Masters (The Tripods) - Biology

Biology

According to Will, the chief protagonist:

"They stood much taller than a man, nearly twice as tall, and broad in proportion. Their bodies were wider at the bottom than the top, four or five feet around I thought, but tapered up to something like a foot in circumference at the head. If it was the head, for there was no break in the continuity, no sign of a neck. The next thing I noticed was that their bodies were supported not on two legs, but three, these being thick but short. They had matching them three arms, or rather ]s, issuing from a point halfway up their bodies. And their ]s - I saw that there were three of those, too, set in a flattened triangle, one above and between the other two, a foot or so below the crown. In colour the creatures were green, though I saw that the shades differed, some being dark, the green tinged with brown, and other quite pallid. That, and the fact that their heights varied to some extent, appeared to be the only means of telling one from another. I felt it was a poor one.":"I thought the words issued from the mouth - which I judged the lower of the two central orifices to be - until I saw that it was the upper one which was quivering and open while the other remained closed and still. With the Masters, I was to discover, the organs of breathing and eating were not connected, as men's are: they spoke as well as breathed through one, ate and drank only through the lower, larger opening."The Tripods#The City of Gold and Lead

As well as physical differences to humans the Masters display chemical ones. The air they breathe is thick and green, like a chlorine fog (although the precise composition of it is never revealed). The human slaves of their city must wear specially provided breathing apparatus, although they are provided with their own atmosphere in cramped but functional living quarters. Unprotected exposure to the air of the city is quickly fatal (as is exposure to the Earth's atmosphere for the Masters). The apparatus provided for slaves depends on a kind of spongy cartridge which must be periodically replaced. Similarly, foods eaten by Masters and Slaves have nothing in common, although it is never revealed whether the Masters' food would be fatal to a human, or if the Masters themselves are able to ingest normal Earth food.

The Pool of Fire contained a subplot in which the capture and subsequent interrogation of a Master takes place. These events revealed that Masters can somehow sense harmful additions to their food, and will simply refuse to eat anything that contains drugs or poisons, with the exception of ethyl alcohol. It transpires that the Masters have a very low tolerance for this chemical, which later becomes an important plot point.

The Masters prefer high temperatures. Room temperature for them is somewhere around 40 degrees Celsius (about 105 degrees Fahrenheit). The pools that they bathe in are often extremely hot (described as "only just bearable"). This would indicate that their digestive and respiratory enzymes are quite different from those found in terrestrial life.

A Master's preferred method of moving, described as a slapping hop on all three feet, is light and fast, completely untroubled by the incredible weight that their size must hold. As shown by this lightness in a heavy environment the Masters are, physically, extremely strong, able to easily lift a human male with just one of their three tentacles. Their skin is described as being damp, reptilian and leathery and is therefore very resilient to attack.

The Masters do have one crippling physical weakness. The area between their respiratory orifice and their ingestive orifice is extremely sensitive. A light brush to this area causes extreme pain. More forceful contact causes unconsciousness or death.

Only one form of disease appeared within the novels. This, called approximately "The Curse of the Skloodzi," evidently caused the Master sufficient discomfort as to preclude work; when Will's Master developed the ailment, he had Will retrieve him and return him to his home, where he used gas bubbles (see Technology) and his hot pool to at least ameliorate his discomfort. The ailment also caused his skin to discolor somewhat, becoming streaked with brown.