Egumena

## Egumenas

It is the fourth kingdom of complex life alongside plants, animals and fungi.
Visually, one could say these are magical plants, but in reality they are living organisms composed of "egumenal cells" (just as animals are made of animal cells, etc.). They are the only element of the biota besides animals that produce neurons, which means that although they are static like plants, they are also thinking beings. Hence the properties they have.

Egumens are generally creatures with a fairly advanced and quickly adapting defense system. Thanks to that it's really unusual for them to be part of an animal's diet. However we all know how it is with animals, that have reached the level of civilization in which they discovered agriculture - just as we were able on Earth to change some stupid grasses into wheat or corn - civilizations there would be able to bring egumenas into its agriculture and diet. Egumens however are thinking creatures that have adaptive qualities superior to any other creatures, so abusing and eating them for generations could not end up without any side effects.

## Animal-egumena hybridization

Over the generations, these egumens have adapted to the fact that they were irretrievably found in the food chain of some animal. Symbiosis has become their new method of adaptation in such extreme case. Thus, these civilizations have unwittingly become victims of symbiosis at the genetic level with egumens. In none of the cases known from Alftan, however, it was a phenomenon in which one should feel like a "victim" since this symbiosis has always turned out to be either harmless [As in the case of the Elves] or very useful [As in the case of Uttemmu - Spirit Sculpting - or Semmer - Arcane Magic]

As for other documented and alleged interactions of egumen with animals...

Of documented interactions we can mention the existence of creatures such as skeletons, zombies and ghouls. All these three creatures scientifically assigned to the group of "Egumenal Animal" species are born in exactly the same way - through the egumena taking over the buried or unburied animal body - including civilization species. The difference between these three examples is only the taking over of the body at a different stage of its decomposition, so:

* A body recently buried relatively undecomposed and adapted by egumena becomes a Ghoul
* The same body in advanced stage of decay adapted by egumena becomes a Zombie
* But if the same body was not adapted up until all soft tissues decomposed, and was later adapted - it becomes a living Skeleton

An increased intelligence allowing the civilized thought has never been noted among these species.

## Alleged animal-egumenas

Ents are an ideal example of an alleged interaction between animals and egumenas. Although we do not know their origin, in their case we suppose the possibility of genesis in the symbiosis between the animal of trollids order and the egumena.

If this theory were finally proved, the Ents would become a perfect example of the interaction between egumena and animal that is perhaps not symbiotic, but rather parasitic - as indicated by the Ent's anatomy as a whole.

The theory of the Ent's genesis opposing the hybridization of the troll species with egumene would be the theory of the first nonstatic egumene discovered - functioning like an animal, not like any other egumen - functioning like a plant.