Absolute Knowledge Corrupts Absolutely
'My children will inherit the earth.'
- Intent: Custom Species for a New Character and develop some fun story opportunities later.
- Image Credit:
- Zuggtmoy, Wizards of the Coast - MToF
- Kerrigan, Star Craft II
- Mushroom Forest, Victor-Lam
- Canon: N/A
- Permissions: N/A
- Links:
- Name: Myceticae Infirmim aka 'Marrow'
- Designation: Semi Sentient // Sapient
- Average Lifespan: The Life-cycle of the creature is roughly 490 years.
- Estimated Population: Semi-Unique
- Description: The Myceticae Infirmim is an invasive breed of semi-sentient toxic fungus whose strands and electrical pulses which run through the root structure of the mycetic substance resembles humanoid neural pathways. The species grows strange tree-like structures which appear like large hanging willow trees that pollute the surrounding air with their spores. Should an organism of this plant get large enough it cannot grow further, it may spawn and cultivate a singular bud which may grow into a Marrow-Born; Marrow-Born are a near humanoid creature which inherit the template of the neural network of the organism as well as the gift of sapience while being bonded to the garden thought the force, in this way as the Marrow-Born learns and grows, so too does the garden of Myceticae Infirmim. The near-humanoid form of the Marrow-Born grows to maturity quickly and typically have pale reddy-pink skin with plum and rose colored plantlike features in the form of ridges or other aesthetic decor due to each of them having the ability to alter their form into various shapes and crude formations, though thankfully Marrow-Born cannot pass as human.
- Breathes: Oxygen or Nitrate Filled Atmospheres
- Average Height of Adults: Up to 115m tall // up to 4 Meters
- Average Length of Adults: 9 Kilometers // up to 8 Meters
- Skin color: Reddy Pinks or Blues
- Hair color: Plum / Shades of reds & purples or Blues.
- Distinctions:
The Marrow-Born are about as far removed from humans as one can be, they have a hyphaetic cell structure that is far more complex than that of any standard fungi which form the muscle mass, surrounded by a keratin heavy structure much like that of most humanoid races. However their bone structure is a non collagen protein which is softer and far more malleable than standard bone and able to be broken down and remade quickly by the race on demand. Additionally, although they are unable to spread the Myceticae Infirmim, they still produce a spore which can be detected which is somewhat toxic to most organic animals, but tends to be mostly harmless unless concentrated or purified to which it can become quite deadly.
The Marrow-Born in appearance differ greatly from their other humanoid counterparts, they each have skin and features that seem to be made from an uneven almost sponge like smooth substance which feels as though it would be slimy were it to get wet. They boast various mushroom like ridges and formations across their body that makes them look plantlike. The Marrow-Born come in a variety of shapes and sizes depending on the garden they stem from, ranging from little higher than a single meter in height all the way up to almost three and a half depending on the individual with colours that span the red and blue spectrum that usually imitate the garden they spawned from in some way.
'...we need only realize our true metamorphic potential...'
- Races:
- The Marrow-Born can come in several subspecies based on the Marrow they grow from, these distinct races alter based on whether they were born underground in the dank caverns, or above ground in Aleens' arid climate. Though as Marrow-Born are so rare few, if any at all are active enough to form a formal culture. Differences based on climate often result in a difference in colour, general appearance quirks and their natural resistances to elements, underground variants are often resistant to moisture and are often neurotoxic though break down to arid heat while above ground variants are resilient to arid dry heat but lack moisture or cold resilience and tend to be haemotoxic.
- Force Sensitivity: All
- Marrow Myceticae Infirmim is an altered substance which has a close connection to the force, most notably to the dark side and is said to have been created by an ancient force sensitive entitiy as a weapon or tool of some kind. As the organism grows, gets larger and develops more Mycetic connections, these pathways develop a system which is very similar to that of an organic brain, affording it a sort of unconscious control of its ability to hide itself from the senses of others should they not be looking for it specifically. This force sensitivity grows and evolves along with the organism, allowing it to adapt, learn and grow rapidly in tune with its environment, ultimately becoming semi-sentient and moving to spawn one of its children. Once this metamorphosis resolves with a Marrow-Born being birthed, its gifted a map of the entities' growth pattern as the blueprint of its own mind, and with it the force potential of the garden they are bound to is in a sense transferred. This new connection allows the Marrow born to tend the Myceticae Infermim using a dark variant of the plant surge power. Marrow Born use this to typically manipulate or enhance their own bodies as a defense mechanism or to care-take their Spawning grounds.
- Dark Side Emanation: A creature born from the darkest hovels of mysterious worlds, a Fungi with its natural ability to form neural-like connections eventually developed sentience through a mysterious connection with the dark side of the force. The connection has allowed the organism to learn, develop and shape its own evolution. The Myceticae Infirmim bask in the power of the dark side of the force, empowered greatly by locations where the Dark side is thick and especially so within the presence of their gardens. Marrow-Born and are capable of instinctively wielding the following force powers to protect/ alter themselves and cultivate the garden;
- Myscetic Physiology: With their ability to alter their own physiology as well as their own construction being akin to to more of a plant than that of a humanoid the Myceticae Infirmim are able to take a significant amount of punishment before being destroyed. Marrow-Born lack much in the way of vital organs, aside from a structures similar to a central nervous system and circulatory system. They also have a cortex and synapses through their body which serve to allow controlling their mass through electrical impulses. While having a strong yet malleable bone structure much of the 'flesh' of the Marrow-Born operate as a universal organ which their 'blood' cycles between.
- Saprophytic Spores: The Myceticae Infirmim are known to produce a toxic spore off their person which differs depending on the race of the entity or its stage of development. The spore of the Myceticae Infirmim for example allows it to spread its influence, literally building off of itself as it grows into constructs or potentially evolving to create a new 'queen strain' if too far separated from the Garden. This spore is a natural neurotoxic somnolent, putting most organic creatures to sleep should enough of it be consumed over the period of an hour and preventing their awakening. While the Marrow-Born still produce spores like their parent, their spores are inert and unable to spread the influence of the garden, though, depending on their race the toxic spores can hold a host of varying qualities. However, in all cases the spore toxin is seldom harmful unless purified or concentrated into extremely high doses or consumed over a long period of time.
- Reincarnation: The final hidden secret of the Myceticae Infirmim and their children, through the power of their force bond, the growth of the Marrow-Born forms a template informing the future growth of the garden which mirrors the new pathways and networks. Should the Marrow-Born be destroyed, the Garden will begin the process of creating another, much like the creation of a clone. Mapping its identical pathways into its new cortex passing on most of its experiences. However, this process is not absolute, should the garden be damaged, the force bond altered or the mind of the Marrow Child damaged significantly, death or something close to it is more than possible.
- Dark-Side Reliant: While a powerful entity who is naturally attuned construct of the force, not unlike a spirit in many ways. Should the Marrow-Born Child or the Myceticae Infirmim be severed from the force, the Marrow-Born ceases to become little more than a child in mentality and are quickly stricken by an overwhelming panic and fear which is difficult to adapt to.
- Maladaptation: It's a simple fact that the Myceticae Infirmim while being exemplary in its adapted environment is not a creature which enjoys change. Deceptively fragile to subtle changes in the environment, temperature, humidity and amount of UV light, they require precise conditions least they die much like a coral reef. Marrow-Born are similar, depending on the climate of their spawning grounds they share many of the same resistances and weaknesses, swamp or underground born breeds may loath the sun and dry weather of deserts, or the opposite could be true. These environments weaken Marrow-Born considerably, although not killing them like their spawning gardens.
- Ashla Allergy: Being not unlike a manifestation of the dark side Both the Myceticae Infirmim and the Marrow-Born have a natural aversion to the light side of the force resulting in an almost reversal of powers such as force heal, dealing them crippling pain and harm in place of recovering their wounds, while other true expressions of the light side of the force are capable of destroying a Marrow-Born on impact.
- Mental Bonds: With the cortex of the Marrow-Born serving as the Template for the garden of Myceticae Infirmim to replicate, mental attacks or traumas dealt to the Marrow-Born often harm the garden, enough mental damage especially the erasure of memories can cause the Garden to die off, potentially inhibiting or altering their ability to regenerate until the Garden regrows or repairs.
'Beauty can oft be terrifying...'
- Diet: Saprophyte // Omnivores - The Myceticae Infirmim is an invasive saprophytic fungus which consumes dead matter around itself in vast areas. Whether it be the plant life it strangles the life out of, feeding off it as it ferments or the animal life which falls asleep upon its bed to have it smother them, never to awaken. The Myceticae Infirmim leaves little more than fungal replicas of their meals where it lay... and even some where they didn't. However, upon birthing a Marrow-Born, the Marrow-Born develop a much more sophisticated diet, eating much like a humanoid gaining their nutrition between plant and meat proteins and fibers as well as gaining nutrition through UV light.
- Communication: Marrow-Born are able to speak normally or through pheromone response to others like themselves who are sensitive to the subtle changes of the chemical levels within the pheromones given off by their spores, an act similar to that of the Jawa race and to a lesser extent the Zeltrons. Though this communication serves less as a means to transmit deep encoded messages, but rather emotional contexts, feelings and more primal messaging.
- Technology level: None, the Marrow-Born have had no known civilization, with the closest they have relating to one are the complex gardens many of them dedicate their lives into tending and expanding until the reach an age where they move into the greater galaxy during their nomadic phase to learn so that the garden may grow.
- Religion/Beliefs: Many members of the Marrow-Born are highly spiritual due to their connection to the force, to the point of being painted as witches or demons by the local populations. Many myths surround the Marrow-Born and the Myceticae Infirmim as a whole, but in the cases of their own beliefs, many of them are widely varied but generally animistic or tribal.
- Reproduction: The reproduction cycle of the Myceticae Infirmim is an interesting one. When the organism comes of age and as it eats organic matter parts of the organism activate their reproductive functions, pairing with organisms of matching chromosomes and linking to produce spores which spread far and wide. Spores which land within pheromone reach of the Myceticae Infirmim grow to become functional replications of the Garden, spreading its influence as one gigantic organism. However, should spores reach far away, they have the potential to mutate, with one in a million having the ability to totally metamorphose into a 'Queen strain' which has the ability to create a new Garden and adapt to a new environment. Marrow-Born however, are naturally infertile.
- General behavior:
The Myceticae Infirmim organism goes through 4 major phases of development in which its behavior alters considerably, defined as the Blooming phase, The Nursing phase, The Naturalist phase and finally the Nomadic phase. However, age has little to do with these stages as much as something equivalent to fluid IQ of the entity, its potential to adapt and thus, the speed of its growth. Myceticae Infirmim quick to adapt to its environment initially will grow and spread quickly, and likely adapt to produce a Marrow-Born faster, to varying consequences.
The Blooming phase is a simple a sensory-motor operational phase of development of the Myceticae Infirmim, it involves the insatiable growth and breeding cycle of the semi-sentient entity from the moment a queen strand spore plants as it seeks to spread itself as far as possible while attempting to breed eat and adapt to its environment.
In the first stage of the Marrow-Borns' Development, when it comes to temperament they're particularly vicious and cruel, however, due to it being their Nursing phase of development, they're little more than an extremely territorial animals attacking anything smaller than their ego while being nursed by the greater organism which provides it food, shelter and protection. Operating within the bounds of the preoperational phase cognitively, during this phase the Myceticae Infirmim benefits simply from the Marrow-Born existing, spreading as the Marrow-Born comes into its sapience and self awareness.
When the Marrow-Born reach adolescence they develop sapience, self awareness and become far more nurturing of their garden, from a distance they appear to be kind caretakers moving around their garden ensuring that its in good repair, undamaged and unblemished. Though not to be trifled, incredibly timid, prone to outbursts fueled by their territorial nature they are often unpredictable. There have been cases where they have been tentatively reasoned with, estimating their development cognitively to be within the concrete operation phase, but these interactions are few and far between. During this phase the Myceticae Infirmim gains growth from the Marrow-Born merely learning the basics of existing within the natural world and growing to maturity. The vast majority of Marrow-Born never see past this stage, failing to adapt or unwilling to leave the garden defenseless or accustomed to their life and its comforts, though why their garden cannot grow any further becomes a cause for some distress, leading to problems and hostility.
Finally as the scarce rare few Marrow-Born grow to maturity they develop to the formal operational phase of cognitive development, they're able to understand why their garden ceases to grow, that it is linked to them and that they must leave to learn more. These Marrow-Born who learn the truth become nomadic, seeking knowledge across the galaxy so that their garden may grow. Deeply curious, studious but still with a terrible temperamental streak and prone to excessive cruelty in combination with a learned possessive and territorial nature combined with a distinct nonchalance towards life without being taught it by others. Marrow-Born live up to their position as creatures aligned with the dark side.
None truly know the source of where the original infection came from, stories of the local people of Aleen speak of an immortal spirit, Orphne, who cultivated the eternal gardens under the planets surface. Her minions, the Kindalo drawn to her magic of the light, as her power cast a shadow across the planet that attracted something sinister. As light and dark must always exist in harmony, a rot came and was fought off by Orphne and her children however its remnants scarred the planet forever as it adapted to the planets harsh atmosphere. The war between the light and the Dark on Aleen damaged the world, turned some of it into a wasteland, made the air hostile for some of its creatures which remains true to this very day, as the Kindalo cannot walk upon the planet's surface. However, truth of the faded into legend, which in turn became Myth until all that was known about the mysterious entity that came to Aleen are ancient depictions on its cavern walls.
The rot that remained adapted, evolved and became something more, something separate. Touched by the dark as it bred, hybridized and evolved upon the surface of Aleen to become the Myceticae Infirmim which is known today. Tainted and crushed under the mountain of its history, the fungus was deemed to be a plague by the Aleena people, attempts to purge the Myceticae Infirmim interfered with the Fungus' attempts to grow and limited the habitats on the surface in which it was able to thrive. These disruptions combined with the continuing protection of the underworld of Orphne and the Kindalo who followed her forced the Myceticae Infirmim to adapt, slink into cracks and forgotten caverns, lay root in the most hostile environments of the planet with its queen-strain and become something more.
In these deep forgotten realms the Myceticae Infirmim nested wildly creating fungal ecosystems for hundreds of years, devouring the animals who would use them as an oasis against the far harsher environment of the world around them, but, the slow acting nature of the spores it created allowed fauna a chance to survive, themselves adapting to the climate with means to filter them, become immune or develop mannerisms in groups to combat the somnolent effects, leaving only the sick, old or foolish to be killed and eaten by its ever consuming spread. Enough life devoured developed something different, something strong. The Myceticae Infirmim with its in-built need to spread wider and wider had found limits to its growth, like a mental block, a wall, a limitation to its biological coding. Limits that these Sapient creatures did not have, so the slumbering titanic organism did what it did best, it devoured, and it adapted... It needed something to show it how to grow more, something to control it again, so it developed a loophole.
Eventually, the first bud grew, the binary thinking of the organism eventually developing over time in particularly advanced strains of Myceticae gardens across the planet. Hand fulls of the first Marrow-Born emerged as children of these fungal hives emerged appearing to be little more than beasts made from what the Myceticae had at its disposal while seemingly inspired by the fauna it had eaten over centuries... never truly forgetting. They hunted fauna, adapted to living life as the gardens began to grow once again bonded to these gardeners with their much more complex minds. The template the Myceticae Infirmim had granted them was a starting point, like an unborn infants but sapience had sparked a learning which saw the Myceticae to grow exponentially. Gardens fewer than a few hundred meters wide would become forests in their own right over a century with the Marrow-Born to guide them, however this attention sparked a renewed interest in them.
Orphne and her children felt the shift of balance in the force, many shadows loomed and she renewed her efforts to root out and eradicate the remnants of the rot. Tearing gardens apart in a genocide across the world as she would seek to destroy the Myceticae and its new Marrow-Born. However, the Marrow-born were strong, stronger than even she had thought, and while she could slay the young, the older ones in their gardens proved challenging to the light side emanation. So it was, the war on Aleen began. Orphne was clever however, tracking down young gardens and eliminating them before they could ever spawn one of its defenders, always nipping at the boarders of larger gardens with her own forces of nature. Enlisting the aid of the Aleena through myths and stories of the demon that created them, which enlisted the aid of the Galactic alliance, and even the Jedi on occasion in culling their numbers should they ever prove too numerous.
Aleen fought to a stalemate, the Myceticae proved too invasive to ever permanently destroy, becoming a rare species hidden within the deepest corners of the mysterious force empowered planet. An eternal shadow threatening the light of Orphne, her opposite, the scar left upon the world by the Therion that visited it long ago. However, there are stories of similar gardens across some of the galaxy within the Mid Rim, surrounding worlds like Ord Mantell, Numidian Prime and others have myths about a Rot that once claimed a world somewhere within L-7 and the scars that it left behind when it attempted to crusade across the universe.
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