The Fungus Eternal
Now here’s a topic that’ll really get the spores in your mind garden sprouting! It’s a sight to behold, cutter, if you’re the type to find beauty in the grotesque, that is.
Let’s talk facts first. This titanic fungal growth sprawls across large swaths of the layer of Wormblood, reaching all the way to the grim Pit of Rot. It’s not just your everyday mushroom patch though, no, this is a sentient being, an entity that’s been growing and spreading for who knows how many eons, intertwining with the very essence of the plane itself. Now, whether it’s truly plane-spanning, that’s up for debate. It’s certainly enormous, a veritable forest of fungal growths that seems to go on forever when you’re wandering through it, but plane-spanning? That might be stretching it a bit, even for the Abyss.Â
And sentient? Oh you bet it is, cutter. It’s got a mind that stretches out with the tendrils and hyphae, a slow, ponderous intelligence that’s absorbed the memories and knowledge of countless beings that have met their end in its damp, spongy marshes. Some berks even say it communicates with those who venture too deep into its territory, whispering secrets and promises of power to those who are willing to listen.
Now, the goals of the Fungus Eternal? Well, that’s where things get real interesting, see. It’s got this sort of symbiotic relationship with the layer it inhabits, drawing nutrients from the decaying matter and the poor sods who get lost in its depths, but also stabilising the region in its own weird way, keeping the chaos in check with its sprawling, ever-growing network. It seeks to grow, to expand, to learn, drawing on the energies of the Abyss to fuel its endless expansion.
But it’s not just about growing bigger and smarter. No, the Fungus Eternal has got a kind of philosophical side to it, if you can believe that. It desires understanding, a comprehension of the multiverse in a way that only a slowly pondering, eternal mind could achieve. It’s just like the Guvners, if they were a massive, sentient fungus that is, always seeking to understand, to categorise, to know everything there is to know.
And as for what it wants with folks like you and me? Well, that’s a mystery, ain’t it? Some say it’s just curious, eager to learn from the minds of those who venture into its territory. Others say it’s got a darker purpose, a desire to consume and absorb all life, to turn the entire plane into a fungal paradise where it rules unchallenged. A fungal overlord, if you will.
Now you may not realise this, but the Abyss ain’t just a place of pure evil, no matter what the chant from those high and mighty celestials goes on about. Oh sure, it’s a right nasty place most of the time, full of chaos and malevolence, but it’s also a place of raw, unfiltered possibility, a place where anything can happen, where anything can grow, even something as strange and otherworldly as the Fungus Eternal.
Now, I know what you’re thinking, “If it ain’t malevolent, what’s it doing in a sod-hole like the Abyss?” But the truth is, the Abyss ain’t always just about evil, it’s also about chaos, it’s about freedom, the freedom to be whatever you want to be, for good or ill. And the Fungus Eternal, it’s chosen a path that ain’t exactly about pure malevolence, but more about survival, exploration, and maybe a sort of primal curiosity.
See, the thing about the Abyss is that it’s a place where the strong survive, where you gotta carve out your own little piece of the multiverse and defend it tooth and nail from all the other berks out there looking to take it from you. The Fungus Eternal, it’s managed to do just that, to grow and thrive in a place where most beings would find only madness and death.
But that don’t mean it’s all sunshine and rainbows in the fungal forest, oh no. The Fungus Eternal, it’s got its own kind of harsh logic, a kind of unforgiving, relentless drive to expand and consume, to absorb all the knowledge it can get its hyphal tendrils on. It’s not malevolent in the way a demon lord is malevolent, but it sure ain’t benevolent either. It’s an entity of the Abyss, through and through, a being that follows its own desires, its own needs, without any care for the more subtle notions of good and evil that us mere mortals get so hung up on.
And who knows, cutter, maybe deep down in that slow, ponderous mind of it, there’s a kind of wisdom, a kind of understanding that goes beyond the petty morality of the planes. A being that sees the multiverse in a way that we can’t even begin to understand, with goals and desires that stretch beyond the comprehension of even the wisest Guvner or the most enlightened Sensate.
So there you have it, the Fungus Eternal, a being of the Abyss that defies easy categorisation, that stands as a testament to the chaotic, unpredictable nature of the planes themselves. It’s a reminder, cutter, that in the multiverse, anything’s possible, even a sentient fungus that dreams its slow, ponderous dreams in the dark corners of the Abyss. Stay sharp, berk, and remember, the planes are a place of endless wonder and danger, where even a fungus can hold the secrets of the cosmos in its mycelial web.
Source: Jon Winter-Holt, mimir.net
