Glitch biology is mechanoid in nature, though bears striking resemblance to most organic organisms; Glitch have a brain, a skeleton, muscular tissue, blood, a heart, a stomach, and even reproductive organs.
Glitch bodies contain a special type of robotic nanomachine known as nanocells. Nanocells are the technological basis of Glitch functioning, serving as the constructors of their endoskeleton and muscle fibers, and can link together and harden as nerve cells that make up the Glitch brain and nervous system. They also serve to store the Glitch genome for reproductive purposes.
Nanocells are of the design of the Glitch’s progenitor species; all attempts to reverse engineer them have failed, as their functioning is esoteric beyond understanding. They can emit and receive electrical signals. Though they cannot be produced from scratch, it is relatively easy to replicate nanocells as they do naturally, a process used to clone Glitch.
Nanocells are capable of diverging into different types of nanocells, much like stem cells: the primary types of nanocells seem to be nervous cells, reactive cells, and repair cells. Nervous cells make up the central nervous system of a Glitch, linking up and acting like neuromorphic memristors. Reactive cells can bind to organic material and break it down, found in Glitch stomachs. Repair cells are mostly found in Glitch blood, and can generate and repair Glitch muscle tissue or bones using substances transported in the blood.
Glitch blood is a black, oily substance. It is viscous like motor oil and runs through their body via plastic tubes acting as veins and capillaries. Glitch blood serves three purposes: to transmit electricity throughout the body, to transfer nutrients, and to transport nanocells for purposes such as muscle or skeletal repair.
Glitch blood contains a large amount of electrolytes that allows it to store electric charge that the stomach generates; the types of electrolytes it contains vary, though most use lithium base compounds, causing Glitch blood to be slightly chemically basic.
Much like organic organisms, Glitch will die if they lose too much of it, as they will be unable to transmit electric charge to the rest of their body.
A Glitch endoskeleton is a skeletal structure made from a hard plastic, gradually constructed in layers from nanocells present in Glitch blood. Though a Glitch’s endoskeleton is bipedal in nature, it differs from most core species in its structure and appearance. Its exact structure and even composition can vary among Glitch races, but is certainly not human. Glitch bones are thinner than humans due to their hardness; but this does not mean they are weak, as they are not spongy like human bones and do not have any soft bone marrow. Glitch joints are also different, possessing joints more similar to mechanical robots than organic lifeforms. Their rib cage is composed of a web-like cage of bone that protects their organs
Glitch muscles are made from black polymer fibers that stretch through their bones, made primarily of carbon and other polymer compounds that contract when exposed to differing electric charges, much like the synthetic muscle found in many androids. Since Glitch do not have skin, their raw form without their chassis is simply a figure of dark musculature, often lanky and unsettling in appearance; and often fragile.
Glitch muscles are repaired from nanocells in the blood, at a rate significantly faster than human muscle tissue repair; a warrior that suffers a severe gash in their arm might heal the musculature in a matter of a couple weeks, as long as they have blood and eat well. Glitch muscles, like human muscle, can also be trained; repeated use of a muscle region will cause the body to grow more in order to strengthen it, though Glitch muscles require a steady source of power.
Glitch muscles will attach themselves to objects placed on the Glitch for an extended period of time, attaching the object to the main body through a more concentrated variant of their blood that acts as an adhesive. This is how chassis are attached to a bare Glitch body, as well as various forms of augmentation.
Glitch hearts serve two purposes: to pump blood throughout the body much like an ordinary heart, and also serves as an organ where blood is produced and nanocells are replicated. Glitch hearts are a fist-sized wreath of muscle tissue squeezing together to pump blood through the body, with a spongy web of nanocell-rich tissue where blood is produced and nanocells replicate in abundance. Much like most other hearts, Glitch hearts will beat faster in response to physical activity, and damage to it can prove fatal.
A Glitch ‘stomach’ is a bioreactor that breaks down food and other substances in order to produce electricity and nutrients that the body uses to sustain itself, using a specialized acidic blood that contains a large concentration of reactive nanocells in order to break down food. The lining of the bioreactor is made from a solid lithium polymer that is able to store a large amount of charge received from the bioreactor. Blood passes over this lining and receives charge from it.
Bare Glitch bodies without a chassis are frail and vulnerable to damage. For this reason, Glitch societies construct chassis to place onto Glitch bodies that act as a shell. Glitch bodies readily accept chassis; pieces of chassis that are affixed to bare Glitch muscle will eventually be attached to the body, and protoglitch will eventually grow into a chassis if placed onto them during its growth phase. For this reason, Glitch are similar to mollusks and other shellfish due to them inhabiting ‘shells’.
Chassis can be constructed from a variety of different materials, and can look wildly different. The most basic chassis is made from a hard plastic similar to Glitch bones, and is actually shaped by heat applied to masses of the same hard plastic that is grown from vats that have repair nanocells inside of them. Wood is sometimes used in more primitive Glitch cultures, and metal is also popular; types of metal vary from light metals such as aluminum to heavier metals such as iron, though chassis are typically kept thin and light for comfort and mobility, with external armor made and worn for added protection.
Glitch chassis can be taken off and refitted or replaced through either the application of a strong antiadhesive behind the chassis piece or careful cutting.
The Glitch central nervous system is comprised of a large, complicated network of nervous nanocells linked together throughout the body. The nervous system is highly adaptable to changes, and can even naturally link to external electronics and components through a process called ‘interfacing’.
The Glitch brain is a spherical orb of compact, hardened nervous nanocells that act as a neuromorphic processor, housing their consciousness and most of the central nervous system. Glitch brains are very strange objects, as they are mechanoid in nature, but also seem capable of psionically awakening and being affected by neuroinvasive psionics. Glitch brains also have a small suborgan called a nooradio that transmits and receives radio signals from the hivemind.
The most fascinating aspect of the Glitch nervous system is the ability to perform a feat called ‘interfacing’. When electronics or electronic components such as optics, microphones, speakers, and even more complex devices are stuck into Glitch musculature, the nervous system will link with it over the course of three days. After it is interfaced, the Glitch will begin to be able to learn how to control it and read from it, the nervous system applying or interpreting electrical signals from the interfaced device. Through interfacing, Glitch bodies are highly modifiable. One could add on or easily replace new optics or voice boxes, or cut off their arms and replace it with an electronic, servo-moved arm that they could learn to use and control. Because the process is automatic, augmentation of Glitch can easily be done by their primitive societies.
Simple components such as optics are more easily interfaced with because the Glitch body already uses them, but more complex devices take more time to learn how to control or interpret. With time, it is even possible to interface and control devices as complex as computers; through control of a computer’s peripheries instead of the processor itself.
Too many augmentations, however, can begin to become a mental burden; too much sensory input for example can cause headaches. Most Glitch stop at this point; some, however, utilize a form of interfacing called subprocessing: interfacing with another Glitch brain. Interfaced Glitch brains act similar to buffered minds, being semiconscious and taking on the burden of newly interfaced devices. The interfaced brain is able to confer certain experiences and instincts to the host mind such as combat techniques and intuition, expanding the host Glitch’s mental abilities. Such a practice is typically deemed taboo in most Glitch societies, though this does not stop Doom Lords from using subprocessing to make themselves more powerful.
Glitch reproduce sexually through male or female sexual organs, with nanocells as the form of genetic exchange. Female Glitch have a cavity in their bodies that act as a womb in order to gestate a Glitch egg; during gestation, a Glitch mother must consume more food in order to provide the necessary materials for the child before the egg is laid. A Glitch egg is a sack constructed from a soft plastic shell, filled with a highly dense and viscous form of Glitch blood that is dense with nutrients and charge from the mother. Over the course of a month, the Glitch brain will form and harden, and the endoskeleton, musculature, and other organs begin to form. When the musculature begins to form, the outer shell begins to break apart, a time which a chassis is usually placed for the body to grow into.
Glitch are born as adults. It is also possible for Glitch to be born already enlightened, if their mother was enlightened.
Glitch nanocells all possess a copy of the individual Glitch’s genome, a string of data that encodes instructions for nanocells to construct and maintain a Glitch body. During reproduction, children share parts of the genome of their parents, allowing for hereditary traits to be passed on. Glitch genomes are also subject to mutations, potentially driving evolution, which Glitch are subject to. Different Glitch races exist that bear genetic differences, and there are also Glitch flora and fauna that have entirely different genomes altogether, entirely capable of evolution.
Glitch cloning has developed over the time that Glitch have been studied by the greater galactic community, allowing it to be a widespread procedure available at many hospitals by even non-Glitch cloning specialists. Because it isn’t possible to accelerate the growth of a lab-grown Glitch body, braindead clones are grown from a Glitch’s genome, their brains cut out early in the process. These cloned bodies are typically kept and prepared in the incident of the Glitch’s death, and often have replications of the Glitch’s chassis and sometimes even any interfaced augmentations.
The process from there is similar to most other core species; a brain scan is applied to a lab-grown Glitch brain, which is then placed into and allowed to interface with the prepared body.