Réalta talún

We call them earth stars. They have been blooming the messages from our ancestors and they will do the same for the children of our children when we're gone.

— Elder speaking at the Summer Festival

General knowledge

Réalta talún are not just your average mushrooms, growing anywhere, everywhere and each time, water is there for them. While it is true, that they typically choose places often frequented by other people, they are found in other places, normally not visited by people, like isolated bog islands or forest deeps. Independent of the cause, they are believed to act as a superseed between the dead and the living. It does not matter which living, nor which dead. There seems to be a link running in the bloodline of all those born within the borders of the Saveni land. A possibility exists to talk to souls of the dead if the réalta talún are harvested from the place of burial.

Species

Not many people actually see into the differences between réalta talún. Most of them see just a star-shaped mushroom with breast in the middle. Most of them are blind to the details, though important when it comes to distinguishing the more useful ones.

Cíche talún by PxHere (edited by Angantyr)

Cíche foraoise

Around the time the young sheep are born, the cíche talún start sprouting like mad. These mushrooms are known mainly for two of their properties: the aphrodisiac for humans and a food source for rodents. Mice and voles nibble them often at the start of season. Not only does it provide additional nutrition, it helps the mushroom spread the spores through the forest and expand its territory. People use them for love games but in a passive way. Cíche talún grow in places favoured by vines, such as philanderers, which are by their own, thought of as "lovers plants". The spores are released starting fourth moon and last through the whole summer. A common belief says that they're most potent on the night of the Summer Solstice, and especially on the Summer Festival.

Flùr foghair

Considered one of the first signs of Fall, flùr foghair bloom when the days become colder and nights longer. They have no special use in healing, but are often used for transition ritual to places strongly connected to the form of autumn. Occassionally they form fairy rings around juniper seedlings and grow more and more distant over the years. When the plant is about 0.7 m tall, only single flùr foghair will be found there. They are often mistaken by novices for Cíche foraoise for the resemblance they share, but the latter grown only until the summer ends. A good indicator of coldness in some particular place can be estimated by the color of the berry of flùr foghair. As it gets colder, the berry turns darker until pitch black, when frosts arrive. As local folk say in the Old Tongue Flùr an fhoghair, bidh e fuar.

Flùr foghair by Liz Popich (Lizzie) (edited by Angantyr)

Bláth castáin by Rui Oliveira Costa (edited by Angantyr)

Bláth castáin

Along with the chestnuts falling down and breaking loose the glistening brown fruit, bláth castáin burst open to reveal their creamy pillows decorated with many pin-sized holes. This mushroom is not only named for how it resembles the chestnut fruit when still hanging on tree. It often grows in groups of 2-7 near the larger roots of the pink-flowered chestnuts. The strong resemblance is shared by the insects feeding on the fruit and leaves. Many species of moths eat through the rind to lay eggs inside. The mushroom however only smells similar but does not have any nutritional value, causing the larvae to die of starvation. Thus, bláth castáin coexist with pink-flowered chestnuts by increasing the chances of fruit to be passed further by boars and other animals and getting essential minerals, water and resins in return.

Some réalta talún are especially valuable to the foragers for their use in medicine and cuisine. The most notable examples are:

Oráiste foraoise

Grows in leaf forests, especially in warm places, such as vicinity of hot springs. In settlements it is often dragged in with the stack of firewood. The valuable part are the orange petals with a strong orange aroma. Oráiste are foraged dried whole, after which the middle berries are removed. The petals can be added to pastries, macerated with wine or ate whole while travelling (they taste slightly sour with a tinge of bitterness).

Bláth aitil by Drew Henderson (edited by Angantyr)

Bláth aitil

Cute mushroom growing under cyprus and junipers. Every flower gives a single berry (aitil), filled with essence of the conifer they grew with. Aitil are powerful antiseptics when crushed, so every traveller usually has a small handful or two. Occasionally mixed with lard and heated can be used as a spice for game and poultry.

Ciaróg glioscarnach by Michelle M (edited by Angantyr)

Ciaróg glioscarnach

Indispensable for craftsmen willing to pay anyone to find these ones. When heated with linseed oil or pine water it dissolves forming a dark blue, viscous lacquering solution. It hardens to form a smooth surface. Ciaróg mushrooms grow in peaceful places, not frequented by animals nor people. Each year finding them resembles playing tag as they return to left habitats after several years, with appropriate conditions.

"When souls of the dead awake from sleep, they bud from the ground like closed eyes. Over time, they open up, donning the shape of a star. One, who claims it, claims the power to speak to this soul."

Common Savenian belief