A Pak breeder who reaches 30 to 45 years of age will feel an irresistible urge to eat the sweet-potato-like root of a plant, Tree-of-Life, that is found throughout the Pak homeworld.

In Ringworld's Children, it is suggested boosterspice may actually be adapted from Tree-of-Life, without the symbiotic virus that enabled hominids to metamorphose from Pak Breeder stage to Pak Protector stage ( mutated Pak breeders were the ancestors of both Homo sapiens and the hominids of the Ringworld ).

On the Ringworld, there is an analogous ( and apparently more potent ) compound developed from Tree-of-Life, but they are mutually incompatible ; in The Ringworld Engineers, Louis Wu learns that the character Halrloprillalar died when in ARM custody after leaving the Ringworld, as a result of having taken boosterspice after having used the Ringworld equivalent.

Consumption of Tree-of-Life makes human-related species turn into Protectors, as a result of a symbiotic virus that grows in the root ; however, the virus requires enough thallium to develop, which is why it failed on Earth.

The change from Breeder to Protector is the result of a peramorphic transformation brought about by the plant known as Tree-of-Life.

Tree-of-Life is the mechanism by which a Breeder becomes a Protector.

The term " Tree-of-Life virus " is used to describe the symbiotic virus which actually governs the transition.

Niven took the name Tree-of-Life from the Book of Genesis ; specifically to the fruit of the " Tree of Life " that could make Adam and Eve immortal ( Genesis 3: 22-24 ), which is quoted as the foreword to the novel Protector, and also mentioned by Brennan within the novel.

Tree-of-Life ( the plant ) is a bush native to the Pak homeworld.

Tree-of-Life is common on the Pak world, so there is almost no risk of a Breeder living past this window without being exposed to the roots.

Once the transformation is complete, a Pak Protector must periodically consume more Tree-of-Life root to maintain the virus in its body.

Niven explains much of Protector behavior in his Future History, by revealing in Ringworld's Children that the ARM may be run by at least one Protector and that Boosterspice ( which dramatically prolongs human lifespan ) is derived from Tree-of-Life.

A key plot point is that transition to the protector stage is mediated by consumption of the root of a particular plant called Tree-of-Life, which cannot be effectively cultivated on Earth.

Truesdale kills Brennan and lands on Home, but is himself infected with a mutated strain of the Tree-of-Life virus that quickly spreads to a number of other colonists, thus carrying out Brennan's plan despite Truesdale's initial attempts to thwart it.

Around 40 years of age, the root of the Tree-of-Life plant begins to smell delicious to all Breeders, and they eat it and metamorphose into the Protector stage via a virus that lives in the plant.

When a Breeder reaches the proper age ( early 40s for humans ), the smell of the root becomes irresistible ; the Breeder gorges on the Tree-of-Life root, infecting itself with the Tree-of-Life virus and transforming into a Protector.

In Protector, Jack Brennan ( a human turned into a Protector ) commits genocide by exterminating the Martian race (" Aliens were dangerous, or might be, and Pak were not interested in anything but Pak ") and also releases a genetically modified Tree-of-Life virus on the colony world Home, turning everyone middle aged into a Protector ( and killing all other humans on the planet ) in order to create an army of childless Protectors with which to fight the invading Pak fleet.

The Control Room contains living space for thousands of Pak Protectors, as well as space to grow the " Tree-of-Life " plants to support this many Protectors.

A Pak colony failed on Earth 2. 5 million years ago due to the soil's lack of thallium, which allowed Tree-of-Life to flourish but not the virus within its roots.

As humans ( and all primates ) are descended from the Pak, Tree-of-Life can create a Protector-stage human.

Boosterspice only works on Homo sapiens, whereas the Tree-of-Life compound will work on any hominid descended from the Pak.

The Tree-of-Life crop on Earth failed due to there being insufficient thallium oxide in the Earth's soil ; the plants grew but didn't support the virus.

The protectors that built the colony ship died when their Tree-of-Life crops failed.

They eventually settled on Earth, but discovered that the Tree-of-Life root would not grow, meaning that no Breeders would turn into Protectors, and the Protectors would die without the root.

It is from this unpromising background that the fictional private detective was recruited.

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