A Machina Report – Introducing the new "Reclaimer” Medal [Discussion]

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https://ingress.com/news/2023-machinareclaimer/

Agents,

Since November 2022, the NIA has investigated the emergence of a new XM entity, codenamed Machina, within the XM Portal Network. It first made its presence known after the Epiphany Dawn Los Angeles Anomaly, and has continued to evolve and adapt over time. As we studied its ingression, it appears to have also studied us.

Initial Observations

Machina data is not fully comprehensible by current NIA technology, resulting in deformed or corrupted XM constructs from Machina-owned Portals. It appears that Machina can only capture neutral Portals, and Machina Portals exhibit a fragile or decayed state. Although Machina attempts to defend itself by packing a punch and draining significant XM, it also has a glass jaw.

The existence of "cross-links" - intersecting Portal Links - suggests that Machina followed a different set of rules from known XM constructs and energy patterns. Theories have been proposed that Machina may possess its own unique XM Geometry or exist within a distinct subset of spatial dimensions.

Initial Findings

While much remains unknown about this newly discovered entity, Machina is believed to now coexist in our reality. In recent months, numerous findings related to Machina have been presented:

  • Neutralizing Machina Portals: Vigilant Agents have demonstrated that existing XM weapons can neutralize Machina Portals, both Resistance and Enlightened XMPs affect Machina equally. Furthermore, Agent actions have proven effective in preventing further spread of Machina clusters.
  • Machina Cohesion with XM Energy Pattern: the first generation of Machina was fragile due to the low compatibility of its XM energy pattern with ours. However, it is believed that through repeated ingression to our XM Network, Machina will maximize its cohesion with our XM energy pattern by mutating and fitting in our rulesets and XM Geometry.
  • Preventing Machina Seeding on Portals: Another theory proposes that Control Fields of 100K MU or less could be used in preventing Machina from seeding on Portals under the Fields’ control. However, no Field seems to prevent Machina-owned Portals from assimilating nearby Portals.

Source and Introduction into XM Network

While there is still no plausible theory on the source of Machina or how it was first introduced into the XM Network, it is widely accepted that it accumulated sufficient energy to go past The Barrier during the Epiphany Dawn event in Los Angeles and reached a critical mass during the Epiphany Dawn event in Yokohama. The recent investigation on MZFPK, however, put a damper on Machina’s spread. It is still unknown whether upcoming XM Anomalies will fuel another Machina spread.

Possible Paths of Machina Evolution

It is not yet possible for Researchers to predict how Machina may continue to evolve, but some possible paths are:

  • Machina-owned Portals might appear stronger.
  • The ability and rate of a Machina seed to spread might vary, especially during localized XM Anomalies.
  • Machina Links might lose their ability to cross or intersect each other.
  • Machina Links might start forming Control Fields. It is not yet foreseeable how Machina Control Fields might affect human minds.

Residual Machina Energy and the Reclaimer Medal

A recent report on Scanner healthiness suggests that by destroying Machina XM constructs and capturing Portals that were recovered from Machina control, Agents obtain part of the extraterrestrial Machina XM energy via their Scanner. Although there is not yet any robust way for the Scanner to distill and extract such energy for Agents’ use, the NIA would like to award a new medal “Reclaimer” according to the number of captures on Portals recovered from Machina control, starting today.

The 5-tiered Reclaimer Medal can be earned by capturing Portals when their previous owners was Machina:

  • Bronze Tier: 100
  • Silver: 1,000
  • Gold: 5,000
  • Platinum: 15,000
  • Onyx: 40,000

Thank you for your continued support of the research on Machina. 

As always, please remember to be aware of your surroundings. We encourage players to follow local health and safety guidelines when playing Ingress. For the latest on in-game events and feature updates, be sure to check Ingress News.

— The Ingress Team

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