D&D Mycology Handbook: Fungus Caverns I

Fungus caverns are a classic archetype of weird fiction, and have accordingly been incorporated into fantasy roleplaying environments since the birth of the hobby. Although many DMs treat fungus caverns simply as colorful backdrops for spelunking, it is not unknown for some players to want to take a closer look at the mycological wonders surrounding them. To better serve these supernaturalistic gameplay moments, I here begin a series of reports providing some rudimentary details on the ecology and diversity of common subterranean fungi in the world of Oranj.

Consider the mushroom… It is only the transitory fruiting body, the fleeting flesh flower if you will, of a more cryptic and expansive organism that resides in the soil. The main part of the organism is in fact the mycelium – a neural net of fibrous aspect that may extend for inches or miles. Some fungi of Oranj have mycelia that extend not only through the earth, but also across several obscure dimensions of space.

The defining feature of a fungus cavern is the nutrient source of the resident fungi. The fungi of the surface world typically live on decaying organic matter. A paucity of sunlight in subterranean regions translates into a lack of plant matter, which in turn means that there is very little decaying organic stuff to sustain forests of mundane fungi deep underground. The great fungi of the inner sphere instead rely on more unusual strategies for survival:

1. Mycocultural Tracts: Underground mushroom farms are actively maintained by fungus feeding lifeforms. To support this type of agriculture organic material is actively brought into the caverns and applied to the mushroom gardens. The constitutive fungi are usually benign, sometimes delicious. Mushroom farms are usually indicative of a local subterranean agricultural society.

2. Filth Springs of the Inner Sphere: On Oranj there are poorly understood underground reservoirs of organic filth that occasionally bubble through into caverns. These springs of filth often form ponds or lakes of thick oily sludge that can support large patches or even floating islands of fungus. Some of these fungus islands are quite large and ancient, manifesting as massive floating mushroom forests in the deepest caverns.

3. Calxomyces Galleries - Stone Eaters: Certain Oranjian fungi are capable of feeding upon rocks and minerals. Most common of these "stone eater" fungi are the carbonophilic calxomyces. The mycelia of these fungi spread through caverns, actively breaking rock in order to gain access to veins of coal or similar carbon-rich sediments. This bizarre feeding strategy has lead to the creation of vast cavern systems throughout the planet's crust. The multichromatic mycelia of calxomyces can completely cover the interiors of active feeding caverns, producing an otherwordly environment where sensitive travelers can telepathically sense the thoughts of the mycelia. Calxomyces fruiting bodies are large black and purple morel-like growths.

NEXT POST:

Flesh Eating Fungus Nests

Mycelial Brain Cysts

Interdimensional Sporulation Patches

Undead Fungus

Videos: Dark Magic of Jewels and Gems

Here's a pair of videos sharing magical jewels as a theme. 
Learn your lessons, children!

Rabbit

Awesomely demonic 2005 short by Run Wrake.

Yes, I know it's a bit long (~8min), but you must watch it. ADDers stick out the first 80 seconds to get to the hardcore black magic.

Willow Don't Cry

2007 rap video by Dungeon Majesty about the movie Willow.

Kicks off with a magical gem-encrusted D&D adventure!

The Fungus Caverns of Etidorhpa (Lloyd 1895)

It's probably safe to say that we all love the idea of subterranean caverns filled with strange oversized fungi. I certainly do. Because fungi survive by decomposing decaying organic matter, however, it actually makes very little biological sense for a deep cavern system to support forests of gigantic mushrooms, unless, of course, some ultramundane forces are at play. For me, this hint of magic actually makes the vision all the more appealing. Eventually, I hope to compose several substantial posts on the supernatural history of fungus caverns. For now though, I would like to point out an early and lesser known bit of fantastic fiction describing a fungus forest: Etidorhpa by John Uri Lloyd, published in 1895.

Lloyd was a pharmaceutical chemist who had never published fiction before the release of Etidorhpa (which is Aphrodite spelled backwards, by the way). This book is a weirdly charming yarn and an early landmark in the hollow earth genre. Lloyd was heavily involved in freemasonary, which is a prominent theme in the book. Etidorhpa has excited the sensibilities of some folks in much the same way that the Amazing Stories Shaver Mystery did 50 years later - both having lead especially sensitive readers to believe that some elements of mystical truth might underlie the fiction.

From a mycological perspective, the more entertaining parts of Etidorhpa are this illustration and text describing a great fungus cavern (yes, that is a nude hairless humanoid with no eyes):

"Along the chamber through which we now passed I saw by the mellow light great pillars, capped with umbrella-like covers, some of them reminding me of the common toadstool of upper Earth, on a magnificent scale. Instead, however, of the grey and somber shades to which I had been accustomed, these objects were of various hues and combined the brilliancy of the primary prismatic colors, with the purity of clean snow. Now they would stand solitary, like sentinels; again they would be arranged in rows, the alignment as true as if established by the hair of a transit, forming columnar avenues, and in other situations they were wedged together so as to produce masses, acres in extent, in which the stems became hexagonal by compression. The columnar stems, larger than my body, were often spiral; again they were marked by diamond-shaped figures, or other geometrical forms in relief, beautifully exact, drawn as by a master’s hand in rich and delicately blended colors, on pillars of pure alabaster. Not a few of the stems showed deep crimson, blue or green, together with other rich colors combined; over which, as delicate as the rarest of lace, would be thrown, in white, an enamel-like intricate tracery, far surpassing in beauty of execution the most exquisite needle-work I had ever seen. There could be no doubt I was in a forest of collossal fungi, the species of which are more numerous than those of upper earth, cryptomatic vegetation."

In the book it turns out that these titanic mushroom forests are a perfect food source for the humans who eventually forsake the surface of the earth to exult in a new immaculate existence in the inner sphere. If so inclined, you may read the full text of Etidorhpa here. Enjoy.

Jack Vance's Durdane: Illustrations by Paul Lehr

Here is a match made in cyclopeatronic heaven: Paul Lehr doing cover art for Jack Vance. In this case we have Lehr gracing the first print covers of the all three books of Vance's Durdane trilogy. The first book, The Anome, first saw the light of day as the very Dell paperback edition shown below. The next two books, The Brave Free Men (originally entitled The Roguskhoi) and The Asutra, were initially published as serials in The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, but were quickly reprinted as the Dell paperbacks pictured.

In my highly biased opinion these books are a great read. The setting is classic Vancian "medieval sci-fi": a planet that has been inhabited by humans for thousands of years, but where the cultures have largely forgotten their earthly origins and have lost much of their capacity for technology. In the case of Durdane, there is a severe limitation on technology due to a lack of metal ore on the planet.

This series particularly appeals to me because there is a strong musical theme running throughout. The main protagonist is a stringed instrument player who enjoys a weird style of complex improvisational music that draws much of its aesthetic from early jazz and old-time string band music. Even the names of the wandering minstrel troupes of Durdane sound a lot like what you might find on 78rpm jug band records, but flavoured with the chromatic psychedelia of Vancian sci-fi. I collect and play 1920s string band music myself (here's a shameless plug for my band: Sausage Grinder), and, as I wrote about previously, Jack Vance is a fellow enthusiast of this now obscure music.

THE ANOME (1971) - First book edition: Dell 1973. The best book of the bunch, in my opinion. Amazing fiction! Look at the gorgeous cover art. That thing around the man's neck is a "torc". Upon reaching a certain age, everyone living on the continent of Shant receives one of these devices. If that person breaks any of the laws of their canton - POP - their head explodes. Who enforces this? THE FACELESS MAN of course. In this book we follow the exploits of a boy who runs away from home to join a string band, travels across Shant, and eventually seeks out The Faceless Man himself. Check out the nice glass city on the cover of the book - you can visit there yourself by reading The Anome.

THE BRAVE FREE MEN (1972) - First book edition: Dell 1973. Originally called The Roguskhoi and published in The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction. The paperback has a classic Paul Lehr cover: saturated colors, rushing crowds of faceless people, and that Meltzoff-inspired spaceship just to the right of the roghuskoi's shoulder. This book is about the struggle against the roguskhoi - a mysterious race of naked male barbarian clones who enslave and impregnate the innocent women of Shant. Once impregnated by a roguskhoi, a women will give birth to more roguskhoi clones. A dangerous situation, yes.

THE ASUTRA (1973) - First book edition: Dell 1974. The weirdest book of the three. The protagonists explore distant and wild shores of Durdane and we also get a glimpse of another planet and learn about the bizarre parasitic aliens known as The Asutra... all awesome stuff that makes me drool. This book has amazingly great cover art of a strange landscape with star ships and a serious looking alien head. I could never imagine a book looking like this being published today.

Culinary Guide to Wizard Entrails

Many adventurous forays reach their climax with the death of an evil, unloved, or otherwise unappreciated wizard. Once said wizard transforms into a corpse, the wide-eyed murderers will quite invariably leap into the activity of looting the body and/or homeplace of the slain magician. Not so fast, adventurers! Don’t you realize that by ignoring that wizard gristle you are passing up on an opportunity for some extraordinarily good eats? Don’t be shy! Get it while it’s fresh!

 As wizards age and become more magically powerful, they also become more magically delicious. Prolonged exposure to magic results in internal, and sometimes external, changes in a wizard’s physiology. The five growths of greatest interest are:

Generic Torma Growth 

These growths are always found in the central lobes of old wizard brains. They are dense clusters of neurons used to memorize spells and forumlae - biologic flash drives, if you will. Inhaling a freshly extracted torma growth into one's sinus will increase Intelligence by 1d4 for 2d6 days.

Marple Gland

A gland that forms within the nape of the neck in wizards who have done a good deal of interdimensional travel. Consumption of a whole, dried Marple Gland will allow Astral Projection for 2d4 hours.

Nodes of Sincture

These resinous globules form inside the vitreous humours of the eyeballs of master wizzes. The swallower of one of these eye pearls will be able to Detect Magic for 1d4 days.

Glabba Sac

This black greasy sac may be found located near the liver of evil wizards. A small volume (never more than 1 milliliter) of glistening black oil may be extracted from the sac by disruption and pressing. The volume of oil extracted is dependent on the degree of heinousness of the wizard. A drop of this oil placed upon the tongue will act as a Protection From Good spell for 2d4 turns.

The Downy Pinkus

This growth manifests as a rod-like organ that floats freely in the abdominal cavities of wizards. A wizard’s Downy Pinkus grows one inch per level, so a seventh–level wizard will have a seven inch Downy Pinkus. The rubbery alabaster rod of the Downy Pinkus is covered with a smooth layer of cilia, which is where the name comes from. This organ serves as an ultraphysical antenna for transmitting magical energy. Cooking a Downy Pinkus will give it a texture much like a fuzz-covered sausage, although the organ has an odd metallic flavor. Consumption of a whole cooked Downy Pinkus will imbue the masticator with ESP abilities for a number of hours equal to organ’s length in inches.

R. Hogg's Futuristic Wizard Worlds

Richard Hogg

Beasts by Ippy Patterson

Some beastly illustrations by Ippy Patterson. These were done for the 1999 book of poetry An Elizabethan Bestiary: Retold by Jeffrey Beam. Thanks to A Journey Round My Skull for finding these.

GORGON

MANTICORE

COCKATRICE

 

HYDRA

SU