Phalloides
Sentient Parasitical Fungi
Basic Information
Anatomy
Standing between 2 and 6 feet tall with muscular frames covered in plant matter skin, phalloides have between two and six limbs depending on their original host species. They range in color from subtle earthy tones to bright colors and iridescent hues. Their eyes are normally white, lidless, and do not appear to have pupils. They have heavy wrinkles and lengthy lines of tendrils, similar to hair cover their bodies in patterns that seem to be the identifying individual features of the species. Some of their limbs end in thorny claws.
Despite the ability to vocalize, their language is a complex series of hisses, displayed colors and the release of pheromones.
Biological Traits
They show great resistance to electricity, as currents run through them and dissipate into the earth, and their physiology grants them resilience in the face of piercing attacks. Coupled with their physical resistances, phalloidesnaturally regenerate most damage, recovering even from life-threatening injury. However, this regeneration can be canceled by extreme heat, cold, or rotting. Their skin easily blends into terrain surrounded by plant life. Phalloides secrete a toxin that is deadly to many other species.
Genetics and Reproduction
Phalloides do not have sexes or reproductive organs. Typical phalloide reproduction involves the infection of other creatures. Phalloide spores are toxic, and can be used to infect animal life via inhalation. Once dead, an intelligent corpse will mutate and become a new phalloide according to its size. The process is painful, and slowly weakens a victim until death. This isn't the only manner of reproduction, however, as the death of a sufficiently old phalloide will create two smaller individuals. Memories from an ancestral line can be passed down through generations, with even ancient memories resurfacing in new phalloide.
Growth Rate & Stages
As phalloides age, spore clusters collected on their bodies and their skin grows tougher and harder to damage. They can disperse the clouds of spores that infect non-plants who breathe them in, and possibly cause them to give rise to more phalloides
Ecology and Habitats
Damp or wet environments with a ready supply of water are the environments in which phalloides thrive, though they can spend extended periods in other climates as long as some moisture can be drawn from the air or the soil.
Dietary Needs and Habits
Phalloides are omnivorous, capable of eating meat and blood regardless of its state of decay. They grow moss and fungi to subsist on, and in particularly hard times, they can absorb nutrients from the soil itself and from almost all organic matter, including bone.
Additional Information
Social Structure
Phalloides are organized into simple tribal units, led by their elders. They are highly tribal and territorial. Their culture centers around the harvesting of food and the spread of the tribe, even at the cost of their individual lives. Veneration is offered to those who propagate the race, whilst those who refuse to grow the tribe are treated as pariahs.
Culture also varies based on the host creature. More aggressive individuals are predominately hunters when transformed, while gentler hosts are vegetarians, preferring to scavenge. Due to an abundance of key survival resources, phalloides of different tribes are less likely to fight amongst themselves.
Facial characteristics
Most phalloides are indistinguishable from another in terms of their facial characteristics. They have large, white, lidless eyes and thick wrinkles.
Geographic Origin and Distribution
Isolated groups of phalloides can be found throughout Deadmouth Island, but the bulk of the population is found in the Toxic Basin, and the northeastern third of the Mireworth Sheet.
Average Intelligence
Phalloides only appear to form from intelligent creatures and appear to maintain roughly the intelligence level of the original host.
Perception and Sensory Capabilities
Darkvision to about 60 ft.
Civilization and Culture
Average Technological Level
Phalloides are prolific inventors, constantly coming up with new technologies to aid in their cultivation and spread of different fungi.
Major Language Groups and Dialects
Non-phalloides are simply unable to understand their language fully as they cannot emit or sense the released pheromones correctly or contextually. Some communication is possible through the visual and auditory parts of phalloide language and phalloides from different areas do not appear to have significant communication barriers.
Common Customs, Traditions and Rituals
Ritual dances are performed at certain cycles of the moons, with some phalloides even killing themselves by accident in reckless performances. The purpose of these rituals is yet to be determined.
Interspecies Relations and Assumptions
Phalloides have tense relations with other races, many of which view them as monsters.
Lifespan
Theoretically, phaloides can live for millennia, however they to split and form new phalloides around 50 years after their initial transformation.
Average Physique
The physique of a phalloide depends largely on the form of the original host. Through mutation, they shed the overall form and features of the body from which they developed, but in general terms a larger creature such as a centaur will produce a larger phalloide and a smaller creature, such as a halfling will remain small.
Body Tint, Colouring and Marking
Lengthy lines of tendrils form patterns over the body of a phalloide and appear to be how they identify each other.
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