Rusalki

The Rusalki are huge, sentient war machines created several centuries before the events of Axiom Verge. Each Rusalka has a unique personality and appearance. Generally though, the Rusalki are blue-grey in color, have a machine-like body, and a humanoid face. The Rusalki's appearance can be likened most to the famous art style of H.R. Giger. All Rusalki encountered in the game are female.

Ophelia tells Trace that "Rusalki" is Elsenova's word for these beings, implying not only Elsenova's Slavic origins, but also that there are other words used to describe them. "Kuliltu" is the Sudran word for the Rusalki, and can be found in several of the game's Notes. The Rusalki communicate with each other in writing on green tablets in their own language called Vykhya.

Throughout the game, the player will meet several Rusalki.

List of Rusalki

• Elsenova
• Veruska
• Ophelia
• Oracca
• Daraga
• Katrahaska (deceased)

Rusalki appear to be biomechanoid to a point and require maintenance to stay alive. They rely on huge rooms filled with biotechnology, some of which can be seen in Zi; The Power Filter, Venous Filtration, and Arterial Shaft. They can also be poisoned- though unknown whether biologically or technologically- and can be killed, despite the Sudrans' assumption of the Rusalki's immortality. Observed from Katrahaska's body- and possibly all of the Rusalki- are Nanogates, those of which extracted from Katrahaska's remains were used on Trace to control him and allow him to be rebirthed repeatedly to accomplish the Rusalki's mission of killing Athetos.

They can self-repair and interact with the environment by controlling Repair Drones. Without the Power Filter and Repair Drones, they will slowly die. When first seen, Elsenova is in a dilapidated condition, with cracks and damage to her head and cables; most noticeably missing her lower jaw. Once the Repair Drones are reactivated, however, she can be seen restored, with a new lower jaw and a cleaner, newer appearance.

Through most of the game, most of the Rusalki are stationary, a head attached to the walls and floors by huge tube-like metal cables. There is a hangar in Edin that houses three bodies that the Rusalki can mount in order to move freely in different terrain. Elsenova uses the Repair Drones to attach to the serpent-like flying type body before Trace goes to confront Athetos. Two other bodies are shown in the hangar: one is scorpion or lobster-like, the other is squid-like. The squid is most likely belonging to Veruska due to the reddish color of the squid matching her own, while the lobster is likely Ophelia's due to its similar color and its similar forward-facing position.

Etymology

Pluralization

One Rusalka is a single entity. As a group, they are called by the plural form "Rusalki".

Folklore

The term originates in West Slavic folklore, where a rusalka is a water nymph or female spirit, who gives moisture to crops in the spring. They are often malevolent spirits and can sometimes leave the water and climb trees or sit on docks. The word is also sometimes used to refer to mermaids. In 19th century tales, a rusalka is an undead spirit of a woman who drowned, either from suicide or murder, who haunt the waterway they died in or around until their death is avenged. Some tales relate them to the modern siren, luring men close so the rusalka can ensnare them with her hair and drown them.

Elsenova says that the term "Rusalki" is "like water machine", which may be a reference to the water nymphs of folklore, while also a reference to the aquatic animal-like bodies in the Edin hangar.

Kuliltu

Related to kulullû ("Fish-Man" a.k.a. "Dagan"/"Dagon") from ancient Mesopotamian religion. Kuliltu is "Fish-Woman". They have the upper body of a human and the lower body and tail of a fish, much like merfolk.

Speculation

The Rusalki were likely once human, composed of Kazakhs who were hired by Hammond's Antarctic Research Team and Indra. The Kazakhs demanded six submarines from the team, and eventually broke off from them. They discover The Emergence and use its time-slowing properties to dedicate themselves to evolving their form and observing humanity's evolution, using whatever technology they find to slowly change their appearance.

Midway through Axiom Verge 2, Indra has her body stolen from her and is confined to that of her remote drone. During the end credits, a detailed view of her is shown in a humanoid form that greatly resembles Ophelia. This, plus Indra's affinity for Shakespeare and certain dialogue in the last cutscene, imply Indra becomes Ophelia after the events of the game.

At the end of Axiom Verge 2, Indra also meets with Drushka to form an alliance and discuss looting the technology on A'ansur. At this point, Drushka is twice the height of a normal human. After raiding the leftover technology on Kiengir, they may have all used it to evolve themselves as Rusalki. Elsenova describes the Rusalki as "water machines", which may be a reference to the submarines that they repurposed for their full bodies. They requested six submarines, and there are six Rusalki total on Sudra- which one is Drushka, however, is unknown.