I fucking love boxworms and fire sprites
they might as well be the closest extant cousin of iterators
a photoplasmic brain with a steam producing body/nest, the similarities to overseers (and even neurons to an extent) is undeniable
(thank you @iteratorsex for the overseer gif, all other gifs in this post are from the wiki)
you can see them gathering resources (dust (for food? definetively for growing the boxworm) and potentially water or at least hydrogen and oxygen) like a jellyfish or perhaps a sponge (the way it opens and closes its mouth is very cute too)
Here we have a schematic for a refuse reclamation automaton. It's an early design, but the long tubular body and single eye-mouth are quite similar to the later models.
mmm, interesting
btw the way the tendrils unfurl into conveyor fans here remind me of a theory ive had that overseers deploy a thin membrane in order to project holograms to
the boxworm is a body actioned through pneumatics and also a host for the eggs to grow in
the activation animation is very fun (are those glass windows in the box "eyes"?)
is the water gathered by the fire sprite? or is it created by combining hydrogen and oxygen? if the latter, would these gasses be collected or synthesized through organic processes? either way it serves the same function as hemolymph in spider legs, even if the shape is worm-like
soft robotics comes to mind (here's another example)
talking about the eggs, i wonder what's the lifecycle like? do the fire sprites grow their own boxworm from zero? slowly from gathered dust? or is this an intestinal worm situation, and each boxworm segment eventually separates once its corresponding fire sprite matures?
now, the structure of the boxworm and the fire sprite larva situation has made me realize a possibility that would have me reconsider and in a way complete my iterator biota lifecycle theory:
coral stems are segmented with little balls/openings, kinda like the boxworm in a way
while coral stems are bundles of mycelia and a number of small flashing cores sheathed on self-grown shells, it is possible neuronflies and overseers are grown from these flashing dots
after all, coral neurons already grow out of these stems