Monday, February 12, 2018

Ecology of the Rust Monster

The "rust monster" is a misnomer. Rusting refers specifically to the corroding of iron; tarnishing refers to corrosion of other metals. Since the rust monster corrodes all metals, it would be more accurate to call it the corrosion monster or oxidation beast. Of course, maybe that name does not roll off the tongue as well.

Most people do not have a detailed understanding of corrosion. At its simplest, corrosion is basically fusing metal with another substance (like oxygen) and making it impure. Rust is the same thing as ore. The smelting process involves melting the ore or rust and adding a reducing agent (like carbon) to separate and bond the non-metal.

The rust monster is a ceramic organism similar to the crysmal. It is characterized by its unique feeding process, which corrodes metal by contact with its antennae. This antennae are, in fact, an extension of the digestive tract. Contrary to popular belief, the rust monster does not ingest rust but produces it as a waste product. As all digestion occurs outside the body, the rust monster produces no spoor.

The rust monster prefers iron, which is abundant and readily corroded. It dislikes noble metals like gold, silver and platinum due to their resistance to corrosion. The tarnish monster is a subspecies that, by contrast, prefers lustrous metals and dislikes more abundant metals.

In the ecology of the underworld, rust monsters are equivalent to herbivores and preyed upon by ceramic predators.


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