Assembler vats

Assembler vats, also referred to as assemblers were nanofabrication facilities utilized by Forerunners to construct all tools and structures used by the Ecumene. Assemblers ranged in size and complexity from small machines used to manufacture personal items to moon-sized foundries capable of constructing entire shield worlds and space stations. Instructions and construction templates on how to build various items were fed to assemblers for mass replication in the form of a design seed, constructed by a pattern-weaver.

Due to their nano-scale construction using smartmatter, items created in the assembly vats can be replicated down to the atom, allowing them to create items with perfect forms and symmetry.

Following the Forerunners' demise, the Covenant would attempt to reverse-engineer assemblers, resulting in the creation of the Assembly Forges - imperfect recreations of the Forerunner technology that were susceptible to mutations in the design pattern, variance in feedstock material and transcription errors.

Known assembler vats
There were several kinds of assembler vat in the Forerunners' empire. They follow a number of different scheme depending on the scale, complexity and artistic integrity of the object they are designed to create. They ranged in scale, from the size of small buildings to as large as entire moons.
 * Master Builder's Fabricae - responsible for creating the Mantle's Approach.
 * Ingens Assembler Vats - responsible for creating powerful vessels and assemblies such as the Keyship Anodyne Spirit.
 * Minoris Assembler Vats - responsible for creating various vehicles such as the Guardian Custodes and Phaeton, as well as more specialized units such as the Retriever Sentinels.
 * Summus Assembler Vats - responsible for creating engineering tools and powerful warships like the s.
 * Ferrarius Assembler Vats - responsible for creating various weaponry such as the Sentinel Beam, Heatwave, etc, as well as more generic units such as the Armigers and Aggressor Sentinels.
 * Requiem Forge - responsible for creating units encountered throughout Requiem and the Created conflict.
 * Mercatus Assembler Vats - responsible for creating structures and mechanisms for civilian use.
 * Artifex Assembler Vats - responsible for creations forged by the brightest minds within the Ecumene.