Giant Fungi

Giant Fungi [PH] by OpenAI

Mushrooms have coexisted alongside the other flora and fauna on the planet for eons. Their unique ability to survive in damp, dark and otherwise inhospitable locations has been the foundation of their success and the driver of their prevalence.
The topside folk are used to picking tiny sproutlings straight out of the ground for their dinners, medicines or rituals. Those that dwell under the surface see fungi as something far more useful. It’s a fantastically calorie dense snack once dried and spiced. Some breeds can be soaked in alcohol to extract essences that can cause hallucinogenic experiences when consumed. Most importantly though, when the stalks of these fungi are dried and allowed to absorb a special sluice of quartz imbued mortar, the resulting material is incredibly strong; Harder than most types of wood but less dense overall. It doesn’t outshine the usual building materials of stone, crystal or metal but it is incredibly useful when creating scaffolding, conducting repairs or propping up structures in the building and carving processes.
The way that the fungi permeate the underground is also vastly different to what the topsiders are used to. The mycelial webs lined cavern walls and lace through soft stone to create enormous three dimensional lattices. When the webbing reaches a clear cavern, it begins to line the floor surfaces with a thinner layer that works as a support structure for much, much larger mushrooms to begin sprouting. The fungi network reaches downwards into the earth reaching for precious mineral infused liquids to consume as well as horizontally to spread its spores further afield.
Different types of fungus also bring with them different properties. From producing vastly more spores to being slightly bioluminescent. Some breeds even have a different cellular structure which makes their texture feel more like game than plant-like matter. Some are more porous and can absorb liquids more effectively, some have even developed thorns on their webbing to protect their root-like systems.

An Example of Use

Mycelial Webbed Wall by OpenAI

In the regions outside of the city of Crag’helm the mycelial webs are said to be as strong as chains to the point of causing great difficulties for the various expansion projects the settlement needs. Clusters of rock and gemstone are held aloft in webbed mycelial nets. The thick webbing runs through the stone almost like an ore of its very own. Pickaxes alone are not enough to efficiently carve a path through the stone around the city. For this reason, specialised tools have been created for tearing through the webbing, although it does severely slow down the expansion process. Consisting of thick braided strands of the webbing itself that has been dried, treated and laced with rough hewn and sharpened obsidian shards to create what is known as a Pullpick. The Pullpick is then placed behind the targeted section of fungi and pulled back and forth repeatedly, cutting as it goes.

This article was created for my first World Ember - I hope you enjoy my writings and I'm looking forward to hearing your feedback!