scarecrows!

Username: The Deleter

Name:  Triticum Messor

Gender: N/A

Race: Self aware, ambulatory plant

Colour:

Description: Three specimens of Planatio Metit have been entered into this battle.

Triticum Messor is a highly invasive and persistent plant, aggressively chocking out other forms of life in its overriding goal of reproduction. Members of Triticum Messor resemble upright bipedal forms, made out of corded lengths of material resembling straw and green vines. Their height ranges from five feet six inches to six foot seven inches, and they are covered by ragged clothes grown from their bodies in a manner akin to leaves. Their overall appearance resembles earth scarecrows. Triticum Messor moves slowly in a shuffling gait, and they are usually completely silent save from the rustling of their bodies.

An individual member is approximately smart as a chimpanzee, with several caveats. Whilst they have humanoid appendages with numerous “fingers” at the end of their arms, their dexterity is relatively poor and they cannot accomplish complex tasks that would require an opposable thumb. They are capable of using simple tools and can fashion crude weapons from sticks, but are more likely to scavenge tools from their environment. Due to the nature of their reproduction cycle, they prefer sharp tools, and seem to be attracted to curved objects or tools such as scythes and billhooks. Members often group together in small troops, usually to solve tasks beyond their scope or in mass reproduction efforts, but are ultimately solitary creatures. Their thought processes, if they have any, are inscrutable.

Other biological processes, such as how they feed their comparatively large mass and how they see and hear, are unknown at this present time. A particular mystery is how members communicate with each other, although researchers theorise pheromone signals may be utilised.

Outbreaks should be treated with liberal application of fire, as Triticum Messor is highly resilient to other forms of attack and instinctively flees from fire. All known breeding grounds should be patrolled and regularly salted to prevent further reproduction.

Weapons/Abilities: Whilst Triticum Messor has not been fully researched and its full capabilities are still unknown, several major facts have come to light.

The primary danger that Triticum Messor represents to any ecosystem is its highly destructive and invasive method of reproduction. Members of Triticum Messor will stake out an area, usually an acre or so in size, as their territory. Within this area, they will tear down plants and small trees and flatten the land out, occasionally with the help of other members. The owner of this “field” then seeks out more plant material and living animals, killing them and using the dead material as “compost” for their fields. This is usually accomplished by stealth, as many animals do not register Triticum Messor as a threat and are often swiftly brought down.

The range of killing methods varies. The most common method is strangulation or suffocation via invasive vine growth, especially for smaller animals. Larger animals are brought down in groups, or via use of weapons. Some specimens have been observed with thorns or nettle-like stings on their bodies, causing speculation that large or especially resilient prey may be brought down via powerful toxins. Occasionally, members have been spotted stalking wounded prey in a manner similar to the Komodo Dragon.

When an area is sufficiently composted, an act that takes a week or two, the field’s owner then constructs an array or stand made of wooden branches or similar materials, and affixes themselves to it. The plant then expires, releasing thousands of spores into the air that sink down over the fielded area. The spores are highly resilient, able to survive in hostile conditions for up to a year, and require little other nourishment. They soon grow into what appears to be a field of corn carpeted by green vines. These vines eventually bind the stalks together and create new Triticum Messor, which disperse to find new areas to cultivate.

Isolated reports indicate that members of Triticum Messor are showing increased organisation, going so far as to organise in troops akin to primates and appointing leaders. This is false. There is no documented evidence or scientific study that confirms or even suggests behaviour of this nature. Triticum Messor is solitary, and does not have the higher brain functions required to enact this behaviour.

Biography: Whilst its origins are a mystery, Triticum Messor is speculated to be extraterrestrial in origin, arriving either via spores floating through space or on a meteor impact. Since then, the plant has taken a virulent hold on the ecosystem of our planet. Cases of Triticum Messor have been reported mostly in the southern US, particularly in Kansas and other crop-growing states, and in South America, where it has found a home in the rainforests of Brazil. Whilst efforts to curb the plant have been successful in the US, it runs rampant in South America, and cases are being reported worldwide as wind dispersal carries spores to other countries.