The Shrooms

Excerpt from the Journal of Ithis Zolaran

One of the most fascinating and dangerous creatures on the Arcane Strata....The Shrooms. These massive walking mushrooms seem to dominate most Utangard (wild caves beyond the city). They divide up into clans based on their coloring, protecting their territory and sending war bands out to destroy others. The Shrooms are very loud, but do not speak. They are very well organized, but don't appear to have a leader. They are brutal and cruel....beyond anything I had ever imagined.

Basic Information

Anatomy

The Shrooms are large mushrooms standing over 6 feet tall and have large colorful caps as their heads. They don't appear to have eyes or ears. Their large stalks (bodies) have two thin arms similar to most humanoids and their stalks split at the bottom to create two legs. It is assumed that they are magical, but that is still debated.

Genetics and Reproduction

The Shroom breeding habits are the most mysterious. They have a breeding cave that is very well protected and no one has yet to enter one and return. There have been no reports of any child Shrooms at all and some even believe they are born as a full adult. This has been highly criticized by most druidic circles and scholars.
The predominate belief is that they stay in the breeding cave until they are at an age they can fight.

Growth Rate & Stages

Although they leave the breeding cave at almost full adult height, they do grow a bit more during training. They will join a war band once they complete warrior trial. This may be slightly different among the different clans, but most do involve some sort of battle.

Additional Information

Social Structure

There does appear to be a minor hierarchy in the training camps for most of the clans. Some clans are more unique, but for most they do appear to have leaders that direct the training of the young. Once they leave training and join a war band, the hierarchy appears to vanish. There does not appear to be a single leader in the war bands.

Perception and Sensory Capabilities

They have no eyes, nose, or ears, but appear to sense almost everything. The most common theories is that they can smell very well and detect and hunt by that smell. A second one is that they sense via some sort of spore in the air. It is common for them to shoot spores in the air from their caps. Some believe they use the spores to sense motion.

Civilization and Culture

Average Technological Level

They appear to have a decent understanding of basic gears and minor technology. This technology is largely used for war machines and complex weapons. They have created some odd catapults and ballistic weapons. They also make some unique melee weapons and are skilled smiths.

Major Language Groups and Dialects

It is believe they communicate through some sort of pheromone or spores. This is a very debated subject among scholars and druids.

History

The first encounter with the Shrooms was a strike on some miners that found a new cave system. They were slaughtered. Most of the encounters with them ended similarly. Some battles may have been won, but the Shrooms don't take losing well and usually send a larger war band if they lose. The constant escalation created quite a situation for the Mining Strata.
The different clans created even more problems as there was very little understanding of the warlike nature of them. Over the next several years there were a number of skirmishes as the city tried to expand.

Iron Shrooms:

The Iron Shrooms were the closest to the city and although it was never called a war, it felt like one. Dozens of skirmishes with hundreds of deaths led to the complete destruction of the Iron Shrooms. That destruction did not come by our soldiers though, but possibly another Shroom Clan. One of our scouts found the Iron Shroom breeding cave completely burned out, there was nothing left. This allowed the city to expand and create boundaries with the other clans. Although the occasional encounter with explorers ends in death, they do not appear to want to attack the city directly and have largely left the city alone.

Lifespan

Unknown

Average Height

6-8 feet

Average Weight

200-300 lbs.

Body Tint, Colouring and Marking

Each clan has unique color markings. These appear to be part of birth and it is impossible to switch between clans. Here are some of the most common, although not all of them.

• The Dark Shrooms: Pure Black
• Blood Shrooms: Orange with red spots
• Dust Shrooms: Brown with patchy black spots
• Sea Shrooms: Blue with green lines