Xanthoria

The book Xanthoria, guide to the Avatar of Zuggtmoy and holy scriptures of the Queen of Fungus is a volume whose browned pages have become swollen and wrinkled due to age and exposure to moisture. Crumbling yellow lichen obscures the title on the front cover, rendering it almost illegible. Harmless spores puff into the air when the book is opened. Standing eight and a half inches tall and five inches wide, it has titled after the author who is identified inside the work.

Xanthoria begins with a set of scientific essays about symbiotic relationships in nature before deteriorating into confusing ramblings on the merits and similarities of life and death. It describes the author's numerous experiments both natural and unnatural. One of the more thorough studies details the life cycle of a worm-like parasite that infiltrates different species of wasps, taking over their motor functions, while essentially wearing their still-living bodies as a disguise so the parasites can infect other wasps. Ultimately, Xanthoria found a way to link her soul to the life force of another creature and thereby unnaturally prolong her own life, by transforming the other creature into a phylactery. 

Item type

Unique Artifact