Magitek infantry

The magitek infantry is an army of robotic soldiers that serves Niflheim in the Final Fantasy XV Universe. It was introduced by Chancellor Ardyn Izunia to be further developed by Verstael Besithia. Its forces appear in Final Fantasy XV, Brotherhood Final Fantasy XV, and Kingsglaive: Final Fantasy XV.

Story
In M.E. 722 Ardyn Izunia entered Niflheim and proposed the development of a magitek army. A year later, the Empire began mass producing magitek soldiers in preparation for war with Lucis. As Niflheim's new forces overwhelmed Lucis two years later, the reigning monarch of Lucis concentrated the nation's magical barrier around the Crown City and took up a siege position.

As depicted in Kingsglaive: Final Fantasy XV, the magitek infantry invaded Tenebrae in an attempt to kill King Regis and his young son, Noctis. Under the leadership of Imperial General Glauca, it slaughtered many innocent bystanders. Twelve years later, on M.E. 756 the day a peace treaty is to be signed between Lucis and Niflheim, the magitek infantry breaches the Wall and invades Insomnia. It kills the Lucian ruling council and much of the Crown City's populace. Prince Noctis and his friends are not in the city when it is invaded, as they are on their way to Altissia.

As depicted in Brotherhood Final Fantasy XV, Noctis, Ignis Scientia, Gladiolus Amicitia, and Prompto Argentum stop for a meal at a diner. As the friends eat, they see a Niflheim airship dispatch several magitek infantrymen outside. Noctis and company devise a strategy to defeat the robots and attack. Later on, after Noctis and his allies slaughter a Garula, they are confronted by more magitek infantrymen. The synthetic soldiers are easily dismantled, and the fight against them reminds Gladiolus of how he and Noctis became friends.

Ravus Nox Fleuret is appointed the leader of the magitek infantry by Verstael after Insomnia's fall. He uses it to attack Noctis and his allies, as well as in attempts to kill the astrals. Many of Ravus's magitek infantrymen are lost in the battle against Leviathan.

In the Piztala region, a horde of magitek troopers attacks a train carrying Noctis and his friends. Noctis and Prompto team up to fend them off. Meanwhile, in Gralea, the Starscourge has broken out as a virulent plague and decimated the capital city. Researchers identify that the overuse of daemons in their army causes the outbreak, but are unable to do anything. Magitek infantrymen begin to go haywire and attack imperial citizens.

When Noctis goes to Gralea to rescue Prompto, he learns magitek infantrymen are daemons encased in lightproof armor. He finds several of the robotic soldiers lying dormant within Zegnautus Keep, and also discovers that, under the code name "Project Deathless", humans were once mass-produced in Niflheim to become magitek troopers. After Noctis, Ignis, and Gladiolus rescue Prompto, they learn he was raised to become a magitek infantryman. Prompto is still able to use the serial code with which he was branded at birth.

As the Starscourge engulfs Eos in an eternal night and even the Emperor Aldercapt becomes a daemon, the Empire is implied to have fallen apart, and magitek infantry is presumably no longer being manufactured. When Noctis and his friends return to the ruins of Insomnia to fulfill the prophecy of the True King, they find Insomnia still swarmed with magitek troopers.

Gameplay
In Final Fantasy XV, the imperial dropships periodically drop magitek infantry to fight Prince Noctis and his party. Magitek infantry are also fought in the imperial bases and during story scenes in Chapters 9 and 11. Magitek troopers are fought in Zegnautus Keep and in the final dungeon.

Etymology
The term originates from Final Fantasy VI, where magitek was similarly developed by the game's the antagonist empire.