Boilpus
Physical Description
Boilpus is a nauseating fungus found only in Death's Cradle and is rapidly disappearing following The Rebirth. Boilpus once festered in great patches surrounding the burning rim of Death's Cradle, great roiling growths bursting with a thick yellow ooze. Each blotchy, red boil could grow as large as a wagon wheel, all while it filled the air with the smell of burning rot and refuse. In the blistering temperatures of the crater’s rim, this fungus feebly attempts to spread its spores by popping vigorously and setting loose a meter-high wave of viscous, pus-colored slime. The calcification of this slime is responsible for the discolored rock formations now-famous to the cooling crater’s outer perimeter.
Properties
The Boilpus species of fungus is unique in its destructive capabilities. A living Boilpus specimen is so potent in its sensory overload of smells and vapors that coming close to one without adequate protections can induce tears, vomiting, sickness, and even infection in all but the heartiest living creatures. While most Unfallen remain immune to the fungus, beasts of travel or burden are particularly susceptible to Boilpus infections in their lungs, throat, eyes, and nose.
Within the center of the Boilpus another destructive power awaits for adequate prey: its reproductive Sporeooze. Launched by a sensory system that awaits for vibrations caused by footfalls, this viscous Sporeooze burns like liquid fire and devours flesh and bone like a slow but powerful acid. Sporeooze takes some time to calcify and take root, so those blessed with deft movements may be able to free themselves or another before a minute’s time. Should an unlucky soul fail to remove this Sporeooze, what flesh is not seared away in its first assault will be trapped within a hardened shell as roots begin to burrow into the remaining flesh to use as sustenance. Over the course of two months, new growths will form and make ready for the next cycle of reproduction, resulting in even more Sporeooze explosions. No recorded being has ever survived more than 48 hours after the Sporeooze has hardened into its calcified shell.
Remnant Growths
The Boilpus finds its home in extreme environments, primarily in temperatures in which few other natural thing can survive. Because of such environments, or perhaps to spite such places, this horrific fungus will take root in corpses and other patches of itself. What can be seen today of such plants without disturbing the Sporeooze would be a layered mix of roots and dead fungal matter. This flora fights itself and has preyed on anything within range of its bursts since its appearance after The Fall. Thankfully, yet sadly, we sophonts will soon see this fungus go completely extinct. What little remains of it after The Rebirth is a fragment of a time when Death clung to the Blistered Expanse and choked everything it could grasp in darkness.
Scientific Name
Ferveiro lemidoente
Geographic Distribution
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