Phalanxes are special puppets created by Deltas when they're put under duress when alone, serving as stoic guardians that protect their hosts when no other puppet can. A group of Phalanxes is called a scar.

Phalanxes, superficially, look similar to oversized, wingless Wisps, as their bodies consist largely of a semi-transparent psionic membrane that imitates the shape of a puppet. Phalanxes, however, lack wings, instead sporting two large, hoofen pedipalps on their neck. These pedipalps are not long enough to reach the ground unless the Phalanx's head is lowered, and thus Phalanxes run in a very low, hunched posture, otherwise holding their pedipalps alongside their heads in a curled posture.

Notably, Phalanxes are capable of some level of amorphous behaviour. In particular, their bodies and limbs are capable of flattening into concave structures, allowing them to wrap around other creatures like restraints or armor depending on the Phalanx's intent. This flexibility comes at the cost of poor resilience against outside pressures; it only takes a few attacks to dissipate a Phalanx.

Phalanxes are rather intimidating opponents to go up against due to their form factor and their tactics. When alone or protecting a host Delta, Phalanxes will rapidly approach a target before clamping down on as much of their body as possible, restraining the victim physically. Phalanxes also exude psionic waves that interact destructively with nervous signals, further inhibiting the target's ability to move. In this way, Phalanxes act as extremely strong suppressing units, able to cripple the motion of even creatures that they are too small to completely envelop.

When in the presence of other puppets, Phalanxes display a bit more versatility. Their exact tactics depend on what puppets they're paired with; if paired up with ranged attackers like Howitzers and Tricksters, they will use their more usual playbook of restricting enemy movement and occupying enemy attention, allowing attacks to destroy them so they may be reformed elsewhere. When in combat with melee puppets such as Manipulators, they will instead wrap around their allies like armor, directing their psionic effort inward to boost strength and durability.

Most notably, Phalanxes do not die when sufficiently damaged like most puppets, analogues, or elementals. Their bodies break apart, but their consciousness remains in their host Delta's brain activity. Deltas can reform their Phalanxes at will once they're a part of their psyche, and the only way to remove a Phalanx from existence permanently is to kill its host Delta. In this way, Phalanxes somewhat defy the traditional necessary traits of a puppet, but the versatility present in their behaviours as well as their seeming personalities differentiates them from something like a Praetor's tentacles.

Phalanxes are fairly quiet and protective of their host Deltas, though the presence of other protective puppets like Praetors and Mesosae allows them to relax a bit to the point where they will occasionally socialize with other puppets; particularly Imps that are psionically "swarmed up". Reciprocally, such swarms of Imps also seem to display a fondness Phalanxes, occasionally lifting them into the air and flying them around for short periods of time.

While Phalanxes lack any sort of inherent genetic material, their presence permanently alters part of their host Delta's epigenetic code, particularly in the nerve centers where psionic activity originates from. When dormant, the nerve clusters are much quieter, but the Delta cannot use the nervous tissue for other psionic abilities once it is allocated to a Phalanx; the assignment is seemingly permanent.

Phalanxes in rough concept date back to the DnD period, where I had a concept for an ability Deltas could use where they could expend one "slot" of psionic focus to add a false-Imp to a swarm of Imps. This is why Phalanxes and Imps like each other, and to be honest I need to do more with inter-puppet chemistry here in the writing. I've been sitting on these guys in various forms for quite a long time, and it's nice to finally let them free.

Ironically, up until very recently the Phalanx had a very different design, with limbs that branched out into split legs rather than having pedipalps. This design is decidedly much cleaner, and I think fits the ambush predator-esque role quite a bit better.