Vale Mycologist

In Petalcap Vale - and, to a lesser extent, across the whole of The Verdial Arc - mycologists serve critical roles in society. Not only is Verdial physiology intimately linked with fungal life cycles due to their symbiotic relationship with the Caudal lichens which suffuse their bodies, but the infrastructure of the Petalcap Vale municipality is interwoven with the giant petalcaps that suffuse both the surface and subterranean portions of Caudal D. From medicine to engineering, food production to defense industries, mycologists enjoy a great deal of prestige and tenure within the Vale.

Career

Qualifications

In light of just how important mycologists are to the economy of the Vale, Petalcap Vale University offers one of the most well-regarded mycology programs under the Manifold Sky. Moreover, PVU offers specializations within the mycology program for students expecting to go into various specialties specific to fungus and lichen biology within the Vale biome, such as natural products chemistry, pharmacology, agriculture, structural engineering, and geological engineering among others.

Career Progression

There are comparatively few 'pure science' mycologists within the Vale who don't go on to become part of academia. Research mycologists are selected from native-born verdial applicants and foreign scholars in roughly equal measure, the latter being drawn to PVU because their homelands don't offer as ample an opportunity to study the subjects of their discipline as the Vale does. For non-verdials in the academic system, undergoing verdialization due to extended exposure to their colleagues in the field is considered a right of passage, though some take Lykrex successors as prophylaxis to forestall the body horror that can accompany a slow transformation of the flesh. On the other hand, the PVU foreign student body also represents the largest reservoir of Voluntarist Verdial ideation under the Manifold Sky - a somewhat distasteful subculture as far as many native-born Vale Verdials are concerned.
Most mycologists native to the Vale go on to work in related industries as discussed above. Achieving government licensure requires a combination of apprenticeship within the given field and survivorship: eating the wrong cap or inhaling the wrong kind of spores is grimly instructional for the aspiring mycologist who survives the incident.

Type

Research / Scientific