Fungus

Fungus

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Fungus is from the first generation of Aethers that hatched on Sornieth rather than in orbit. When the Astrolab crash-landed, Fungus’s egg was flung all the way to the Shifting Expanse, where it landed in a soft patch of desert-native mushrooms. There, his egg was found by the clan’s scavenging team, who brought it back to Electrician’s Edge until it hatched.

Ever since his hatching, Fungus has yearned for the earthy mushrooms that protected him that day, and has devoted his life to studying mushrooms. He never saw that mushroom nest, as he was still within the thick shell of his egg, but he’s convinced that if he searches long enough and studies hard enough, he’ll find them. In his mind — although he would never tell any dragon this — that patch of desert mushrooms is his “real” mother, and all he wants is to be reunited with “her”. Of course, because of his limited exposure to what he’s looking for, many of his field projects involve romping and rolling around in mushroom patches to determine whether or not this kind feels “right”.

Outside of his search for his mother, Fungus is a total gas machine. Many other dragons avoid him out of fear of his atrocious burps, and out of fear for his atrocious manners, as he rarely excuses himself. He’s very gross and smelly and rarely properly bathes, and if you were to check under his fluff, you would almost certainly find no end of mushrooms growing on his skin.

The only dragons who can tolerate his pure stench are the two Aethers he hatched alongside, whose eggs were brought to the lair at the same time as his: Zinni and Blister. The three of them are totally inseparable childhood friends, and have been for their entire lives. Perhaps they’ve just grown used to the way Fungus reeks, or maybe Zinni’s flowery smell covers up the gag-inducing miasma. Or maybe they just don’t mind, because they love him.