Quoted By:
This week has been draining but here’s some ideas I have in case anyone’s interested
>/vnug/ slime (name pending) is a species of mycorrhizal (symbiotic with plants) fungus endemic to the cloud forest of /vnug/
>the slime forms a vast mycorrhizal network with the forest at topsoil and subsoil level (“wood wide web”)
>the slime network serves as the foundation of the forest ecosystem
>it accelerates decomposition of organic matter since the waterlogged and acidic soil makes it an otherwise slow process
>it also retains moisture (relatively unimportant since the cloud forest is always wet due to the climate and /uuu/ magic spillover) and helps absorb minerals and magical elements through chelation
>but its most significant function is transporting nutrients and information between the plants
>its existence makes the cloud forest (even) more overgrown and lusher since the network distributes nutrients to the plants better to maximize growth
>the slime congregates deep in the substratum/bedrock into blobs of slime that serves as local nodes of nutrient storage
>/vnug/ farmers would dig up these slime blobs and bury them in future farmland alongside intersecting crops and trees
>the slime will rebuild the network between them which results in better yield and resistance against nutrient depletion and pathogen
>it might also be used underground since the slime might be able to use magic as a source of energy to power the ecosystem (pending)
>a cult has formed around the slime where they try to join the network, with varying degrees of success
>it is rumored that some of these blobs of slime are actually sentient as manifestations of the “will of the forest”
