Aragami

An Aragami (荒神 "violent god"). While apparently only one being, is actually a colony of hundreds of thousands of semi-sentient single-celled organisms under a cell core; that is, one Aragami is a superorganism with swarm intelligence, taking the form of a variety of lifeforms, plant or animal, organic or artificial, even real or mythical. These cells, called "Oracle Cells", are the only type of cell in an Aragami forming flesh, blood and bone all the same. Oracle cells have a devouring nature which caused them to spread and devour everything in their path. However, Oracle cells do not evolve like normal cells do. Each Oracle cell in existence is exactly the same as it was before the outbreak; i.e., these cells merely adapt to fulfill specific roles assigned to them from the cell core. The core is the command center over the entire colony while the individual groups of cells form working parts of the entity such as an eye, fang, or tail. The only way to truly kill an Aragami is to extract the core, thus making all the normal cells lose their cohesion; a society with a hive intelligence cannot survive without its leading mind, and so the body of an Aragami will dissipate into nothingness if it loses its mind. The only weapons created by humanity that are capable of doing this (whilst still being portable) are the God Arcs (which are actually weaponized and wieldable Aragami), wielded by God Eaters, which extract it by "devouring" a specific section of an Aragami's body, which contains the core. Generally violent in nature, Aragami only crave to consume. This is how they can adapt and evolve to fit new surroundings; they can devour native scenery and Aragami in the area until the Aragami's cells adapt to the conditions. Their desire to consume any sort or matter is controlled by the Bias Factor, which scientists from Fenrir work day and night on to perfect shielding against Aragami attacks; an Aragami will refrain from eating anything that is highly similar to its own being, unless they are extremely desperate, turned rogue, or became somewhat far more unstable. This is a behavior in Oracle cells that results in different Aragami of similar characteristics, such as Vajras, Hannibals, Marduks, and so on. Notably, the Aragami seem to be starting to evolve in new ways: some newer Aragami are starting to resemble humans.

See also: Aragami Item Prefixes, Materials