Mastrilial Mushroom
Kid, I want you to trust me on this. If you see a forest covered in black and red mushrooms... The moment you see those spores, run. Run faster than you'd run from a Demon. Faster than the wind, and pray for your life to any god you know. Tesrin Gant, expert mycologist and adventurer.
The Mastrilial Mushroom, also called Mother-shadow, devourer mushroom or the Node, is a type of fungi growing specifically in the western part of the world, notably Abzazel-Maktis, west of the South Arken Empire and the Zamar Republic. Capable of incredibly exponential growth, feeding on Arcanic power, biological mass and seemingly immortal, it was for a long time the goal of every nation it grew in to exterminate it. After numerous extreme failures and realizing the Node's defense system make attacking it more dangerous than leaving it alone, the zones taken over by it were left forbidden and guarded off, and it has simply entered a vegetative state, sleeping peacefully, and, hopefully, forever.
A forest colonized by the Node
In this forest, everything is controlled by the mushroom. Interconnected through its unique Arcanic Matrix, the sporal network and the vast root system, it is impossible to attack the colony without kickstarting the regeneration and growth system that would make the Node take over the entire region.
The Arcanic Matrix of the Node
Although it hasn't been proven to have a full sentience, the Node acts as a sort of hive mind to protect and develop the colony, and is fully capable of exploiting the Immaterial Eternity that seeps through the fabric of Amaanturis to create its own, unique Arcanic Matrix. Many have tried replicating or using it, to no avail, for its unbelievable complexity and its extreme divergence to the ones used by humanity.
Although it has been theorized that it could potentially take over humans, it has never been observed, nor has it been seen taking over any sentient life, but nothing in its biology or Arcanic profile would make it impossible.
Despite numerous years of research by biologists, arcanists and mycologists alike, nobody has come even close to finding the source of the mysterious Node's powers, why it can use and create Arcanic Matrixes, or even if it really is a mushroom, but many theorize it has been implanted on Amaanturis by forces of The Chaos. That theory, however, is mostly baseless and rooted in the Divine-backed belief that Demons are evil, instead of simply servants of entropy, and no real proof has been brought that would connect the Arcanic usage of the Mastrilial Mushroom and that of the Demons: in fact, no connection has been made to any other usage ever recorded in history.
The Node is, has been, and remains, for now, a complete mystery, respected by some, worshipped as an almost divine entity by others, and feared by most. The idea it could reawaken one day and start colonizing the world is made even more terrifying by how powerless humanity has ever been to counter it.
Despite numerous years of research by biologists, arcanists and mycologists alike, nobody has come even close to finding the source of the mysterious Node's powers, why it can use and create Arcanic Matrixes, or even if it really is a mushroom, but many theorize it has been implanted on Amaanturis by forces of The Chaos. That theory, however, is mostly baseless and rooted in the Divine-backed belief that Demons are evil, instead of simply servants of entropy, and no real proof has been brought that would connect the Arcanic usage of the Mastrilial Mushroom and that of the Demons: in fact, no connection has been made to any other usage ever recorded in history.
The Node is, has been, and remains, for now, a complete mystery, respected by some, worshipped as an almost divine entity by others, and feared by most. The idea it could reawaken one day and start colonizing the world is made even more terrifying by how powerless humanity has ever been to counter it.
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