Fungal canister

**Fungal canisters** are an exotic weapon used in the hexarchate. They appear in Ninefox Gambit and Revenant Gun, and are mentioned in Raven Stratagem and Glass Cannon.

## Description

Fungal canisters contain an organism derived from gate-space creatures by the Nirai. The canisters are biotechnological projectiles which, launched from warmoth gunports, explode into cobwebby clouds of spores that billow into enormous sickly pink-gray blooms with violet undertones, trapping and infecting any life caught in the blooms.

Fungal canisters can devastate planetary ecosystems, potentially requiring over a century of decontamination before an affected world is habitable again. The fungus is normally lethal to humans, otherwise causing unappetizing mutations, and an infected moth requires a full Nirai decontamination team to deal with it, usually at an expense greater than destroying it and building a new moth.

Due to their devastating effects, the Kel generally regard fungal canisters with horror. Direct authorization from Kel Command is normally required to equip a moth with a fungal cocoon. It is barely possible to fit a fungal canister on a bannermoth; they are normally only launched from cindermoths.

## History

Though developed by the Nirai recently in comparison to mothdrive, fungal cocoon technology was available during the lifetime of Shuos Jedao. It was improved between Jedao's death and the time of the Hafn invasion. Jedao advised against using fungal canisters at the Siege of the Fortress of Scattered Needles due to the cost of cleanup.

General Kel Khiruev was ordered to use fungal canisters as a quick solution to heresy on Raggard's Basket, devastating the planet's ecosystem.

Commander Vidona Diaiya broke formation to use an unauthorized fungal canister on an enemy scout swarm, miring a third of the phantom bannermoths created by a kaleidoscope bomb. Her action shortened the battle but resulted in both her own bannermoth and *River Full of Stones* being destroyed. One real bannermoth in the enemy swarm, the fourth, was affected by the fungus, and Brevet General Kel Cheris chose not to have it destroyed, leaving it for Kel Command to decide what to do with it.

The Compact used fungal canisters on orbital platforms in the Vonner Salient to deny its vital resources to the Protectorate.

## Trivia

* Vahenz afrir dai Noum remarked that fungal canisters could be trusted to have more of a sense of loyalty than Jedao.
* The incident with Vidona Diaiya's bannermoth was the only time Cheris ever saw a fungal canister in action.
* A Hafn corrosion weapon used against the Swanknot swarm reminded Khiruev and Commander Kel Nazhan of fungal canisters.
* The gate-space organisms originally adapted into weaponized fungus may be related to the fungus found in the Radiant Ward of the Fortress of Scattered Needles after threshold winnowers were used there, since winnowers operate by opening a hole into gate-space.
* Servitor Overgroup Three 13610 thought of "feral fungus" as a potential interruption to its mission on the Fortress.

## References

1. ↑ Revenant Gun, Chapter 8
2. ↑ Ninefox Gambit, Chapter 9
3. ↑ Raven Stratagem, Chapter 19
4. ↑ Hexarchate Stories: Glass Cannon
5. ↑ Ninefox Gambit, Chapter 9
6. ↑ Revenant Gun, Chapter 8
7. ↑ Ninefox Gambit, Chapter 5
8. ↑ Raven Stratagem, Chapter 19
9. ↑ Ninefox Gambit, Chapter 9
10. ↑ Revenant Gun, Chapter 8
11. ↑ Ninefox Gambit, Chapter 12
12. ↑ Hexarchate Stories: Glass Cannon
13. ↑ Raven Stratagem, Chapter 6
14. ↑ Ninefox Gambit, Chapter 19
15. ↑ Ninefox Gambit, Chapter 17