They are extremely durable, capable of taking the continuous and simultaneous fire of four dreadnoughts before they start to lose their kinetic barriers. Capital Ships are also armed with multiple cannons in their 'tendrils' capable of shearing through most opposing vessels in a single hit, a point defense system (similar to the GARDIAN systems favored by organics) for anti-fighter and anti-projectile purposes, and are capable of unleashing swarms of Oculus drones to engage fighter-sized craft. No known ship, not even a dreadnought, has been known to survive a hit from this weapon. Their main weapon is a spinal mounted 'magnetohydrodynamic' cannon with a yield of 132 to 450 kilotons of TNT, which dwarfs the main gun of an Everest-class Alliance dreadnought.

Capital Ship: Also known as Sovereign-class, the two-kilometer-long Capital Ships are the most well-known Reaper subtype.

Exactly how much more powerful it is than a normal Reaper capital ship is unknown.

Harbinger: The first Reaper ever created, Harbinger appears to be of a unique subtype Alliance intelligence identifies it as being the largest Reaper in the armada, and its design differs notably from the Capital Ship subtype, having only four main legs and multiple glowing 'eyes'.

There are several varieties of Reaper, which vary significantly in size, purpose and firepower. The largest known Reaper ships essentially copied the Leviathan form while the smaller ones diverge to varying degrees. 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.

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. 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. 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.

Colossal in size, Reapers are known to range from 160 meters to over 2 kilometers in length. The rear-most of the larger legs have crescent-shaped extensions. 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. 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.Ī Reaper is essentially 'billions of organic minds, uploaded and conjoined within immortal machine bodies.' The Reapers are the original creators of the Citadel and the mass relay network. 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. '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. These giant machines are ancient their true name is unknown. They hibernate there, dormant for fifty thousand years at a time, before returning to the galaxy. The Reapers reside in dark space: the vast, mostly starless space between galaxies. The Reapers are a highly-advanced machine race of synthetic-organic starships.

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