Metascan

Metascans lose the vaguely face-like appearance of the Metabite and instead are a series of vertical bands of red and blue light. Their bellies shimmer with a mystic pattern, the meaning of which is unknown.

Unlike the Metabite’s short, nearly non-existent arms, Metascans have long, flexible limbs, each ending with a blocky piece of metal that can project a red grid pattern or, more distressingly, deconstruct an object into tiny specks and then absorb them. The grid pattern seems to investigate things much like how a human eye might scan across the page of a book, which is what gives them their name. They seem to investigate objects and text in this way and whenever they do, a new piece appears in the pattern on their bellies.

Having no legs, the Metascans move almost exclusively by flying, but while they can use their arms to haul themselves along in a pinch, their lack of hands means that they can’t do much more than crawl.

Some Lorekeepers of the Wingfolk will try to share wherever records they have nearby with these strange mechanoforms, even tentatively allowing them inside Tale’s Canvas, though many are extremely nervous about this as they fear that the Metascans might end up disintegrating their records. So far, that hasn’t happened, and every document that the Metascans have been shown has emerged unharmed.