Necro-wart
Physical Description
The thin, fleshy stalks of the Necro-warts species of fungus burst forth from the decomposing material left behind in Haven to bloom into a bundle of putrid and foul caps. Necro-warts are a vile creation of this world, springing forth from the dead left to rot and smelling of the fetid waste of a city mixed with gallons of stomach acid. One who looks closely at the fungus will notice a pulsing, life-like rhythm and movement to its existence as if it is as alive as the sophonts who walk the world. This disgusting feature creates an unappealing existence, driving away those with weak stomachs and any beast who would attempt to feast on it. They grow in batches of ten to twenty stalks, but beneath the surface of rotting flesh, they fuse into a singular prolific fungus.
Properties
The pungent and acidic stench that burns the nostrils and surrounds the Necro-warts in a protective aura is its most apparent feature. Yet Necro-warts hold a useful seat in the cycle of Life and Death as this small plague of a fungus speeds up the decomposition of organics it takes root within. It does so by expelling a unique substance through its mycelium roots, which enriches the nutrients and minerals produced during decomposition and promotes the rapid liquefaction of soft tissues such as skin, muscles, cartilage, and even internal organs. Many farmers harness Necro-warts to vastly improve the compost and fertilizer used to enrich the soil throughout their fields. As the decomposing material is broken down further and further into nothing but a viscous sludge, Necro-warts themselves grow increasingly fleshy and active until they break down into a nutrient-rich slime that sinks into the dirt and fades away to leave the minerals and nutrients behind.
Among the Unfallen of Haven alongside us “living” sophonts, the Necro-warts species is a proper plague, though not deadly. When this fungus takes root in the bone and begins to sap the calcium necessary for its survival, the flesh around breaks down as well due to the liquefaction agent released by the Nacro-warts mycelium as a byproduct. Left unchecked, the Necro-warts will slough off the flesh of an Unfallen and leave nothing behind but a husk of brittle bones and fungi. Fear rises among the Unfallen when one among their population is afflicted with Necro-warts, as it is particularly contagious among the undead. No alchemical or mystical cure is available to halt this malady. As such, those infected with the Necro-warts turn to brutal mutilation by the removal of infested limbs, tissue, and bone.
Necromantic magic has been used to return lost limbs and tissues; however, should the infection prove not to be truly eradicated, such magic will cause the Necro-warts to return with a renewed and vicious intensity. Unfallen individuals who underwent this grueling process perished mere days after experimentation and so be warned: Attempting this procedure untrained and untried will inevitably result in death.
Believe what you may, Necro-warts are impactful in both positive and negative ways. They remain after The Rebirth, an icon of the ever-present power Lady Death has over the land and even over death itself.
General Information
Scientific Name
Veruga aestragadol
Geographic Distribution
Origins
Before The Fall, Necro-warts are said to have existed without purpose or effect on the world around them. Yet as Lady Death burned in Death's Cradle the ashes that fell spread her pain and loneliness to whatever it touched. The origin fungus died out across the face of Haven and resurged within the Blistered Expanse to roll across the land like a wave, finding a home in the rotten and forgotten fruits of existence.
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