User Guide

NATIVE LIFE
XENOFUNGUS
Xenofungus is a hard, crimson mass of tubular shoots ranging in size from about
a foot across to microscopic. It grows in huge, heaped tangles capable of cov-
ering thousands of square kilometers of land, with a depth ranging anywhere
from 2 to over 25 meters. Anything trying to move through a fungal area must
either have (a) the raw tonnage required to break through the mass, (b) the abil-
ity to move over its top without shredding itself or becoming bogged down in
the mass’s many cavities, or (c) the firepower simply to blast its way through.
Xenofungus also grows in the oceans. Sea fungus is a bit more diffuse than
the land stuff (tending to grow much taller, but not nearly as dense), but is
otherwise basically identical.
Most xenofungus blooms are thousands of years old, and geographically sta-
ble. On the rare occasions when they do appear, however, they literally appear
almost overnight, growing at a rate of up to a meter an hour, sprouting spon-
taneously over an area that can encompass hundreds of square kilometers.
Chemical analysis of the fungus indicates that it’s a rich source of trace elements
and rare minerals with a high potential value in energy, nutrient and mineral pro-
duction. The only barrier to the full exploitation of the fungus as a natural
resource is the evolution of technologies to extract its benefits economically.
The fungus seems to exist in a semi-symbiotic relationship with the mind
worms (see Mind Worms, p. XX). Boils are often reported to originate from
fungus blooms, particularly when the blooms are somehow damaged. The
worms seems to provide the fungus with a natural defense.
One of the more mysterious and controversial aspects of the fungus is its
“song.” Certain individuals in the immediate proximity of fungal blooms (any-
where from 5 to 200 kilometers, depending on the individual and the size of
the bloom) claim to hear a sort of hum or ululation from the fungus. This
“music” is not audible to most, and it cannot be recorded. If it exists at all, it
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