The Dark Shrooms
Excerpt from the Tishes Journal: Explorer and Observer
My experience with The Shrooms is both intriguing and terrifying. I watched as the Dark Shrooms and the Sea Shrooms bash each other into oblivion. Although not bloody, it was no less horrifying. Bits and pieces of the Shrooms flew everywhere. Entire caps being ripped off to have the stalks drop lifelessly. Others are sliced in half or at odd angles and even more are trampled beneath the stalks of their own. At the end, I watched as the Dark Shrooms finished off the last of the Sea Shrooms. Dragging their bodies around and throwing them on their caps...almost like they wore the bodies as hats. I then watched them do an odd dance of sorts through almost a period. They marched away leaving the bodies to decay, even their own dead.
Culture
Major language groups and dialects
The Dark Shrooms seem to be much more physical and seem to solve disagreements through physical challenges or duels.
Culture and cultural heritage
The entire culture appears to be based on war and combat. After a battle, the victors will parade the bodies of the enemy around in an odd circus of sorts. The Shrooms appear to be in an intoxicated state during this celebration. It is believed that a special spore of sorts that creates this state in the Shrooms.
Shared customary codes and values
War is their only real value that has been seen. They don't seem to care who they kill or destroy, although they appear to ignore creatures they feel aren't a threat. They also prefer to attack groups of similar or higher numbers than their war band. They are very unlikely to attack an individual unless they are defending their breeding and training areas. This gives a hint of some level of honor although there are other explanations. The wars with other Shroom clans are the most common thing they do and the Dark Shrooms are the most brutal in their war methods.
Common Customs, traditions and rituals
The Dark Shrooms appear to create intricate cuts in their caps for each battle won. This is a very unique tradition among the Shrooms as most use simple marks.
Coming of Age Rites
They spend much of their spare time training and sparring with each other. These sessions can be brutal and will sometimes end in the death of the trainees. Their coming of age ceremony is a simple match, but they must win in any way possible. This always ends in death for one of the participants. This ends with a simple marking ceremony, that marks them as a warrior. The loser is taken back into the breeding cave.
Related Locations
That was a very neat and fun article to read. The one drawback that I can find to this article is that it seems more of a species article rather than of a specific ethnicity. Perhaps you could focus on a specific type of Shroom (for example, Dark Shrooms) and whether they have any apparent differences to other types of Shrooms. I also wished the beginning quote had an author, it's a small thing, but it'd be nice to know whose words/impressions I am reading about. There was a small spelling mistake: sparring is written with double r (sparing means something different). I think the "Culture and cultural heritage" could be re-arranged to separate war and training for war. Currently the sentences are all intermixed between the two topics, and sometimes makes the reader wonder whether they are reading about their general war traditions, or the training. One thing I was left wondering: since they are such a rowdy bunch, do they make war with other species? Or do they only make war between different types of shrooms?
Thanks. It one of the first I've written in several months, so I feel rusty. :) I think it's a great idea to divide it up a bit with race and the ethnicity. Will consider that. I struggle with different cultures as it is one large unified city. There is no real war culture among them. So any threats are all outside the city.
Okay, did some updating and creating a parent race and just making this one for the Dark Shrooms. Still needs some work, but seems a bit better on the structure I hope.