Hortus

Hailing from lost Edras, hortuses are a sapient fungal species. Thick ligaments fill the interior of a hortus, granting them excellent defense against kinetic damage, though slashing weapons can sever these cords. These plant life-forms are renowned for their lethargic ways, and they are rarely found outside the strictly controlled borders of their small number of worlds. 
Hortuses speak in languid, drawn-out, monotone voices that impatient creatures find frustrating to follow. Among themselves, hortuses speak in a language of spore releases that other species can’t easily reproduce without the installation of complex augmentations. Hortuses’ caps and stalks can take a wide array of forms, with many reminiscent of mundane fungi found on worlds throughout the galaxy.
Over millennia, hortuses converted their once relatively barren worlds into a vegetation-rich paradises, using their unique biology to expel a combination of chemicals and spores that altered atmospheric conditions to their liking. By the time the Sarraruki Star Empire arrived on their worlds Post Gap, the hortuses had already developed into a relatively passive, contented species, mostly due to the sedative-like atmosphere they’d crafted for themselves. The Star Empire conquest of these worlds was a relatively bloodless affair, as what passed for hortus leadership wanted only to preserve the lax living conditions of their society. The Empire was content to let the hortuses continue their sedentary lifestyle in exchange for use of their unique means of atmospheric modification.
Only a small number of hortuses are active beyond their worlds. Most of these hortuses work in direct service to the Star Empire, either as scientists or as living agents of atmospheric change. The Sarraruki often deposit large groups of hortus colonists on distant worlds. Over the course of generations, these hortus colonies gradually transform small, self-contained regions to be more amenable to human life.
The few hortuses who act outside of Sarraruki supervision are renegades. Either possessing a modicum of genetic variance that makes them less susceptible to their species’ chemical spore concoctions, or having simply avoided larger congregations of their species, these hortuses each react differently to their freedom. Many renegade hortuses stand in opposition to the Star Empire, while others simply seek to explore the greater galaxy and find new meaning among the stars.

Origin/Ancestry

Heir of Edras

Lifespan

40+1d20 years

Average Height

4-5 ft.

Average Weight

150-250 lbs.