Sporetta

Basic Information

Alternative name(s) Mushroom Men Origin Lifespan Diet Subspecies

Physical description

Height Distinctive features

Cultural

Organisations Languages Locations

Out-of-character information

Image source

The Sporetta are a sentient race of creatures that seem to be related somehow to fungus. They live in dark caves and underground and have a unique form of communication that uses scents and spores to convey information. They have a basic grasp of creating and using tools and weapons.

When their skin is pierced they release a cloud of hallucinogenic spores.

The sporetta have no ears to speak of, instead, their language is produced through sents that are released and received through glands and receptors in the skin. Their communication is less of a language with sentences and words but is more made up of a series of smells linked to memories and feelings with a complicated grammatical syntax and undertones. This can be hard for those used to an auditory language to grasp. Many smells used are related to nature and natural decay. Fear produces an acrid smell while smells like lavender rose and moss are more peaceful. The smell of lemon often accompanies a question or in some cases an apology and serves a similar function to an upward swinging vocal inflection. The smell of Fertilizer or animal manure means help or assistance of some kind. Other smells are a lot more straight forward, the smell of smoke or ash can mean fire.

Humanoid in shape with a flat mushroom top like head, They have no ears or nose and smell through receptors on the surface of their skin. They have retractable mycelium or root-like protrusion on their hands which they use to eat or transfer fluid or nutrients between other Sporetta. Adult Sporettta range anywhere from 3 to 6 ft tall. Unlike most mammalian races they never stop growing so one can tell the age of a sporetta by how tall they are. Child sporetta look like smaller adults with oversized heads standing around 1 to 2 feet tall. When the child squats down they look very much like a giant mushroom just sticking out of the ground. There is no distinction between genders, younger smaller sporetta often take on more domestic roles while the larger older ones take on warrior protector rolls.

Sporetta live in caves and caverns below the Allirian Reach and are nocturnal for the most part, only coming out at night. They live in a semi-nomadic clan-based structure and are mostly foragers. They eat dead wood or other dying plants and will sometimes assist the natural growth of their habitat to encourage food production. They used to be a lot more widespread but the more and more humans and other mammalian races inhabit the Reach the more they are being pushed out of their habitats, being confined to smaller and smaller areas. At this point, they are confined to isolated areas and are unable to move from place to place the same as they used to. This has lead to a shortage of food resources and they often resort to stealing human's waist, such as abandoned wooden carts or furniture. Some even resort to dismantling perfectly good fences for the wood. Though the paint often used on human constructions is bad for their digestion. This has lead to a certain animosity between local Human farmers and Sporetta. The farmers seeing them as pests and some even going as far as burning or collapsing Sporetta dens when they find them.

When their skin is cut and the Sporetta's blood comes in contact with the air it produces a very strong hallucinogenic compound that affects mammals. They are immune to the effects of this Halusinagen and instead, it comes across to them as a beacon or cry for help allowing them to locate injured members of their group from a good distance away.

Young Sporetta or sleeping Sporetta use a kind of stronger form of communication that can create a shared dream or illusion between other Sporetta. Young Sporetta use this to entertain themselves and older ones do this while they sleep to bond with their clan. This form of hallucination does not affect mammals only other Sporetta or maybe other plant races.