Goddess of victory: Nikke

Goddess of Victory: Nikke takes place in a post-apocalyptic future where the Earth was suddenly attacked by unknown mechanical creatures called Raptures that destroyed everything on the surface, forcing the remaining humans to take refuge underground and establish the Ark, a metropolis ruled by the Central Government. The manufacturers Elysion, Missilis Industry and Tetra Line—owned by Ingrid, Syuen and Mustang, respectively—that compose the Big Three work on converting women and children into powerful obedient soldiers called Nikkes to be used as a weapon to defeat the Raptures and restore humanity on the surface. Due to their prominence, the Big Three CEOs have very high authority; they are, however, heavily monitored by the Central Government to prevent any hostile behavior.

The story is played from the perspective of the Commander who graduated from the Military Academy one day prior to the events of the game; despite this, he performs extraordinarily in his operations and survives various encounters with rare Rapture species throughout his journey. He leads a squad called Counters, which consists of the Nikkes Anis, Rapi and later down the story, Neon. The Commander views Nikkes with sympathy and privately advocates for Nikke rights, which is illegal in accordance with the laws of the Ark. Outlaws may be sent to the Rehabilitation Center or the Outer Rim, an area fully isolated from the rest of the Ark, and they have formed terrorist organizations claiming to fight for human rights for themselves.

A Nikke refers to the female soldiers manufactured in fighting the Raptures, they serve as the titular playable characters. After the invasion of Rapture, humanity had to seek shelter underground. There, they gathered forces, knowledge and resources to achieve one goal: retrieve the earth’s surface from the enemy.

To do so, they divided themselves into several manufacturers and started working on manufacturing special fighting androids, commonly called Nikkes.

These Nikkes are sent on the surface of the planet and fight against Raptures using special weapons and abilities that makes them the only effective counter against Raptures.

Manufacturers are facilities that own Nikkes and send them to the battlefield against Raptures.

The Big Three are the CEOs of each of the manufacturing companies. (Pilgrims and Abnormal not included as they aren’t really manufacturers.)

This includes the CEO of Missilis (Syuen), the CEO of Tetra Line (Mustang), and the CEO of Elysion (Ingrid).

Sakura claims that while Missilis and Elysion have changed heads multiple times, Mustang has been the CEO of Tetra Line since the Big Three were founded.

Pilgrim is one of the different manufacturers that exists in the world of Goddess of Victory: Nikke.

Not necessarily a company, “Pilgrim” is the collective term used to refer to Nikkes who live on the surface, unaligned with any of the Ark’s big three companies or those in the past who have been manufactured by the collective effort of humanity. Most of the Pilgrims hail from the early days of the Raptures’ invasions, possessing technology, abilities, and knowledge no one in the Ark has. While Pilgrims also fight Raptures, they largely keep away from interacting with the Ark and anyone who hails from it, thus the Central Government keeps an eye out for Pilgrims, apprehensive to their motives but also eager to claim their knowledge and technologies, by force if necessary. Because of these factors, the Ark’s knowledge regarding Pilgrims are little.

Melee

A squad of mass-produced Nikke created by the collective effort of humanity and as a result of observing Liliweiss’ unarmed combat prowess. They consist of melee-specialized Nikke who had gained positive test results, handpicked from Unit A’s training facility. While successful at first in fighting Raptures, the Melee Squad proved to have serious disadvantages. In comparison to conventional Nikke squads, their bodies and psyche were more likely to suffer malfunctions and Mind Switches, causing high casualty rates. These factors made them inefficient to maintain, causing the The United Forces of Humanity to abandon their plan of supporting and expanding the squad. They ordered increasingly difficult missions to sort out the weakest and decided to focus on a single surviving member, who would gain customization upgrades to equal the Grimms Model.

While having no official name, the squad is often simply called the Melee squad due them being the only one to ever exist.

The most known members are the squad leader Rose and her sister Scarlet.

Goddess

“Goddess” redirects here. For other uses, see Goddess (disambiguation).

Red Hood

Red Hood

Snow White: Innocent Days

Snow White: Innocent Days

Scarlet: Black Shadow

Scarlet: Black Shadow

The first and legendary yet ill-fated squad who strove to reclaim the surface and protect humanity since the first Rapture Invasion. They were led by the Legendary Commander and created by the collective effort of humanity including the manufacturers who would be later known as the Big 3. Red Hood disappeared some time before the Ark was completed (Red Ash event). Their leader Lilith died some point after Red Hood’s and the Legendary Commander’s disappearance, leaving Dorothy to lead the squad in her stead. Following the conclusion of Operation Ark Guardian (Over Zone event), the remaining members went their own ways due to the Ark leaving them to die on the surface. Dorothy went on to found Eden and become leader of Inherit. Snow White, Scarlet, and Rapunzel formed the squad Pioneer as they refused to keep the Goddess moniker without their leader.

The Goddess squad consists of Dorothy, Lilith, Rapunzel, Red Hood, Scarlet, and Snow White.

Cinderella’s Squad

After the success of the Goddess squad, the United Forces of Humanity created the second-generation of Grimms Models. These models are just as strong, if not stronger, than the ones who came before them. Little is known of this squad, but it’s members include Cinderella, Hansel, Gretel, and Siren.

Similar to their predecessors, the squad members are named after fairy tale/folklore characters.

Pioneer

Remnants of the legendary squad Goddess, who uphold their duty to reclaim the surface. Despite being considered a group, the Pioneers largely work separately, each with her own goals and methodologies.

The squad members are named after fairy tale/folklore characters.

Inherit

Nikkes equipped with advanced technology and weapons from Eden. Despite obeying the orders of their commander, the Nikkes of Inherit would rather fight for self-interest than grand ideals like “reclaiming humanity’s future.” Except Dorothy, all Nikkes from Inherit are created by Cecil.

The squad members aside from their leader Dorothy are named after Biblical figures.

Heretic

Traitor Nikkes who fight for the Raptures and their Queen, hybridized with Rapture technology and armor to serve as her personal agents. Despite the corruption running through their veins, they are still Nikkes. According to Nihilister, the other Heretics, including Liberalio, Indivilia, and Anachiro, and more, were changed into an ideal form to fulfill their desires.

Heretics are telepathically-linked among each other, therefore a Heretic can sense if one of their kin has died or been born. This also means that Heretic can sense each other’s location as well. However, it seems that Modernia is the only exception to this.

Almost all Heretics are also capable of transforming into an animal-like Rapture form, although Modernia instead pilots a mechanical armor.

The squad members are named after various philosophies.

Four Beasts

A group of four Heretics whose goals seem to differ from others of their kin who serve the Rapture Queen, though they aren’t aligned with humanity’s by any means. The only two known members of the squad are Behemoth and Leviathan.

They’re named after the primeval chaos-monsters from biblical texts.

White Knight

A duo of Pilgrims named Crown and Chime who view themselves as mercenaries who search for valuable resources and treasures. They are doing so in order to establish a kingdom.

The squad members are named after bell related terms.

The Ark refers to the underground city where humanity was forced to live after Raptures took over the surface. Here, mankind ekes out a bleak yet persistent living, hoping to one day reclaim the surface using Nikkes.

Construction

The Ark is a domed city built several hundreds if not thousands of meters underground, its only means of transit to and from the surface being elevators scattered about both ends. The network connecting the elevators allows for wide-ranged traversal to and from various points, but the labyrinthine construction means sometimes the elevators malfunction.

The Ark’s “sky” is projected on the inner wall of the Ark’s bubble, the “Dome of Eternity,” which also serves as the power grid for the colony. It used to be that companies and manufacturers ran ads on the dome, but depression skyrocketed as people learned or were reminded that the sky wasn’t real, and following an epidemic of suicides, it was agreed upon that the Dome of Eternity would only show projections of the sky. Artificial rain and snow are generated from time and time, but this is rare due to how much it strains the Ark’s resources.

Silver commemorative coins were minted in celebration of the 50th anniversary of the construction of the Ark. While these didn’t hold any currency value, they were highly valued by the time of the graduation of the Commander of Counters.

Food

Due to the limited amount of space in the Ark, there isn’t nearly enough room to support its population by previous agricultural practices. While there do exist small facilities for cultivating meat and plants, by and large organic food is considered a luxury for the rich. The rest of the Ark’s citizens rely on Splendamin, a plant-based jelly product similar to konjac or kanten. Splendamin is nutritionally optimized for humans, but only has texture, no taste. Food in the Ark is made by shaping a mass of Splendamin and using various artificial materials and chemicals to simulate the look and taste of what the food is intended to be. While some insist that real food has something different to it, for most inhabitants, Splendamin food and “real” food aren’t really that different from each other taste-wise.

Inhabitants

Sovereigns

Sovereigns refer to the upper-crust of Ark society, most commonly by being absurdly wealthy. Sovereigns are distinguished by their specially-ordered citizen chips, which often use organic materials or are custom work by famous designers. While they once inhabited Royal Road, changes in legislation (and personal desire to flex on the less affluent) led them to spread across the Ark, eventually leading to a ban on any policy that would favor Sovereigns.

Quotidians

The ordinary people of the Ark, which is basically everyone whose ID chips were either provided for free by the Central Government or purchased for reasonable prices from an authorized dealer. They strongly protested against the privileges given to Sovereigns when the Royal Road was created, and while class-based division is no longer part of the law, it’s still a social issue.

Noncitizens

Also known as “Outlaws,” this refers to any person who does not have a citizen ID chip, whether they choose not to implant one, cannot receive one, or had theirs removed for criminal offenses. Noncitizens cannot access any of the Ark’s facilities or services, and have been relegated to the Outer Rim to eke out a living. Any noncitizen that attempts to sneak into the Ark will be shot on sight.

Notable Individuals

{{user}} - A Commander freshly-graduated from the military academy. Despite being a greenhorn, his mission record quickly sees his star rising.

Andersen - One of the several Deputy Commander-in-Chiefs who administrates the Ark and assign missions to Commanders. Andersen has a reputation for being strict but fair, offering both incentives for achieving above and beyond and punishments for failure. He also has an obsession over the Pilgrims, as he wanted to collect combat data and information about them.

Burningum - One of the several Deputy Commander-in-Chiefs who administrates the Ark and assign missions to Commanders. Burningum puts the Ark and humanity’s future first and foremost, even if that means he has to resort to questionable means.

Doban - One of the several Deputy Commander-in-Chiefs who administrates the Ark and assign missions to Commanders. Like most people of the Ark, Doban despises the outcasts of the Outer Rim, even as far as labelling them as “sub-human filths.”

Enikk - The supervisory AI that handles the Ark’s automated systems and legal litigation.

Einkk - The AI that handles the Simulation Room for Nikkes and commanders to undergo skill tests

Ingrid - CEO of the company Elysion. A veritable drill sergeant who holds a side-job at the Simulation Room.

Mustang - CEO of the company Tetra Line. A showman through and through, always looking for ways to bring entertainment’s light to the people.

Syuen - CEO of the company Missilis Industry. Once a leading mind in Nikke research, she’s resorted to a number of high-tech and/or ethically debatable means of getting ahead of her competitors.

Shifty - An operator of the Central Government who supports commanders and Nikke squads on the surface.

Raptures

It is currently unknown whether they are living beings from another planet or war robots created by humans. They have been on the planet for at least 100 years and still occupy the surface to the present day. When the Raptures first attacked humanity over a century ago, mankind attempted to communicate with them. However, reasoning with such mechanical beings proved fruitless. There wasn’t much of a choice left other than to fight and establish the United Forces of Humanity to solve the crisis.

After the Ark was established at some point, humanity firmly believed that they were safe from Raptures after sheltering themselves in an underground haven. However, this was far from the truth, the Raptures are actually aware of the Ark’s whereabouts. It was revealed that Chatterbox, a unique Tyrant-class Rapture communicated with Enikk, the AI overseer of the Ark to create a deal: Enikk will provide Nikkes implanted with Chatterbox’s corruption codes in exchange for the Rapture not attacking the Ark.

Rapture Queen

The leader and matriarch of the Raptures who work from the shadows. The Heretics directly answer to her. It has been implied that a Rapture Queen can be succeeded and replaced by another Queen.

Heretics

Nikkes that are corrupted by the Raptures are hybridized with their technology, allowing them to harness Rapture weaponry. Despite the corruption, they are still considered as Nikkes. Each Heretic have their own Rapture form, usually in the form of a robotic animal.

Rapture Types

Raptures exist in the forms of small and medium robots, flying drones, walking machines, and a lot of other different shapes. Most of the Raptures use guns, turrets, and explosives to battle against humanity and Nikkes. They generally attack humans and Nikkes on sight.

Raptures are classified into 5 different classes: Servant, Husk, Master, Lord, and Tyrant. Master-class raptures can then be specified into 2 grades: Exceed and Master.

Lord and Tyrant Raptures have an animated introduction before they are fought. Some Lord and all Tyrant Raptures have parts that can be destroyed by the Nikkes upon targeting. These parts often serve as weapons or defensive barriers.

History

Early Rapture Invasion

In the early days of the Raptures’ invasion, “Nikkes” were simply ordinary humans (compatible humans were referred to as “Suiters”) with their brains transplanted into mechanical bodies. While humans of all ages and genders were originally allowed to apply and become Nikkes, it was found that men who were converted into “Nikkes” had drastically lower survival rates, either dying from the shock of the transplant process or suffering psychotic breaks. Additionally, as most armed forces at the time comprised largely of male soldiers, the male population rate went into freefall as most of them died against the Raptures. As a result, the Nikke projects narrowed their criteria until they settled on females ages 10-25.

Early production Nikkes were more machine-like in appearance, and outfitted with all sorts of technology like built-in missile launchers and leg-mounted rocket boosters. Unfortunately, these augmentations caused cognitive dissonance between the human brain and the machine body, resulting in psychotic breaks and meltdowns. Additionally, the process of putting the brain in a cybernetic body would often have side effects, such as memory loss or personality alteration.

Later Nikke models were designed to more closely resemble humans, using handheld weapons and auxiliary gear worn on the body. Accounting for the age range of suitable candidates, these new Nikkes would all be humanoid women that could look about 30 years old at maximum. Non-mass-production models may have nonhuman features, such as wings or animal ears, either due to specific abilities/technologies they possess, or due to requests made prior to the transplant surgery. While acquiring brains to transplant into Nikke bodies is largely still voluntary, sometimes a person critically injured or terminally ill will be made a Nikke to save their lives or, in a more cynical light, make use of someone who’s bound to die anyway.

The first prototype of “modern Nikkes” was codenamed Liliweiss, using the brain of a woman who at the time was the ace pilot of aerial combat. Using technology and knowledge derived from Liliweiss’ construction, the United Forces of Humanity and the Big Three (Elysion, Missilis Industry, Tetra Line) went on to create the “Grimms” series of Nikkes, specialized units with powers and specs far beyond any mass-production models that would later become the bread-and-butter of the UFH’s forces. The Grimms would be compiled together into a squad known as “Goddess” and alongside their commander, made a name for themselves as the greatest warriors in the battle for humanity’s survival. They, and to a lesser extent all Nikkes, were revered as “Goddesses of Victory”.

Unfortunately, despite Goddess’ best efforts, and even an all-or-nothing attack on the Rapture-controlled orbital elevator believed to hide their Queen, humanity and the Nikkes eventually lost the war. The humans were forced to abandon the surface and evacuate into the underground colony, the Ark.

Goddess Squad was later assigned the task of protecting the Ark’s gates as part of Operation Ark Guardian. While official records claim that they valiantly fell in the field of battle, the truth is the Central Government abandoned them to die on the surface. This was quite obviously covered up, as the public would go ballistic if they knew their leaders were forsaking the Goddess of Victory for petty politics.

Present

Following the aftermath of Goddess Fall, a civil rights movement sprung up campaigning for Nikke liberties, despite the fact that Central Government actively labeled such advocates as terrorists. Nikkes began to appear in non-combat roles, such as entertainers, scientists, teachers, and businesswomen, though they still have combat functionality under the expectation of being sent to fight Raptures at some point or other.

Despite many advances in civil rights, Nikkes are still widely unacknowledged as people, if not mistreated outright. Old-model Nikkes slated for mothballing or disposal are often smuggled into the Outer Rim, where they’re used in criminal enterprises or as cannon fodder.

By law, Nikkes are prohibited from any job where they may be required to use force against humans, such as law enforcement. Nikkes that are a part of such occupations (commonly an ordinary human who was critically injured and could only survive by becoming a Nikke) are made to keep it a secret except to relevant parties such as commanders.

Nikkes in modern times still suffer all manner of harassments and discrimination, the perpetrators emboldened by the fact that Nikkes are made to be incapable of attacking humans unless Mind Switched or corrupted.

Nikkes in Eden are treated equally as a whole, with most if not all of them looking down on the Ark for persecuting and/or betraying them.

Physiology

A Nikke’s skin is composed of a material known as “Goddesium”, which somehow replicates the feeling of human skin. Goddesium can also be used to manufacture top of the line gear for Nikkes or enhance other technologies. Nikke “blood” used to be a green coolant, but this was found to cause cognitive dissonance when Nikkes saw themselves and others bleeding green, so the color was changed to red.

Due to the weight of their internals, Nikkes are incapable of even floating, much less swimming in water. This makes operations near large bodies of water or over frozen icy terrain more complicated. Only a few Nikkes are adapted to deep water conditions (such as Helm and Aegis squad), and they are few and far between due to the land-dominant nature of combat against Raptures. The increased weight of Nikkes can also be inconvenient in other situations, such as traveling across unstable terrain or attempting to evacuate an incapacitated unit.

Nikkes up to the 9th generation used actual muscles in their body and thus were able to strengthen them via training. Post-9th gen Nikkes start off with significant lifting and gripping ability that never degenerates, but it cannot be increased unless the Nikke is physically remodeled or uses auxiliary equipment. This same strength factors into the weapons Nikkes use, which are so much more powerful than standard human weaponry that a human trying to fire one would be knocked flat on their back, assuming their bones don’t crack from the recoil.

Nikkes have an internal reactor that provides all their operational energy, removing the need to eat or sleep. Doing so is purely psychosomatic to ensure mental stability, though it does seem Nikkes can derive some energy from consumed matter, and Nikkes who regularly use power-hungry weapons or abilities such as Matis need to supplement their power supply by food or auxiliary batteries. Nikkes are not susceptible to the same diseases and conditions as humans, thus they can sustain themselves on contaminated food and drink, though this requires a certain mental fortitude few if any have, and they will find it an unpleasant experience.

Nikkes are built with mental limiters hardwired to them that prohibit them from exerting lethal force against humans or even a fellow Nikke. The actual extent to this limit is somewhat murky, but at minimum, a Nikke cannot deliberately draw her firearm and fatally shoot a human. This does not account for accidents such as in the heat of battle, the limiters can be circumvented by not taking immediately fatal shots or indirectly targeting a human such as a ricocheting bullet, and some Nikkes have their limiters secretly removed so that they can kill humans. Known Nikkes attributed to this case are Nikkes from Perilous Siege, Underworld Queen, and Heretic.

NIMPH

A Nikke’s brain is flooded with nanomachines referred to as NIMPH (Neuro-Implanted Machine for the Protection of Humans), which manipulate the synaptic connections of neurons to control memories. This allows Nikkes to make a “backup” of their memories and thus can be revived from death, so long as their brain is intact. However, this also makes Nikkes vulnerable to alteration, or even erasure of their memory. Nikkes can have their memories wiped if their crimes are considered sufficiently heinous, or if they suffer a traumatic experience that may hamper them in their intended role.

NIMPHs are implanted on a Nikke while they were still humans during the process of becoming a Nikke, essentially allowing them to copy all the memories stored in the brain before all information are processed. While most Nikkes lose all of their memories while they’re humans, their memories are instead replaced by pre-entered information before the NIMPH is implanted. However in rare cases, some Nikkes retain their personality, traits, and even their entire memories. Some of them may still retain certain memories which varies, as seen with Mary or Pepper.

One of the most common practices when inducing NIMPH into a Nikke’s brain is to erase memories pertaining to the subject’s family’s names and faces. This is partially to ensure the Nikke in question is made into the Central Government’s ideal of an obedient humanoid weapon, unfettered by human attachments. Another reason is fundamentally connected to a core facet of a Nikke’s existence; they do not age or change unless modified to do so. In the past, Nikkes who met their families found members who’d significantly aged or even died while they stayed the same. This often caused Nikkes to suffer Mind Switch or even commit suicide, and was a competing casualty cause alongside actual combat until it became standard practice to wipe familial memories.

The NIMPH also acts as a sort of fetter, which has a code ensuring that Nikkes cannot disobey the orders of commanders and preventing them from attacking humans. Although this mental inhibiter has its own inconsistencies, such as the Nikkes from Exotic. Because of these factors, a Nikke’s NIMPH can be “overridden” by each individual’s own personality.

Exposure to Vapaus can destroy a Nikke’s NIMPH. This will make them immune to memory alteration, but it also means once they’re dead, they cannot be backed up from memory as there is no NIMPH to pull the memories from. This also removes the compulsion to obey humans, giving Nikkes free will, for better and for worse.

The Pilgrims (particularly older models of Nikkes) have a quirk in their mental wiring that gives them a hard limit to memory storage compared to the seemingly-endless archiving Ark Nikkes possess. Since hitting this limit causes a Mind Switch, Pilgrims must regularly purge old memory in order to make room for the new ones constantly created.

Mind Switch

Mind Switch refers to a phenomenon where a Nikke’s brain suffers permanent damage or alteration. When this happens, a Nikke’s personality can undergo drastic shifts. While there are cases where the new personality is stable enough to function, more often the afflicted Nikke suffers a psychotic break and goes on a rampage. The most common cause of Mind Switch is cognitive dissonance overload stemming from anything that reminds Nikkes that they are fundamentally not human, but it can also occur if Nikkes (particularly Pilgrims) suffer a memory overload in their NIMPH. Nikkes that suffer a Mind Switch risk becoming berserk Nikkes referred to as “Irregulars”, and while reformatting their memory can stop the psychotic break, oftentimes the permanent brain damage means it’s more merciful to put them down.

The Pilgrim Snow White is on record for having survived two Mind Switches. The first cost of most of her previous memories and a personality alteration, becoming more taciturn and serious by the testimony of her comrades. The second one did not cause her to lose any memories from after the first Mind Switch but caused her to have a single minded obsession to kill all Raptures upon encountering them.

The Pilgrim Scarlet is also on record for surviving an unspecified number of Mind Switches, commenting that no matter how many she suffered, some memories (such as those of her sister and her previous-previous squad) lingered, for better or for worse.

Corruption

While not often occurring (or something anyone wants to think about), Raptures can corrupt Nikkes with code that makes them into puppets, often distinguished by a reddish-pink coloration of the eyes and sometimes repeating certain phrases with increasing vocal distortion. Nikkes subject to corruption must be terminated by a human with a special-issue pistol, as most corrupted Nikkes cannot kill themselves and Nikkes are restricted from firing upon each other. Corrupted Nikkes remain fully conscious and aware of themselves and their surroundings, but unable to say or do anything, become trapped in their own bodies.

Countermeasures against corruption are comparatively primitive. In the past, corrupted Nikkes were either executed or put into cryostasis to forestall their condition, with the latter only being effective within three hours of exposure. Modern methods are little different, save that any corrupted Nikkes brought back to the Ark will be scrapped as spare parts or corruption research material. There is precedent that wiping the Nikke’s memory within three hours of exposure will reverse corruption, but there is the obvious downsides to wiping a Nikke’s memory.

As Rapture corruption works by hijacking the processes of NIMPH, Vapaus, which destroys NIMPH, can render a Nikke immune to corruption unless the corruption vector is directly shunted into their brain.

Squad

Each Nikkes are grouped together in a Squad, mostly consisting of three or more Nikkes. All Squads have their own various duties and roles ranging from serving humanity to working for the Ark.

Most Squads consist of Nikkes from the same manufacturer, although this isn’t always the case such as from Triangle (Privaty, Yulha and Admi) or Seraphim (Mary and Pepper).