Imperial infantry

Imperial infantry is a branch of military force within Niflheim in Final Fantasy XV consisting of human and cyborg members who fight with magitek-powered firearms. Niflheim deploys two types of soldiers magitek infantry, and imperial infantry. While the commanders seem to deploy both types (besides Aranea, who only works with human infantry), the units in the infantries are different.

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The soldiers with glowing eyes—the infamous magitek infantry—have "magitek" in their names and are humanoid machines powered by magitek cores, produced in imperial magitek laboratories. The soldiers referred to with titles like "Imperial Rifleman" or "Imperial Sniper" on the other hand, who make up the imperial infantry, appear to be human cyborgs. The terms "magitek infantry" and "imperial soldiers" are often used interchangeably, but the magitek types greatly outnumber the soldier types, having largely replaced them. Another type of magitek weapon the empire deploys is the magitek armor, usually large bipedal robots, but recently the empire has developed new forms, from the monstrous Diamond Weapon to the wormlike Immortalis. All three types of units are often deployed together, and sometimes the empire even deploys daemons.

The infantrymen have their faces entirely covered and wear old-fashioned chainmail suits of armor with red imperial insignia. Unlike magitek troopers, which are specifically engineered for engaging enemies, the cyborgs serve a variety of military functions. Imperial infantry are commonly sighted guarding imperial blockades in Lucis after the imperial takeover, whereas the magitek troopers are being deployed from drop ships to hunt down Prince Noctis and his retinue. Though not powered by magitek cores, the infantry uses magiteknology in their weapons, such as the infantrymen's rifles, Ravus's magitek arm and Aranea's Stoss Spear.

How human the cyborg varieties of imperial soldiers are is ambiguous. The soldiers who follow Aranea have a different insignia on their armor to the other Niflheim riflemen, and appear to be human, as Aranea doesn't work with magitek soldiers. High Commander Ravus Nox Fleuret could be considered a cyborg for his magitek arm prosthetic, and thus the cyborg soldiers could be similarly enhanced but otherwise human. Brigadier General Caligo Ulldor is shown conversing with imperial infantrymen, whereas the MTs are silent. They are also never deployed from drop ships, suggesting they may not survive drops from heights. Imperial infantrymen also never wield impossibly large weapons a human could not be expected to be able to handle, whereas some of the MTs' do. However, the cyborg soldiers disperse into smoke when defeated, the way daemons tend to die, and in Final Fantasy XV: Episode Prompto are found at the magitek facilities even if the research notes there suggest there are no human staff left in these places. According to the bestiary, the Imperial Rifleman was created using technology introduced by Ardyn Izunia and they have been mass produced.