Lavie Tidhar has been nominated for a BSFA, British Fantasy, Campbell, Sidewise, World Fantasy and Sturgeon Awards. He is the author of Osama and of the Bookman Histories trilogy, as well as numerous short stories and several novellas.
CLITOCYBE RIVULOSA — FOOL’S FUNNEL
ON THE ISLAND OF CHANTERELLE, there are extensive mangrove swamps in which thrive the CLITOCYBE RIVULOSA, or FOOL’S FUNNEL mushroom.
It is a pleasant island, Chanterelle, located in the South Seas, and prior to the HUMAN-FUNGI ACCORD of 945 AF, it had remained unexplored. It is a mountainous island, thickly forested, with white, dazzling beaches scattered amidst the dark and cool lagoons in which the mangroves spread out, their endless roots feeding into the shallow water where a plethora of fish live and die.
Amidst the roots of the mangroves, there sprouts the Fool’s Funnel, a white, flat thing, about a body’s length across, lacking obvious beauty, but possessed of a certain porousness and longevity which were to prove of great use when discovered.
There are no native humans on the island, nor sentient fungi.
The first humans to arrive on Chanterelle did so in large canoes, dug out of the trunks of MIGDAL trees, with as many as fifty rowers to a boat. The human expansion of 1015-1230 AF led from the main human continent of ADAM, across the South Seas, colonising many of the islands. It was on Chanterelle that they discovered the Clitocybe rivulosa, but it was not until two centuries later — in or around 1354 AF — that the first FLOAT, or FUNG-RAFT, was built and launched.
There is a small island off Chanterelle, called PADDESTOEL, where humans have made their base — one stepping-stone of many in their great migration across the South Seas. Children born there played often in the shallows and the more adventurous built their own, small canoes to explore the nearby “mainland” of Chanterelle. There, no doubt while innocently playing, in the manner of human children, they discovered the properties that make the Fool’s Funnel so interesting.
The children used the Fool’s Funnels as stepping stones, discovering that the fungus could easily bear their weight. Later on, they began severing the fungal cord from the mangroves it fed on. To their no-doubt-obvious delight, they discovered that the maimed mushrooms continued to function, not only in carrying their weight, but now — free-floating — could also act as miniature boats.
Shortly after that discovery, the famous PADDESTOEL ISLAND RACE began, which has been celebrated annually ever since. Contestants attempt to circumnavigate the island using a freshly-harvested Fool’s Funnel as their vehicle. No engines or paddles are allowed.
A passing marine enthusiast, the soon-to-be-famous GOBALAK YIGMAQ, traveled to Paddestoel in early 1351. On witnessing the children at play, he realised the immense importance of what they had discovered. Obtaining funds from the island-nation of ONDDO, Yigmaq began an ambitious ship-building program on Paddestoel — the first such we know of in human history.
What Yigmaq had discovered is that, by lashing several of the floating fungi together, he could create a marine vehicle to rival — and soon surpass — the fragile human canoes. Within only a few short years, the island-nation of Onddo had built — and armed — the world’s first-ever fleet of fung-rafts. In equally short order, they had conquered nearly a quarter of the known world, in the process ending the short-lived Human-Fungi Accord, which had lasted just over four hundred years.
HYGROCYBE COCCINEA — SCARLET HOOD
This tale comes to us from pre-empire Onddo.
It tells of a rebel — a vigilante — called “Scarlet Hood”.
He was born of a human-fungal love affair that shook the court of Onddo. His mother was a human, a princess of the court, by the name of Agatha’. His father was the notorious pirate captain, AGARICUS AUGUSTUS — THE PRINCE.
Scarlet Hood was thus born of royalty, yet out of both wedlock and polite society. He was delivered on the pirate holdout of PLAT UITZETTEN, a floating fungal island. A poem written of his birth said:
He was human-shaped, yet porous,
Deathly-pale but for his hooded head!
Scarlet like a pirate’s wrath.
Scarlet like an executioner’s mask.
Hygrocybe Coccinea!
To live is to want.
His father was captured shortly after by the AMANITA PHAL-LOIDES and executed horribly. His mother killed herself when she received the news. He grew up in poverty, reared by human and fungal pirates, and learned to wield a sword before he learned to write.
He returned to Onddo a dashing young captain. Men desired him. Women found him irresistible. He was welcomed for a time at the court, a curiosity, an aberration, yet a charming one. But soon, he fell afoul of the authorities. The Scarlet Hood saw first-hand the injustices of the court, the poverty of the people and he decided to fight. Before long, he was running wild on the island, robbing and killing, yet only the rich. It is said he distributed their wealth to the poor. He fomented revolution. For a time, he seemed likely to actually win, to bring down the dynastic monarchy on Onddo.
For a time.
ARMILLARIA MELLEA — HONEY FUNGUS
The HONEY FUNGUS, or ARMILLARIA MELLEA, is a non-sentient fungus originating on the island of ZBOHATLÍK, but cultivated extensively elsewhere. It is now a prohibited substance on all islands and land-masses. Cultivation, distribution, smuggling and use can result in heavy fines, imprisonment and the death sentence.
It is said the notorious vigilante, SCARLET HOOD, had become addicted to the honey fungus during his time on ONDDO. He became its main distributor on the island, importing the drug through his connection with the pirates of PLAT UITZETTEN.
The drug creates a feeling of well-being, as though “drowning in honey”. It is highly addictive to both humans and sentient fungi. The Zbohatlík Cartel is said to control 80% of the market share and is the most powerful criminal organisation known to this editor.
MAMARANG AND SUMULPOT
A tale come to us from the fungi-continent of UYOGA.
Like most pure fungi narratives, its interpretation and retelling into human terms is uncertain. It has been transcribed as a poem, which goes:
Mamarang, she fleshy good
Spore-bearing age she come!
Sumulpot, he handsome, handsome gilled (and/or) hooded.
Thinker-poet, love (find attraction/spore-connect)
Together, together.
Mamarang and Sumulpot
Go into dark forest.
The tale, then: Mamarang and Sumulpot fell in love (SPORU-LATED), but, being of different fungi-clans, ran away into the DARK FOREST, a mythical place in FUNGI MYTHOLOGY where rebel fungi traditionally run, something like our equivalent of a PIRATE ISLAND. There they had many adventures, until, at last, they reached a giant MIGDAL tree (though these only grow, to our knowledge, on the human continent of ADAM). There they grew onto the roots of the giant tree, producing many spores which grew into a new phylum, of which both humans and fungi, to this day, speak only in whispers ….
AGARICUS AUGUSTUS — THE PRINCE
Pirate lord of PLAT UITZETTEN, father of SCARLET HOOD, heir to the Uyogan dynasty of RUSULA. Died at the hands of DEATH CAPS by administration of POISON PIE.
HEBELOMA CRUSTULINIFORME — POISON PIE
Non-sentient fungi originating in a forest area on UYOGA, used primarily by the DEATH CAPS, who are immune to their effect. Cause slow and agonising death in both humans and fungi.
ONDDO, FALL OF
The Maritime Empire of ONDDO stretched, at its zenith, over an entire quarter of the world, including significant holdings in both the continents of ADAM and UYOGA, as well as numerous islands. It controlled the island of CHANTERELLE, where the rare FOOL’S FUNNEL fungi grows, and from where its fleet originated.
By the 1600s AF, the empire had reached its apex and, early in that century, first encountered the DEATH CAPS.
“They seemed to come from nowhere,” the historian GLJIVA wrote in his Rise And Fall of Onddo. “They wore no armour, they had no human features, they used no rafts. Their superiority lay in control of the sky itself.”
The Death Caps rode the semi-sentient LEPIOTA PROCERA, or PARASOL MUSHROOM. The Death Caps were parasites. When they landed on human lands, they attached themselves to human hosts, burrowing into their flesh and minds, controlling them and feeding on them, discarding each human like edible fruit and moving on to the next.
“The Reign of Terror lasted for centuries,” wrote Gljiva. “They could not be stopped. They bombed the fung-rafts from on high and glided on the winds to pass any defense. They leeched secrets from our minds; they turned our sons and daughters into cattle. They were unremarkable to look at, ruthless in their actions, and sometimes excellent poets.”
Gljiva records a rare visit to the court on Onddo:
“I came into the harbour. The sky was dark with Parasols. The fung-raft was crewed by docile humans. We came to land. The city, once great, sprawled before us. It was transformed.
“In place of stone walls, stout houses, now grew fungal houses, expanding and contracting softly, as though breathing. The roads were slimed with spores. I saw a man hanging from the rafters of a colonised Migdal tree, thousands of exotic fungal breeds leeching its life, growing on its roots and branches. The human, a male, was hanging motionless, fungus growing over his naked body, his fingertips, his penis, his nose. Only his eyes were clear. He saw me and blinked. Our eyes met. He was aware. He knew what was happening to him. I turned my eyes.
“I came to the court. The palace rose before me. Enormous, bulbous, breathing, porous, it was hideous and beautiful at once. I came to the throne room. It was dark, warm, moist. I fell to my knees. I offered myself up to be used and discarded. I felt the way one feels in a place that is holy.”
GLJIVA (NO SECOND NAME)
Minor human historian in the SECOND ONDDO EMPIRE period. HONEY FUNGUS addict. Disappeared on a voyage of discovery to the northern continent of FONG. Presumed dead.
LANGERMANIA GIGANTEA — GIANT PUFFBALLS
Non-sentient fungus native to the island of CENDAWAN. The Giant Puffball is an airborne spore the size of several humans. They are not to be confused with the LEPIOTA PROCERA, or PARASOL MUSHROOM.
It is a tradition — begun with the 372 AF FESTIVAL OF RISING — to hook one’s self onto the stalk of the Giant Puffball during its sporal release period, which occurs annually. The passengers, usually younger children, are borne away to the skies with the rising spores. Some descend early; some are lost at sea; and some find themselves, by the luck of winds, arriving, like the fungus itself, on new lands, new worlds to explore.
A poem from the HUMAN-FUNGI ACCORD PERIOD describes the phenomenon:
Taking flight
Spores
Rise
Children
Rise
Wind
Calls
To wind.
Beyond, beyond
New horizons
Beckon.
TREMELLA MESENTERICA — YELLOW-BRAIN FUNGUS
Species of intelligent fungi from the northern continent of FONG. Destroyed DEATH CAP CIVILISATION/SECOND ONDDO EMPIRE by 2015 AF. Disappeared in 2113 AF, at the same time as the sinking of the island of KULAT.
FONG
Northern fungal continent. Became inaccessible in or around 2113 AF. It is now surrounded by a repellent force that prohibits both maritime and airborne passage.
LACCARIA LACCATA — DECEIVERS
Fungal-based cult, but popular amongst both humans and fungi. Most active during SECOND ONDDO EMPIRE, where it was practiced by rebel forces. Believed to have originated on the floating pirate island of PLAT UITZETTEN centuries before.
XYLARIA HYPOXYLON — CANDLE-SNUFF FUNGUS
A tiny mushroom rising out of the bark of a tree, a black sleeve followed by a white hand, reaching out, as though waving. It is the traditional symbol of the DECEIVERS CULT (See LACCARIA LACCATA) as well as the final mark of a sentence in the hieroglyphic-based alphabet of the YELLOW-BRAINS CIVILIZATION. A children’s ditty, recorded by the historian GLJIVA on the island of CHANTERELLE, goes:
Look at the white hands
Waving to you from the shore.
Goodbye, goodbye, they’re saying
We shall see you and yours no more.