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Following Angela's creation of her nanotechnology and the revolution she brought to the nanobiology field, both* Ziegler siblings underwent a surgery to be injected with nanites similar to those found in the Caduceus staff. They circulate throughout the body in the blood and can be used to heal with a physical touch, as Angela did with Mei in the 'Zero Hour' cinematic, and keep both* siblings in good health, healing any wounds they might suffer in the line of duty so that they can continue to function as field and combat medics.
Although intelligent, and specifically engineered to heal the body to a fit state, the nanites are not sentient and are incapable of independently recognising how a body is broken, only that is is -- for example, if a bone is broken and the two halves are not perfectly aligned with one another, the nanites are able to detect the bone is broken but are unable to independently recognise that the two halves will need to be realigned with each other before any fusion should take place in order for the bone to be considered healed from a human perspective, not just a bio-technological perspective. To address this, both* siblings had neural chips implanted that would help them control how the nanites would heal and to communicate with them directly, being able to utilise their medical education and biological knowledge to direct exactly how injuries should be healed to best avoid improperly healing civilians and colleagues in the field and leaving their bodies a grotesquerie of mishealing in horrific conditions.
There is not an infinite supply of these nanites however, and although they are self-regenerating over time, these are more often used for smaller, more visible injuries that can be correctly diagnosed and immediately addressed or for injuries to be treated in a tighter space where it may be more awkward or difficult to wield the Caduceus staff. For injuries that may require more extensive or prolonged use of nanobiotics, or they are unable to come into physical contact with the injured party, the Caduceus staff is used, as it has a greater pool of self-replicating nanites that can be utilised over a greater distance. While these can also be directed by the neural implant, and will be directed as needed, these are not often directed to the same precise level as those transmitted through physical touch as the staff is most often employed in the heat of battle when the general instruction of healing any injuries suffered in battle as they are suffered can be easily understood and executed by the staff's nanotechnology.
As there is not an infinite supply of nanites transmitted by physical touch, overuse of these nanites can result in dehydration, nausea, fatigue and full body aches at lower levels of overuse, and bleeding from the nose and ears, full body exhaustion, and intense myalgia at the most severe levels of overuse. This can only be remedied by allowing the internal nanites to self-replicate and regenerate -- while using the Caduceus staff on themselves will at least partially abate the physical symptoms for a time, it will not restore the levels of the internal nanites.
While Angela's nanobiotics revolutionised the medical field, there are injuries sustained in the field that cannot be healed exclusively with this nanotechnology alone, such as injuries sustained in car crashes, air strikes, and the like, as those injuries would potentially include internal bleeding, hidden broken bones, intermuscular injuries the injured party themselves may not be aware of and may be unable to communicate, etcetera. As such, the internal nanites are capable of performing a full-body scan, sweeping through an injured party's body to highlight injured areas, where the nanites compare their findings in the injured's body to the schematics of how the human body should look when in perfect health and report any discrepancies, which are communicated back through the implant. From there, it is left to the healer to parse the relevant information and interpret actual injuries suffered versus ongoing health concerns -- for example, a scan on Cole may reveal some smoke-related damage to his lungs due to his smoking, but that information would not be prevalent when treating him for a bullet or laser wound. The level of information relayed in these scans is relatively in-depth and highlights every missing correlation without specification -- for example, it will highlight a bone is broken in a certain area, but will not indicate how it is broken, the severity of the fracture, if the break has caused other injuries to the surrounding tissue in the same area. Repeated use of nanites in this fashion, without rest or sufficient breaks, can result in high intensity migraines and overall fatigue. These scans are not possible through the Caduceus staff nanites, as those nanites are engineered specifically to heal or bolster the body, nothing else outside of those parameters.
Given the varying biologies of Overwatch agents, both pre-Fall and post-Recall, such as Lena and the chronal accelerator, the prevalence of high-grade prostheses and how they might interface with human biology, and Genji and Sojourn's cybernetic bodies, it is imperative that both* have an understanding of each agent's biology and how their bodies should work as compared to the typical, standard, human biology. As such, it is made mandatory, as part of Overwatch's physical examinations, that a full-body scan taken through machines rather than nanites is carried out, that both* may familiarise themselves with the people they will be working with to better support them. If ever asked about whether this is necessary, or in the face of any reticence, Markus will always be upfront and frank about why this is needed and what, in terms of avoiding any horrific body horror misguided and misinformed healing, they are hoping to avoid.
While they can heal a great deal of injuries from minute to horrific, nanites are incapable of regrowing amputated limbs. If the injury is recent enough and the limb still fresh, reattachment is possible in a very methodical and delayed procedure, albeit not recommended for in-field application. For those such as Torbjorn, Cole, Genji, and Sojourn, however, where their amputations are several years old and the site no longer fresh, it is not possible for any of their limbs to be regrown.
please note: both* refers to the Ziegler siblings as used in this blog's overall canon. When writing with any depictions of Angela, this can be adaptable in line with any headcanons specifically regarding Angela this may retcon or not work alongside.
#( h. ) markus.#long post /#[ explaining why angie self heals (at least in gameplay) and making game mechanics make sense ]#[ the scan is intended as an in universe representation of the critical health warnings supports get albeit w more sensible limitations ]#[ since it doesn't make superb sense to be able to automatically detect someone is in poor health through 17 walls and 2 dps w nanites ]#[ when the same nanites are what you use to heal and you can't heal through 17 walls and half the enemy team ]#[ very heavy inspiration is taken from the chula nanogenes from doctor who and the empty child ]#[ nanobiotics are intelligent enough by themselves to recognise shattered bones should be fixed ]#[ but not enough to recognise that it needs to be fixed by bringing the shattered pieces together THEN fusing ]#[ not just spidering new bone from shattered piece to piece and leaving them with a rib bone like kremvh's tooth ]#[ also partially addressing the resurrection mechanic & how in game heroes are brought back with their prosthetics ]#[ rather than shiny new limbs ]#[ i will expand more on why genji is an outlying case anyway and why angie couldn't just stick him all back together instead later ]
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