Fungusamungus ... (now the Rootless Ones)

Last edited by Embala on Sun Nov 07, 2021 3:08 am; edited 3 times in total

... or whatever their real name will be.

Fungusamungus ... (now the Rootless Ones) Fungus

... the Most Hidden of the Hidden

... selfshapers

... scavengers

... hive-mind

... High Ones?

Visit the Rootless Ones' bio page on ElfQuest.com.

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Subject: Re: Fungusamungus ... (now the Rootless Ones) Mon Apr 04, 2016 3:54 am

Whatever they are, they're scary!

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Subject: Re: Fungusamungus ... (now the Rootless Ones) Mon Apr 04, 2016 7:53 am

*Eyes darts to avatar and banner*
Nah they're perfectly lovely.

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Subject: Re: Fungusamungus ... (now the Rootless Ones) Mon Apr 04, 2016 1:03 pm

Redhead Ember wrote:: Whatever they are, they're scary!

In case you guys were wondering...it looks like someone over there is reading at least some of the comments on this forum:

http://elfquest.com/characters/

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afro

Subject: Re: Fungusamungus ... (now the Rootless Ones) Mon Apr 04, 2016 3:12 pm

Nah... It's the other way around; they were referred to The Scary Ones before I made my post here.

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"When you do what you love best, you shine where you love."

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Subject: Re: Fungusamungus ... (now the Rootless Ones) Mon Apr 04, 2016 3:17 pm

When and where?

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afro

Subject: Re: Fungusamungus ... (now the Rootless Ones) Mon Apr 04, 2016 3:18 pm

I guess it really is the reverse then-- because I must not be paying that much attention to what's happening elsewhere.

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afro

Posts : 625 Join date : 2015-04-25 Location : Shanghai

Do you think they are real elves or rather magic gone bad or maybe souls possessing wood (we know that a rockshaper can possess stone, right)

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It's a dolphin!

Subject: Re: Fungusamungus ... (now the Rootless Ones) Fri Apr 08, 2016 11:40 am

They seem a bit too aware to just be magic gone bad.
I think they might be real elves that either 1: shapshifted into what they are now or 2: they willingly left their bodies (that then died) because they were holding them back and possessed the plants.

I'm leaning more towards 2 tho.

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Last edited by Embala on Mon Aug 05, 2019 7:17 am; edited 4 times in total

I believe they are closest to THIS - a kind of giant mushroom colony.

As Shadowpath suggested either
a) by shapeshifting into mycelial cord structure or
b) as spirits which inhabit a natural mycelium like other spirits inhabit the Palace
Leaning to a). Either way they are able to "grow" elflike bodies if needed.

Within this mycellium they have a hive mind and they have become a true part of Abode. Thus they neither care about the Palace (they have their own "underground palace") nor want to return to some kind of "star home". Abode has become their true home - much more than it is for the Wolfriders.

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Last edited by Embala on Mon May 01, 2017 5:00 pm; edited 3 times in total

in order to gather my previous thoughts from the Final Quest #14 discussion:

Embala wrote:

faeriegirl wrote:: Wendy said this on Facebook: "EVERYBODY! Right now! Stop calling them "tree elves!" Call 'em "fungus amungus" if you want. Anyway, this image could be misleading. You don't know when or even IF we'll meet these new elves. But if we do, rest assured this is not a rehash of LOTR or any established fantasy you've ever read. Keep thinking outside of the box."

Those Treefungusmungus Elves or whatever they are supposed to be called ... I had some thoughts about them. Got distracted by my own little Christmas project. Well, trying to take Wendy Pini's word's literally ...

... what do we know? (or think we know based on EQ and what we SEE)

1. The trio totally looked like TreeElves when they were introduced. Colors and texture, mossy hair and knobbly limbs, even sprouting leaves. This does not mean that they have ever crossbred with Abodian vegetation. Selfshapers and healers can create this mimikry ... leaf adornements included.
And they are probably mobile to some degree - Lady Tree spotted a perfect leg very similar to Winnowill.

2. On the cover of FQ #14 those tree bodies look as dead as they can be. Falling apart, rotten and decomposed ... but these elfin creatures obviously are still alive. Though I like to call them TreeZombies I don't think EQ would pull a Walking Dead.

3. They are callled the "most hidden of the hidden".
Hhmmm... small Wolfriders dwelling in a forest Holt, Sunfolk living in an isolated oasis, Gliders hiding within a huge mountain and Wavedancers in the seas - all are well hidden. And all of them were discovered by Humans ... Sunfolk and Wavedancers later than the others. (We don't see the Go-Backs had problems with human settlers so far.)
Living in a forest camouflaged as trees would be better hidden ... but does it qualify as "most hidden of the hidden"? They can be discovered by Humans just like Wolfriders and their habitat can be destroyed like the Holts or Sorrows End.

4. We know that Elves (Coneheads) like to exist as a hive mind. The Coneheads pretty much formed one. The Gliders tried to achieve it. The Wavedancers are described as a shoal.

Some years ago when there was talk about a Final Quest coming I wondered where we could find other, unknown elves. I thought of an unknown continent - Hearthstone with its vukcano and the hinted dangerous elves seemed to be an educated guess.

Another speculation was about a different culture in significantly different envirionment. So far we had:
Ground dwellers - the Wolfrideres in the forest, Sunfolk in the desert and Go-Backs in the icy plains.
The Gliders were basically air dwellers, flying elves locked away in a mountain.
Water dwellers in the sea - the Wavedancers.

What's left? My thoughts wandered underground ... could there be Elves inhabiting a cave and tunnel system like the Trolls? Or - living underground like Wavedancers live in the water? My idea was influenced by the "Terrians" from EARTH 2. Those creatures are totally living underground and seem to be able to "swim" through soil and stone like fish through water.

Elves who are totally assimilated to live underground would be NEW.

Embala wrote:: Years ago I've learned the largest living organism on Earth is the Oregon honey mushroom ...

... and now Wendy Pini tells us: Call them Fungus Amungus!

What if ... a group of Firstcomes managed to hide from the WoTMs by becoming an integral part of this world? Can it be that they had magic users who discovered a mushroom organism underground and found a way to merge with it? Try to imagine ...

The elfin spirits live within this spreading organism, both hiding and thriving. These aliens would not have a problem to share a body - a hive mind is familiar to them anyway.

After 20 millennia they would not be interested in the Palace too much. The WoTMs is literally their home soil. And it functions similar as the Palace and/or the spirit sphere.
They are not able to travel to the Palace because their "body" is part of Abode's nature.
There is no need to do so because there are no immediate life threatening dangers. Fire, flood, change in environment and climate would not be able to kill the whole organism easily. In case the "elves" kept some specific magic to grant necessary adeptions this mycelium can live forever.

It would even fit with WP's remark that we might not see those new elves at all. You can walk over them and wouldn't notice!

So who are the FungGuys we've seen?

Then and now the fungus sprouts fruit bodies - visible mushrooms. Maybe they are individual spirits who "visit" the world above for whatever reason (possible reproduction included?). The fungus infects young trees, influences their growth to develope elfin shapes (because that's how they remember/envision themselves) and the spirits temporarily live as such a tree-fungus organism (first encounter).

As it is the nature of a fungus to consume its host the tree structure will die and rot more or less soon while the spirits still control the fungus part - the TreeZombies (state on the #14 cover).

When the tree structure is completely devoured the spirits simply return in the mycelium.

What do you think? Is there a possibility it could work similar like this?

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According to Wendy's comments on Facebook, they seem to be scavenging,hive-minded,cannibals. They definitely have a sinister,eerie feel to them.

Subject: Re: Fungusamungus ... (now the Rootless Ones) Thu May 05, 2016 11:33 am

Well, fungus is a midway creature between plant an animal. And it breaks down decomposing matter. Maybe they have moss and fungus growing off their bodies. Maybe they have converted aspects of their bodies to be fungus-like. I could see them being half and half. I wonder if they will start eating him. Maybe they were eating the dead wolfriders all along-- not the wolves. Or dead trolls. It's not as if the Wolfriders have a problem with things eating their dead. And their comments indicate they may be waiting for Cutter to die before they start in on him.

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afro

Subject: Re: Fungusamungus ... (now the Rootless Ones) Thu May 05, 2016 12:17 pm

Maybe it's their "Way" to only consume something which has already died.

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Subject: Re: Fungusamungus ... (now the Rootless Ones) Thu May 05, 2016 2:20 pm

I hope! Otherwise, ew.

It seems like it would be a slow process. Hard to imagine a living creature lying there through it. Unless they are unconscious. Or suicidal. But still-- being slowly digested by fungus is not something I would imagine most would have the patience for.

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afro

Subject: Re: Fungusamungus ... (now the Rootless Ones) Fri May 06, 2016 1:05 pm

I meant... that they're not allowed - according to their "way" - to "speed up the dying process" a bit... of course it would be dead...

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I think Wendy may'v named them. She had a new picture of one on Facebook and called them the Scary Ones.

Subject: Re: Fungusamungus ... (now the Rootless Ones) Sat May 07, 2016 10:51 am

They've been referred to as such for a while.
It's the header for their - rather empty - section of the Official Bios on Elfquest.com

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"When you do what you love best, you shine where you love."

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Subject: Re: Fungusamungus ... (now the Rootless Ones) Sat May 07, 2016 12:23 pm

They aren't really that scary.

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afro

Subject: Re: Fungusamungus ... (now the Rootless Ones) Sat May 07, 2016 3:00 pm

Maybe if you suffer from Botanophobia/Hylophobia...

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Subject: Re: Fungusamungus ... (now the Rootless Ones) Sat May 07, 2016 3:28 pm

I think they're creepy! Cutter Growl

Of course the scariest part about them is that we don't know anything.

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Prism wrote:: I think Wendy may'v named them. She had a new picture of one on Facebook and called them the Scary Ones.

Aww, she's not running with the "fungus" theme anymore?

What about the "Botryters", aka "The Noble Rotters"?

apparently I need a glass of wine. brb

Posts : 706 Join date : 2014-03-09 Age : 34

I will stick with Fungus for now... I don't really think they're that scary, so far.
Yes, they seem to want to "eat" Cutter. But like fungus, they wait until he's dead before doing something. And that's natural, so not scary.
Plus Cutter has major plot armor anyway, I think Wink

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Fungusamungus ... (now the Rootless Ones) Faerie10

Subject: Re: Fungusamungus ... (now the Rootless Ones) Mon May 09, 2016 9:54 am

Prism wrote:: I think Wendy may'v named them. She had a new picture of one on Facebook and called them the Scary Ones.

The problem with this moniker is that it tries to dictate how we are supposed to perceive and react to them.

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afro

Posts : 154 Join date : 2016-03-23

Lunakat wrote:: The problem with this moniker is that it tries to dictate how we are supposed to perceive and react to them.

Which is especially concerning, seeing as how Wendy just about went nuclear insisting that we all call them "Fungusamungus" vs. "tree elves". Will there be more yelling if she gets wind that the new elves don't seem all that "scary"?

The worst one-two punch for me in regards to Elfquest (aside from those years when they let other artists make a dog's breakfast of the characters) was discovering W&R's online presence, and watching them: 1) really ramp up the "coy little winks/nudges/hints" game, and 2) go seven kinds of apeshit when fans veer too far off-base in their guesses for W&R's tastes.

Wide-ranging speculation happens, especially when you have an intelligent fan base that is left to twist for months at a time in between issues... Rolling Eyes