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| 3 | %% This page has been alphabetized. Please add new examples in the correct order. Thanks! |
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| 6 | [[quoteright:350:[[VideoGame/HalfLife2 https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/xenoship.png]]]] |
| 7 | [[caption-width-right:350:There's a good reason why that helicopter looks like a whale.]] |
| 8 | %% |
| 9 | ->''"They've got technology, sweetheart. They just build it in different ways."'' |
| 10 | -->-- '''[[Franchise/StarWars Han Solo]]''', ''Literature/NewJediOrder'' |
| 11 | |
| 12 | If a society in ScienceFiction isn't either following TechnologyLevels or [[SufficientlyAnalyzedMagic magic]], then you can rest assured that they're making use of organic technology. |
| 13 | |
| 14 | Cars, planes, phones, computers, [[MeatMoss buildings]], [[LivingShip spaceships]], [[LivingWeapon weapons (including artillery and war vehicles)]] and everything else required for a proper sci-fi story will be provided in the form of something that is warm, moist, skooshy and drips goo everywhere. Often, this will go so far as to include a convenient thought-based interface. [[{{Biomanipulation}} Manipulation of organic matter]] may be part of the technology as a whole, or even what enabled the tech in the first place. Advanced [[{{Nanomachines}} nanotechnology]], when not depicted as the classic [[GreyGoo blobs of]] [[ChromeChampion liquid metal]], will often be depicted in a similar but decidedly more synthetic fashion.[[note]]think [[Series/{{Westworld}} androids made of milky-white artificial flesh]] and the like instead of something more overtly meaty[[/note]] |
| 15 | |
| 16 | This type of tech is a common feature of [[FishPeople sea-dwelling sapients]]. Not only are cities entirely made out of cool-looking coral, it's a technological evolutionary path that does not start with the step "set something on fire" or "throw wheels on it", which for a species that lives entirely underwater would be, respectively, impossible and generally useless. Likewise, excessive humidity wouldn't cause important stuff to short out. |
| 17 | |
| 18 | Civilizations who use this technology are also frequently users of SufficientlyAdvancedBambooTechnology. Depending on the aesthetic choices of the depiction, the organic technology may seem [[AmbiguousRobots Ambiguously Robotic]] as well. Organic technology is sometimes portrayed as [[BiotechIsBetter especially advanced]]. If the organic technology is a staple of the setting or theme, compare BioPunk. |
| 19 | |
| 20 | Often crosses over with LegoGenetics and is depicted as a SculptedPhysique. Often used by a HordeOfAlienLocusts. See LivingShip for one specific example. Compare BioAugmentation, which could be Organic Technology applied to the human body in new and fun ways. Contrast MechanicalLifeforms, which are organisms that happen to be mechanical in nature. Often creates the WombLevel in games. A HiveCasteSystem is based on using naturally evolved biology rather than technology made from biology. Applied to agriculture, the end result of this trope is often a MultipurposeMonoculturedCrop. |
| 21 | |
| 22 | This is becoming [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Synthetic_biology an actual thing.]] Interestingly, RealLife synthetic biology ''seems'' to be going the reverse direction of this trope: making biology look more like chemistry and nanotechnology, rather than making technology more like biology. Whether we'll get our meaty [[IWantMyJetpack jetpacks]] remains to be seen. |
| 23 | |
| 24 | ---- |
| 25 | !!Examples |
| 26 | [[foldercontrol]] |
| 27 | |
| 28 | [[folder:Anime & Manga]] |
| 29 | * The aura machine of ''Anime/AuraBattlerDunbine'' are constructed using body parts from Byston Well's mythic beasts. Aura muscle come from tissue, armor from carapace, etc. |
| 30 | * ''Manga/{{Bleach}}'' seems to mix this in from normal advance tech to living tech. |
| 31 | * ''Anime/BrainPowerd'', which used "organic" more as a bizarre form of AppliedPhlebotinum than anything else. |
| 32 | * ''Manga/CeresCelestialLegend'' reveals that the celestial robe of the maidens is not a robe, at all. It's called Mana and [[spoiler:is a large... [[BuffySpeak bally]] thing... that looks like an organism, which allows them to sustain their existence and allows rapid alteration of their cells, to take on any form they want]]. |
| 33 | * ''Anime/DragonBallZ'' has the Androids, which range variously from wholly mechanical (like #16 and 19), {{Cyborg}}s (such as #17, #18 and #20 a.k.a [[GreaterScopeVillain Dr. Gero]] himself) and...[[BigBad Cell]], who is purely organic and, unlike the other ones, has the ability to actually permanently increase his strength through [[TheAssimilator absorbing other humans and his fellow Androids]]. He's also essentially [[LEGOGenetics the culmination of the various DNA of every fighter in the series]] [[SuperpowerLottery with their most advantageous traits]] at his disposal. |
| 34 | * The [[spoiler:31 Primevals]] from ''Anime/GaoGaiGar'' are much like this, and even have the ability to turn organic lifeforms into MechanicalLifeforms via Zonderization. |
| 35 | * The eponymous ''[[Manga/{{Guyver}} Bio-Booster Armor Guyver]]''. |
| 36 | * The Raalgon from ''Anime/IrresponsibleCaptainTylor'' appear to have gone this route with their technology; their motherships and battle cruisers appear to have been ''grown'' rather than built. |
| 37 | * Despite metallic technology being just as, if not more efficient than organic, the Vajra of ''Anime/MacrossFrontier'' have very good reasons for using extremely advanced organic technology as ships: [[spoiler:the Vajra ''are'' the ships. Each drone, though stupid individually, are linked together by [[SubspaceAnsible fold quartz]], to form the entity known as Vajra, a massive HiveMind. The Vajra (at least in the Milky Way) is not a species of individuals, but an individual spread out over a species. It makes sense for each cell of itself to wish to remain organic, but efficient]]. |
| 38 | * The God-Warrior in ''Manga/NausicaaOfTheValleyOfTheWind'' is essentially a robot made of flesh; [[spoiler:having to fire it's BreathWeapon before it's fully mature causes it to slough apart]]. In the manga, it's an organic being that grows over an essentially metal or ceramic skeleton. No reason is ever given for why the God Warrior skull Nausicaa climbs at the very beginning of the manga has a cockpit. [[spoiler:The ecosystem of the forest and the Crypt of Shuwa are also examples.]] |
| 39 | * The eponymous 'robots' from ''Anime/NeonGenesisEvangelion'' are actually semi-organic cyborgs [[spoiler:with their organic parts cloned from an alien creature]]. |
| 40 | * ''Manga/OnePiece'': |
| 41 | ** The Den-Den Mushi (official English translation: "Transponder Snail") are a ridiculous example of this trope: all means of long-distance communication in the series are ''snails''. If that's not ridiculous enough for you, try the snails that can project images from their eyes and onto walls. Or the white one that emits psychic waves to act as a jamming device so the speaker has a secure channel.\ |
| 42 | This is likely based on a real life attempt at this trope, Jacques Toussaint Benoit's [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pasilalinic-sympathetic_compass Pasilalinic-Sympathetic Compass]] aka the "Snail Telegraph". He believed that snails that have mated form a permanent telepathic link and can be used to send and receive long distance telegrams by manipulating their bodies. [[CreatorKiller It didn't work.]][[note]]It was possibly a scam all along. He had managed to convince one person he demonstrated it to but not the other. The other called him out and demanded a stricter test to be performed. Benoit failed to arrive to the second test and was never taken seriously again, dying as a penniless drunk on the streets of Paris less than two years later.[[/note]] |
| 43 | ** Dials might also be this, being somewhat uncommonly found sea shells possessing various and useful abilities to store things like sounds or [[StuffBlowingUp explosions]]. |
| 44 | ** ''Anime/OnePieceFilmGold'' introduced red eyed owls which act as a laser alarm grid. Anything that passes under the owls' sight causes them all to start shooting loudly alerting their owner to a trespasser. |
| 45 | * In an episode of ''Anime/PokemonTheSeries'' an Electabuzz is used to power a chainsaw. In another episode Pikachus were used to power a treadmill. Pokéballs also qualify, as they're created based upon Apricorns. |
| 46 | * ''Anime/TenchiMuyo'': Jurai technology has a rare variation in being plant-based instead of animal-based, including spacecraft and log-shaped guardian robots. {{Justified|Trope}} by the fact that they have a very powerful patron goddess, who decided to experiment and turned herself into a tree a while back. So, naturally, the seeds of the tree that is technically a deity grow into very, very powerful and useful plants. The trees that form the basis of Jurai technology are therefore technically lesser gods or at least demigods, though the Juraians themselves don't think of it that way. Which is a point of contention with one of their major rival nations, the theocratic Airai, who think Jurai doesn't deserve the blessing of gods they don't even worship. |
| 47 | * ''Manga/TokyoGhoul'' has Quinque, the weapons wielded by [[HunterOfMonsters Ghoul Investigators]]. They are made by harvesting the predatory organ from a ghoul, altering and reprogramming the organ to generate a set weapon upon command. Swords, knives, spears, and guns are all popular choices for the design... but some maintain enough of the original kagune's shape to be easily recognizable to loved ones of the "donor". |
| 48 | * Played with in the ''Anime/{{Witchblade}}'' anime: the title semi-sapient artifact got a few series of BlackBox bionic knockoffs, including [[MeaningfulName Cloneblades]]. Cloneblades aren't too choosy in accepting wielders, their performance seems to be superior to Witchblade with a novice host (if not to the full limits of a thing whose [[KamehameHadoken raw power blast]] can [[spoiler:ruin half a city]]), but they have a small problem: as not really living, they do not regenerate. So while the true Witchblade may [[DangerousForbiddenTechnique overload the host's body]] more, Cloneblades sooner or later [[ClingyMacGuffin drag their wielders]] into rapid and [[SuperpowerMeltdown fatal decay]]. |
| 49 | * ''Manga/YokohamaKaidashiKikou'': {{Downplayed|Trope}}. One of the story's many mysteries is that parts of the countryside, especially those where humans used to live but have long been abandoned, feature strange plants that consist of a tall stalk with a transparent bulb-like growth at the top that gives off bioluminescence at nighttime, essentially a living streetlight. |
| 50 | [[/folder]] |
| 51 | |
| 52 | [[folder:Comic Books]] |
| 53 | * ''ComicBook/{{Batman}}'': Part of the weaponry possessed by the {{Super Soldier}}s in the ''Legends of the Dark Knight'' two-parter "Infection" are biological guns built into their forearms that use bio-gas to [[BallisticBone launch super-sharp bone fragments at high velocity]], organic "bullet racks" that stretch across the chest, and organs that allow them to cannibalize human corpses to convert the bones into new bullets. |
| 54 | * Implied to be the case with the demons' technology in ''ComicBook/CleanRoom'' since the wreck Astrid salvages has bone plating, insect wings, and clawed limbs alongside its engines. |
| 55 | * Most of the town of ''ComicBook/{{Copperhead}}'' is standard construction, but Budroxifinicus' house has a root construction growing from the ceiling that serves as both a comfy chair and chandelier. |
| 56 | * This is a central trope of ''ComicBook/DawnOfX'', as all of the Krakoan facilities and machinery are made out of plant material integrated with nanotechnology, from their teleport gates to their famed resurrection chambers. |
| 57 | * Taken to the LogicalExtreme in ''ComicBook/OrcStain'', where nearly ''all'' technology is like this, even when it's totally unnecessary and makes no sense; we see stuff like axes with blinking eyes, living [[BearsAreBadNews bear-like]] strongboxes that attack you if you open them wrong, birds used as air horns, and even a ''soda can'' that begs for mercy and screams in agony as its opened. |
| 58 | * In ''ComicBook/Ronin1983'', this form of technology plays a critical role. |
| 59 | * ''ComicBook/StarTrekEarlyVoyages'': In "Flesh of My Flesh", all Ngultor technology is organic in nature. They regard the purely mechanical ''Enterprise'' as a dead ship. They are able to reshape their ships at will, which Captain Pike compares to flexing a muscle. The Ngultor also infect the ''Enterprise'' with an organic virus which uses the ship's systems as a feeding ground. Spock and Dr. Boyce are able to create a viral antibody which proves successful in defeating it. |
| 60 | * ''ComicBook/StarTrekUntoldVoyages'': In "Odyssey's End", Spock determines that the Abductors' mothership is partially organic. |
| 61 | * The alien [=VXX199=] of ''ComicBook/StrikeforceMorituri'' arrive in a ship that's half the diameter of the moon, a giant conglomeration of living tissue, and directed by its own biological AI. |
| 62 | * In ''ComicBook/{{Supergod}}'', [[EldritchAbomination Morrigan Lugus]] is identified by the narrator to possibly be a [[FesteringFungus mycological]] computer on a meat substrate, essentially a fungal computer. To wit, when not deciding to use sound to speak, it sometimes would communicate by emitting radio signals, and other times would "eject spores, a 4-phosporolated indole full of digital code". |
| 63 | * The Elite in ''ComicBook/WhatsSoFunnyAboutTruthJusticeAndTheAmericanWay'' and [[WesternAnimation/SupermanVsTheElite the animated adaptation]] have a bio-organic starship that even features a nifty and [[TeleportSpam easily spammable teleporter]]. It's actually a living bacterial colony from another dimension who the Elite enslaved by removing her higher-brain centers. [[spoiler:When Superman restores her sentience at the end of the story, she's all too happy to help him beat them at their own game.]] |
| 64 | * In ''ComicBook/TheTransformersMoreThanMeetsTheEye'', creating organic technology is a major project for [[BigBad the Grand Architect]] and his minions. {{Deconstructed|Trope}}, as it takes a huge amount of trial-and-error to create even the most basic things, and most of their experiments in this vein end in failure; at one point we see a ship of theirs that had a biotechnological room... which proceeded to [[{{Squick}} bleed severely and decay after taking enough damage]], with the blood leaking into critical systems and tainting the fuel supply, causing the ship to crash. |
| 65 | * ComicBook/{{Venom}} is sometimes used this way, as is its offspring, ComicBook/{{Carnage}}, to provide replacement legs for their hosts. Scorn, another symbiote, has used a fragment of the Carnage symbiote to form a new arm for its host. |
| 66 | * The 1990s Creator/JimShooter comic book ''ComicBook/WarriorsOfPlasm'' was about an extradimensional civilization which was entirely biotech-based. |
| 67 | * The [[ComicBook/{{XMen}} X-Men]] sometimes deal with a substance called the techno-organic virus (also a part of the Phalanx, which are essentially the leftovers of a technarch's feeding process, and treated by them like a human would moldy food) that fits this trope to a T. |
| 68 | ** [[Characters/XMen2000sMembers Cable]] has a bionic arm made of the stuff. |
| 69 | ** [[ComicBook/NewMutants Warlock]] is a mutant technarch whose mutant ability is empathy. |
| 70 | [[/folder]] |
| 71 | |
| 72 | [[folder:Fan Works]] |
| 73 | * ''Fanfic/BiomassEffect'': A ''VideoGame/{{Prototype}}'' Ă— ''Franchise/MassEffect'' cross-fic, taking place in the Mass Effect setting. The Prototype setting was accidentally assimilated by the protagonist before the story even begins. The human race is technically extinct and Blacklight almost exclusively uses organic technology. |
| 74 | * ''Fanfic/GitSSACTheCollectiveUnconscious'': The Collective makes heavy use of biothetics, biological counterparts to prosthetics. |
| 75 | * ''Fanfic/ReMyHostageNotYours'': The [[BeePeople Valkians]] primarily use this, best depicted by their ship being a living creature, with its main computer core looking like a massive organ. |
| 76 | %%* ''WebAnimation/Shed17'': This ''WesternAnimation/ThomasAndFriends'' fan film has this trope as an explanation for how the trains (and other vehicles) become sentient. |
| 77 | %%* ''Fanfic/VariantStrain'': A ''VideoGame/{{Prototype}}'' Ă— ''ComicBook/SpiderMan'' cross-fic, taking place in a combined setting. Peter Parker is the protagonist. |
| 78 | * ''Fanfic/WithThisRing'' has both technological and magic variants. |
| 79 | ** The Dominion uses plant-based computers, so when preparing to assault one of their facilities, Paul buys a plant spacecraft from Alstair to study. |
| 80 | ** The Sheeda, from Earth's far future, exclusively use magically manipulated organic matter, from rocket beetles to chitin data records. Even clothing has a proboscis to plug into the wearer's arteries. It turns out that they ''have'' to do that, because their Vampire Sun rapidly destroys anything non-living. [[spoiler:More specifically, it destroys anything without the Sheeda genetic markers derived from Starbreaker to protect from his draining effect]]. |
| 81 | [[/folder]] |
| 82 | |
| 83 | [[folder:Films -- Animated]] |
| 84 | * In the ''Franchise/{{Cars}}'' series, plant life is the only nature in their world that isn't shaped like a vehicle. It does, however, have car-related elements if you look very closely; the bark of the trees resemble tire treads, leaves have tire tread and VW logo-shaped veins, and flowers are shaped like either tailfins, head-and-taillights, or cooling fans. In other words, organic fuel. |
| 85 | * Everything in the Cobra-La hideout in ''WesternAnimation/GIJoeTheMovie'' is alive, even the things that aren't "technology" per sé, like bridges. |
| 86 | * Ecoban in ''Animation/SkyBlue'' is stated to be based on organic technology, and is mainly powered by carbon mined by the Diggers. However, the parts we see look pretty mechanical. |
| 87 | * In ''WesternAnimation/RiseOfTheTeenageMutantNinjaTurtlesTheMovie'', the Krang utilize organic technology that looks like masses of flesh. At one point Donnie must "interface" with the Technodrome to control it, and is freaked out by the thought of connecting with all the gooey tissue. |
| 88 | * In ''WesternAnimation/{{Trolls}}'', the forest dwelling trolls use local critters in place of conventional technology. Most of it comes to using the bigger ones as vehicles and small glowing ones as lights. |
| 89 | [[/folder]] |
| 90 | |
| 91 | [[folder:Films -- Live-Action]] |
| 92 | * In ''Film/TenCloverfieldLane'', [[spoiler:the alien 'craft' that Michelle destroys appears to actually be a living creature, as it picks up Howard's truck with tendril-like appendages, and she kills it with a Molotov Cocktail into its 'mouth']]. |
| 93 | * The aliens in ''Film/TheAbyss'' can [[MakingASplash shape water]] and even seem to have based all their technology around it. |
| 94 | * The [[{{Precursors}} Engineers]] from ''Franchise/{{Alien}}'' and ''Film/{{Prometheus}}'' use this. In addition to creating life on barren planets (like Earth), pretty much everything they build seems to be at least partially alive. The spacesuits are made from some kind of bone (fueling decades of misinterpretation regarding their [[HumanAliens actual appearance]]) and blends into their skin. Buttons seems to be some kind of fatty nodule, and their architecture has plenty of rib-like ornamentation. The Aliens themselves grew out of their weapons program. |
| 95 | * [[GeniusLoci Eywa]] of ''Film/{{Avatar}}'' either ''is'' this, or uses this to provide a comfortable standard of living for the "primitive" Na'vi. |
| 96 | * The Replicants in ''Film/BladeRunner'' are genetically engineered {{artificial humans}}. There are also a number of artificially created animals, ranging from snakes to owls. |
| 97 | * ''Film/CaptiveState'': A lot of the Legislators' technology appears to be this. For instance, the "bugs" they use as tracking implants appear to be ''literal'' bug larvae, and they also use an explosive transparent gel stated to be organic. However, their ships appear to be made of stone instead. |
| 98 | * Creator/DavidCronenberg really likes this kind of tech. In order of release: |
| 99 | ** ''Film/{{Videodrome}}'' is rife with this; Max's television set starts to breathe and pulsate, he [[BodyHorror develops a gaping hole in his stomach]] that can double as a VCR player for video cassettes made out of living flesh, and his gun fuses to his hand in a revolting biomechanical fusion. |
| 100 | ** ''Film/DeadRingers'' has a MadDoctor design surgical instruments that look like metal crabs and insects. And he's a gynecologist... |
| 101 | ** ''Film/NakedLunch'': Bill's contacts in Interzone are giant bug-shaped typewriters that he writes his reports on. |
| 102 | ** ''Film/{{eXistenZ}}'' features a number of rather icky biological machines, such as the tooth-shooting bone pistol and the biological computers which "plug in" to orifice-like [[BrainComputerInterface "bioports"]] on people. [[spoiler:Of course, [[MindScrew that was only in the game]]. The actual rigs are straight tech.]] |
| 103 | * The aliens in ''Film/IndependenceDay'' have [[BioArmor biological]] PoweredArmor. The rest of their tech appears to be purely inorganic though. In the novelization, it's revealed during the psychic communication with the captured alien that the "biological powered armor" is in fact an entirely different species that the apparently parasitic BigBad aliens have harvested and [[MobileSuitHuman turned into armor/utility apparatus]] and also that the material from which the alien fighters is made seems to have been grown like a tree or something. |
| 104 | * The {{Kaiju}} in ''Film/PacificRim'' are actually living weapons used by the Precursors to attack humanity. While they look like giant animals, they are assembled from parts like machines. This also applies to [[spoiler:Obsidian Fury and the other Jaeger drones]] in [[Film/PacificRimUprising the sequel]], which are basically Kaiju flesh in [[spoiler:Jaeger-shaped shells]]. |
| 105 | [[/folder]] |
| 106 | |
| 107 | [[folder:Literature]] |
| 108 | * ''Literature/AllTomorrows'': The Tool Breeders, being an aquatic species, have no access to fire and so instead breed tools and machines for themselves. They build living cities of bone and shells fed by a system of nutritious fluids provided by heart-like organisms, bioluminescent lights, medicinal sea squirts, and gardens, televisions, breathing apparatuses, weapons and even companions from other undersea life or cultures of stem cells. In time, they even create [[LivingShip living spaceships]] to visit the stars. |
| 109 | * The technology of the [[MushroomMan Graycaps]] in Creator/JeffVanderMeer's ''Literature/{{Ambergris}}'' books is almost completely based around various forms of fungus. They saturate their own bodies with fungus to make themselves almost impervious to harm, they fill the air with spores that can act as anything from organic cameras to neurotoxins that alter human behavior, and they make monstrous fungoid constructs that stalk unwary humans in the night. And their Great Machine beneath the city of Ambergris is mostly made out of [[BodyHorror living Graycaps]]. |
| 110 | * In ''Literature/AngelStation'', organic tech is pretty much the only tech the Beloved have as a race. |
| 111 | * Never a series to leave any science fiction tropes uncovered, ''Literature/{{Animorphs}}'' features a LivingShip or two. |
| 112 | * In Kameron Hurley's ''Literature/BelDameApocrypha'' trilogy the planet it takes place on uses mostly this for everything. A lot of it centers around mutated insects controlled by "magicians" who have a psychic link with them. |
| 113 | * Creator/MichaelMoorcock's ''Literature/SecondEther'' book, ''Blood: A Southern Fantasy'', includes "meat boats", living (and technically amphibious) river boats created by a coalition of fleshcrafters (who also seriously alter their own bodies in bizarre ways) from the bodies of other beings. They are unusual in that they're portrayed as having the same disadvantages as any other large animal: needing to be fed organic material, needing to excrete wastes, and possessing a rather unpleasant smell. |
| 114 | * The asteroid colony of Summer Home in Linda Nagata's ''Literature/TheBohrMaker'' has, by the time of the book become a living thing and at the book's climax [[spoiler:splits into cell-like segments to seed versions of itself throughout the Solar System and, in a few cases, equipped with solar sails, seek to go beyond the system]]. |
| 115 | * In the ''Literature/{{Bounders}}'' series, the Youli spaceships are mostly made out of some spongy orange bioluminescent material, which is used by some other species, including the Alkalinians. If the material has been programmed properly and activated, it turns into a VR simulation of any location the programmer can think of, complete with food that tastes almost like the real thing and provides all necessary nutrients. |
| 116 | * In ''Literature/AConfusionOfPrinces'', organic tech (called Bitek InUniverse) makes up one third of the Empire's trinity of teks, alongside Mektek and [[PsychicPowers Psitek]]. |
| 117 | * Also featured in Herbert's ''Literature/ConSentiency'' series, where its often used as living furniture, like Chairdogs. |
| 118 | * ''Literature/TheCrucibleOfTime'' is a {{Xenofiction}} about an alien species whose technology is based on bio-engineering. |
| 119 | * The squid-people in [[Creator/RaymondZGallun Raymond Z. Gallun]]'s short story "Davey Jones' Ambassador" (1935) cannot use fire or concentrate much heat by other means, since they live miles beneath the sea. Instead, they bio-engineer organisms to serve as everything from transportation to weapons to architectural elements, and produce whatever substances they need as secretions from these creatures. |
| 120 | * ''Literature/{{Discworld}}'': |
| 121 | ** The {{Magitek}} computer Hex uses ants for its operating system, and beehives for memory. It also has ram skulls in it, and a mouse has set up a little nest. The skulls seem to make it work faster, and they have no idea ''what'' the mouse is for but it stops working when they take it out. |
| 122 | ** Technically, imp-powered devices such as iconographs and disorganisers probably count as well, depending on how "alive" you consider the imps. (''Literature/MakingMoney'' says they're just a manifestation of a spell; ''Literature/RaisingSteam'' refers to wild imps being caught and domesticated.) |
| 123 | * In ''Literature/{{Distress}}'', Stateless is an artificial coral island that was built from the ocean by genetically engineered invertebrates. Maintenance is performed by lithophilic bacteria. The whole thing looks so natural and organic on its own terms that when Worth finds a small park with trees and grass, it looks strange and unnatural. |
| 124 | * The short story "The Double Minds", from Creator/JohnWCampbell's ''Literature/ThePlaneteers'', is set on Ganymede, where electricity was never discovered. Light bulbs are powered by fluorescent bacteria and cars have muscles instead of motors. Unlike most examples of Organic Technology, the story clearly states that Ganymedian gadgets are a poor substitute for electric-powered technology. A bit of an UnbuiltTrope, considered that it was written in 1937. |
| 125 | * In ''Literature/TheDresdenFiles'', the Fomor use this. Most of their weapons look like and appear to be made from undersea organisms. |
| 126 | * ''Franchise/{{Dune}}'' touches on this with: |
| 127 | ** The Butlerian Jihad, which outlaws computers with the commandment: ''"Thou shalt not make a machine in the likeness of a human mind."'' Several groups fill the space: Mentats, the human computers; the Bene Gesserit, the super-witch training program; and the Spacing Guild, which uses prescient drug-addicts to navigate hyperspace. |
| 128 | ** Tleilax's major export is organic technology, raging from clones, shapeshapers, and even rogue mentats. The Tleilaxu get a lot of crap for doing this, but it doesn't hamper business too much. [[spoiler:According to the [[Literature/LegendsOfDune prequels done by the son of the author]], they got a bad rep for [[OrganTheft stealing organs]], while there was a big-ass demand in the war with the machines]]. Even more jarring are their Axlotl tanks, [[spoiler:which are [[Literature/HereticsOfDune Tleilaxu females forced in a vegetated state]] to create gholas]]. |
| 129 | * Creator/GregEgan introduces this in his inimitable style in a number of places... for example, the five-dimensional snail-squids in ''Literature/{{Diaspora}}'' have organized their whole ecology to cater to their needs, and the far-side civilization in ''Literature/SchildsLadder'' tend living cities using organic constructs that tailor the local laws of physics to their whims. |
| 130 | * Bio-rigged tech in ''Literature/{{Embassytown}}''. Literally everything produced by the [[StarfishAliens Ariekei]] falls in this category, weapons to farms to power plants. This becomes a problem when [[spoiler:the Ariekei become addicted to Ezra's voice, and the addiction spreads via the biological infrastructure of the city to infect everything they've built]]. |
| 131 | * In ''Literature/ETTheBookOfTheGreenPlanet'', the novel that serves as a sequel to ''Film/ETTheExtraTerrestrial'', E.T. tries to return to Earth by building a spaceship almost entirely out of plants -- the hull is a giant turnip, and more exotic alien plants collected by his race are used for lighting, life support, propulsion, etc. |
| 132 | * In one of the Creator/DeanKoontz's early novels, ''Literature/FearThatMan'', the protagonist awakens to an OntologicalMystery aboard at what first seems like a familiar spaceship. Only upon closer inspection does he realize that all of its functions are the result of carefully hidden blob-like organisms. |
| 133 | * The novel ''Literature/FlukeOrIKnowWhyTheWingedWhaleSings'' begins with a marine biologist trying to convince others that one of the Humpback whales he is trying to study and save has markings on his tailfin that remarkably resemble the phrase, "Bite Me". Turns out that the bottom of the sea is inhabited by a being known as The Goo, an ever-changing sentient mass of organic material. It is able to create organic devices from ''itself'' and has spawned [[CivilizedAnimal anthropomorphic whale]] drones and {{Living Ship}}s disguised as normal whales; Bite Me happens to be one of these. Oh, and [[HotSkittyOnWailordAction it had sex with Amelia Earhart]] and the result of the tryst is [[OurMermaidsAreDifferent one of the other protagonists]]. |
| 134 | * Creator/JohnVarley's ''Literature/GaeaTrilogy'' mostly takes place within a huge organic construct called Gaea, who is a mostly Earth-like orbital habitat near Saturn, whose species was designed by some race many millions or billions of years past to create self-replicating space habitats. Being basically a god, the central "Gaea" mind can create or edit any kind of lifeforms living inside her using similarly advanced biotech. |
| 135 | * The Amnion in Stephen Donaldson's ''Literature/TheGapCycle'' novels are a HiveMind who are all genetically engineered to serve specific roles, and whose equipment (although generally non-living) is processed, created, and assembled via organic processes. Interestingly, it's specifically noted that Amnion biotech is ''much'' less efficient than human technology, even though individual pieces are more advanced. It's for this reason that they haven't tried to assimilate humanity into their hive mind: they know that if it comes to a straight-up war they could not match our production capacity. |
| 136 | * In Creator/DavidWeber and Linda Evans' series ''Literature/HellsGate'' the Arcanans use [[{{Magitek}} magical genetic engineering]] to create dragons, griffins, unicorns and big mean homing hummingbirds. |
| 137 | * In the ''Literature/IntoTheLookingGlass'' Series by Creator/JohnRingo and Creator/TravisSTaylor, the main foes are a form of AI[=/=]TheVirus with organic technology, including things such as 'Rhinotanks' a creature modified into a main battle tank role complete with the ability to shoot plasma bolts. Foes of these creatures go as far as creating tribble like spiders specifically attracted to their form of life (different types of sugar starches for different types of suns) |
| 138 | * In the ''Literature/JacobsLadderTrilogy'', following Cynric the Sorceress's invention of nanomachine colonies, most of the technological toolkits on ''Jacob's Ladder'' have been incorporated into living creatures. Gavin the Basilisk, for instance, was originally a welding torch. |
| 139 | * The novel ''Literature/JohnDiesAtTheEnd'' has a lot of this tech in the last couple chapters, where the main antagonist is revealed to be [[spoiler:a self-modifying organic computer]] from an alternate Earth where technological progress took a very different route. |
| 140 | ** Played for both laughs and horror, often simultaneously. Notably, in the alternate Earth, doctors heal their patients by placing kittens all over them. |
| 141 | * The Darwinist nations in Scott Westerfeld's ''Literature/{{Leviathan}}'' trilogy, so named because they follow in the footsteps of Charles Darwin, who pioneered [[LEGOGenetics genetic engineering]] alongside evolutionary biology. The books follow an [[FleshVersusSteel alternate World War I]] pitting the Darwinist-aligned Allied Powers against the DieselPunk-themed Clankers of the Axis. The title is the name of a famous British airship [[GiantFlyer derived from a whale]]. |
| 142 | * Creator/SMStirling's novel ''[[Literature/TheLordsOfCreation In the Courts of the Crimson Kings]]'' is set on a Mars that was {{Terraform}}ed and seeded with Earth life in prehistoric times by AncientAstronauts. The Martians are human, or as close to human as Neanderthals, and highly intelligent. Almost all technology more complicated than a sword is biological, to a very high level, with living guns (recharging after firing takes time, which is why swords are not obsolete), living engines to supplement the sailpower of desert-crossing wheeled ships, rugs that crawl onto your feet to warm them, giant creatures that eat rocks and vomit road-paving material. |
| 143 | * The [[FishPeople hydrites]] in the German SF series ''Literature/{{Maddrax}}'' also use technology that has been organically bred. |
| 144 | * The [[OurVampiresAreDifferent Wamphyri]] in the ''Literature/{{Necroscope}}'' series make extensive use of biotech. |
| 145 | * The Edenists in ''Literature/TheNightsDawnTrilogy'' base most of their technology on living creatures; they have {{Living Ship}}s, living space stations, and organic servitors. They aren't entirely organic though; most common technology is still inorganic/non-living (they use electric jeeps in their habitats), and their ships/stations use non-living technology (like fusion reactors) when using living versions would be impractical or impossible. |
| 146 | * In ''Literature/ThePlaceInsideTheStorm'', Tara's bed is on a platform that was raised from the floor with bacterial carbon frame construction. |
| 147 | * In ''Literature/PleaseDontTellMyParentsIBlewUpTheMoon'' (sequel to ''Literature/PleaseDontTellMyParentsImASupervillain''), Penny decides she needs a cloning tank. [[MadScientist She has no idea]] what she needs it ''for'', though at least she figures out that general bioengineering tools will work just as well. |
| 148 | * ''Literature/ProfessorMmaasLecture'': Pretty much all of termite "technology" is made up of genetically engineered termites that function like machines. |
| 149 | * ''Literature/RebuildWorld'': As a result of the NeglectfulPrecursors in this AfterTheEnd setting having this, the world is filled with monsters grown from this to serve as security, usually in a hybrid form like giant WeaponizedAnimal dogs. These are controlled with (often corrupted) software via {{Nanomachines}}, as explored when a MadScientist injects said nanomachines into a subject making him a TragicMonster with HorrorHunger for metal and human flesh to feed said nanomachines, which process the eaten resources for producing new monsters and replenishing ammo. This also lets the monsters evolve via YouAreWhoYouEat. |
| 150 | * ''Literature/RedDwarf'': When explaining how the creation of the [=GELF=]s went from super-athletes to consumer products in ''Better Than Life'', it is mentioned that some of them were developed to fulfill the role of electrical products, leading to living cars with bony exteriors and flesh interiors, and vacuum cleaners which also served as pets. Of course, [=GELF=]s were essentially modified humans that were being treated as slaves so they rebelled as a result. |
| 151 | * ''Literature/TheRook'': The Grafters, a.k.a. the Wetenschappelijk Broederschap van Natuurkundigen (or the [[DepartmentOfRedundancyDepartment Scientific Brotherhood of Scientists]]), are extremely advanced in the science and art of fleshcrafting. |
| 152 | * The backstory to Julian May's ''Literature/SagaOfTheExiles'' novels features The Ship, a spectacularly large interstellar worm controlled by ThePowerOfLove. (The pilot of The Ship has the title "Shipspouse.") |
| 153 | * In Creator/CordwainerSmith's novelette "Literature/ScannersLiveInVain" (written pre-Sputnik), outer space is suffused with a strange radiation that causes horrible pain to spaceship occupants. The original solution was to sever the nerves of the astronauts, which turned them into unfeeling creatures both physically and metaphorically. The eventual, more workable solution was to surround yourself with other living organisms, who would absorb the radiation. They built ''radiation shielding'' out of ''oysters''. |
| 154 | * In ''Literature/SecondApocalypse'', the Inchoroi are an interstellar race of aliens who have mastered organic engineering, which they call Tekne. Calling themselves "a race of lovers", they've spent the last few eons pursuing depravities of the flesh. When they land on Earwa, a planet of sorcery, they modify themselves to be able to wield sorcery as well. |
| 155 | * One short story in ''Literature/ASimpleSurvey'' features a decidedly grotesque form of this. Many common tools now incorporate elements of human beings. Examples include: frying pans with skin to sense heat and prevent overcooking of food; ladles with lips to taste their contents; surveillance cameras with eyeballs to focus at long distances; lawnmowers that use nails and teeth to cut. |
| 156 | * In ''Literature/TheSnowQueen'' by Joan Vinge, the mers are [[spoiler:a sort of living computer system]]. |
| 157 | * In the novel ''Literature/StarDragon'', mankind has passed through enough TechnologyLevels to achieve this level of engineering, along with mastery of genetic modification. Nearly all technology is organic in nature, including toilets, which feature ''tongues'' in lieu of paper. |
| 158 | * The Yuuzhan Vong in ''Franchise/StarWarsLegends'', for whom this (along with rampant [[MalevolentMutilation masochism]]) is their [[PlanetOfHats hat]]. They even declare a holy war against the Galaxy Far, Far Away for ''daring'' to create nonliving mockeries of what life can accomplish. |
| 159 | ** This is played on part way in when Lando [[IShallTauntYou develops]] [[http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/YVH_1 a droid]] so insulting to this belief that most warriors break cover and and attack, thus revealing themselves to fire. |
| 160 | ** It's later explained that the Vong's original home planet was a GeniusLoci, leading them to naturally adapt living things as tools rather than machines (originally the planet itself would have been responsible for this; later Vong scientists, or "Shapers", learned to do it themselves). Their extreme hatred for inorganic machines, particularly droids, has roots in the fact that early in their history they were nearly [[RobotWar wiped out by a race of sapient machines]]. |
| 161 | ** Another GeniusLoci, the Rogue Planet Zonoma Sekot [[spoiler:(the child of the Vong homeworld)]], produces organic starships. |
| 162 | ** When the Vong land on Zonoma Sekot, [[spoiler:their bio-engineered weapons revert to their natural state and refuse to kill anymore, proving that the Vong's extreme violence and war-mongering were in fact a deviation from their originally peaceful nature and a blasphemy against their own gods]]. |
| 163 | ** In ''Literature/GalaxyOfFear'', several of Gog's weapons from project Starscream are organic in nature, each designed to perform a specific function, including one similar to the GeniusLoci mentioned above, with the last being a combination of all of the successful Starscream projects. |
| 164 | * In ''Literature/{{Transpecial}}'', the [[StarfishAliens glen]]'s starship was grown, not made, and resembles a giant spiky coral. |
| 165 | * In ''Literature/VenissUnderground'', most of the technology in Quin's lair is made of living creatures, including the maps and the boats. |
| 166 | * ''Literature/TheWeaknessOfBeatriceTheLevelCapHolySwordswoman'': The Underworld faction uses technology based around marine organisms. The Underworld itself is an island-sized monster that's compared to a rotting shark or killer whale. It has a fin that is actually a broadcast tower, covered with giant barnacles that act as antennae. It uses Arachnes, MiniMecha that combine traits of spiders and crabs, to construct new structures and repair damage with their webbing. The Underworld Lord wields weapons that are likewise organic: a saw made of shark teeth, and a spear covered in coral and barnacles. |
| 167 | * The [[LizardFolk Yilanè]] in Creator/HarryHarrison's ''Literature/WestOfEden'' fit this trope to a T; they are even descended from seagoing creatures. ''Everything'' they use on a daily basis is a [[LEGOGenetics genetically modified creature]]. Their boats are based off ichthyosaurs, their microscopes are modified frogs, even their clothing is a heavily modified furry creature (the impracticality of this tech is {{lampshade|Hanging}}d in a spin-off story where a fatal cold-snap hits and "we can't breed our cloaks fast enough"). Their weaponry is based off a marine lizard[[note]]mosasaurs, to be precise[[/note]] -- as a matter of fact, the very same marine lizards they are most closely related to. The mind cannot help but go down some weird avenues here... |
| 168 | * In ''Literature/WildCards'' the Takisians are very adept at organic technology, including living, sentient, telepathic starships. |
| 169 | * The ''Literature/WolfishNature'' duology has the dog-humans prefer organic tech to "dead" tech, although the latter is slowly replacing the former, especially in the field of computing. Pretty much everything they have (including buildings) is grown and needs periodic feeding. The few exceptions include firearms (try growing a living being that can survive constant explosions inside it), although those are rare, since the dog-humans are incapable of committing murder without going insane ([[spoiler:this turns out to be a case of global brainwashing]]). |
| 170 | * The ''Literature/XandriCorelel'' novel ''Tone of Voice'' involves two species, [[TheSymbiote the Hands and the Voices]], that have developed a technology that allows them to grow buildings out of coral. |
| 171 | * The Oankali in Creator/OctaviaButler's ''[[Literature/LilithsBrood Xenogenesis]]'' trilogy rely on biological tech for everything (spaceships, buildings, etc.) and dislike using machines. They are actually able to use biological machines to grow replicas of simple human devices such as pens and paper. They have an innate biological drive to seek out new genetic material from other species and make use of it by [[LEGOGenetics adding it to their own genes]]. They have a natural ability to [[{{Biomanipulation}} read and manipulate DNA]], and this ability is especially strong in their [[BizarreAlienSexes third gender]], the ooloi. [[spoiler: They're also PlanetLooters- after they find a planet and incorporate its novel DNA into their own, they seed a new lifeship into the planet, which renders it unable to support life when it finally matures and launches to seek out another life-rich planet.]] |
| 172 | %%* There was once an obscure novel whose title and author have been lost, in which the solar system has been heavily terraformed and constructed lifeforms, or cyborgs created from such, are the majority of technology in the story. The story opens with a woman leaving her bioengineered house wearing a living cloak descended from a fox, using a cyborg tractor to work a field before coming home to find her house is dead, along with its occupants. The system is connected not just by an extended internet, but a second one that holds the minds of people who have voluntarily been absorbed into its terminals, due to a law which forbids people living too long (lest they go insane in a very literal sense) in order that the person, now integrated into a matrix along with all the other departed minds, can still be with us even though not alive. One of the protagonists has bio-engineered children. One of them follows him as he leaves to follow a lead across the system, and when they steal a prison bioship, it becomes indignant that suddenly it has to provide a dessert through its icky delivery tubes. One moon even has cities mostly grown out of huge trees. The climax is a battle with a faction who wish to take over the system and go truly off the scale with the biotech. |
| 173 | [[/folder]] |
| 174 | |
| 175 | [[folder:Live-Action TV]] |
| 176 | * ''Series/BabylonFive'': |
| 177 | ** The Vorlons and the Shadows both went this route. It's implied to be in some ways the ultimate form of technology, with ships which can heal themselves and think for themselves. |
| 178 | ** The Ikarrans, a long dead race from a thousand years ago, also used organic tech, some of which still works and posed a serious threat to the station itself in "[[Recap/BabylonFiveS01E04Infection Infection]]". |
| 179 | * Cylon Raiders in ''Series/BattlestarGalactica2003'' are synthetic organic lifeforms in a armored metal shell. Their Basestars are also partially organic, and are controlled by a human-like organic 'Hybrid' permanently linked to the Basestar. And the Cylons themselves are [[ArtificialHuman Artificial Humans]]. |
| 180 | ** The first glimpse of the interior of a Basestar was a horrible gooey [[Creator/HRGiger Giger]]-esque organic landing platform. Subsequent episodes revealed the "living areas" of the Basestars are more CrystalSpiresAndTogas -- possibly because they're less distracting/revolting/expensive for the longer, more complex scenes set in them. |
| 181 | * ''Series/BetterOffTed'': in the episode "Bioshuffle" most of the episode's problems are caused by a malfunctioning biocomputer. [[spoiler: It was literally getting a stress ulcer from overwork.]] |
| 182 | * ''Series/DoctorWho'': |
| 183 | ** The Time Lords themselves -- the new series states that the TARDIS is alive. "It's not built: It's grown." Like a coral. And the [[Creator/RussellTDavies RTD-era]] desktop theme reinforces it. Furthermore, they are sentient, most famously being the Doctor's own TARDIS, whose state of sentience is explored in "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS32E4TheDoctorsWife The Doctor's Wife]]", where her matrix is implanted into a physical human body, allowing her to communicate with him for a while. This idea is further supported in the [[Franchise/DoctorWhoExpandedUniverse Expanded Universe]] novels. The "Cat's Cradle" arc in the ''Literature/DoctorWhoNewAdventures'' novels has the Doctor needing to replace the organic material that the TARDIS uses for calculations that are impossible on conventional computers. ''[[Recap/DoctorWhoNewAdventuresLungbarrow Lungbarrow]]'' introduces the idea of sentient ''houses'' that are the ancestral homes of the different clans (kith) of the Time Lords. One Time Lord of each house becomes the "house keeper" and literally marries and has a somewhat symbiotic relationship with the house. |
| 184 | ** The Axons from the [[Creator/JonPertwee Pertwee]]-era episode "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS8E3TheClawsOfAxos The Claws of Axos]]" claim that their technology "had taken an organic turn". Considering that even their ship is part of the Axos HiveMind, this makes sense. |
| 185 | ** "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS13E1TerrorOfTheZygons Terror of the Zygons]]": The Zygons' tech is organic -- their computers look more like coral than machinery. However, only the interior appears organic; the exterior seems to be a metal hull. |
| 186 | ** "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS29E1SmithAndJones Smith and Jones]]": The two slabs ("basic slave drones") working for the villain are made of solid ''[[HellBentForLeather leather]]'', prompting the Doctor to comment that "Someone has got one hell of a fetish." |
| 187 | ** "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS37E1TheWomanWhoFellToEarth The Woman Who Fell to Earth]]": The "data coil" used by the antagonist is, as the Doctor puts it, not so much a lifeform as a collection of lifeforms repurposed into an advanced computer. |
| 188 | ** "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS37E8TheWitchfinders The Witchfinders]]": [[spoiler:The sacred tree on Pendle Hill that Becka Savage chopped down and turned into a ducking stool was actually an incredibly old piece of alien biotechnology serving as the lock of the [[SealedEvilInACan prison]] of the Morax, who were reduced to primal elements and buried beneath.]] |
| 189 | * Taelon technology in ''Series/EarthFinalConflict''. Their ships and buildings are all grown out of an organic "bio-slurry". Their weapons, called Skrills, are actually creatures they've "domesticated". They resemble a bug growing out of the host's arm (always a human) and can be used to fire energy weapons. They aren't intelligent but have individual personalities. Taelons also grafted items that enhance senses and reflexes to poorly-trained human soldiers, sending them into combat with their arch-enemies, the Jaridians. |
| 190 | * ''Series/{{Farscape}}'' had Moya, a living ship with all the amenities you would expect on a space ship and all the comforts of home, including larva-like creatures that replaced toothbrushes. And artificial gravity was provided by gravity ''bladders''. |
| 191 | ** It should be noted that Leviathans are consistently described as "biomechanoid" rather than "organic" and they display very few of the common attributes of "organic technology" as we would think of it. Moya was unquestionably "alive," and sentient, but many of her systems were mechanical even if they were "grown," such as the beetle-like repair robots. |
| 192 | ** Season 4 also introduced Bioloids -- similar to robots, but organic. [[spoiler:Aeryn]] is replaced by a Bioloid clone for part of an episode, and [[spoiler:Sikozu]] is later revealed to be a Bioloid. |
| 193 | * The ''Series/{{Lexx}}'' also worked in the same vein, with a weird intestine like thing that excreted disgusting looking (yet edible and apparently delicious) food and further adventures involving toilets ''with tongues''. |
| 194 | ** Thodin's 'bug bomb' from Episode 1 might count, and the Moths. |
| 195 | * The title submarine in ''Series/SeaQuestDSV'' is implied to be organic in many ways. |
| 196 | ** Only the outer hull cladding -- according to the novelization, that is a bio-engineered compound that is both anechoic (sonar-defeating) and self-sealing. The rest of the ship is just a very, VERY big submarine. It's implied in several episodes that the organic skin is flexible and coats a normal steel shell. |
| 197 | ** This becomes a problem in the episode dealing with a disease affecting marine life. The sub's hull also proves susceptible to it. |
| 198 | * The Wraith technology in ''Series/StargateAtlantis'' relies on this. In fact it was said that because of the organic composition of their ships and general insufficient power utilization, if they had a significant power source their ships can "grow" and become near-unstoppable juggernauts. In the GrandFinale, one of these ships adapted a ZPM (the magical power sources that Atlantis cannot seem to find enough of) and it became powerful enough to lay waste to any ship it came across. And at this point Earth ships were capable of going toe-to-toe with the ''Ori'' ships. In the ''Homecoming'' novel, it's stated that Wraith tech ages just like any other living being, becoming worse with age. When Todd returns to his hive ship, he finds it in a sorry state, his clevermen struggling to graft new hull chunks onto damaged sections, and the ship rejecting the grafts. |
| 199 | * ''Franchise/StarTrek'' couldn't resist this one: |
| 200 | ** ''Series/StarTrekVoyager'': |
| 201 | *** Species 8472 seem to use entirely organic technology. They actually originate from AnotherDimension called Fluidic Space, which seems to be some sort of organic area in of itself, which the Borg attempted to conquer, as established in "[[Recap/StarTrekVoyagerS3E25S4E1Scorpion Scorpion]]". They found that it backfired on them because Species 8472 is impervious to their nanotechnology, which meant the Borg had no way to either assimilate or analyze their biology on their own. |
| 202 | *** The USS Voyager itself has its circuitry embedded with bio-neural gel packs, an interesting idea (in that brain cells are supposed to be better at computing than the fastest computer) that is dealt with in a single episode in the first season -- "[[Recap/StarTrekVoyagerS1E15LearningCurve Learning Curve]]" -- and then pretty much forgotten. (The episode memorably involves a massive system failure which is traced back to the bacterial culture used to make some cheese infecting them.) The bio-neural gel packs are brought up again at least one more time much later, in the episode "[[Recap/StarTrekVoyagerS4E23One One]]", involving a nebula extremely deadly to living things and very damaging to technology. With the crew in stasis chambers, and only Seven of Nine and the Doctor to run the ship for three months, keeping the ship going is a chore thanks in no part to these gel packs. |
| 203 | ** ''Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine'': In their introductory episode, it is mentioned that the Breen species use partially organic systems in their ships. |
| 204 | ** ''Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration'': |
| 205 | *** In the episode "[[Recap/StarTrekTheNextGenerationS3E20TinMan Tin Man]]", our plucky crew encounters an entirely biological spacecraft [[spoiler:whose crew had been killed off]], and it's pretty bummed out about it. |
| 206 | *** The pilot episode, "[[Recap/StarTrekTheNextGenerationS1E1EncounterAtFarpoint Encounter at Farpoint]]", involves this trope as well. |
| 207 | ** In the ''Series/StarTrekEnterprise'' episode "[[Recap/StarTrekEnterpriseS02E04DeadStop Dead Stop]]", the crew comes across a near magical repair station that apparently [[WetwareCPU used the brains of various unconscious aliens to enhance its computer system]]. It does have an adverse effect on the minds of those connected, and they tend to make the brain useless for any other purpose if connected for too long. |
| 208 | ** Speaking of brains, there is "[[Recap/StarTrekS3E1SpocksBrain Spock's Brain]]" from ''Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries''. |
| 209 | ** ''Series/StarTrekDiscovery'' bases its ''Crossfield''-class starships around a "displacement-activated spore-hub drive", which allows a starship to travel the universe on a mycelial network of ''Prototaxites stellaviatori''. This requires using both the spores of this fungus and an organic, sentient navigator to direct the ship through the network. |
| 210 | ** ''Series/StarTrekPicard'' introduces organo-synthetic beings (sometimes referred to as flesh-and-blood robots). |
| 211 | * ''Franchise/SuperSentai'' and its adaptation ''Franchise/PowerRangers''. Depending on the season, both the heroic and villainous sides alternate with using this trope. In general, series in which the Rangers use animal based powers, the HumongousMecha tends to be made up from living creatures. |
| 212 | ** Both the villains and heroes from ''Series/BakuryuuSentaiAbaranger'' use organic technology. ''Series/PowerRangersDinoThunder'' downplays this trope, placing more emphasis on technology. |
| 213 | *** Almost everything the heroes use is alive in some way. Their weapons can act on their own. For transportation, they use biomechanical raptors and their HumongousMecha are sentient highly evolved dinosaurs. In ''Dino Thunder'', everything is just technology that isn't alive. |
| 214 | *** The villains live and breathe this trope. Their MonstersOfTheWeek consist of plant, animal and technological components, while their vehicles and base of operations all resemble organic beings. |
| 215 | ** Played with in the DirectToDVD movie of ''Series/TokumeiSentaiGoBusters'' named ''Film/TokumeiSentaiGobustersReturnsVsDobutsuSentaiGobusters''. In the regular series, the team is a technological team of secret agents. The movie partially takes place an an alternate universe which reimagines the team as a nature themed Super Sentai. The cockpit of their HumongousMecha resembles a forest, with the controls consisting of treebranches and leaves. |
| 216 | * ''Series/TheTwilightZone1985'': In the episode "[[Recap/TheTwilightZone1985S1E17 Quarantine]]", a future society uses genetically modified primates as telepathic [=CPUs=]. Members of this society call their organic technology a "biological gestalt". |
| 217 | * The Morthran from ''Series/WarOfTheWorlds1988'' use a combination of crystals and organic technology. Note that the aliens of the first season (and of the movie) do not appear to use organic technology, though they do retain the reliance on crystals. |
| 218 | [[/folder]] |
| 219 | |
| 220 | [[folder:Mythology]] |
| 221 | * According to the Gemara, King Solomon used something called a "shamir" to break down building materials or engrave gemstones. Exactly what the shamir is isn't clear, but one interpretation is that it's some kind of worm. |
| 222 | [[/folder]] |
| 223 | |
| 224 | [[folder:Podcasts]] |
| 225 | * In ''Podcast/TheAdventureZoneBalance'', the Millers created a mascot for their line of elevators called Upsy, Your Lifting Friend. Despite being an elevator, his inside is fleshy, not unlike a mouth or stomach. |
| 226 | [[/folder]] |
| 227 | |
| 228 | [[folder:Pinball]] |
| 229 | * Implied in Creator/{{Bally}}'s ''Pinball/{{Centaur}}''; the Centaur appear to be grown from pods, including their motorcycle parts. |
| 230 | [[/folder]] |
| 231 | |
| 232 | [[folder:Tabletop Games]] |
| 233 | * Many systems for tactical space fleet gaming, especially those with ship design rules and the option to do without the canon setting presented in the rules, usually have at least one bio-tech race. ''TabletopGame/SilentDeath'' features the Bugs, which grow to fit into manufactured frames and become cyborgs; while ''TabletopGame/FullThrust'' have the Phalon, who build their ships from parts and units made of lab-grown tissues, and the Sa'Vasku, whose craft, and indeed anything they use, are usually fully-fledged living organisms in their own right. |
| 234 | * The Pentapods of ''2300 AD'', a ''TabletopGame/{{Traveller}}'' spinoff, are big on Organic Technology, since their species evolved underwater and never had the option of using metal or fire in their industrial development. |
| 235 | * ''TabletopGame/CallOfCthulhu''. The Mi-Go regularly use organic-based tech, such as a creature that can dig through the earth and extract metals and minerals, and a variety of [[FungusHumongous giant fungi]] that maintain life support in an underground cavern. |
| 236 | * ''TabletopGame/CthulhuTech'' sees this with the Engels, extra-large mecha that are more or less just massive creatures covered in enough machinery to conceal their monstrosity (somewhat). They tend to have a detrimental effect on the psyches of their pilots. |
| 237 | * The ''Dark Conspiracy'' supplement ''Dark Tek'' had a number of Darkling biological devices, such as the Antidoter (neutralized poison in the body) and Facedancer (a living disguise mask). |
| 238 | * ''The Day After Ragnarok'' setting has the surviving nations developing early forms of organic technology in 1948, by harvesting flesh of the dead Midgard Serpent. |
| 239 | * The ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'' Campaign Setting of ''TabletopGame/DarkSun'' had Halflings use this, either symbiotic creatures, buildings made from tissues, adapted wildlife, or types of organic automatons, such as the Scrubslug, which eats dust and debris and transforms it into organic floor wax. |
| 240 | * The Daelkyr of TabletopGame/{{Eberron}} are very fond of this. Many of their creations are still around and usable by players, though this has [[BrainwashedAndCrazy risks]]. |
| 241 | * Tends to be something of a persistent theme with the [[EldritchAbomination Primordials]] of ''TabletopGame/{{Exalted}}'', albeit in a somewhat unconventional manner; their [[GeniusLoci world bodies]] tend to ''look'' inorganic (and, in [[EternalEngine Autochthon's]] case, actually mechanical), but follow anatomical logic; Malfeas' bones are buildings of brass and stone and the fluids in the sewers are his bile and digestive fluids, because he's a creature that is a city (he also has flora made of metal), and Autochthon's organs are gears and pistons, his nerves are cables, his lungs/stomach is a toxic junkyard, and his blood is lubricating oil. Exploiting the landscape by provoking anatomic reactions is key to life in those worlds. |
| 242 | * The backstory of the ''TabletopGame/ForgottenRealms'' has a quirky variant -- the Sarrukh, one of the [[{{Precursors}} Creator Races]] has the natural ability to reshape other reptilian humanoids, granting and removing abilities. Naturally, one of the main uses of this was to create a new type of reptilian humanoid for any given task, with the end result of explaining why the modern Realms has such a wide variety of reptilian humanoids, some with very minor but bizarre variations to other types. |
| 243 | * ''TabletopGame/{{GURPS}}'': |
| 244 | ** ''GURPS'' has two takes on biotech depending on the setting/society in a setting -- either it begins to show up (beyond the modern-day applications) around tech level 9[[note]]one level above the current modern day[[/note]], or it is the result of a divergent tech level[[note]]expressed 'x'+'y' where the sum is the equivalent tech level, x is the tech level shared with the standard -- in extreme cases this can be 0 -- and y is however far they've gotten on their alternate path[[/note]] that may well be equivalent to a ''lower'' tech level than the modern day. |
| 245 | ** ''TabletopGame/GURPSBioTech'' is all about this when discussing high tech levels. Aside from the various new pieces of tech presented in the book (including a sentient sponge-brain-tree-Neo Christian house) the writers also suggest that one can simply treat advanced technology from other sourcebooks as being organic in origin. |
| 246 | ** The third edition sourcebook "Robots" includes rules for creating biological androids using biotech. This sourcebook also includes rules for combining traditional robots with biotech in the form of living flesh and intestinal power convertors. |
| 247 | * From ''TabletopGame/MagicTheGathering'', we have the Phyrexians. Even in their first appearances, they blur all sorts of lines between Organic Technology, TheVirus, {{Magitek}}, {{Necromancy}}, and CyberneticsEatYourSoul. Recently however, the Scars of Mirrodin block gave us Phyrexians in all five colors, not just Black. In particular the leader of the Green-aligned faction, [[EvilutionaryBiologist Vorinclex]], believes that Phyrexians should be grown, not built. |
| 248 | ** A (slightly) LighterAndSofter version of this is present in the Simic Combine of Ravnica. Contributing to the DungeonPunk element of the world, this guild uses magic to engineer new creatures to serve all kinds of roles, mostly in the form of this trope; living zeppelins are just one of the examples to appear in the cards. Based on the combination of Blue Mana and Green Mana, they believe the purpose of life is to evolve, and seek to use magic and experimentation to guide evolution towards a nebulous "perfection". The magical equivalent of organ-grafts and gene-splicing is their stock in trade, and they readily exploit their position as Ravnica's doctors to further their experiments. They experiment on themselves, too -- in fact, the lower ranked members of the guild are known for a rather high mortality rate, as they tend to be forced to serve as experiment test subjects; if they're lucky, they gain a useful implant, mutation or other alteration. If they're unlucky, more often than not, they dissolve painfully into a mass of protoplasmic goo. |
| 249 | * This is one of approximately 9000 options for HumongousMecha in one ''TabletopGame/{{Mekton}}'' expansion. |
| 250 | * ''TabletopGame/{{Paranoia}}'' is better known for Corpore Metal bots and bot-wannabe cyborgs, but The Bot Abusers Manual inverted it with Corporganic, a bot secret society that went so far as to practice "orgcybing" (replacing bot limbs with organic parts). Yes, pretty much everyone else thought it was disgusting. |
| 251 | * In ''TabletopGame/{{Pathfinder}}'', both the mi-go and the Dominion of the Black make use of this, from "wands" of living flesh and crystal to oozes used as navigational computers. |
| 252 | * ''TabletopGame/{{Rifts}}'' features Organic ''Magitek''; the Splugorth of Atlantic have their Bio-Wizardry, which takes things like Faries, giant eyeballs, and mystic worms to use as components in powerful magic items and weapons, as well as specially-grown microbes, parasites, and symbiotes; Meanwhile, the Lemurians and Jungle Elves both use Bio''mancy'' which is more in tune with nature, and features things like living armor made of wood, coral, or shark blood; In Dinosaur Swamp(Florida and other parts of the former Deep South), the Barbarian tribes have developed a form of Eco-Wizardy, a variation of the more standard [[{{Magitek}} Techno-Wizardry]] that uses Stone-Age technology; finally, the dimension of Wormwood is a presumably ConstructedWorld that is one massive organism that shapes itself to care for the people living on it, as well as providing worms symbiotes, and crystals to help them defend itself. |
| 253 | ** Continuing expansions to the ''Phase World'' setting give us Necrons, who hate non-organic technology and have living weapons and bio-ships they can use to spread that hate across the Three Galaxies. |
| 254 | * And in TabletopGame/{{Spelljammer}}, elven spacecraft are actually living plants with photosynthetic sails. |
| 255 | * In ''TabletopGame/{{Splicers}}'', the Human [[LaResistance Resistance]] of this RobotWar have no choice but to use Organic tech, due to a deadly nano-plague that causes any metal to try to ''kill'' any living thing that touches it. Among the technologies developed are customizable suits of PoweredArmor, [[BeastOfBattle Beasts of Battle]] bred to replace tanks, and equivalents to regular ''guns''. Of course, this stuff was first developed by the minority who are immune to the plague. |
| 256 | * ''TabletopGame/SystemsFailure'' features a surviving government base developing armor and weapons to fight the Bugs, who can frequently take over hard technology. The new weapons are described as "like holding a cockroach that shoots". |
| 257 | * Several races of ''TabletopGame/{{Talislanta}}'' use plant-based technologies, including the barge-forts of the Green Aeriads (with live viridia trees for masts) and the d'oko lily plants used as houses by the Green Men. |
| 258 | * The Akashan Star Sphere or "Space Gods" from ''TabletopGame/{{TORG}}'' prefer biotech to the point that most available Akashan gear is some sort of lifeform (e.g. "kinetic armor" is a symbiotic bodysuit, "geomantic shuttles" are creatures with a natural gravity manipulating ability, "starshredders" are a weaponized cross between a starfish and a piranha). Even their hard tech items tend to lean on biotech; for example, "bataase rifles" are nonlethal weapons which fire a biological polymer, and Akashan Lightships are as much biotech as they are hard tech. |
| 259 | * The Creator/WhiteWolf RPG ''TabletopGame/{{Trinity}}'' had humans and a number of other races use living "bio-tech." Humans still used it alongside hard-tech and it was considered superior for some applications and inferior for others. Some human nations rejected bio-tech entirely, such as the Japanese, because they had determined the original source of human bio-tech was of unknown alien origin. |
| 260 | * ''TabletopGame/Warhammer40000'' |
| 261 | ** The Tyranids from the ''TabletopGame/Warhammer40000'' universe epitomize the trope insofar as it relates to tools of warfare; their every military need, from weapons to starcraft, is met by complex interlocking creatures specially engineered for the purpose. Their 'technology' is not only suspiciously well-suited to its function, but suspiciously sadistic in its execution. The original and ancient ''Warhammer 40,000'' sourcebook, ''Rogue Trader'', had "organic weapons" (such as organic chainswords) that were essentially bio-engineered duplicates of mechanical versions made of flesh and bone rather than steel and ceramics, apparently a curiosity widely used. The Tyranids were notable for always using them, but at this point the Tyranids were just random bugs rather than the galaxy-eating, [[MoreTeethThanTheOsmondFamily wall-of-teeth]] Great Devourer. Since 3rd edition and the 'Nids new models, it is becoming increasingly difficult to spot where the bio-weapon ends and the Tyranid carrying it begins. The game also plays organic technology in the only way it would work, which is to dial it to eleven. Creatures have nothing they don't need to do their job, not even ''digestive tracts'' -- they're expected to die before they starve. They just eat until they're completely full, then dive into "digestion pools" created by the [[HostileTerraforming Tyrannoforming]] of the planet, recycling the Tyranid and everything it's eaten into genetic material and other raw materials useful to the Hive Fleet. Their close combat weapons are forged in biological furnaces and then affixed to the creature in question and their bodies are almost entirely armored carapace. Even their soft tissues are built of materials similar to Kevlar. They are not your average squishy biological version of this trope, they are armored hell-beasts designed with one singular purpose -- relentless assault. Tyranid bio weapons are notably inferior individually to their non-organic counterparts though, and their space fleets are noted to be inferior to every other faction's. It is their single minded purpose and sheer numbers that make the Tyranids so deadly. |
| 262 | ** The Eldar make extensive use of a substance called wraithbone, which is a psychoplastic material that also possesses some self-regenerating capabilities. While not Organic Technology per se, Eldar vehicles, technologies, and buildings aren't built, they're grown. |
| 263 | ** The Dark Eldar have a large swathe of Organic Technology, particularly in the [[MadScientist Haemonculus]] subfaction. However, they cannot manipulate wraithbone since their PsychicPowers have atrophied. |
| 264 | ** The Imperium also uses organic technology to some degree. Since they have a ban on artificial intelligence ([[AIIsACrapshoot after intelligent]] [[TurnedAgainstTheirMasters robots turned on humanity]] [[RobotWar and nearly wiped them out]]) they use cybernetic slaves called servitors to perform menial tasks and some of the more advanced vehicles have either [[WetwareCPU servitors hardwired to control weapons]] or Machine Spirits, which appear to be a form of "wetware" AI (although some sources state they are inorganic AIs modeled after animal behavior patterns). |
| 265 | ** Depending on the writer, Machine Spirits have been anything from intelligences formed from hundreds of years of a complex program slowly evolving, an inherence within Imperial computing technology, an actual CPU core housing a legitimate AI, or a collective of the fragmented minds of the controlling servitors. While Games Workshop has called each of these excused correct at various times, when you are talking about actual Imperial AI, you are referencing the Cortex. This is a very advanced fragment of LostTechnology which parts of the Mechanicus can still make very well and understand fairly well in comparison to most other things. It is a single, large, solid, crystalline mass which acts like a light-based computer. It is extremely powerful for its size, and can fairly accurately re-create the neurological structure of biological creatures (mammals, birds, pets, fish, humans). Its "firmware" and processing power are set by a combination of predetermined crystal growth patterns and in-growth manipulation (probably electroshock therapy). |
| 266 | ** A lot of Chaos technology merges meat, cybernetics and daemon bits into something kind of hideous. Consider, for example, the [[http://vignette3.wikia.nocookie.net/warhammer40k/images/9/9b/Helbrute_of_Khorne.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20140409151341 Helbrute]]. |
| 267 | ** Of all creatures, Orks use organic technology in the form of squiggly beasts, AKA squigs. On top of squigs that are especially nummy (all squigs are edible but "eatin' squigs" taste the best,) they have squigs as toothbrushes and/or chewing gum (gob squigs), squigs as targeting computers (targetin' squigs), squigs as toupees (hair and beard squigs), and even squigs that inhale carbon dioxide and exhale oxygen, which the orks use as life support machines on their "Kroozas." |
| 268 | ** Over the editions the Orks ''themselves'' have evolved into being organic technology. Essentially, orks are what you get when a desperate race of {{precursors}} attempts to engineer a [[GreyGoo self-perpetuating]] RobotSoldier race out of biological material. Orks are actually a kind of hyper-developed ''fungus'', biologically programmed with knowledge they need on an instinctual level; specialist castes, or "Oddboys" are literally born knowing how to do their job, and only grow better at it as they live longer and practice. Every individual ork constant sheds fungal spores which form a kind of fungal bio-factory wherever they take root; these "shroom-wombs" first provide basic ecosystem requirements such as oxygen generation. Then they start to produce complex organisms; first squigs, to provide the most basic biological needs (food, leather, bone, etc); then gretchin to serve as labor units, and finally fully developed orks. With time these fungi will [[HostileTerraforming literally take over and "orkiform" a planet]]. |
| 269 | [[/folder]] |
| 270 | |
| 271 | [[folder:Toys]] |
| 272 | * In ''Toys/{{BIONICLE}}'', most inhabitants of the Matoran Universe are MechanicalLifeforms with small amounts of organic tissue built into them. |
| 273 | [[/folder]] |
| 274 | |
| 275 | [[folder:Video Games]] |
| 276 | * The [[HumanoidAlien Iskai]] in ''VideoGame/{{Albion}}'' have two kinds of magic -- which may have some hidden "scientific" explanation that's never given, since the story is at least as much science fiction as fantasy. Anyhow, one of the types, Dji-Kas, is largely just flashy wizard magic, but the other, Dji-Fadh, is used to grow organic plant technology -- vegetable buildings as well as appliances like a plant acting as a toilet. |
| 277 | * The final stage of ''VideoGame/AssaultRetribution'', set in the mutant planet, where ''everything'' is organic and ''alive''. |
| 278 | * In ''VideoGame/TheConduit,'' the Drudge weapons are all based on this trope, including [[spoiler:the Drudge themselves]]. Reloading a weapon is invariably accompanied by squishy noises. |
| 279 | * ''VideoGame/{{Chorus}}'' has [[ReligionOfEvil the Circle]]'s Elder starfighters, a set of twelve sentient spaceships made with the power of the Void. Each of them was made for and bonded with one of the Circle's Elders, the Great Prophet's [[TheDragon dragons]]. Nara's ship, Forsaken (or just "[[AffectionateNickname Forsa]]" for short), is one of them. |
| 280 | * ''VideoGame/ChronoCross'': The Dragonians (descendants of the Reptites from [[VideoGame/ChronoTrigger the previous game]]) relied on organic materials to develop their civilization. Their creations include the Dragon God, a being used to harness the energy of the Elements, and Terra Tower, a coral-like structure that houses said Dragon God. This is to contrast them with humans, who harnessed more conventional technology instead. |
| 281 | * The Ark in ''VideoGame/{{Creatures}} 3'' was grown organically by its creators; in fact, it's stated that the Shee use mostly organic technology, having even discovered DNA before the wheel. ''Docking Station's'' Capillata takes it further: the main hub is very organic-looking, the whole thing looks suspiciously like a giant jellyfish, the {{Backstory}} states it was literally grown in a vat, and then there's the slightly disturbing Muco the Egg-Layer. |
| 282 | * ''VideoGame/DarkColony'': Everything the Taar use qualifies, with the exception of the FlyingSaucer. Perhaps the most... amusing weapon is the burrowing turret. Guess which orifice the gun pops out from. |
| 283 | * ''[[VideoGame/Earth2150 Earth 2160]]'''s aliens, the Morphids, are actually a genetically-engineered army of biological von Neumann machines, which need only water to grow from a single crawling Mantian Lady to a legion of acid-spitting four-legged bear tanks and artillery insects. The trope is also subverted in that their Creators were unable to make biological units into a good airfleet, so they resorted to metal ships that use {{Nanomachines}} to clone and morph themselves, just like the ground forms. |
| 284 | * ''Franchise/TheElderScrolls'': |
| 285 | ** The Numidium is a [[OurDwarvesAreDifferent Dwemer]]-constructed HumongousMecha designed to be powered by the [[CosmicKeystone heart of a dead god]] (and later powered by what is believed to be that god's ''soul''), which [[RealityWarper distorts reality around it]] whenever it is activated. Some of its blueprints/drawings depict it as having a ribcage and spine. (Akulakhan, another mecha built from Numidium's blueprints, also has these organic-looking components.) It's also theorized that its armor or other structural components are what all the Dwemer were transformed into after [[RiddleForTheAges their mysterious disappearance]]. It played a major role in the series' backstory, where [[TheConqueror Tiber Septim]] used it to complete his conquest of Tamriel, and then shows up in ''[[VideoGame/TheElderScrollsIIDaggerfall Daggerfall]]'' as a major plot point. At the end of ''Daggerfall'', it [[spoiler:causes a TimeCrash which makes each of the game's mutually exclusive MultipleEndings [[MergingTheBranches all happen at once]], though none [[BroadStrokes to the same extent they would have individually]]]]. |
| 286 | ** ''[[VideoGame/TheElderScrollsIIIMorrowind Morrowind]]'': |
| 287 | *** Telvanni architecture is this plus FungusHumongous. They magically grow fungi and mold them into [[MageTower Mage Towers]]. |
| 288 | *** Players can employ Silt Striders: gigantic, domesticated arthropods that are used to rapidly travel from city to city in the game world. The striders essentially appear akin to enormous fleas. The striders have portions of their shell removed from their back so that the driver, or 'caravaner', can poke at the sensitive flesh underneath to goad the strider in the desired direction. Their shells are further carved or modified to hold cargo or passengers, based on need. |
| 289 | ** In ''[[VideoGame/TheElderScrollsVSkyrim Skyrim]]'', the Falmer, a race of fallen elves, have a symbiotic relationship with insectoid creatures known as Chaurus. Much of their technology looks like Chaurus body parts that are still moving. Also, Telvanni technology returns in the ''[[DownloadableContent Dragonborn]]'' DLC. |
| 290 | * The isolated Polaris in ''VideoGame/EscapeVelocity: Nova'' use incredibly powerful living spaceships. Coincidentally, the otherwise peaceful [[SpaceWhale Wraith]] have an intense animosity toward the Polaris... |
| 291 | ** Apparently the ships are so organic that the Manta fighter is about as intelligent as a smart dog based off of some text in-game, technically making it an EmpathicWeapon. |
| 292 | ** The Polaris do utilize ''some'' mechanical technologies -- the phrasing around their non-ship technologies suggests they aren't much more organic than the other civilizations, and the construction process for their starships starts with something perfectly mechanical: a metal framework. |
| 293 | * In ''VideoGame/{{Evolva}}'', the Parasite is able to create a good number of towers connected among them and a whole army from their ''tentacles''. |
| 294 | * In ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXIII'', this seems to be the design aesthetic of the game, most visible in the ([[SceneryPorn utterly gorgeous]]) Gapra Whitewood area. |
| 295 | * ''VideoGame/{{Fracture}}'' features the Republic of Pacifica, a breakaway nation of the USA. Their soldiers are covered in BioArmor, enhanced using genetic engineering and several of their weapons are more grown than manufactured. One such example is the Raptor Rifle whose main component is a bio-engineered organism derived from oceanic coral that grows around a titanium gun barrel. They literally manufacture them by dropping the coated barrels in a protected seawater area and dredge harvest the finished product a few days later. |
| 296 | * In ''VideoGame/GearsOfWar'', the Locust Horde utilizes some of this, including their various [[BeastOfBattle Beasts of Battle]], Digger Launchers, Nemacysts (and the Seeders that spawn them), and even the Kryll grenades. [[spoiler:It turns out that ''human'' technology works this way as well, since [[TheCorruption Imulsion]], the miracle fuel on Sera, is actually a living parasite that's killing the planet from within. By extension, the Lambent and even the Locust themselves operate this way, since they are Imulsion-based {{mutants}} of humans and other species.]] |
| 297 | * ''VideoGame/{{Geneforge}}'' is based almost entirely around this, with the plot focusing on (sometimes sentient) magical creatures made by a caste of magi called "shapers" and the moral ramifications of their work. Aside from their more advanced creations, shapers have made biological equivalents of everything from guns (bone-shooting "thorn batons") to doorlocks. |
| 298 | * In ''VideoGame/GenesisRising'', humanity developed the Organids, which are artificial lifeforms that are able to be grown into multiple forms, including space stations and {{Living Ship}}s. Because of this, blood has become one of the most important resources in the universe. Organids also have LEGOGenetics, allowing for quick and easy modification of their physical structure, like growing more armor, engines and weapons. Originally, only humans had the technology, but the Defiance's leader, Loodweeg the Macabre managed to steal it and use it to build an army against those who conquered his homeworld. |
| 299 | * ''VideoGame/HalfLife'': |
| 300 | ** ''VideoGame/HalfLife1'': the Alien Grunts use a living creature called the Hivehand that literally fires [[BeeBeeGun alien bees]] at people (it's a lot more powerful than it sounds). They also breed explosive fist sized bugs called Snarks that they sometimes use like grenades. Their airships appear to be alive as well, and look like over-sized versions of bird-like creatures found in Xen itself. ''Half-Life 2: Episode 2'' implies the Xenian aliens also bred and used [[InsectoidAliens Antlions]] for war; at the very least, they explicitly practiced Antlion husbandry, and Antlion colonies prove to be a very effective biological weapon (unwittingly or no) following their transportation to Earth by portal storms. They kill off swaths of both humans and wildlife and rendered untamed wilderness effective no-go zones due to their hardiness and [[ExplosiveBreeder reproduction rate]]. |
| 301 | ** The FanRemake ''VideoGame/BlackMesa'' takes this trope and runs with it in Xen, the aliens' home base. Much of their technology seems to an equal mix of mechanical parts and living materials. |
| 302 | ** ''VideoGame/HalfLifeOpposingForce'': the new aliens introduced in the expansion, Race X, seem to use exclusively living tech. Their guns are "Shock Roaches", herbivorous critters that belch blasts of electricity at their enemies; and the Gene Worm is suggested to be a terraforming device. The Black Mesa scientists in the expansion also learned how to detach a Xen Barnacle from the ceiling and use it like a living grappling hook. |
| 303 | ** The Combine from the ''VideoGame/HalfLife2'' use living, grown/built units as powerful shock troops; one example is the Combine Gunship, currently the page image. All of them are implied to be aliens turned into {{Slave Mook}}s by the Combine, just the same as humans are turned into Overwatch soldiers. They also breed headcrabs to use as biological weapons against rebellious areas. |
| 304 | * Hunters and Scarabs in ''Franchise/{{Halo}}'' are both partly composed of and controlled by aggregations of [[TheWormThatWalks Lekgolo]]. |
| 305 | * Steampunk version in ''VideoGame/HiddenDragonLegend'' - you face plenty of MechaMooks called "puppets" in-game, resembling animated mechanical armor, until a cutscene reveals they're powered by human organs harvested by the Trigram's leader, Dark Raven, as his personal puppet army. Dark Raven even gloats in a few cutscenes where he'll use his enemies - including ''you'' - as parts of his "experiments". |
| 306 | * ''VideoGame/IWasATeenageExocolonist'': A lot of the technology left behind by Vertumna's long-gone native sentient species is hard to tell apart from the wildlife. Even the parts that are recognizable as technology are implied to technically qualify, as it explains how they are still functional 20,000 years after being built. |
| 307 | * ''VideoGame/{{Ixion}}'' has several examples towards its end: |
| 308 | ** The Ashtangites use it as part of their transhumanist, eco-societal agenda. On [[spoiler: Remus]], this involves such things as buildings grown out of rocks by introducing engineered, microscopic fungi into them (which hollow out the insides while secreting enzymes which strengthen the "walls"), fields plowed by oxen whose tails were modified into farm tools, and long-range communication via birds with organic radio and ultrasonic capabilities. They also possess incredible genetic engineering abilities, going so far as to, in one of the endings, [[spoiler: be able to modify the entire population of the Tiqqun into green-skinned posthumans like them simply by introducing retrovirii into the atmosphere]]. |
| 309 | ** The Piranesi, which isn't ever explicitly stated to be organic but ''is'' said to look from the inside more like a living creature than a machine, in order to highlight just how alien and impossibly advanced is the technology used to build it. |
| 310 | * In ''VideoGame/KidIcarusUprising'', Viridi's army, the Forces of Nature, are constructed from materials found in nature, such as wood and stone. In addition, her [[FantasticNuke Reset Bombs]] are grown like fruits before being dropped. |
| 311 | * ''Franchise/MassEffect'': |
| 312 | ** ''VideoGame/MassEffect2'': The Collectors have a very organic appearance to their ships and weapons. The Reaper technology has some organic components as well, as evidenced by the Keepers, and [[spoiler:the finale of the game]]. |
| 313 | ** ''VideoGame/MassEffectAndromeda'': A variant: the kett are very fond of biology, and use lots of genetic engineering and BioAugmentation on themselves. Their weapons and ships are purely technological, but are highly biomimetic -- they ''look'' biological. Kett technology is green, bulbous, and sometimes looks more organic than the kett themselves. If you find a crashed kett ship, you can even see that it is built around a metal skeleton, complete with ribs. |
| 314 | * Metal Gear RAY and the Gekkos from the ''VideoGame/MetalGear'' franchise aren't organic but are machines built like they were, even capable of bleeding (it's actually "[[MachineBlood armor-repair nanopaste]]"). The {{Nanomachines}} in the series are also based on living cells. There's a field in science called [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biomechanics biomechanics]] that's a bit similar to this. Basically, we're studying how our bodies work and how we could use that to our advantage. A good example of biomechanics in motion would be [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pneumatic_artificial_muscles pneumatic artificial muscles.]] |
| 315 | * ''Franchise/{{Metroid}}'': |
| 316 | ** [[ActionGirl Samus Aran]]'s Power Suit, since the X Parasites were able to infect and then replicate it in ''VideoGame/MetroidFusion''. Its appearance goes through a very radical change as seen during the beginning of ''Fusion''. This is the result of the Galactic Federation surgically removing its mechanical armor plating in an attempt to remove the X Parasite from Samus' body, along with her receiving the Metroid vaccine to save her life. Now referred to as the Fusion Suit, the two aforementioned procedures caused it to be scaled down to mostly having a blue muscle fiber exterior[[labelnote:*]]This wasn't originally clear in ''Fusion'', as the blue portions of the Fusion Suit had more of a shiny silicone-like appearance. [[{{Retcon}} Retroactively]], this was changed when it reappeared in ''VideoGame/MetroidSamusReturns'' (donned only in [[HarderThanHard Fusion Mode]]) and ''VideoGame/MetroidDread'' (seen in the intro, showcasing flashbacks of a few events from ''Fusion''), now having a muscle fiber exterior[[/labelnote]]. Sometime before ''Dread'' takes place, the suit had apparently regenerated parts of its mechanical plating. Even when it gains more plating as it upgrades into the Varia Suit, then later into the Gravity Suit, all these variations for the suit still showcase bits of its muscle fibers. [[spoiler:And much later on in ''Dread'', Samus' Metroid DNA fully awakens [[OurHeroIsDead after seemingly being killed]] by Raven Beak. This causes her suit to transform into the [[EleventhHourSuperpower Metroid Suit]]. Its exterior lacks the muscle fibers from before, but is now clearly plated with a green organic exoskeleton, complete with carapace and fang-like protrusions all over. Samus' glowing red visor and the red TronLines seen on the Metroid Suit's armor are the only things keeping it from looking completely organic, although said Tron Lines are patterned in a way that look almost like veins.]] |
| 317 | ** Also from ''Fusion'', the security robot B.O.X., which is mostly mechanical, does have an organic CPU. There also exists the Nightmare, a massive creature that can [[GravityMaster manipulate gravity]] and is explicitly stated to be a bio-mechanical organism. |
| 318 | ** [[EvilKnockoff Dark Samus]], being a [[ToxicPhlebotinum Phazon]]-based clone of Samus' armor (read: not Samus ''and'' her armor, [[ClingyCostume just the armor]]), [[HumanoidAbomination is this in her entirety]]. Her design in the ''VideoGame/MetroidPrimeTrilogy'' already looks more bio-mechanical than Samus, and her appearance in ''VideoGame/SuperSmashBrosUltimate'' further emphasizes this by showing pulsating veins and carapace-like ridges on her "armor." |
| 319 | ** The most famous example of biotech in ''Metroid'' is, of course, Mother Brain. But the Metroids themselves also count, as they were engineered by the Chozo to combat the X Parasites. |
| 320 | ** Of note, the Space Pirates in the ''Prime'' games progressively began to use Organic Technology almost exclusively. This may be a bit of a plot point, as the game lore in ''Prime 3'' suggests. |
| 321 | ** Kanden's scan log in ''VideoGame/MetroidPrimeHunters'' states that his version of the Volt Driver is a LivingWeapon. |
| 322 | ** Almost all Alimbic technology in ''Metroid Prime: Hunters'' has organic parts, and you go through some of the factory areas where the organic components are cultured. You even pass through an area with what looks like a brain-based computer. |
| 323 | ** Even the Federation uses it, having created Mother Brain-like super computers called Aurora Units and cybernetic war robots. |
| 324 | ** The Torizo statues that stand guard over certain Chozo technology in ''VideoGame/SuperMetroid'' will awaken to repel intruders. After a Torizo takes enough damage, it begins to "bleed" an organic fluid. |
| 325 | ** In ''VideoGame/MetroidZeroMission'', the Wave Beam can't pass through Chozo Statues, even with the ability to pass through solid objects. The Plasma Beam however, with the ability to pierce through organic matter, does pass through Chozo Statues, implying that they are at least somewhat organic in nature. |
| 326 | * ''VideoGame/NoMansSky'' has a category of starships called "living ships". Unlike ordinary ships, living ships are not built, but hatched from a Void Egg. Their storage slots are called "sacs", and their technological components are based on organs (a "Pulsing Heart" instead of Pulse Engines, "Spewing Vents" instead of Photon Cannons, etc.). |
| 327 | * ''VideoGame/Prey2006'': The Keepers, the creators of the game's enormous spherical spaceship, used powerful [[WombLevel vomiting-sphincter-based biotechnology]] to make their ship... uh... go. Additionally, they used one or more gigantic (and disgusting) creatures who ate concentrated nutrients and crapped food for the aliens. Everything the aliens have is partly alive, including guns, pipes, doors, computers and medical stations. |
| 328 | * ''VideoGame/ProjectRemedium'' have the later stages where you come across defeated nanobots captured by the virus, turning into nano-cyborgs who attacks you on sight. |
| 329 | * ''VideoGame/{{Quake}}'''s resident aliens, the Strogg, sometimes use hearts as pumps, human torsos as bioelectric generators and huge alien creatures as biological corpse-to-food converters. However, they rarely resist their urge to stick some giant metal piping and prosthetics in them, for the lulz. |
| 330 | * The ''VideoGame/{{Samorost}}'' games all take place on what appear to be combinations of spaceships and planets made out of moss, bark, and rock. [[SceneryPorn It's pretty spectacular]]. |
| 331 | * Being a BioPunk-flavored game, the technology of ''VideoGame/{{Scorn}}'' is rooted in a mixture of machinery and sculpted tissue. Even the player's gun is a LivingWeapon made of organs and metallic chitin that fires slivers of bone. |
| 332 | * In ''VideoGame/SepterraCore'', much of the Chosen's technology seems based on this. Their ships, armor, and even some weapons are grown from the bodies of specially cultivated Helgak, a highly diverse species native to the planet. The ships are partially alive in some cases. Maya's gun also has some organic components, which enables her weapon to actually grow its own ammunition, ostensibly granting it unlimited bullets. |
| 333 | * The [[Anime/NeonGenesisEvangelion Eva Unit]]-esque Slave units in ''VideoGame/SlaveZero'' are this trope, with their production process described as being grown from cybernetic fetuses. |
| 334 | ** And it's in ''full force'' for the 2024 prequel, ''VideoGame/SlaveZeroX'', where the organic part of the Slave unit is much, much clearer, you run around in a suit of BioArmor, and much, much more biotech is used, from cloning, to genetic engineering, to MeatMoss galore. |
| 335 | * Introduced in the fourth game in the ''VideoGame/SpaceEmpires'' series. Their main use is to generate resources/regenerate damage. |
| 336 | * The Mycon, sapient fungi from the ''VideoGame/StarControl'' series, are genetically engineered biological [[HostileTerraforming terraforming tools]], and whatever new tools they need, from pseudopods to space craft to other Mycon, they grow just by willing it ("Mycon just ''think'' genetic modification, and it happen!"). Due to the extreme amount of time they've gone without upkeep by their creators, over the generations their original programming "drifted" and has become a religion revolving [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dFbmcbyQgxc around the incomprehensible "Juffo-Wup"]]. Heed their babble and you'll get fragments of their developers' speech from GeneticMemory. |
| 337 | ** The Umgah, another alien race from the same series, are so obsessed with genetic engineering that, even though their ships are mechanical, the corridors and interfaces are all fleshy, for easy modification (read: mutation). Unfortunately for interstellar relations, the Umgah have been so free and careless with their genetic modifications of themselves that every last one of them is violently insane and possesses a warped sense of humor and a childlike oblivious cruelty. |
| 338 | * ''Franchise/StarCraft'' has the Zerg, an insectoid/mammalian/reptilian race controlled by a HiveMind that treats its populace as disposable for the simple reason that they're the meat equivalent of robotic drones. While metal technology is connected with wires and cables to transfer electricity and information, Zerg buildings are connected with [[MeatMoss a mass of blood vessels and muscle tissue]] called Creep to transfer nutrients and genetic code. Each building is less like an organism and more like an organ, since they support the central Hatchery and will gradually shut down and die without creep to support them. |
| 339 | * ''VideoGame/SpaceDebris'' revolves around humans in the future facing an AlienInvasion, where the invaders all use organic-based weapons such as living spaceships with tentacles and flesh, against humans who use fighter ships. |
| 340 | * In ''VideoGame/StarWarsTheOldRepublic'', Darth Jadus had a series of {{Kill Sat}}s called Eradicators which consisted of an organic battery in a metallic shell, enabling them to be grown rather than manufactured. |
| 341 | * ''VideoGame/{{Subnautica}}'': When you first scan a Warper, your PDA notes several oddities about them: their biology is massively more complex than any other life forms encountered, they don't appear to have any kind of digestive system, and there is no apparent genetic relation to any other life on the planet. [[spoiler:Later, investigation of a {{Precursor|s}} lab confirms the Warpers are artificial life forms bio-engineered to act as "quarantine enforcers" that hunt down and kill any life infected with the Kharaa bacterium. Their lack of a digestive system is because they get their energy beamed from the same power generators that are powering the alien buildings.]] |
| 342 | * In the ''VideoGame/SuperRobotWars'' series, the [[VideoGame/SuperRobotWarsCompact2 Einst]] are able to mimic machines by reshaping their exoskeleton, carapace and tentacles. When Excellen is kidnapped by them, they upgrade her mech, the Weinsritter, into the Rein Weisritter, which replaced 60% of its body with Einst biotech. |
| 343 | * [[http://vegastrike.sourceforge.net/wiki/Species:Rlaan Rlaan]] in ''VideoGame/VegaStrike'' apply biotechnologies anywhere, even in spaceships. They still need normal materials for things like hermetic enclosures or weapons, but [[http://vegastrike.sourceforge.net/wiki/Cargo:BioApplicator grow]] structures, make [[http://vegastrike.sourceforge.net/wiki/Cargo:Carbonium construction materials]] of their generators' refuse and use gravitics instead of thrusters. Of course, for the species living in methane atmosphere it's hard to start with "set something on fire". Also, they don't like AI, so their [[AttackDrone armed drones]] are piloted by the [[BrainInAJar brain]] of some pet that presumably passes for a hound where they live. Humans frequently use genetically engineered WetwareCPU too, because it's much cheaper than hardware for AI equivalent. |
| 344 | * In ''VideoGame/{{Warframe}}'', there's several different types of bio-organic tech. The Orokin's ships and towers look like porcelain, but underneath is literally meat (which can be consumed!). Sentients are an artificial intelligence that evolved on their own, their own ships looking somewhat organic while their bodies look like they are made of bone. Finally there's the infestation itself, which can merge with both organic matter and technology with its MeatMoss. Warframes themselves are made of infested matter. |
| 345 | * ''VideoGame/WildcatGunMachine'' have the alien outbreak resulting in organic growth even on machines, resulting in enemies resembling flesh-like coating on machine parts. There's also a couple of giant mecha boss overwhelmed by the growth - deplete their health and the organic layer dissolves, allowing you to take over the mecha and use it to kick ass in one more area. |
| 346 | * The Morthagi of ''VideoGame/{{Wildermyth}}'' are [[ClockworkCreature clockwork undead]]: mechanical creatures composed of a combination of metal and once-living organic body parts. They were originally created through a complex process of artifice and magic, and though the Mortificers who made them are gone, the Morthagi remain indefinitely self-sustaining. |
| 347 | * The hostile aliens in the ''VideoGame/XCom'' series of games have always used varying degrees of bio-tech, such as purpose-build foot soldiers -- but ''VideoGame/{{X COM Apocalypse}}'' takes this trope to the natural conclusion, with alien ships and buildings being fully organic. You actually get to see (and blow up) the facility where they grow their ships (among other vital constructs). |
| 348 | ** Also, the Bio-Drone from ''VideoGame/{{X COM Terror From The Deep}}''. It's a [[BrainInAJar vat of human brains]] on an anti-grav unit, with vocal cords attached to a sonic gun. |
| 349 | ** Ditto the Reticulans in the SpiritualSuccessor series ''VideoGame/UFOAfterblank'', who employ all sorts of purpose-grown weapons, creatures, and equipment. Their successors in later games use more conventionally built goodies, however, inverting ''X-COM's'' use of the trope. |
| 350 | ** The [[VideoGame/XCOMEnemyUnknown reboot]] has an [[StormingTheCastle assault on an alien base]] with giant, pulsing intestines in the background. |
| 351 | %%* Realians of the ''VideoGame/{{Xenosaga}}'' series. |
| 352 | [[/folder]] |
| 353 | |
| 354 | [[folder:Webcomics]] |
| 355 | * ''Webcomic/SeventySeas'' and its spinoff ''Webcomic/LatchkeyKingdom''. {{Justified|Trope}} by the planet's unique geography with mobile islands providing isolation of species and occasional "cross-pollination". Rather subtle and mostly simple, but proves very widespread as the story progresses. Genetics hasn't been discussed so far, and everything seems to either be readily available in nature or require limited artificial selection. Examples include miraculous drugs (mainly of fungal origin), living lightbulbs, hiveminds, [[TranslatorMicrobes translating birds]], loudspeaker birds, squids and barnacles as AbnormalAmmo, and "jellyflesh" -- a LostTechnology that allows creating prostheses and autonomous self-replicating robots called "shadows". |
| 356 | * ''Webcomic/ArthurKingOfTimeAndSpace'': In the space arc, the ''Excalibur'' visits a planet on which all the technology is [[GrowsOnTrees grown on bio-engineered trees]]. Unfortunately, they spoil easily. |
| 357 | * ''Webcomic/AwfulHospital'': All the tech of the hospital, which appears to exist inside some unidentified gigantic lifeform. |
| 358 | * ''Webcomic/DeepRise'': Every bit of technology more advanced than an abacus or a lighter is alive and skin-colored. |
| 359 | * ''Webcomic/{{Homestuck}}'': [[AllTrollsAreDifferent Troll technology]] is largely this. For example, [[TheCracker Sollux's]] computer servers are basically giant alien beehives, while large grubs serve as the equivalent of video game capsules. It's implied in ''VideoGame/{{Hiveswap}}'' and ''VisualNovel/HiveswapFriendsim'' that even the buildings are made of living beings. |
| 360 | * ''Webcomic/AMadTeaParty'': Earth's genetically engineered super-soldiers have organic weapons to use against alien robots. |
| 361 | * ''Webcomic/MareInternum'': It turns out that [[spoiler:an ancient Martian race relied on this type of technology. Remnants of it are still living underneath the martian surface, and are at first glance indistinguishable from a naturally evolved ecosystem. Some sort of fungus starts growing on the protagonist, somehow allowing him to breath the atmosphere, and a surviving Martian remarks that it's as disturbing as seeing someone with "a toaster fused to their face".]] |
| 362 | * ''Webcomic/MSFHigh'': Thanks to their past as terraforming nanobots, the Legion embody this. They're very good at it, too. |
| 363 | * ''Webcomic/QuentynQuinnSpaceRanger'': Deconstructed in a strip which points out the major flaws of Organic Technology vs. Hard Technology, such as the fact that it cannot store as easily as hard tech can long-term (since it will, eventually, starve, and can't simply be refueled or recharged afterwards), as well as it potential to serve as a vector for disease. |
| 364 | * ''Webcomic/{{Serix}}'': In the distant future, genetic modification and machine technology have grown so interconnected that it can sometimes be difficult to distinguish one from another. For example, upgrading an AI is shown to involve [[https://www.webtoons.com/en/challenge/serix/part-4-15/viewer?title_no=130410&episode_no=89 hormones and nerve fluids]], while on the other hand Rees's clone bodies have [[https://www.webtoons.com/en/challenge/serix/part-2-3/viewer?title_no=130410&episode_no=24 wires in them.]] |
| 365 | [[/folder]] |
| 366 | |
| 367 | [[folder:Web Original]] |
| 368 | * ''Website/{{Amphiterra}}'': The Temperate Freeples are a species of sapient FrogMen whose amphibian biology makes fire use difficult (their skin and respiratory systems are far too sensitive to handle the smoke). Instead, they selectively breed plants and animals that can produce their needed materials, such as a "bush that grows shovels" or a "pet that produces gloves", among other things. |
| 369 | * ''Script/C0DA'', written by former ''Franchise/TheElderScrolls'' series writer/designer Creator/MichaelKirkbride, takes place in the far distant future of ''TES'' universe. Being focused on Dunmeri (Dark Elf) main characters whose people have colonized the moon Masser, the Dunmeri organic technology of the main series shows up. One notable new addition are the "[[LivingGasbag Netch]] Zeppelins". |
| 370 | * ''WebAnimation/HumansBGone'': Most technology used by macrovolutes is based on plants and fungi. For instance, fungal hyphae are used as the equivalent of cables to hook their "machines" together, while Sophodra uses a modified Venus flytrap to capture humans alive. |
| 371 | * ''Website/{{Mortasheen}}'' has a class of robots called Biomecha that are based on this. WordOfGod says that this is because the artist cannot draw machine parts to save his life. |
| 372 | * ''WebOriginal/MysteryFleshPitNationalPark'': [[MegaCorp Anodyne Inc.]] experimented with [[WetwareCPU organic computer technology]] and {{cyb|org}}ernetics that incorporate materials harvested from the titular pit, but they aren't very effective and none of them ever got much traction. |
| 373 | * ''Website/OrionsArm'': Biotech is relatively common, alongside hylotech (mechanical technology) and syntech (a hybrid of the two). Societies that rely wholly on biotech and eschew machines altogether do exist, but are very rare. It's worth noting that a lot of hylotech draws inspiration from biology, so there's no longer much distinction between the two, and biotech needn't be entirely composed of living tissue: for example, [[https://www.orionsarm.com/eg-article/460db3c4051b7 bioships]] have non-living shells which are created by biological means, similar to how shellfish grow their shells. |
| 374 | * ''Website/SCPFoundation'': |
| 375 | ** [[http://www.scp-wiki.net/scp-127 SCP-127 ("The Living Gun")]]. SCP-127 looks like an ordinary [=MP5K=] sub-machine gun on the outside, but the inside is made of flesh and bone, and the bullets it fires vaguely resemble human teeth. |
| 376 | ** [[http://www.scp-wiki.net/scp-1000 SCP-1000 ("Bigfoot")]]. At the height of their civilization, SCP-1000 "made trees and birds of prey grow into fast-moving ships, herds of animals that became trains, bushes that became flying vehicles. From insects and pigeons they made things equivalent to cell phones, televisions, computers. Atomic bombs." |
| 377 | ** [[https://scp-wiki.wikidot.com/scp-1569 SCP-1569 ("Jumbo Shrimp")]]. SCP-1569 resembles an enormous peacock mantis shrimp, but it turns out to be some kind of "biological vehicle" when a humanoid being emerges from it and tries to escape the facility. Then a D-Class test subject manages to activate it, but his biology proved to be not entirely compatible and [[EyeScream it didn't end well]]. |
| 378 | ** An entire Group of Interest from the Russian branch, [[http://scpfoundation.ru/system:page-tags/tag/%D0%9C%D1%8F%D1%81%D0%BD%D0%BE%D0%B9_%D1%86%D0%B8%D1%80%D0%BA "Meat Circus"]] |
| 379 | ** [[ReligionOfEvil The Sarkic cults]] are capable of biological engineering via anomalous means, and consider it a holy imperative. Think monsters that used to be people and living cities made of bone and flesh (which also used to be people). |
| 380 | ** The Daevites, the empire destroyed by the Sarkic slave uprising, were similarly skilled in biological engineering, but mostly applied it to plant life. |
| 381 | * ''[[https://farmerbob1.wordpress.com/ Symbiote]]'': Symbiotes that merge with human hosts are able to create all kinds of organic technology. If they don’t go crazy, that is. |
| 382 | [[/folder]] |
| 383 | |
| 384 | [[folder:Western Animation]] |
| 385 | * ''WesternAnimation/BuzzLightyearOfStarCommand'' has Rhizome, a planet whose technology is based entirely around genetically engineered plants (their way of [[Main/SolarPunk living in harmony with nature]]). Plus, their plants are sensitive to emotion. The happier you are, the better they work for you. |
| 386 | * Tweak from the ''WesternAnimation/DefendersOfTheEarth'' episode "Audie and Tweak" is a small robot which ChildProdigy Audie built using organic circuits. This renders him immune to the disruption caused by Tycos (a rogue supercomputer created by Octon) but it also means that, when his power packs are exhausted, there is no way Audie can repair him. |
| 387 | * Any device in ''WesternAnimation/TheFlintstones'' that's not [[BambooTechnology made out of rock]] is one sort of creature or another. |
| 388 | * ''WesternAnimation/MiloMurphysLaw'': In "Abducting Murphy's Law", [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin Milo gets abducted]] by the Octalians, and in to avoid rising suspicion, they quickly replaced Milo with a robotic replica. Robot Milo is an organic android, grown from a tissue sample retrieved from the real Milo in the earlier episode "Sick Day", making him almost indistinguishable from the real deal (with the notable exceptions of the [[MachineMonotone echo-ey, monotone voice]], repeated usage of specific phrases, and [[AIIsACrapshoot occasionally calling anyone a loser due to an overly adjusted sass meter]]). |
| 389 | * R.O.T.H. in ''WesternAnimation/{{Motorcity}}'' was made from a [=KaneBot=] but his arms appear to be organic, the way they expand. Some of the Terras' weapons might be this as well. |
| 390 | * ''WesternAnimation/SamuraiJack'': In "Jack Under the Sea" Jack is taken to the UnderwaterCity of the Triseraquins after being swallowed by a large fish creature of theirs that has a transparent oxygen dome on its back, and Jack manages to manipulate the creature's nerve ganglia to get it where he wants it to go. |
| 391 | * ''WesternAnimation/PiratesOfDarkWater'': The BigBad's giant ship is a Leviathan's skeleton. Starfish get used as shurikens. At the local pub, the tap is apparently some kind of vine or tentacle or something. And so on. |
| 392 | * ''WesternAnimation/RickAndMorty'': |
| 393 | ** In [[Recap/RickAndMortyS3E3PickleRick "Pickle Rick"]], Rick resorts to taking apart vermin to provide him with mobility. He is first seen using several roach bodies which he manipulates by stimulating nerves with his tongue. He later upgrades to rat parts, which are attached to him by an apparatus that also largely consists of the remains of rodents and insects. |
| 394 | ** Shleemypants' "gun" appears to be some kind of slug. |
| 395 | * The Bugs in the ''WesternAnimation/RoughnecksStarshipTroopersChronicles'' cartoon (a mix of the movie and the book) use bio weapons and {{Living Ship}}s to attack the human planets |
| 396 | * This is Planet Bone's schtick in ''WesternAnimation/ShadowRaiders'', with everything from spaceships to PoweredArmor being a living organism. In fact, the latter is implied to actually be smarter than the Bone soldiers wearing it, and it is capable of taking over if the wearer loses consciousness. |
| 397 | * In ''WesternAnimation/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles2012'' galactic despot and [[BigCreepyCrawlies insectoid]] Vringath Dregg has a mothership that looks like a giant bug and is made of organic tech. |
| 398 | * ''Franchise/{{Transformers}}'': |
| 399 | ** Whether or not the bots from ''WesternAnimation/BeastWars'' qualify is up to a great amount of confusion. However, the Maximals became explicitly techno-organic technology in ''WesternAnimation/BeastMachines''. |
| 400 | ** The Vok in ''WesternAnimation/BeastWars'' seem to utilise this. Series writer Larry [=DiTillio=] even proposed the bits of tech ''were'' the Vok themselves. Their third season depiction as giant floating skulls shattered this, though. |
| 401 | ** ''WesternAnimation/TransformersAnimated'': |
| 402 | *** Blackarachnia and Wasp(inator) are techno-organic, the first from using her power-copying ability on giant organic spiders, the second from Blackarachnia using Transwarp energy to fuse Wasp with a hornet. One thing to note is that in ''Animated'', Transformers have either an aversion if not downright fear of organic beings (Autobots) or a deep disdain/hatred of them (Decepticons). |
| 403 | *** There's also Prometheus Black AKA Meltdown, who sold "bio-upgrades" until he went full MadScientist. This results in a couple {{Gonk}}s turning into supermodels, a [[WesternAnimation/BatmanTheAnimatedSeries Bane]] {{expy}}, and himself becoming a WalkingWasteland. In his next appearance he's trying to create a ''fully organic Transformer''. Uh... ew? |
| 404 | *** Sari is eventually [[RoboticReveal revealed to be]] a (small) Transformer with a human alt-mode and flesh, though the organic parts [[MeatSackRobot only seem to be on the exterior]]. |
| 405 | ** ''WesternAnimation/TransformersPrime'' confirms during "Operation: Bumblebee" that Cybertronians ''do'' have techno-organic parts, such as Bumblebee's damaged voice box, and their T-Cogs, the part that enables them to transform. This is used to HandWave away the question of why they simply can't just manufacture replacements damaged or missing parts of their bodies, despite being MechanicalLifeforms. |
| 406 | * The Martians from ''WesternAnimation/YoungJustice2010'' favor this, with both their clothes and their spaceships being excellent examples. In season one, the villains manage to combine the bio-tech with more inorganic technology and magic to produce a highly effective MindControlDevice. |
| 407 | [[/folder]] |
| 408 | |
| 409 | [[folder:Real Life]] |
| 410 | * Mankind: Agriculture? Cattle breeding? Genetic engineering? Grafting? ''Medical'' Grafting? In vitro fertilization? We're quite big on organic technology ourselves. |
| 411 | ** [[http://rootbridges.blogspot.com/2009/08/blog-post.html Living Bridges]]. |
| 412 | ** [[http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/TEDTalks_video/~3/HGgqQj7PhQc/667 Building with "protocells".]] |
| 413 | * Some social insects are also fond of this: the beehive is 100% organic, while the ant-colonies can be very complex structures: the BugWar came from somewhere, you know. |
| 414 | ** Of course, most of these are not alive. They're just built out of various bodily excretions. However, when an army ant colony enters its stationary phase, its members form a living nest by latching onto each other to form walls. During the swarm phase, soldiers can also form living bridges, rafts, and scaffolds. |
| 415 | ** UsefulNotes/RichardDawkins calls this "the extended phenotype." Basically, the way they build their nests or hives is determined by the genome, hence there is little difference between it and, say, their feelers. Then there's some debate if a beehive or ant nest as a whole can be considered a living being, similar to the cell colony with some inorganic material in between that we call human. |
| 416 | ** Full eusociality isn't a prerequisite for this, either: paper wasps don't have queens or castes, yet their nests can be every bit as complex as beehives. |
| 417 | * Spiderwebs, cocoons, and pretty much anything else that arthropods build from silk. |
| 418 | * [[http://www.engadget.com/2008/05/29/bacteria-computer-is-good-at-math-even-those-pesky-story-proble/ A friggin bacteria computer.]] |
| 419 | * The polymer composite described [[http://science.howstuffworks.com/self-healing-spacecraft.htm here]] might lead to real life organic ships. (In both the real world and Sci Fi meanings.) |
| 420 | * "Biotechnology" is not only an adept description of many jobs available in the biological sciences, but many universities offer it as a course. |
| 421 | * [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carbon_nanotube_field-effect_transistor Carbon nanotube transistors]]. Okay, so they're closer to the scientific definition of Organic Technology than most examples, but having your computer's circuitry be made out of the same stuff as you are fits the idea. |
| 422 | * [[http://spectrum.ieee.org/semiconductors/nanotechnology/rupturing-the-nanotech-rapture An expert at the IEEE]] says this is the only way we'll get {{Nanomachines}} in RealLife, as much of the previous speculation we made about such machines (namely that they'd be super powerful metallic goos) forgot to take into account that living things are ''already made'' out of nanomachines, and thus many of the constraints of biology would be mirrored into nanotechnology. |
| 423 | * Researchers at Plymouth University have managed to grow components for a music synthesiser [[http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-30182600 from slime mould]]. |
| 424 | * Anything made of paper or wood, since they both originate as trees. |
| 425 | * Living organisms can interact with electricity in various useful ways: |
| 426 | ** Generating electricity: [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microbial_fuel_cell microbial fuel cells]] do this by consuming a fuel of some kind, while [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biological_photovoltaics biological photovoltaics]] do it using energy from light. |
| 427 | ** Transmitting electricity: [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cable_bacteria cable bacteria]] and [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bacterial_nanowires bacterial nanowires]]. |
| 428 | ** Using electricity: [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microbial_electrosynthesis microbial electrosynthesis]] involves microbes that can literally be powered by electricity and which produce useful substances like fuels or drugs. |
| 429 | [[/folder]] |
| 430 |
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