Paladins are gangrenous Praetors, specializing in heavy ranged combat rather than melee. They prefer protecting high priority targets, and attack with their natural strike craft. A group of Paladins is known as a fleet or a base.

Praetors - Paladins - Shlephs

Paladins are actually a bit shorter than Praetors, standing at 6' 11" (211cm), though they compensate for this with bulk and the added size from their massive shells. Paladins are capable of incredible feats of durability, beating out Praetors and even Federations. Underneath their shells lies a thick layer of gangrene that they use to gestate their flagella. Their shells' interior hosts some amount of folded space as well, allowing them to store more flagella than their size would suggest.

Like Praetors, Paladins are substantially powerful opponents in combat, representing the peak of non-Titan combat prowess. Their durability alone makes them fearsome combatants, with their shells combining with their space folded internals to give them an immense amount of defensive power. While Paladins lack the close quarters juggling abilities of Praetors' tentacles, they are not slouches in hoof to hoof combat.

Of course, like Praetors, Paladins have a trick up their sleeve. Paladins actually specialize in ranged combat using their flagella, which are a form of natural strike craft. These strike craft, taking the form of long, gangly, psionic rays, are capable of outputting magical attacks with strength on par with a Totem's standard magical blasts. A Paladin can gestate these flagella very quickly, as they only take moments to replenish and can be regenerated in parallel, with the Paladin capable of holding upwards of twelve in their shells at once. These flagella are non-reusable, however, dissipating into nothing after some time being deployed.

Paladins act as a counterpart to Praetors in not just body and function, but also mind. Paladins prefer to protect high-value targets, such as Archmothers, Archons, or Titans. They do occasionally do physical labour using their large size, and have been observed chaperoning puppet enclaves working away from the main gestalt, but the Paladins show a particular preference for their regular fare, and can become irate if no such target is nearby.

Paladins show a particular mix of triggers, inherited from their base forms, of course, but also taking from Metastae, in particular to from the gangrenous mass that connects them to their shells. Notably, however, Paladin gangrene is of a much less structured quality, with an almost liquedous texture to facilitate movement of flagella beneath their shells.

Paladins were the first Gangrenous Puppet created. They started the trend of puppet variants sharing a leading letter with their original forms, and also established that gangrenous puppets tend to be more durable than their "pure" counter parts. Paladins themselves are also just a fun idea, flipping how Praetors pick targets to protect on its head.