Khalan Region

Who knew mushrooms could get so angry?

— Sodai, famous Kaia-Tene

A vast Far Deep region of incredible fecundity, the Khalan region is infested with a thriving, alien ecosystem with mushrooms large as houses and acrid bogs. Nearly all of the stone of the caverns are covered in fungal growth or mutant lichen, all the way to the dangling strands of growth that hang from the mile-high ceiling.

Despite the abundance of life, all but one attempts to settle the region have met with failure; the bones of the would-be pioneers lost in the fungal undergrowth.

by Alyn Spiller

Geography

Khalan is extensive, stretching through at least three nearly continuous caverns. Of those, almost nothing is known of the third with Kaia explorers having only just breached the fungal maze that separates it from the other two. No one knows how large the region truly is. The ceiling disappears into darkness above and attempts to map the spore-shrouded land are incomplete and inaccurate.

The first cavern is named Kotahi and contains most of the known paths from through the Tangle and the Inner Shell. The second is named Rua and is home to the Shoals that connect the region to the bordering Far Deep region. The third, Toru, is cloaked in darkness and mystery. Reaching it requires passing through the rest of Khalan first, a daunting task in itself.

The smell. That's what I remember, more then the sickly yellow clouds or the monumental spires of mushrom. That awful, damp smell.

— Sodai, famous Kaia-Tene

The Tangle

A maze of tunnels covered in thick fungal growth and abnormally thick grasping moss, the Tangle is the gate that leads to the Khalan region proper. In some places, the fungi has grown all the way to the ceiling and created dense walls. These walls range from thin veils to several meters deep. Every inch of the tunnels are covered in this fungi, with scattered patches of mushroom breaking out of the damp undergrowth. It is a damp, drafty labyrinth with very little to guide a traveler.

Even if the fungi itself is harmless, getting lost is a hazard that have ended more than a few expeditions before they could even reach their goal.

Scab

Patches of bone-like growths scar the Tangle. Hard but hollow, these slowly growing structures are home to the parasitic polyps that made them. They range in color from a bleached white to a deep, brilliant purple with the bioluminescence from the polyps winking in the darkness to attract prey. The Scab is one such patch, larger than any other, with spires of coral-like growths sprouting from the ground like teeth.

The coral of the Scab is poisonous to touch, causing blisters and numbing weakness. Some enterprising Kaia harvest the coral to craft dangerous, venomous weapons.

The Slough

The moss and rock lowlands known as the Slough cover the stretch between the Tangle and the rest of Khalan, and snakes between the different thickets of the Weald. The lichen here grows ankle deep, divided by naked rock or petrified, dead moss. Like the tangle, it is wet and unpleasant with even the rocky grounds being slick and damp. Ravines dig furrows into the stone where beasts nests or flora sprouts out from like weed, while great overhangs jut out above.

The land is jagged, broken up by sharp rising crags and scarred with deep chasms and fissures. Run-off from the Weald gather in those depressions, forming everything from shallow ponds to deep, murky trenches. Drinking the water without first treating it is ill-advised, but the wildlife in the Slough and Weald alike migrate between these deposits of water.

Not all ponds are filled with water. Some are filled with dangerous chemicals or acid. Despite this, they are not without life and hold some of the strangest flora and fauna in all of the Slough.

The Weald

From towering mushrooms taller than a man to densely packed underbrush of colorful toadstools, the Weald is a wild and vast expanse dominated by mycelium. The densely packed groves hold mushrooms of great variety, with many that can be found nowhere else. The Weald is broken up by bogs and marshlands, with thick layers of decaying vegetable matter covering the surface of the water. It is easy to step into what look like a solid patch of fungal floor, only to sink into fetid and parasite-infested waters.

Some part or another of the Weald is always covered by a dense shroud of spore released by the mushrooms of the Weald. If the conditions are right, wind from deeper within the tunnels from the shoals with stir the clouds and cause the spores to roll across the landscape like a wall. High above, luminescent fungi and dangling glow-worm pulse with uneven light. Those who have seen the Surface compare it to the cosmic landscape above, naming it the Constellation.

Flora and Fauna

Life thrives in Khalan. Unfortunately for humanity, little of it make the caverns hospitable for them. Parasites burrow into mycelium and feed on the mushroom, while predator and prey race in the toadstool underbrush. Insects are everywhere in the Weald, while the still water of the bogs hold lurking dangers.

by Agate Editions

But not all of Khalan is so hostile. Many of the mushroom are edible, medicinal or rare variants of the Cave-Capped Hatter. The soil here is fecund like nowhere else in the caverns and such promise continues to draw explorers and settlers to the region. Every now and then, there is an attempt to establish a permanent settlement along the edge of the Weald, but none last. Others, more prudent minds, form temporary shelters to harvest what they can and leave before the dangers overwhelm them.

The Titan

Colossal beyond any of the other in the Weald, the Titan is a mushroom of prodigious size that slowly strides across the wild in some instinctive pattern. The colossus is blind to all around it, lashing out only when attacked or annoyed, but is otherwise content to wander. On occasion, it will root itself back into the soil and become an impassive monument in the Weald.

The Far Deep
Endless miles beneath the Surface of the world lie the Far Deep. The caverns of the Far Deep are enormous and the life there alien. From titanic wandering mushroom to spirits of stone and shadows, the Far Deep is a place of wonder and terror in equal degrees.
While the Far Deep holds more and larger life than found anywhere else, few places can match the Khalan's ferocious vitality.
Read More About The Far Deep

Reaching Khalan

The only way from the Inner Shell to the Khalan region proper is through the Tangle. At least six different paths from the Inner Shell open into the Tangle, many miles apart. The other path is through the Shoals and the black waters from the bordering Far Deep ocean of Korawa.
Unlike many regions of the Far Deep, travel to Khalan is relatively easy (if unpleasant). The real trouble begins once the traveler reaches her destination.

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The wealth of life in Khalan has always attracted the dreams of those who wish to get away from the sparse, hungry tunnels above. Ever so often, expeditions travel to the region with the intent of building a new home among the mushroom.
So far, all such attempts have been unsuccessful and the very abundance of life that draws pioneers there have proven very hostile to their presence.

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by Valaan

Tangle-Nest

The Tangle is not empty. The damp, fungi-covered passages hold a startling variety of life that makes a home and often meal out of the fungi. While many are not hostile to humans, enough are for them to be a constant threat to any explorers who attempt to make their way through the Tangle. There are groves deep in the maze that are like worlds onto themselves, home to sights not yet seen by any human eyes.

The Gutter
Shrouded with heavy smog and marked with strikingly colorful sprouts of rock and large terraced pools, the Gutter is one of the largest sulfur flats in Khalan. It borders the Weald, ringed by petrified mushrooms that have been choked and stained by the near constant emissions of sulfurous smoke from the vents.

Deadlands

Whether through the predation of parasites or ravages of disease, some parts of the Weald are dead. Petrified stalks and brittle patches of dried fungi form the Deadlands of the Wyld. Most are in time consumed again by the ever-growing Weald, and new lands of calcified mushrooms emerge elsewhere.
To the explorer, the Deadlands can offer a refuge from the clouds of spore and wild beasts, as long as what killed the life there has moved on.

The Shoal

The black waters of the Far Deep meet the Weald along the distant reach of Rua to create the Shoals. Fungal pods the size of boats float on the ocean tides, feeding the beasts beneath the waves and infesting their flesh with spores in turn. The Shoals are a dangerous place, teeming with life and turbulent weather.
There might be no other place in the deeps like the shoal, or the long fungal beach where sea-creatures find respite from the wave or gnaw on the roots of the Weald.