1.1 A SUMMARY OF EVENTS TAKING PLACE PRIOR TO THE FILM "9"
In the world of "9", the Industrial Revolution happened on a much larger scale, resulting in more sophisticated technology by the 1900s. At some point in history; quite likely the 1920s, a "Great World War" began between several nations of the world, one that would ultimately last ten years and result in the crippling of the participating nations, to the point where they were bankrupted, their cities were ruined and their natural resources depleted among other things.
Ten years after the ending of this war, the Chancellor; the leader of one of the nations that fought in the Great World War (believed to be Germany, for reasons discussed below), decided to provide funding to various scientists for research into new forms of technology, and mandated that "20% of all domestic steel and iron" was to be used for scientific research, stating that this would be the way to restore the damaged economy, and ensure "peace, prosperity, and a leisurely life for the citizens of [the] nation". One such person recruited, a former toymaker known only as "The Scientist", was already at work on an artificial intelligence machine that he called the "B.R.A.I.N." (an acronym standing for "Binary Reactive Artificially Intelligent Neurocircuit").
Unfortunately for the Scientist, an insulation accident in the May of that year caused the B.R.A.I.N. to short-circuit. The Scientist worked hard to restore his creation to its former state, but with little success, as the machine's data banks had been wiped in the accident. After an inspection from the Chancellor resulted in the government threatening to cut his funding, the Scientist focused his attention upon information from a book on Alchemy that he had read at some point during the construction of the B.R.A.I.N., spurred by a dream of his containing various symbols from within the book.
The particular symbols he dreamed of corresponded with a specific section of the book; Intellect Transferral. Although initially sceptic, the threat of losing his laboratory prompted him to create a device, based on the symbols from the book, that would allow him to transfer his own intellect to the machine; the Talisman. By June, the machine was working again.
After conducting several simple tests upon the machine, the Scientist officially activated the B.R.A.I.N. Around this time, rebel groups began to voice their displeasure towards the Chancellor and the new forms of technology that were being created. The Chancellor's forces responded by storming their protests and imprisoning several of the activists.
In early July, the Chancellor's forces stormed the Scientist's laboratory and confiscated the B.R.A.I.N., with the intention of conducting their own tests on the machine. The following day, they interrogated the Scientist, and took many design documents and machine prototypes from his lab. To the Scientist's horror, his machine was unveiled to the public not long after as "The Fabrication Machine". Barely a week passed before the machine had managed to create an entire army of machines; allegedly machines of peace, but really "War Machines", equipped with deadly gas bombs. Around this time, the government also began recruiting men for the army. One of the men recruited, Thomas, already had sympathies for the Resistance, and had been following the course of the scientific discoveries made.
War was officially declared on the other nations of the world on the 18th of July. Horrified, the Scientist denounced the Chancellor as being corrupt and warned of the dangers of his machine, before returning to the information that had allowed him to build the Talisman, in the hopes that he could use this to undo some of the damage he had caused. Learning of this, the Resistance managed to track the Scientist down and house him in a safe place, where he was cared for by a woman named Judy.
As the war began to grow, the Chancellor forced the Fabrication Machine to make more and more War Machines, not knowing of the negative impact it was having on the Fabrication Machine. Incidents began to become noticed, such as one War Machine turning on its own forces, and the Fabrication Machine itself attacking a worker in the factory that housed it.
By the beginning of August, the forces of the Fabrication Machine were no longer following the orders of the Chancellor, and were attacking any person they could find; the Fabrication Machine having secretly programmed each machine to kill any form of life that they encountered. The Chancellor ordered his armies to retreat, blaming the Scientist for the actions of the Fabrication Machine, and placing orders for his arrest before going into hiding.
During this, the Scientist continued to work towards remedying the destruction caused by the Fabrication Machine, whose creations were now travelling across the oceans of the world to eradicate life. Although his notes had been confiscated long ago with the B.R.A.I.N., members of the Resistance managed to recover the relevant material and allow him to alter the Talisman so that it could serve a new purpose. Instead of transferring the intellect of a person to another item, the Talisman would transfer a part of a person's soul. The Talisman was also capable of storing such material, and the Scientist specifically used this function to store the memories of various members of the Resistance to safeguard the future of the world.
Not long after this, the Scientist succeeded in creating the first "stitchpunk"; a humanoid machine housed in a cloth body, animated with the life force of the Scientist, which he named "1". Six days later, he had completed the second stitchpunk, aptly named "2". These creations he intended to exist as the last vestige of humanity in a world that was rapidly becoming unstable.
By the time the Scientist finished "3" & "4", the Resistance had decided to launch an attack on the factory housing the Fabrication Machine, aided by Thomas and a group of soldiers; recalled from the battles to guard the Chancellor at a secret base. However, the Fabrication Machine was prepared for them, and their attack was thwarted. While the survivors of the Resistance managed to escape to safety, Thomas and the remaining soldiers fled back to their base, realising too late that they had been allowed to survive so that the Fabrication Machine could discover their location. The base was stormed, and many were killed, the Chancellor included.
The Scientist continued his work, over time finishing "5" & "6". Thomas, who survived the attack, managed to contact the Resistance, and a plan was gradually formulated for a new assault on the factory; specifically targeting a smokestack that could fall and crush the Fabrication Machine. Simultaneously, the Scientist finished "7". Judy, who had been caring for the Scientist through the war, decided to join Thomas and the remaining members of the Resistance as their final assault was carried out. The Scientist finished "8" and released him just as the Resistance began their attack. None returned. The world was silent.
Alone, the Scientist completed his last stitchpunk, "9", and left him a recorded message to find, before activating the Talisman one final time. Unknown to him, the Fabrication Machine, now losing power, was creating a new machine to find the Talisman and return it to the factory, in the hopes that it could power it…
1.2 NOTES REGARDING THE ABOVE EVENTS
1.21 "9" Russian Dub
When the film "9" was released in Russia, several new story points were added to the film through the dialogue. Whether or not these additions are to be considered canon or not is another thing.
ï The Scientist did not create the Talisman, it was an ancient artefact.
ï The Fabrication Machine powered itself with the souls of people, drained from their bodies by the Talisman.
ï The Scientist eventually removed the Talisman from the Fabrication Machine without harm, as the machine recognized him as its creator.
ï Despite being animated by the life force of the Scientist, each of the stitchpunks was made in the image of a person the Scientist knew (including friends, so that they could aid his stitchpunk avatar after their own deaths, and enemies, to allow them to atone for their sins), resulting in them taking on some of the characteristics (and in some cases, memories) of the people they represented;
1 was modelled off the Chancellor.
2 was modelled off a friend of the Scientist, who worked with him.
3 & 4 were modelled off the twin children of the Scientist.
5 was modelled off a medic working for the Resistance.
6 was modelled off an engineer working for the Chancellor.
7 was modelled off the Scientist's wife.
8 was modelled off the Chancellor's Bodyguard.
9 was modelled off the Scientist.
1.22 "9" and the Internet
As part of marketing for "9", several accounts for fictional characters were set up to reveal the story of the. A Facebook account was created for the Scientist, and Twitter pages were created for Thomas, Judy, and the leader of the Resistance. Throughout the events leading up to their (presumed) demises, they sent each other messages and even commented on the various updates listed by the Scientist. It is unclear whether this is supposed to be artistic licensing on the part of the website designers, or whether, as a result of the advancement of technology in the world of "9", a form of the internet indeed existed, prior to the fall of humanity.
1.23 The date "9/9/09"
On several of the propaganda posters listed in the Scientist's journal, the date 9/9/09 is shown. This refers to the original release date of the movie "9". Its inclusion here could simply be an error by the website designers, but it could have been specifically marked by the Chancellor, perhaps as a scheduled date of victory in war over the other nations of the world.
1.24 The Scientist and the Talisman
It is unclear exactly how the Scientist managed to recover the Talisman from the B.R.A.I.N., after it was installed into the Fabrication Machine, and use it to create the stitchpunks. It could have been that at some point after the creation of the Fabrication Machine, the Scientist visited the factory that housed it, and removed the Talisman himself. The Russian dub of the film in fact uses this version of events to explain how he obtained it. If he did remove the Talisman, he must have done it during the time between the unveiling of the Fabrication Machine, and the time he went into hiding; roughly some two weeks apart.
The only other likely way the Talisman could have been retrieved would be through the actions of the Resistance. It is known from the online sources that several notes crucial to the Talisman's design that the government confiscated from the Scientist were later retrieved by the Resistance, and the Talisman may have been stolen from the Fabrication Machine during this, or a similar incursion upon the regime of the Chancellor (or possibly even a grand tour of the facility, which the Director's Commentary suggests is where the doll head used in the construction of "The Seamstress" came from). The problem with this theory is that it would be very difficult to remove such a device from a sentient machine, regardless of whether or not they had been noticed by security guards. It could have been that the Talisman was removed by a worker in the factory or someone connected to the project, and was later recovered by a member of the Resistance, but the problem remains of how they would have managed to fool the Fabrication Machine into giving up the Talisman.
1.25 The Gas
The poisonous gas used by the War Machines, while deadly, did not permanently taint the air of the world. The leader of the Resistance mentions that it lingers in the air for hours, but presumably dissipates. This is supported by the fact the Scientist is shown in his lab without any forms of protection against the air, meaning that it is safe by this point. This could mean that some forms of life escaped the gasses of the War Machines. It is quite likely that the oceans of the world escaped the purges of the War Machines, as they intentionally targeted humans.
1.26 The Nation
The nation that acts as the setting for the events for "9" is never identified in any material, presumably to allow for some ambiguity on the matter. However, some information can be discovered about it by examining the few descriptions. It is known that the nation is a fascist state, led by a dictator known as "The Chancellor", and that their nation emerged victorious from a "Great World War".
The symbol of the nation, in addition to it being an allusion to Nazi Germany, also helps to figure out where this nation is located. The colouring of the Nazi flag; Red, White and Black, came from the flag of the German Empire, which in turn took its colours from the flags of Prussia and the Hanseatic League, both of which were located in Northern Europe. With this in mind, it is likely that the nation in "9" is Germany, or a state derived from it. This would also mean that, if the Great World War had similar origins to World War I, the Central Powers were the victors.
The title of Chancellor is a government position that has existed in Germany since its formation as the German Empire. Because the dictator of the nation in "9" is known as the Chancellor, this could suggest that the Chancellor overthrew, or convinced people to revolt against the Emperor of Germany, and then took control, reworking the country as a fascist state.
The city in "9" is not explicitly named (although the Director's Commentary mentions it was made to resemble Vienna), but is presumably the capital of the nation, due to the fact that the Fabrication Machine was installed there. The defensive walls surrounding the city in "9" also suggest that the city is an older one, as the defensive walls of many old cities were dismantled to provide room for new regions. The fact that these walls are intact could mean that the city was originally a smaller town that was later made the capital, or it could be that many city walls were left standing in this alternate history.
One final thing worth noting is that the number three appears to pop up in several places. Not only is the national symbol a three-pronged shape, but it is also surrounded by a three-sided shape, a triangle. The Fabrication Machine, specifically the part encasing the B.R.A.I.N., is also triangle shaped. It could be that the fascist state in "9" places some form of value upon the number three; perhaps the nation was founded upon three main laws, or maybe it represents three things that lead to a good life. It could also be said that the stitchpunks represent this, since there are nine of them, or three sets of three.
2.1 THE TALISMAN
The Talisman is a device that was built by the Scientist with one purpose; to transfer a part of a person from them into an otherwise inanimate object. Using information from an old book on Alchemy, he managed to create the Talisman, at first to allow him to transfer his intellect to his other creation; the B.R.A.I.N. It was later that he would redesign the Talisman to allow it to transfer his life force to another creation of his; the stitchpunks.
From what is currently known, the Talisman has at least three functions:
One: The transfer of "essence" from one thing to another; seen when the Scientist and the Fabrication Machine use the Talisman.
Two: The capture of "essence" from something; seen when "9" destroys the Fabrication Machine with the Talisman.
Three: The release of "essence" from the Talisman; seen at the end of the film.
In other words, the Talisman has the power to transfer "essence" from one thing to another and give it "life", whether or not the object is alive to begin with. Essence here refers to (but may not be limited to) mental and spiritual energy, as the Talisman was capable of transferring both at different points in time.
Since the information that led to the construction of such a device evidently existed for a time before the advent of technology, it may be that pieces of essence transferred into inanimate objects may be able to move themselves without complex machinery to aid them. However, the stitchpunks of "9" are shown to have fully mechanical "bodies", consisting of a basic skeleton, spring joints to aid in movement and a mechanical brain of some sort, all of which is powered by the life force of the Scientist, which shows that they, at least, are dependent on the machinery to live.
It is unclear whether or not the destruction of the "body" will result in the release of the essence; 6's attempt in the film to prevent the destruction of the Fabrication Machine before the spirits of the slain stitchpunks could be retrieved suggests that the essence remains bound to its body, regardless of what damage is done to it. While the spiritual essence of a creature can be said to leave the body at death, since an inanimate object is neither alive nor dead, this could leave the spirit attached to its body indefinitely even if the body was destroyed.
This potential dilemma could be remedied through two ways; either by repairing the damage done to the protective body, or by using the Talisman to remove the essence from the body, although another possible action would be to construct a replacement body and then transfer the essence into that. Alternatively, it could be that the Fabrication Machine had specifically stored the spirits of the stitchpunks somewhere within itself to provide energy, which could have left them trapped following the destruction of the machine.
By removing the spirit from the body and releasing it, this allows the essence to move freely through the world. As shown at the end of "9", transferred essence is not dependent on a "body" to exist, as the "spirits" of the fallen stitchpunks are able to remain on earth for a short period of time, before moving on to another plane of existence. Not long after this occurs, rain starts to fall, and little microbes can be seen in the water. In other words, the spirits have dissipated, allowing their essence to inhabit the water vapour in the sky, the result being that this has created a new form of microscopic life. In time, this will evolve into more complex life forms, thus restoring forms of life to Earth.
2.2 THE TALISMAN AND "MEMORIES"
Through various notes left behind by the Scientist, it is known that shortly before he started making the stitchpunks, he was using the Talisman to store the "memories" of the people around him; probably members of the Resistance, as he was being kept safe by them at this point.
It is not known how the Scientist stored "memories" in the Talisman, but since the Talisman's original purpose was to transfer intellect from one thing to another, it could be that he transferred memories using the same process.
The likely reason that the Scientist stored the memories of the people around him was for the same reason he built the stitchpunks; so that some remnant of humanity would survive the Fabrication Machine, hence him also leaving the Talisman to the stitchpunks so that they might "protect the future", perhaps envisioning a later date where life had been restored to the world, and humanity rebuilt using the memories contained within the Talisman.
These memories may or may not have been released at the end of the film along with the spirits of the slain stitchpunks. Whether or not they were responsible for the return of life to earth via microbes is debatable, although it is worth noting that in an older script for "9", the Talisman causes it to rain before the spirits of the stitchpunks depart, suggesting that they were not responsible for the return of life.
2.3 THE TALISMAN AND THE FABRICATION MACHINE
It is worth noting is that since the "intellect" transferred into the Fabrication Machine using the Talisman was enough to power it initially, it is possible that the "memories" contained within the Talisman were what caused the Fabrication Machine to be reactivated. It is clear that the Fabrication Machine was not fully dependent on the Talisman to survive, as that was removed from it early into the war, yet it still functioned throughout it. Presumably, it had a secondary power source that was damaged in the final attack by the Resistance.
It is known that the Fabrication Machine built the Cat Beast in its final moments to regain the Talisman, presumably because it remembered that it had been responsible in bringing it to life, and thought it might be able to power it. It would not have been aware that the Talisman had the power to capture the essence of living things, as that function was added to the Talisman after it was removed from the Fabrication Machine.
The Talisman was inadvertently activated upon its return to the Fabrication Machine, and it is likely that, upon reawakening, the Fabrication Machine realised that the spirits of the stitchpunks could be used to power it indefinitely, and decided to hunt them down instead of exterminating them.
2.4 THE TALISMAN AND THE FALLEN STITCHPUNKS
Unless the spirits went on to an afterlife of sorts, or dissipated completely into the microbes, it could be possible to reanimate them using the Talisman. Since no damage occurs to the "body" during the transfer of life from one object to another, it could be possible to reanimate the fallen stitchpunk by tracking down each stitchpunk's unique essence, and using the Talisman to return the spirit to the body of the fallen stitchpunk.
This could be done by trapping the spirit of the stitchpunk within the Talisman, and then projecting it upon the body. However, since the Talisman is never shown to have the ability to project essence as well as capture it, this may not be possible. Alternatively, the Talisman could be used to directly transfer a spirit without a body into the body, in a process similar to how the Scientist initially gave life to the stitchpunks.
SOURCES
For more detail on some of the things discussed in this paper, you might wish to "go back to the source" and read some of the original material used to write this.
The "Scientist's Lab" can be explored here:
http://www.9experiment.com/The Scientist's Journal can also be read on Facebook, which is here:
http://www.facebook.com/9scientistThe Twitter account for "Thomas" can be seen here:
http://twitter.com/9_ThomasThe Twitter account for "Judy" can be seen here:
http://twitter.com/9_JudyThe Twitter account for the Resistance Leader can be seen here:
http://twitter.com/rebel123456789A transcript for the Russian dub of "9" can be found here:
http://thexsource.proboards.com/index.cgi?...read=648&page=3 
