The-great-metal-seed has produced new members of The-great-metal-ones at declining rate for the last 80 years and so it is rare that there is not an accepted family or parent to receive The-child-gift. However, in some rare cases, especially during transition periods within The-government-of-steel, these new children will spend an extended period as Parentless-ones under the care of the Faceless-claimers. During one of The-great-metal-ones period as a Parentless-one they exist in a strange formless limbo. A Parentless-one requires the process of imprinting to gain a form beyond the spherical form they begin as. They are fed a simplistic, nutritious juice made from Creeping-gourd pulp emulsified in Vent-plug-beast fat.
Generally these extended periods are not harmful to the Parentless-one, but if one does go too long without a parent to imprint on there appears to be a reduction in ability to change and grow in the future. This leads to sinister internal politics in which The-government-of-steel tends to select older Parentless-ones to give to civilians not of the Notable Lines and to the Notable Lines the younger.