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Strange New Neighbors
By Genoclysm

Some weird things have been occurring in the skies of Lore lately, a crashing Protean ship being only the latest example. With this planet's luck, it was probably going to join up with an invasion force before it was sabotaged. What is a Protean? That is a VERY good question. I'm not entirely certain myself. In their relaxed forms, they resemble freaky litt- BIG drops of mercury; however, since everything they've touched hasn't died yet, I can only assume they are not composed of the poisonous metal. They actually seem safe and even cuddly. Their smell… is another story. One of them is a bearable wafting of rotten egg. Some of the knights walking around wearing these critters tend to have enough of them on their person to cause more than a few of us "normal" people to want to gag. These "equipment"s have been highly discouraged in public areas.

One local alchemist, Nixtrix, believes that this is due to a high sulfur content in the crystalline structures of their bodies. He believes they are silicon based lifeforms with a high amount of iron. To feed, they would most likely burrow underground, like worms, and search for iron and quartz to gather material from. If one of them grows big enough, it can split like an amoeba and reproduce in that fashion. Of course with bodies like theirs, they would pick up impurities from time to time. One of the experiences I would never like to have is their "bathing"... To clean and polish themselves, they "swim" through sand. I imagine this is very effective for them, but I prefer keeping my skin bound on my bones to trying it out.

I find it rather hard to differentiate them from each other. The only real difference I've been able to tell is their mindsets. Many of them are servants of the dreaded Network and hostile. The ones I've been studying are rather friendly though. They call themselves the Protectors. They are members of an underground resistance against the Network's enslavement of their world, Protus. I've been told they stowed onto the ship undercover and tried to reach potential allies while keeping the others from reaching theirs. How does one tell friend from foe, though? Their favorite pastimes tend to give them away. The favored pastime of the Agents seems to be stabbing me. If you see a Protean chasing me then odds are it is a bad one. Please help, if so. The pastime of the Protectors is quite another story (thank goodness!). They sing; they actually sing. Their speech is, of course, done by vibrating, but they also are able to make a variety of beautiful sounds by altering their shapes, which cause other varieties of noise. They chime, ring, and all sorts of other things. They can even imitate a xylophone. It is certainly worth checking out to all who have opportunity.

Of course you shouldn't let their art trick you into believing they are overly peaceful. When an ally is threatened, they are known to use their morphing to launch sharp points at the assailant(s), like spears. They can also sacrifice a small amount of their material to launch "bullets" of a sort to attack from farther away. When fighting alongside a human, they act a little bit differently. The human is made to put on a (usually black) cloth buffer suit to lessen the amount of sweat that reaches the Protector and helps keep the person's skin from being irritated by the moving metal body. The Protector then wraps themselves around the host to form a sort of armor. For the average man, it takes three Protectors to make the suit. When combat ensues, the Protectors then shift their mass more towards the areas the enemy is targeting to better guard their ally. They are a spectacular example of teamwork that people could and should learn from. I expect before long I will have many of them I call friends... despite the smell.