Fungi, as a core characteristic, feed on decaying matter and rot. This is well known and Common. They grow in the woods on old trees and in thick mulch. Many are poisionous and avoided, even more are delicious in all sorts of dishes and activly harvested.
But not the Body Eater.
The Body Eater's only job is to consume.
What is it
The Body Eater, formally known as Jaxirxar, is a specific kind of fungus that feeds only on warm, organic flesh. It grows in clumps, blue tinged from all the iron, with a white stalk and lacy growths billowing over top. When cut, Red, thick sap beads out. It's not enough to look unsettling, but the color is certainly striking.
Growth and Development
It takes root with harmless spores. They settle on a recently deseased body, usally with open wounds or visible blood. It takes about 2 hours for gestation, then they begin to grow. Compared to other fungi, the Body Eater grows at an exceptional rate. within 24 hours, mycelium will begin to appear and continue to grow rapidly.
As it works through it's host body, it increases the decomposition rate exponentially as well as making the process or palatable. It will Reach full growth in 3 days, then release it's own spores which will either settle on the same body or find another carcass to feed on.
Once the body is completely disolved, the fungi releaces one final wave of spores and waits. It doesn't techinally die naturally, but i will not continue to grow or multiply. It simply waits until something else falls within it's reach. If something does, then it will leave it's dormant state and continue to feed, but few Body eaters ever get a second chance at life like that.
Uses
Despite the grotesque nature of it's food source, many cultures have found practically uses for the fungi. Most are in funeral rights, but farmers and butchers have use for it as well.
Funeral rites
In many eastern cultures, specifically the ones originating in
The Eastern Glades , the Fungi is careful preserved to aid in their funerals. Once someone is declared dead and the time of mourning has passed, spores will be intentionally releaced on the body and then locked in a dark room, like a basement or sporing chamber, for 2 days. After that, the body is moved to a burial ground.
This helps the body return to the earth from wence it came without nearly as much mess and the resting mulch under a Jaxirxar body is perfect for fertilizer, rich in nutirence as it is. This can then be gifted to the family, so their loved one can continue aiding the family even after death.
Butchers and Farmers
in a similar vein, if and when farm animals die and the meat is remved from the body, the remains are left in a composting pit specifically for warm organic matter rather than plant matter and weeds. The remains are treated with the ocasional Jaxirxar spore, but there are usually enough in dormant for the decomposition process to be quick. Every 6 months, the mycelium is lifted and the much underneath is used as premium fertilizer for their and their neighbors crops.
Ohhhh this is fun -- I love how you start it out so dark and horrific, with the whole idea of mushrooms needing freshly killed bodies in order to feed upon, before getting into some actually really wholesome uses for the scary lil shroom! And they really make good sense, too -- I can see how useful it'd be to have a species of mushroom that breaks down bodies that quickly. I have to wonder, are there examples of it taking hold of someone not quite dead yet, in open wounds or the likes? Or are peoples immune systems too strong for the spores to survive? I'm adding this to my reading challenge as well!