Replicant

(From the Blade Runner Wiki)

**Replicants** are genetically engineered, bio-enhanced artificial humans with para-physical capabilities.

They were produced by Tyrell Corporation and are currently being produced by their successor, the Wallace Corporation. The Tyrell motto was "More human than human."

## History

Introduced in 2000, the Tyrell Corporation's 'Nexus' series of replicants were virtually identical to standard adult humans, but had superior strength, speed, agility, resilience and intelligence to varying degrees depending on the model. In 2009, the murder of Lydia Kine by a Nexus-4, Nexus 4-331575, prompted further redesigns.

The Tyrell Corporation later introduced the Nexus-6, the supreme replicant — much stronger and faster than, and virtually indistinguishable from, humans. These replicants were also programmed to live for a designated four years, an aspect that prompted a group of replicants to revolt and travel to the Tyrell Corporation to negotiate the terms of their designated life span.

After a bloody mutiny against an Off-world colony staged by a Nexus-6 combat team in 2018, the law forbade replicant existence on Earth, except in the huge industrial complex where they were created. The law did not consider replicants human and therefore accorded them no rights nor protection. Thus, special police units known as "Blade Runners" were assigned to hunt down and retire replicants.

Nexus-6 replicants had a built-in four-year lifespan, created as a safety mechanism to prevent them from developing empathic abilities. Due to their short lifespans, replicants had no framework within which to deal with their emotions, which led to them being emotionally inexperienced. This was especially necessary for Mental-A models whose intellectual capacity at least matched their designers.

Eldon Tyrell sought to change this by gifting replicants with a past through implanted memories and therefore creating an emotional cushion that would make them far more controllable. This vision led to the creation of Rachael, a Nexus-7 replicant who was implanted with the memories of Tyrell's niece and believed herself to be human.

Prompted by Tyrell's death in November 2019 at the hands of Nexus-6 Roy Batty, the Nexus-8 model was rushed onto the market in 2020 with open-ended lifespans and ocular implants with serial numbers for easier identification.

Replicants were widely believed to be the cause of the Blackout in 2022.

In 2023, an indefinite prohibition was placed on replicant production. By this time, all of the Nexus-6 models had been decommissioned due to their four-year lifespans. Surviving Nexus-8 replicants were ordered to be retired, prompting some to go into hiding.

In the 2030s, after acquiring the remnants of the bankrupt Tyrell Corporation, Niander Wallace and Art Ford founded Konor Dynamics (eventually renamed to the Wallace Corporation) and improved upon Tyrell's replicants by making them obedient and able to be controlled. This led to the prohibition being lifted in 2028 and the introduction of the Nexus-9.

Animal replicants (animoids) were developed first for use as pets and beasts of burden after most real animals became extinct.