Zoids are a race of mechanical animal, hailing from the world of Zi and created by Onyx Prime. These mechanical beasts predate the zoidians, but have since formed a sort of symbiotic relationship with them, partnering with them to provide equally assured survival.
Biology[]
The Heart of a zoid, the zoid core, forms when a pulse wave from the Zoid Eve causes an energy, not dissimilar to a transformer's spark, to form in an area covered in cybermatter or sentio-metallico, the metal forming a casing around the energy. The casing then uses information, somehow stored in the energy, to form a body.
Ecosystem Relation[]
Prior to gaining more of a connection to the Zoid Eve through growth,or human interference, a young wild zoid survives and subsists on eating the cores of other zoids, thus, in the world of the wild zoids, only the strongest survive. However zoids raised and gaining a higher connection to the zoid eve as a result, instead draw power from the zoid eve itself, not needing to subsist on other zoids for nourishment. If a zoid's connection to the zoid eve is disrupted, they can be fueled by a liquid known as "Reggel", fuel formed in massive tree like structures called "Generators" that connect into the planet's core. The creation of the Generators was presumably triggered by a safeguard within the zoid eve should it ever shut down. In theory a zoid could also be fueled by energon and other cybertronian fuel sources.
Mystic Properties[]
Zoids, on several occasions, have shown strange and almost magical properties, they are very much empathic weapons, their cores responding and absorbing emotional energies in certain ways to effect how well they handle in combat. Unbeknownst to the Zoidians, their own massive pools of mana can cause odd effects in zoids, varying from a zoid magically healing in response to a pilots determination, to a zoids strength and speed accelerating with an enraged pilot. It's this sort of empathic link connecting a zoid, a pilot's emotions, and a pilot's mana pool, that makes zoids and zoidians such an effective partnership.
A Zoid can also undergo a process with a zoidian known as "Zoid Symbiosis", in which a zoid's core will fuse with a zoidian, giving the zoidian the abilities and strengths of the full sized zoids, with scaled down weapons and armor, the draw back on this for the zoid being they exist in a smaller form and are no longer the primary beings in control of their body.