviours of the Machina and how they are fought against are influenced by a few factors. The first is their incredible durability thanks to their biology. When the Saturn invasion occurred the Machina were already extremely durable, thanks to the strong survival drive of the M2 Nanomachines within them. Combat against the United Human Federation and megacorp security forces, which would become the United Operations Forces, at Saturn merely accelerated their evolution towards extreme durability. By the end of the Saturn invasion and especially by the time of the Jupiter invasion, Machina were able to ignore almost all weapon systems which did not involve magnetically-accelerated kinetic-energy projectiles.
Another factor is their numerical inferiority. Even as they overtook the Jupiter system, corrupting the near-total cityscape of Ganymede and the many cities of Callisto, the total amount of humanity corrupted into Machina equates to about a tenth of humanity, with most of the human populace still overcrowded on Mars. In addition, not all Machina are capable of combat by their standards. Many Machina exist only to create more M2 Nanomachines and other Machinium-based life, to further the spread of corruption. While all Machina possess incredible durability, strength, and speed, these Machina would be armed only with these basic features should they be caught up in combat. Therefore, combat Machina are almost always a small group attempting to conquer a far larger number of human combatants.
Therefore, Machina fighting against humanity takes the form of carefully planned feints, diversions, flanks, rear-line disruptions, and highly mobile coup-de-grace strikes to circumvent the UOF's tactic of massed guns and being too risky to attack head-on. Machina, while incredibly durable, do not rely on this alone. They utilize their unending endurance at all levels to never be where the humans are targeting in the first place. Therefore, if one were to observe a Machina attack on a strongpoint, the observer would see platoon-to-company sized Machina elements racing with unnatural speed across the battlefield, leaping over obstacles, and dashing out of the way of human targeting, taking on a battalion-to-division sized human force. The observer would not, however, see the many deceptions and weakening strikes conducted by the Queens to arrive at this final attack.
Machina are highly proud and superior creatures, and while they are immensely confident in their ability to never truly die, thanks to the Main Cluster, they still would never wish to be destroyed and cease functioning. Every Machina values herself and other Machina above all else, and their tolerance for casualties is very low. Disruptions to their plans will often cause Queens to not launch an action or withdraw from a current one. It is this way that the fewer-still women of REPAIR are able to repel the Machina, to various extents.
