Petroya

As your fungifolk guide gestures you to go through the hole that just opened in the trunk of the tree, you step through. You climb down using the roots, leaving barely enough room for you to squeeze through. Before your eyes get the chance to adjust to the dim light, you smell the damp earthy smell of the underground chamber. When you look down, you take in the sight of the large underground room that is almost fully enclosed by three roots. Right beneath you, in the middle of the room you first notice the glowing blue light source that lights up the chamber. The glowing pool of water is surrounded by fungifolk that seem to go about their business. Some of their faces turn towards you, as if they were looking at you with their nonexistent eyes. You climb further down as you feel the roots moving when your friends climb down the same hole.

The village of Petroya is located underneath a giant redwood tree in the South of the The Highoak Woods, near a branch of the Clearwen river.

Demographics

Except for some pets, all inhabitants of the village belong to a single tribe of Fungifolk. The village houses up to 500 fungifolk during spring, summer and late winter, and about 100 of the youngest, oldest and unable inhabitants during fall and early winter while all able folk are out gathering nutrients and supplies.

Government

Amma is the oldest of the village and therefore the leader. She always remains in the village physically. Through the spores messaging system however, she communicates with other Fungifolk villages. Requests for help or reports of abundance of nutrients will reach her first and she is in charge of passing on the news and choosing which of the villagers will be send if necessary. It is considered a great honor to be considered by Amma as worthy of a mission.

Defences

An important component of the village defense system is that it is rather well hidden. Not only do few forest inhabitant know of the Fungifolk and their villages, of those that know of its existance, an even smaller group knows the whereabouts of the village. The village can only be entered and exited through a hole in the trunk of a large redwood tree. Well before an intruder has found the village however, friendly mushrooms will use the spore messaging system to warn the village and Amma has the power to close off the hole in the tree. As a last resort, she may message closeby fungi that are out on a mission to return and attack the visitor from the back with the poison darts that each of the villager carry when they are out.

Industry & Trade

The spore messaging system of the Fungifolk is generally misunderstood as an act of Yelsandoriel, The Nourisher. Worshipers of Yelsandoriel will leave small offers at the base of a group of mushrooms and state their message and intended receiver. If the "offer" is considered worthy by the fungifolk, the message will indeed be passed on. In this case, the villagers will receive a message and come and collect the offering when no one is watching. The proceedings of these offerings are traded with other inhabitants of the forest. 
Adequate glass and metals from the offerings are used for the prouction of Aeroresin containers. Most of the produced containers are traded with other Fungifolk villages. The containers are used to safely transport Aeroresin to supplement the stock at the bottom of the pool.

Infrastructure

The village consists of a large hollowed out space beneath the roots of a giant redwood tree. Some alcoves are available for storage en seclusion time, but almost everyone vacates in the single large room. At the bottom of the hollow space, in the middle, a knee-high wall of stones encloses a pool of faintly glowing water. At the bottom of the pool lies a substance called Aeroresin. This substance is the source of the abnormal size and limb growth on the fungifolk, rather than regular fungi. The magical properties of the aeroresin also power the capability of the spores network to deliver audio messages throughout all of the The Highoak Woods. This slowly drains the stock of aeroresin. 
Some of the fungifolk are less hindered by gravity and find themselves able to connect to the vertical sides and the roof of the underground space. Other Fungifolk, as well as the rare outside villager, will find the abundance of roots helpful to make the journey into the underground village.   One of the alcoves contains a small forge and anvil that are used for the production of Aeroresin containers.

Type

Village

Location under

The Highoak Woods