Mycelids

The Mycelids are a race of semi-sentient, humanoid, mushrooms that reside within the swamps of Xlandia. While they are not nearly as intelligent or as advanced as the other races who descended from the Manakin, the Mycelids are still a useful tool for many of the races of the world. Most notably, the Dwari of Xlandia make extensive use of the Mycelids as slave labor in mines. Other groups like The Hidden make use of the creatures, in The Hidden's case as workers to dig tunnels and free slaves.

The Creation of the Mycelids

The Mycelids were not born from the ancient Manakin like all other sentient races were. Instead, the Mycelids were created from a fungi called the "Xlandian Glowcap" that is a variant of the "Xlandian Waxcap". The main difference between the two is the glowing blue spots on the glow cap that are a result of prolonged exposure to mana. The glowcap has mutated the ability to use mana as a source of subsistence and as a result can almost exclusively be found near underground mana reservoirs. When this fungus was discovered by the Gnels, it was used as a way for mages to replenish mana before brewing had become standard in Gnel society. In order to create a larger supply of the fungus, a Gnelish "scientist" named Vran Mycela would begin to experiment with magically altering and selectively breeding the fungi. He would have to do this in secret as it was deemed against the standard Gnel beliefs of living with nature. These experiments involved injecting glowcaps with additional mana, breeding glowcaps with the highest mana content, and other controversial alterations to the fungi. This would all culminate on the 13th amethyst of Day's End, 122 PR / PRE when the amount of mana contained within the mushrooms would pass a threshold of sentience. While the fungi still had much less mana within them then any of the other races on Anerion, the amount contained in their rift shadow allowed for them to exert their will in the rift, therefore being sentient. Once the glowcap became sentient, it would quickly for together with all those around it to become a humanoid form. Vran was immediately made curious by the discovery, but made sure to keep the mycelids contained within his hidden laboratory.

The Mycelid's Life Cycle

After the disturbing results from his experiment, Vran Mycela would continue to document everything he could about the Mycelids, hoping to make use of them as workers for the Gnels. He would first document their life cycle as follows,

• Mycelid Spores - Mycelids are first created as spores of the glowcap, the only difference being that they have a shared sentience among the spore cloud. The cloud can exert its will to move freely if it wishes, being used in combat by a Mycelid to blind or confuse opponents, or by the cloud itself to find a suiting place to sprout.
• Mycelid Sprout - The Mycelid spores find their resting place and begin to grow their hyphae towards any mana containing materials nearby. This connection to mana will quickly accelerate the Mycelid sprout's growth into the next stage.
• Mycelid Crawler - At this point, the Mycelid sprout has absorbed enough mana to form into a fully grown Myclelid, but first the glowcaps must move together into a conglomerate. During this time, the hyphae function as legs and allow for the glowcap to crawl to other glowcaps until it forms an immobile blob of fungi. The crawlers will finally construct a humanoid frame of hyphae that connects all of the glowcaps to sustain them all.
• Mycelid Adult - The frame will become filled with the bodies of the fungus, eventually forming into a somewhat human form constructed from the flesh of the fungi. As the final step of the process, a gigantic glowcap will grow out of the top of the Mycelids body, forming a sort of head. It is believed that this central glowcap functions as a sort of brain and also controls senses with its many feelers.

Related Articles

• Xlandia
• Vran Mycela

Lifespan

10 years

Average Height

6.4 feet

Average Weight

23 kg

Geographic Distribution

• Xlandia

Discovered by

Vran Mycela

The Mycelid Sleep Cycle

While Mycelids don't need to sleep as most races do, they do still need to sustain themselves. This usually takes the form of a daily hibernation-like state that renders the Mycelid immobile as their feeding hyphae dig into the nearby area to sustain them. However, do not underestimate a Mycelid during this time. If they are to be disturbed they can often detach their feeding tubes instantly and rise to fight off intruders.