Fungus tyrant
Fungus queen
Fungus tyrants, also known as fungus queens,1 are jealous, blighting creatures who infest other creatures with mind-controlling spores that turn them into soul-entrapped thralls.2
Appearance
Fungus tyrants have tentacles of fungal matter and a humanoid torso. An average fungus tyrant is 6 feet in height and weighs 150 pounds.2
Abilities
While powerful beings in their own right, fungus tyrants are most known for the spore thralls that they grow from the corpses of beings they drain with their kiss. By donating some of their fungal matter to the corpse, the body reanimates within 24 hours with its soul captured within and its will subverted to serve the fungus tyrant. Followers of deities like Pharasma consider this subversion of the River of Souls to be as offensive to the natural order of life as undeath. The thrall's destruction releases its soul to the Boneyard, though its body often spawns myceloids, violet fungi, drakauthixes, or other fungal creatures.3
Fungus tyrants can also generate sporepods of fungal matter that they can travel between in a manner similar to teleportation.
Fungus tyrants can speak with fungal beings, many of which are cowed by a fungus tyrant. They can also speak Abyssal, Aklo, Sakvroth, and Common tongues and communicate telepathically.2
History
The first fungus tyrants grew from the bodies of succubi assassins who attempted and failed to kill a witch in the Jeharlu, Abyssal realm of Cyth-V'sug. The witch distributed their spores across multiple worlds of the Universe, where they thrived in caves, ruins, corrupted woodlands, and magical sewers. The population of fungus tyrants across the plane numbers in the hundreds.2
Society
Fungus tyrants enjoy manipulating other creatures into being pets and thralls, preferably physically attractive humanoids. They transform their favorites into loyal fungoid minions but also retain non-fungal minions as part of their lair's defenses.2
Tyrants are jealous beings who retaliate when others attempt to steal their thralls or remove their affliction, and they make significant efforts to stay within their own territories and avoid stealing the thralls and pets of other fungal tyrants.2
Their most hated foes are succubi, which remind fungal tyrants of the gifts they no longer possess, and tyrants discard their usual manipulative tactics in order to pursue the violent destruction of any succubi they encounter—whether real or merely suspected.2
On Golarion
Fungus tyrants were active near the demon-overrun Worldwound in Frostmire Fen, where they congregated near sulfurous hot springs and were led by Enivuni, then the most powerful fungus queen of Golarion.4
References
- ↑ Inner Sea Bestiary, 12. Paizo Inc., 2012 .
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6 “Creatures” in Seven Dooms for Sandpoint, 190. Paizo Inc., 2024 .
- ↑ “Creatures” in Seven Dooms for Sandpoint, 191. Paizo Inc., 2024 .
- ↑ “Chapter One: Worldwound Gazetteer” in The Worldwound, 6. Paizo Inc., 2013 .