Metastae are variants of Mesosae, replacing their snowy squalls with a thick overcoat of tumorous flesh that they can freely control. When a Metasta's overcoat gets too large, it can split some of it off into a Squallid. A group of Metastae is called a tumor.

Mesosae - Metastae - Haulers

Metastae are heavily gangrenized Mesosae that trade a substantial portion of their height for increased body mass in the form of their fleshy overcoats, standing at just 4' 4" (132cm) as a result. This overcoat makes up a substantial portion of their body mass, to the point where a Metasta can be nearly the same mass as a Howitzer despite being over a foot shorter. While it usually hangs as a thick coat of cellulite over and around the Metasta's barrel, the overcoat can be freely shaped into any number of forms, including a special form of subpuppet when the situation calls for it.

Metastae are relatively similar to Mesosae in that they like being close to the front lines, but not on them directly, instead hanging back and sending long tendrils of their overcoats forward to form into low cover, spikes, or other things that might be useful. In more than one instance, Manipulators have been seen wielding swords and whips formed out of Metasta overcoats when no other weaponry is available.

Metastae are in a state of constant cell growth and replenishment, even moreso than other puppets. Their overcoats are a continuously growing mass to cope with wear and tear or battle damage. While this growth is self-regulating to a degree (slowing down as the Metasta reaches a healthy size) it is impossible to truly stop and, as such, a Metasta can become overburdened if its overcoat grows too much. When this happens, a Metasta can engage a countermeasure: It can excise a chunk of its overcoat as a cyst, which grows away from the body on a long umbilical cord before hatching into a Squallid. A Metasta can do this up to three times, and if that is still not enough, the Metasta will begin dumping its excess mass onto one of its Squallids until it reaches double its normal height, at which point the Metasta will recruit a Demulcent to "repackage" the Squallid into a new cyst so it can hatch into an Angiite. A Metasta will never have more than three subpuppets, comprising one to three Squallids, before a promotion leaves two Squallids and one Angiite.

While Metastae are technically responsible for regenerating their overcoats like Mesosae are their squalls, Metastae boast far more aggressive regeneration when their overcoats get low, to the point where they can absorb up to half their body weight in nourishment from the gestalt in less than an hour. As such, they do not typically have the same meek behaviour as Mesosae can do, instead spending their time grazing to offset their high caloric upkeep. They can also be seen sculpting their overcoats into various forms, seemingly as some sort of artistic exercise, though the meaning of any shapes created is unknown.

Metastae are strange beasts, as although they lose all of their inclination towards ice magic, they retain the northern adaptations like a stocky build and thick layers of adipose tissue from Mesosae. It is assumed that their overcoats are just that; gangrenous energies mixing with the blubber layer genes.

I must admit, the Metastae can put me on edge at times... I worry about them quite a bit. It's not often, but I have seen them struggle with their own body mass before. Thankfully, they have tools to offset those troubles, but it can still take them some time and love to really become comfortable in their own skins. I'm glad, at least, that we know now how to recognize the signs of their overburdening, and how to make them comfortable as they transition from their troubled stages into fully developed, happy ponies.

Given the name and the references to cancer and tumors throughout the page, it should be obvious that Metastae draw heavy influence from cancer. Gangrene is a very weird substance, lore-wise, drawing from the dead and being made into something new. As such, I wanted to reflect that in gangrenous puppets often having unusual physiology or traits that aren't necessarily entirely positive without special effort (Metastae, for example, but also the splitting ability of Planara.