These giant machines are ancient; their true name is unknown. "Reapers" was a name bestowed by the Protheans, the previous galactic power fifty thousand years before, and the geth refer to them as the Old Machines. In the end, the Reapers spare little concern for whatever labels other races choose to call them, and merely claim that they have neither beginning nor end.
The Reapers are the original creators of the Citadel and the mass relay network. These massive constructs exist so that any intelligent life in the galaxy would eventually discover them and base their technology upon them – all part of a scheme to harvest the galaxy’s sentient life in a repeating cycle of purges that has continued relentlessly over countless millennia.
A Reaper is essentially "billions of organic minds, uploaded and conjoined within immortal machine bodies."[1]
In terms of physical design, Reapers bear superficial resemblance to a cuttlefish or squid, with a bulky semi-cylindrical body, a tapering plate over the rear and five tentacle-like "legs" or arms extending from its front end, in addition to six jointed legs extending from its body. The rear-most of the larger legs have crescent-shaped extensions. Colossal in size, Reapers are known to range from 160 meters to over 2 kilometers in length.
The core of any Reaper is constructed in the image of the species that was harvested to create it, while the exterior follows a standardized design that is most efficient for their purpose.[2] When the Reaper fleet is revealed in dark space, they are shown to all share the same basic design, but with great diversity in limb number, shape and orientation, some with extended heads and others having multiple glowing lights. This may illustrate the variety of Reaper subtypes, as it is revealed during the Reaper invasion of the galaxy that several different varieties of Reaper exist.
While the outward appearance varies between subtypes, all of them retain features of their forebears the Leviathans, an ancient aquatic race that dominated the galaxy in ages past. The largest known Reaper ships essentially copied the Leviathan form while the smaller ones diverge to varying degrees.
Reapers and their technology have been observed to exert a disturbing influence on organic beings. This mental manipulation is known as indoctrination. Put simply, any organic being who is in close proximity to a Reaper or certain Reaper artifacts for too long comes to believe the Reapers are correct in their goals, and will do anything to serve them. Gradually, the mind is eroded until the individual becomes a mindless slave no longer capable of independent thought.
Reapers can control the rate of this process. Optimally, the subject is led to believe it is still acting on its own convictions. Indoctrination can drive people mad outright, and people deemed useful by the Reapers are given just enough free will to remain competent at their tasks.
This indoctrination is permanent, almost impossible to subvert, and is one of the most insidious weapons of the Reapers. Entire civilizations can be delivered into the Reapers' hands by the indoctrination of a few influential individuals. During the invasion of Earth, the Reapers broadcast messages inviting diplomats into their holds to negotiate, where they would then presumably be indoctrinated.
A Reaper's indoctrination field can remain active even if it is largely disabled and incapable of action. A Cerberus science team was indoctrinated by being inside a Reaper that had otherwise been floating derelict for 37 million years, its only obvious activity being mass effect field generation.
Even without their indoctrinating influence, Reapers are immensely powerful warships and their technology is devastating. One armament common with the various subtypes is a powerful "magnetohydrodynamic" weapon which ejects a stream of molten metal at a fraction of the speed of light, capable of tearing through a cruiser in a single sustained burst. The gigantic spinal-mounted gun of capital-class Reapers is able to rip through the hulls of even the largest of dreadnought-class ships with ease, effortlessly penetrating their kinetic shields. Reaper defences include powerful shields that could block the projectiles of an entire fleet, along with an incredibly strong hull.
Though they are sentient machines, the Reapers have habitable interiors that can transport a crew, either to help spread their indoctrinated slaves or to allow these slaves to tend to them, probably both. Speculation in the Codex suggests that each individual Reaper has a massive element zero core which, coupled with the likely enormous quantities of energies at its disposal, allows it to generate the staggering mass effect field needed to land ships of their size on a planet.
However, the Reapers are not invincible. When the Reapers go into states of hibernation between cycles, they are vulnerable. By taking refuge in dark space, the Reapers ensure they will not be discovered by accident and destroyed while they wait for their vanguard to open the Citadel mass relay. A concentrated effort by the fleets of organic races could also destroy a Reaper even if it is at full power.
Reapers recognize each other through a complex Identify Friend/Foe system. Reaper interrogation signals do not simply look for a friendly transponder code, they look for a friendly intelligence. If other races attempted to steal the IFF for themselves, the IFF comes with a virus that can potentially disable any system it's hooked up on. The virus can be countered; one of the known ways is to set an unshackled artificial intelligence upon it.
Aside from their formidable firepower and indoctrination, Reapers are also capable of mustering up their own ground forces to attack their enemies: husks. Husks are aggressive, mindless drones, created from organic beings who are exposed to Reaper technology, such as dragon's teeth, resulting in their organic bodies being consumed by cybernetics. Husks are used as shock troops and swarm enemies in waves. Occasionally, to bolster husk defenses the Reapers will employ devices known as Barrier Engines that cocoon individual husks in a durable biotic barrier or possess certain husks to improve their combat prowess. For long-range offensives they usually outfit their husks with integral weaponry, although Reapers have been known to also manufacture handheld weapons like the Reaper Blackstar.
Because of the Reapers' technological superiority, the galaxy's factions actively studied or reverse-engineered what they could from them. Known products of such research include the Thanix cannon, the M-597 Ladon, and parts of EDI's AI.
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