I am curious as to if the distinction between natural and artificial, between biological and mechanical, might be a false dichotomy.
To propose an analogy; humans really aren't the far from genetic engineering. Given a hundred or two year, it is imaginable (though I'd argue unlikely) that the entire "human genome" will be the result of intentional changes on our part. Such might be termed artificial, but it is also the result of a very natural process (evolution and human enquiry). The Lavos we know and love may be artificial, but that doesn't mean he isn't natural as well, or that he had to have been constructed by an outside entity
(... ooo, Lavos might have been The Entity from another planet gone bad!). Lavos might have made himself.
As for biological and mechanical, likewise humans aren't really that far away from fully integrated cybernetics. Our cells already contain some very foreign materials (mitochondria) that might not be "natural" (see Endosymbiotic theory). It isn't impossible to imagine that humans might develop cybernetic nanites that can imbed themselves into our cells to perform various functions, possibly even to perform functions otherwise impossible through our understanding of DNA and biology (imagine, for example, "lungs" that can extract oxygen from both a gas and liquid, or lungs that can extract carbon as well, removing or reducing the need for it to be present in dietary intakes). Or indeed, even something much more low key, like computer implants in our brain connecting memory to external databases (allowing us to "download" or "upload" memories). Like with the above, machines might be non-biological, but they can be integrated (indeed, it is possible for machines to reproduce and "evolve" as well, so it is possible that given a simple starting point one might develop machine based life, which would still be "biological;" bios being Greek for life, if I recall correctly).
All that is merely to state that Lavos might be both the created and the creator, the
Bad Wolf, to compare to a Doctor Who "character." I don't see a reason to assume that it is a "weapon gone whack" to the exclusion of it being a "cosmic animal."
see? Cosmic animal
Anywho, that is primarily a conceptualization matter.
A few points that I feel should be made clear, however, judging from other people's posts are as follows:
It, also, makes the most of out the mechanical side, namely, the ability to emulate other fiends, the ability to harness 'pure' energy, and theoretically the ability to disassociate itself from conventional space-time.
Emulation of others is curiously a traditionally non-mechanical trait; see Doppelganger. Machines thus far have been very poor at mimicking natural life, in the real world, but excel wonderfully when they are allowed to be machines.
Additionally, there is a long tradition of life being able to "harness" other life. At a basic material level, all animals do this. A little more rarified are leeches and the mythological vampires. Succubuses (Succcubie? Sucoobie? Doo?) are just one example of non-mechanical creatures (mythological though they are) that feed off energy (or semen, depending on how you want to interpret things). Enter into video games and Metroids loom large (though those are supposedly genetically engineered). Enter into anime and, well, Goku's Spirit Bomb (or whatever the real, not dubbed, name of that attack was) is an obvious example.
This is just to say that what you identify as "mechanical" might not be actually evidence of mechanisms.
Again, Lavos guided evolution to his will--so pretty similar.
That is debatable, as it is only clearly indicated as so in the original North American release; Lavos consciously guiding evolution is not present in the original language, so that is probably an artifact of translation.
The Dragon God was a machine comprised of organic living tissue the Dragonians had built in their own dimension. It's purpose was to regulate and maintain balance between the six elements of nature.
Didn't Lavos allow for manipulation of his own set of elements.
Two things here:
One, no, the Dragon god was not comprised of organic living tissue, it was living energy. See the game script:
The Dragon Gods were originally
a singular plasma life-form...
...A living accumulation of the
planet's energy! Originally it was a biological
machine used to control the
powers of nature in the future
society of the Reptites. In order to control the natural
energy itself, FATE divided the
one Dragon God entity up into
6 weaker plasma life-forms...
Then scattered them across
the land and sealed them away.
Their dragon-like appearances
are just pseudo-guises...
...Temporary forms they take
so that they can appear in
this dimension.
I bolded and italicized the two relevant sections. The Dragon God is living energy, and that energy is still biological in nature (how, I have no idea). What we see as the Dragon God is just a "pseudo-guise," presumably that disguise wouldn't effect the Time Devourer's form.
Second, we aren't told if Lavos allowed for the manipulation of his own "elements." We know that "Lightning," Water, Fire, and Shadow were the elements on the universe and that humans "evolved" to harness those using the planet's energy, but the distinction is made between those elements (and their source) and the magic of post-Mammon Machine Zeal. Zeal still used magic, but I don't recall there being any elemental distinction.
As a total aside, it is noted that Elements are derived from the Dragon God, which was created to control the earth's power. The 6 elements might represent earth based forces magic while the 4 elements of CT might represent universal forces (as in CT, elements are specifically placed on an interstellar level, while in CC elements are limited to the earth's energy).
So in essence: Lavos+Schala(Arbiter 1...
I am still rather doubtful that "Arbiter" status can apply in most cases, including this one. Serge was an Arbiter in Chronopolis, as established by those computer systems (not Lavos or the Frozen Flame), and quite separately he was established as an "Arbiter" by the frozen flame to determine the Time Devourer's path of evolution in that instance. It seems quite the stretch to claim that Arbiter status has special powers associated or that Schala herself was ever an "arbiter" of anything.