Alter Aeon The Great Library

Welcome to the Alter Aeon Historical Archive!

Note - as with any topic, researchers should question the reliability
and veracity of these texts.  The library's aim is to preserve
documents, not verify accuracy.

AABN:  16002
Title: a book titled 'The Metarrexi'

The metarrexi are unintelligent, plant-like entities originally from the
plane of Crepuscula. There, they grow in small colonies that, not unlike
bees or ants, have various mobile forms that perform simple tasks such as
foraging, feeding and defensive patrols. The colonies are centered around
the reproductive form, know as a mastermind, which produces spores that are
dispersed by drone forms.

In the dim light of their native world, the largest caste rarely grow
larger than a handspan. They are ignored by the native matinals as men
ignore scurrying rodents. Long ago, however, metarrexi drones carried
spores into the nearby plane of Diurnas. While most shade-adapted plants
would wither in the noon-like light of that plane, the metarrexi thrived.

They spread rapidly, producing larger, more complex forms that pose a
threat to civilized races. While they do not engage in organized warfare,
they will attack large creatures they perceive as threatening. If an
unlucky traveler stumbles across a mastermind, they may find themselves
swarmed by dozens of defenders. The metarrexi also quickly deplete local
resources with their unchecked growth. Angels on Diurnas regularly patrol
for metarrexi incursions and destroy them, keeping them at bay.

In recent times, mortals traveling to the Planes of Light have managed to
track metarrexi spores back with them. Though dimmer than Diurnas, our
world is more water-rich, and the metarrexi that spawn here have developed
new aquatic forms that traverse the oceans like sailing ships. With their
mindless expansionism, they have proven to be a universal danger, and all
intelligent creatures take note of their presence. Even warring groups of
orcs and elves have been known to call a truce in order to stamp out a
metarrexi colony that takes root nearby.