Genome (Final Fantasy IX)

The Genomes are a race of androids in Final Fantasy IX. They are beings produced by Garland.

Profile
According to the Ultimania, Garland began creating Genomes around 3000 years prior to the game's beginning to act as vessels for the Terran souls so that Terra's civilisation could one day be revived. Terra was an old planet whose civilisation attempted to save it by fusing it with a younger planet, however, the Fusion between Terra and Gaia was a failure. The Terran people gave up their physical bodies and laid to rest, giving Garland the job of finishing the Fusion. Garland then created the Genomes as bodies the Terran souls could embody once the Fusion would be complete.

Being created as empty vessels, the majority of Genomes do not have souls, and they have little emotional response. Genomes are ageless beings who aren't normally born as children, but are created as they appear in the game. The Genomes frequently mention that their bodies only begin to grow once they receive a soul. Genomes are created as males and females due to asexual beings lacking the genetic diversity to adapt to new environments. The Genomes' entire lives are dedicated to exercising and staying in good health in preparation for receiving a soul, but before gaining one, their lives remain incomplete. It appears that Genomes never sleep, and also find Gaia's blue light "painful", but it is mentioned that adapting to pain is part of their "training". The Genomes also seem to be rather knowledgeable of the world and the soul cycle and Garland's plan concerning their lives. It is mentioned, that although fleeting knowledge is useless to vessels, information is given to prevent mental atrophy. The Genomes themselves are continually bred to higher standards and a laboratory has been set up in Bran Bal for the purpose of measuring their suitability as vessels for research in order to create and grow even higher breeds of Genome.

Garland eventually made three Genomes with souls, who were more powerful than regular Genomes. The first of the three, Kuja, was created to wreak havoc on Gaia to accelerate its soul cycle. Garland, however, viewed Kuja a failure as he was incapable of complex emotions making him unable to enter Trance. Garland went on to create a second Genome who would start its life as a child and thus through growth and learning would be able to develop emotions. This Genome was Zidane. Kuja felt threatened by his younger "brother" and left him on the very planet he was to destroy. Garland then created the third Genome, Mikoto, again as replacement for the already existing "Angels of Death", should they both fail in their mission to send Gaian souls to the Iifa Tree.

Story
Zidane does not learn of his identity as a Genome until he and the party travels through the Shimmering Island to Terra. There, Mikoto leads the otherworlders to Bran Bal, the village of Genomes. Zidane and his companions are shocked to discover that the Genomes look exactly like him. However, all the Genomes, save Mikoto, are unresponsive, and Zidane asks Mikoto about their true nature. Mikoto's explanations serve only to send Zidane into a brooding state, unsure of his exact nature. Later, Garland appears before Zidane and reveals his entire plan for Gaia, Terra, Genomes, and his trio of Angels of Death.

After escaping Kuja's destruction of Terra on the Invincible, the party leaves the Genome survivors with the Black Mages, where they continue to live until the end of the game.

Trivia
"Genome" was likely taken from the molecular biology term of the same name. In science, a genome is "the entirety of an organism's hereditary information. It is encoded either in DNA or, for many types of virus, in RNA".