#solver drones

I think some peeps have seen it before on my art, but I absolutely love adding arrow markings on some of my OCs and even fan-interpretations of canon characters, and I really wanna share this headcanon with other peeps!

I've seen similar concepts/markings before and it's such a cool design aspect that I wanna spread it some more (pun intended)! :]

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What are Solver Marks exactly? Solver Marks, or Solver Arrows, are a visual representation of a Solver infection in Drones. While a host or user (non-host) already have some visual differences indicating their status as infected, such as wings, tail, the emblem for the eye and/or eyes & LEDs changing to yellow during hosting the AS, the marks/arrows stick around as a semi-permanent sign of an infection. Similar to a scar or stretchmark these markings never fully fade, even if the Solver is exorcised from a Drone's OS, and they can appear at random all over its User's body.

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Do these marks have any special abilities? By themselves, the marks don't have special abilities that enhance or strenghten a user's Solver abilities, but they do have some traits, such as 1.) Glowing when in use (usually the marking itself glows white, while the surrounding sheen corresponds to the LED color(s) of a Drone). 2.) Growing/branching off in number corresponding to the user's strenght / ability usage. Some of these branched arrows may fade/disappear fully again after the Solver powers stop being used, but the main markings won't fade out.

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What do they look like? Solver Marks come in many varities and can appear anywhere on the body, though some of the placements may correspond to certain traits in the host/user. Placements such as the upper body, arms & legs are quite common, while facial marks or those on the back are less common and can range into "rare" territory.

The markings often "snake" around limbs such as the arms and legs, creating spirals and bands on these limbs. Inactive marks appear in a dark color, but can also be lighter - but they're never too light as to vanish against the drone's body colors. Marks on dark/black areas however will turn white when inactive, so they're always visible in most cases. Some marks may also be fully colored corresponding to the Drone's LED color, though these cases aren't that common.

Solver Marks are always in resemblance of arrows, but their shape is never 100% the same and differs slightly from Drone to Drone due to it's organic nature. They're sort of like tattoos and therefore aren't 100% similar, even if their code appears the same when viewed.

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How does the "rarity" system work? Usually the amount & placement of markings and why they're "common" or "rare" has to do with both the age of the drone and the amount of time they had their powers/infection, as well as the general strenght of their infection. Not every solver-infected Drone has the same or similar power level.

A freshly infected drone may have none to very little markings which usually show up on the upper body or arm/hands, while drones who'd been infected for much longer (e.g 5-10 years and above) are often times in possession of quite a lot of markings that extend into the facial & back area.

Children of solver-infected drones who inherit the Solver code may also already have a certain amount of markings when their OS gets transitioned to their final body, with some rare cases already having these markings in the UNN form (pill babys). Placements may also be inherited from the infected parent(s).

One of the rarest placements is the black visor part, where the code for these markings glitches and has the visor display an LED marking next to the eyes. This happens when the Solver code executing these physical changes misjudges the placement, gets "confused" and adapts (mutates) the code into working as LED generated symbol, similar to the eyes.

The code for the Solver Marks is very unique in nature as in: It mutates & learns, in order to not trigger the anti-virus of the Drone's OS and possibly get interferred with. Solver Marks play a vital role in the Solver infection in this headcanon, so if the marking code gets messed up by the anti-virus the Solver Infection might become incredibly unstable and cause issues over time.

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Can these markings become dangerous to the affected drone? Usually, the markings do not cause any damage or discomfort to the affected drone, though rare cases may occur in which the markings cause pain due to either a corrupted piece of coding or general issues with controlling the Solver infection itself. Sometimes the markings will cause physical harm due to these corrupted pieces, causing them to actually turn into scarring and causing injuries, which can be healed though if the corrupted piece of code is either removed from the Drone's OS or the Solver itself corrects the mistake (depending on the Drone's power level).

SOLVER CYNNNN

sorry for not posting 😭

close ups:

An unnamed solver drone lay dead in the snow, its insides gutted, its visor shattered, a single, blood-shot human eye staring back at you where the glass has broken away. Think of Mouthwashing for this.

Warning: body horror

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"If a tree falls in the woods and no ones around to hear it, did it ever really happen?"

Goretober Day 16: Hunted

...A common side effect of Solver infection within drones is the generation of organic material within their internal cavity. How this organic matter is generated is unknown, the only answer that could be given is the extremely outdated theory of spontaneous generation, but this cannot be, as living matter cannot arise out of nothing and yet this exact process occurs within infected drones.

The generation of organic materials begin within the core of the drone, becoming cloaked in muscles and fat, augmenting the core into a more robust structure similar to a heart. Which then the organic material spreads outwards, using the frame of the drone as a foundation. All available space becomes occupied by the newly generated flesh; muscles grow upon the servos of the limbs, a proto-circulatory systems forms to more efficiently move fluids around the body and rudimentary lungs sprout around the cooling systems. All of this growth is supported by the drone's auto-repair system, in standard drones it is limited to minor damage but in solver infected drones it is now capable of regenerating entire limbs.

HOWEVER-, inspired by a post over on DA, what if there was another form?

enter Kauji forms- massive hulking behemoths of power and strength, normally drawing traits from the particular Solver Drones signature animals, but also bearing Solverpede armor plating and a tail akin to the lower body of a Solverpede-, and mandibles- many mandibles in the maw- four visible from the outside, two extra ones that are hidden inside-

a Solver drone is very strong in this form, due to the colossal size-, but their regeneration systems suffer for it, due to not being built to handle such a large frame and injuries, any wounds heal at a slow by their standards pace, and weaken and exhaust them-, get an energy cannon and fire right, and the resulting wound will slow the Kauji formed Solver right down-