First perfected in the labs of the Axis Corp., Sebastian Drake’s quantum replicating nanobots at first worked with only with non-organic substances, in as much as they were employed to create buildings, weapons and fulfil other common manufacturing needs.
It was inevitable, however, that this technology would eventually be applied to living flesh, and thus those quantum replicating nanobots rapidly became capable of fusing, merging and manipulating living organisms.
In the Endworld (brought into being after the Rapid Contraction of M3) there are innumerable “living” creatures that are merely genetic reconstructions built out of quantum nanobots.
Indeed, we might be called to wonder–what does it matter if a creature is composed of nanobots or living cells, after all, are they not in fact the same thing? And it is true–the genetic-replicas of the nanobots are indistinguishable from a “true” version. This can only occur, however, should the nanobots reach a state of what is called “unified settlement”.
Unsettled nanobots, on the other hand, cause rapid and horrific mutations, such that a creature that at first appears in the shape of a wolf may spontaneously form six legs, then eight and go on to become a wolf-sized spider.
Similarly, a creature comprised of unsettled nanobots will likely be in seach of sustenance it seeks in order to fulfil its objective (in this case–to become “settled”) and as such, is likely to be extremely aggressive, violent and irrational.
In some parts of the Midlands there are huge swarms of unsettled nanobots, giving rise to nightmarish, ever-changing, living swamps full of teeth and spleen and eyeballs.
Michael Scott Hand 