The Sporemind

The Sporemind’s status as a race is questionable, as there is only one in existence. Like the treants, it is a sapient form of fungus. Its physical body, an enormous mass of fungal material, resides at the bottom of a cavern hundreds of miles beneath Tellus’s surface. From there, it extends its roots to the surface, spreading them across the Isle of Jaws. It is hypothesized that these roots end in a sort of nursery, where the Sporemind grows its non-sapient servants, the sporebeasts. These creatures prowl the jungle in search of prey. Once they find it, they will bite into its flesh, but leave without finishing it off. The spores of the Sporemind enter the prey’s bloodstream, and infection starts. If the victim is non-sapient, it will simply die from the infection. If, however, the sporebeast bites a sapient being, a horrible transformation will begin. Mushrooms begin to sprout from the infected person’s skin, and any hair falls off of the body. Eventually, fungus covers the entirety of the skin, making the victim unidentifiable. Lastly, the spores move into the brain, and push the victim to the depths of the mind to take control. The victim is forced to watch as its body becomes a mindless beast. The Sporemind can take direct control of a spore walker’s body to interact with the surface world. It can speak through them, although it rarely does so except to send threats of destruction to the other races of Tellus.