Félthiós - sea mushroom

A true forager knows no bounds when hungry. It is people like us, who would dive deep into the waters of Brûdhe to find some juicy, stingy mushrooms.

— Sea forager of Brûdhe

Origin

A species of mushrooms that natively are found exclusively in the Brûdhe Bay. They form large group of several tens, sometimes hundreds and feed on remnants drifting in the sea. With food being scarce for a sufficient long time, they can switch to a parasitic mode, hence very often they are found on corals.

Appearance

Translucent milky stalk, clearly wider at the bottom. The yellow hat is wide and tucked with dark, reddish brown tendrils. Underneath, the hat seems much lighter, with very slight tinge of blue.

Typical use

Culinary

Félthiós have been in the traditional menu of Brûdhe taverns for a very long time. They go well with strong liqours, enhancing their apparent alcoholic strength by adding a spicy undertone. Winter and autumn Félthiós are thought to be the best. The sea waters are much depleted from smaller fish and plants, so the mushrooms become more venomous, so much, much tastier!

Pigment

Spring is the season of regeneration, forcing the shrooms to prepare for the summer hunting season. The tendrils double and sometimes even triple their length. The reddish brown pigment they store is what merchants and artists seek the most. After foraging the mushrooms are left in shallow waters, close enough to the shore to let the waves recede sometimes. Such stress forces the organism to longer its tendrils, by using up the nutrients in the hat. As it shrinks, the tendrils grow longer and more sturdy. They are then cut off, dried and selled in bundles.

Type: mushroom
Edible: Yes
Natural habitat: Brûdhe Bay
Cultivatable: Yes

Félthiós sea farms

As the tendrils can fetch a good price, some have tried to domesticate the shrooms and find the most optimum conditions as to maximize the crop. Such farms can be occassionally spotted from a distance as marked by geometric shapes of floating barrels. The type of shape and barrel color is distinct for every sea farmer.