Mycus

Mycus can generally be described as ponderous and jovial. The attitude of a mycus, due to hardship rarely being a concept among them, is that life is meant to be interesting and pleasant. The life of a mycus tribesmen is often peaceful, their physiology often letting them ignore creature discomforts such as disease, injury, pain, or death. While a morose mycus is not impossible, it is quite unusual and reserved mainly for elderly cryptics nearing their time of fracturing. Mycus minds are inherently willing to look at all problems, no matter of disastrous, as a temporary discomfort at best.

Quickstart Guide

• Mycus are exceptional powerful, with every part of their body geared towards physical strength, making them the strongest humanoid species on the colony. They receive +20 robustness.
• Mycus bodies are immune to pain, do not need to breathe, are immune to infections, and cannot suffer toxins due to their fungal infrastructure.
• Mycus regenerate faster in total darkness, but their fungal bodies take double damage from sources of burn and are quite ponderously slow.
• Mycus may gain use of a companion known as a shroomling or slime-mold, with a shroomling being a hungry little fungal animal that follows its mycus creator around, generating powerful healing chemicals when given enough food. Slime-molds are immensely strong protectors, working as protectors to a mycus. Despite a slime-molds tiny form, it is capable of going toe to toe with foes many times its own size.
• All mycus instinctively understand fungi and plants, able to simply look at one to determine its qualities.

Biology

The mycus are a group of sentient mobile parasites similar to fungal species but genetically more closely related to animals. The mycus resemble bipedal “mushroom” men of varying height and breed, separated into categories based on age and genus. Mycus bodies are well adapted for life underground, preferring dark areas with little to not light at all. Mycus bodies are equally suited for strength intensive tasks, having slow but immensely powerful physiology consisting of a rapidly regenerating organs and ‘flesh’ made up of compact sponges working as strong muscular framework. Mycus bodies, due to their adaptation to cave dwelling, are often uncomfortable in areas of light due to its presence slowing their regeneration process. Mycus bodies are also incredible attuned to chemical changes in their own bodies, with mycus immune systems capable of reacting to and incorporating various chemicals normally toxic to other races to render them largely inert. Mycus bodies posses only four major organs, the sponge-like flesh making up the bulk of their bodies and a single retention core functioning similarly to a nuclei. Other ‘meat’ organs are simply repurposed and reclaimed organs from their growth cycle, kept alive to serve the fungal colony residing in the great part of the body.

Disturbingly, what was first thought to be an entirely fungoid species is not quite correct. Mycus are in reality a parasite that has learned to live symbiotically with the life functions of other creatures, of which it supplants and takes over the deceased corpses of to revive them into a quasi-living state. This process of supplanting grows a large fungal colony over the corpse of a deceased creature while various organs are rejuvenated, re-purposed, and moved to where they will be most beneficial. This ‘beginning’ stage of development technically revives the creature, but all instincts, higher functions, or brain activity is completely wiped and replaced with the parasitic mycus. In essence, the creature claimed by a mycus fungal colony is now once more alive, but lobotomized and its meat used to support its new host. Due to complications dealing with higher evolved body types, the mycus of incapable of parasitism in humanoids considered sentient and sapient, making them a non-threat to colony members in this respect.

Mycus bodies, over time, swell with age and accumulated experience. The functional ‘brain’ and other similar complex organs of a mycus are dispersed through out the entire body. Functioning independent of each other. In other words, it can be said that the ‘core’ organs are everywhere and nowhere within a mycus body. The singular ‘brain’ core functions only as a ‘back up’ of that current mycus’ memories and personality, this ‘brain’ is the key to a mycus’ recovery should his body be destroyed. Similar to a mycelium, the brain core is capable of infecting decaying and dead organic matter to functionally ‘regrow’ the mycus’ destroyed body in a matter of days. The regrown body will inevitably be identical to the former mycus the core belonged to. Despite this functional immortality, mycus’ do eventually pass due to age. Additionally, mycus bodies are very highly 'sculpt-able' with their physical appearance easily modified to appear in all sorts of various ways, leading to many mycus adopting all sorts of unusual appearances, in particular with the discovery of new and exotic races.

Through out a mycus’ life cycle they will continue to grow in size and strength until their bodies can no longer maintain themselves. A mycus will eventually choose to begin a process known as fracturing, when a mycus has grown so large that the consumption of food requires too much for it to remain viable or requiring more food then its environment can support they will voluntarily begin this process. Fracturing is one of two ways a mycus will “die” with the body of an old and subsequently huge mycus fracturing into separate parts, usually the head, torso, arms, and legs each severing from the body before beginning the process of transforming into new mycuses. These fractured copies will retain all needed knowledge to survive, fight, and thrive, but will have subsequently lost all non-instinctual memories of its sires, growing new nuclei before going their separate ways. The only other method from which a mycus will “die” is from both the body and core nuclei destroyed, however due to the dense powerful structure of a nuclei and the fact it is inedible, this is an extremely rare occurrence.

Culture: Past and Present

The mycus are a people united under a common understanding those among them with the greatest strength, size, and experience are to be respected and followed. Due to mycus biology allowing for them to visually identify experience and knowledge simply by measuring a mycus’ height, this often leads to groups led by the biggest one among them (although this is not guaranteed). Mycus biology is one of self solving nature, things such as disease, environmental threats, technology, or industry is often solved by the cultivation of spores and fungi to fulfill specific niches. The intimate nature of the mycus and their understanding of plant life allow them to grow fungi to meet specific needs. As the mycus are tribes that often move through out the subterranean caves, these cultivated fungi are often made into mobile fungus referred as sporelings, often treated like loyal companions, similar to how humans treat dogs.

Medicine, weapons, and even industry are often done via spore cultivation that can take years or even decades to come to fruition. The mycus measure their decisions in the long term, to a mycus it is considered a short and reasonable time to cultivate a single unique mushroom for six months to two years. Where another race would be hurried, a mycus doesn’t consider the immediate benefit of a task but the long term consequences. This can make them seem indecisive or even ponderous to outsiders, but to a mycus this deliberation is merely the best possible outcome for themselves or whatever mycus exist if or when they fracture.

Mycus live extremely primitively, often dwelling in caves as simple tribes hunting or remaining in quasi-stasis when not actively required to work. Mycus will rarely go to the surface, often only attempting to do so to gather resources unavailable to them in their underground caves or to move to a new cavern. Mycus rarely where clothes, often doing so simply as a form of armor when out hunting. Due to an asexual reproduction, mycus don’t have much consideration in terms of gender or sexual characteristics, though mycus exposed to races that do will often adopt or cultivate themselves to appear as one or the other based on preference.

Mycus culture is by its very nature economically socialist and socially libertarian. While individual mycus will look to perform work based on what benefits the collective the most what that work entails is often left up to the individual mycus. Only under rare circumstances will the leading mycus, traditionally known as the mold mind, ever directly order a mycus towards a specific task. Often times mycus will simply choose to do what is needed by the community without needing to be told, the concept of greed and accumulation of personal power and wealth are foreign concepts given most of what a mycus needs can simply be grown or hunted.

With the advent of moving to the colony, mycus have been given new perspectives on what is necessary for a thriving frontier world, introducing them to concepts of money, barter, selfishness, and factionized groups. In some ways this had helped mycus improve upon their ideals, focusing their helpful natures towards productive ventures directed by the various colony factions. This in turn, gave them highly specialized tasks best suited for their biology and mindset as they strive for the greater good of those they've come to work with. However, this has also negatively impacted their society, as mycus often turn this collectivist but independent ideal into a more defined faction line. A mycus who works for Lonestar puts Lonestar first above all else, one who works for Soteria does similar, with the concept of fungal brotherhood fading but never quite forgotten by the newly created mycus fresh from a fracturing.

Ethnicity

Mycus are seperating into categories based on their predominant fungal origin or age, with the three main types being the mushroom-born, slime-mold, and cryptic. These categories however are generally just displays of what the mycus personally values the most, and often can be changed through careful manipulation of a mycus fungal body.

Mushroom-born are the most common type of mycus and benefit from a robust biology capable of replicating many natural and artificial chemicals. Mushroom mycus are often accompanied by a lesser mushroom capable of replicating various powerful chemicals after being fed. These lesser mushrooms are treated affectionately by them, similar to humans and dogs, with the mycus defending them violently if needed. Unlike other mycus types, mushroom born are much more attuned to the biological needs of both themselves and other races. Mushroom born consider their shroomlings as favored pets and are loathe to leave them out of sight or in harms way unless absolutely needed.

Slime-mold mycus are considered the physically strongest of all the mycus subtypes, often living on diets of pure meat by performing the hunting for a mycus tribe. Slime mold bodies are naturally tougher, more capable of enduring damage and exceptional at healing when remaining in areas of darkness. Mold-born often choose to bring mushroom companions cultivated specifically for fighting, often times using them similar to hunting dogs, but taking care to ensure they do not perish. Slime-molds receive their name from their oily bodies, the sponge-like flesh considered by other races to be ‘gooey’ as it is coated in an enzyme that aids in halting bleeding or flesh tearing. Slime-molds also consider working in tandem with their companions in combat, in particular in melee, second nature.

Cryptic mycus are often considered by their tribe to age prematurely, being the most settled of the mycus types a cryptic will often avoid fighting, choosing instead to cultivate new fungi or work towards solving problems the tribe faces. This often gives cryptic’s the shortest life spans, as their discovery of knowledge and focus towards more thoughtful approaches results in them growing in size faster then other types. This accelerated growth will often lead to early fracturing, but some cryptics stubbornly remain huge for longer than is normal, especially if they become the tribes mold mind. Due to their intellectual pursuits, few cryptics bother with cultivating shroomlings, finding that managing them is more trouble than its worth. A cryptic values intellectual pursuits above all else and their biological mind is well suited for memorizing facts and knowledge with far more ease than most organic life.

First Contact

Mycus were first contacted by the colony due to the attacks by the forgotten, the shroom men tribe local to the area having oft avoided outsiders as they saw no need to interact with them until the colony came into possession of a shroomling belonging to the local mold mind. This forced the mycus out of hiding and upon finding their treasured shroomling alive, opened diplomatic channels with the colony itself. After some weeks of communication, bartering, and presentation of what the colony had to offer the mycus tribe collectively decided to join the colony, carving out a darkened cave system below ground, much to the annoyance of the local cht'mant hive who had done the same.

Relations with other races

The mycus collectively despise the folken, viewing them as their enemies due to centuries of conflict between them. Of other races, they find them alien and at times uncomfortable to be around due to their selfish nature and hyper-active (by comparison) lifestyle. The mycus are generally tolerant of most other organics except the folken, recognizing that they are inherently different. Conflict with the forgotten and the destruction of their homes have also left them distrusting of machines, though they recognize not all machines are the same as the forgotten. This devastation of their homeland is what brought them to the colony in the first place. As a result, few Mycus are trusting towards synthetic life, but most find synthetic slaves quite appealing, likening them to their shroomling companions but more diverse, intelligent, and useful.